Camping

Just a Note.  I want to do more life blogging.  We have family from all over the US that keeps up with the blog.  Also, everyday life blogs are some of my most popular.  So I would like to include everyday things that happen to us.  

You mean they had to do this EVERY time they wanted water???

This past weekend we headed about an hour away to camp.  Like many other people, we like to camp over Memorial Day weekend.  We've done it for the past few years.  Camping is so relaxing to us.

The first night we were there we noticed a family walking by.  I saw one black child, then another, and then a very white father.  In my mind my adoption/foster care feelers immediately went up.  The next morning their oldest began to become super friendly with our kids.

One thing led to another and a hike turned into a friendship.  After lots of fellowships with hikes, shared smores, and kids as playmates we walked away feeling incredibly blessed.  This family lives close to us, in fact we have several similar connections, not to hard in the type of circles and community we belong to.

Ok Mom.  I have my b-na-ku-ls.  Let's go camping!

This family greatly blessed us.  What a sweet connection and friendship.  The mom and I bonded over managing that thick curly hair, racial identity, homeschooling, and much more.  I kept telling Tony, it's such a God thing.  I'm so glad we exchanged information and we can stay in contact with this family.  It would be fun to camp with them again.  When I told Sweet Pea they lived in the same town that we went to church in she got incredibly excited.  Not that is an awesome friendship!

Glimpses of Grace: Smashed Fingers

Tony and I have what we call, "Blessing Rocks".  They are rocks that are things in our lives that only God has orchestrated.  The other day I was unpacking them and reading through a few when it dawned on me--most of those rocks are BIG items.  Yes, it's quit obvious that our daughter, my protection after her birth, Tony's numerous jobs over the years, and this house could only be done by God.  However, what about the little things.  What about those day to day ways in which God shows us His face (such as locking my keys in the car).  Since, then I have been on the look out for God's day to day glimpses of his unfailing Grace in our lives.  Yesterday, he answered that very clearly.

Tony had just left ten minutes earlier for work.  I was working on peeling old paint off the walls in Sweet Pea's new room (after Sweet Pea requested that we do the "WALLS").  Sweet Pea had gotten bored with helping and was standing next to me looking out the window.

Our windows.  Oh our windows.  They are old (as in 95-old).  Some are pulled up by a visible pulley system (like modern day windows had except bigger and much more obvious).  Others those very old cords have snapped, so they must be propped up to stay up.  Still others have rotten bottoms and we try not to touch them at the moment.  Our windows are also heavy.  Our glass is thin and rattly but our wood is super heavy and they are HUGE, making the windows heavy.

Back to the story.  This window had a broken pulley system but would stay up with some propping.  Because we were stripping wood in that room Tony had done so with a thin metal rod.  Both of us were thinking of ventilation, not safety.

Somehow Sweet Pea had knocked that rod and the window came crashing down, onto her little fingers.

Her finger's a couple of hours after getting smashed.  They continued to get worse for a couple more hours before the swelling started to subside.

Worse, they sat under there for an eternity about 30 seconds because I could not get the window to go back up.  She ended up yanking them out herself.

Through out the day we had the debate, doctor or not?  The nurse said because we couldn't get in till later the day to wait it out and suggested IB Profen (which I think everybody but I thought to do).  The swelling went down and by the evening you would think nothing happened to the child (unless you studied her hand closely).

When he got home, Tony and I took a trip up the room.  The whole day I had been concentrating on whether her fingers where broken or not.  When I revisited the window my focused changed.  I realized that the reason I had not been able to get the window up was the the bar had fallen towards the room and lodged itself at the bottom of the window.  It ended up taking the bulk of the weighty window on itself.  If it had fallen backwards, to the side, or completely out Sweet Pea's fingers would of taken the whole weight on themselves.

Tony lifted the window to half the height had been and let it drop.  It made a rather loud thump sound.  I about burst into tears.  God had been watching out for my little munchkin.  As unpleasant as seeing her hurt was it was nothing compared to what would of happened.  She would of definitely had broken, if not shattered fingers.  The ledge and the window are not flush and would of bent her hand at an unnatural angel and that heavy, heavy window would of been resting its full weight on the tops of her little fingers.

Yes, God could of kept her fingers from being smashed all together.  But would I of even realized it?  Would I have given Him credit for it if I did realize it?  Probably not.  I would of thought, "that was close" on our ways we would of gone.  I know there are a million times in life that He doesn't receive the glory and credit He deserves.  Sin, hurt, sadness, pain are all a part of life but God uses them to help us better see and understand Him.  I pray that you see the glimpses of Grace he has for your life today and give Him praise for it.

Choosing to See the Little Things

I do have pictures of us celebrating St. Patty's day but due to a funeral this past weekend and a trip coming up this next weekend I have not gotten around to uploading and editing them yet.  I wanted to get this down before I forgot it though.

Yesterday I did one of the things I fear the most.  I locked my keys in my car....along with my wallet and cell phone.  However, it made for the perfect opportunity to allow God to work and here is how:

* I noticed right away which means I was able to deal with the situation immediately.

* It was 4:30 and Tony gets off work at 5.  By 5:20 he had come to rescue us.  We weren't waiting too long.

* We happened to be at a local hospital to return a nebulizer we had rented a few weeks back. They had a phone and a phone book (Tony's number is long distance and his work number is saved in my phone so I don't have it memorized) for me to use.  I didn't have to find a pay phone and the elderly lady at the information desk was such a sweetheart.

* I had a dollar on me.  I almost never have  cash on me and when I do it's in my wallet (which was in the car).  I was able to get Addilece a snack so I had a happy little girl.  They also had a water cooler and cups so not having a sippy cup was fine.

* Addilece had broken her sandal (trying to get it off) which is what had distracted me.  We were in a place that we could sit that was clean (unlike maybe a store) and had few people around to worry about her being shoeless (unlike maybe the library).

*  Addilece didn't get a poppy diaper.  Let me just tell you....my daughter has a LOT of poppy diapers.  The fact that she didn't was a miracle.  The diaper bag, by the way, was what was holding everything else. 

* We didn't have to pay anything on the rental right then.  So we were able to return it without me needing my debit card.

As I was thinking through this list last night I thought for a minute, "why didn't God just keep me from locking my keys in the car."  God could of easily have done that.  However, I know that I would not have given him credit for that.  I would of thought "Oh how fortunate" and went on with my day.  This way I was able to see God work about my protection for His glory.  This could of been a very bad situation but it wasn't.

God often brings each one of us through tough times for His glory.  Here in America we struggle to acknowledge the trouble or difficulties He keeps us from.  He has to bring us into hard times so that we can actually see Him work.  The sign in front of our church recently said, "Don't pray for sunshine if you don't pray when the sun is shining."  How true that is.  Look for a way to acknowledge God in the goodness of the sunshine He has provided in your life today.