Tidbits

I must apologize to my countless (;o) readers for my lack of posts lately. I have been doing this single mother thing for the past couple weeks and believe me, it is challenging. It amazes me how much of a relief it is to have Graham come home after work and change a diaper or two, give El a bath, and read her books. It really doesn't seem like a lot less work for me but somehow it is. The end is in sight although his training in Denver has been extended so next week he will be spending Tuesday through Friday there. That will make it 4 weeks that he will have been gone. His job is a blessing, though, and he seems to be enjoying it so far!

After his first week, El and I decided to head over the mountains to spend a weekend with him. We went to the Denver Zoo and El sure enjoyed looking at all the animals. We also learned that a half day at the zoo is very sufficient for a 22 month old and her parents!
Back at home, we have been enjoying warm temperatures and time spent outdoors. The wind often threatens to keep us from journeying out, but most of the time doesn't win out. El enjoys pretending to water all of our and our neighbor's plants. After she is done doing our neighbor's (Phyllis and Reid: aka surrogate grandparents) plants, she must knock on the door to let them know and be rewarded with a graham cracker; she knows exactly in which cabinet they store them.
We just returned from a couple night sleepover at Papa and Meema's house! I wasn't feeling too well, but she had so much fun playing on the swing set with them, marching with the nutcrackers and going on a long ride on the lawnmower with Papa. He even let her take over the steering wheel, to which she screamed, "Wheeeeeee Wheeeee!" Now we are back at home and just can't wait to see Graham come Friday night.

Protected (once again)

It seems like I have had some really close encounters with death or serious injury lately- 3 to be exact, if you include the furnace incident. Obviously, because I am sitting here typing, everyone is fine and God's hand has protected us. Isn't it amazing how much we take life for granted the majority of time? I was struck by that today when Ellie and I came inches away from being run over by a large, Dodge Ram truck. This only happened about an hour and a half ago so it still has me shaken up.

We were going about our normal, daily routine of going to the fitness club in the morning for me to get a workout in and some 'sanity time', while allowing Ellie to play with other children in the nursery. On our way out to the car, Ellie had just finished saying her loud, enthusiastic "bye's" to all the nursery ladies and friends. As we came outside, there was a group of 3 men walking into a door nearby and Ellie greeted them with her equally enthusiastic "hi's" to which they laughed and responded to her. I helped her down off the curb, and noticed a large, blue Dodge truck parked in the middle of the lot. I vaguely remember glancing at the driver who was reading something and didn't look like she was going anywhere. With Ellie's hand in mine, we started walking a short distance behind the truck. All of the sudden, I heard tires screeching as the driver had floored the gas IN REVERSE! All I remember is screaming, backing up as fast as I could, while dragging Ellie by her hand back with me. The truck had missed us by inches. I just stood there with Ellie in my arms while the lady from the truck got out and came towards us. I couldn't even say anything except, "I'm still scared." The driver simply looked at us, started crying and grabbed Ellie's hand saying that she was so glad we were okay. I didn't feel mad at her because I had a sense of how horrible it would be to be on her side as well.

Thinking about this has allowed me to ponder my own driving. How often am I unaware of who or what is around me? I think that because we drive so much, we often go into autopilot mode and go through the motions. Accidents happen in the blink of an eye.

I have no doubt that it is the Lord who is protecting us and getting us out of the way of possible tragedies. Thank you, Lord! Life is precious...

"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24