Sunrise and worship

In spite of my seemingly close proximity to the ocean, i don't see it very often.  I realized today, that i have not visited the ocean since before I married the super hero.

Tonight we had dinner by the beach.  In a few minutes we'll walk on it in the dark. 

The first ten minutes or so that we were here, I cried.  I'd forgotten how much I love the beach.

The thing that gets to me the most if how unbelievably enormous the water is and how much more beyond my grasp greater, God has to be.

It evokes my heart to worship every time i see the sea.  I just can't help it.

*******

It has taken me so long to write this post, that i am finishing it a day later. 

Before we left the beach last night, we decided that we would get ourselves up and to the beach in time to watch the sun rise this morning.  And that we did.

We collected rocks and sea shells; we checked out washed up sea life; we got thoroughly wet in the surf coming further than we anticipated onto the sand; I cried some more at the awesomeness of it all.  Oh, and a nice man walking by, watching us take pictures of the sunrise, offered to take a picture of us.  It's one of my favorite pictures ever.

I want to share it with you, but I pathetically have not figured out how to put pictures on my blog with my sometimes not-so-smart-after-all phone, so you'll have to go see it at this link. 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150289713425668&id=717185667&set=a.10150209123220668.321298.717185667&refid=28&_ft_a=717185667&_ft_tf=10150289713425668&_ft_tpi=717185667&_ft_ti=7&_ft_sai=350685531728&_ft_fth=8b6bd2b98e12f4ca&_ft_src=1&_ft_time_ft=131705758&_ft_mf_objid=10150289713425668

Let's hope this works.

Fall

The weather man said that fall began at 4:04 this morning.  I thought about waking up at 4:00 so could be awake for the big moment, but instead, I slept until 5:00, but I was just as happy about fall when I woke up 56 minute after its big debut.

Thank  God for fall!!!  And mean that.  Thank God! 

Fall is always my favorite part of the year, but at the close of the hottest, driest, most miserable, sans air conditioning in my car, summer on record (or something ridiculous to that effect), when 90 degrees has become cool weather, and the commonest reaction to the sight of rain sounds more like what you would expect to hear if Houston were having a blizzard, just the thought of fall brings a welcome chill, if only from memory of cooler weather recalled from days gone by.

Thank God for fall.

Second smoky cup

I have recently rediscovered the luxury of the second cup of coffee.  I get my first cup of coffee as I head out the door of the kind family who is caring for me at the moment.  So if I want a second cup, I have to stop and buy a refill half way to work. 

The gas station where I buy my second cup appears to be clean and brand new, but this cup of coffee....I'm loving it, and it definitely does the trick, but something about the flavor makes me think I should be drinking it in a greasy cafe somewhere, sitting at the bar next to a high hair leather skinned chain smoking woman named Flo.  I'm pretty sure Flo made this coffee.  It's great.

When a cup of coffee can give you vivid images like that, I think that's quite a cup of coffee!

dreaming of napping

The weather is so beautiful today!

When i was in college, i would use a day like today for a nice long nap in the grass.  And no one looks at you funny for doing something so free-spirited as that when you're in college.  Everyone expects you to hear your own drummer and whatnot when you're in college.

But right now, i really want to lay myself down on that pretty patch of grass right there, pretend that fire ants don't really exist in Texas, and take a nice long nap in this perfect weather, until the heat of the afternoon sweats me to soggy, happy wakefulness.

But in the study world of professionalism and strangers walking by on the sidewalk, someone would probably call an ambulance, and then I'd have to pretend to be sick so that I wouldn't get fired for sleeping the afternoon away in the grass beside the  courthouse.

Sometimes being a grown-up is not nearly as much fun as i always thought it would be.

Sappiness

Today is my birthday. 

I was in the hotel bathroom this morning when I heard my phone ring and my husband answer my phone and start talking to my dad.  It was about 7:30 in the morning, and my only thought was, "Why is he calling me right now?  I talked to him two days ago!"

But then when I heard my dad singing his own version of the birthday song, I remembered.  "He must think it's my birthday."

I made the trip to see my husband at his out-of-town job because of this weekend being our birthday-anniversary-birthday weekend, but still the actuality of the date slipped my mind.  Thankfully, family and friends and Facebook remembered, so I felt thoroughly birthdayed by the end of it.

Sadly, I had to leave my dearly beloved on the industrial coast for a while longer, and by the time the uncontrolled sobs turned into a bearable aching in my heart, I was about a quarter of the way home. 

I just don't know how couples are able to do the long distance thing long term.  It tears me in two every time.

On the other hand, tomorrow is our 13th wedding anniversary, and even though we can't be together for it, I am so thankful that my heart hasn't stopped aching for my husband when he's not around.

After I stopped sobbing, I spent the trip home thinking about the last thirteen years and listening to the radio, which happened to be airing a show about healthy marriages, or something to that effect.  As I reminisced, I thought how thankful I am for two things.  One, that i was as sure as I could be, when I got married, that I was marrying the man that God meant for me; and two, that we made a mutual, outspoken decision, before we got married, that divorce would not be an option for us.

Those two things, and the grace of God, have seen us through rough and regular situations that other couples have split up or become enemies over.  So I am thankful to have gotten as far as we have and to find ourselves more in love with each other than when we got started, a situation, I'm sure, we anticipated could not possible.  But the heart, it has grown, and our love, it  has blossomed.

Thank you, my sweet hero husband, for your love and your tenderness and your raw Passion for all things worthy of involvement.  And thanks to God for grace and the gift of a loving marriage!

Snotface

I have so much to write about, but my days have been so full lately, that at the end of them, i haven't found the inspiration to take the time to write.  I think i'm going to have to start from some point and just keep telling you stories until life gets boring again, and i can't think of anything to say.

At what point should i attempt a beginning?  Maybe ... Labor Day Weekend.

Yes, that's the best i think.

Remember, this was to be our big remodel before my hero hubby had to leave town.  He took off work on Thursday and Friday, which would give him five solid days to create a whole new bathroom for us. 

To push past the boring part of this story, let's just say that my hero hubby worked long and hard, slept little, and didn't get as far as fast as he would've liked.  There were setbacks and frustrations.

At some point during the weekend, my darling fell into what i perceived to be full on panic.  "There's no way this will get done!  What are we going to do?" were the pleas of my darling, whom i encouraged and cheered on.  I convinced him, i guess, that it was all going to work out. 

Until Monday, when i learned that i had encouraged him right out of explaining to me that we really weren't going to get done and that we needed to figure out what to do.

My eternal optimism checked, I started considering the possibilities.  We did have a couple of possible plans that included partial tile, an installed toilet, and showers at a friend's house.  But when we tried repeatedly to prime our well, without success, we both began to entertain nightmares about digging a new well (since we need something extra to do right now), and we gave up completely on the bathroom.  I did some crying, and we stopped to consider calmly and seriously what we should do next.

My experience so far with telling this story has proven to me that i don't tell it very well.  I haven't figured out how to convey the significance of what happened at that exact moment.

From outside the house, a car horn. 

BEEP

BEEP BEEP!

My husband went to see who it was while i stayed in the house and cried.  (Yes, i do like trouble, but mostly from a hindsight position.)

"You should go talk to this lady," my husband said when he came back in much sooner than i expected him.  "You should go talk to her."

Charli is a lady who lives in my neighborhood.  I know her from our neighborhood "Ladies' Coffees" that i used to attend before i went back to work in the big city.  We had seen her and her family in town the day before and said hello and explained our horrible appearance and that we were remodeling the bathroom.

I would describe Charli as a very outgoing and straight forward 60ish year old red headed woman, about whom i knew very little else, if that much.  And at this moment in the story, she was standing in my driveway looking kind of nervous and determined all at once.

"Hi Charli.  How are you?" i greeted her weakly through unveiled snot face.

I don't remember exactly what she said here, so i'm going to make it up.

"We're renovating a piece of property nearby, and we wonder if you all would like to house sit while you're working on your house?  Would you like to come see it?"

She did say something to the effect of the above,which i heard in between, "it's good to cry," "you go ahead and cry," and something about understanding about these things.  Then i kissed this near stranger, whom i assumed must be the very hand of God delivering me from my troubles, on the face, and followed her to her property.

After conversation, less snotface, and careful consideration, arrangements and plans were made, without my even trying. 

Just like that.

As it turns out, the house sitting property isn't quite ready to be lived in, so i've been cared for in Charli's own home in the mean time, where i feel welcomed and trusted and peaceful.  And i'm making new friends i mightn't have made without the trouble.

And i know that i am resting in the kind hand of God.

The next day, another angel came and fixed our well before i even got home from work.

I guess i should've stuck to my eternal optimism, which should better be labeled proven trust in God.

Breaking News!

I am subscribed, by email, to the news updates of a couple of different local news stations.  I receive an email once a day, from each of these staitons, that contains a list of daily headlines,with links i can follow if i would like to read "the rest of the story."

I also receive email messages if ever there is "breaking news," and i am mostly always disappointed.  Mostly at the apparent inability of our media to ascertain what sorts of "news" should or should not be classified as "breaking," or "news."

It has happened quite a bit lately, that I have taken note of the new meaning of news, which is most often an unsurprising continuation of a series of events we've been reading or hearing about for so long we don't really remember not knowing.

So, since blogging is technically part of the media, i thought it would be fun to share some breaking news with you.

Tonight's Breaking News

As predicted, my husband continues to not sleep and work on completing the remodel of our bathroom, which, if you remember, was the location of a small but meaningful housefire back in July.

As previously reported, said super hero is scheduled to leave town for the entire month of September and is working heroically, as is his manner, to fix for me a suitable arrangement before his absence.

I continue, every day, to be amazed by the goodness of God through all our "trouble" and thankful for the many blessings of which i find myself the ever-humbled benefactor.

During the course of the writing of this post, Hero Husband got some sleep, we spent some more money, and he continues to work tirelessly.  I expect to show you some amazing pictures in the near future.

Signing off now to listen to the beautiful rain.

Goodnight friends.