Signs, Wonders, and Unconventional Messengers

God's Messengers come in all forms it would seem. Have you ever had a complete sign-from-above moment? I have been struggling over the decision to change my degree program to Graphic Design or to stay on the Web Design and Interactive Media program. My problem lies with the last part: media. I just finished Intro to Audio and Desktop Video is coming up. Looking at the rest of the classes I have yet to take, I am seeing a heavy emphasis on media and very little web design. Actually, almost every class I've had that dealt with web design really revolved around the media aspects of web design. I'm just not that into media. I don't want to create Interactive CD Roms or mobile applications or interactive kiosks. I'm pretty sure I was told that these two programs share a lot of the same classes (but WDIM has more web courses). I know I heard that from at least two different counselors, waaaay back the first couple of times I questioned whether I was in the right program or not. But now I have a counselor who is really listening and wants to help me get the most out of my education instead of classes that are a waste of my time (and money!).

So anyhoo, Sunday evening was our church's trunk-or-treat. While I was talking with my friend Rhonda who was passing out candy she let me try a piece of Dove chocolate (milk chocolate with cinnamon graham cracker pieces), which was wonderful by the way! I put the wrapper in my pocket, thinking I would throw it away later when I was near the trash can. I forgot about it until we were about to leave and I felt it in my pocket when I put my hand in there to warm it up. I suddenly had the idea that I should open it, and then remembered that they put messages on the inside of the wrapper when I saw the white rounded square. I opened it carefully and smoothed out the wrinkles and read the message. A message that I'm sure is on hundreds of thousands of little pieces of chocolate, but this one was meant for me. I showed it to my husband and said "Look! It's just for me and now I know that I should change!" My husband being the wonderful man that he is, says "That's okay, Hun, I was just teasing - I love you just the way you are."  "No, you don't....What??"  

Moving on...I sent my counselor an email and completed the forms on Monday morning. I had to take a course that works for either program until the transfer is accepted, and since classes started Monday, we had to work fast.  So now I am in Intro to Communications 101, otherwise known as Speech - Yay.  Oh well, it had to happen sooner or later, better to get it done and over with now.

After wrestling with the decision and flipping back and forth, and asking God for guidance and direction, the answer came in the form of a wrapper on a heavenly little piece of chocolate that otherwise would have been thrown away. The God of the Universe is altogether amazing and wonderful, and because he knows what I like, he chose to give me my answer in chocolate. Okay, so it wasn't in the smoke of a burning tree, or spelled out in the night sky with stars, but does an answer to prayer or a message from God really have to be big and spectacular?  Not at all  :)

Find a Happy Place

Do you ever have those moments when you wish you could open a secret door and step out of your crazy-busy life and into a quiet serene place? A place where you can sit and enjoy a cup of coffee in peace and quiet without the phone going off or people asking you where the mop is (mess alert!) with the dogs barking in the background while kids are asking what's for dinner? My personal time-out space would be large, yet cozy, with a comfy couch, a super hi-tech programmable machine that would produce whatever kind of coffee or tea drink I choose, and a full length window with a remote so that I can sip on my drink and look out at the beach or mountains, etc. The only sounds would be from whatever I'm watching in the nature-window; waves, rain, birds, streams, etc. I could go on.This summer has been so busy that I have my personal time-out space very meticulously mapped out and decorated in my mind. Things have been so hectic and just weird, that I want to slip through that secret door a lot.

This summer was so hot and dry that almost everybody lost if not all, at least part of their lawn. The trees lost well over half of their leaves so that now, there's hardly any left to turn red and fall off. We had a shrub die because no matter how much water I put on it at night, the full strength of the sun all day was just too much for it and it got fried. A lot of people lost plants, trees, flowers and whole yards of grass. My dogs didn't even want to go outside. Everyone became nocturnal. I would go out at 10:00 pm to water and would see other neighbors out watering and doing other outdoor chores. It had an almost eerie feeling to it to see so many of us out there at night like that. Almost as if some horrible event had taken place and it wasn't safe to go out during the daylight. Or we were all vampires...

My youngest son (8) decided he wanted to play football. But he doesn't want to play flag football, he wants to play tackle, and our town doesn't offer tackle so we have to go across to a town in Missouri (30 minutes away) for the games. We have two practices a week (Tues. and Thurs.) and games on Saturday. Practices (held at the middle school her in town) started the 2nd week of September,  and we had our first game on the 29th of September. There are only 6 games and we have had three so far with this coming Saturday's game being the 4th. So, I have two more weeks to go of this crazy schedule I'm on. Monday and Friday are the only days without something, but even then it isn't an evening off because I have class that I have to try to fit in amongst it all. Practice wouldn't be so bad (even though it is 2 hours long) if I could watch some Netflix or Hulu or read a book on my phone, but my little man expects me to watch him practice. He asks me if I saw him do this or that and if I say no, he actually accuses me of not paying attention. So, I have to watch - closely!

But he's having so much fun, so I don't let on how tired I am of it all. I know he will be sad when the games are done and there are no more practices. He looks so cute in his football uniform! And I really am glad he's playing. This is the first time he has stepped out and done something on his own, without his brother. He's the youngest and he is used to following. Until just recently, the last year or so, he wouldn't eat or do anything that his older brother didn't like. He's kind of quiet and in his way, shy, so this football thing is really big for him. This summer, the boys did archery with a friend and Sully really enjoyed it, and he went every Tues. and Thurs. even when Tucker didn't. So it would seem he is growing up, coming out of his shell...my baby.

We had a tornado hit a big chunk of town September 7th and it took out power lines and trees and left us without power for two days. The people in charge of the storm siren (which didn't go off 'they say' because they received no official warning from Springfield) are saying it was microbursts. The people that saw it hovering over the parts of the county and town that mysteriously have damages, and heard the rumbling and shrieking wind say something quite different. I was one of the people who saw it and heard it. I happened to be alone at the funeral home when the storm hit and shortly after I saw the swirling mass of clouds go over the Post Office, the power went out - everywhere. I've been through several tornado warnings since living here and it was the first time I have heard that odd sound. Honestly, the movie Twister got it right. It does sound like that. 

It took out power all over town and parts of the county. The police command van was out with a loud speaker telling people to conserve water and where to go if they needed shelter. My kids were scared because suddenly all of those disasters they had seen on TV became very real. And even though we were nowhere near being a real natural disaster area, it brought the concept home to them. Our block alone had four trees down and our neighbor had one fall on her house. We were blessed that nothing fell on our house. It took the roof off of the dorms at the community college which is just three blocks west and south of our house. There were huge chunks of the roof debris all over town.

It certainly was an eye-opener! Just two of the many things I was very thankful for: my smart phone so that I had communication and access to news and weather and other invaluable information, and that we bought a gas stove when we remodeled. I had to charge my phone in the truck, but no biggie. We read a lot, played some board games, and went to bed early. It really wasn't so bad.The real bummer was that I couldn't use my Keurig :(