This Day of Mine

I had what I would describe as a "creepy" kind of day today. And I need to talk about it.

It wasn't a bad day, school and housework went well. But it started off weird. I woke up at 6:30 am which is earlier than I had planned to wake up. Todd usually gets home from work at 7:30. I tried to go back to sleep but I started hearing strange creaking noises coming from the living room. It wasn't exactly dark out but it wasn't light yet either. I kept dozing and waking up every time I heard a creak. I thought about getting up and investigating but I was too tired and decided that if anything WAS in the living room, Todd could deal with it when he got home. I prayed for his protection at work, stopped being scared of the creaking and went back to sleep. Then I began getting startled by what sounded like animal noises. Thought I heard a low growl, then a few bump-bumps, then a bit of a whine (and we do not have any animals that make noise). It wasn't coming from the kids' rooms. It had snowed during the night and perhaps there were noises outside being muffled by the snow, I don't know. But, again, I was so tired I tried to shake my unsettled feelings and finally fell asleep.

Todd came home an hour later than usual (8:30 am). It turns out that he had to help restrain a meth-withdrawal patient that was trying to bite him and the other nurses while they were attempting to care for her. Todd ended up getting a scratch on his wrist which freaked me out until he reassured me that he would be o.k. (At least this patient didn't have HIV and Todd has had a Hepatitis shot.) But the amazing thing is that I prayed for God's protection on him about 1/2 hour before this occurred. I can be unusually sensitive to ... well, lots of things, especially situations concerning my loved ones and this was one of those times, I believe. God woke me and led me to pray for my husband, at the right time. This patient had already bitten a female nurse on a previous shift. I fully believe God protected my husband from being bitten. Praise the Lord!

The rest of the day was actually a good one, except the weather was strange. Like I said, it had snowed throughout the night and continued to snow off and on, all day long. In between the snow, it rained, hailed, then blue sky and sun. The wind blew and then it was still. It was just all over the place, weather-wise today. Out my kitchen window, I can see up the street and it being trash pick-up day, I could see all my neighbors' trash cans lined up the hill. On one open bin, I saw our neighborhood sea gull sitting, eating his lunch. He apparently sidelined two crows who had been sitting there earlier. This particular sea gull is a frequent guest on our hill. He walks up and down the street, several times a week. We had never seen him fly until today. When our trash man approached, the sea gull flew off - indignant, I'm sure. The kids and I laughed, watching all this.

Later today, I was washing the dishes and, while looking down at the sink, I heard a loud "thump!" Oh, no! Alec looked out the front door and, sure enough, a poor little brown bird laid there, dead. I cried. We haven't had a bird hit our kitchen window in a long, long time (fortunately). I asked Chad if he'd take care of it but he declined. Then I realized that it was a "Mom" thing so I carefully took it across the street to the vacant lot. It took me a long time to get up the courage to pick it up (wearing gloves, of course!) but I did it. Sigh. I hate to kill spiders, for goodness sake. Bird deaths really upset me. I'm so very thankful I didn't see it hit the window. At least its death was quick. And maybe, just maybe, it was only stunned. Perhaps it came to its senses and flew away. Oh, do you think?

Yeah, today was kind of creepy. I'm so glad I know Jesus. Days like today would have a different meaning if I didn't know that God is in control and we don't need to be concerned when things seem weird. And that knowledge keeps me from dwelling on the bizarre happenings in everyday life. It's just life.

Less To Do

Be glad for me ... I finially finished a few things this past weekend.

1. My daughter's robe. About 7+ years ago, when my daughter was still a baby (before she could sit up, even) I purchased a pattern and leopard-like fleece fabric to make robes for all three of my kids. Each kid had a different color of fleece, Carmen's being a pretty dark mauvish color. I made the first robe for my oldest son, right away. I remember sitting on the floor, cutting out the fabric with Carmen sleeping in her infant seat next to me. The boys were racing around me (they were 3 and 5) and the livingroom had barely any furniture in it. I had high hopes of making the other two robes. Didn't happen. What did happen was that Chad outgrew his robe (Alec has it now) and I FINALLY began cutting out Carmen's robe a few months ago. A FEW MONTHS AGO! So I'm a bit slow. Anyway, I FINISHED IT! This weekend, I just shut out everyone and everything else and got the thing done. I was SO happy! I washed it and presented it to my daughter. She is happy but I had to ask her to try it on. She tried it on and was still happy. But ... I know deep in my heart that she'll likely never wear it. Sigh. She is very picky about what she wears, meaning if it's not a sweatshirt and sweatpants, it will probably hang in her closet. Another sigh. This is a child that will not wear more than one layer, even if she's cold. And she's cold often. I have told her that she can wear the robe if she's cold but I'm not going to say another word. It's up to her if she wears it or not. All that matters to me is that I finished something I started. Better late than never.

2. I finished and mailed out my fed taxes! Praise the Lord! Every year, I set a goal to get them done by February and this year I met my goal! Since I had Alec and Carmen (late Jan and early Feb babies) meeting this goal became more difficult. But it's done and gone. Big sigh!

3. Todd started cutting out the pine derby racers I mentioned in my last post. He and the kids finialized their designs and I let Carmen design mine. The kids have been doing a little shaping here and there. It is encouraging to see this project moving along. I think the cars will look really good.

I am inspired to work on other projects I have started. Every time I get discouraged, I will remind myself that I have the ability to finish it. Some day.

Vrrooooommmmmm .......

Ever heard of "Pine Derby Racers?" I may or may not have but my husband knows all about them. You buy a little kit that has a block of pine, 4 wheels and axles. Then you design and create your own race car. As a boy, my husband raced his cars with his scout troop and enjoyed it a great deal. So we decided to buy kits for the whole family. Todd found a video of a Pine Derby race and we all enjoyed watching. The kits arrived and now the kids have been drawing designs of what they want their car to look like. Even my non-drawing oldest child finally came up with a design this evening. Isn't that great? I love it when an idea is received enthusiastically. Now the challenge will be for us parents to follow through with helping create the cars and keep the motivation going. Maybe we'll post a photo (don't hold your breath, however!)

I don't know if there are any Pine Derby Races here in our state (there are rules to follow for building the cars) but I think I'll do a bit of research and see. We are not involved in scouting but perhaps there's a way we can race them in a non-scout race. We will see.

In the mean time, the kids and Todd have drawn various cars that look like: a whale, an alligator, a submarine, and, hey, a race car! I'm going to let them design a car for me because I cannot draw (I'm strictly a word person.) But I know how to use sandpaper and paint. We will be facing long rainy days soon (ah, spring in the Northwest) but working on the cars should be a nice in-house project.

A Modern Fairy Tale

Once there was a handsome prince who was married to a good and capable girl of semi-noble upbringing. They had three fine, young children. One day, the prince came home with small, collectible toy cars for each of the children. His wife thought it sweet. Then the prince began bringing home more small, collectible toy cars more frequently, first for the children and then for himself. And later still, the prince began a collection for his good and capable wife. At last, the wife began to think that the prince was spending way too much of his hard-earned money on such things and worried what message this was sending to the fine, young children. As sweetly as she could, she hesitantly voiced her concerns to her handsome prince. His reply melted her heart, "Well, when I was a kid, my collection was stolen so I can't share it with my kids." That was all the prince had to say. Instantly, his wife totally understood, smiled and kissed her handsome prince and vowed in her heart to never, ever complain or worry about this issue again.

The End.

Unexpected Thank You's

How does one say "Thank you" for a "Thank You" gift?

This past week, we received two very sweet thank you gifts, one from my neighbor for taking in her mail while she was away, and the other from my sister (she had a birthday recently). Both thank you's were way more than I expected (as I didn't expect anything at all) and I felt that they were so thoughtful that I wanted to do something back to thank them (where will it end? -LOL!) It's hard for me to simply accept a nice gesture toward me or my family and I don't know why. God gives His gifts freely and that's what a thank you gift is, I believe. A gift given without needing anything in return.

Still ...

I guess I won't be satisfied until I have the opportunity to thank my neighbor and my sister - I just can't help myself!

New Leadership

All right, ladies. Now is the time to pray for our nation's new leaders. Tomorrow is the day.

This is one of those rare, rare times I wish we had TV. I've tried to find live coverage on the internet but I think we'll just go to the local Sears outlet in town. They always have too many televisions turned on, blaring nonsense. I'm sure they'll be turned in. Chad really wants to see the swearing-in live and I don't blame him. I think this whole thing is being blown out of proportion but that's just my opinion. I'll be so glad when it's over. Well, maybe. I still have to laugh about something I heard on the radio back during Mr. Obama's campaign. He was speaking somewhere about how things were in our nation, currently. Referring to how things would be if he were elected, his comment was, "It couldn't be worse!" Oh, I hope he is right!

We will see.

(End of my political opinion.)

First Post of 2009

Just a word to say that I'm still around but not feeling like writing anything. I've been stuck into the newest book recently published by my blog friend and talented writer, Paula (see 'appleleaf" at left). I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. the day before New Year's Eve reading the entire thing! Now, I'm re-reading it to make sure I didn't miss anything. A habit I have, I'm afraid. I love re-reading books that I really enjoy. Check out Paula's blog and find out what this delightful writer is all about!

(The above is not a paid endorsement - just an enthusiastic reader and friend!)