V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

That's right.

I am on vacation. I took two days last week and two days next week and this is the middle of my vacation.

I was so excited to have time off I spent Wednesday night at the salon getting my nails done. =)

Then Thursday went to spend time with my Dad… visiting the doctor and guiding him through the many choices he will have to make regarding his choices to treat prostate cancer.

Part of what he needs help with is physical labor. Since he can no longer manage the efforts necessary at an old house he owns.

This house, the uninhabited black hole, not-so-fondly called: the house of doom … well that's what my siblings and I call it (however, some siblings use terms not appropriate for blog content). I can't honestly say that I believe in possession of an inanimate object or a house being haunted, but I have a theory and seriously believe from the evidence gathered that a house can be "cursed".

In my opinion this house has been cursed !!!

Yes, cursed with …

procrastination indecision chaos plumbing leaks void of squareness destructive attacks of ... hatred disgust frustration pain bruises confusion infestation of insects undesirable animal nests and feces

… ewwww…

AND So much more that I can barely contain the emotion regarding the place.

Yet, this doesn't stop me from showing up in work clothes and an attitude void of sarcasm, as my dad needs help and this is what needs to get done!!!

Day 1 – At the job site I am instructed that my job was to load truck for the dump, which includes: cleaning the rooms where the ceiling and insulation was pulled down; vacuuming/bagging such materal and re-loading the truck for the dump; and then continuing to the front porch which was previously covered with plumbing and demolition materials (that would challenge any strong male) still needed to be loaded on the seriously lifted Ford 250 which I can barely see over the back bed – which means, my materials contribution needs to be lifted overhead in order to drop them into the bed… uhhh, yes, I skipped my trip to the gym for a shoulder/bicept workout and my core workout was taken care of while shoveling roofing materials from the ground to the wheelbarrow and then loading such debris onto the truck.

I have never been quite so happy for the sunset on a day of "vacation"… the invitation to eat, shower and hot tub at my brother's house was more than welcome. After relaxing, I spent the evening talking to Dad about his "treatment options" – stayed up too late and was thrilled to find the pillow.

Day 2 – I awoke at 6am. Showed up at my brother's house excited that I would at least be "driving" the BIG truck!! Yeehaw!

Then… Dad wasn't well (went back to bed at 8am); my nephew was sick; and the helpful bro-in-law said he needed a day off. Dang – didn't need to take the big truck after all.

But blessings and a surprise visit from my Tony is a God-send!!!

Still – I had to be one of the "guys" who unloaded the materials I sent to the truck the day before. Ugggh!! Yes, gloves on again, I dutifully went to the dump and unloaded; to the house to re-load and then unload that darn truck (skipped the gym – workout #2). Back at the house I cleared the site of nails so the drywall could be installed; then cleaned the site so others could function reasonably well around the areas (somehow I'm certain that tools found in the dirt, between open studs in framing, on stairs around the corner, and overhead on the closet shelf would be better utilized on the tool table)… a long day of running tools from one end of the house to the other, cleaning the worksite, renting a lift - finding grace to deal with the frustration of a cursed house? In the midst of chaos/remodel for sale … and the hatred thereof (whether the tasks, the house, or the work)… it's draining nonetheless as I once again am grateful for the food/shower/hot-tub and invitation for conversation with my favorite sis-in-law. Arriving at my parents' home I stayed up way too late with Mom, sorting clothing and talking about life … dragging my butt to bed and head to the pillow at 1am.

Day 3 – the alarm went off at 6, my butt moved off the bed at 7am. We had extra hands to help so the morning starts off with a bang – Dad feels better and is able to make an appearance. Mom shows up to move the boxes from the attic. Brother-in-law stays home, but my Tony shows up for a second day of effort and big brother is the trouper – sporting his Vicodin bottle – he is faithful to the task.

Emotions are high and voices raise over the boards going down on the kitchen floor; but peace is found again, the day moves on (slowly) the work seems monotonous and unproductive; but Dad asks for help finding materials in storage – I volunteer to go; upon arrival he apologizes for lack of a ladder – yeah, "no problem, Dad, that's why I work out" and like an experienced climber, I scaled the two levels of shelving 5' and 10' up . . . hmmm, found the venting but no gutters and looking down it appears quite clear that "getting down" is far more of a challenge than "going up" … ugh! Not to worry, I closed my eyes as I hung from my manicured fingertips swung down to the next level and jumped to the floor (workout #3, skipped the gym again).

Later back at the house we all anxiously waited and watched as the water was turned on ... holding our breath, we watched for leaks in plumbing (ughh, too many to fix, better start over) ... did I mention the house was cursed? Plans were made to revisit the bathroom and plumbing on Monday -- I am so glad I don't own a home right now.

It was three long days … and while I know vacation isn't normally spelled "e-x-h-a-u-s-t-i-o-n" I feel better to have participated in forward progression of work for selling the 'cursed' house. =|

Well, it's a theory -- and yet, my nails are still nicely manicured (thank God for gloves).

HonuGirl

Note to self:

Grow fruit to share daily; display often individually or in bunches for even more enjoyment!

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.   ~ Galations 5:22-23

Wednesday - Story - Part 2

Divine Day I have this habit of being irritatingly human – although secretly hoping for heroine. Uh-huh. Yeah. Actually, I’m known to be extremely distracted and a little bit snarky; newsflash – I admit to being human girl. (Read Tuesday's post... which was a belated posted as Blogger and I fought over PUBLISH and SAVE functions... GRR. I think I won, eventually!) I am a girl who believes (truly) knows that God has divinely designed and memorized the cover of the box for my personal puzzle called life; He created the puzzle, therefore, whether I see the big picture or not – I trust that through His eyes I can place the puzzle pieces as they were creatively designed to fit! ~ Today is Wednesday. Different from recent mornings, and specifically last night, Wednesday began easily. I felt fresh, aware and rested. Pressure relief valve must have been installed during sleep. Whew. It’s true – no heaviness or residual worries from Tuesday’s questions, frustrations or unaddressed decisions; no concerns for the weight of the world to-do list that nearly crushed me. A moment of thanks for relief… God is good. Remember this – you always have a choice – it is a gift. I choose life! I choose blessings. I choose gratitude. I choose a heroine attitude. I choose to accept any challenge that dare face me today!! Divine awakening. ~ Whoo Hoo!! It’s a new day, a new attitude, a new affirmation. After all, I trust God for all things in my life – they are all in His control. Heard the saying… let go, let God? I’m living it. Divide attitude. ~ My day continued… On task and on-time, I left for my workout. Bonus – I remembered, ahem, everything necessary for the day. I began driving my route to the gym. After a quick push of the radio button and a momentary wait for a song to begin… my index finger hovered over the preset buttons – just in case I felt fickle about the music, style or artist or words – I waited a moment to decide about this song. After the first stanza; I was engaged... I choose to listen:

“Who taught the sun where to stand in the morning? and Who told the ocean you can only come this far? and Who showed the moon where to hide 'til evening? Whose words alone can catch a falling star?”

As her voice that rang out these words – it was as close to being with angels as I could imagine; she sang with such melodious power and grace; I allowed myself to concentrate on the words of the song. Touched to the core of my being by the words, the affirmations, the truths – I felt transported onto a glorious cloud – as if experiencing the song through soul, not ears. Incredible!! Tears trickled down my cheeks as I heard the words of the song uphold all that I believe – the decisions I have to make are miniscule compared with what it took to create my world. Oh, the power to place the universe in order… {I’m silently relieved that my instinct to change stations was reversed by my spirit’s voice – “wait for it, listen for it… peace will come.”} Divine thought. Be still and know He is God! Psalm 46:10 ~ I was still covered by goose bumps head to toe when I arrived and parked my car; I couldn’t turn it off until the last note gently returned my blessed encouraged and fulfilled soul back to my driver’s seat. Wow. Again. WOW!!! The DJ’s voice now announcing Nicole Mullen as the artist; I commit to download her song tonight. Divine song. After another genuine thank you spoken aloud to God for loving me through song… I walked inside the gym to workout, not quite the same person I was when I awoke 2 hours earlier. AND happy to be a little early! ~ Leaving the gym I drove to work (no errands today). In route, my thoughts focused on a good friend of mine… oddly enough I began an inner conversation – thinking it would be good share my latest journey; share about the song; and also ask her opinion on a few undecided things; hmm... Later though. A couple hours into my workday, where strangely, I was not alone (rudely confirmed by the excessive noise from the crew sanding in the back room). It was difficult to even hear the radio. Two of the three owners appeared and departed. Yet, I remained surprisingly focused. It seemed I would finish work early today, nice. Shortly before leaving, my phone rang – smiling as I answered; I’m not surprised that it’s the friend I was planning to call later. It’s that kind of day. Our conversation was brief. She had news to share. I talked about the song – she is close friends with the artist. I’m delighted to hear her story of Nicole. I asked my questions – received her great insight; we arranged to email on another topic and said goodbye. This was an appointment of spirit collaboration and certainly not coincidence! I needed to hear the confidence she shared in answering my questions. What blessings I’ve received today! Divine conversation. ~ Night falls. I remain amazed by Wednesday’s divine events. Briefly I recalled a number of choices that allowed for a puzzle piece of life to be discovered and placed into its divine location of life's puzzle. “As if by design,” I giggle knowing it was ALL about me today. Sometimes God hears the pray of a human girl and creates a day for a heroine. Divine relief. ~ I choose to walk courageously through life. Living in the moment, for the future. I commit to let go of the past and let God select the future piece of the puzzle for placement! Just like that sleep is close and I rest my head on my purple pillow - relieved to know that the weight of the world was not mine to carry anyway. Human girl, living heroine-like on a Divine day.

HonuGirl

Patience...

Popsicles or Polish?

I shuttered as I listened to yet another cry of impatience from my boy (pick one, either one they both resemble this remark)… hummmph. I paused for a moment. My mind shot off into its own little diatribe of “when??? What do you mean, WHEN???” Haven’t you noticed the things I do for you? … _________ [ insert here a reminder list of multitudes of mothering activities, nurturing, caretaking, bandaging, feeding, transporting, toy purchasing, housekeeping, and uhh the list goes on ad infinitum. ]. Yet you [dare] suggest that I am not doing something fast enough to accommodate your needs? grrr. =/ Thank God. That only occurred inside my head. Whew. The chance of my blurting out toxic waste passed safely without injury!! I know this because there is a distinct absence of that disgusting flavor of toenail polish from having stuck my purple-painted, toe ring adorned, foot into my noxious mouth – only to have to remove it later and reapply polish (and scrape my tongue … eww). However. The comments never left my subconscious mind. I mentally worked on the scenarios of “impatience” for some time. "How long until this goes away... it still hurts" – upon applying medicine and bandage to road rash (knee to calf) from Jeffrey’s bike incident. "Why can’t I have a popsicle now." [at 9:30 am] “Why did this happen? Why did that chain have to brake when I was riding?” – upon applying medicine and bandage on both scraped elbows after Jason flew over handlebars riding a friend’s bike. "It will take 8 weeks of allowance before I can buy [insert Lego set name here]; why can't you just get it for me now, then I'll pay you back" ~ It came to me rather abruptly while washing my hair. Dang suds; they must have cleansed the build up in my brain. Right there with wet hair my mind began an internal conversation. A mind is a wonderful thing – sometimes – pain in the butt at others! Mine began to replay some of my conversations with God. Of which, I’m too embarrassed to list many, but there is an uncanny resemblance to some from my kids. Hmmm. “Do I really have to feel such pain while healing?” “When will I get a break?” “I can’t wait until… “

“Seriously, need help here!!” I recognized that He could so easily respond with that “reminder list” of how I dare not notice His blessings ... yada yada. It could be: He might pointedly question how can you be so ungrateful for safety through the Red Sea of your life? Do you not appreciate the comfort I offered when you felt alone? Where is the gratitude for the gift of cherished friends who supported, loved, encouraged and shared so practically with you? Will you continue to ask me “when” I plan to bless you MORE?? ~ And with that – in His infinite wisdom and perfect timing – my Heavenly Father spoke silence to my impatience with impatience. ~ Alrighty then.

Hey, if you need me, I’ll be painting my toenails while the boys eat popsicles (after lunch).

HonuGirl