Random and Unedited

This morning was entirely glorious as I basked in the pure laziness of sleeping in for the first time in months! It felt so good not to have to get up and go coach a game. For four years, I have been the coach of my daughter's cheer leading squad, and for the most part, I have loved every minute of it. But something about this year was different. Somehow, our hearts just weren't in it to the extent that they have been in the past. I probably enjoyed the girls themselves more than any other squad I've ever had, but what very little parental involvement there was seemed mostly shallow and my daughter changed her mind after only a couple of weeks. But for the rest of the season we stuck it out. I needed to model commitment and Faith needed to learn it.

So this morning I forced my regimented internal clock back to sleep at 6:30 to enjoy more slumber until the scared chirps of birds threatened by winds re-wakened me at a more enjoyable 8:30. Then I just lied there a few minutes - because I could. I decided to post since the computer sat right next to my bed where I left it after watching a movie last night. After making a big deal of going to the movie rental store last night and letting each family member make a pick, we returned home to find that our DVD player had officially died. No prior symptoms existed. It's just how life keeps us laughing in irony. (On a completely random side note, there was a well-known song back when I got married called IRONIC. We actually fulfilled the majority of examples in the singer's list of bitter ironies. "Rain on your wedding day." Four inches.....and a record low 44 degrees in late April. "A free ride when you've already paid." The special offered by a local jeweler to receive your wedding ring free if it rains on your wedding day began about two months AFTER our washout. "Good advice that you just didn't take." Duh! We were in our twenties. I'm sure it happened frequently.


Anyhoo, last night my hubby took the kids to the driving range and dinner at our favorite restaurant so I could relax alone and nurse my back. It has been in a precarious state too often lately, and I'm learning that I had better not try to push through. So I watched "The Secret Life Of Bees." Men beware, this glowing testimonial will not impress you in the least. This was a deluxe chick-flick through and through, but I thought it was an EXCELLENT movie. Queen Latifah and Dakota Fanning should both be nominated for the Oscar and I'm not a fan of either the awards show nor Hollywood in general. But, boy! Can those girls act!


Anyway, the movie was almost ended when the family returned and my husband came in needing to watch the weather report. I paused the movie and fell asleep about two minutes into the news. I NEVER nod off that fast! I was exhausted! It's been a crazy (good) week. His teasing woke me up and I decided to look at old photos on the computer in order to stay awake to finish the movie. I ended up perusing the pictures for over three hours! Each and every one held such wonderfully amazing memories of a special, though non-descript day from our lives. I ended up crying in gratitude for the choices the Lord has led me to and all that I DIDN'T miss because of it. There were dozens and dozens of days represented for which I could remember the details of how my heart felt. First zoo trips, swinging at the park, school plays and day trips and grilling out in the backyard on a hot day. And plenty that had no special occasion other than a fantastic smile over a cupcake or a practical joke or bubbles running amok over the edge of a whirlpool tub. I am so glad that I've had the opportunity to stay home with my kiddos and for the examples my own Mom has set on how to have fun and make relationships the most important part of life. They truly are all that we take with us!


My sweet husband got me a professional grade camera for my birthday this year. I have been wanting one for more than three years now, but since December I haven't yet taken it out of the box. I wanted to read a lot of the directions on it before I went messing around on it and messing it up. But last night gave me the bug all over again! (Which is not a good thing as I am knee deep in the middle of some MAJOR, necessary re-organizing of our home and business.) I can not wait now to capture more memories. Just yesterday it was my youngest doing his first ever oral school report. It was on Bill Gates and he did AWESOME! Later today, we're hoping it may be fishing or driving around some small towns in search of an adventure. We've been really concentrating on old-fashioned cheap fun as the consequences of this economy have made themselves felt. But for a few weeks it's been some combination of us and not all of us. That's the goal this evening.

For today, I face the daunting task of going through years of old clothes I have not formerly had the time to purge. And I hate not purging. So while I'm not looking forward to the process (because it has become "mountainess" - is that a word?), I'm only too thrilled for the results! I love organizing, WHEN it actually begins to make a noticeable difference! Then we are going to try to dismantle the swimming pool. I can't afford the water bill to fill it up just yet, but between the tornado of two weeks ago and the 60-mile-an-hour straight line winds last night, it just makes sense that it's not going to last much into the Spring.

Tomorrow is church! And I'll have to write a whole other post on that and how incredible it's been to watch the Lord at work taking old doubts and fears and making His will so ABUNDANTLY clear! Right now we are in a series about family and how you must FIGHT for them. I LOVE this series because it has uncovered so much for both Greg and I about how to turn the great feelings of love toward one another into ACTION that actually accomplishes something wonderful. We both have no trouble with action in and of itself. Amongst our many many sins and shortcoming we are both very hard workers. But we are learning how to become unburdened with all of the well-intentioned, yet totally inefficient action and how to learn the needs of a creature (spouse) who thinks nothing like you. Then we'll spend the rest of the day in a new members class. We are all so excited.

You know, the economy may be going to pot, and my back hurts constantly and my face now bares permanent scarring from the staph infection of last summer that is only now finally gone. Obama is a nutcase who is turning freedom on it's head (yeah, I said it) in a matter of a few short days in office and much of the nation sits back and lauds it happening - for now. But for this day, this moment, this snapshot of memory, I look out the office window, through the tall rustling trees, over the ridge to the small town below and I feel thankful. Life is not perfect, but it is fulfilling. It is not painless, but that only further proves that God's Word can be counted on. It is not flawless, but He is. And He loves me.