Thankful (27 page)

And so, one Saturday, my husband suggested we get dressed up and go out to a fancy lunch. We walked around the mall and window-shopped and daydreamed about actually getting a full night's sleep. All the while people looked into our double stroller at our cute kids. And then they did a double take.

Every time I saw someone look at our children just a little longer than normal, I lifted my chin a little higher. Yep, I was a mom, but I was still Shelley. I could still get dressed up and go out and about with the best of them!

Then, just as we were about to enter the café inside Neiman Marcus, a woman stopped me and said ten words I'll never forget. “Did you know your baby spit up all over herself?”

With a feeling of doom, I looked into the stroller. And yep, there was little Lesley squirming and covered in baby goop. The moment she realized she had my attention, she did what babies do. She let out a piercing shriek. Loud enough to grab the attention of just about everyone in the middle of Neiman Marcus.

Minutes later, I was sitting in our red minivan changing Lesley's clothes and giving Arthur a couple animal crackers to tide him over. My husband saved the day by going through the drive-thru at McDonald's. Our trip to the mall was over.

Every time I think about that botched lunch at Neiman Marcus, I have to smile. It's the kind of thing that happens to everyone at one time or another, I think. Sometimes the best-laid plans just aren't meant to be!

Now I realize that that afternoon was simply life and that my desire to have lunch out was perfectly normal. I was thankful for my two tiny blessings, to have a good job, and to be a mom. All I needed was a little break! Perhaps that is what life is all about? Strollers and missed lunches and the ability to laugh at a situation that isn't perfect . . . ​but not wanting it any other way.

Years later, when my daughter was twelve or thirteen, we finally made it to Neiman Marcus. While we ate finger sandwiches and sipped tea, I told her all about her first trip there. She said she was glad I'd waited to return until she could actually enjoy the meal.

And of course, she was right. God's timing is everything.

Thanks for picking up the book. I hope you enjoyed
Thankful
. And, if you're a little bit like me, I hope you, too, take a moment to count your blessings. Even the not-so-perfect ones!

With blessings to you,        

Shelley Shepard Gray

Questions for Discussion

1. Much of
Thankful
revolves around one incident that changed both Christina's and Aden's lives. How might their lives have been different if Christina had never fallen through the ice? Do you think they would have stayed so close?

2. Is there an incident in your life that has acted as a turning point for you? What happened?

3. Another theme in
Thankful
is adoption, both literally and figuratively. Is there a person in your life whom you've “adopted”? Or have you become an honorary member of another family? How did that come about?

4. The moment I read the Amish proverb “If you can't have the best of everything, make the best of everything you have,” I knew it fit Jana's story line. She had so many blessings, but she needed to give herself permission to do something new. When have you given yourself permission to “make the best of everything you have”?

5. Years ago my agent sent me a news article about Mennonite families fostering prisoners' children and it really struck a chord. I particularly have enjoyed writing about Judith and Ben's quest to have a family as well as their journey toward becoming foster parents. What do you think will happen next with them? How do you think their experience with James will change them?

6. I loved the Scripture verse from Psalm 50: “Call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you and you will give me glory.” Has there been a time in your life when you called on God when you were in trouble? How do you think this verse relates to Christina and Judith?

7. Aden's grilled ham-and-cheese sandwiches come directly from my kitchen! I make grilled ham-and-cheese with Dijon mustard in a cast-iron skillet, and my kids always ask for them when they come home from college. Is there a comfort dish that is a particular favorite in your house? Who in your family makes it?

8. Which character in
Thankful
would you like to read more about in a future book? Why?

Peanut Butter Pie

1 small box vanilla instant pudding

1¾ cups milk

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

⅓ of (8 ounce) tub of nondairy whipped topping

¼ cup peanut butter

⅔ cup powdered sugar

1 baked pie crust

Mix instant pudding with milk according to directions on box. After pudding sets, beat in softened cream cheese and ⅓ tub of whipped topping. In a separate bowl, blend peanut butter and powdered sugar until crumbly. When crust is cool spread ⅔ cup peanut butter crumbles on bottom of crust. Fill with pudding mixture and top with remaining nondairy whipped topping. Garnish with remaining peanut butter crumbs.

Taken from
Simply Delicious Amish Cooking
by Sherry Gore. Copyright © 2012 by Sherry Gore. Used by permission of Zondervan. www.Zondervan.com

Read On

A Sneak Peek of Shelley Shepard Gray's Next Book,
Joyful

Light shines on the godly, and joy on those whose hearts are right.

P
SALM
97:11

A house is made from walls and beams . . . a home is made of love and dreams.

A
MISH
P
ROVERB

R
ANDALL
B
EILER
wasn't happy.

Perhaps that was putting things a bit harsh. Or maybe, rather, it was putting things a bit mildly.

Whatever it was, he needed something better in his life. A reason to be happy, a reason to be content. Or, as his little sister Kaylene was fond of saying, he needed something to be joyful about.

Unfortunately, he didn't think anything along those lines was going to happen anytime soon. Not while he had the combined weight of four of his younger siblings on his shoulders.

“Chicken again?” Levi griped as he entered the kitchen. “How many nights in a row have we had chicken? Something like eight?”

“I haven't been counting,” Randall snapped. “If you know what's good for you, I wouldn't start counting, either.”

“Is it grilled again?”

“Yep.” Because he knew one way to cook chicken, and that was to grill it until it was almost charred.

Looking every bit of his fifteen years, Levi rolled his eyes. “Randall, can't you cook anything else?”

“Nope.” He knew how to bake potatoes, open jars of green beans that his sister Claire had put up, and grill chicken. That was the extent of his culinary skills.

Glaring at the plate of chicken, each portion looking a bit like a hockey puck, Levi didn't even try to hide his grimace of distaste. “Couldn't you at least try?”

With effort, Randall tried not to let his temper snap. “
Nee
, Levi, I cannot. As I've said before, if you want to take over the meals, go ahead. But as long as I'm cooking supper every night, we're going to have what I can cook.”

“Which just happens to be grilled chicken, baked potatoes, and canned beans,” Micah said as he wandered in with a grin. “At least dinner isn't full of surprises anymore. Claire loved her mystery-meat casseroles, she did.”

Randall smiled, imagining the creations their bossy sister was preparing for her newlywed husband. “I'm sure Jim is pining for a piece of blackened chicken right about now.”

“Doubt it,” Levi grumbled.

Privately thinking that one of their eldest sister's casseroles would actually be a most welcome change, Randall picked up a plate and carried it to the table. “Where are Neil and Kaylene?”

“On their way. Kaylene wanted to help Neil with the goats,” Micah said as he pointed toward the barn.

“Levi, go ahead and set the table then.”

“Again? I set it last night.”

“And I cooked last night. Do it.”

With a sullen expression, his youngest brother set the table for five. By the time he'd gotten the last of the silverware in place, Kaylene and Neil had filtered in.

Micah filled up glasses with water, and then helped Randall fill the rest of the platters and carry them to the table. Then, after a brief prayer uttered gratefully in silence, they began to pass dishes and fill their plates.

Just as they'd done for all of Randall's twenty-one years.

In fact, the only thing that ever seemed to change was the number of placemats they set out . . . and who did the cooking.

Just five months ago, things had been a lot different. Their three older siblings, Junior, Beverly, and Claire had still been living at home. Those three had been managing things for years, ever since their mother had died soon after giving birth to Kaylene.

When their father died five years ago, they'd divided up even more duties. Beverly had taken over the house and sewing, Claire the cooking and finances. Junior had been in charge of them all, and had practically raised Kaylene by himself.

As fourth from the oldest, Randall had more or less skated under the radar. He'd gotten a job in construction as soon as he'd gotten out of school at fourteen, and had figured he was doing his part by contributing his paycheck to the family bank account.

Junior, being Junior, had let him believe he'd been doing enough.

Now Randall realized that he'd been only doing enough for himself. He'd worked and courted Elizabeth Nolt in his spare time. He'd always planned to ask Elizabeth to marry him when he'd been promoted to a supervisor. Whenever the time was right.

But then things had happened.

Junior had fallen in love with Miriam Zehr, Joe Burkholder had finally gotten up the nerve to ask their sister Beverly to marry him, and then Claire—to everyone's surprise—had up and married Jim Weaver and moved to Charm.

Three siblings married in less than three months!

Of course, all three of them had spent many an hour discussing the pros and cons of them leaving. Junior and Miriam had even volunteered to continue living at the farm to take care of them all.

But that had rubbed Randall the wrong way. He was a grown man, not a spoiled teenager. No way was he going to ever say that he couldn't handle what his older brother had been doing without complaint for most of his life.

Therefore, he and Micah and Neil had developed a new triumvirate. Micah did most of the farming and studied for his GED in his spare time. Neil continued to train dogs and breed his goats and pigs—all moneymakers.

And because he was now the eldest in the house, Randall had changed his life completely. He now only worked construction two days a week. The rest of the time he took care of the house, goaded Levi to do his chores and get to his part-time job, and tried his best to take care of the youngest member of their family, Kaylene.