Courage

Today was a rough day at the end of a rough week. We came out of the weekend with a little stomach virus: enough to make everyone but me sick to varying degrees, but not enough to justify shutting down any work loads completely. I'm thankful that I never did succumb!

K sold our '85 Plymouth Reliant this week. Monday night we showed it to the prospective buyer, and she picked it up Tuesday morning. It was sad to see the car go: that dear old thing that took us down to TN on our honeymoon, and that I "personalized" when I was expecting L (the lamp-post didn't fare too well, either). Tuesday it was warm enough to walk outside. I bundled the girls just to be sure they were warm enough. E was alternately too hot or too cold the duration of the walk. In the process of taking off and putting on again, she inadvertently dropped a mitten, and we had to double back for it. I was so thankful we found it within a block of where we discovered it had gone missing!

The warm weather was not to last: it's been bitterly cold here for a couple of days. I've decided that, on the whole, I prefer "warm" snows to cold wind. Wednesday, we found the lid of our turtle sand-box in the front yard, and had to wrestle with the wind to get it back into the back yard. I was thankful that I didn't have to bundle everyone up that day to run around the neighborhood looking for a green turtle top! That afternoon, the four of us who were interested painted our toenails. Not alternating red and green, which we did in December, but all shades of pink, purple and red. But first, I spent a good 45 minutes or so trying to salvage the library book that J dumped in the bathtub while I wasn't looking. I'm thankful the older girls alerted me as the second book was poised to follow hard after. We were able to rescue it from a similar fate. Tomorrow when we go for story hour at the library, I will be buying a new, slightly wavy, book for our shelf. I'm thankful it's a book that I like!

Nothing too earth-shattering happened today: just a long day at the end of a series of long days. I tried to remember Hezekiah's words to the people of Israel.

"Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah." II Chron. 32:7

I was not very successful in being strong and courageous. When K said that he'd be home later than planned, and would that be okay, I didn't outright say no, but I sure thought it. And it must have come across to him, because he revised his plan and brought some work home so he could be here with me. I'm such a wimp! Strong and courageous? Do I get another shot at that one tomorrow?