Marching On

It’s pretty dang hot again today but that breeze that came in yesterday has been going non-stop so I took advantage of it and have been outside working in the yard all day.  ALL DAY.  I started about 9 a.m. and finally called it quits about eight hours later.  I haven’t been outside the entire time - but darn close.  Half the backyard has been mowed.  I’ve picked up two wheelbarrels full of sticks and small limbs.  I’ve pulled some weeds and deadheaded some flowers. 

In between all this outdoor activity I have whipped up a batch each of potato salad & tuna salad and made a chocolate angelfood cake to go with the fresh strawberries I brought home yesterday.  I’ve run a load of dishes, fed the birds and dogs (twice) and read my five Bible chapters for the day. 

It’s a little after 6 pm and the skies are growing dark.  We’ve got another storm blowing in but I don’t think its supposed to be violent like the last one.  Tomorrow, we’re even scheduled for a break in the heat with temperatures only expected to get into the mid-70’s.  Ahh…

Another weekend has come and gone.  Starting next week I’ll be traveling back and forth between my office and the Kansas office because of a staffing shortage.  They aren’t planning to fill the vacated position until fall so I have been slotted to head out there a couple times a week for the next several months.  (And, yes, they are paying mileage - thank you Jesus.)  I don’t relish the drive time in rush hour traffic but times are tough and anything I can do to be a team player when others in our company are being shown the door - I’m more than willing to do.  Still, it really blows to be out of my office when we’re preparing for that big move in September. 

All this daily stuff…laundry and lawn mowing and preparing food for the week ahead…I know it has to be done.  I know it’s important to my survival and the upkeep of the land I’ve been entrusted with.  I think I realized this weekend why Jesus never had a place to call home, though.  I doubt he’d get much teaching or preaching done if he was always running to the market or sweeping those dirt floors.  I’m starting to think He knew what He was doing by living “lite” and I often wonder what my life would be like if I didn’t own a home.  Or two dogs.  Or a car. 

I consider these things to be both a hindrance and a blessing.  It takes a lot of one’s lifetime to handle the day-to-day living stuff and, quite often, I find myself exhausted from the effort.  I am noticably stronger this year than the past two from a heart standpoint - I can tell I have more energy and stamina - I sure wouldn’t have made it outside all day long two years ago.   So, I give thanks for that - thanks for being exhausted and dead tired and not just plain old dead.  I know some times life feels like it gets the best of us but I can honestly say the last three years of my life have been one great ride.  Even with the heart disease.  Even with the wilting thyroid.  Even with the challenges these things have brought to my life. 

My heart continues to beat…and even in the middle of a patch of sheer physical exhaustion, my life marches on.  It continuously marches on. 

By the loving grace of God, my life…

it marches on. 

Once Again, I Gotta Say It…

God is so good!  He’s soooooo good!

I just had the man out to walk around my property and look at taking all the limbs away that fell throughout the winter and during this last little microburst storm of ours.  I have been praying that he could keep it around $500 because I didn’t want to get strapped for cash and I didn’t want to have to put any of this on my charge card. 

So he shows up and we start walking around and he says, “You need to have that limb taken down and that needs to be done and this over here…” and I said, “Yes, I know but I’ve got to start with the stuff that’s on the ground first and go from there.”  So we walk and talk and I am batting my eyelashes like nobody’s business and putting on my best “I’m so poor” routine and we finally agree to do the worst stuff first but I’ve planted the seed that there’s LOTS more work to come if they could just give me a break right now and he said, “You know what?  We’ll just haul everything away that’s on the ground included in the price of $500.  How’s that?”

So now I can get my yard cleaned up AND buy groceries this week AND, since they can’t come back until a week from Monday, he went ahead and rolled the big limb off the deck for me so we can use the stairs again and stop jumping up and down off the lower level.  (Did I mention he was really strong?)

Well, he was.  And fair.  And I’m very happy.  The End.

Amen

I walked into the bathroom last night with plastic gloves on up to my elbows and a bottle of grout cleaner in hand.  Man, am I glad that’s done for another year.  :-)