Monthly Archives: February 2006

It is so great to see my family for a few days and a special treat to be able to spend time with my grandma. Darling Daughter (dd) is enraptured with her and spends every moment she can sitting nearby or whispering secrets to her. It is such a wonderful opportunity for her to get to know her great grandma better. I love watching them together. My grandma is a beautiful woman. She loves God with all her being and it overflows into everything she does. She is soft spoken, slow to anger, quick to find the good in all things, and always serving others. She handles herself with grace and dignity even when she is having an “off” day. Everyone is drawn to her quiet happiness and she is loved dearly by all those who know her. I would love to have known what she was like when she was raising her little family. I wonder if she ever lost her temper or had a cross word? To look at her now, I doubt it. DD and I were discussing grandma this morning, how she seems to always reflect God and show a sweet spirit and patient tone (something both dd and myself struggle with). Darling daughter decided that great grandma must be good at it because, “she has had longer to practice than we have.” (May we continue to “practice” reflecting God in all things so that His beauty shines from our life as clearly as it does from Great-Grandma’s.)

Have you ever noticed that everything goes haywire at the most inopportune times? My parents are coming to visit for the week and they are bringing Grandma, whom we have not seen for over a year (she is 90 and doesn’t travel much). We are so excited to see them and have been looking forward to this for several months. My kids have managed not to get the flu for 2 years now. We have had a few colds but the children tend to be fairly healthy. Two weeks ago, some little girl at Awana thought it would be fun to cough all over her hands and chase my daughter and son with her “cooties”. Kids will play, and a cold isn’t the end of the world, but right now I have 2 children that feel fine but have a cough, one child that is coughing and requires medication or he can’t stop, and I have a sinus cold (from holding sick children). Nothing like exposing Grandma to our germs! I am looking forward to spending some time with my folks and the kids can’t wait for the “Checker Champion” tournaments to begin with my dad. Hopefully, all will go well and they will not get our colds. Please pray for a speedy recovery and health for our guests so that we may enjoy our time together.

First off, I am a dog person. Kittens are nice and cute, but then they grow up and ignore you. Dogs, however worship the ground you walk on and are happy as long as you feed and pet them. We have a cat. Kitty and I have a love/hate relationship. I don’t like his fur everywhere, I don’t like him sneaking onto my counters when I am not home, and I hate his litter box. He CAN be kind of cool since I have trained him to come like a dog, he doesn’t beg (he hates people food), and he provides lots of good natured ribbing for my husband because his “intelligent cat” believes our toilet is the fountain of youth and he refuses to drink anywhere else. (Yes, we have tried closing the lids…he just cries or waits for the kids to forget.)

For some reason this cat has potty radar. If you go near his box with a scooper, he comes running! I clean his box, and he makes it dirty within 5 minutes. (I tried cleaning it again, but he will just keep messing it up.) Yesterday I cleaned up the whole house and vacuumed all around his box so that I would have a “grit free” floor for a couple hours in my bathroom where we keep his box. Dearest Fuzzball goes flying in and checks his box. (”Ha! I had left it alone so he wouldn’t kick sand on my floor!”) Not even 5 minutes later, I ran into bathroom to grab my brush, only to step in…….grit! The evil Fuzzball had gone just outside of his box edge and then proceeded to kick a MOUNTAIN of litter over the edge of his box so that he could bury the offending log! Then to make it worse, he had left a litter trail to the fountain of youth! I soo miss my dog!

This morning we woke up and darling daughter (dd) was dancing quietly in the living room to a song in her head. She was so sick yesterday that she spent most of it sleeping or laying on the couch. It has been a long 5 days. Her appetite is back and she’s back to following her brothers around. What a blessing to have her smiling and dancing again!

In January, hubby ordered a new car that would fit our family and be perfect for 4×4ing (our favorite pass-time as a family). We have waited patiently for a build date. As our delivery date came and passed, we asked for the order number. Hubby was advised manufacturer was experiencing “delays”. The following week, the dealer showed hubby other cars on the lot, “just in case” his didn’t arrive in time (we are on a deadline with his travel- assist-benefits ending and we needed a replacement by then). Long story short…. they never ordered the car, they were hoping he would buy one off the lot. “So sorry, not sure what happened, the order didn’t go through the system for some reason….. ” (I must give hubby HUGE applause here.) Instead of impulsively picking another one off the lot, he had them return his deposit and left. Maybe later it will work out or maybe we should get a used SUV like we originally planned. Either way, he is not reacting with his usual frustration for this type of set back. He is disappointed and a little sad, but he is ok with this and not making any rash decisions. God knows our circumstances and has it all worked out ahead of time. We look forward to see how this works out.

My oldest son had a cold all last week. He was miserable, but not in any danger now that he is past the croup stage. He was feeling much better by the end of the week. My daughter came down with a cold on Saturday. She got bad pretty quickly and by Sunday night she had the croup and breathing issues. Thank goodness we brought our nebulizer with us, that makes these episodes a little easier. We had one sleepless night with the croup. Then it transformed into a nasty cold with a deep cough (so deep that it causes dd to throw up). This lasted through last night. It seems the worst is over now, she is still coughing, but if she takes it easy she won’t throw up. Her fever broke around yesterday at noon so she feels/acts much better today too. Today will be spent cleaning, catching up laundry, and airing out the house.

Update 2pm…..Apparently I spoke to soon, DD just got sick again.

When was the last time you were looked at oddly or had strangers comment on some aspect of your life because of your Christian values? (Think, the way you dress, the choices in entertainment you make, how your children behave, the way you speak, the list is endless.) Do others view your life as “different and desirable”, or are you blending in quite well? I know I have some areas that need attention! I long to hear, “Well done, my child!” but I seem so far from where I should be.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.