Not the way I planned

9:00 a.m. Today's project was to set up appointments, call my customers with birthdays in November, and spend a nice hour visiting Steve while my son-in-law Nick continued his wonderful organizing and cleaning of our garage.  Then I'd go visit my dad and deliver products to three customers on the way home.

Not many of these goals were accomplished, at least not in the way I'd envisioned them, except for Nick's very focused sorting and tossing. I managed a start with the phone calls and made up some egg salad for lunch, and then got ready to go to Raincross. I suddenly realized that the backyard was very quiet. Not wanting to start any commotion, I silently went from window to window looking for the dogs while Nick replaced on the blinds of the slider going into the back patio. Jada (8 yrs old) and Jazzlyn (1 yer old) were nowhere to be found!  I called on the Lord for peace, not trusting in my own inner resources whatsoever. The dogs had fully gotten on my nerves! Hallelujah that Jesus promised us peace-- "My peace I leave with you,"-- John 14:27, and I needed peace now!

Calling from the back door of the garage, I got no response. So I went over closer to our side fence, and called again. There were our two girls, romping with the pit bull next door! But when I poked my head over the fence, "Roger" went ballistic. Kind of the opposite from a normal dog whose greatest duty in life is to bark furiously at others of its own species, but just bark a bit at a friendly person they know from next door. Up scrambled Jada, into my barren organic garden, so I opened the chainlink gate, escorted her out and into her crate. She didn't even care that Jazzlyn wasn't caged too, as she normally would--she just lay down on her pillow in relief!

Have you ever been swept up in the excitement of others in an uncharacteristic way? The fun and daring is very entertaining for a few minutes, but then you know the consequences are going to be unpleasant. I remember when I would spend the night in Jr. High with my best friend Chris, when we'd disguise ourselves as boys, get cigarettes from her parents, and sneak out of the house in the middle of the night, to wander about the south side of Redlands or to t.p. the houses and trees of boys we liked. Naturally, her mom knew how many smokes she had left, so we did get busted. It was about 50 years ago, so I can't say whether Mrs. Pounds called my mom to come get me or not. The scolding was not fun! The fun of sin doesn't last long either. We are told in Hebrews 11:25 about Moses

...choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin 

Next was Jazzlyn's turn to come home, but she couldn't jump the neighbors' dog run to come up to the hole in the fence. So, keeping my cool, I called the neighbors, and, receiving no answer, grabbed a short leash, and drove next door in case I could get the silly puppy into the back of the Jeep. The homeowners weren't there but their son's girlfriend was there with the pit bull. She assured me, "'Roger is just harmless." She was awfully gracious to house Jazzlyn and Jada in her backyard, and we visited while I was moving their recycle cans over to their dumpster.

There was no trouble leashing Jazzlyn up, but I had to half-load her into the car. German shepherds must not have a natural talent for jumping! We got back to my garage and she came along on the leash like we'd been out for a stroll. Sigh. But she did go into her crate without protest--even a puppy can wear herself out!

Now, after losing half an hour, I went to see Steve, which didn't go as planned either. He was leaning again, this time so severely that a chair had to be placed under him to keep him from toppling over. I made sure to give him a couple of glasses of extra water, but he was still agitated when I left...

The rest of the day, consisting of  a visit to my dad to run an errand for him, and an appointment with a customer, went well. Nick put up brand new blind slats he discovered in the garage, patched and secured our fences, and installed Skype on my netbook. Our long term care insurance finally paid the last bill of the Brightstar Agency for Steve's care in August and September. At last I heard from a member of my team whom I'd tried to catch up with for months. Thanksgiving dinner plans and the guest list are shaping up.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I have much more to thank the Lord for than any number of complaints about "my time, "my money," "my husband," and most of all, "my plans." God always knows best. And when we do feel puzzled, stalled, frustrated or exasperated, we just need to trust God, ask for a Holy Ghost refreshing and refilling, and handle the matter, do the next thing, and keep on walking with Jesus!