A Week of Blessings

That's my arm there and a picture of the bruise I got from Sam biting me. The bite mark is long gone, just the bruise remains. It's so prominent and obvious that I have been fielding horrified inquiries all week long. It hurts, too!







Not a whole lot to report on this week. Allergies have been rough, but it's that time of year. I seem to wake up between 2 and 5 every morning, gasping for breath. So then I take an allergy pill and zonk myself out and then I can't get up when I'm supposed to!







This is week 2 of the New Me. It was easier last week because I was a new convert. I did my grocery shopping Monday and studiously read labels and bought more expensive foods that were nutritionally better. But the battle of the flesh has warred as the week has progressed. I don't want to eat 12 grain toast with organic honey or pumpkin flax seed cereal (for real - I bought it at Aldis). What I want to eat is the oreo cake I baked. And I'm not depriving myself. I'm just limiting myself. Instead of scarfing down the cake for breakfast as I would normally, I'm cutting off a sliver to eat. Or two. Sunday night we had a finger food fellowship at church. I made myself pick only dessert instead of sampling from many. So I enjoyed my chocolate chip cookie with relish, after I had dutifully eaten my plate full of veggies and fruit. I wish I could say that I can already see the results of my self-discipline, but I don't. My clothes are still tight and I haven't felt remarkably full of energy yet. Of course, any extra energy I do gain is going to be zapped by the allergy drugs.







I think I am all ready for the new school year. Well, I still have to find a book on money skills for Ben and David. But then we'll be ready to go. I thought the boys understood money, but then this summer I sent a $20 bill for David to spend at camp. He mournfully told me how he had wanted to make a tie dyed shirt but that cost $7 and if he did that, he wouldn't have enough money for stopping at McDonalds on the way home. I thought that was a little odd, but figured he must have blown all his money at the snack shack. But when I unpacked his bag, I found that he still had $16. I asked him about that and he said that the $20 bill was for McDonalds. He had used the $5 my parents sent him for snacks at camp and that was it. Poor kid! Next year I'll have to send him with a bunch of $1 bills, in envelopes, so he knows how to spend his money. Or, hopefully, he'll understand money better by then.







But I have all the year's assignments written out for the boys and we're just waiting for the day after Labor Day to arrive. I just think it is immoral and unethical to start school before then! My only exceptions were the falls when we had big things coming (a move and a baby) that I knew would interfere for weeks in getting school accomplished. Then we started in August. It will be nice to get back into the routine. This will be the first year that David will be responsible for getting some of his own work done on his own. I think he's ready now that he is reading and I'm looking forward to the time that will free up for me.








I saw a new chiropractor today out at Preventative Health. It's the first time I have ever been to a female one. She's smaller and shorter than me. But I think she can do the job. She took extensive x-rays, which pleased me. So often chiropractors are ready to manipulate and crack you without checking out what you have going on internally, first. I see her again first thing next Monday morning.






I had a filling put in Tuesday. When I got to the dentist I was in the grips of a full-fledged allergy attack. I must have looked really pitiful because the dentist offered to reschedule me. But I had him go ahead and fill my tooth, but just one instead of the two we had planned on. I'm glad we only did the one because that didn't stop hurting until today! Must have been by a nerve or something!






We're having company Sat. evening. I can count on one hand the number of times we have had people over since we moved here 5 years ago. That is really sad. I need to more hospitable. But I'm not. Maybe it's not my gift. Evidently not! They have a truckload of kids so I'll probably have a lot of them out on the deck. The weather is supposed to be great, so that shouldn't be a problem. I'm looking forward to it! Maybe I should do this more often!






Paul is in the midst of another house project. He is (finally) working on the landing inside the front door. It's been yukky looking ever since we moved here. Of course, when he ripped it up he discovered more problems than he wanted to deal with. And he found a dead ground squirrel. I remember last winter we went through weeks of having a horrible smell coming from under there. Paul had even gone downstairs and tried to find whatever dead animal had crawled up there (prior to dying) but he couldn't find anything. Apparently that was it. So now he's trying to shore up that part of the house and I hear lots of Christian cursing coming from over there. Think I'll stay over here! This is the problem with being a perfectionist. If it were me, I would have just stapled or super glued some new linoleum over the landing, thrown a rug over top, and called it good. I'm not a perfectionist, by any stretch of the imagination. But Paul feels as though he must do a good job on whatever he puts his hand to (silly man!) so he wants to do things "right." And "right" leads to lots of frustration and the afore-mentioned cursing.






Will is at a dinner being hosted for freshmen football players tonight. I think one of the ball player's parents were doing this. He was going to bum a ride to that (hopefully with a responsible teammate!) and then we will have to go get him. Tomorrow night is his first real game! I was so pleased yesterday. I had taken Will to practice and had told him that he needed to let his coaches know he had to be done before 6 pm so that he could get to church on time. Well, he called at 5:30 and said they were done. He told me that his coach told him that they always get done with practice early on Wednesdays so that the kids who need to can get to church. That is so great!






There was actually about a 20 min. break between the last paragraph and this one. Will called and I went to get him. He said the players were fed "really" good lasagna and "it wasn't hard, like your's is, Mom!"






Is it just me or is anyone else really tired of hearing about the death of Teddy Kennedy? Am I allowed to state my true opinion? Of course I can - it's MY blog! Ok - two words: good riddance. That's all. 'Nuff said?! As my husband said, "Now he knows." I think he knew all along. This is just the first time he can't weasel out of his wrong-doing. And the earthly part of me is pleased. The God-pleasing part is saddened that another soul is facing hell, though.






I had a blessing this afternoon. A friend wants to give us her barely-used mattress for Will. She had heard me mention that I really needed to find a new one for him and she has one. I'm just so touched because I know she had planned to sell it. God is so good to us!






And if I have to find a theme, as well as a clever title, for this post, it would have to do with God's blessings. I see them in every paragraph I have written. Paragraph 1: the blessing of having a toddler, even one who bites! I am enjoying this child most of all because I know he's the last one. Plus, I'm older and more experienced and understand that "this too, shall pass"! Paragraph 2: the blessings of drugs! Hayfever is not fun, but thank God there are pharmaceuticals out there that help make it a little bit more bearable. Paragraph 3: the blessing of having the information available so that I can make better lifestyle choices (even if I liked my old lifestyle better!). Paragraph 4: the blessing of being able to homeschool my children and also, the blessing of seeing such tremendous progress in David, especially, from last year at this time to this year. Paragraphs 5 & 6: the blessing of medical insurance (even with high premiums) and wide availability of medical care (for now, anyway). Parag. 7: the blessing of having friends who actually want to spend time with us! Parag. 8: the blessing of having a hard working husband who knows which side of a hammer is up and doesn't quit when things get tough. Parag. 9 &10: the blessing of having a healthy, athletic child who has the opportunity to play for Christian coaches - in a public school setting! And even parag. 11 offers a blessing - knowing that we serve a just God who will not let sin go unpunished (mine included).






Here's hoping we all continue to find blessings even in the most ordinary of weeks!