More than Just Happenstance

There has been a considerable gulf of time since the last time I blogged, and I'm well aware of it. Sometimes the cricket chirp-inducing silence is due to the fact that I have absolutely nothing to blog about, but this has not been the case. 2013 End/2014 Beginning has been more action-packed than a game of volleyball at the Mennonite Olympics. I'll briefly denote a few current happenings and perhaps add detail to some of them, while being ever-conscious that I have more material than anyone has time to read.

I drove to Florida with my parents and hung out with relatives for a week, and it was awesome except for the two days I spent in a hotel room, sick with bronchitis. I got to visit with my Maust relatives, seeing cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents that I haven't seen in a very long time. Both of my sisters came out with their families, which was an extra special blessing. Shannon and Konrad DROVE from Oregon to Florida. In a van. With five kids. I still can't believe it, but I'm very grateful they sacrificed their time and money and any hope for longevity to come join the reunion.

I loved hanging out with my cousins Kyle and Brandon Beachy, who I hadn't seen for over a year. Their brother Kirk came later, and it was awesome to see him as well.

Grandpa Clayton and Grandma Thelma organized and paid for our wonderful retreat at the campground in Florida. Even better, they instilled a Godly heritage into their children, and I am forever thankful.

I'm not even slightly hesitant to let people know that Jocelyn is my niece. 

My extraordinary sister Shannon and her beautiful family. 

Rumor has it, my excellent brother-in-law Konrad had something to do with it as well.

Charlotte is in the top five of "Shawn's Favorite Nieces".
Shawn currently has 5 nieces.

With several consecutive days reaching no warmer than -5 degrees and one day with a -40 windchill, this is the coldest, most bitter winter I can recall. My family business has been swamped with work because of it. The extreme cold is making furnaces and boilers and water heaters do bizarre, unnatural things, so we've scratched our brains and pulled a few hairs but (so far) no one has frozen to death, so that's a bonus.

Have I introduced my new roommate, Ryan Bacon, to you? Or my other new roommate Nate Stone? Where have my manners been?! Nate is a childhood friend who grew up just a mile and a half from me, and it has been great having him live at Mancrest. Ryan is a young man from Iowa City who needed a place to live, and through a friend of an acquaintance of a neighbor, he was hooked up with me. He had been previously working a construction job but was laid off in December. Since then, we've been searching for alternative work for him. Ryan does not have a driver's license, which limits job opportunities. If you know of a job opening somewhere, we'll try to work out transportation logistics.

My roommate Ryan and my manfriend Jordan.

That previous photo was taken at Cheddar's Casual Cafe, a fantastic restaurant that just recently opened in Coralville. Jordan and I had been wanting to go, and scheduled a visit. Ryan called to tell me he needed a ride home, since he was stuck in Coralville. What an excellent coincidence! We were headed to Coralville already, so it worked out nicely. I told Ryan to hang tight, and I'd pick him up and buy him some supper.

I ordered a fancy Steak & Ribs combo meal off of their gluten-free menu, along with a baked potato and coleslaw. When the meal arrived, the steak was sitting on a bed of fried onion straws. Surprised, I asked Cindy, our wonderful waitress, if the onion straws were gluten-free. She said she'd check. A few minutes later, she came running back to the table and blurted, "Don't eat those! They're not gluten free!" I had suspected as much, so I had avoided them. She told me the kitchen was going to prepare me an entirely new meal. I had eaten half of my ribs and some of the potato, so I told her that if they remade the steak (the only thing affected by the wheaty onions), that would be perfect. Cindy returned a short while later with a new steak and her sincere apologies. "Some of the staff in our kitchen don't understand English very well. I'm very sorry about the inconvenience. Your meal is on us tonight." Wow, God knew I was in need of an extra special blessing! I had a wonderful evening. Later when I looked at the receipt and marveled at how they gave me a free meal, I discovered that our waitress's name was Sydney, not Cindy. I'll blame that one on my faulty Graber hearing.

My Graber grandparents graciously allowed some of my friends and I to stage a Murder Mystery supper in their home. The murder mystery was set in the 1960's. We had a lot of fun figuring out clues and blaming each other. The evening was the brainchild of my friend Jordan, who coordinated the story and backgrounds. He also prepared the fine meal. (Ladies, Jordan is a fine catch. I can set you up on a date if you ask nicely.) Kerri played the rich elderly hostess that suddenly died after a questionable power outage during the meal (power outage provided by my Grandpa Lynn, manning the breaker box in the basement). We hastily rushed through the house, leaving no stone unturned. We found incriminating clues in the basement, attic, and guest bedrooms. Dirty secrets were unveiled left and right. My brother Shane, Kerri's gardener, was secretly stealing her paintings and growing marijuana in the backyard. My neighbor Shane was a retired mob boss that hated when Kerri's cats would poop on his lawn. Kelsey was not against bribing and blackmailing to get her husband Tyler the Governor's chair. I was often seen visiting Kerri's home, ostensibly to repair her plumbing but actually because I was a gold-digging widow-chaser. Elizabeth turned out to be an illegitimate child of Kerri's late husband, left penniless and without inheritance. Brooks was a college professor with more than just a touch of Communist sentiment. Christian was a French art inspector that suspected Kerri's late husband had ties to Nazi art thieves.

I was Russell Spencer, the plumber. Also, I loved every woman in town 

but some of them wouldn't let me date them, which caused me no small concern.

Back Row: Jordan, Kendal, myself, Tyler, Brooks, Christian, Shane, Shane.
Front Row: Elizabeth, Pearl, Amanda, Alaynna, Kerri, Kelsey, Fern.
I do wish Jordan and Kendal wouldn't hide behind people when taking photos. 

They are both dapper young men that have no need to be self-conscious.

Just prior to leaving for the Murder Mystery, my pet rat, Skittles, passed away. Last year, a friend of mine gave me her two pet rats to hold and to cherish, and I've really enjoyed having them. They're playful, smart, quiet, and way nicer than the hamsters and guinea pigs I've owned. Skittles and Zettra, two female domestic rats, have been ideal pets. I know I'm not going to get much sympathy when I mention that a rat has died, but I'll be honest, it was hard on me. Don't tell Zettra, but Skittles was my favorite. She was adventurous and always glad to see me. Near the end, she didn't seem her usual, energetic self. She acted tired and ill. I didn't think much of it until she started struggling to get around and her body grew cold. I planned to take her to the vet but she died before I could.

I know, Zettra. I miss Skittles too.

My ex-roomie Shane and his wife Alaynna became my right-now neighbor. I am QUITE EXCITED. They're still in the process of moving in but they're already the most awesome neighbors. Alaynna made a tremendous gluten-free breakfast pizza for us. So tremendous, in fact, that Nate said that he was shocked gluten-free food could taste that delicious.

Yesterday, Neighbor Shane suggested that we make good use of the frozen river while we can, so we tore out there with the four-wheeler. We had an incredible afternoon.

Shane and I don't have any sleds, so we towed a canoe for a while. 

 

The going was slow because the metal canoe was so heavy. We weren't risking our lives at the proper velocity, so we grabbed a kayak and blasted around. The light kayak whipped across the frozen surface at blistering speeds. I rode in the kayak first and was quickly covered in ice shavings flying from the rear of the four-wheeler as Shane romped around the riverbed. We had a sophisticated safety system in place. "If the kayak rolls, be sure to shout real loud. I don't want to drag you upside down very far." Shane said. After a while, Shane stopped and I shook the icy slush off. We adjusted the strap so the kayak wasn't so close to the rear wheels, in hopes that the kayak occupant wouldn't get showered with icy slush as much. Shane hopped in the kayak and I took command of the four-wheeler. I carefully eyeballed the serene Shane, who calmly sat through several intense donuts. I was fairly surprised with how well the kayak handled without tipping in the slightest. We were flying down the river when I took a sharp detour to the left. The kayak followed the motion with immense momentum and blasted into a heavy snow drift while traveling sideways. Shane flew out, rolled through the snow, and came up frozen and laughing. We called it quits shortly after that.


Today, with temperatures soaring up to 44 degrees(!), the river is melting far too much for us to drive on it. Again, the timing on this was perfect; more than just happenstance. 


I'm involved with a Financial Peace University class, and I really like it so far. The course goes for nine weeks, and last Wednesday was our first class. I was fairly surprised at the attendance for the first class; roughly 35-40 people showed up. We're going to learn how to be proper stewards of God's money, which includes saving up for emergencies, giving to the needy, and investing money wisely. Our first objective: get $1,000.00 into the bank as quickly as possible. (I believe "Without breaking any laws" is implied.) I'm a pretty impulsive shopper, so I was in need of some corrective teaching in this area. The timing of this class was not coincidental.


Do you remember all those coins I've been faithfully saving up in a large glass jar? Bonus question: do you remember the sign I taped to the jar?

Yeah, that one. Two years ago, I wrote "For Bacon" on a piece of paper and stuck it on the jar. I thought I was so crafty. Saving up spare change in order to buy salty meat snacks! I never once took change out of the jar, and even involved several of my friends. If they contributed to the Bacon fund, they'd get their name tagged on the Facebook photo of the jar. Over the past year, 13 friends contributed to the jar.

Do you remember my new roommate Ryan? The one with the last name "Bacon"? And how he lost his job in December?

You see where this is going. God has a sense of humor and a eery sense of timing. The Lord wanted to show me that I was far too attached to my jar of spare change, while also showing me that He plans things ridiculously far in advance. I didn't know Ryan Bacon existed when I wrote that sign, but God did. I didn't even make the connection between "My roomie's last name is Bacon and my jar of money says 'For Bacon' on it." until the Lord nudged me about it. So I gave the jar to Ryan. "Thanks, man!" he said and ran to his room. I could hear him dumping out all the change and sorting it. After 15 minutes of coins rattling, he said "Hey Shawn! You want to see what $102 in quarters looks like?"

God's timing is infinitely precise. If you need more proof of this, you should most likely watch this. I recommend watching this lengthy Youtube video if you love (a) seeing God's glory in nature, (b) star gazing, (c) the story of the Nativity, or (d) you just have a spare 61 minutes. For any of you that God orchestrated the patterns and orbits of the stars, earth, and planets so they would align for his Son's birth. He even used man's interpretation of the stars and constellations to tell the story of Jesus' coming. I cannot geek out enough about how cool that is.

Reunions, relationships, romps on the river...how refreshing it is to let God do the scheduling! He coordinates things perfectly.

Thank You, Father, for giving me so many blessings. Thank You for preparing things in advance for Your children. Please prevent me from becoming so attached to my stuff that I lose focus of important things, like my relationship with You and the needs of other people.