Well, I think that we are close enough to the end of the elections that I may return to my normally scheduled posting.
Except that come tomorrow life won’t be normal. It will be new and exciting and full of hope.
I hope.
I hope that whichever presidential candidate wins, we as a nation can be at peace with it. I pray that hearts will heal and that, above all, the “reform” that’s been promised on both sides of the campaign might begin…with us.
To that end, and despite the feelings of gloom that were with me when I retired last night, I woke up with a fresh resolve. Joe and I went to morning Mass, leaving the sleepy heads at home with Dad. (He has taken the day off from work. More on that later.)
It was so heartening to hear the words that Our Lord spoke to His disciples: “I leave you peace, my peace I give you.” I can do this, I thought, with Your help, Lord. Please help. Please help me to be hopeful and to trust in You, come what may.
And then, to further that sense of peace and hopefulness, Joe and I stopped for donuts on the way home. When in doubt, consume fat and sugar.
The little Asian man who runs the shop is very kind. He likes our largish family and always sends us home laden with extra donut holes. A trip to his store means “today is special”, and the kids seemed to sense that right away.
And then they smacked down all the crullers and long johns.
We went as a family to vote, like always, at a pretty little Lutheran church just up the road. The boys made us promise to let them watch us cast our ballots and my husband, ever the smart butt, said, “It’s very interesting. I fill in little circles with a marker.”
Sigh. I admit that it’s my unique pleasure to put up with this man.
I hoisted Angela up in my arms to wait in line and to prevent her from slamming into the knees of the people coming out. “So who are you going to vote for?” I asked her.
“Um, I don’t know.” She pursed her lips and thought for a moment. “What does ‘vote’ mean?”
(She’s four. You’ll have to excuse her.)
“It’s when we pick the person that we think will be the best person for the job.”
“Oh.” She pondered the possibilities and then said, “I pick Mrs. Robbins, Mrs. Bean, Grandma and Grandpa, and the Wisconsin Dells!” (Mrs. Robbins is my friend Tina. Mrs. Bean is Danielle Bean. We’d have a very pro-Life party! And we’d have loads of fun at the Dells to boot!)
Cate was generous and gave her sticker to the baby on the way out.You will note she had an ample target.
And then we went home to enjoy the fall day. It has been so beautiful here in Minnesota that I lock the kids out every afternoon. I make them do manual labor…
…in their bare feet.
Meanwhile my husband was loading up the van for a trip to Wisconsin (there’s that state again) to check on his deer stand and do other manly man things. Yes, come what may with today’s election, he’s still clinging to his guns and religion.
Right, Barbara? 😉
Look, we’ve got to cling to something and if it’s not guns than it should definitely be religion. This is what’s getting me through today—specifically, the knowledge that we know the end of the story and tomorrow’s new president will not change it.
My focus, then, is on my God. It’s on the state of my soul…and it’s on my family.
From these things, all goodness flows.
May the best man (and woman?) win! Enjoy watching the returns tonight and above all, remain hopeful.
Ad Jesum per Mariam,
I missed ya! glad to have you back in blog land
signed
theresa in alberta
Your belly brought tears to my eyes. It is so very beautiful.
First of all, your family is beautiful, and so is your pregnant belly. 🙂
May the best man win….faith in all things.
Hmmmm. I hope I feel like you do in the morning. Maybe I need some frosted donuts.
Welcome back…you were missed.
Thanks for sharing the pictures of your day. Tonight…I’m not feeling very hopeful but tomorrow is another day and this is yet one more thing in my life that I really don’t have control over. I must have issues with control.
God is good…all the time and no matter what…He is still in charge!
Hi Margaret,
Glad to have you back. Your post helped me, as I’m dealing with a little anger and disbelief. But you are absolutely right and have the right approach. Thanks for reminding me!
Peace!
p.s. love the belly pic!
Thanks for the words …” I leave you peace, my peace I give you”.
You look beautiful!
Hi Margaret
I am loving that belly 🙂 and love the pics of the gang.
Nice to have you back.
Cheers – Joolz
Welcome back! After these election results I want to runaway and hide for a while – not meaning you ran away! It’s just how I feel right now! Going to have to really seek out the positive blogs and keep that radio off for quite some time.
I quoted you on my blog today because you put so perfectly what I am trying to do right now
“Look, we’ve got to cling to something and if it’s not guns than it should definitely be religion. This is what’s getting me through today—specifically, the knowledge that we know the end of the story and tomorrow’s new president will not change it.
My focus, then, is on my God. It’s on the state of my soul…and it’s on my family.”
So God Bless and keep those positive thoughts coming while we keep praying for that baby belly to keep growing!
I needed this this morning – confirmation of what I have been thinking and trusting in all along: no matter who wins God is still with us, in us etc… esp. in family. God bless!
Aargh, I believe I know of which donut shop you speak. It starts with a G? On a street that starts with an R? It’s been there for 17+ years? They have the best donuts in the world. Missed you!
This post and all the comments give me peace. I am so thankful for the blogging world…I can come try to imagine we are all in this perfect little village together.
Love the little barenaked toes in the leaves.
We have had a beautiful fall.
Donuts made me salivate!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful reminder and perspective. I really needed to read this today!!
It’s nice to have you back! I’m thankful for the encouragement of the “bloggity-world” today – it’s good to know that there are others out there like me! 🙂 No matter what the next four years bring – we can have peace in knowing God is still in control. I have a feeling I’m going to learn a lot about prayer…
Peace with you,
~Jenny
Beautiful belly!
And give that Angela a smooch from me — I’m glad I got someone‘s vote yesterday! Very, very cute.
I love to see that baby bump. 🙂
Grow, baby, grow!
what a lovely, hopeful post during these uncertain times. miss you lots!
still praying for you!!
We stopped for donuts after voting too. It should be a yummy tradition!
Great post! Love the stickers (and the donuts…hee hee). God Bless
I love the picture of your baby belly!!!