Little Things
What’s on your prayer request list?
I’m willing to bet there’s a few big ticket items.
My biggies?
A dream job for my husband that he loves and provides life long financial security for us.
That my son grows up to be a great man who’s successful and contributes to making the world a better place.
That I’m the perfect mother who never looses her temper and always does the right thing.
Sure those things are all possible. God could snap his fingers and grant my every wish. It’s certainly within his power to do so. And often he does perform a miracle or do the seemingly impossible.
But even more often it’s all the little things that he attends to that really seem to make the difference.
Sometimes a request seems so small and insignificant that I feel silly praying about it. I wonder if it’s even important enough to bother God with, or I don’t even think to ask in the first place.
But nothing is insignificant to God. And all our cares and concerns, no matter how inconsequential they may seem to us, do matter to him.
I can think of several little things in the last few weeks that, though they didn’t seem that important in the grand scheme of things, I prayed about. And I got an answer.
Sometimes it’s not about being Mother of the Year. It’s just about God granting me enough patience to get through that one particularly hard day.
Sometimes it’s not about life long financial security, it’s just about having enough cash in the bank to pay that huge car repair bill.
Sometimes it’s not about my kid growing up to be a Supreme Court Justice, it’s just about him learning his ABC’s.
It’s these little blessings that get me through the day-to-day. To me all the aswers to my “little things” add up to a lot. Maybe even more than all the big things.
Blizzard
You know the song that goes, “snowin’ and blowin’ up bushels of fun”? Well, I don’t know about fun, but it is blowin’ and snowin’ bushels of snow, and it’s freezing!
It’s been near or below zero all day with wind chills in the minus 20’s. The wind is howling and blowing the foot of snow that was already on the ground all over. And lake effect snow has been coming down at our house all day too.
We were about two hours south this weekend in Indiana celebrating Christmas with my parents. It was just as cold there, but they didn’t have all the snow we do.
Things got worse the farther north we got as we drove home. Once we got near Kalamazoo so much snow was blowing across the freeway that we couldn’t see at times. And we came across a few drifts. The roads were icy too.
We got to our house only to discover that the driveway that had just been plowed Saturday morning was partially drifted shut.
I turned the TV on when we got inside and about five minutes later the NWS issued a blizzard warning for our area. So I guess we made it home before it got even worse.
I don’t have any photos of the snow for you, because I’m not going out there.
Friday we got close to a foot of snow in about five hours. Now this, and there’s more coming every day until Christmas.
We’ll definitely be having a white Christmas and a frozen Christmas. I have a little more shopping to do, and I’m wondering if I’ll even be able to get to the store.
This Economic Downturn is Really Starting to Affect Me
In the last six months the Starbucks, Krispie Cream and Cinnabon closest to me all closed.
I used to drive out of my way to the farther Walmart just so I could go to Starbucks afterward. I needed that Mocha after and hour of grocery shopping with a whinny three year old.
And Cinnabon… Oh those ridiculously huge, sticky, warm cinnamon rolls. I could always count on Cinnabon to pack back on the calories I burned after a long day of walking around the mall.
But I’m especially sad about Krispie Cream. See, the Krispie Cream once saved our lives.
Seriously.
I’m physically unable to drive past a Krispie Cream without stopping. So on a hot August evening after shopping, my family and I were headed home when I spotted KC. I talked Dave in going through the drive through. I think we were the only people there, but they were really slow that night. We must had been stuck there for 15 minutes.
As we sat waiting, we noticed the skies to the west getting dark. We finally got our delicious, glazed, cream-filled goodness and pulled away as it started to pour buckets of rain. Sitting at the stoplight waiting to turn toward home, the wind piked up and started to blow the lights around so violently I thought they were going to fall off and land on our windshield. Lightening flashed and thunder cracked all around.
We made it to the freeway, and by the time we got to our exit the storm let up. But as we drove down the back roads that lead to our house, we came across downed power lines and trees everywhere in the road. At one point we had to stop while the fire department cleared a tree from the road so we could get through.
Were it not for those 15 minutes waiting for doughnuts at KC, were would have been driving on those roads while all that debris was falling down.
So you can understand why I’m kinda sentimental about that one.
Who says pastries aren’t good for your health?
Christmas Tree Farm
We made our annual trip to the tree farm Saturday to cut down our Christmas tree. This is my favorite Christmas activity. I really look forward to it every year. There’s just something romantic and old fashioned about it I guess. And I just get to stand back and watch while the men do all the work.
Here are the boys with the tree (on the left) we picked out before cutting it down. David was fascinated with the saw.
Dave trimming off a few bottom branches.
Here’s David and I riding on the wagon from the field back to the farm office. David loved the wagon ride.
It was a balmy 38 degrees that day. That’s actually pretty warm. In past years it’s been about 20 degrees with an even colder wind chill. And it’s usually snowing. It did start rain and sleet just as we were leaving.
Here’s Dave, Elizabeth and Joey, our possessed Cocker Spaniels with glowing eyes, and David after decorating the tree.
We went simple this year. Just some white lights and ornaments. Mostly because I’m tired and didn’t feel like dragging out all the other stuff. The tree is so big we don’t even have enough ornaments to fill it. We had more, but most of the glass ornaments we once owned were broken in the last four years. Notice how that’s been since David was born? Guess I need to visit the Christmas decor aisle at the store this week.
The tree didn’t look that big in the great outdoors. We got it in the house, and it takes up half the living room. Oh, well. It’s pretty and it smells great.
I started putting a little tree in David’s room on his first Christmas. Now he looks forward to it. This year, for the first time, he hung all the ornaments on it himself.
The ornaments are sort of all lumped together. But he’s very proud of it.
Warts and All
Some of you have been asking how am I, where am I, why haven’t you heard from me?
Well I’m still here and I’m fine. Thank you all for your concern.
I kind of got out of the habit of blogging when I wasn’t feeling well with morning sickness. And I got way behind with housework, then the holidays arrived. After doing endless loads of laundry and finally forcing myself to scrub the shower — I hate, hate, hate cleaning the bathtub/shower. There just is no easy way to do that. Give me a toilet to clean any day. At least I can clean the toilet with out climbing into it, and soaking myself with water and skin eating chemicals.
OK, big digression.
I once had a wart on my finger that wouldn’t go away. I tried over-the-counter remedy’s, and even had it removed by a doctor. But it kept coming back. Then one day I purchased some heavy duty bathroom cleaner to remove that ring of stubborn soap scum that always forms around the bottom of the tub. Well, it said use with gloves. I didn’t have any rubber gloves, so I just used bare hands. Not only did it remove the soap scrum, but a week later I noticed that the wart was completely gone. That was 10 years ago. I’ve never had another since.
Not that I recommend running out and buying soap scum remover to soak your warts in.
At least not with out a doctor’s direction.
Anyway, I think I’m all caught up on all the housework and errands that went undone while I was trying to keep my lunch down.
The baby’s doing fine. I’m 14 weeks now. At my last doctor’s appointment he did a spur of the moment ultrasound to take some measurements just to make sure the due was correct. Being spur of the moment, I had to chug down all that water in just a few minutes. But it’s better than doing it an hour or two before, then sitting there praying that you can hold it until the technician lets you get up to use the restroom. That by far is the cruelest thing they do pregnant women. Well, that and the orange stuff they make you drink when they test your blood sugar.
The images were fuzzy, but we were able to make out some little hands and a head. And we could see the heart beating. We got to hear the heartbeat too. Little David was with us, and all he wanted to know was if it is a boy or a girl. Of course it’s too early to tell, but if you ask him, he is convinced that it’s going to be a boy. He wants a brother, and absolutely nothing to do with little girls.
Oh, the doctor said the measurements matched the due date of June 10th.
So that’s what I’ve been up to.
Girls Just Wanna Win Swag: Kim’s Custom Gifts
Amber G is the winner of last week’s Stella Rocco giveaway.
The featured company this week is Kim’s Custom Gifts. The shop offers completely customizable photo cards including birth announcements, birthday invitations, Christmas cards, wedding save the date and shower invitations as well as custom photo collage keepsakes.
“I started the business because my freelance job that I had been counting on for extra money was put on a budget freeze. I decided to open this store in hopes of earning some extra income, but also to keep my design skills sharp. It is a nice distraction from the otherwise demanding job of attending to a busy toddler all day,” says the shop’s owner Kim. She says the inspiration for her designs come from her daughter and her faith.
“Meeting new people and having them be pleased with their purchases,” is the most rewarding part about her business Kim says.
Kim says there are advantages to being in business by herself. “It’s just me. So you’ll know who you are dealing with. I will do just about everything possible to make sure you are happy with your purchase. I have a satisfaction guarantee: If a customer changes their mind and decides they aren’t happy with their design before they print it, I will refund their money. I can not, however, refund money for cards that have already been printed.”
Win It!
Kim’s Custom Gifts is offering one lucky reader the chance to win their choice of one item from the store, excluding the Printing Services category.
To enter, visit Kim’s Custom Gifts, then come back here and leave a comment ON THIS POST with your favorite item. Comments not following the rules will be disqualified.
Earn an extra entry by posting about this contest on your blog, and linking to this post and to Kim’s Custom Gifts. If you do the extra credit, let me know by leaving a separate comment with the link to your post.
Bloggers and non-bloggers may enter. The contest is open internationally.
The contest will run until 11:59 p.m. EST Dec. 17th.
I’ll randomly draw a winner, and announce the winner next week.
The winner will also be contacted by email, and will have three days to reply. If the winner does not reply in three days, another will be chosen.
Swag is taking a Christmas break after this week. Come back after the New Year for more great giveaways!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Need a unique gift for a special occasion or to comfort a loved one or friend? Visit Cake and a Prayer, an online purveyor of delectable cakes and spiritually uplifting gifts.
Have a women-owned business you’d like featured in a Swag giveaway? Send me an email (see the side bar) and let me know.
