Tuesday, December 9, 2025
      (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Comfort and joy
Comfort, comfort ye my people.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her
That her service is at an end.
When I walked into our Austin apartment home last week I was really tired. Looking round I remembered how much we had left to put back into our kitchen after the October debugging, and I fell into a chair. I went to bed early and woke up a little discouraged. Margaret wouldn’t be flying home until later that night. The car was still full of boxes from Illinois.
A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Now it was Adventure Friday with the boys, and Andi brought them to our apartment at 8:30 after dropping off Finn at day care. They burst in the door and my discouragement disappeared. Miles and Jasper forced the issue – there was no space in the room for both those boys and my discouragement. Also no room for car seats in our packed Prius, so we stayed home.
I played Yahtzee with Miles, and he won. We scored each other’s cards, just like pro golfers. Jasper read several picture books. We broke out our two fireplace-type heaters and turned them on while the sun heated up the December air outside to 70 degrees. I read Mystery of the Monkey’s Maze to them after we curled up in a dark blue 10-foot square velour blanket I bought for $10 on Black Friday at Menards. It’s December, time for family blankets! Seymour Sleuth never had it so good.
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
The rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Jasper spied his Magic Water Elf kit in our toy and book nook. Shopping online with Margaret, he had picked it out a few months ago and remembered exactly how to use it. “Grandpa, can you fill this tub with hot water? Hot, not cold. And open this pack of magic powder? We won’t use all of it.”
Now, Grandpa, can you get me some blue rubber gloves?” The gloves that came with the kit were too thin and broke too soon. Jasper remembered everything.
He opened two dropper bottles of blue and black magic gel. “Can you open this red one too, Grandpa? And this blue one!” He poured the blue gel into a dolphin mold, let it sit for a few minutes and then put his new dolphin into the magical now-warm water stew.
“It has to sit in the water four hours. We can’t take it out till 2 pm!” Then he made a dinosaur, and Miles, who had six pages of math homework to finish, got interested. “I’m through with three pages, Grandpa. Can I take a break?”
Miles made a dinosaur too, and Jasper made a starfish. Bright colors, no mess. This stuff is amazing!
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
Carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.
Miles finished his homework, stacking numbers and subtracting. We took a walk to the office and picked up mail. Andi brought chili and cornbread for lunch, and I broiled some red southern style franks. Jasper made a drink from apple cider and mango juice. Miles and I drank eggnog.
“Don’t you guys want to take a nap?” I asked. Knowing what the answer would be.
Instead they found their cool kids’ tool belts and asked for some wood. We found some in the patio closet and they began exploring my bedroom to find the adult tools they needed.
Jasper found our infrared laser thermometer and they took all our temperatures, along with the temperatures of everything else in the house. They also found nails and screws, and an electric drill, and outside on our patio they began to build. But they wanted to make pilot holes for screws and tried using the screwdriver bit to make the holes. It wasn’t working.
Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by his strong arm;
Here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
I was reading inside on the couch and through the French doors I saw them getting frustrated. Jasper came in and was walking around aimlessly, waiting for 2 pm and the birth of his water elves. Outside, Miles was drilling away fruitlessly on the wood. “How about trying a drill bit?” I asked.
“What’s a drill bit?” So I showed him. He started making holes everywhere in his 2 x 4. He came in and shouted to his brother, “Jasper, you have to see this!”
Soon Andi came to take them home. Margaret arrived on her plane, while in Illinois our granddaughter Aly (#4) and her Springfield Christian 8th grade Wildcats won the regional tournament and are headed for sectionals today!
Jasper returned on Saturday night for a sleepover. Watching the Illini beat Tennessee’s basketball team, he rooted for the Volunteers. I guess he loves the underdog.
In the morning he asked me, “Grandpa, what time is it?” It’s 7:30. “Grandpa, let’s play Yahtzee!” So we did, and Jasper got two yahtzees and won the game. He was learning how to mark up his own score card, and how to use the calculator on our phone. He was very pleased with himself, and so were we.
Sunday was an adult day – church, Sunday School, an Ecuador mission trip report, a NAP for us both, and then dinner with our campus house friends Brian and Cheryl, before we all sang “Hallelujah” along with Chorus Austin at a local episcopal church. We belted out Messiah with our friends. We told stories about our kids and grandkids. Any lingering adult discouragements took a hike.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice.
And this Friday we get to make fudge and cookies with the boys. After they finish their homework!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
The rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
(Isaiah 40, Psalm 96, Matthew 18)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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