Thunder Snow, Crashing Points and Near Normality

Unhappiness is when your back finally heals enough that you can walk, drive and sit without screaming in pain... Sunday morning comes and your driveway is covered with 2 inches of ice. I really don't want to complain though because the ice was part of an amazing demonstration put on by Almighty God. We had thunder and lightning while it snowed. Prior to the snow fall was a bit of freezing rain. When the lightning flashed it lit the night sky so the freezing rain looked like glitter flying in the wind. The resulting slab of ice was worth the price of the light show. However, when your driveway looks like an ice-skating rink, there are choices that have to be made and none of them are good. Do you risk sliding down your driveway in your automobile and hope that your car doesn't slide into the telephone pole? It only helps to have a four wheel drive when some of the wheels can get traction.

Speaking of traction, the other option was to risk putting my back out again by grabbing the shovel and clearing a path. Like I said, no good choices. I decided to be safe but disappointed. I made the hard choice not to attend church. To console myself, I decided to listen to some sermons online. I would have some private worship with John Piper and John MacArthur. That's when I went to my handy dandy computer tried to download a sermon from Desiring God. I couldn't get the website to open so I tried Grace To You. Hmm... detecting a pattern I started to open something else. Of course that would be when my computer crashed. Not a normal "I just stopped working and there's little you can do about it crash" but an "it's impossible computers can't do that!" type of crash. No, really... it was bizarre.

I clicked on control panel and AOL Instant Messenger opened. I thought I made a mistake and tried again. This time I got an error message that my printer wasn't hooked up correctly. Knowing what I was seeing wasn't good, I started trying to get important information off and that's when the blue screen appeared. Before I could scream "no!" a red screen appeared and I was being told that Windows had detected a problem and would be recovering itself. I am not a geekazoid. I eventually will figure out how to get a computer to do what I want it to do but it takes me a while. When your computer is in self-recovery, it is too late. Helpless, I watched as it lied to me.

First lie was when it said it was copying my data files and they would be ok. Next it said I would have to reinstall all programs I had added to the computer; also a lie. Lights flashed, something went whirrrrrr! and then there was my computer telling me it was on Arizona time in 1980. I hated the 80's the first time. I'll take Kentucky in 2008 over Arizona in 1980 any day. When my computer had finished, the only program that worked was mIRC, which was a blessing because the chat channel I frequent there is full of computer geekazoids, the kind that get paid for being Silicon Valley techno savvy.

Only one was brave enough to rise the challenge, though lots of people had suggestions. Micah is a hero. His official diagnosis? "Your computer is really sick!" Now that's what I am talking about! A geekazoid that speaks techno friendly to computer idiots like me and is kind enough to spend hours on remote access trying to recover files for me. I went to bed at about 3:00 am on Eastern time, thank you very much, while Micah played with my computer on Pacific time. He has recovered files for which I am very grateful. Including a pictures, w00t! His only comment to me was "do me a favor and make a back up, regularly next time." What a gem! Little does he know that I will be backing up my back ups and printing all those adorable pictures of my grandson so no blue screen can erase him ever again! As for my computer, it is still sick. It has a hard drive with a fault on it. I think that and the loose nut at the key board were a bad combination.

Today? Today was nearly normal. I managed to get my laptop working so I could take care of some banking and bill paying. I got some housework done. My attitude of gratitude is still there. I am grateful for Micah and his willingness to help. My driveway was icy, but my house was toasty warm. My oldest is recovering and showing much strength and courage. She is incredible. My youngest is so grown up! She and her family just moved into a nice place. It is wonderful to hear her make great choices for my grandson. My doggie isn't limping any more. I am able to walk without pain. Most importantly, I am saved. The worst day here is better than one second in hell.

Fear Down, Hope and Peace to Go!

Last night I had the honor and privilege to present some information to the women of my church. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love and appreciate them. The seminar I did was on fear. God is clever and He had me present the information to them because I needed it. It's not that I don't want to study things for my own benefit and growth, but whenever I do a topical study to teach it, I see how badly I needed it and how much more I have to repent of than I realized. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know. That's a topic I want to return to in another post. I want to talk about the ladies for a moment. They are an incredibly loving group of women. Women who seek God and are teachable. They have gone out of their way to include me and love on me, which speaks volumes of their characters because I am not all that lovable. I am not being self-deprecating here. I am a mix of endearing and maddening qualities like anyone else. What I am telling you is ...

Super Church a song for the Emergent-sy

In the early 70s I was in a youth choir at my church. Our youth pastor was a musician and his way of connecting with us as a group was through the choir and music. Somehow there was an affiliation between him and The Continental Singers, New Hope and Jeremiah People. He was worked with Moishe Rosen of Jews for Jesus too, I think. Are any of these names familiar to you? Though I remember the church fondly I was a profoundly lost and troubled young woman during my years there. That and time have muddled the memories quite a bit. Today I was digging through some old paperwork and one of the books to the musical we did. It's Getting Late For the Great Planet Earth, a folk rock oratorio by Cam Floria. Yes, that's right. Cam Floria put Hal Lindsey to music. There's a lot to laugh about and some to groan about but as I was looking through the songs and remembering, I found this little ditty and I only wish I could sing it for you. Just remember that this is circa 1972 and even th...

Links on FAS/FASD info and some quick thoughts

I had some thoughts today about how to help parents who have children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FAS FASD). I am reading an article in the Journal of Biblical Counseling that points out the similarities in counseling and parenting. This particular volume has several articles focusing on family relationships, especially that of parent and child. The titles include : Helping the Parents of an Angry Child; Angry Teens; Counseling the Adopted Child; and Helping the Grieving Child or Teenager. ( Journal of Biblical Counseling Winter 2007 Vol. 25 Number 1) I haven't completed my studies in the journal and so I cannot begin to write a proper synthesis of the various issues addressed, all of which I think may be helpful to parents of FAS or FASD children. But then, these topics aren't exclusive to FAS and FASD children. I was blessed with raising some wonderful children in a unique set of circumstances. My sister died leaving behind 5 terrific kids...

rambling rosemarie

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