Week in Review...

(Photo note:  I never got a good group photo on Thanksgiving.  Emlyn got a bad headache after lunch and didn't feel like having her picture taken, and I had interrupted Peter's checkers game. :)  This is as good as it got! ;-))

This has been one of those peculiar weeks which has seemed to pass in the blink of an eye in one way, while seeming to be three weeks long in another.  Anybody else have those?   In any case, my blogging plans for the week went up in a puff of smoke...or perhaps I should say a couple of rounds of steel and rubber. ;-)  More on that later...

Monday~I had a lovely Thanksgiving week Daybook post all mapped out

 in my head Monday morning.  I also had a deadline to meet, so I mentally moved "Daybook blog post" from Monday morning's list  to Monday evening's.  By Monday evening I was not feeling well, and if I remember correctly, I went to bed early.  At any rate, my thought was, "I'll just do a Tuesday morning Daybook."  

Tuesday~The kids and I had a full day planned, between work to do at home and errands that needed (I thought!) to be run.   The Tuesday before Thanksgiving is also Wednesday on Tuesday at church, making Tuesday our *short day* this week.  I had just finished drafting our plan for the day on paper and had pulled up a screen to start my Daybook post, when Billy returned from his early morning walk.  

It's never a good sign when your husband walks in and says, "Well, you aren't 

going anywhere in *that* car today."   I'm not sure what I was expecting, but certainly not his reply to my trying-not-to-panic, "Why??"  

"Someone jacked it up on a concrete block and stole two tires, rims and all."

You will just have to imagine the look on my face at this point.  Eyes as wide as saucers, jaw scraping the desktop in front of me, as I said, "WHAT??", sure that I had heard him wrong.   Nope.  There it sat, propped up on a broken concrete block, naked axles and all.  

I'll spare you further details, mostly because I don't want to think about them at the moment myself, but suffice it to say that I didn't get my Daybook post typed Tuesday morning. ;-) Somehow between the list of things we needed to do at home and the extra time and mental effort the tire situation involved, we barely made it to church Tuesday night.  I'm not sure *when* I thought we were going to run errands on Tuesday, car or no car!

The car thing was a bit of a jolt for several reasons.  First, things like that are just irritating.   They require time and thought that you had planned to use on other things.  They are an annoying interruption.  Second, they are an affront to your sense of security.  They leave you feeling violated and vulnerable.   And third...they are expensive.  New tires and rims were not part of our budgeting plans right before Christmas.  Enough said. :)

As anyone who knows me at all knows, I'm a worrier.  I come from a long line of worriers.  God has been working on that in the past few years, and while I'm a slow learner, I *am* learning.  I started out mad, then the worrying began, and  I was really tempted to spaz completely out (moreso than I did...ack), but for the most part, I was surprised at how God enabled me to rest in the fact that it was *His* car, and therefore *His* problem.  :-D    I began to work on figuring out how to make the next few weeks work with one vehicle (we've only been back to two vehicles for 6 weeks or so...amazing how quickly we get spoiled!), or how to revise the Christmas lists if we decided to go ahead and get the tires now instead  of waiting until after Christmas.  I posted this to some friends Tuesday  morning...

"I'm trying to be thankful.  It wasn't the van! That is good because we can't *all* get in the car at once.  They didn't damage the car, that Billy can tell, getting the tires off.  It was only two tires!  So we'll be able to replace them sooner than if it had been all four.  I'm thankful that we *have* two vehicles and that this didn't happen to our *only* transportation.  They didn't do anything to our house, and we are all safe.  

I just remembered something...I had *just* told the kids last night that one of the things I was most thankful for this Thanksgiving was that we had been blessed with the car, because the next few weeks would be really hard otherwise.   God's ways are mysterious, and sometimes humorous.    I was praying yesterday for ways to teach gratitude to my children, because we've been dealing with some ingratitude issues.  Guess this is  my opportunity, huh?    "

Here is the good part!  By bedtime that night, God had very unexpectedly supplied the money to replace the tires!   And I'll jump ahead in the week just a bit to say that by Wednesday afternoon, He had enabled Billy to find both rims and tires, in great condition, at area salvage yards.   By Wednesday morning, my wonderful husband had the car drivable so that we could  get all our "running around" done, and by Thursday you couldn't tell by looking that the whole  thing had ever happened!   What a great Thanksgiving lesson in God's provision and goodness.  I had been struggling a bit lately with trusting in God's provision...lessons I thought I had learned years ago in which I suddenly needed a refresher course.   And God gave one!   

Wednesday~Wednesday was on-the-run day!  Peter, Bay, and our friend Kaitlyn had an art class at JHARV Nature Center.   They did some great paintings, which I just realized I have not taken pictures of...oops!...while Kathy and I caught up on a couple of week's worth of unfinished conversations and watched the three younger ones explore.   I'm so thankful for friends I can laugh with till my sides hurt and then have really deep conversations about whatever is in our hearts.   God has so blessed me in that area, and I am grateful!

We had lunch with Kathy and the kids and spent the rest of the day running errands.  By the end of the day, I was more thankful than ever that I wasn't cooking a big Thanksgiving dinner the next morning!

Thursday~We had a very simple, quiet Thanksgiving.  I am so thankful for that!  The past few years, I have really grieved the loss of the huge holiday celebrations we had when I was growing up. Travelling from Conway to Fort Smith, spending time with a whole horde of relatives, eating our way through two, and sometimes *three* delectable dinners (and eating more food than we usually ate in a week or two in the process :-D)....those are the memories of my childhood and teen years.  

Our holidays in the past few years have been very different.  My extended family has shrunk to the point of being miniscule, and Billy's family isn't into the big celebrations I was used to.  Thanksgiving especially is really different, due to everyone in his family being in retail/delivery service/healthcare and having to work weird schedules Thanksgiving weekend.   So...the four day Thanksgiving *eat until your eyeballs bulge, watch parades and football on TV, and listen to the family storytellers for hours on end* tradition is no more.  

As I said, I've spent the last few years really grieving that loss.  Wishing my children had what I grew up with.    But God has really worked in my heart in this area...healing the grieving, convicting me about what *I* need to be doing to build new holiday traditions for my family, and giving me contentment about the situation in which He has placed us.   I so needed a very simple, calm, stress-free holiday this year...and God gave that.  We've had a *tradition* of sorts for the past few years of having Thanksgiving dinner at the Cracker Barrel, with my mom and whatever other family happens to be available.   We went again this year, and while not one of us ended up eating turkey and dressing (don't tell anyone, but three of my children had pancakes for Thanksgiving dinner! ;-)), we had a wonderful day, relaxing, enjoying each other, and thanking God for His blessings.  

Somehow this was the transition year I needed...my plan for next year is to have the dining room finished and start some new traditions, including dinner at our house.   I've already started a file of ideas! :)

Friday~Another big change from my growing-up years...I avoid Black Friday shopping like the plague these days!  We used to shop from whatever time the stores opened on Friday all weekend long.   Nowdays, Billy almost always has to work that day,  and I've come to really enjoy Christmas shopping at my desk in my PJs, and waiting for the boxes to be delivered to my doorstep!  

This year, I didn't even do much online shopping.   Jodie tipped me off to the Vision Forum 48-hour sale, and I did a bit of shopping there (no details in case a nosy child happens to read this 

:-D); otherwise I pretty much window-shopped online.  (I did grab a few small gifts during a late-night Target run, too...it was a great time to be out, because all the 4 a.m. shoppers were home in bed. :))

A couple of Friday highlights...

Jodie brought us the leftovers to make the cutest turkey cupcakes.  The cupcakes were made and frosted, all the decorations were there, and Friday morning the kids 

and I decorated (and ate) a gaggle of gobblers.  What a fun treat!   And even better when someone else had done all the work and left us with just the fun part to do!! ;-)  (Thanks, Mrs. Jodie! :-D)

Then Friday night...I got a haircut!  Those of you who don't know me IRL probably don't realize the magnitude of that.   I'm not sure of the adjective that best describes me in relation to haircuts.  Paranoid?  Phobic?  Neurotic?  Something along those lines. :)  Not about the process itself...I love actually *having* my hair cut.  But somewhere along the line I had a few too many *hair butcher* experiences, and after the agony of  growing out both hair and bangs for *years*, I have been paralyzed about actually taking the step to get it cut.  

I'll spare you the details, but a variety of things finally pushed me to the precipice, and yesterday I suddenly hit that "I have to have a haircut now or I'm going to pull it all out" stage. ;-)  

When I say I am Billy's "blessedly spoiled" wife, it's true.   The moment I mentioned that I had finally given in and decided it was time for a haircut, he insisted that whatever he had to do, I was getting a hair cut *that* night.  We had an easy supper, he and the kids cleaned up, and he practically pushed me out the door as I began to get cold feet. :)  

Thankfully, it ended up being a good experience...I think I've finally found someone I like and trust with my hair (which means, of course, that despite the fact that she may not have given a single thought to it prior to yesterday, she will end up moving out of state before I need my next cut. ;-))  It feels a million times better and I haven't missed my ponytail yet!  (Although she actually assured me that I still have enough to have one should the need arise. :))

(Photo Note:  This is *not* a great picture of me or the haircut. But it will have to do until I have time to get a better one. :))

Wow.  I think this may be the *longest* blog post *ever* (which is saying a *lot* for me! :-D)  I still feel as though I am leaving out something...and I'm sure that I'll remember it right after I *finally* (on the 4th or 5th try...grr!) get Blogger's silly Word Verification annoyance to let me post this!  

I hope everyone had a great week and a wonderful Thanksgiving!