Simple Woman's Daybook 5/20

Outside my window:

We've had two beautiful days of sunshine and my Mary, afraid of spring storms, blossomed and danced her way across the lush, green lawn, in search of toads and frogs and butterflies. Her joy palpable and beautiful, she ran up and kissed me, "I just couldn't be happier, Mommy. I love, love, love the sunshine and the grass and the blue skies!"

Well, today the enchanted, god-inspired spell is broken. We're to have rain, dark skies, strong thunder and possible tornado warnings. Northeast Ohio gets a lot of tornado warnings, but rarely an actual tornado. Sometimes I'd like to slap the meteorologists for their cautionary tales.

I am thinking...

We are still sick here and I'm feeling frustrated by it all. I've had to cancel a number of routine appointments that filled the calendar.

The child I took to the ER last Friday with a 103.2 fever is still sick and running a very low-grade fever (under 100 degrees F). I'm considering whether he has a sinus infection, but I'm also remembering that 90% of these infections are viral. Is this one of the 10% that might be bacterial? Should I call the pediatrician? If I do, we'll likely pick up another virus from the office, and sinus infections do take time to heal, after all; ten days of misery is not uncommon, even with a viral sinus infection. I wouldn't even consider taking him if there wasn't a possibility of it spreading to the brain. Additionally, he can't tell me definitively that he feels any better. I will pray about it for a couple hours and then decide.

I hate to say it, but men and boys tend to whine their way through illnesses, and that can cloud the seriousness of the situation. If my boys, when grown men, whine their way through illnesses, are their wives going to blame me? What have I done to encourage this whining? Have I treated them differently than my girls? It doesn't seem so.

I am thankful...

~ for four beautiful children to love and nurture.

~ for a stable, loving husband.

~ for good books to draw me away from present trials.

~ for my Peter's joy in his greenhouse, amid the soil, seeds, and miracles of God.

~ for Mary's joy in the sunshine and the wonders of spring.

~ for AWANA breaking for the rest of the spring and summer, giving us more options for our Sunday evenings.

~ for Peter receiving an important award, the Timothy Award, for learning 426 verses in three years (four Truth and Training books). He's learned more than that all told, but this represents his 4th, 5th, and 6th grade years. If he ever chose a Bible college, this award could translate into some scholarship money. We are very proud of him and yes, I did get teary eyed as he accepted this award, the years of hard work and some frustrated tears, flashing before my eyes as he walked up there. Oh, how I wanted to quit the whole thing many times, but God never let me. We took a break in his third grade year, but otherwise we plugged away year after year, since his kindergarten year. My Paul will earn it as well in two years, and my girls after him. This is one trial worth our perseverance as parents...giving children a solid foundation in the Word of God, so that nuggets of wisdom and truth will always be available to them, in whatever situation they find themselves. 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 

~ for a letter in the mail about husband's state employee's retirement contributions, and whether he wants them rolled over to an IRA, or refunded in lump sum with tax penalty. He didn't have enough credit years to collect a retirement. I don't know what he'll decide, but I have heard his two years of earnest prayer for a decent, reliable used car to drive to work. His current car is 25 years old and eating up repair money.

~ for the Holy Spirit's assistance in helping me grow old with grace. It is so hard, this growing old. My husband, eight years older than me, feels it less, telling me this is part of the sin curse: that we lose any looks we had, shrivel slowly, and die. It is God's will, he asserts, so all we can do is accept it. But it wasn't God's will in the beginning, and I look forward to being free from a shriveled body in eternity. I had my turn, and now it is my children's turn to be young, beautiful, and full of vitality. No one worried about whether I wore a hat in sunny southern CA while growing up, but I am very careful that my children wear one always while in the sun. Every precaution helps.

My hair is collecting more white tresses, and the skin under my eyes droops considerably, which is partly inherited. More sleep will help and I will endeavor to change my ways, reading my novels at a slower pace, so as to ensure proper sleep.

In the kitchen...

taco casserole with corn, salad, and thawed berries
chicken enchiladas, plain brown rice, salad
baked potato soup, salad
pizza (on AWANA award night)
pumpkin pancakes, turkey bacon, fresh strawberries
grilled chicken, steamed veggies, plain brown rice
hamburger casserole, steamed veggies (this is a new recipe...I'll let you know if it's good)

I am wearing...

long jean skirt, powder blue crocheted spring sweater, nylons for warmth, and leather clog shoes. I wear a heeled clog for errands, and a flatter clog for around the house (this 5 ' 3'' inch girl likes the heels).

Who cares what I wear, anyway? But I guess these questions give the feel that you're here for a cup of tea, and would therefore see what I'm wearing?

I am creating...

a legacy through my mothering, I hope. The kids will tell you in fifteen years what I'm creating.

I am going...

after canceling two dental cleaning appointments, I'm making the appointment today since Beth is healthy, and I fear they won't want us as patients if I cancel again, though Peter feels rotten and doesn't want to go. I did cancel his part of the appointment.

I am also dropping off Goodwill items near the dentist's office. Otherwise, we're staying home and watching a Veggie Tales movie about handling our fears. Mary is likely to need the reminder as she deals with another 3 days (forecasted, anyway) of thunder storms.

We do our school reading and a little math too when we're sick, unless the whining gets to be more than I can handle, in which case I try to dig up all the old movies we have on hand. We watched "The Shop Around the Corner" with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan the other day. It was delightful and very old, though more enjoyed by husband and me than the kids.

I am wondering...

I think I covered this above, about the pediatrician.

I am reading...

I finished book 2, 3, half of 4 (not as interesting, this book 4), 5, and 6 of the Anne Of Green Gables series. Yes, that was a lot of late nights of reading, but the kids being sick also helped me get a little reading in during the day, too. There are three more in the series, but they won't be easy to find. My own set only goes to book 6. The books are different than the movies and I highly recommend them. They combined ideas from a few books and added additional story lines to the movies, making them quite a bit different than the books.

Anne is my best friend these days. She also deals with the aging process in book 6...how it can hurt at times, along with the children growing up so quickly before our eyes, though in her case, she still has her looks at nearly forty at the end of that book. I didn't look too bad at 40 either.

The 9th book in the Anne series was delivered to the publisher shortly before Montgomery died, entitled The Blithes are Quoted. Comprised of 15 short stories and many previously published poems credited to Anne and her son Walter, it goes 20 years beyond the other books, one part before World War 1, and another section after World War 1.

Montgomery's Bio below, as I understand it from various sources:

Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874 - 1942) lived a sad, lonely life, raised by stern, unforgiving grandparents. Her mother died of TB when Lucy was 18 months old, and her father gave up custody of her to her grandparents. When Lucy was 7, her father moved away from Prince Edward Island and she only visited him, living with him once for a short time after he remarried (it was an unhappy marriage and it stressed Lucy).

Lucy went to school and became a teacher on Prince Edward Island, Canada, her birthplace. After several suitors who were more interested in her than she in them, Lucy eventually becoming disillusioned with romance, she married "later" in life to a minister who suffered from mental illness. She married after her literary success was already established and she had a good income of her own, feeling that marriage was an obligation at that time in Canada. They had 3 sons; the second was stillborn. Montgomery spent many years caring for her mentally-ill husband, and her writings were her only escape. She wrote 20 novels, 500 short stories and poems, and her popularity was immediate. Knowing her fame, she edited her private journals and rewrote them, presenting her life in her own terms. She suffered from depression, and I wonder if she wanted to soften that fact somehow, when she edited and recopied her personal journals.

I will, some day, read her published journals. Her author page at Amazon is here. I will also be obtaining her Emily series for my girls and me, which appears to be comprised of three books.

I am hoping...

that my children will love the Lord all the days of their life, drawing strength from Him and reading their Bibles and praying as though their lives depended upon it.

I am looking forward to...

all of us being well again.

I am learning... 

that however much I want to be a good this or that, my hormones limit what I can be as a wife and mother. If you've not yet reached perimenopause, you won't understand this as much, though while you were pregnant you likely felt a little of the intense ebb and flow of estrogen. This life we live must be one of grace, given and accepted. We cannot do much to recommend ourselves, but God's grace covers our iniquity, and it is only through him that we build a life of meaning.

Around the house...

the usual look (I hope) of a house suffering from illness. A nightmare, no less. Laundry, dishes and cooking are getting done, but little else, I'm ashamed to say, even though I've only been ill for two days.

Scripture to share...

Ephesians 4:7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.