A Bunch of Updates and a Glimpse Inside my Head

Well, I am much better today. Almost myself again! That is some wicked violent virus, but it's short lived, thankfully. It is such a BLESSING to be healthy and able to care for my family. Yesterday I was on the couch basically all day, in and out of sleep. I barely saw Little Man all day. Our daughter made lunch for everyone, and I directed a bit of schoolwork for the older ones when I was awake. When I awoke from my sickness-induced fog this morning I found a bunch more dirty dishes and a bunch more laundry and crayon marks on the schoolroom wall and permanent marker "tattoos" all over Little Man's arms. :-) As I put in a load of laundry, I thanked God for the strength to get to the basement and do that. As I started the dishwasher, I thanked God for the strength to clean the kitchen. Really, isn't it such a privilege to do all the little daily things that I too often have a complaining spirit about??

My husband got the sickness early this morning, so he is home from work today. We got about 9 inches of snow overnight (see the ruler?), and I was worried about his long commute in this weather, so I'm thankful he can stay home and sleep. I just wish he wasn't sick. :-( The remaining two children, our oldest two, have yet to be sick. We shall see if they can hold out or not......

Our church programs were canceled tonight due to the snow. We are going to have a family American Idol party instead - watching together and drinking root beer floats. We rarely watch, so the children think this is a big treat! (I think they may be more excited about the root beer floats than they are about American Idol, truth be told!).

I don't think I mentioned here on my blog that my husband was in a car accident in early January. He spun out in the snow while driving on the highway, and hit the car next to him. Thankfully there were no injuries, and the damage to his vehicle wasn't really all that bad, but because his car is so old (13 years) insurance ended up totaling it. They gave us the money for the car, we bought it back from them, and my husband fixed it, with help from Mr. Ed, for less than $100! With some of the insurance money we were able to get new back tires for his car, so now he has all 4 new, and also purchase some homeschool materials we needed for this winter/spring. I'm so thankful!


Several months ago I mentioned that we were in a dispute with the unemployment agency in our state. Because my husband turned down a job interview for a job NOT in his field of expertise, and the temp agency posting the job complained, unemployment ruled that he turned down "suitable work" and was ineligible for benefits from that point on, and that we'd have to pay back about $4,000 worth of benefits we received last summer. My husband read the entire unemployment law, spoke with an attorney, and wrote a well crafted letter of appeal. We finally heard back last week that they are still maintaining he turned down "suitable work" (a lot hinges on the unemployment law's definition of that word "suitable") and that we still have to pay back these benefits. My husband is continuing the appeals process. Please pray with us that this will be resolved quickly and easily.

We are in the final stage of a loan modification for our mortgage. This final stage should be completed in another 2-3 months and then we are D.O.N.E. If my husband's contract job ends before the process is complete (i.e, we become unemployed again), or shortly thereafter, things will change of course, but we trust that God is in control no matter what. We are VERY thankful to still be in our home, and I am even thankful for all the little things about our home that bug me!


So much to be thankful for. Our new roof (year and a half old) ~ even when all this snow melts we will have no leaks in the house. Our new furnace ~ even when it's below zero outside we are nice and toasty warm. And these are just temporal things. How much more thankful I am for the intangibles ~ God's presence, His peace, His daily mercy and grace and strength. Love. My children's sweet, sleeping faces when I peek in on them at night. My husband!


I have been so burdened lately. Burdened for close friends who have received devastating news. Burdened for blog friends who are going through hard trials. Burdened for the people of Haiti. Burdened for the world. Sin really screwed things up, didn't it? With my whole heart I believe the Bible to be the Word of God, and the Bible says that God's original plan was a perfect world in which God and man would commune together fully, with no barriers. When Adam and Eve sinned and sin entered the world, that perfect world changed. Sin's curse has been felt by all men everywhere since that time. And what a horrible curse it is.

HOWEVER, (and this is a big however) in spite of the curse of sin affecting the world, God is still in control. Even satan has to answer to Him and receive permission from Him before doing anything "bad" to His children. That is a hard truth, but a comforting truth as well. Hard because we don't want to think that God has planned for any of us to suffer, but comforting because we know that our suffering does not surprise the Lord and He is bigger than any of it. He sees beyond the suffering and knows the whole, big picture. He knows the end. We only know now. Some days I feel like my faith eyes "get it" and I am able to look at suffering from a heavenly perspective. And other days I don't get it at all and life just seems really random and unfair. How thankful I am that God loves me whether I get it or not, that His mercy is new every morning whether I get it or not, and that He is in all, under all, over all, between all, around all, PRESENT in His heavenly glory, whether I get it or not! As I continue to wrestle with these hard truths, He is here, the same God He has always been and will always be. Praise Him!