Christmas Surprise

 One of our greatest joys in life is to spend time with our children and grandchild.  Most often we have been able to be together with them each Christmas.  However, Jonathan and Reseth just moved from Pensacola, FL to Omaha, Nebraska to a new Air Force base and a new assignment.  They really enjoy their new home and the area.  But he let us know they were not going to be able to make it up for Christmas this year.  Aaron , our 18 month old grandson is so cute and growing very fast.  We just ached to be with him so we could all get to know each other better.  Our daughter Cherish said she could come for two weeks which was a great blessing to us, so that helped ease the pain of not being able to be with Jonathan's family.  We understand that when you are in the military, you can't always do what you want to do.

We planned to go to our Christmas church service in Ignace on the evening of December 23rd.  There was a dinner before the service at 5:30 p.m.  Once we got to Hwy 17 in Ignace, we met a police car heading east toward Thunder Bay with its lights flashing.  We groaned inwardly thinking there must have been an accident.
We didn't think anymore about it till after the service when we were heading home about 8:30 p.m.

We were driving on Hwy 17 again, heading back to Hwy 599 and saw a long line of tractor trailers stopped on Hwy 17.  We figured they must still be stopping traffic because of the accident.  John figured another way we could get onto Hwy 599 to make it back to camp.  When we got home, Cherish asked if there was anyway to find out who was in the accident.  I told her probably not till the next day.  She seemed very concerned.

Well, we settled down together in the living room and began to watch a movie.  All of a sudden about 10:00 p.m. , we heard a knock at the door.  That is extremely unusual since we live so far out in the woods and there is no one around us.  Who could it be?  Was someone lost?  Was it the police looking for someone who might be having trouble?

John went to the door and SURPRISE!!!!!  It was Jonathan, Reseth and little Aaron.  I was so shocked I could hardly stand up.  They had driven without their headlights on as they approached the camp and with the movie going we never heard them drive up.  It was the most wonderful surprise I could imagine.  We had a whole wonderful week with them. 

Jonathan and Reseth were stopped at the accident for four hours.  That's why Cherish was so concerned.  But Jonathan had called Reseth's parents in Duluth to let them know what happened and they texted Cherish to let her know they were okay.  Unfortunately a young man 35 years old lost his life in the head on collision.  Very sad news.  

We had lots of fun together during the week playing games, watching Aaron and laughing at his antics, snowmobiling, dog sledding , hiking to the overlook on Indian Lake and listening to Cherish play the keyboard  and sing.  That little Aaron is such a loving boy.  He was handing out hugs and kisses galore.  And oh does he LOVE music.  Soon as Jonathan started to play the guitar, he began to dance and bob his head and clap his hands.  Cherish let him play the keyboard too which was a thrill for him.  I got him a toy flute for Christmas and he serenaded us beautifully.

At one point Jonathan and Reseth surprised us again by telling us another little baby Oberg was on the way.  Yahoooooo!   It was a Christmas to remember for sure.