I need some practice trusting, so it’s all good.

I’ll explain in a nutshell and then let it rest. Our parents (both sets) kept our girls while we were gone (trading off and on). The day before we got back, Gabe’s mom brought them back to our house and completely outdid herself. Cleaned, did their laundry, mowed our yard (front and back), made signs for the airport, gave Nina a bath.

A very cold bath. For whatever reason, we had no hot water.

When we got home, Gabe tried to light the pilot on the hot water heater to no avail. He called a service guy who said he could come right then (Saturday) for $97 or Monday for $67. No-brainer. Who needs to shower anyway?

I took a hot shower at our neighbors’ on Sunday morning, and Gabe did a super-fast scrub in our cold water. The girls? They’re still young enough to smell sweet.

Monday.  Heating/cooling company calls. Someone will come between 2 and 4. I go shower-less. He comes. Can’t get it to light. Says, “let me look at your gas. Maybe someone messed with it while you were gone.”

Or maybe the gas company turned it off and locked it because we didn’t pay our bill. Awesome. No warning, no note saying what they did. Awesome.

I pay the service guy (who apologized 10 times for making me pay) $65 and called the gas company. Paid the bill over the phone plus a $50 reconnect fee. Awesome.

They’re coming today (Tuesday) sometime between 7 am and 7 pm. Joy.

Sat down at my computer 10 minutes ago and started cleaning up some of the piles on my desk. Came to a small piece of white paper folded into fourths. What’s this? I ask myself. Unfold it. It’s a notice that our gas has been turned off (on July 12). How in the world did this get here?? Then I make the connection. It was probably in our door when Janelle and the girlies got here Friday. They put it on my desk without reading it (as they should have) and there it sat until after we’d already paid a heating/cooling guy $65 to essentially tell us what the little paper said.

Sigh.

I find myself questioning God with stuff like this. “God, you realize how many starving Cambodians $65 can feed, right?” And then I remember that He is in control, that He owns everything and knows everything and loves those hurting people more than I ever could.

And I trudge on. With joy. And faith.

Photo post tomorrow! I can’t wait!

Tony the Massage Therapist to the rescue! I could wax eloquent about all the times in the past where he has saved my life, but one of the things he instructed me to do tonight was “stay away from the computer for awhile.” As if. No, seriously, I’m pretty intent on following his instructions, because a.) he’s very wise and knows what he’s talking about and b.) I don’t want to be in this kind of pain on the way to/in/on the way home from Cambodia.

If you’ve never been to a massage therapist, I can’t recommend them highly enough. Well, I’ve only ever been to one, but I have been to at least six chiropractors, and I have very little nice to say about (m)any of them. One in particular was a NIGHTMARE that makes me bitter all over again whenever I think about him.

Anyway. After an hour with Tony massaging deep muscle tissue I didn’t even know I had, I can move my head and neck. I’m just really sore. And wondering how in the world I’m going to follow his “suggestions.”

1. Don’t look down. As in, don’t look down at my children. Don’t look down to read. Don’t look down to see what I just stepped in that was sticky. Okay. Sure.

(By the way, did I mention how my injury occurred? Well, it’s called Trying to Show Your 9-Year-Old That You’ve Still Got It By Doing Flips Underwater at the Pool. I only did 3 mind you, but it was more than enough. The jerky head tucks and flailing forward did me in. Tony said my injury is similar to what would happen if I hit my head really hard on something. I’ll try that next time.)

2. Don’t look up. This is perfect with all the fireworks taking place in the next few days. Don’t look up. Got it.

3. Don’t lift anything heavy. Or even close to heavy. You mean like luggage?

4. Don’t sit in one spot for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. So, I should probably get up once or twice on my 95-hour flight to Taipei?

5. Easy on the computer usage. Oops. I’ll be back. Going to take a little break. Seriously.

(I fell asleep up on my bed. No lie. Ha!)

25 minutes later…

6. Avoid repetitive motion. (too tired to remember his examples)

7. Lie on your back while sleeping. Nooooooooo! Okay, okay.

8. No more flips in the pool. Ever. Yes, sir!

9. I’ll probably remember the rest of them sometime in the middle of doing them.

In all seriousness, thanks for your prayers. For everything. I can feel them. (I go back Tuesday one more time before our big departure the following day.)

Happy 4th of July weekend! A big thank you to all of those fighting so bravely for our freedom (and for their loved ones bravely holding down the fort at home)! We love you!

So.

I’m just going to say right up front that if there’s anyone out there who is a follower of Christ but doesn’t believe that there is such a thing as spiritual warfare and a whole realm of evil that lusts after our souls and a whole slew of other things, then you might not like what I’m going to say next.

My husband and I are leaving in 9 days to bring Jesus to some places where He’s not very welcome (and some places where He’s loved and praised–praise the Lord!), and I’ll be darned if some forces of evil are trying to mess.

You won’t catch me blaming the devil and his minions for all the sins I’ve committed in the past week, but hoo boy, I’ve never had a harder time fighting against my flesh. Let’s just say I’ve lost the battle this week. A hundred times over. Thankfully, we all know that you can lose battles and still win wars (unlike the U.S. soccer team who got eliminated from the World Cup this weekend–boo!).

But first, some happy.

Gretchen, you made me laugh just now with your comment on a post from last week, and I quote: “Didn’t know I could love you more, but the drunk-looking photo shoot brought me over the top.” If only love were that easy to win. Just post a horrid photo of yourself on your blog, and your friends will adore you. Stay tuned for pics from hotter-than-Texas Cambodia.

Did I mention that we’re leaving in NINE days?? And we need just $300 in support. Woohoo!! If God would lead you to give any amount to our trip, you can do it online here or e-mail me, and I’ll give you instructions for mailing a tax-deductible check. I’m planning on doing a post soon about all the amazing places our support has come from. I won’t name names, but I’ll give generalities, and it’s pretty crazy cool. All glory to God!!

Can I just say that I am SO thankful for Facebook? Our June team that’s over in Cambodia right now has been posting pictures and updates and crazy videos of water parks (imagine cigarette butts and clumps of hair and moldy, slimy slides, oh yeah!). I LOVE keeping in touch with them and being able to encourage them from here.

If you’re not my Facebook friend and want super-awesome Cambodia updates in real time next week, please add me as a friend!

You can also subscribe to my friend Jen’s blog for updates from a different perspective than mine (always refreshing!).

So, we went to a zoo Saturday. And I fed a giraffe. And we had a blast with some friends. And I’ll blog about that later, because our camera is being repaired, so I’m going to get pics from our friends. Here’s one photo for now.

We missed my friend Krista’s garage sale Saturday (her husband Doug is going with us to Cambodia), but the girls and I donated a bunch of stuff to the sale. They were great about getting rid of toys they don’t play with, but then I took it a step further and got rid of some stuffed animals without telling them. BE SURE YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT. Guess who bought them for her daughters?? My friend Amanda who goes to swim lessons and the pool with us every day. Ha! Thankfully, my girls were fine with it. I didn’t sell any of their 247 most precious ones.

Speaking of Amanda, she and I are trading date nights this week. Woohoo!! Gabe and I are going out tomorrow night and she and Jamiya are hitting the town (or Babies R Us) Thursday night. Why we’ve never done this before is a huge mystery.

Speaking of Date Night, I need some time alone with my husband. Saturday morning on the three-hour drive to the zoo was a low point in my marriage. I was UGLY. It was AWFUL. And Gabe refused to play along and get mad at all the awful things I was saying to him in my hurt and frustration and anger.

Anyway. God showed me something. I’m a wicked and depraved soul, in desperate need of Christ. I’ll be honest. A majority of the time I think I’m a pretty good person. Really good even. And I’m thinking I might have gone to Cambodia and seen some of the evil and thought, “Man, those wicked people need Jesus.” And so God showed me that my soul is every bit as dark and ugly as theirs. I’m dead serious. If any of you would’ve been sitting in that mini-van with me, you would’ve been MORTIFIED.

Enough of that though. New mercies. NEW MERCIES.

My sweet, beautiful friend Sarah gave us an envelope at church yesterday of bills (dollars, not her gas bill) that she’s been saving up for months for our trip. She told me that I’m a “work of art.” And my mind flashed back to my tirade in the car the day before, and all I could think was, “I’m a piece of work, that’s for sure.” But her love for me (although she’s never seen the awful side of me) reminds me of how God sees me and loves me (even when He knows my heart).

And thus marks the end of this forever-long post. Bless you, and have an awesome week!

In the interest of complete honesty, I have not leaped out of my pit in a single bound, flapping my wings of joy. However, I am CLIMBING out, holding my Father’s hand. The walls of this particular pit are pretty muddy, so I’ve slipped backward a few times, but I’m definitely moving.

I am so thankful for a forgiving husband and kids.

While I’m at it, I should probably list some other things I’m thankful for, because there are many.

I’m thankful that we only need about $400 more support for our Cambodia trip. Praise the Lord!

I’m thankful that the girls and I spent about 3 hours this afternoon completely (and I mean COMPLETELY) cleaning out their bedrooms. They’ve never looked this good. I could cry.

I’m thankful for Nina’s new flotation device that helps her be brave enough to hang out in the 6-ft end of the pool instead of the 2-ft. So much more fun for Mama. I’m thankful for my friend Amanda and her daughters Jillian and Jada who hang out with us at the pool and swimming lessons every day.

I’m so thankful for my friends who are en route to Cambodia RIGHT THIS MINUTE. This team is paving the way for our team that leaves in 13 days. (13 days!) Love each one of them!

I’m thankful for my husband’s new job with HEALTH INSURANCE. We haven’t had it for over 2 years, and now we even have dental and vision. So, Ava’s 2 pulled teeth and the spacer she needs? Cost us $73 instead of $600. And my new glasses? Free frames, $10 for the lenses. I haven’t had glasses since 8th grade. I’ve worn my contacts pretty much every minute my eyes are open since I was 14. Don’t try this at home.

I’m thankful for the Ollie’s that opened 5 minutes from our house yesterday. Do you know Ollie? I LOVE HIM.

I’m thankful for Bit-O-Honey and Lifesaver Gummy Sweet Strings and Sour Rings.

I’m thankful for some beautiful items I’m selling next week on my blog.

I’m thankful for a place in Michigan that says they can fix Gabe’s camera for $180 and thankful for the free autographed Dale Earnhardt Junior jacket that Gabe won on the radio and sold for $150 and the $30 check that a certain K. sent Gabe for his camera fund. What a “coincidence” that those 2 things added up to how much the camera repairs cost.

My list is longer, but my eyes are tired.

I am also thankful for YOU. You’re awesome.

What are you thankful for today?

I’m discouraged to report that I am not really enjoying our summer so far. And I’m more than a little irritated with myself because of it.

I don’t know exactly what it is. I do know that I went from having my husband home all the time (and just one daughter) to having my husband gone and all three of them at home.

And I know that our mornings are consumed by swimming lessons (2 hours a day for 2 weeks). And I know that we’ve spent at least 2 hours at the pool almost every single afternoon and/or evening for the past 3 (?) weeks.

And we’ve been to the doctor/dentist 5 times this month, which is 5 more times than we went in the last 2 years, it seems. And the girls are having play dates with friends right and left.

And I’m drowning.

I feel like I can’t get anything done. The house has gone to pot. My writing projects are on hold. My blog is languishing. I can’t keep in touch with anyone.

I know. Get some real problems, right?

I feel like I’m so far behind on Cambodia prep (we leave 2 weeks from today!). Our bills are coming in faster than they’re getting paid. Gabe works hard all day, then has to come home and work at night.

It just hasn’t been much fun.

Any suggestions for how I can snap out of this funk and get some joy back? If your comment involves some variation of “get over yourself; summer is for your kids,” well, I probably deserve it.

Actually, a quick prayer for my attitude and state of mind would be even more helpful than advice.

Thank you.

Have an awesome weekend, friends!

Us? We’ll be purging more clutter, celebrating two special people getting married, DVRing some World Cup Soccer and sitting in bleachers watching 43 guys drive around an oval a few hundred times.

Until Monday!

Anyway.

I can’t remember how it all came down exactly, but Ava’s teacher and I are new friends on Facebook, and I had commented on my status that I had been to my mom and dad’s and purged a bunch of junk. Then Mrs. M. said she needed help purging stuff in her classroom. And I raised my hand high in the proverbial air and said, “Me! Me! Pick me! I love to help people purge and organize!”

So, Tuesday was the last day of school, and on Wednesday morning at 9:00, the girlies and I made ourselves at home in Mrs. M’s classroom. We asked for jobs, she gave them to us, and we had so much fun that we overstayed our welcome and even came back after lunch.

So, the plan was: we would help out a wonderful teacher who has loved on my child (and 24 others) all year long and has done nothing but give and serve and give and serve and give and serve.

And guess what happened instead?

She gave us supplies for the kids in Cambodia.

She gave my girlies, who love playing school more than anything else in the world (except maybe swimming and soccer), all manner of papers and fun school-playing items.

She gave us leftover microwave popcorn and hot chocolate and juice boxes (I did throw away the ones that expired in 2006-2008, because I was afraid my kids would get drunk. Although that might’ve been funny.)

She let the girls pick treasures from her treasure chest.

She bought us gifts! American Girl journals for Livi and Ava and a Fancy Nancy Sticker Book for Nina. And a 16-pack of Crayola Pip-Squeak Skinnies (markers) for each of them.

And a Barnes & Noble gift card and Graeter’s (ice cream) gift card for me!

And donated $ to our Cambodia trip.

And lavished us with praise for hours on end. And bragged about us to every single person who came through her door from the principal to the janitor to fellow teachers to random strangers.

And I got to hear more about her incredible story, like how she adopted her beautiful daughter (now 22) as a 9-month-old from an orphanage in India, then gave birth to a beautiful little boy (now graduating from high school) a few years later.

And she let us borrow AS MANY OF HER AMAZING BOOKS AS WE WANTED!! I emptied our living room bookshelf so all 119 (I’m not even kidding) would fit.

Mrs. M. claims that we saved her a week of work and gave her the nerve to pitch things that have been taking up valuable space forever. She SAYS that WE blessed HER and blah, blah, blah.

And maybe we did.

But it sure feels the other way around to me.

When I told Gabe, he said, “Ava’s not going to be happy that she has to go back to school on the first day of break.” He obviously does not understand the joys of purging and organizing and helping your teacher when school is already out. Ava is thrilled! And so are her sisters.

Then, if the rain holds off, we’re heading to the pool and buying our first pool pass. I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve been to a public pool in their lifetimes. And I decided this would be The Year of the Pool.

Honestly? I’m not a big fan. I’d rather sit on the back porch (or in bed! or on the beach!) and read all summer long. But those little crazies love water, and since I don’t have any babies anymore, I’m thinking it will work.

This is also going to be The Summer of Intentional and Purposeful Mommy-Daughter Quality Time. I’m a girl of many ideas and ambitions, and this summer I intend to raise one of my ambitions high, high above the rest. To have fun with my girls.

Yes, there’s Cambodia (woohoo!!) and yes, I’ll do some writing, but I’m reeeeeeeally feeling an uncomfortable crunch right now. By the time summer chills into fall and fall freezes into winter, my oldest will be in the Double Digits Club, and my youngest will turn five. FIVE.

These are the glory days, and I want them to drag by in slow motion. (Although I have a feeling they won’t cooperate.)

So, things might ebb and flow here at the blog. I’ll try posting every day for awhile, but I may cut back to Monday, Wednesday, Friday or something like that. We’ll see.

Thanks for making my blog a place I love to be. And for loving my family so sweetly.

Happy, Happy Summer, friends!!

See you tomorrow!

My list is, by no means, all-inclusive. And it’s not very deep or thought-provoking. And just like last Saturday, I’m going to cheat by scouring Gabe’s Flickr pics for things that trigger happy thoughts. And apparently, I can’t move forward without offering disclaimers in triplicate.

Finally. Here we go!

My family makes me happy (as does the ocean).

Going to zoos makes me happy.

Giraffes make me happy.

Pei Wei makes me happy.

Sisterly love makes me happy.

Hanging out at my in-laws’ cabin makes me happy.

This guy makes me happy.

Seeing his face when he first laid eyes on this made me happy.

Scrabble letters make me happy.

Texas makes me happy.

My grandma makes me happy.

These two little girls make me happy (as do my other 3 nieces and 3 nephews).

Nina makes me happy.

Ava makes me happy.

Livi makes me happy.

Writing makes me happy (and so did that tree, but Hurricane Ike knocked it over–boo!).

Hanging out with family makes me happy (miss you, Steph!!).

God’s Word makes me happy.

Traveling makes me happy.

Dolphins make me happy.

Zoo shirts make me happy.

This day made me happy.

Mating tortoises make me happy (sorry).

Speaking of mating, baby animals (and giraffes! did I say that already?) make me happy.

Storms make me happy.

Watching my husband with our girls makes me happy.

The fact that you made it all the way to the end of this post without going away makes me happy.

What makes YOU happy??