How could I ask for more?

It's Wednesday. Hump day! Mid-week.

Our colds are still hanging on - although they're not as bad as the weekend.

But, hey! The sun is shining, the birds are singing... my clean laundry is flapping in the breeze on the line...and there is a kitchen stove in the back of our truck. What? Yep! Last night at the auction there was an apartment size 4-burner stove... and for a cool $8.00 - yup - eight clams - it's now destined to find its home at the cabin on Miracle Mountain!! Yeah, it looks like it needs to go thru the carwash... but when I opened the oven door (expecting to see desserted mouse nests) it was nearly spotless...like it had never been used. Jerry would say it looks like OUR oven (like it had never been used - but it has... I'm just a CLEAN cook!). We will have to replace one knob that is missing but otherwise it appears to be in good enough condition to cook on! Yippee!!




For the past year I've been corresponding with a former co-worker who is now incarcerated (I won't go into the details - but let's say he'll be there for "a while"). A former State official, now felon - his family has disowned him... he rarely hears from his wife (who is also incarcerated).
Before we left for Colorado last spring I had this gnawing in my belly that wouldn't go away & I kept thinking about this man, knowing he was in prison, and wondering what I was supposed to do about it. I decided to drop him a note in the mail letting him know that I was thinking of him & that if he would like a penpal I'd be happy to oblige. I have a difficult time understanding his crime. But there are passages in the Bible that refer to "visiting" those who are imprisoned & I guess I'm taking that to heart. My very own prison ministry.
Other than the feeling that God wanted me to befriend him in prison I don't know why I write to him in "beige world" as he calls it. I write in different colored ink on colored paper and I've sent him photos of the mountains, wildlife, wild flowers, etc. to bring some color to his otherwise drab world & tell him of everyday things here and plans for the cabin. His only view to the outside world is thru a tiny window - with only view of tall fences topped with razor wire. Dismal doesn't begin to describe it but he understands that dismal is as good as it gets because of what he did.

So... my question is this: I have a home (or two), a vehicle, a husband, kids & grandbabies, parents, and friends who love me & accept me, as crappy as I feel with this cold - I still have my health and I have the freedom to worship as I wish, to come & go as I please (at least for now)... How could I ask for more?

Midweek musings

I piddled around long enough yesterday morning that I forgot to take anything out for lunch so we went to Godfather's Pizza to eat. I was stuffed by the time we left. We had to get stickers to mark our garage sale items (coming up 3/28) so we stopped at Walgreens. I don't know what it was about this store... but as soon as we walked in the store my nose went on overload. As I walked around the store - to see if there was anything else we might need - my nose got stuffier. I finally concluded that because I've changed from store bought household cleaning products to baking soda & vinegar and borax my nose is much happier & evidently more sensitive to all the chemicals and added scents of cleaning products. Argh!

After lunch I was too full to do anything too physical so I spent part of the afternoon doing some laundry & finishing a letter to a friend (former co-worker) who is incarcerated. Because of the nature of his crime his family has disowned him and people he considered to be his friends have desserted him. I'm not sure why I decided to write to him, but he & I had been friends when we worked together and I always liked him. I can't imagine what his life must be like there. I often struggle with what to say to him but he seems grateful to have a friend on the outside who takes the time to write so my letters are usually full of daily activities and details about building our cabin. Boring to me... but he finds them interesting & always has lots to say about them. He is allowed to receive photographs so I sent some to him of our place in the mountains. Color therapy he calls it!

Last night was auction night. We went, looked around and decided that there was very little we needed/wanted. There were four 50 pound bags of IAMS dogfood - the man who won the bid took all four. Rats! There was a set of 300 thread count queen size sheets... someone else got those too! A couple we hang out with was there & before they even got to the blueberries we decided that we'd all just leave. We passed up a pile of little girl baby clothes I would have bid on for Maddie and a really cool vintage bear planter. Money saved!

The sun yesterday and this morning is melting the snow in the backyard making it suitable for mud wrestling. It looks like Skeeter has left some doggie bombs for me to clean up. Wish I could get him to go in one spot so I didn't have to pick my way around the yard. Another reason I'm anxious to get back to the mountains - he uses the acres of sagebrush not the space close to the cabin to do his business. It's already 45 degrees... hopefully it will warm up a bit more and dry up the backyard!

Today's THINGS TO DO list: finish laundry, take bag of clothes to the Goodwill store (walk - about a mile round trip), sort Christmas decorations (some to sell at garage sale) and begin marking stuff for the garage sale.

Have a blessed day!