Thanks to those who left encouraging words and/or prayed about my cold and the baby shower I mentioned the other day. The shower went very well, I think. Once I got started the nervousness fell away. The hour beforehand I made about twenty trips to the bathroom, though. 🙂 My cold was still there, and I took a cup of water, tissues, and a cough drop up with me “just in case,” but thankfully they weren’t needed. The Lord took care of all the other physical concerns and gave me time to think through and write out what I wanted to say the day before. I was very glad they had my part first! I was able to relax and enjoy the rest of it afterward.

I guess it might seem silly getting so nervous over a 5-10 minute devotional when some people face much greater challenges. But to me, that was a pretty big challenge!

My cold is still there but today is the first day I can say I actually feel better. I’ve been wiped out and draggy for a few days, but today is much better, though my throat is still a little sore.

The redness and swelling in my leg is still a factor as well, though it is also better. When I am at the computer or on my feet for a long time, it is worse: when I have my feet up for a while, it is better. I hope this isn’t the schedule for the rest of my life! It makes it kind of hard to get things done. I do enjoy those breaks throughout the day, but I’ve been needing to do some things in another town 35-40 minutes or so away that I don’t think I’d better try while this is going on.

I wanted to tell you about a giveaway at Blogged In Network. This is an outgrowth and development of the Family Friendly Network. They’re having a BloggedIn Bounty giveaway at the end of March — and the prize is a $100 Target gift card! Click on the button for more details. The contest is open to non-bloggers as well.

Now I am going to put my feet up again….

Thanks to those who prayed for the luncheon and my leg!

Everything went really well with the luncheon — everything came together nicely with all the scores of little details involved. The only glitch was the air conditioner. Only a few people are authorized to and have the knowledge to set it, and one of those was supposed to have pre-programmed it for our event, but it wasn’t working and none of us could figure out how to reset it. It was too warm, but not sweltering, so overall we were ok. Our speaker was great and brought out some meaty points to meditate on, the food was great and there was plenty of it, there was plenty of help for setting up and taking down, and as far as I know everyone seemed to enjoy it.

And I am glad and thankful to the Lord — and also glad it’s done for another year!! It’s one of those things I love, but there are aspects of it I dread. This one was not at all as labor intensive as others we have had, but there is still just a feeling of pressure til it is all successfully done.

We had decorated Friday night, then I had a few things to finish up when I got home (making the schedule, getting the checks ready, copying a few more programs, etc.), then I crashed on the couch, leaving the dinner dishes. Saturday morning I had to keep one eye on the clock but I do like to allow for a leisurely morning and plenty of time to get ready so I am not frantic and stressed before I begin. When I got home, hot and tired, I found my husband had cleaned up the kitchen, had the dishwasher running, and was out at the grocery store. Isn’t he a sweetie? It was so nice to have that stuff done. I did some laundry but otherwise just took the rest of the day easy, with Papa John’s pizza for dinner.

The last few days my leg has shown a marked improvement, and I know it is due to the Lord’s grace and your prayers. There is still a bit of redness, but it is not as bad and seems to fade more quickly when I get my feet back up.

I had an interesting experience Friday afternoon…I hadn’t gotten my spring and summer clothes out yet, and there was one dress in particular I wanted to wear for the luncheon. I didn’t have time to do the whole closet changeover from winter to summer, but I went up to the attic just to pull out a few things. Our attic ladder has always scared me because it has never seemed terribly sturdy. I never go up into the attic when I am home alone and always put my cell phone in my pocket ever since a neighbor fell through her attic and became paralyzed. I went up and gathered a few items of clothing and dropped them down the steps to the floor, then began climbing down. All of a sudden the bottom part of the ladder broke. Looking down, a nail had come mostly loose that held the second rung from the bottom into the sides. I was three rungs from the bottom, and though the ladder was still touching the floor, I didn’t think it had enough support to hold me, and it was a little too high for me to just jump. Even though it wasn’t that far, the balance and footing problems I still have as a result of the TM made it disorienting. I held on with one hand and dug my cell phone out, but everyone was outside doing some yard work…without their cell phones. After a short while I called for Jesse – his dad had asked him to do something outside and I figured he was probably done and had come back inside, and, thankfully, he was inside and heard me and went out to get Jim, who helped me down. Unfortunately as he checked around all the pre-made attic ladders were not the size we had, so he had to rebuild the bottom part. But I am still distrustful of the rest of it!!!

Then Jim had some kind of little bug this past week, with a fever, sore throat, congestion, headache, and nausea. He was trying not to pass it on to me, but Thursday I began having a sore throat and headaches. I thought, “Oh, no, please, not until after the banquet!” I realized I had been thinking that about my leg and other little issues, too, an thought, “Wait a minutes….I don’t want everything to hit when the banquet is over!” Thank the Lord, everything didn’t hit … I still have a bit of sore throat but overall feel pretty well. He’s doing better, too, though still not completely up to par.

This week I need to work on our monthly ladies ministry newsletter/booklet, due out Sunday (but has to be ready to be copied Friday since the church office is closed on Saturday) plus do a lot of catching up. A lot of my housework has just gotten by with spot cleaning here and there the last few weeks. My bathrooms need a thorough cleaning and there are a couple of stacks of clutter and a pile of mail I need to attend to. Plus my mind has been buzzing with different projects I want to get to — pulling out things that need to be given away, working on curtains for two rooms, some ideas for opening an Etsy shop, and various other things. I probably need to jot down all of those kinds of projects so I can prioritize and plan a little bit.

So it looks like I’ve got plenty to keep me busy! How about you? Hope you have a good week.

Somehow the toy giveaway contest at 5 Minutes For Mom hadn’t even registered with me — I guess because usually that kind of thing is geared toward younger kids and my youngest is 14 and doesn’t really play with toys much any more. But today’s giveaway of a Lego-City Police Headquarters caught my eye. My boys have loved Legos for years and played with them long after other toys were laid aside. I loved the creativity of the sets and those little faces on the Lego people.

For the next couple of weeks the 5 Minuted for Mom site is giving away several toys, some of the first ones really big ones! Go here or click on the button above to get more information and find out how to enter.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee;
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
Biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.

Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

~ Jo­ach­im Ne­an­der

Thanks so much for your kind words and prayers concerning my earlier post. I saw the doctor today. She said I did still have cellulitis, but did not prescribe another round of antibiotics. I was both relieved and concerned by that She’s been concerned for a while about the fact that my blood flow from my feet back up to my legs isn’t good, and the excess fluid in my lower legs makes me more prone to infections like cellulitis. So we are working on that angle of things right now. I may have to go to a vein doctor — but I hope not. I’d appreciate your prayers.

Though rain was forecast for the whole week, the sun came out yesterday and again today. I know, especially as a Christian, my outlook shouldn’t depend on the weather, and normally it’s not that affected by it, but when feeling a little gloomy in spirit anyway, I think it helps those feelings along.

The Lord blessed with some ideas today for the monthly newsletter I am working on my our church ladies’ group. Plus, in thinking about my morning schedule with things that needed to be done around getting to the doctor’s office, I didn’t even know how to arrange it — but it just fell into place. Those “little” tokens of the Lord’s love and guidance mean a great deal.

Our ladies luncheon is coming up earlier than usual this year, and though I knew that, some of the ramifications just hit me this week — like needing to decide on a caterer and menu so I will know ticket prices so I can start getting announcements out.

I have thoughts for several posts, but because of these other duties I am short of time this week — plus I do still need to keep my feet up a good bit to try to counteract gravity. It will probably be pretty light posting here at least til the weekend (though I have said things like that before….)

Psalm 3:3: But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

• I love holidays, but part of me is glad when the fuss is all over and life gets back to normal. But I was thinking of that first Resurrection Sunday and how it changed “normal” completely. I hope the impact of the resurrection stays with us even though the time of particular focus on it is over.

• My leg is better, but the day after I saw the doctor a dark red splotch developed near where the original wound was and the area under the original wound, which was all clear, now looks a little bruised. Don’t know what that’s all about, but I figured since I am already on antibiotics I’d just keep an eye on it and wait unless it spreads. If it is not all clear by the end of this week I’ll go back and see my regular doctor. Meanwhile I am trying to keep it elevated as much as possible.

• Easter time is one of my favorite times to go dress shopping because you can actually find dresses in stores then. But I didn’t get out to look last week. At the end of the week I had to keep my leg up, and before that I just didn’t get to it. Let this be a lesson to me to shop early next time!! There were a couple of shops in particular about 20-25 minutes away I wanted to go to: maybe they’ll still have some items by the time I can get there.

• This week is Jesse’s spring break. My thoughts leading up to this week were joyous over not having to set the alarm clock and being able to sleep a little later. I do enjoy not having to set the day’s schedule around the school schedule. But Jesse’s my one who, when left to himself, tends to spend more hours than he should on computer or video games or TV. I could put specific time limits on those activities and might, but I am thinking I should have some other projects for him instead. I don’t want his break to be all work and no fun, but a little work never hurt anyone. 🙂 And since I have to be sitting with my foot up anyway, maybe we can play some games or something. I determined a long time ago that I was not going to be my children’s one-woman entertainment committee — I wanted them to learn to amuse themselves (I know adults who don’t know how to do that) — but Jesse is more of a people person and still young enough that he could use a little direction.

• Terry at Ornaments of Grace has an excellent post this morning about the fact that those women who stay home with their children are not always those whose husbands make a lot of money, as the prevailing sentiment seems to be now among feminists. Most that I know have to work at it and sacrifice in some areas and are staying home for greater reasons than economic ease.

• When I was lying awake at 3 o’clock this morning, it seems there were other things I was going to post today…but that’s all that’s coming to mind just now! And since my posts seem to always come out longer than I had planned, that’s probably a good thing. I did want to share a couple of amusing videos. Well, the first one is somewhere between amusing and disturbing….if you have too many chocolate Easter bunnies in the house or are trying to diet and need a way to get rid of them, here are a few ideas. The second one shows a a way to keep a dog amused for hours. Love the expressions on the dog’s face!

This morning after I woke up I noticed a red band across my ankle. I thought maybe I had brushed against something, but the red area spread a few inches down my foot. I debated with myself all morning about whether to call the doctor or not and finally decided to after lunch. But this was her day off, so they told me I could go to urgent care or call my doctor in the morning. I wanted to go ahead and have it looked at, so I went on to urgent care, and was diagnosed with cellulitis. I had a bout of it last January when I banged my shin on a shelf and had a small wound there. This is the same leg but a lower area and there’s no wound to speak of. I don’t know what triggered this. Perhaps the last bout wasn’t fully cleared up.

But I am on two antibiotics this time, so hopefully this will take care of it once and for all.

I was dismayed about it all day — that it popped up again and that I’m going to be on antibiotics again — they tend to do a number on my system.  But at one point in the car today I had the Christian radio station on during their prayer request time, and so many people had such awful things they were going through. I really don’t have any right to complain.

I am supposed to have my leg elevated 20 minutes out of every hour. So it looks I’ll be digging right in on my Spring Reading Thing list!

Most of my odds and ends posts seem to come on Mondays, I think!

• Busy day today, so this is just a drive-through posting. Our ladies’ meeting is tonight and we’re assembling care packages for our college students. That takes a little more preparatory work than some meetings, so that’s what I am busy with today. I’m stopping for a lunch break at the moment.
• I have a few posts percolating on the back burner that I hope to get to. Sometimes when that happens and I try to actually write them, I wonder what I was thinking — it just doesn’t come together. We’ll see!
• I don’t like Daylight Savings Time. I haven’t heard of anyone who does. I was so concerned about remembering to set my clock ahead Sat. night that I did that but forgot to set my alarm. I woke up at what would have been my regular time, but was now an hour late. Somehow the Lord helped me get my shower and then breakfast on at not too much later than usual. The rest of the family got to church on time but I didn’t get there til after the preaching started. Then it was hard to go to bed last night because it just didn’t feel as late as it was, so I was dragging this morning and finally took a little nap.
• This is the “odd” part of my odds and ends: I was skimming through the weekly 5 Minutes Around the Blogosphere posting at 5 Minutes For Mom when I thought I saw a line that said “5 ‘green’ combustible diaper starter kits.” A closer look revealed it was “5 ‘green’ compostable diaper starter kits.” Somehow green in the same sentence with the word diapers conjures up unpleasant memories…
• If you haven’t seen this, Amy’s Humble Musings has an excellent post with Thoughts on contraception and the quiverfull movement. I appreciate her balanced, reasonable, and gracious line of thinking on this issue.
• One of my favorite craft bloggers is published!
• I finally watched Miss Potter. Loved it! I couldn’t get any of the rest of the family interested in it at the time, so I watched it over several mornings in my room while getting dressed/fixing hair/making beds, etc. I do think they’d like it if they gave it a chance. When I first saw the commercials I didn’t really like the idea of animating her characters — that just made it seem too Disneyish. But it’s not done much and is mainly used to show her imagination and playfulness and what she is thinking in some places. I even watched most of the special features.
• When I went to rent it, I came across another DVD that looked interesting enough to try: a Hallmark Hall of Fame production of In Love and War. (evidently there are other films by that title, but I don’t think this is related to them.) I normally am wary of picking up a film I am unfamiliar with off the rental place’s shelves, but I think the Hallmark ones are usually pretty safe. This is about an English soldier in WWII, captured in Italy, released, then pursued by the Germans as they invade Italy, then injured, so his buddies have to leave him behind, and he is helped by many Italian people along the way, including the girl he falls in love with. I didn’t realize it was a true story until the end where it says they recently celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. I looked in the production notes and saw it was based on the book Love and War in the Apennines by Eric Newby, the main character in the film. I want to read that book now. My oldest son, not a fan of love stories, pronounced this “not as bad as I thought it would be.” 🙂 I enjoyed it!

Have a great day!