'Twas the Night Before the Night Before Christmas

A Child's Lament

This afternoon my instinct was to veer east into Eagles Field, as we now call it.

The men have seen the eagles circling the silage pit and the corn field. I have seen one parent, last Friday, near our neighbour Randy's yard. I have gone to the grove of trees holding the nest regularly, and there was never anyone there except for last Monday: Little Bird was sitting there, motionless, in the heat of the afternoon, her back to the nest that cradled her not that long ago.

Today as I pulled the truck close to the fence that divided Eagles Field from the one I can drive a truck in, I saw an almost unrecognisable lump high up in the tree adjacent to the nest. It seemed to be roiling in pain. 

After long minutes it straightened itself out: Little Bird, feathers looking ruffled and bedraggled.

Little Bird, clearly in distress, crying.

This was the first time I have heard a sound out of either of the children.

Two shadows crossed the truck. The parents, never too far away, winged their way to the grove. The father circled over the scene, and the mother swooped in. She landed next to her child for a moment; and then she perched on the edge of the nest, where she could watch and encourage her. 

Sound on!

Little Bird could not be comforted. But somehow, even as she cried, she must have heard the familiar tones of her mother gently chirruping at her. Finally she took to the air; her mother joined her. 

All too soon, however, the young one was back, on the same branch, still in distress. She was trying to fly, but couldn't seem to summon the courage.

Back came the mother, circling the trees and flying in to land, this time on the branch right next to her child.

Startled, Little Bird took flight. 

This time she didn't return.  

Now it was the mother's turn to fret on the branch. Just as Little Bird had, Mama Bird became agitated, peering down at the ground. 

Finally she, too, calmed down and left.

I was curious as to what might have upset them so much so I picked up the side-by-side and drove right to the area, now devoid of birds.

Nothing.

I looked up from this unfamiliar position underneath the nest and the trees and breathed deeply, thinking about these two birds I have come to care about so fiercely.

 

And then it came to me.

Today is 17 years since my Mum left this earth for heaven.

Sometimes a girl just needs her mum, even though she's been gone for 17 years. There may not be a reason. She just wants to know her mum is nearby.

And I thought of what my Dad's friend Tony Hanson told him: "She is with God and God is with us. So she's not very far away."

Even when Little Bird will have to part from her mother, in the regular course of things, I want to think they will still be connected in some way. She will have learnt what it is to be a good eagle because of how her mother has always been there for her. 

Including when she cries.

O Canada

O Canada! Our home and native land!

True patriot love in all of us command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,

The True North, strong and free;

From far and wide, O Canada,

We stand on guard for thee!

O Canada! Where pines and maples grow,

Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow,

How dear to us that broad domain,

From East to Western sea!

Thou land of hope for all who toil!

Thou True North, strong and free!

O Canada! Beneath thy shining skies

May stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise,

To keep thee steadfast through the years
From East to Western sea,

Our own beloved native land,

Our True North, strong and free!

Ruler Supreme, Who hearest humble prayer,

Hold our Dominion within Thy loving care.

Help us to find, O God, in Thee
A lasting, rich reward,

As waiting for the Better Day,

We ever stand on guard.

God, keep our land glorious and free -

O Canada! We stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!

The World's Most Beautiful Coffee Table

Tragedy struck our tiny communities when Jamie Harden passed away suddenly on February 4 while on a trip to Arizona.

The community rallied, as our community always does. Jamie's friends started an online auction to benefit the family she left behind.

I was so fortunate to be the successful bidder of a coffee table, to be built at the Byemoor School by its CTF woodworking class under the guidance of Mrs Buchwitz.

I love the Byemoor School. It's tiny, yet mighty in the ways that count: persevering, loyal, caring, fun, athletic, community minded, passionate about rural living, artistic, creative, disciplined, courageous, resourceful. Always willing to pitch in. Oh, and with ENORMOUS heart.

Somewhere in there they manage to fit in reading, writing and arithmetic too ...

So when I saw that this bunch was going to create a coffee table in honour of the Hardens, I knew that I wanted it. It would be a belated gift for the Good Rancher's birthday.

Fast forward to a couple of days after the GR's birthday. I got a message from Mrs Buchwitz that there was to be a personal delivery on Thursday afternoon. Due to my having to be in Brooks, I wasn't able to be present; but the GR said he would be there to receive the delivery.

The transport pictures are what Mrs Buchwitz thoughtfully took; the videos are what Kurt recorded; and the table pictures at the end were taken by me.

Carefully bringing in

the coffee table

Happy birthday, and 

Mrs Buchwitz presents

the booklet about the table

The coffee table has been 

placed in its new home;

the GR offers Timbits and thanks!

Introducing the talented artisans

Here is the story of the table:

I pondered all the things that came together to create this masterpiece from such humble beginnings:

• The wood is taken from pallets

• The nails used are old

• The builders were rookies

BUT ...

• The grain of the wood was carefully chosen and meticulously placed - look at the first picture to see what I mean

• The nails were selected specifically to bring character and history to the piece

• The builders were eager to learn, diligent, cooperative and professional

• The stain choice was thoughtfully considered with the goal of bringing out the hidden depth and beauty of the wood

And they had a Secret Weapon: 

MRS BUCHWITZ!

This picture, taken by Principal Jewitt, gives us a glimpse of what Bobbi Buchwitz means to this school:

I will confess that I cried when I read the booklet about the table - it means almost as much to me as the table itself. Every picture contains love. Mrs Buchwitz was right again!

Some afternoons when the guys have headed back to work after lunch, I linger in the man cave. 

The sunlight shimmers golden all over this little table, and it fills my heart with gratitude that out of something so tragic has come something so beautiful.

And I am reminded of what Jamie's friend Paige put on her Facebook page in the hours following the news:

Good advice for all of us.

"Love never fails."

This exquisite table is evidence of it.

The Shoebox Party of 2023

Unto us a child is born heralds the Christmas season.

But that much-lauded child had no material possessions to launch his life. His mother birthed him with the help of her husband under the desultory gaze of the animals who were sharing their shelter with these intruders. His first resting place was a manger, borrowed from the descendants of the animals he had called into being. He was wrapped in strips of cloth. Shortly after his birth his parents would become refugees, fleeing the murderous tyranny of the political leader at the time.

Who knows what could have happened to them in that foreign country had it not been for the strangers who brought gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh for this unknown little child, items that could be traded for food and shelter and tools to try to cobble their lives together again?

Those Wise Men blessing a little child in a country far away from where they lived were - at least, to my way of thinking - the founders of Operation Christmas Child!

Saturday was the day of the fourth Operation Christmas Child party the Church at Endiang has hosted for our community.

People gather things throughout the year and then start dropping their haul off a day or so before. Or if they can't bring their items in early, they might make up a box or two at home and then come to the community party to pack a few more and visit with their neighbours over pizza from the Byemoor Hotel.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I will let them speak for themselves, with a comment or two:

To get the piles of stuff sorted properly, you need a good organiser. Check.

To get the fiddly details set up so that people can grab the essentials they need to place in each shoebox, you have to have someone very practical and able to discern what is universally important for each box to contain. For example, do we have labels and elastic bands? Check.

To get the items inside the boxes we need two people who actually think OUTSIDE the box and can pass their vision and their guidance to kids and first-time packers. Oh, and they need to be willing actually to put together 100 cardboard shoeboxes. Oh, AND be the Welcome Committee. Check.

But to get it all done, we needed YOU! And you came out in spades.

The first shoebox each year is always a Big Deal. Here is this year's, along with our first donation of the day. It showed up at about 9:30 - we didn't open for business till 2:00! Mr July himself and his biggest fan dropped it off and stayed for a short visit.

Then came a fairly steady stream of people who wanted to drop off items or donations toward the processing and shipping of the boxes. Each box takes $10 - this covers the basic boxes and the cartons that all the boxes are transported in; and for each box to go through various checks at the collection centre in Calgary to make sure there is nothing that is on the DO NOT PACK list, and to make sure that each box has enough in it to delight a child's heart. Of course, there's the substantial overseas transport cost itself.

Last year we decided also to make up care bags for needy kids in Stettler. The Stettler Family and Community Support Services distributed them for us. This year we collected lots of things, as well as a small quantity of food items for kids who might need a boost for school lunches or even some cereal in the morning before going to school.

The first kid arrived and we put her to work. The next thing you know, the animals who had tickets to Stettler were having a party ...

Soon the doors opened and the party officially started!

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It's always good to see the men do what they do best 🤣🤗 ... There's no denying they missed their friend Lyn this year.

I didn't get pictures of everyone, and for that I'm so sorry. It was a joy to see our big-hearted kids trying to picture the kid who would receive the box, and to fill it accordingly.

The Stettler Tables - thick socks, hoodies, mitts and toques are warmly received:

The completed shoebox pile grew rapidly.

Just after 4 o'clock, pizza delivery!

But first the kids took all the boxes upstairs so that at Sunday night's service we could have a special prayer for them and the children who would receive them.

A quick calculation told us that we had used one full carton of the red and green cardboard boxes (100 boxes per carton), plus 42 plastic boxes.

142 boxes!! ❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️

That night I counted the donations that had poured in. Thanks to your generosity, we had received $1,390 - only three shoeboxes short!

Shortly after midnight my phone lit up. A message came in from Vancouver, e-transfering $120 to help with postage.

$1,510! Wow!!

The next night at church Kurt led us in a prayer of blessing for the shoeboxes. Kurt himself has been overseas to deliver shoeboxes and has seen firsthand the joy on kids' faces when they receive their own box.

After the service we put the shoeboxes into larger cartons ready for shipping. This year the boxes from Canada are going to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Senegal, Gambia, Sierra-Leone, Guinea-Bissau, the Philippines; and certain areas were asked to do boxes for the Ukraine. Last year more than 415,000 shoeboxes were sent from Canada; 10.5 MILLION were sent out globally.

Pastor Allan had brought five boxes that had missed the cut in Big Valley. The money for these shoeboxes had gotten left behind. "No worries," I said. "We have some extra money!"

Our total was now 147!

As we loaded we counted. And recounted. And then counted again, just to make sure.

151. 151. 151.

Then we remembered the four completed boxes that had been brought to the Hall. We hadn't thought of them when we did the quick 100-box count!

We did a quick calculation. 151 boxes at $10 a box = $1,510.

$1,510.

$1,510?!

Is it just me, or did anyone else get goosebumps?! I think Jesus, who loves kids, has got His eye on the shoeboxes from Endmoor, and He will see to it that His little children who receive them will know that someone in Canada loves them; even more importantly, that HE loves them.

Monday afternoon I shot into Stettler with the items for FCSS. Once again, Deanna beat me to it and had brought up all but the two heaviest boxes. The enormous truck cab was full to bursting, and one box had to ride in the back.

Les Stulberg, our Stettler County No. 6 Councilor, met me at the offices at 4 pm. He's on the FCSS Board, and they were going to have a meeting at 4:30, so the timing couldn't be better that both of us could be in Stettler then.

While Executive Director Shelly held the door, Les and the staff carried everything in.

It was wonderful to talk with Shelly and Les and see their passion for people right here at home. Les introduced me to his fellow board members; and just before I left he said, "Here's a calendar for you. It's pictures of the people involved with the Stettler Society of Prevention of Family Violence. I'm Mr July."

Oh my! How many districts can say they have a calendar boy as their Councilor??!!

As I drove back to Endiang, I couldn't help think of the words of Jesus: "Truly I say to you, in as much as you [showed kindness] to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it to me."

And I wondered if, while He was saying those words, He was thinking of those wise men from so far away who showed such great kindness to an infant on that extraordinary day.