Irritations and Productivity

On Monday, a lady from the sofa delivery company called to schedule the delivery. I explained in what I thought was great detail that this sofa had to go upstairs and over a banister so sending two guys would not be sufficient. She assured me she would have a "technician" meet the delivery truck.

She didn't. So the two guys show up and tell me they can get it in place, but they might scrape the ceiling. Let me clarify something here. The reason for painting and carpeting now was because our son had taken much of the furniture with him and made it easier to do. The reason we needed to paint at all was because we got black marks on the ceiling at the top of the stairs moving in the last sofa - and even more moving it out. I really didn't want them to mess it up again which is kind of why I was all for the ridiculous price I was paying for professionals to move the new one.

The delivery guys left the sofa in my living room. About an hour later, a technician and a helper came and completely disassembled the sofa, carried it upstairs in pieces and reassembled it up there. OK, THAT was worth the price. Anyway, it's there and my irritation at being ignored is gone.

Today was a very productive day for me. I raced to a friend's house to trade for a product she had that I needed for a customer to pick up today. Then I went to Costco and used all the coupons I could manage and restocked our garage shelves with paper goods, etc. Then I made a mad-dash to the grocery store to get soy sour cream for my daughter. Dairy allergies are the pits, folks. The absolute pits!

My daughter works with the youth group at her church. They asked if they could have an end-of-summer celebration here next week. The only thing I still hadn't finished from all the work upstairs is putting some photos that used to be in frames on the walls into albums instead, so I actually got that done this afternoon and did about four pages in our family album for a total of twelve pages today. I'm delighted and it's done with time to spare before the young people descend upon us.

Supper tasted great but was a logistical nightmare. I was making nachos, but they stuck like glue to the foil while in the oven and they were a mess. It was a relatively quick meal and my daughter liked it. Still won't do it again soon since it was so messy.

Guess that's about it for this time.

Rejoicing

My family is rejoicing and giving thanks this week. My favorite aunt was recently diagnosed with cancer. The surgery last week was successful and she was told yesterday by her surgeon that he "got it all". That is the best possible news. She will find out later this week what additional treatment(s) will be necessary to accomplish a complete healing, but we are very grateful for this blessing for her and all of us who know and love her.

Shaking It Out

When I was a little girl, my parents took me to Knotts Berry Farm in California. The one activity I remember from that visit was "panning for gold". Using a sifter, we scooped out some of the dirt and sediment from the bottom of a water trough-type contraption and gently shook it around to allow the water and dirt to sift out. If lucky, a few flecks of gold dust would remain in the sifter and could be taken home as a souvenir.

Earlier today, I watched an episode of "How It's Made" and saw a segment on cranberries. Before the berries can be processed, they are shaken and allowed to dry and then additional sugar is added to end up with the dried cranberries that are so sweet and delicious.

So it is with God's Hand in our lives. Sometimes, He has to shake us up a bit, sift us to ready us for His plan in our lives. We wouldn't be prepared for that mission without the shaking and sifting of events in our lives. But we sure don't enjoy going through the process. I'm trying to remember the sweet deliciousness of dried cranberries or the preciousness of gold when God shakes me up and makes my life uncomfortable for a time. Only with the rough times will we truly appreciate and recognize God's blessings in our lives. And I do thank Him for those blessings, His provision and answered prayer.

The Month of July

For three solid weeks, our house has been topsy-turvy. Since our son moved out, taking furniture with him, we embarked on a minor "spruce up" of the upstairs portion of our house and the stairwell (simply because it was filthy and needed it the most!). The painter I hired is amazing, but since he works alone, it took him nearly three weeks to complete the job. Then we added carpet and finally moved our bedroom furniture to our son's old room and got new furniture for our room. Here are the final results

This is our son's new room:





And here is our room:





The game room is basically unchanged, and we are still waiting on a new sofa. I'm told it will be ready sometime next week. But the paint in there is exactly the same paint as was originally there, so it doesn't look any different. Overall, though, I'm really pleased with everything. It was worth everything and getting up early every day to be sure I was ready when the painter arrived. I'm glad we did it, but I don't want to do any more for a long time.

And that's how I've spent my month. My husband traveled to Hawaii with the church youth choir and orchestra. I completed his photo album for him and I had to do all of that while displaced out of the game room. It was interesting and awkward, but it's done and he's happy with it. Things are going along well.

I'd hoped to visit my son this month, but I'm out of time and money, so I'm having to postpone for awhile longer. I'm looking forward to it, though. My daughter is in school and will finish next month. It's an exciting time for all.

Living in the World

It isn't easy to live in this world. For those who have the desire to be kind, compassionate and fair in their dealings with others, it can come as a rude awakening when others let them down. As a Believer, I am to "turn the other cheek". I know that, but at times, it is hard to follow through.

Someone I love very much is dealing with this situation right now. She is being shunned by those with whom she must spend most of her time, and she doesn't even know why. It is hard to stand by and watch her heart hurt. The evil woman lurking inside of me can think of a million mean things she could say to them. I confess to sharing a couple of them with her, but I know she won't resort to saying them. She will be the bigger person in this situation. And it won't last forever though right now the time stretches before her unendingly.

So now what? Now I pray for her and for those who are testing her. And I will encourage her to pray for them as well. Why? The Bible tells us to pray for our enemies. Doing that consistently enables us to "walk in their shoes" for a bit. We learn to love them, even those who hate us, with a godly kind of love. It's not romantic, it's not weird, it's what sets us apart from those who don't have the same walk with the Lord that we have.

Holier than thou? Hardly! In fact, at times it is extremely humbling because it's the last thing I want to do. I'm supposed to WANT to pray for others, especially those who wish evil on me, but I don't want to! Christians aren't perfect. We're just forgiven. We fight all the same battles, and having those battles to fight reminds us that we're doing the right thing.

In the situation above, this young lady has fought a huge battle just to get to do what she's doing, and that is what keeps her going. My sister-in-law told her recently that the fact that things have not gone smoothly for her in this situation is her proof that she is doing what God wants her to do. That helps. It's good to remember that. But her heart hurts. And that's what it's like...living in the world.