The icing covered woman who walks with a limp

Home alone on a Sunday morning.

Why? You ask? It's a very long story, but it involves an injured knee, a harvest festival, a house that didn't get cleaned, a game that didn't get painted, and an assortment of other jobs that didn't get finished because I'm hobbling around at 1/4 speed of my normal rate. So, I find myself here alone while the others have all gone off to Sunday service. Sometimes, Sundays are indeed a time to rest. I figure if I stay home, move slowly through the list of things still to be done and take frequent breaks to put my knee up, I just might make it through this evenings festivities without ending up on crutches.

There was a time, in the not so distant past, I would have been unable to do this. Unable, not because anyone was standing over me with a whip, but because I would have been swamped with condemnation for missing service. Yes, I do miss going. I love attending our new church, God always meets me there, but I have finally realized I won't go to hell if I miss Sunday morning. He is a good God who understands our frailties and does not condemn us for them.

My break is over now and I've really got so much to do! There will be pictures later of all the fun and excitement. If you're in the area drop on by Church Alive and squeeze your way into the cake walk. I'll be the one with icing on my face!

Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor

How a train left me incomplete

I'm tired, I just am. It matters not that I didn't get out of bed today till noon, only to go back to bed at 2:30 and sleep till 5pm. I was up at 6:30 with the puppy (THAT was not in the brochure). Then took Mumbles to wrestling practice only to be called back an hour later as apparently there were only 3 of us dumb enough to attend a Saturday morning practice. After a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts, a quick run around the yard for the pup, I was back in bed by 10am. So, you see, while there was a lot of sleeping going on today, it was broken sleep and everyone knows that's just not restful. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

This afternoon we headed for the North Carolina State Fair. That's all I've heard about for several weeks now. "Oooo! how wonderful the fair is!!! How glorious the fair is!! Have been to the fair yet? NO?! Well, your life is just not complete. yadda. yadda. yadda." So fearing that my life, would not, in fact, be complete, we headed that direction. Notice I said we headed to the fair, I never said we actually made it to the fair.

About 2 miles from the entrance we hit the traffic. We creeped along, stopping and going, never reaching 5 mph for what seemed like an enternity. We finally reached a point where we could see the fair. We could actually see it! We could smell the funnel cakes and hear the screams from the roller coaster. We had only one intersection to make our way through and we would reach our destination. Then it happened, the lights started flashing, the bells starting ringing and the cross bars over the railroad tracks started to lower. I could not believe a train was coming through! "But, oh, it's not so bad" I thought, "it's a passenger train and it's short!" Then when it had only 3 cars left to clear the intersection it came to a stop. A STOP!! It was 25 minutes later before we made it past that intersection and after a total of over an hour in traffic we had still not reached the entrance. When we did make it that far we found there was no parking within 2 miles! I guess we weren't the only ones with incomplete lives.

We left.

We headed to Red Robin instead.

After a Mai Tai I felt much better.

I'm not feeling incomplete. I'm just hoping that's not just the Mai Tai talking.

Funnel cakeless and tired,
Spokenfor

Surprise!!! Roadtrip!!!

Don't you just love fall? The colors, the smells, the cool, brisk mornings; I love it all! It's truly my favorite time of year.

This weekend, I went to the women's retreat with a group from church. I made some friends, had some fun, learned a lot, and got absolutely no sleep! It's a good thing this only happens once a year, I'm too old to do it more often!

The Commander and I, finally, were able to pull one over on the brothers. I had to leave Friday morning for the retreat, which, since it was a teachers workday, meant the boys would have been home alone all day. It wouldn't have been a problem for any of them except Scamp. I don't mind leaving him with them for short periods, but, since I'm a little attached to him and would just as soon he have all his digits upon my return, other plans had to be made for him. The adults hatched a plan! The commander took Friday off to, at least we told the boys, take care of them while I was gone. They were told they had to go to Surfer Dudes eye appointment and then would spend the day at a museum with their Dad. They were not happy about it. Mumbles complained that it wasn't even uniquely boring, it was "cliche boring"! lol Little did they know I was secretly at work!

Friday morning arrived bright and early and we got the brothers up before the sun. You should have heard them complain! We explained, in order to save money we had to make Surfer Dude's appointment in a town not exactly near us and they would have to drive a bit. So, we piled them all in the car and The Commander started driving south. They got all the way to the South Carolina border before they realized something was up. The eye appointment truly wasn't in town here, what they didn't know, was that it was back in our home town! I had packed them the night before while they slept and the Commander had sneaked the suitcases out the back door the next morning while they stumbled around half asleep. Museum, indeed! lol We showed them we may be old, but we've still got some tricks up our sleeves. We had already made plans for them to spend time with their friends and go to the High School football game. They were incredulous that we had pulled it off. I think I laughed all the way to the retreat! Needless to say, fun was, indeed, had by all.

I love doing things for my brood that I know will bring them joy. A trip to Georgia was cool, but a surprise trip to Georgia was even cooler. I think sometimes God does the same thing for us. We have times in our lives that are "less than cool", times we look at the future and see nothing but a day at a museum, when God has something much cooler planned for us. The joy I got out of doing this for my kids was enormous. God loves us so much more than we can love our kids.
Some of the attitudes in the days leading up to the trip were less than stellar. They were, shall we say, really crappy. (yes, I did just use that word, sometimes it's the only one that fits!) How many times do we have that type of attitude about what we perceive is in our future? Because our Heavenly Father loves us beyond words we have to trust whatever He brings into our lives is there for our good, even if we can't see it right away. I told the brothers to trust us, that they would have fun, that maybe they would be surprised at what a good time they had that day. They were considerably less than trusting. Mumbles even replied "Dad is just not the surprising kind". I nearly choked on my laughter when he said that.

We serve a surprising God. Do you think Mary and Martha were surprised when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead? When all looked hopeless, Jesus had something up his sleeve. Do you think the disciples were surprised when He fed the 5000 with just a few fish and loaves? How surprised were the disciples when Jesus rose from the grave? All had looked lost a few days before, darkness engulfed their world and hope was a scarce commodity, but a surprise was coming! God is a good God and everything that comes from Him is good, even if we can't see it right away. He is a surprising God! If you look in the word you will find time after time when He surprised His people. Abraham and Sara, now there's a surprise if ever there was one! Daniel in the lion's den, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abendigo in the fiery furnace, another surprise. The disciples seem to be loosing hope and trust in him when the storm came up suddenly on the sea of Galilee, you might say it surprised them, but the biggest surprise was when Jesus came walking to them on the water, called one of them out of the boat, then climbed in there with them and calmed the sea. Do you really think they were expecting that? I'll bet if you asked them they would say it was worth going through the storm to have that experience with Him.

In the big things and in little things, God is a God of surprises. It still surprises and amazes me on a daily basis that He prefers me, He loves me, He sings over me. He delights in surprising His children. Sometimes it's a beautiful sunset, a bird singing by your window, an unexpected phone call from an old friend or even something as simple as your favorite candy bar on sale! ( I'm a firm believer that chocolate is, in fact, from God and will be prominently featured at the marriage supper of the lamb) So look around today, be aware, take time to acknowledge the little "surprises" He may plant in your way and just say "thanks". He delights in you, in me, in all His children. Trust in that, hope in that, revel in that.

What has God surprised you with lately? Share your story, we'd all love to hear it!

I'm going now. Unless God is going to surprise me with the gift of a laundry fairy, I've got to get busy around here!

Soaked in His blessings,

Spokenfor