Here comes the end - the start of the beginning...

Since I've been in Indiana over the holidays, I decided to look at a computer as little as possible. It would have been a better decision not to look at a computer at all because I checked my e-mail a couple of times and one of those times somebody who had nothing better to do over the holidays than hack people hacked me. Merry Christmas to them, too!

And now back in sunny Texas with work piled up, and more to do on a Saturday than I have time for, and a cold worse than the one I went to Indiana with it's like my week away never happened. Business goes on as usual. Nothing has changed. Conversations go on as if they never stopped. Was I even gone?

But I truly had a nice week away. And coming back hasn't been bad (except it's 60 something every day here - guess it's good I didn't get any sweaters for Christmas!). I'll actually be caught up before the day is over. Still need to run about a million more miles to work off home cooking, but I guess I could leave that for a 2012 resolution.

It's hard to believe it will be 2012 this weekend. Where did 2011 go? So much happened - so much didn't. (Like winning an all expense paid vacation to New Zealand - have to settle with looking at the pictures one of the nurses brought back from her vacation there.) Who knows what 2012 will bring. Trying not to hope on too much and so rest in my God who never changes no matter what year it is. Praise Him for that!!!

Have this wonderful, thoughtful post all jumbled up in my mind I want to get down on paper, but when you work a full 5-day week in 2 days...well, as you can see, it didn't happened.

So, we'll just say I'm heading to Indiana for Christmas tomorrow morning. I CAN'T WAIT!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Perhaps I'll blog that all-important post while I'm there...more likely, not. We'll let it hold till January (which might actually work out better, come to think of it). So, until then I'm off to Indiana!

Did I mention I CAN'T WAIT?!?!?!

Dear Jenny,

Today is your 20th birthday...wow! It's hard to believe the little red-head girl with the huge imagination is 20. No more broken swings, or "jiggling" clowns, or piano playing in the window sill. You're not cute enough anymore to get by with forgetting how old you are (you never were three...), Tommy the turtle finally found his way out of our yard, and even your ducks have flown away.

But even if you've "graduated" from turtles to a skittish cat or from "jiggling" clowns to a bakery, your imagination has never dimmed - simply channeled. For even though bowling balls that take a full minute to roll down an alley and take down pins in slow motion exemplifies your life, no one can ever say you're not smart. You taught yourself to tie your shoes and ride a bike. You created your own crochet patterns for doll clothes and have delighted many little girls with your sewing creations for their own dolls. And gone are the days of imaginary pianos - today you play a real one beautifully.

I admire the gifts God has given you. I've always wished I was naturally gifted in something besides putting things in alphabetical order. I hope and pray you use them to bless others, just as you have in the past. Never stop being generous. In the midst of all your artistic talents, that is your greatest gift.

Love your oldest sister, Melissa

Happy Birthday, Jenny!

And this week...

I woke up a bit tired this morning...got to bed late and woke up two hours before I had to. I went back to sleep, of course, but not completely. You know how that goes...

Last week I ran circles. Still waiting to see if I lost any weight from that (probably not thanks to Christmas baking this weekend), but I should have. I've never had a week when seven new patients were admitted and six died/were discharged. I've had more than seven new patients in a week. And I've had more than six die. Just not all at once. I felt like telling the dealer to stop shuffling me cards - I had enough!!!!

The weekend wasn't too grand - I mean, work wise. The on-call nurse made a decision I discussed with her until I was blue in the face on Friday...and I'll be playing clean-up on that for the next year or more. (Maybe I'll be gone by then...) I mean, I knew my day was going to start out with an insurance company, but I had not planned on dealing with two. Nor had I planned on three deaths within two hours and another admit this afternoon. My boss made the remark this afternoon, "They need to leave you alone. Because if they don't, I can't bother you." Oh, yeah, that helps!

The home health office manager remarked today that when I leave for the holidays next week I'll be more than ready if things keep up like this. "Or," she added with a wry smile, "you'll just decide not to come back at all. Don't do that to me."

Fortunately for her, right now I'm too tired to think about it...

Gone...but not Forgotten

Excuse me while I drag out my soap box...which has grown since yesterday. Now I am stepping upon it. And for the next few minutes I will pretend I'm Daniel Webster or John Calhoun and wax eloquently:

Yesterday was a very important day in our nation: Pearl Harbor Day. Not only was it the day we remember that attack upon our nation which catapulted us further into World War II, but we remembered that it has been 70 years since that day. It is a day that lives in infamy - and so it should. It is a day that we never should forget.

I awoke thinking upon this day in history, trying to imagine the horror those men stationed in Pearl Harbor lived through and coming up short. When I got to work, I opened my web browser expecting to see an amazing work of art as Google also remembered this day in our nation. Instead blue, red, green and yellow letters starred back at me as if mocking the free nation that allows a company like Google to grow and prosper. And then today? Well, I opened my web browser and a work of art starred back - Google celebrating the art of a Mexican communist artist. I can't even tell you how angry that makes me. How anti-American can you be?

Well, I am not anti-American. I am very proud of the nation God has allowed me to be born in. I am proud of my father who served in the navy, my grandfather and great uncles who all served during World War II, and all my forefathers who defended the freedoms I enjoy in the Revolution, Civil War and almost every war the nation has seen. And I want to thank every single one of the men who served in World War II and the families who sacrificed in ways we cannot imagine today. I, for one, will not forget - ever.

And before I step down from my soap box, I leave you with this: The World War II veterans of this nation are dying. They are old, and tired, and every day one of them passes into eternity. One day, they will all be gone. What will our nation look like then?

The Dollhouse

Okay, so I am finally updating on my dollhouse...because I finally have something worth updating about! I didn't take pictures of all the clean up work I've done trying to compile my six working stations into five going on four. Finally folded the ping-pong table up. I told Haley we can use the wood scraps I've gotten everything out of as scraps to burn in our fireplace. All the pieces I'm currently working on are in the rooms they belong in...table number five will be put away this week. (Well...it will have a puzzle on it instead!)

Now if you're more of perfectionist than I am, please ignore the mistakes I am very well aware are there. One of them you probably won't notice - just think I did it that way! The others I've got to correct, but I thought I'd post the pictures anyhow. It's window time - a little less complicated than I thought, but a process of many steps. Before the week is out, I hope to have the windows in the roof in and the french "door". The others are waiting for some "minor" fixes before they can be assembled...hopefully with the new year.

A view of all the windows installed.

Close up of a single window (yes, there will be shutters).

The kitchen bay window.

Inside library window - needing a touch-up.

Inside the kitchen - also in need of some touch-up.

Everything I wanted to blog about...

When you're gone for a week, it's amazing how much catch-up has to be played. Work wasn't that busy while I was gone, but the guy who comes in to "do" my work always leaves piles scattered about I have to go through and decipher. So, "not that busy" took me more than a day to interpret. As for the rest of my life, it's been thankfully a rather quiet week! And yet things still fell through the cracks.

For example, I wanted to post pictures today and tell of the process of my dollhouse. but as I was putting in windows last night, I had to tape them up so they would stay in position until the glue dries. And I didn't want to take pictures of taped windows. So, I'll post pictures next week of the half of the house that has windows. The other half...well, hopefully before I leave for Christmas.

Then I thought I'd post something on Christmas traditions and keep that as a weekly thing through December. Because I treasure the traditions my family has, even though I miss most of them and don't do them myself because there's little enjoyment in doing any of that by yourself. I've been thinking about them lately for three reasons:

1. My family is doing their day-long shopping trip today and I'm missing it.
2. I've missed all the traditions I'm no longer a part of the last three years.
3. A friend of mine didn't have a lot of traditions growing up and tends to be a little scornful of mine. Or maybe it's envy...

Still thinking such posts would be a good idea, but they'll have to wait til next week as I sort through them. (Yes, we have that many!)

Lastly, I thought I'd post about my new dog. All right, adopted dog. And only for three days. Susan, our social worker at work, went out of town today with her family and the friend who was supposed to care for the dog couldn't. So, I said I'd do it if she couldn't get anyone else. And, so, I have a dog for the weekend. It's a little Shih Tzu puppy of 12 weeks named Chikku. All the thing is a bundle of soft puppy fur, sharp teeth and playful attitude. We played last night until he wore out, but this morning he awoke and jumped from his kennel wanting to play so much he didn't have time to eat. He finally ate something when I locked him in the bathroom wtih his food (at least when he wasn't whining or, I discovered, playing in his water bowl). He happily brought me my slippers and chased leaves out in the yard. And as it was a wet, misty morning he was quite damp when he came in. So, I dried him off with a towel which he thought was great fun. I really need a dog...a companion! I think I'll ask for one for Christmas. :)

Answered Prayer

It's almost a cliche to say that God has a sense of humor. And, when you think about it, probably not the thing to say about a thrice holy God. But He certainly answers our humorous prayers.

To make a long story short, let's just say one of the toilets in my bathroom broke. I thought I had turned off the water to it, but it continued to leak. So, I got out a bucket. No problem...until I had to go away for a week. No one was going to be up at the house to empty the bucket every couple of days. Would I come home to a "flooded" bathroom? Not what I wanted to think about as I packed for Thanksgiving. So, I prayed.

Okay, so this might all seem a bit ridiculous - me standing in my bathroom and praying that it would not flood while I was away. I tightened the plumbing one more time (since perhaps I hadn't tightened it enough the first time), put out a couple of towels and put the bucket it place. Then I prayed that this toilet would do the opposite of the the widow's cruse of oil. I didn't want oil until I filled every container in my house - I simply wanted no water on the floor when I returned. Still, my faith doesn't move very many mountains. I was sure I would come home to a wet floor.

But, as you might already know, I didn't. As a matter of fact, the bucket was but a tenth or so full. The towels and floors were completely dry. And, as if that isn't answered prayer enough, the toilet hasn't leaked since! And even though you might be laughing at all this (just as I was), I am happy to say that my thrice holy God answers prayer - sense of humor or not!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made;

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

- by Frederick Lehman -

Home - wherever that is

As the old gospel hymn says, "The world is not my home, I'm just a-passin' through...". For some of us that reality is almost a daily reminder. The question, "Where are you from?" always causes me to pause. I can join in almost any conversation with a, "Oh, I'm from there" which isn't a lie whether they're talking about Nashville or Boston. I can laugh hysterically at Saturday Night Live making fun of Newt Gingrich stomping New Hampshire, or I can roll my eyes at Texans who will vote for Rick Perry simply because he's from Texas. And you don't want to know how many times I start filling out something with a wrong address...well, an address that isn't my present one.

All that to say I'm home. Sort of. Actually, I think I've crossed over yet another right of passage into adulthood. For officially I suppose I can say I'm at my parents' house. It's not exactly home. For the first time in the two years I've been in Texas, I come to Indiana as a guest - meaning I don't have a bedroom here in anymore. Well, I am sleeping in my bed. In a room with my desk, my dresser and one of my bookshelves. But my desk doesn't have any of my belongings in it. My dresser has only a few of my clothes in it. My bookshelf does have my books on it, but only fifty or so of them. As for my bed, well, it's been moved and I'm sleeping on sheets and a quilt discovered in closets and a chest. Everything else I own is scattered about the house, being used by someone else, or packed away in boxes in the attic. It's all waiting for me to decide where I will officially make my home. Like I ever plan on making that decision.

It's been odd the last couple of times I've visited "home". When I went to New Hampshire in June, I felt like I was at war with myself - one foot in two worlds. I consider New Hampshire "home" like my parents consider Tennessee to be "home". I love New Hampshire. I would happily live the rest of my life there, except I must confess there is at least one thing in Texas I don't want to live without. Hence the two worlds. Coming to Indiana doesn't have that same effect. I only lived here 9 months, and I could well live without cornfields for the rest of my life. But most of my family is here. And I love being with them. But their life is certainly not the one I am use to anymore.

But I am happily home for the holidays...this time in Indiana. Next year? Well, who knows.

What Isn't Done

Some weeks it seems like I get more not done than done. Thankfully I'm not talking about work. Because this is my last day before I head off to Indiana for a week to spend Thanksgiving with my family. My to-do list is done, every form everyone should need printed in bulk, admits as completed as possible, etc. Hopefully I won't come back to a national disaster area.

I'm talking more personal. Like so much for getting all the windows into my dollhouse before I leave. I still have tomorrow to put a few in. I hope all the kitchen, the library, and the 2nd and 3rd floor halls. The rest will probably have to wait, although I can glue some pieces together so they'll be ready to go.

Didn't get a bit of shopping I wanted to get done before I leave accomplished either. Oh, well. Missed shopping ventures are never losses in my book.

There are still a few other things I need to do before I leave, a couple pretty important (like laundry, calling the bank) and some that will probably just have to wait until I get back. Like I'll have a great deal of time between now and Christmas. Although, I will have to fit that shopping in...

On Wednesday in my class at church we did a thankfulness tree. Nothing unusual about that, but instead of cutting the leaves out of construction paper I decided the kids could do leaf rubbings, cut those out and write what they're thankful for on that. I had to go to a park to get leaves (mesquite leaves don't work for rubbing) and could only find oak and some kind of elm. (Although, I guess kudzu would have worked...) First the kids couldn't believe those were real leaves. Then they didn't know what to do with them. I had to demonstrate putting leaves under the paper and coloring over them with a crayon. Now I thought leaf rubbings were something most kids did by the age of 3. But apparently that isn't the case in Texas where trees (and, therefore, leaves) are a luxury item.

Guess we learned more than the fact that God can do all His holy will. Which, sadly, was not putting trees in the state of Texas.

Book Review

The first book I picked up by Kim Vogel Sawyer was My Heart Remembers. I loved it. Which is why I kept reading her books. And which is why I was a bit disappointed with her newest A Whisper of Peace.

The story is good. A story of forgiveness, and starting a mission to Alaskan Indians, and the joys and trials of life. While Lizzie is the heroine of the story, a young woman estranged from her mother's tribe, I found Vivian to be much more interesting. For Vivian, the missionary's sister, is a young woman trying to prove by whatever means she can that she is worth something. As for Clay, the missionary, I had trouble relating to him. His drive and passion are heroic, but there is no explanation of why he feels so driven.

For those who are reading Kim Vogel Sawyer for the first time, A Whisper of Peace will be a good story. But for those who have read a few of her novels before, I think you will be disappointed.

Interested? http://www.bethanyhouse.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=0477683E4046471488BD7BAC8DCFB004&nm=&type=PubCom&mod=PubComProductCatalog&mid=BF1316AF9E334B7BA1C33CB61CF48A4E&tier=3&id=53C1467E9E474559B1856B1C32D3FF12



This book was provided for review by Bethany House Publishers.