A Rude Awakening

While we were in Wisconsin this week, we stayed at my brother-in-law’s house. He and his wife breed Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, and they currently have eight dogs (and two cats and a lizard, if you’re counting) living on their farm. I met two of their dogs a couple years ago, so I knew how truly massive “Swissies,” as they call them, are. They’re beautiful animals, but when I say “massive,” I mean over two feet tall and an average of 125 lbs.

As we went to bed the first night, my husband mentioned that one of the big dogs was sleeping in the house. It didn’t really matter to me at that moment, but I was so glad he mentioned it later that night. Around 3:00 am, I woke up and needed to use the bathroom. So I walked downstairs, bleary-eyed even though I’d managed to grab my glasses. I opened the door to the main level, squinted at my niece who’d fallen asleep on the couch in front of the TV, and turned into the kitchen. And abruptly stopped.

Sully, the prize-winning (read: largest) Swissie of all, was standing in the middle of the kitchen. Now, I’m not afraid of dogs. I may be a cat person, and I may not want a dog of my own. But I’m not scared of them.

And besides, I know that this particular breed of dog is called “the friendly giant” because of their reputation for being so, well, friendly. But I won’t deny that as I walked calmly by Sully into the bathroom, I may have shut that door a little faster than normal! Especially after the good guard dog started growling and howling quietly but urgently.

I don’t blame him – Sully was just doing what he should. After all, I was a stranger waltzing into his owner’s bathroom in the middle of the night! As a matter of fact, now that I think about it, he may be telling his friends this very same story. But instead of talking about a brave woman persevering (yes, persevering to the bathroom) despite being startled by a ginormous dog, his story features a kind but brave dog protecting his territory from a strange human lady with crazy hair.

Of course, the ending of the story is the same. We both went back to sleep after my sister-in-law hollered, “Hush, Sully!”

* Photo from Dog Breed Info Center.

The Business of Miracles

God has been very busy with our family recently. First a financial miracle and then a safety miracle - it's almost too much for me to comprehend!

First the finances. We've always been bad with our money. It starts because we don't have enough and then it gets worse because we're not good stewards of what we have. We've been trying to improve in this area and have made some changes, and had started making progress last summer.

Then I got laid off right before having Photobaby several weeks early. That meant I got paid less severance package and had extra medical bills. On top of that, the best job offer I had didn't actually pay enough to cover our monthly bills. But I had to take it anyway.

So, we've been barely scraping by and little by little, we'd gotten pretty far behind. We were about one month from being a full month behind on bills. (Yes, I realize this is a lot of personal info, but I want you to understand what God did.)

And then the miracle happened. A family friend who had not spoken to my parents or me in 11 years (a long story for another time) passed away. And left me enough money to pay off a good portion of our debt, allowing us to catch up and make a budget that allows our current income to meet all our monthly expenses. It was a miracle!!!

To put it in perspective - before this, on paper, we were $800 short every month. We knew God would help us work it out, but it seemed so daunting! I mean, that's a BIG gap! But He did it!

And then, this Monday, we got a call. One of those late-night calls that nobody wants to get. The kind that comes after bedtime and begins with, "There's been an accident." Mac's father was in a bad four-wheeler accident up at my brother-in-law's farm in Wisconsin. Our 10-year-old niece was riding with him. When we got the call, we were told that my father-in-law had a broken back and our niece had a broken leg.

It turns out, our niece had a bruised lung and sore shoulder - and nothing else. And my husband's dad did not break his back. He has a severe concussion, collapsed lungs, a separated shoulder and eight broken ribs. But he's doing amazingly well. He's been up and walking, is off his IV, and is in good spirits. There's no explanation for him surviving other than - God is working miracles around here!

(Another minor - but still much appreciated - miracle is that this accident allowed Mac and me a lot of time together. Because we hopped in the truck Tuesday morning and made the long drive to Wisconsin. We're headed home tomorrow - and I can't wait to sleep in my bed and see Photobaby, who's been with my parents - but it's been so nice to have this quality time with him.)

So - God is good all the time. All the time, God is good.

Ships Passing in the Night

[From this point on, I'm going to call my husband, "Mac." It's not a very clever blog name, but I'm not feeling very clever.]

The typical weekday schedule for our family looks like this:

• 7:00 Photobaby wakes up. I change her diaper and drop her in bed with Mac.
• 7:45 - 12:30 I'm at work, while Mac takes care of Photobaby.
• 12:30 - 5:00 Photobaby is at the babysitter's, Mac heads to work, I'm still at work.
• 5:00 - 7:00 I take care of Photobaby.
• Midnight or later - Mac gets home.

So, not only do I not see my baby girl enough during the week, I don't see my husband at all! I love that his evening shift lets him spend some great time with Photobaby (and it cuts down our childcare costs), but this week, I'm weary of this schedule. The weariness (and resulting grouchiness) will pass, but for now, I'm a little sick of it.

On a lighter note, I did find out that the phrase "ships passing in the night" comes from a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem.

Does Anyone Have Any Ideas?

I'm planning a trip to the great white north (Minneapolis, as well as a detour to small-town Wisconsin). Does anyone out there - anyone at all? - have any ideas about what to do in this town?

(Yes, this is a shameless stunt to get comments from hobbitsister and melilot, but I really am going to MN later this year!)

Get Your Nose Out of That Book!

I heard that a lot growing up. And now, even though I'm adult with my own child, I still hear it. Of course, now it's just my mom's voice in my head, reminding me that the dishes aren't going to do themselves and I can read later!

I love to read. And I love to read lots of different types of books. Scary mysteries, fluffy romances, the occasional "book club" book, and more.

I'll admit, my reading habit can get a little out of control. Chores fall by the wayside and bedtimes get ignored when I'm in the middle of a good book. I recently caught up on all my magazines - I had about 8 of them stacked up on my desk. I spend at least an hour a day - okay, sometimes more - reading various articles online about advertising and PR trends, the real estate market, and pop culture. And today after work, I stopped by the library and picked up the books I'd reserved...all 20 of them.

So when someone told me today that she loves to read, and she'd just finished reading her first "for-fun" book in 10 years, I didn't really know what to say. I don't doubt that she loves to read. But I just can't imagine not reading for fun for 10 years! (Granted, I'd get caught up on my scrapbooking, have a sparkling clean house, might even exercise, but still!)

My question for you is: Do you love to read? What's your favorite kind of book to read? What's the best book you've ever read?

From This Day Forward

Last weekend, I played photographer at my friend's wedding. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. The occasion was beautiful.

See, this is my friend's second marriage. Her first husband - who was also my husband's and my friend - cheated on her and left her. We met them at church.

It shouldn't matter, that church part. But it did, even though I've read that the percentage of Christian marriages that end in divorce is actually higher than the national average. It still doesn't seem like it should be so. And this was the first "couple friends" we'd known who got divorced.

My friend was devastated. But God was so faithful to her, blessing her and showing her so much grace. One of those blessings was reconnecting with a friend from college. The friend she married last weekend.

It's been amazing to watch God work. I'm still sad to think about what happened with her first marriage. I believe that God created marriage to last and that's what we all commit to when we say "I do." I don't understand how what happened, happened. And I still mourn the loss of our friend, her husband. I don't think divorce is okay, but my friend was left without a choice. But no matter what I understand or think or see, I know that God's plan is bigger than my small, human mind can comprehend, and His mercy and grace are neverending.

And my friend had a beautiful wedding. I pray she also has a beautiful marriage.

Funny Line

"Go home before I pummel you."

"Huh? I thought you're a Christian?"

"You're right. First I'll smite you, then I'll pummel you."

Ha. I'm watching the very cheesy and not well-written "The Secret Life of an American Teenager." The show's awful, but I thought that conversation was funny. Especially considering how they're portraying Christians in the first place. It was nice to see a Christian be funny and not just preachy.

Poor Photobaby...

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at my brother-in-law's house for a BBQ. Photobaby was cranky because she didn't take a good morning nap and then skipped her afternoon nap in favor of being fawned over by her cousins. So, we ended up leaving early. Of course, that girl fell asleep in the car, so we drove around looking at houses we can never afford to give her some much-needed time to snooze. When we headed home, I was determined to keep her happy until 6:30, when I'd put her to bed (early - because she was soooo tired).

That plan came to a halt at 6:15, when I realized that I'd left Photobaby's formula at my brother-in-law's house. Our last can. We had two partial cans (I'm not even sure how that happened), so I'd combined them. So all of our formula was 30 minutes away.

I called my husband in and asked him to go get food for our poor, tired, hungry baby. What I meant was, "Please go to the Hy-Vee grocery store five minutes down the road and buy a can of formula." What he heard was, "Please drive 30 minutes to your brother's house and get our formula and bring it home."

Hmm.

After I'd done a song and dance for 45 minutes, trying to keep Photobaby from having a full-blown meltdown, I tried to call him. He didn't answer. Which of course made me certain he'd had a car wreck between our house and the store.

Thankfully - for all of us - he called back as soon as he got service (his brother lives outside our cell service area), and we realized that we'd completely misunderstood each other.

Poor Photobaby! She went to bed LATE instead of EARLY, and she has two parents who don't even speak the same language!

Let's Go To The Movies!

I've seen four movies in the past few weeks, and I thought I'd share some random thoughts about them.

Fool's Gold - It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. How's that for faint praise? Seriously, I wasn't excited about seeing this movie, but I couldn't find anything else to rent that night. And hey, I liked Kate Hudson and Matthew McCaughney's other movie (I'll admit, I've seen it more times than I can count - but can you blame me? It's cute, they're cute, and it's on TV all the time!). So I rented the dumb movie about pretty people. And it turns out, I liked it, too. It's about treasure hunting - and I like treasure hunting movies. I also saw National Treasure 2 a while back, and liked it, too. (No, I'm not obsessed with treasure. I just like the history and mystery of it!)

Definitely, Maybe - This movie (like at least three of these flicks) didn't get great reviews. But I thought it was good. It was definitely a girl movie - all about romance. But I liked the way it realistically portratyed a young man being disillusioned by his career. I feel like that's happened to me - not because of lying politicians, like in the movie - but because of unmet expectations with the "real" world. The main character graduates college wanting to be president. He goes on to work for the Clinton campaign and then grow depressed years later as the Clinton scandal(s) break around the same time his love life tanks. I just thought it was refreshing to something more realistic than the typical young person has corner office and wild success even though he or she just got out of school.

Indiana Jones the 4th - My husband, my brother, my sister-in-law and I went to see this over the weekend. I didn't have huge expectations, but I did want to see it in the theater. I don't see a lot of movies in the theater (too expensive!), but I thought this one warranted it. And, we went in the morning so it was just $5 a person! Anyway - we grew up watching the original Indiana Jones movies with our parents. This is probably where my love of movie treasure hunters comes from. (For the record, I also enjoy Michael Douglas and Noah Wyle in this same role.) So, based on the many times we'd laughed so hard watching Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, my brother and I were really looking forward to this movie. So were the spouses, of course, but I kind of think we were the most excited. I had read a lot of reviews, as I tend to do. I'm pretty sure the other three had not. Because they were pretty disappointed by the movie. I thought it was good - the typical Indiana Jones stuff and the Shia LaBeouf character were hilarious to me. And my thought is that even though I don't doubt the reality of religious artifacts like the ark of the covenant and the Holy Grail, some people might find them as probable as aliens. So I don't think anything Indiana Jones could throw at us, any explanation for a crystal skull or any other mysterious relic, could be too crazy for me. After all, it's just a movie. About treasure. Right?

Vantage Point - I saw this movie last night and re-read a review this morning. I wasn't surprised to see a 1-star review and a 2-star review. It wasn't great. But how about these harsh words: 'There's no point to any of this. No insights on terrorism, no commentary about foreign policy, no human drama. 'Vantage Point' is a rotten action flick dressed up in artifice and pretension." Ouch! I did think this movie might have more substance. I don't need some big political statement...and I didn't get it. Or any statement, really. I thought the idea behind the movie - watching an event from several different viewpoints - was interesting. But I have to admit, it got old. And the ending was kind of satisfying. I guess. It wasn't what I suspected, that's for sure, but an unexpected ending isn't always a good thing!

So, in summary, none of these movies was terrible. Fool's Gold was better than I expected, and Vantage Point was worse than I expected. Indiana Jones was about what I thought it would be, and Definitely Maybe was a pleasant surprise. There you have it.

Am I Seeing Things?

So, I don't really think I'm hallucinating. But I seem to have seen a lot of groundhogs lately. By the way, in case you're wondering, groundhogs are the same thing as woodchucks. (The things you can learn while looking for a good image!)

Anyway, my office building is in an old farmhouse on about 10 acres, and a couple times a week, I see a groundhog in the yard as I'm driving up to the parking lot. But nobody else in my office ever mentions seeing a groundhog. And wouldn't you think that's something to talk about?

Then today, I was sitting at a stop light, on an exit ramp from the highway, and I saw some movement in the grass on the side of the road. What else would it be but another groundhog?! Right there by the highway! A groundhog!

And, now that I'm thinking about it, I saw one on my way home from work (in someone's backyard) a few weeks ago.

Is this weird? Do you guys ever see groundhogs? Is there a reason - like too much rain or not enough sunshine or something - that I would see more groundhogs this year than ever before in my life?

Because I'm starting to feel a little bit like Ally McBeal when she kept seeing all those dancing babies!