Been a While

=Things have been absolutely crazy since the last time I wrote anything on this blog. The family went down to Mississippi for a week. On the way down there, the weather was just awful. Our flights managed to leave on time, but the result was a very bumpy ride. The kids handled the flights better than I did for the most part with one exception. On the second flight, I noticed that Jackson was acting a little pitiful, which is totally unlike him. As we taxied toward the runway for takeoff, he nodded off and I thought that this was good because the true was that he needed a nap. Well, about ten minutes after takeoff, he woke up with a sad, painful sounding cry, and then it happened. He turned around to look at me with this look on his face that said, "I'm so sorry for what I'm about to do to you." It was at this point that he proceeded to throw up all over me (and on my favorite sweater to boot). Needless to say, that made the fly much more interesting than it would have otherwise been. He immediately assured me that he felt better, and the rest of the flight was eventless. The really assuming part of the story is that he didn't have a change of clothes available so when we arrived in Jackson he ran through the airport in nothing but a diaper and socks...I loved the look on Meme's face. The week in Mississippi was quite fun and exhausting; after that, how could it not be?.

Upon our return to Raleigh, Julie had the craziest work schedule I can remember her having. I had to relearn how to stay at home with the kids by myself again. And, we decided that we needed a new computer. So, we went to our local Best Buy and proceeded to make plans to buy a computer. We picked out all that we needed and some of what we wanted on the computer. After being passed around the store to different departments and sales associates, we realized that our chances of getting said computer was decreasing exponentially with each passing minute. What is obvious to me is that none of the people who were busy selling us the computer has had children because they took their time as a two year ran rampant through the store and the five month old grew hungrier and hungrier, which began more and more apparent with each scream. Finally, they began to check us out and, as things would have it, they messed up the order. They tried to charge me thirty-five more dollars than it was supposed to have been. Julie and I finally threw up our hands in frustration and left the store without the computer. On the way home, Julie mentioned, almost in passing, that maybe this was God's way of saying that we didn't need to get a new computer because you never know when you will need the money(more on that in a minute).

Well, the very next week (a week ago yesterday), Raleigh received the biggest snowfall it had gotten in four years. Here at the house we got about 5-6 inches. It was great. Jackson loved playing in the snow and looking at it as it fell. The only problem was that morning about 6:40 we had gotten a call at the house. You see, I haven't mentioned that Julie had to go to work that morning. And, on the way, she was in a single car accident. About five minutes from work, she hit a patch of ice and lost control of the car. Thankfully and most importantly, she was fine. She was, however, quite upset about the whole ordeal. I was thinking about it all after I hung up the phone with her. I was trying to find a reason to be thankful to God in the situation (beyond Julie's safety...as I already mentioned, God was gracious in that regard). Well, the rest of the day God proceeded to show me that I had much to be thankful for. First, I remembered and reminded Julie of the comment she made in the car on the way home from Best Buy. God knew, before it happened, that Julie would be in that wreck. He knew we needed that $800. Some might claim that this was nothing more than happenstance, a mere coincidence. And, if that was all that had happened, then I would have agreed that that explanation might be the case. But, later that day, I had, at the advice and urging of my dad, previously scheduled an At&T technician to come out to the house and investigate our DSL connection. Several days earlier, dad encouraged me to test my connection speed and it turned out that it was ridiculously slow (we're talking dial-up speed here). Back to the story at hand. Well, the technician arrives and begins to run all sorts of tests, and it turns out that our modem was defective. So, he goes back to the truck and comes back to inform me that he was out of that particular modem. So, instead, he would have to use a wireless modem in its place, which happened to be a $100 upgrade from what we had. After installing the new modem, the computer began to run at the appropriate speed again. Meaning that a new computer would have been a complete waste of money. Coincidence, happenstance?? I think not. That was merely one of those instances when Matthew 6:25-34 gets illustrated in a real and vivid way. So, in the end, gratitude is the least I can give in return...maybe praise is the better choice.