Sometimes an ending is a perfect way to have a beautiful beginning...

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Our Great Girlie-Time With An Odd Ending

I'm here. Been lookin' up lots of blogs enjoyin' everything I see! Lots of sweet ideas and gettin' more ideas for Christmas presents. I have a family quandary for Christmas every year and it's always the same... what to get the people who 'need' nothin' and want for nothin'? So this year, I'm gettin' creative. I'd much rather give people experiences and somethin' homemade than somethin' they don't need just to 'put a check in the box'. So, Buglette's takin' her nap and I'm sittin' here.
You may remember a few blogs ago (or have no recollection at all!) I wrote about medication I was taking and said that 'that was a story for another time' well, here's "the other time". And here's the story...
I took Bug up to Solvang, CA which is a small Danish town full of pretty shops and eateries and beautiful scenery and the drive up there is just too beautiful for words. I took her there because she had had a different sort of summer (she got to do lots of great stuff including summer Christian camp) with no real family vacation. I was getting cabin fever and Hubby suggested we go somewhere for a few days... just the my nine-year-old and I, her proud and grateful Mama. We got online and searched for a room in Solvang (Bug had never been and I knew she'd love it) and found an adorable room at the Wine Valley Inn; a loft room with a soft king-size bed and separate living room downstairs. The manager gave us a great price so Hubby said to go stay two nights instead! So off we went.
We had a wonderful two days filled with shopping (there is a perfect charity shop in Atterdag Square as well as a women's clothing consignment shop... love them both!) and we bought books at the bookstore (yep, several books, she has my love of reading) and we ate at some yummy places. We would shop, get tired, go back to our loft, nap, read, go eat, shop, read, you get the delicious idea. Well, the first night was restless for me. My arms and hands were awfully achy for some reason and I woke up all stiff and swollen for some reason. "Hmm, must've had something with too much salt yesterday". We got up and repeated the day before's events to our delight and I "just knew my body would bounce back after some walking and movin' around". Nope. Next night was even worse. Next morning was even worse than that. I was very stiff, now achy, swollen all over and could feel it getting worse. Long story short, after much debate with Hubby and then Mom and Dad I went to the emergency room there in the Santa Ynez Valley. Hubby stayed with Buglette and Mom and Dad drove up to be with me and especially Bug since we had no way of knowing what 'this' was or if I would need to stay overnight. 
Now, until Mom and Dad got there it was just me and my nine-year-old at the hospital waiting to find out what was going on. God sends angels just when we need them. I knew enough to not eat anything that morning so I would be fasting but I made Bug eat breakfast. By the time I was in the bed in the ER she was hungry and thirsty. A nice lady next to us was there with her twenty-something son and she offered Bug a bottle of water and a donut from what she had brought in. So sweet. Next, the lady from our hotel called to make sure all was well and make sure Bug was doing ok too. She had grand babies and Bug could go play with them. So sweet but of course Bug wanted to stay with me. Next, a lady in her mid-late sixties came in to be seen. She was so kind to us both... making conversation. I didn't realize maybe God had me there for someone else when my new friend confided in me that her best girlfriend of fifty-some years was dying that very day in another town from cancer. I was shocked, here this woman sat in an ER because of heart palpitations and her BFF is loosing her life to cancer. I felt so bad for her. I asked if we could pray and we did. Thankfully she was able to move on and go get to her friend.
As for me, I just watched the world around me change, beds open up, people fill them, doctors and nurses checking on me/us the whole day. My parents got there as the doctor was releasing me after tests showed nothing conclusive. He put me on Prednisone, a steroid to control my
swelling and achy joints. This was the medication that was keeping me up at night. 
I have yet to know what caused all of this and I am having another "swell" day today, ha ha. I am achy and swollen, especially my hands and feet. We are waiting for test results and a referral to a specialist so here I sit! My energy is also zapped which is a bummer after getting so many great ideas from other blogs.
We did go to church last night and were so touched when the pastor began talking about difficulties in people's lives. He asked people to stand and share some. I just knew no one would do that but before long there were people all over the congregation standing and talking about real difficult issues in their lives. Everything from needing a job to being a single parent to dealing with their pasts to mourning the death of a parent was mentioned. It was so moving and touching. There were big, burly guys who were being so transparent in their need for prayer (which we did as a congregation for everyone). It made all of our 'issues' seem so small. They are small in light of the big God we serve. So, I will be fine, one way or the other! I got two glorious days with my daughter and it ended on an odd note but I still got that time with her before school started!   We are blessed!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Work Hard, Enjoy Later

Sometimes my brain is 'a ticking... sometimes it's not. Today is a 'not' day. There's no reason, just not sure what to blog about. I read some of my favorite blogs and even found Beth Moore's blog from Living Proof Ministries. I love her... I've done several of her bible studies and we are big-hair kindred sister spirits. I am getting ready to do another one of hers by chance this fall (Oct.). You have to prepare yourself to do one of her studies. She gets so deep sometimes I tell ya, my heart hurts. Plus she's notorious for homework but I do love how she thinks and how she delivers God's word, so I'll do the work required to get the benefits I know will be waiting for me at the end. That's a little like life, huh? Put in the work now and reap the benefits later. Work hard at raising your kids now and they will hopefully repay you with fruitful lives later (not to mention grandbabies! I think those are babies you can hand back to your kids when they are poopy) Work hard at your marriage now and hopefully enjoy retirement without wanting to kill each other, ha ha. Thinking about you, Mom and Dad. Work hard at your career now (or your husband's career) and hopefully be able to retire in the first place. We are always telling Bug, "work first, fun afterwards". But, sometimes rules were made to be broken... last summer Bug and her BFF were at our little house we were staying in till our new, big one was ready for us. It was hot, Buglette was an infant and those two eight-year-old peas-in-a-pod had played inside all day while I took care of Buglette. They did pretty good at entertaining themselves and keeping the noise to a minimum. It was a weird day for all of us, especially them because they are used to being able to swim (no pool where we were), or play outside (it was really hot) or at least go out for a little adventure (no way, no how, not with a cranky infant). Well, once dinner time rolled around I took great pleasure in telling them we were going for ice cream, no, not for dessert, but big, gooey scoops of the kind they can 'make' themselves by choosing the toppings to put in it. For dinner. Plus, if they wanted a chocolate-dipped cone it was theirs. Their jaws hit the floor and they kept saying, "really?" It felt so good to break that rule! What fun, for them as well as me. Here's to occasionally breaking the rules!
Today is Wednesday so that means I must be very organized tonight. I get Bug from school at 3pm to head straight home so she can do homework. I must get dinner going, we all eat, Buglette takes a bath and gets in jammies and Bug gets her stuff ready for Missionettes and school tomorrow. While Bug is in Missionettes we will be in church tonight and Buglette in the nursery. We won't get home till 8:30-8:45pm. It's our crazy night of the week.  

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Lifted Up, Touched and Tickled

Ok, Women of Faith was awesome! Just imagine 15,000 women all in the same arena all singing and praising the Lord at the same time! Wow! I especially loved Marilyn Meberg, Patsy Clairmont and of course, Luci Swindoll. We got to also watch Christian comedian Anita Renfroe who made us all laugh so hard, I'm sure kegel exercises came in handy. We listened to Stephen Curtis Chapman who made me cry with his beautiful songs about his daughters and then one about his wife changing the world because she was home taking care of the children all day even though she felt like she got nothing done on some days. Whew! I was lifted up, touched and tickled all in a day and a half. We had an opportunity to sponsor a child in need from an impoverished country with Christian organization World Vision. I am very glad I answered the tug on my heart and decided to sponsor an eight year old little girl from Uganda named Juliet. Bug has just been beside herself with joy that she gets to write to her and that we are helping Juliet. Last night she cried gently into my chest and said, "Mama, I'm so blessed". I thought she was saying this because she realized how much she has and is grateful but she then said, "I'm so blessed because we get to help Juliet". Now that's the right attitude! Go on to World Vision.com to sponsor a child in need. $35 dollars a month gives them food, clean water, education and medication. So, for the cost of going out to eat one night you could give all that to one of God's children. 
Our weather the last few days has been unseasonable cooler. Yea!!! I know I've told you all this, like a million times but I am a very seasonal person! We got to 72 today. I decorated for fall outside today on our front porch and just in front in general. I put a fall wreath on our door, a scarecrow (a girl, of course, no boys in this house), a fake pumpkin by the front door (till we pick a real one) and a fall 'flag' in the shrubbery by the front door. The girls played out front while I 'worked', riding bikes and 'riding' tricycles. Buglette loves being outside and doesn't care whether it's in the front or back. Then we came in to do dinner.
I hope to be decorating the inside tomorrow... I will post some photos when I'm done. And now for your laughing pleasure (because I love to laugh) and it's Monday so someone should make you laugh...

         A little boy was paging through the family bible when something fell out of it. He picked it up and looked closely at it, it was an oak leaf that had been pressed between the pages. "Mom, look what I found," the boy shouted. "It's Adam's suit!"

And, no, Bug, sweet girl... Noah's wife was not Joan of Ark, good thinking, though!