Sunday, November 2, 2008

Randomness

That thing I wrote about yesterday? About the smashed screecheroos? Clint just happened to blog about it too.
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Know what November is? NaBloPoMo. I usually post at least 5 times a week anyway, so blogging for 30 days straight would not be a hardship for me. The trick is having something to say. And then to say it in a clever way.
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Congratulations to my friend, Janice. She graduated today with a Masters in Leadership from TWU. So very proud of her. She accomplished this while raising 4 elementary aged children all on extra curricular sports teams AND she worked two part time jobs as well. Super Woman.
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Know what happened one year ago today?
On the first Saturday in November, I met part of my writing group to go used-book-store-browsing in Abbotsford, then I had lunch with Raych. It was a wet, grey day and I was feeling down so I stopped in at that the fat lady's clothing store and bought a some work clothes. I was in my truck, heading home when my sister called to say that mom wasn't feeling well and dad was acting weird, so her and Daryl were taking him out to dinner. I turned around and joined them at the Spaghetti Factory, when mom called to let us know an ambulance was on the way to the house - she needed to go to the hospital.

As I'm writing this, at 12:30 am - I remember that last year at this time, I was sitting by myself on a concrete bench in a darkened lobby praying that mom would make it through her surgery. Three hours later the surgeon assured me she would be fine although her recovery would take a few months and more surgery would be required. And seven hours after that our church voted to close down. And then the following day my dad had a breakdown.

Man. Those were dark days. On so many levels. Some things are a blur. Some things are crystal clear.

Have I thanked you for praying? Thank you.

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Some days my world is as big as this house. I am so caught up in the stuff that is or is not going on here that I don't give a second thought to the rest of the world. Today was one of those days. I obsessed for hours about things regarding my kids. And how I wish things were different. And how I pray and pray and pray and wonder if there's any point. God set this whole earth gig up so that we'd have freedom of choice. And wow. Does it not frighten and disappoint you when you watch those you love continue to make dumb/poor/ridiculous/ decisions?

At 5:30 I decided to go to Northview. I had nothing else to do, and church is never a bad idea. Know what tonight was? Compassion night. And my cheeks were wet for most of the presentation. And yup. Seeing that level of poverty, that level of pain, that level of dysfunction in so many other parts of the world puts everything in my life in perspective. My world is bigger than this one-and-a-half-story-house-on-a-cul-de-sac in Murrayville. There are other children I should pray for. There are other children I need to support. There are hurting kids who need me to care.

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Did you see the new feature at the side over there? Those are the books that are on my night table, just waiting for me to stop blogging already and read them.

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And with that, I'm going to turn back my clock an hour and read for abit. I can sleep in tomorrow ... I did church already.

Three things I'm thankful for:
1. The rain stopped for long enough for me to do a few hours of work in the yard today. Know what I hate about my yard? The thing that sucks the fun out of yard work? The thing that makes me so angry I could scream? ALL THE DOG CRAP ON MY BACK LAWN. It's a small dog or two and the bowel movements are not consistent. Sometimes dark, sometimes black, sometimes runny, EVERYTIME gross. I had a bunch of boys over yesterday, who played on the grass, on the trampoline, and smeared it everywhere. We don't expect the yard to be filled with shit, so at night, when it's dark, we forget that it's mine field out there. Suggestions anyone? The yard is fenced. We have gates.
*Deep breath. Remember the kids in Thailand* she says to calm herself down.

2. The moon

3. Advil

Shalom,

2 comments:

Trev said...

I was very moved by this post Jane. You're simply awesome!

raych said...

I can't believe that was a year ago! I feel like you guys have been through so much since then. Things keep moving on,though, right? And here we are.