Raué Newsletter, 2017 – “Christ among us, the hope of glory.â€
We received happy responses from our earlier Newsletter. One did comment that little was said about the grandparents. I’ll make up for that right now with this follow up letter.
We’re content to live in our Cottage style home located in the Valley Town of Dundas.
This Autumn Barbara applied for a temporary position with the city of Hamilton’s Emergency Medical Services and was hired on the spot. Only one person in the entire region qualified for the position; Barbara. It’s a position she had wished for six years earlier. She loves it, along with her other interests: publishing novels and photo books, which recapture history one photo at a time, and is an avid reader. For this reason, and since I have nothing better to do, I have the privilege of cleaning and cooking.
Cleaning also involved keeping up appearances, as nothing lasts forever. I renovated the bathroom, rebuilt the patio stones, rebuilt the garbage bin, re-coated the driveway, put a new roof on the smaller shed, painted both sheds, and moved the vegetable garden to the front yard (mmm grew the best organic carrots and beets in the entire valley). I did more, such as plant new black current bushes, and more. I’ll not refrain from boasting of such a resurgence of vitality and zest for life.
I felt alive and invigorated by all of this activity, lengthening the useful life of all of these possessions. I even had a chance to bring my tool box to Zane and Robyn’s house to drywall two bedrooms and a laundry room. Each day we worked close to mid-night. It was exhilarating, why? It was a creative, mental and physical and rewarding task which I was still able to do at the age of 76. How does it compare to dusting? No comment!
In May, of last year, Barbara and I flew to Vancouver. What a treat it was, to spend time with my brother John and his family in Vancouver and also with my sister, Mimi, and her family in Victoria. Barbara, with purpose, had her trusty camera and pen with her. We rented a car for a week and toured the Okanagan Valley. Barbara gets into a creative zone, camera strapped around her pretty neck and we walk the streets of: from Osoyoos, to Salmon Arms and all the places, such as Penticton, in between. Vancouver and Victoria were also captured on camera. Eventually she will compile, and publish, these excursions into photo books.
In June of last year we drove to Winnipeg to visit Barbara’s oldest brother, James and his lovely wife, Mary Ann. James guided us throughout spacious Winnipeg, the Chicago of the North, for six days of exploring the city with her captivating camera. Nine books in total captured the historic architecture of Winnipeg.
The smile on my face doesn’t mean that my life is perfect. It means, I appreciate what I have and what God has blessed me with.
Thanks to our families: Zane and Robyn and children, Michael and Grace and their children, and Samson and Annette and their children, for loving us and giving us a lot of joy amidst the hardships of their busy adventurous lives. And thanks to family, friends, and neighbors like you to make life more interesting and lovable.
The person who has had the most influence on events this year, voted by Time magazine, is Donald Trump, the President of the ‘Divided States’. What do you think?
It may interest you to know who has had the most influence on events in my life this year. One is my first parent. His name is Adam. He lived to a ripe old age. Adam lived 930 years and then he died. Because of Adam I am dying through no choice of my own. The other is Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus lived only 33 years and then died. In him I have the awesome hope of life from the dead.
In Adam all are dying through no choice of their own. In Jesus, God’s son, this same all will be made alive. At this time of year we remember his birth. For this purpose was he born.
The real man smiles in trouble.
Collect moments not things.
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Harry and Barbara
