birthdays, outings, and crashes...

 Okay, I exaggerate, it's singular, there was only one crash.  And it wasn't really a CRASH, crash, just a couple thousand dollar bang-up.  I am not going to name the culprit, the poor girl who was driving my car, because she was being a nice big sister, bringing the younger ones to a church fundraiser, doing yard work for a friend, on a nice Saturday afternoon.  She backed out of the driveway, and somehow, hit a sign post.  

The front quarter panel is all mess-up, they had to use duct tape to get this to stay on for the ride home.  I know, it's not that bad, no one got hurt, but this is my new car.  When the phone call came, it was, "Can you give the phone to dad or tell him to pick up his phone?"  The urgency, you know the tone, your stomach drops, you assume the worst...she said no one was hurt, I asked if it was my car, she said yes, oh dang it, I gave the phone to Paul...oh dear.  I had to collect myself.  You all know that these things are just little trials in the big scheme of things, mere tempests in tea cups.  Laughable, really.  But, in the midst of them, quite painful.  I love my car.    Abigail and I had just taken my car on a little shopping trip earlier, she accompanied me to pick up the volleyball set.  I told her, "Abigail, I LOVE my car."  I am a gusher about that car, I can't stop, the leather heated seats, the way it drives, the way it's NEW, and the windows actually roll down!  The tires don't lose air every ten miles, and there are no mysterious rattling noises.  It gets 30 miles to the gallon, and it's MY CAR.  

So to get from point A to point B, (point A being UPSET,  point B being AT PEACE), there has to be something that takes place.  Forgiveness, thankfulness, soul-searching, begging God for goodness...it isn't just a natural progression, that I'm a Christian, so I take things right.  Not, it involves suffering, and it's a good fight of faith.  

So being tempted to get really really mad is one thing, but we can say NO!  It's quite simple, really.  Maybe it comes back again and again and again, but it IS written resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

So that was my Saturday, we got the call right as just Paul and I were leaving to go out on a little date.  He doesn't care for sitting in restaurants, so we got subs, went to Owasco Lake (the Finger Lakes are gorgeous!)...then went for a nice long drive.  It was really nice that we had some alone time, and we could individually deal with the frustration, ect., of the car.  It was a chilly night, I wasn't dressed for a walk, because as I told Paul, I thought we were going out to dinner.  He had asked me if I wanted to go get something to eat.    I should have realized that meant going to the grocery store to get a sub.  Don't get me wrong, he totally would have been fine going somewhere else, but this was actually really nice.  And if you've ever had a Wegman's sub, oh dear, too good. 

In this you can see the tarps and tents, people camp there.  It's the backwater, the marsh area at the foot of the lake.  There was a guy with a four month old Lab puppy there, a puppy who greeted us, whole body wagging, and that was the pinnacle of the evening!   I think it's hilarious when we pet other dogs, then go home, and our dogs sniff us and are like, who have you been petting?

Yesterday, was a birthday party for both Jonathan and Sonja.  I can't even tell you how many people trooped through here yesterday, but I think around 30...not all at the same time, some left then others arrived.  It started around 2 o'clock, and when I went to bed at ten, some of their friends were still here.  

We had bbq chicken, meatballs, pizza rolls, mini corn dogs, chips, tortillas with quacamole, cheese/crackers/pepperoni, the chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies,  cake:  white cake with vanilla glaze, topped with strawberries and raspberries, and a squirt of whipped cream.  There were seltzer cans all over the place, and we were making coffees all afternoon.  It was raining, so Paul grilled in the rain, and people were just in the house.  At one point, when a lot of people had left, there was a break in the rain, so they went out and played volleyball in the drive way.  Then there was karaoke, then jack box games on the t.v.

Jonathan and his friend went first...(that's little Ophelia there in front!)

In the evening, when just four of their friends were still here, I made some popcorn.  

Phew, it was quite the day, quite the weekend!  

Now, the dreaded insurance company dealings, to get the car taken care of....oh, how I hate making these calls!