Weekend Reflection #6

This week was a pretty good one. There was a bit of self-inflicted stress but it's all looking brighter now!

The Good Parts

• I started painting the dark wood trim in our house this week. Some of it is now white and I'm making good progress. This is a major undertaking because everything in our house is dark wood. The house was built in the mid-80s and apparently dark wood was "in" during that time. I've managed to complete my living room, foyer, and I have two coats on the hallway trim. I am also working on a door today. Hopefully by this time next week, the hallway and main bathroom will be completely done! The house is looking much brighter and I'm keeping myself busy at night with this.
• The girls and I have made much progress with their schooling this week. We've stayed on target and I'm getting Logan's SOS caught up (I had been behind in my grading!). Logan has been working harder on her writing skills and she's written a couple of papers this week that have been pretty good! She's also been a big help this week with Caroline. Caroline's had trouble with a few math concepts and several times this week, I've found Logan sitting at the table with her going over and explaining these concepts. It's very cool to see Logan taking this on without being asked! Homeschooling is very cool this way!
• I've made good progress on the scrapbook I'm doing of my grandparents. I got this scrapbook as a gift and all I have to do is add photos and journal. It's one of those scrapbooks that already has decorative pages. I've still got a ways to go on this one but the hold up now is ordering the digital prints that I need to add to the book.
• I took the wild black cat back to the vet to have one of his paws rechecked. You can read more about him here. What happened is that the vet sent him home with taped up paws. We were able to cut a little of one of the bandages off and the cat (Jasper) pulled it the rest of the way off. We didn't have such great luck with the other paw. It was sore and he didn't want me to mess with it. We've had him locked in our garage since his surgery but a few days after surgery, he bolted out the door when one of the kids went outside. He didn't come back for several days and he had the bandage on his paw that whole time. Needless to say, the bandage was keeping the paw closed up so that it could not get air. You get the whole gross picture!!! Anyway, I took him back to the vet and they manhandled him and cut the bandage off! They kept him overnight because they were afraid he would lose the foot due to it being wrapped up so long. The next day they called to have me pick him up and told me his foot was doing much better. He didn't lose the foot and the vet didn't charge me a penny for bringing him back! Bonus!!!
• I am slowly getting my credit card mishap corrected. Read below for details!
• I think I'm actually going to get my Weekend Reflection up before Judi!!!
• I got the new WR graphic downloaded and up finally! Wooo Hooo!

The Not-So-Good Parts

• My brother-in-law is back in the hospital. His kidneys are failing and he is a diabetic. He has been in pretty poor health since Thanksgiving. He's been to the hospital about 8 or 9 times since late November. His kidney function is only at 18 and when it drops to 15, which docs anticipate, he will have to go on dialysis. He is raising three teenagers by himself and also can't work right now due to his declining health. His kidney function keeps messing his body up. The side effects of it are terrible migraines, throwing up, really, really high blood pressure, and just general fatigue from having to deal with all of these things. We covet your prayers for him.
• If you've read my Curious Caroline post, you'll understand that I've been struggling a bit with her curiousity. I don't want to discourage her in her desire to explore but I've struggled with how to handle it this week. It's hard for me to assess what warrants punishment and what warrants "the talk" to help her understand how to be curious without being destructive.
• I did a really stupid thing this week! I paid our credit card bill online (it's a new one and this was my first time making an online payment for this particular bill). The next day, my online payment did not reflect in my statement so I called the company and expressed my concern. They instructed me to go back in and make another payment because they weren't seeing the one I had made the day before. I did what they instructed and guess what? Yep, both payments went through! Jeff and I have taken turns trying to get the problem resolved and after 4 days of being on the phone with people we could hardly understand, it looks as though it's going to be resolved. One night, we were on hold for an hour and a half. In my book, this is totally unacceptable! Anyway, in hindsight, I could kick myself for getting so stressed about the payment not showing up. The worst thing that would have happened would have been that I incurred a $35 late fee for not paying on time. Instead, it cost me ALOT more than that! Trust me, I will never, never, NEVER listen to another credit card phone operator! As a side note, it helps to understand that I can't remember a time since being married that I have paid a bill late. NEVER.....I just don't do it. That's why I was so worried about the payment not showing up! I'm a bit obsessive I guess :-o)
• I've been very short tempered with Jeff this week and I've caused alot of bickering. It's mostly been me bickering when I should have just been quiet! Thankfully, he forgives me and loves me anyway! I do this sometimes when I feel stress. It's funny....the stress this week has been self-inflicted and still I took it out on him. I hate that our sinfulness still rears its ugly head. Praise be to God for His calling us to Him, forgiving us of those sins, and for our continual sanctification. A line from one of my favorite movies, Facing the Giants, is "if your attitude stinks, then your heart's not right". My attitude did stink this week and my heart wasn't right!
• It's snowing today, after being in the 60s and 70s this week. I'm ready for the snow to leave us!

As always, the good outweigh the bad. God is perfectly satisfied that all of the "not-so-good" parts of my week have come to pass. In fact, it is He who has sent these afflictions to me this week and I praise Him for those. One of my pastors said to his wife when she got breast cancer, that "God reached into His bag of blessings, and the blessing He chose to give to you was cancer". It is easy to give praise to Him in the good things. Borrowing another line from my favorite movie, "we need to give God our best in every area and if we win, we praise Him, and if we lose, we praise Him". I hope that whether your week was good or not-so-good, you'll give Him your best and praise Him, no matter the outcome.

For more weekend reflections, get over to Judi's!