A Smell to Wake Up To... NOT!

This morning as I was getting out of bed, I could still smell in the air what we had prepared for dinner last night: french fries deep fried in peanut oil. I don't really like to deep fry, but it's what we did last night per Cameron's suggestion. The fries were REALLY good!

So, I rise out of bed smelling the grease lingering in the air, decide some strong brewed coffee would smell AWESOMLY (is that a word?) better, but as I walk towards the half bath off the kitchen to feed the dog, my nostrils are accosted by another smell - an awful, stinky, smell of raw sewage!

I peak into the bathroom where we have a white tiled floor and see no discoloration on the floor - whew! Nothing overflowed or backed up...but as I walk into the bathroom to pour the dog food into the bowl, I see the problem: someone didn't flush! EEOOOWWW! There was an anonymous icky, gross, unflushed deposit!

This was nasty! Being that one son and I were gone last night, it had to have been another specimen of male in the house. But as the other two boys came downstairs for breakfast this morning, and as their mother quizzed them in various ways, trying to get to the bottom (no pun intended) of this smelly surprise, nobody fessed up!

It must have been the same person-of-interest who steals unmatched socks out of the dryer. Anybody else have one of these mysteries?

Heartbreaking News

A local family I've never met. They are friends of one my MOPS moms...

A child that has gone to be with Jesus. A heartbreaking story that you can read on your own by visiting the family blog site.

If you read in the blog noted below, Cora's mother, Jess, says how so many of the other children from the PICU have gone home; that there is just one other child in the PICU left, besides her Cora. And she says, "We want it to be our turn to go home." She did. She went home...and her only child went home as well - to be with Jesus in Heaven.

http://www.themcclenahans.blogspot.com/

Tragic.

Held
sung by Natalie Grant.
Two months is too little.
They let him go.
They had no sudden healing.
To think that providence would take a child from his mother while she prays is appalling.
Who told us we’d be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?
We’re asking why this happens to us who have died to live?
It’s unfair.

Chorus:
This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was when everything fell we’d be held.

This hand is bitterness.
We want to taste it, let the hatred NUMB our sorrow.
The wise hands opens slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow.

(Chorus)
This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was when everything fell we’d be held.

Bridge:
If hope is born of suffering.
If this is only the beginning.
Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?

(Chorus)
This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was when everything fell we’d be held.

Please pray for Cora's mom and dad as they deal with this tragic event.

What if I REALLY had only One Month to Live...

This is the sermon series this month at church AND the challenge our pastor has put before the congregation: everybody in a small group to discuss the book and study "One Month to Live" by Kerry and Chris Shook.

I've been reading some of the book, but not all of it. I've almost refused to answer any of the questions because there's just so many of them (the book, the companion challenge planner, the challenge group interactive guide). I just can't keep up! So...last night at church, I was touch-up painting some foam "wooden" posts with my friend Latisha, who is also in a small group, and she asked me: What would you really do if you only had one month to live? So...this is what I've been thinking:

1. I'd look through all the photos I have organized (NOT!) with my precious hubby and sons and have a ball laughing and remembering our growing years and many adventures. I wouldn't be concerned about which pile the pictures were in, and I wouldn't care that they weren't in a photo book.

2. I'd print all the photos we have stored on various computers around our house. The digital camera is a great one...IF you're busy printing the pictures as you save them!

3. I'd organize a European Vacation with my family - 36 hours in Rome... 36 hours in Paris... 36 hours in Berlin... 36 hours in whatever city we choose to visit. (Greg and I spent 36 hours in Paris back in February 1998 and it was one of our most favorite memories EVER! )

4. I'd not be too tired for my husband! (wink)

5. I'd spend more time on my beautiful back porch watching the simplicity of life played out by the many squirrels and birds that congregate, play, and eat in our back yard.

6. I'd write all my church volunteers a heartfelt note of appreciation for their diligence, dedication, and determination to make it possible for God's Word to be spoken and taught to the kiddos each Sunday.

7. I wouldn't worry about wearing a size **, but instead for the first time, I would just love my body and not be worried about it's size! (I swear I was born on the wrong continent! In Africa I'd be worshiped for my shapely self!)

8. I would devour God's Word each day, any spare moment of the day, to continue to prepare me to meet my Creator!

9. I'd hug a little longer, give another kiss, smile more, laugh louder, dance to some music, drink some champagne, prepare meals because I wanted to not because I have to, smell the clean laundry as I fold it, and maybe even take a bubble bath.

and 10. I hope I would share Jesus with everyone I would come in contact with. With only one month to live, I'd have only 30 days to share Jesus Christ, by word and/or by deed, with those I talk to every single day.

So what's holding me back from doing these 10 things starting today? What's the point of reading this book, answering the questions (well, some of them), attending a weekly small group, and yet NOT doing what we think is truly important IF these next 30 days were our last?

I'm still processing it all and trying to find the balance between reality and dreaming. In the real world, money and time are still the restraints that can keep up from doing what we'd really like to do...especially over the next 30 days.