DOG POOP AND COFFEE

Hah! Couldn't just walk away from a title like that, could ya?

Ever get the feeling early on in a day that this might be one of those days when you should just scrap it and go back to bed 'til tomorrow? I'm getting that vibe this morning.

I woke up before six to find dog poop tracked on every other stair going down to the basement. Lovely. The kids had been playing in the woods (which is where our dog does her business) last night after dark and someone must have stepped in a pile and unknowingly tracked it in. 'Course, beats me how they "unknowingly" walked past the stuff on the way back up the stairs.

Cleaning up dog poop before I've had my morning cup of joe is not my idea of a stellar start to the day, but nevertheless, I grabbed the spray bottle of Resolve, firmed up my inner resolve (and my innards), and sprayed and scrubbed my way from top to bottom. Done with that, coffee's ready.

Poured a cup of steaming coffee and headed back downstairs to the computer to check emails and blogs. Slipped on the second from the top step and me and joe were airborne! I have not fallen down the stairs in years...I've slipped, tripped, stumbled, and had some close calls. This was the real deal. Luckily, I kept my grip on the handrail but that was all. In a shower of coffee, I came down hard, smashing my right hip and a couple lower ribs. Ow.

If you ever want to really get your childrens' attention, this works like no other thing.

After applying a cold pack to the purpling grapefruit-sized bruise on my hip, cleaning the stairs (for the second time before 7AM) and walls, and taking a traditional shower, I am now considering renting a carpet cleaner...and watching where I step.

ANOTHER TEEN

Unbelievable, the way time passes...

Today is our youngest daughter's thirteenth birthday. Tessa Rose with the button nose. It's her birthday, but what a gift from God she is to us. Beautiful, talented, ardent in likes and dislikes, thoughtful and sensitive, helpful and servant-hearted. Her rippling, musical laugh delights my soul; her round, blue eyes spilling over with tears breaks my heart. Caught in the riptide of passage between childhood and young womanhood, she dances and stumbles.

I don't even remember my thirteenth birthday, but I do remember the ups, downs, and lost-somewhere-in-betweens of the age. Observing one's daughter travel that road brings back some of the feelings...my job now is to discern when to catch her and when to let her fall.

I saw a sign that said, "Raising teenagers is kind of like nailing Jello to a tree." My interpretation: It's a sweet challenge requiring patience and ingenuity and grace.

Last August, Taylie and Tessa and I were out picking wild blueberries. As we walked back to the car, I was flanked by the girls who each carried a full bucket in one hand and held my hands with the other. The late afternoon sun cast our shadows before us and the image smote my heart. I marveled at what God has done: given me two beautiful daughters who want to be with me, talk with me, learn from me, and teach me of themselves. How blessed I am!

STOP THE RIDE! I WANNA GET OFF!

Life around here has not slowed down much after the holidays. Every day on the calendar since the first of the year has had at least one thing written on it: Bible study Monday evening, Tuesday AM I ran over to the house I clean at to change bedding and get the laundry going, then at 1:00 attended the funeral of a friend, Wednesday AM finished cleaning the vacation house before guests arrived at noon, then off to church to help Mary prepare and serve the monthly Family Nite Dinner. Thursday we made a WalMart run to stock up and give the kids a chance to use their giftcards. Friday morning back over to the vacation house to get started changing bedding again, cleaning bathrooms, kitchen, vacuuming, etc., between those guests leaving and the next arriving at 4:00 PM. The cleaning was interrupted midday by having to run Taylie down to the high school in Eagle River to get on the bus taking all the youth group kids to Green Bay for our church's District Youth Conference. Then dropped Tessa and Wylie off at piano lessons, ran and grocery shopped while they were there, picked them up, zoomed back to the vacation house to finish cleaning before 4:00. Went in the ditch at 5:00 (haven't done THAT in 20 years -- maybe more about that in next blog), yanked out of the ditch by 5:30, threw together a very nice salad (if I do say so myself) to take over to friends' house for pizza and cards at 6:00 (we were a half hour late due to aforementioned vehicular incident). Up next morning (Saturday, if you're keeping track), threw pot roast in slow cooker and off to work at the Tackle Box at 9:00 -- not my usual thing but the regular employees happen to be my kids -- Taylie, as I said, was gone to Green Bay for Districts, and Ramsey had National Guard duty for the weekend. Tackle Box owner and employer, Karen, was scraping the bottom of the Haynes barrel and came up with Mom. Worked from 9:-4:30 PM, got home, made mashed potatoes to go with pot roast, canceled card night scheduled for that night at other friends' due to exhaustion and the fact that I still had to make a birthday cake for Tessa. Church Sunday morning, then over to my folks for an early birthday celebration. Home at 9:00 PM. Very relieved to find a message on the answering maching saying Senior High girls' 7AM devotions and Junior High 3PM Bible study were canceled for Monday. Whew...

I don't know about you but I'm getting too old for this pace!

HOPE

So, okay, after gentle nudges from friends, I'm back with my first blog of the new year. Things got hectic right before Christmas and I didn't feel I had time to spend on the computer. Then there was the ongoing string of bad news...the deaths of two friends, a diagnosis of cancer in another friend, the brain injury of our pastor's daughter, my brother-in-law's lost job due to the closing of the Rubbermaid plant in Madison, two dear ladies in different hospitals right now undergoing tests to determine the cause of mysterious maladies, a young friend, and mom, facing the prospect of heart surgery for her six year old son...the list goes on.

I hurt for my mother as she travels the road of her mother's decline into senile dementia...will that be her and I someday?

I held onto hope and prayed fervently for the trapped WV coal miners and their families. My heart broke with the news of their loss. Unimaginable.

When it starts piling up this deep I tend to withdraw. And, as they say, "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all". Hence, the real reason for my absence from the blogging world.

I am so thankful that, as I withdraw from the pain of the world, I walk through each day in the presence and comfort of the Lord God. I just finished reading the Book of Lamentations which poignantly shares the overwhelming sense of loss that accompanied the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and exile of her people around 586 B.C. The Lord ministered to my soul as I read verses 19 through 26 of the third chapter:

"I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great isYour faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.' The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

I don't know how people get through this stuff without Him to run to, lean on, and cry out to. By His strength I am able to get up in the morning, take care of my family and home, and teach my children. Because His grace is sufficient for me, I am able to pray for, reach out to, and minister to those around me who are hurting or struggling.

As we bid goodbye and, in some cases, good riddance to a year seemingly filled with bad news, we look forward to, and wish one another, the best for the new year. Sometimes that is the case, but often it turns out to be more of the same...because we live in a fallen world we have troubles and sorrows. In John 16:33, Jesus matter-of-factly tells us to expect this, but gives us comfort and promise in His words:

"I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

So... as I take a deep breath and take the next step, I also take heart and encourage you to do so as well.

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

Hope...hope for better times, hope for the future, hope for eternity:

"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:3-4

Praise to God for a Living Hope:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade -- kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire -- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:3-7

"He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen." Revelation 22:20-21