Plagues

I have been meaning to talk about this for a few days, but with all that has been going on, I've had to just keep chewing on it.

THe other night when Chad got home from work, I watched him trying to unlock the door. To watch, one would have thought he was drunk, or else had no idea what he was doing. He couldn't fit the key in the lock, he was bent way over like he couldn't see to get the key in the lock, and he kept bobbing and weaving. I finally decided to go over and unlock the door, and just as I did, he got it open. He came rushing in, and right in front of him was this THING. It was huge, buzzing, flying, and suddenly, it was on ME. I had no idea what it was, so I just slapped the thing away and squealed.

I stunned it to the ground, and upon closer inspection, realized it was a cicada (aka locust). Growing up, I have heard these critters all summer, seen their exoskeletons on trees (even collected them as a child), but rarely have I seen one living. And I have never been attacked by one. Chad claims that there were two, and that the other one was the one that was dive bombing him as he tried to unlock the door, apparently in order to distract the other guy. Sadly, he came to an early demise at the sole of Chad's shoe.

Funny story, then when we went to bed I started thinking about locusts. Specifically, plagues of locusts. My biblical knowledge is not what I would like it to be, but I do know that there were 7 plagues on Pharoah before he let the Israelites go. Some were frogs, boils, water to blood, and locusts. I can't remember the rest at the moment. Let me say, I like frogs. Probably not by the thousands, but they're pretty cool in my book. I have a friend who had ONE boil not too long ago, and she was in terrible pain from it, so I don't think I'd like those. Water to blood, ew. That's all I need to say.

I never really thought about the locust plague til the other night, and I have to say, I think that would be pretty nasty. Those things are sticky like june bugs, only 5 times as big. Enough of them flying around fast enough, they could leave bruises. And I shudder to think about what they could do tangled up in hair like mine. Ergh. And back when Pharoah was refusing to release the Israelites, they wore those long robes. Can you imagine the jumping around that must have ensued from those giant flying bugs getting up your skirt???? Might be quite comical to see, not so fun to experience.

I guess I am just trying to make my readers think about the plagues. Put your self in the Egyptians' sandals for a moment. And then do everything that you can to please God. He might just decide to do it again. (Read Revelation, He's promised that He will....)

I got an award!

Thanks, Stacey, for my first blogging award!! I feel so honored. Pretty sure I am incapable of figuring out how to post the little pic, so I'll just roll right on through.

I have to post 7 personality traits of myself.

1. I hardly ever stress out. I mean it. I'm not very good at the "Let go, Let God" thing, but I don't hang on to stuff. I don't see any reason to stress out over things I have no control over. That DOESN'T mean I don't talk about them.

2. I have some very wierd OCD traits. No hand washing or lock turning for me. Nope, I'm OCD about books. Which ones I need to read ( I have a book bucket list), and what order they're in on my book shelf. Until Hailey got ahold of the bookshelf, they were in order by genre and author. Also, I judge books by their covers, literally. The pretty books are all grouped together regardless of genre or author.

3. I am learning that I really love to cook. Ever since I've been off work, I've been cooking most of our meals. And I actually enjoy it.

4. I love to gossip. Can't help it. I'm trying to learn not to be nasty about it, but I really really love to gossip. And hear about other people's drama.

5. I am a rule follower. Chad hates it. I can't help it.

6. I am a terrible housekeeper. My house is only marginally clean, laundry is never put away. (Please don't eat off my floors.)

7. Finally, like my cousin Stacey, I am trying to learn to lean on God. Like I said in #1, I don't "Let go, Let God" well. Prayer is something that I am really working on doing. A lot. So pray for me.

I'm supposed to tag 7 people, but I'm new to this and not sure how to do it, so I'm just going to post and leave it at that.

Thanks for reading!

Changes

Recently, some major changes have started occurring in our lives. We don't know yet if they will be bad, good, or otherwise, but there they are all the same. Six months ago we made the decision to move to Tulsa so that Chad could take a job working for his uncle's restaurant. His uncle was planning on opening a second location, and wanted Chad to manage it.

Shortly after moving from Dallas to Tulsa, Garry became ill. He recieved a lung transplant in Aug 08, and had had few problems since. Unfortunately, our arrival seemed to "trigger" some infections, et cetera. (We didn't cause them, didn't mean to imply that.) At any rate, it was one thing after another, lots of treatments, trips to San Antonio (his transplant hospital), a stint (sp?), and finally he collapsed in his home. At that point, he called some friends who are firemen, who loaded him into an ambulance and carried him to a local hospital. He was in the hospital for about 2 weeks (really, I don't remember exactly how long it was), and finally he and his family made the decision to take him off of the meds/oxygen, et cetera. He was not ever on life support, but there were some treatments that were keeping him alive.

Last Monday, he passed away. I had plans to visit family in Texas for my sister-in-law's baby shower, Chad had to work the rest of the week, and the funeral/burial was in Hamilton (small town an hour from Temple) on the same day, at the same time, as the funeral. I chose to attend the funeral with Chad rather than the shower (admittedly, the more fun option), and spent a day with Chad's family (most of whom I don't know well).

With the funeral over, we are all left with the uncertainty of what will happen next. At the risk of sounding crude, I am not going to go into any detail, except to ask that those of you who read this please pray for our family that God will send us in the right direction. When I was in Temple this weekend, I attended my home church with my parents, and Thomas preached on the Holy Spirit. Please pray that we will be able to step aside from ourselves and let the Holy Spirit take over. Let the Spirit guide us in the direction that God has chosen for us. I know that He has chosen a path for us, it may or may not keep us here, but no matter what, God WILL provide.

In closing, go God!!

Guilty

I feel so guilty about this blog. As I said before, I am horrible at correspondence. I told a friend who lives in Israel that I'd write to her, simply because we like written correspondence. That was in April. Last week, I finally sent her a letter. So this blog has become one more thing.

My life isn't busy. I went from commuting/working 11 hours a day in Dallas (at a job I hated, mind you), to being a stay at home mom. We could certainly use the income from me having a job, but my life is definitely less...routine. And yet I feel guilt. My house is a mess, perpetually, although not the kind of mess it was in Dallas. In Dallas, it was a(n) "I work all day and when I get home all I want to do is play with my kiddo." kind of mess. Here, my kitchen (which I actually use) is infinitely cleaner, while my living room is not. I did manage to unpack everything when we moved here, which I have not done in quite some time.

So I started this blog to keep me entertained, possibly entertain some other people, and keep up with family and friends. Now I feel guilty when I don't post, or when I do but its not entertaining. I don't know why I feel the need to entertain you people. (Kidding.) I don't want it to be a forum for complaint, or a means to tell you every time Hailey burps. Nor do I need to be a stand up comic. Also, not a diary. I'd make some rules for myself, but I'm pretty sure I'd just break them. Although I did make the rule not to use smiley faces and to limit my elipses (that's the ... for you non-English geeks), and I think I've done okay there.

Thanks for listening to me complain. Next time, my neuroses about books (seriously, I have some issues). Or maybe not. Stay tunes!