The Week in Review

SUNDAY: The challenge: The garbage disposal fiasco.

The blessing: My dad fixed it for us and Mom cleaned the kitchen for me.

The challenge: The crash on the way to church.


It was snowing - I had driven this route many times. However, I do think part of the problem was this - add snow and darkness,



and it is possible that even though I had driven this way many times before, at that moment, the stop sign didn't register on my brain.

A few feet closer --


The blessing: Nobody was hurt. Both cars will be repaired. My insurance will provide a rental (I will pay a bit extra for a minivan - a necessity since Kristen goes back to work this week and we'll be swapping kiddoes at 11:00 every day). The snow melted the next day and helped this to happen:



The challenge: Monday - Thursday: I worked full time, since the other two office people needed to be with their children during spring break.

The blessing: Uninterrupted hours of opportunity to catch up on things that had been back-burnered because of the all-consuming admission process. I finished the paperwork on every single admitted applicant for next year's MSW class - and unfortunately, the denied applicants as well. WOO-HOO (and boo-hoo). Plus I finished a nasty report I'd been putting off.

Thursday was a beautiful spring-like day. There was a Maundy Thursday service within walking distance of my office. One of my friends was singing in the Women's Chorale. It was a lovely service and was another blessing.

Friday night we went to the Good Friday service at Kevin and Sema's church - a blessing indeed.

I did overnight duty with one of the girls at a time a couple nights in order for them to get a bit more sleep at their hours. What a challenge! But what a blessing.

Saturday our church had its annual Easter Marketplace. I wish I had taken pictures, but we took the twins, Care Bear, and Feisty, and I didn't have an extra hand to hold the camera! The tent is set up with booths that could possibly have been in Israel in Christ's time. There are live animals. There is also an indoor egg hunt. People come from all over the neighborhood. We had an incredible turn-out because of the nice weather. This is a tremendous outreach for our church, and we almost always have new people attending services as a result of this huge project.

The weather was nice for the marketplace. Later in the afternoon and evening, here we go again:

Easter Sunday - The temperature when I got up and started dinner was 18 degrees! Pastor must have had word from the Lord that an outdoor sunrise service would probably be cancelled, so we didn't have one planned for this year. The annual breakfast was wonderful, and the services were blessed by God.

By the time church was over, it was 48 degrees. Now, later afternoon it's in the 50s with the snow disappearing quickly - more flowers will be here soon!

Some random Easter pictures - this one is really not very well planned. If it were, I would have closed that closet door! And put away the bag. Oh, well.

Feisty took this one of her mommy.

Sema enjoyed holding one of the girlies - don't ask me which one at this point.

I caught these 3 different sunrise shots this week:

Update on the Messes

Just a quick note this morning. I have some pictures to share, but will put them on tonight for Wordless Wednesday.

When I got home yesterday, my kitchen looked ever so much better than when I left in the morning. The floor was still dirty, but that will be taken care of soon. We had new pipes that won't rust for as long as we live. We had a new high-powered garbage disposal installed. The nastiness had been cleaned off all of the products that live under the sink. The corned beef was cooking away in the crock pot.

Mom called later in the evening to say she hoped I didn't mind if she cleaned up my kitchen. MIND?!!? Mom and Dad have been married for 61 years - they are still operating as a team. When Dad came over to fix things yesterday, he needed an extra hand - he called Mom and she came rushing over to be that hand - as she has been doing for 61 years. She couldn't stand the thought of my coming home from a long day at work to that mess. Bless you, Mom! Bless you, Dad, for your willingness and skill to help us in a non-life-threatening, but really disgusting crisis!
DC told me that he had really hesitated calling Dad from his restful Sunday afternoon, but I know for a fact that he loves to help - loves to use his innate ability to fix anything - loves to be needed - and loves to still be able to do these things at age 81. We have always kept lists of things for Dad to fix when he came to visit - now we just call him and he comes over from his house 7/10 of a mile from our house. What a blessing.


I talked to several people at the insurance company. They were all so nice (even though I am sure they will increase my rates, no matter now nice they are!). A guy will come to the parking lot of my office today to check out the injuries to my van and get the report to my body shop of choice. I know from experience that this shop does great work. It will look as good as new - and maybe they'll wash it??!!

I drove down that street this morning to check out that huge evergreen tree that the victim's mom pointed out as we stood out in the snow Sunday night. Sure enough, it does block vision of the stop sign until you get right up to it. Add snow coming down, weighing down those branches even more, and impending darkness, and I might have a case. But I don't think I'm going to go to court. I'll just bite the bullet and pay the fine. It doesn't change the fact that I know that sign is there - it's been there for the many years I've been driving down that street. But I will take a picture of the blockage and send it to the city - hopefully they'll make the home owner trim the tree back to within their yard instead of hanging over the sidewalk. The accident could have been much worse - and it could happen again, with more dire results.

FYI - I'm coming up on my 300th post! What shall I do to celebrate??

When it Rains (or Snows) it Pours

EDIT: I should have probably not even posted what I did last night. I just came home and sat down to tell my friends about my day, which had been a bit less than pleasant. I have had so many of you point out the obvious and feel a bit of chastisement for my complaints. But Mimi said it well - I just felt better after telling you all about it. But she also pointed out the good parts of the day, and she was right - they outweighed the bad. Then I went over to visit Cynthia again. Oh, my goodness, what a heavy load she is carrying. I cannot even fathom. As I said to her this morning, it is incredible what we don't know about our children, as is obvious by the piece Kevin and I did together this past year. I pray for her and Ladybug and the other children, who have to be hurting terribly, so many times during the day. Please, Lord, bring Ladybug safely home!


It began as a fairly nice, cloudy but warm, Palm Sunday. The morning service was great - the choir sounded good (though the song used up what was left of my voice). I came home before Sunday School to watch the little girls so Kristen and Mike could go play and sing in the second service. The twins will make their debut next Sunday.


The girlies were getting very rambunctious, and it was good when their family got home from church.






I fixed spaghetti for dinner for Kristen's family and us; we had a good time eating together. They went down the street to their house, and I began the clean-up. I was grinding up the left-over noodles when I felt something wet on my foot. YUCK!! I opened the cupboard door under the sink and there was a volcano of garbage pouring out onto the floor and my feet! I hollered at DC, who has now caught the cold and doesn't feel so hot. But he faithfully came up and cleaned up the mess.

When the mess was dried out, DC began to process of trying to repair the pipe. He made a trip to the hardware store, only to discover that the whole thing was rusted on the inside. He called my dad, who can fix anything. My 81-year-old dad came over and worked on it, too. The end result - the dishwasher is full to the max, everything is on the countertop and the floor from under the sink, we can't use any water in the kitchen. Dad will come over tomorrow morning when the hardware store opens again, and finish the job while we're at work.

In the meantime, this was beginning outside on this almost-spring Sunday afternoon:

It was my week to play the organ, so I headed to church in my van - DC was coming in his truck, because he had a committee meeting after church. I drove on the same street I've driven to church at least twice a week for the last 30 years. I don't know where my mind was, but the next thing I knew, a little red car was there on my right - I hit it! I totally went through the stop sign - the same sign that has been there forever. I could blame the snow, the dusk, but it was just pure and simple stupidity and carelessness. This 60-year-old woman, who has never been at fault in an accident before, hit a young teen-age girl on on her way to work. It could have been so much worse - nobody was hurt - well, nothing but my pride! Not even a sore muscle.

This is the same part that had to be replaced earlier this year when that huge piece of ice hit it and cracked it. Of course, I got a ticket. The deductible is going to do serious damage to my savings account. Not to mention the increase in our insurance premium. I am not happy. At least I don't have to go to court - I can just write a check, since I admitted it was my fault. No reason not to!