TGIF! Pastor Dad Comes Home Today!

Pastor Dad returns home this evening.  Pray the predicted snow doesn't make it impossible for him to do so because I'm ready to pass the baton of Head of the Household back to him again.  Thankfully, no one tried to wrestle it from me while he's been gone.  I'll let you guess whether I mean The Bear or Pepper.  :)

Actually, I'm very thankful to have The Bear here.  He's good company and he knows how to make Pepper behave: something I've never mastered.  (I know, the key word is "mastered." Hasn't happened. Probably never will.)

Someone asked me if I'm frightened when Pastor Dad is gone. Besides of Pepper, you mean? Well, let's just say anyone would be insane to break in here.  I've got a son with a black belt and a big dog with a crazed look on her face besides the traditional means of keeping out intruders so I think that would be a "no." But I miss him and that's worse than fright. 

Thankfully almost everything has gone off without a hitch this week with the exception of yesterday afternoon. After a nice visit with my sister-in-law where we alternated between laughing and crying while eating lunch and visiting her husband's grave, I began the 45 minute drive home.  I got, oh, about 10 minutes down the road when my car broke down.  For those of you who are familiar with the route options between Point A and Point B I took the road less taken except by semis hauling gravel. (Yes, stress has made me mix my mathematical and literary metaphors.  So who cares? In comparison it seems trivial.)

Anyway, there I was motoring down the road with a big gravel-hauling semi behind me when the car just. stopped. running. like. that. I realized the semi would never be able to brake in time and would be unable to swerve around me on the narrow curvy road so I turned the car quickly toward the side and coasted safely onto the unpaved berm. Then I quickly breathed a prayer of thanks.

I called my father-in-law for rescue first then called The Bear to come get me at my in-laws' house.  We called a wrecker service that quoted a price higher than the value of the car so I considered kicking it over the hill upon which it was sitting and never looking back but I was afraid the people who lived in the house below might not appreciate this. The towing price turned out not to be as high as they quoted but I still think it should've included limo service for me.  On the other hand, I suspect from now on we might remember to renew our auto club membership before it expires in January. 

Through it all I kept thinking about yesterday's blog post. "Is this a test?" I asked myself.  And I realized it doesn't really matter if it is or not. God was caring for me and I did not need to fear. As inconvenient as it was for everyone concerned I was never far from relatives and I think my son felt very chivalrous for having come to his mother's rescue.  He even took the trash out when we got home without being asked.  (If you don't think that's a big deal then you don't know The Bear! But, no, that wasn't worth the price of the tow either so don't even suggest it.)

I don't want to leave here without a bit of flowery praise. Literally. These are some forced bulbs that my dear friend, Sheryl, sent me last month. (She's also Karen's mother-in-law.)  They were such a lovely token of friendship, love, and God's promise of eternal life that I just had to take a picture of them so that I can be reminded often just how blessed I truly am!