Big yawn…

The sky has been gray all day long, with a fine mist falling at various times. The hum of a space heater and the growl of my father’s outdated computer tower have been the white noise for my day of rest.

I spent an hour answering questions in my grandparent’s reflections book that I am filling out for the four grands we currently have, the one in the oven (idiom for our son and his wife’s pregnancy), and hopefully more grands and greats to come. Once my honey woke, we talked politics as he read through the newspaper, then talked about our plans for celebrating the Feasts of the LORD out on our property once we are done building. The smell of Marie Calender’s mushroom chicken pot pies filled the house with warmth as the conversation meandered through upcoming birthday celebrations, the visit we had with friends last night and the ugly clock sitting in our living room that belongs to my father.

My father and I spent a bit of time finishing out one of our Scrabble games. I won, 353 to 322. And then I settled in to do some Bible reading and praying for our children, our grands and the body of believers we call family. My eyes began to feel like sandpaper and I dropped off for a five minute snooze. My honey went upstairs to take a nap, and here I am now, blogging about my uneventful, yet satisfyingly restful day. My mind is at peace. My body is resting up to begin another week.

There is something special about the Sabbath. I have taken other days off to rest, but it is never the same. God meets with his children on the Sabbath in a special way. Try it. It can change your life once you give yourself permission to jump out of the rat race for 24 hours and spend time with the Creator who made you and loves you. Shalom.

Too early…

My day began much earlier than I had hoped it would with a dry, asthmatic cough. Not mine, our cat’s. When the house temperature drops to its coldest around 4am, it seems to trigger the cough. I gave up trying to sleep by five and decided to do something to help. This year the cough has been considerably less than in past years. I pulled out my handy homeopathy remedy binder and read up on the different asthmatic issues. After finding a spray bottle, I mixed the chosen remedy, then lovingly sprayed her with it. Usually over the top of the head so it doesn’t go directly in the face. I will probably use it again tonight before bed and hopefully hat will stave off a four o’clock episode. A day too late, since I could have slept in this morning, but have to be at our property early tomorrow to work on wiring our electrical panel.

C’est la vie.

To make the best of it, and make this “the best day ever”, I am going to eat breakfast alone, cuddle in the couch with the cat, blog, make a set of tzitzit (tassels worn on the corners of clothing to remind us to obey God’s instructions for living) for our granddaughter, then read my bible until I drop off again. Our granddaughter has been asking for a set, so I bought embroidery thread in her favorite colors. A day in jammies, cuddles with a cat, reading my favorite book with my favorite person. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Hope you have “the best day ever!”

A fly is buzzing…

As I sit in the living room on my Sabbath, I can hear the hum of the furnace fan circulating the air in our home. There is a huge fly buzzing in the window, and the sleeping cat next to me is twitching. Across the street, the neighbors weed whacker is growling. Upstairs is the sound of whatever sporting event my honey is watching, and I can see the neighborhood trees outside gently swaying in the breeze.

I had coffee with one of my daughters friends this morning, who has become one of my friends. We walked around the local farmers market and sipped coffee while she shared pictures and stories about her recent trip to Israel. I ate a bowl of green salad on the couch, and some leftover potato salad while enjoying the warmth on the back patio.

The sleeping cat has begun to squeak snore. There is a small airplane buzzing overhead. I like these lazy days. They help refresh my soul and body. The dishes can sit in the sink, we can rummage through the fridge for leftovers to eat. There is plenty in there to eat, even though it may take a little creative thinking. The biggest decision I have ahead of me is whether to take a nap on the couch, or should I take a walk around the block in the heat. I am grateful for permission from my creator to take a day off of work. He certainly knew what he was doing when he said we should work six days and rest on the seventh.

Hopefully you can find the courage to rest one in seven, and the refreshing that comes with the rest.

Aughhh!

So what does a very sick, type A personality do all day?

Today I spent a chunk of time transferring a bunch of paper clippings to a word document. Our daily paper publishes something called a Daily Groaner. Puns, riddles, jokes. For the last, who knows how long, I have been clipping them and collecting them to have to share with our grands when they visit and to text my son and daughter in law regularly. They truly appreciate a good groaner, and practice them on us regularly when we are together. And once the two of them get started, the puns fly quicker than I can keep up with. Since I am tired of the clippings, they are now filling a 12 page Word document, which I will pull out whenever I am in need of laughter.

I also created a picture collage for our grandson of pictures I took last night at his first appearance in anLittle League All Star game. He didn’t get to play til the last inning. He is the youngest on the team, but has an awesome attitude. Since I have been struggling with wanting to get him a special gift for his upcoming birthday, this proved to be great timing.

Now, you may be wondering, why I went to a baseball game last night if I am so sick. I had to ask myself that very question also. But when a child starts to tear up when you tell him that you probably won’t make the game because an hours drive is a bit much on a work night, it is dang near impossible not to change your mind. And so I went. Armed with my huge down coat, gloves and a wool hat to keep the chill away. I perched away from the extended family, so as not to cough on anyone. My temperature alternated between sweating hot to chilled. I stayed bundled up for most of the game despite the pleasant 75 degrees and sunshine. I managed to get a few pictures, as that is a passion of mine, and stopped only when my phone battery was down to 17%.

To top the fever off, I had figured that since I hadn’t been eating for the last few days, that I should put something into me. I downed a vegan protein shake before the drive there. By the time we hopped into the car to return home, my gut hurt. Real bad. If only I could fart or belch on command like some other members of my family. It was so bad, that when my honey ordered a chicken fingers basket from our favorite fast food place on the way home, I was not willing to eat anything, for fear of making things worse.

They lost their game, but our grandson looked very happy. It is double elimination, and hopefully I will be feeling better before their last game. Was it worth it? Yea, it was. I was going to be miserable no matter where I was, at least I got to bless our grandson by being there.

Back to today: heat packs on the chest and around the neck, warm tea, warm chicken broth, lots of water, a few rice chips and lots of rest. I even felt good enough for a bit to go out into the backyard with the cats and clean out the kids outdoor toy box in preparation for our daughter’s visit with our other two grandsons soon. The weather was mild, it only took thirty minutes, then it was back to the couch.

In anticipation of my honey’s return from work, I have sanitize sprayed all the handles I have touched in the house during the day and spritzed around to kill all those bad germs flying out of my mouth as I cough and sneeze.

Hopefully this summer does not hold any colds or flu for you.