Almost Freedom

Freedom for what? Well, it's 12:05 and I still have energy! This is so exciting. I haven't felt this good since November 5th. That's a long time. I also went to the doctor today and he said I was about 80% healed but that I could start getting on with my life. Just be careful, know my limitations and blah blah blah. (I think I might have tuned him out at this point.) Anyway, I am so excited to be feeling...normal. (Of course, I'm not sayin' I won't be taking a nap later. Just so you know.)

Today's the big Bowl game. No pressure. It's just that if we don't win this game, well, let's just say that we will be pathetic. Because their team is missing like 36 players or something due to scandal and injuries. I would say that football isn't really our game, basketball is. But unfortunately, we have done terribly in basketball this year. So terribly that I don't even want to watch. Sigh. So we have our hopes and our pride set on this Bowl game. (There's a basketball game on too and I find myself thinking, "surely we can beat Dolphin Middle School or somebody like that." Actually it's Florida International and they will probably beat us by 50 points. Sigh.)

Hmmm...the house smells like tacos so lunch must be done. I guess I'd better get busy with some stuff around here. (Laundry, dishes, cringing when the other team makes a basket, ironing, wondering if God is a football fan, feeding the livestock, and so forth.) Happy New Year!

Goodbye to 2007

I was doing the year in review thing the other day and I have decided that 2007 was slightly traumatic. Maybe a little more than slightly. It started off fairly normal. My husband and I celebrated our twentieth anniversary in February. (Yes, it was a valentine's day wedding.) We took a trip to Disney World. Just the two of us. We had a lot of fun. We did three parks in one day (and decided that we were too old to do that) and then spent twelve hours at Magic Kingdom on the second day. (Which we decided we were too old to do that much running around too. ) But it was a glorious trip with my sweetie. Then in April, IT happened. I will not say what exactly it was, but just know that it was a major trauma and it was life altering. It's funny though, God used what man meant for harm and turned it into some good things. And for the rest of my life, as I remember what happened to me, I will always be able to see the hand of God at work in what was definitely a horrible time in my life. Which, when you think about it, is a pretty cool thing. Then came surgery, a cancer scare and another surgery to finish up the year. And those are just the things that happened to me. Of course, there were good things this year. Cinderella got engaged on her birthday. Husband moved into a job that he likes and is well suited for. A friend and I got to work the Deeper Still conference. Another friend bought her first home after living in an apartment for twenty something years. My niece got married. But I think all in all, I am glad to see 2007 go. Not that I have any assurances for 2008. No more so than the assurances that I had for this year. God's will is sovereign and He has a plan. Always. And I guess I can't wait to see what it is for this year.

I am finishing up the chapter on Serving God in Elizabeth George's "A Wife After God's Own Heart." I like to reread her books because I often need the reminder of how I need to treat my family and handle my life so that it is pleasing to God. One of the things that I love about Elizabeth's books is that she is very traditional in her way of thinking about a woman's role in life. She is very clear about God's priorities for marriage and for women in general. I know that some women wouldn't want to hear that they should put their husbands first (well actually, God first then husbands) in all that they do and plan for. I appreciate her view that my husband should be involved in all of my life, including whether or not to participate in church functions. The argument has been presented to me many times that if I'm working for God then how can it be wrong. I guess it can be wrong if I spend so much time wrapped up in whatever it is that I neglect my husband and my family. (And believe me, this has happened before.) Elizabeth makes the point that we are honoring God when we honor our husband's desires. And she makes the suggestion that if it really is something we want to do, that we pray that God change our husband's heart. I guess that makes it a win/win situation. Anyway, I highly recommend her books to any woman. I guess my favorite is "Beautiful in God's Eyes" but I have read and reread all she has written.

Oh my. I'd like to say that I have everything cleaned up. And actually, yesterday I was well on the way to neatness once again. However, today happened. And now my sink is full again. Of course, the fact that I have a house full of boys today may have contributed to the mess. (They did stop to shovel out The Boy's room earlier today and that is why my sink is full once again. Boys eat and drink a lot.) So I will be stepping away from here shortly to try and restore order before dh returns from work.

Did I mention that it has rained non-stop today and five doggies running in and out to use the "facilities" has taken it's toll on the kitchen floor? I do have some lovely samples of doggie footprints though.

I can hear the sounds of Forrest Gump coming from the living room. Cinderella and her beau are watching it. They have a list of movies to watch in their lifetime and for some reason this one is on it. I was never a big fan of Forrest. My favorite Tom Hanks movie would have to be Apollo 13 followed by Sleepless in Seattle. (Why would they have a list of movies to watch in their lifetime? Don't they have their entire life ahead of them? Maybe it's just a list of movies to watch over the school break.)

Well, I'm off to scrub up the kitchen!

I am wondering how long it will take before the house looks "normal" again. I still have Christmas dishes to finish scrubbing out. You know the ones. The huge awkward sized ones that don't fit in the dishwasher and don't really even fit in the sink. Those dishes. Plus there seems to be little piles of things stacked throughout the house. And the garbage can overfloweth. Oddly enough, the pantry seems to be somewhat bare as well. Which means grocery shopping is just around the corner. Laundry has been put off in favor of festivities however we did not attend said festivities naked, therefore, laundry piles have grown. And the ironing, oh, did I mention that I was ironing dh's dress shirt at 6 a.m. this morning because ironing was cancelled as well? So I am off to clear the dinner table (I did manage to put a clean tablecloth on it) and tackle the dishes before heading off to iron the rest of the dress shirts. Then I think I'll eat a cookie. Because we all know Christmas cookies don't count and diets don't start till after the new year. Right?

100 in 1001

I am thinking of trying this 100 in 1001 thing. The basic premise is that you think of 100 specific things or tasks that you would like to accomplish. They have to be very specific things. Then you pick a date to start and you have 1001 days to finish it. Which is over two years. So if you were to want to celebrate Easter with Aunt Marge or something but you didn't do it the first year, you have the second year to do it in unless Aunt Marge dies or something like that. So I will probably take a few days to come up with a list and then post it here. Then you go back and update it periodically so that the entire world can keep track of your progress. Assuming the entire world were to stop by your blog. I think theres some kind of counter thing you can add to the sidebar as well. Hopefully it will be something relatively simple to install so that I don't destroy the entire blogosphere as it currently exists. I also added part of my book list for 2008. I am sure that there are lots of other books that I will want to read as the year progresses.

I actually have started doing most of my posting on xanga but I think I am going to keep this blog for things that I can't figure out how to do there. Perhaps one day I will become totally proficient at this thing but I suspect by that time, some newfangled thing will have come along to replace this. Anyway, Merry Christmas!