From Awed to Zany: A Jumble of Thoughts

     Maybe it comes from being married to a bugman, but then again, maybe it comes from my dad who passed his love for animals down to me as a little girl. Whatever the reason, I always seem to notice the animals no matter where I am:  the dying bat on the road near our mailbox, which I gently set on the side of the road so she could die in peace, poor thing;  the loud squawking of the robins out back as the neighborhood hawks seek to find their next meal; the family of Canadian geese crossing the road near Joe's mom's house (Make Way for Ducklings!); and the bird sitting on the meat package at the store, the very same meat I intended to buy! Granted, it was covered with a tight plastic seal, but it still grossed me out. On one hand, the little sparrow was cute as he looked in the mirror behind the meat case and did a little dance for the other bird he saw in front of him, but when he began scooping up the water droplets off the top of the meat package with his little beak, my stomach lurched a bit. I never liked buying this particular store's meat before, but in an emergency it was okay. Not now. Not ever! There was no way anyone could even pay me to buy any of their fresh meat that evening. Just the sight made me dislike this store even more!
     That bird was not the only animal I had seen in the store:  there was that little gray mousie that went scurrying down the freezer aisle and almost did a complete spin around on the slippery floor just to get into the hole under the shelving, and then there was that gigantic rat that went racing across the aisle in the garden center. Yuck! I told JJ, who was with me during the bird incident that all stores have some animal problems, and his answer was, "Well, this store must be overrun with them for us to acutally see them everywhere!"
     I am thinking of calling and complaining to the store manager and highly recommending a good pest control person for the job. Sound like a good idea to you?
     Speaking of a good person for the job, I must give a shout out to my hubby who once again showed his awesomeness in fixing a problem here at the house. First though, I give all the glory to the Lord for His amazing grace and mercy in how the situation began here early that morning. We had been having problems with our water pressure, but we were not sure what was going on until the other day. Joe was in the living room and suddenly he heard the sound of water downstairs. He went racing down to find a few gallons of water in the downstairs bathroom, coming from the water tank. I had no idea what was going on and went in to take my usual shower. I found it odd that no water came out at all, but waited for it to catch up. It never did. I went in search of Joe and found him in the middle of a mess downstairs. He told me the water pressure valve had given way and he had turned off the water in order not to flood the house. I quickly got dressed and went to his mom's house down the road and stocked up on drinking water and buckets for flushing toilets. To make a long story short, he ended up fixing the issue that very day and now we have much better water pressure than we have had for a long time. It could have happened while he was gone, or when the kids were home alone, but God allowed it to all come about while Joe was there and could deal with it. Even during the trials of life He is standing by our side watching over us. Isn't that a comforting thought? The words to a song I have recently heard keep ringing through my head: 
     What if blessings come through raindrops,      
     What if healing comes through tears, 
     And what if a thousand sleepless nights is what it takes to know You're near, 
     And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?
     
     The way I see it, that trial was His amazing mercy in disguise. It could have been huge:  it could have flooded the entire downstairs of our home and ruined everything...there are so many could haves, but God showed His mercy and took care of us, and though it seemed like an inconvenience at first, it was a blessing in the end.
     The last couple of weeks I had the priviledge to sub for a teacher at Heritage, in the K4/K5 class. It was amazing at how everything came back to me after being away for a year, but it must be like riding a bike. It all comes back when you climb on and start pedaling. My girls were very excited to be able to attend the school with me and had fun with their old teacher and group of friends. Benny had fun being with me and hanging out with his buddies. It brought back the longing of being a part of the Heritage family once again, and we are praying about what God would have us do for the next school year. We are almost finished our work for the current school year and I am glad we stuck it out. I must admit that after the Newtown shootings, which was too close for comfort if you ask me, I was quite content in the fact that all the children were safe at home with me. I did have some fear to pray about when I entered the school kindergarden classroom to teach, but God is faithful to give us peace when we ask Him. 
     One other blessing that has occurred in the past week is the fact that the lady, from the Mass Hope convention, has been asking for more and more books, which she seems to be selling like hotcakes at other homeschool conventions. It is a confirmation to me that I did what the Lord asked, and even though it did not seem to go well at the time, He was working behind the scenes to accomplish a greater answer to prayer. I am overwhelmed at His love toward me, even when I do not deserve it. My dear reader, may you experience this awesome love toward you today, for He loves His children dearly. If you are not His child, than may this be the day that you ask Him to become your Heavenly Father. Have a Godfilled, fun weekend!  

P.S. As a final thing, I am posting an audio clip of a song I played at church with one of my flute students, and a young man (who happens to be good friends with my boys) who played the violin, and a lady who plays piano at church. Hope it comes through!  Click on the link to go to the Fun Stuff page to hear the clip.

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