Oh What Fun!

Have you ever had to be in the situation of Mr. Quiet?  Well of course we’ve all had.  But how about a HUGE secret that you had to hold in for a very long time???

For months I’ve been hiding a secret from the majority of my family.  Parents, siblings, nieces, nephews etc.  Yesterday I finally permitted myself to reveal the secret for 2 important people!  My Mom and Dad.  The scheming that went on for sometime was organizing the anticipated arrival of 5 Oom’s and Tante’s from the Netherlands.  It began a few months ago with my uncle asking if I thought it would be good for some guests to come visit my parents.  My Dad is not in great health, and my Mom keeps very busy taking care of my Dad.  The answer to that question was simple.  A definite YES!  The next step was to plot out a sleeping location.  At first I thought it would be fun to sneak them all into my parents home.  They are empty nesters with 4 spare rooms……..but things changed my mind.  So next step was finding a new sleeping location (done).

The hardest step was deciding to tell the family/parents about this arrival.  Not an easy decision to make and I tossed and turned, thought and processed over and over again….I finally caved and told my eldest sister!  She’s a great support and also kept the secret alongside me.

A couple weeks ago it was time to tell all my siblings.  My sisters want to be in BC  to see these wonderful guests so they both needed to know to fly here.  My other sister-in-law was tricked into a baking day to stuff our freezers when really we were doing it to stuff my mom’s freezer.  The other siblings also found out at that time so only 2 people left to tell…..and I was still tossing around do I tell them now… do I wait.  I need to wait….it’s so hard to keep this secret.

Yesterday 1 week before the anticipated arrival of our guests I finally could tell the people who will be the most excited.  My uncle happened to be on the phone with my Mom when I walked in the door.  So I thought perfect!  He can tell her on the phone (maybe she’ll believe it) and I can video her reaction.  Well it was the most wonderful reaction ever!  “You’re coming, really?  How wonderful! “  “When do you plan to come?”  NEXT WEEK??????? NOOO!  Yes???  (My take on all the Dutch that was spoken)

Now after my Mom finally could hang up the phone…..out came the second portion of her surprise.  “Mom we know you’ll have many people in your house for those two weeks we have compiled a variety of baking separated into 10 days worth of goodies.  Somehow we managed to stuff this all in her freezer.  I can’t wait to eat some of that over a good cup of koffie.

The next step was telling my Dad.  He too was quite surprised, but it is difficult to read his emotions.  It is so nice to bring him good news though.  If you don’t know my Dad has been sitting in a hospital a few weeks.  First for recovery of a blood clot surgery and now awaiting an operation.  Dad has some more clots they like to resolve before they operate, the blood thinners are constantly needing to be watched so he must be patient and be a good patient in the hospital.  He definitely is in need of much prayer!  We know many hold him in prayer so thank you to those who do!

It is all so exciting and yet hard to fathom what will happen next.  We just are thankful that my parents have been under God’s gracious care for 40 years and we are going to praise Him for that.   Mom and Dad we love you so much and we pray this big surprise will bring much joy to your hearts!!!