Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Counting my blessings - Tuesday

- The Christmas play at church was awesome!  The boys loved it so much, including all the rehearsals, that they're sad it has come to an end.

- Praying for blogging buddies- what a privilege.

- My friend Caroline and her husband, for their desire to work with the poor--even though it means no income for a while.  That's obedience and faith.

- My Mary, celebrating her third birthday last night with just our little family.  She sang the Happy Birthday song with us.  So cute!

- The excitement my four children displayed at the bath toy I gave Mary for her birthday.  Bath toys are THE thing around here.   It's a tiny basketball hoop with suction cups, accompanied by three puffer fish shaped liked balls (water-squirting balls).

- I also got her three preschool activity books, a pink pencil box containing glue, triangular crayons, and safety scissors.  Preschool will be a regular thing for her now, and my Peter has decided to be Mary's teacher.  He studied the activity books and came up with a lesson plan for today, including having her recite "Little Miss Muffet".  That boy was in full blown teacher mode!  At the dollar store earlier today, he begged me for a small note pad so he could "record Mary's skills".  I told him how proud I was of his teaching skills!

Mary wasn't always cooperative, and he came to us complaining at one point.  My husband and I locked eyes and had to smile at this. At the same time, we both told him, "Now you know how we feel when you don't cooperate."  Dumbfounded at this revelation, he turned on his heels and went back to his teaching.  Talk about teachable moments!  Phew!

- Acidophilus tablets--Last December I had my first C section birth, after which I had a chronically bloated stomach.  Five months later, I decided to try a daily acidophilus tablet.  They turned out to be the cure!  No more bloating!

- My father sent Christmas money.  It will all be needed for an expensive ball baring repair on the van, but what a blessing to have funds for that!  The van had started vibrating on the freeway, on the very day we received Dad's Christmas gift.  We had known about the needed repair for a few months, but the vibrating hadn't started until yesterday.

Additionally, the money from Dad saved Mary's birthday.  We hadn't gotten Beth anything for her birthday, and we were hoping to get a least one little thing for Mary's, since at age 3, she would definitely notice the absence of a present.

- I went to my heating help appointment.  I knew nothing about the program beforehand, except that it might provide $175 once a heating season to resolve shut-off notice emergencies.  We qualified for a percentage of income payment plan for gas and electric.  It will avoid shut off this winter, but when we no longer qualify, both companies can take us to collection on the back payments owed (including garnishing wages and putting a lien on our property).  I'm hoping they will accept additional, reasonable payments, when the time comes.  I'll put a call in to both companies to make sure.  If you know of someone in a wintry state who recently became unemployed, they might need to know about this HEAP program.

There is more, but Beth has awoken twice during this writing, and I also had a batch of cookies to make this evening, for a homeschooling Christmas event.  That sweet baby has this annoying habit of waking frequently between her bedtime and 2 a.m, which means 2 to 4 interruptions in whatever tasks I have in the evenings.  I often fall asleep while nursing her back to sleep--resulting in me often doing dishes at 2:00 or 3:00 o'clock in the morning.

Good night, friends!  I guess at this point, I should say "Good Morning".

1 comment:

Evenspor said...

Glad you have money to get that fixed on your van. Sounds like the u-joint? That's what was wrong with the Bronco (one thing, anyway) and we put it off and wished we hadn't!