Piece of Cake

I "celebrated" Valentine's day with a migraine that started sometime Friday night and lasted until 3:30 Saturday afternoon. It was a blinger! I was more than discouraged that my medications are not preventing my migraines. It was the 5th one in 7 days, that one being the absolute worst. It was too late to take the migraine abortive medication, so I had to suffer through that one, but boy was I glad when it was over. 

The girls had made plans with some friends and were already gone when I got up. Steve made me a nice dinner and we got into the planning of Natalie's birthday cake. 

There is just no such thing as a break around here. Migraines have awful timing. Natalie's 17th birthday was Sunday, and although I tried to plan ahead and tried to buy a cake, I couldn't find one in the theme I wanted. Steve convinced me I could make one, even though I really didn't feel up to it the night we went shopping for her birthday. After that migraine, I sure was wishing a cake would just appear! 

And it sort of did..Steve had Serena bake the cakes for me, and he got to work on the other elements needed-blue finger jell-o and Rice Krispie treats. Knowing my plan, we were able to sit together and draft up a sketch of the cake that night, and all I would have to do on her birthday was the decorating. As long as I didn't have another migraine...

As always, the day after a bad migraine is a "recovery day", and I was whipped. But it was Natalie's birthday, so I found some strength, and with my amazing team of Steve and Serena, this is the cake we created for our Minecraft addict: 

So, if you aren't familiar with Minecraft, it's a video game where you build with many different materials. The cake is made of "grass blocks", "sand blocks", "sandstone", and "water". Then we added the animals from the game, and the character "Steve" with his pick axe. It was pretty fun to make and she loved it. 

Turns out, she wasn't feeling too great either and has actually taken a couple days off school this week. 

Maybe it's the subzero weather around here! 

We sure could use a little warm weather and a lot less snow! Definitely no more migraines! 

Post #1000

Today marks my 1000th blog post since I started my blog in 2008! I thought today's post should be unique and different to mark this special occasion, but then I thought, why should #1000 be any different than #1? 

And so it is, 7 years later, I'm still blogging about the "neighborhood" that is my life. Some would wonder why I'm not trying more to "build my reader audience", or "advertise", or "whatever"..., and the truth is, I'm still just writing. It's that simple. 

If you are reading, that's great, and I appreciate it and I hope you enjoy it! But I'm just an ordinary person who writes out of the sheer need to just put thoughts  "out there". Sure, my hope is to touch someone or make someone feel something worth feeling. That's the whole purpose of writing, I think. But if no one reads it, I still think it's worth writing, because I need to write. It's my thing. 

Sometimes I go back and read my own writing just to see how far I've come or what I've learned, haven't learned yet, or have yet to conquer. My own words serve a purpose to me that another person's words cannot serve. They convict and correct me on my own terms. They kick my own butt, soothe my own soul, tickle my own funny bone, and walk me down my own memory lane. My words are my own heartbeat. 

I write for me, and if you're with me, still with me, or just starting to know me, you'll find it might be about me, but you might just meet you too. 

I hope you stick around the neighborhood to see where I go next. There is always something to talk about and lots of feelings to take apart. Thanks for being here with me today and every day. Time to change my shoes now. ;)

(I sure hope you all get the Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood references... Not sure how many countries he is known in!) 

Rain

I was thinking of that product you can put on your car windshield that coats it so when you are in a heavy rain, it doesn't streak and remains clear. 

Rain-X, I believe it's called. It's similar to turtle wax, in that it provides an invisible barrier on the surface as a protectant, allowing water and other irritants to slide right off, making sure not to harm the body of the vehicle. 

I think I've been walking around coated in Rain-X for quite some time, looking the same, though protecting myself from "the elements". 

I think we all wear a little wax or Rain-X from time to time. Otherwise, our bodies could be subject to all that fresh salt being dumped out there. All that dirty slush carelessly spewed around. I'm making sure the droplets form, roll, and stream away, without gathering to pool and cause any bodily harm. 

Someone asked me if I felt differently about my relationship with God in light of all the chaos in my family lately. In fact, this was a very important someone who asked me, and I was careful to answer. I was honest, because it's never any good to lie about such things. 

"I do feel differently. I still believe, but I'm feeling not as close as I was before. Not that I won't be again, but like a parent who just made a decision I don't like, this child needs some space to think. I've never quite felt this distance before. It's like we are on opposite sides of the campground and I don't want to camp with you right now. Very strange."

She listened, and echoed, "me too."

I've heard all the verses, know all the stuff, but pain has it's own path. And right now, Rain-X. Because protecting the heart seems to be working better than trying to fix it these days. 

Mike

Feeling heavy-hearted today. A young man whose family we helped move from a small apartment to a first home over the summer is losing his job. 

Their young son was born with a leg deformity and has undergone several correction surgeries, all very painful recoveries. 

He has 6 months to find another position within the same company. Please be believing with us that the right position is waiting for him and this family will be blessed abundantly as they wait. 

Thank you.