Storm Damage

I tried to be nice last night.

 

And you know what happens when you try to be nice? It comes back and bites you in the pants.

 

Very, very much in the pants.

 

It all started when I was getting ready to leave for our away baseball game yesterday afternoon. I was positive that as soon as I got there the game would be cancelled from the massive storms that were headed our way - we were even under a tornado watch with the possibility of heavy rains, flooding and nickle-sized hail.

 

You know. A beautiful night for a baseball game.

 

So I thought I would be nice. 

 

Instead of leaving the dogs outside in their run under the carport, I thought it would be better if they stayed inside just in case the lightening and tornadoes got really bad. Last time storms came through we had limbs down in the yard - I don't want the dogs to get hurt by storm damage.

 

"Seriously," I thought to myself, "how much damage can three couch-potato dogs do?" 

 

Turns out, a lot.

 

I'm almost hesitant to post the pictures. Actually, I'm very hesitant to post the pictures. The pictures are very much like I think the end of the world will look like as depicted in the Book of Revelation.

 

It's that awful. 

 

It's one of those things where you walk in the door and look around. You don't see anything amiss so you let your guard down and think "Alright! Nothing happened. No accidents. No blood and fur. Everything was fine."

 

Then you go into the next room. 

 

And see this. 
 

 

See the chair in the middle of the room? That's our very, very heavy chair-and-a-half recliner.

 

That is not it's normal parking spot. Not even close.

 

Man, they had a good time, didn't they? A little puppy party when I was only gone for three hours.  

 

I just stood there. I was proud of myself - I didn't scream, I didn't freak. I just stood there and thought, "Ok. Ok. Oooookkkkkkaaaayyyy. Well, what now?"

 

My other thought was that I needed to clean it up before Matt got home or else there'd be four of us sleeping in the kennel for the next week.

 

First order of business: move the chair back to it's rightful position. I figured they ripped apart a blanket, tossing fluff every which way and having a grand old time.

 

Yeah. It wasn't a blanket. Not even close. Guess what I saw when I walked around to start pushing the chair back to the other side of the room?

 

 

Yeah.

 

Once again, I just stood there. I couldn't speak. I couldn't think. My mother's voice popped into my head. I could seriously hear her saying something along the lines of "Oh Addie. Can't you have anything nice? You should have thought about this when you wanted three dogs."

 

I think I started giggling out of pure hysterics.

 

What else are you going to do? Matt and I came to a conclusion a long time ago that has done wonders for our relationship. If something like this happens, why freak? Why scream? Why get all worked up over something that already happened? Matt always says you can't go back in time to change anything, so you just make the best of it and move forward. It's all about how you choose to react.

 

You can either make a bad situation worse with a bad, mad, freaked-out attitude or make that bad situation better by realizing that hey - it's just a chair and not the end of the world and you're still alive and you have a roof over your head - so you grab a broom and do a quick reupholster job with your favorite Christmas blanket.

 

 

See? It looks better already. And my sister saved the day by emailing me about 10000 links to websites that sell recliner slipcovers. We'll be back to our non-trashy, non-ripped apart furniture selves in no time.

 

And of course, the dogs acted like nothing was wrong. They plum wore themselves out and have spent most of today sleeping.  

 

Don't let their innocent sleepy-faces fool you. They're just dreaming about their next round of destruction.

 

 

And just in case you're wondering, we did have some pretty bad storms last night. We are very glad the dogs weren't out in it, despite the damage on the inside of the house. Ironic, I know. Bet we're one of the only lucky families in that situation.

 

Yay us.

 

On another note, Knuke tried to get into Matt's duffel bag earlier this morning. Matt just keeps it on the floor in the dining room - it has all of his baseball stuff in it that he takes to school and to games. I told Knuke to get out of there, and Matt told me something interesting. Apparently, last week Knukie figured out how to actually unzip the bag with his teeth. Matt caught him unzipping it and taking out a baseball that was at the bottom.

 

He just wanted a smelly old baseball to gnaw on.

 

So they're now in their crates for awhile today (with toys and treats...it's not a complete time-out) because every mom needs a break sometimes.

 

Today I love: A spouse that is super laid-back and crates with dog-proof latches

Fear and Rambling

The following is a rant that I emailed to my sister the other day. I wrote it on Monday and I've had it sitting in my Google Documents folder ever since, internally struggling with what to do with it. Delete it? Post it? I told Erin I didn't think I was going to post it because it's pretty private, but I got to thinking: what if someone else is struggling the way I am? Maybe these words will help them know they're not alone.

 

How has this never come across my path?

 

Maybe it has and I just don't remember.

 

But it has flat-out jumped up and slapped me in the face today and I'm still stinging from the backhand.

 

Have you ever read Hebrews 10:26-27?

 

I highly recommend that you do.  

I will be the first person to admit that I'm not a biblical scholar like my sister or her husband Cole. So not wanting to misuse this passage or take it out of context, I dug up some biblical commentary regarding the verses. The overwhelming agreement is that these verses are talking about people who hear about God's gift - his Son dying on the cross for our sins - yet knowingly turning their backs and reject salvation. They are people who profess to be believers, yet live how they want and do what they want with no concern for the consequences.

 

This particular verse refers to the act of apostatizing - basically abandoning your faith and all you once believed. Turning your back on the God you know is real and true. You KNOW it, yet you reject it.

 

I will tell you right now. I don't apostatize.

 

I fully embrace my Savior. I love Him. I worship Him. I fall on my face in front of Him.

 

I do, however, stupidly continue to do things I know are wrong. Not in light and grace and truth.

 

Ugh.

 

How this particular passage of scripture spoke to me (in a non-apostasy and non-biblical scholarly way) is that I do things in my personal life that I know are a slap in the face to God. I KNOW they are a slap in the face, and yet I KNOWINGLY keep doing that junk over and over.

 

I KNOW I shouldn't watch half of the movies or TV shows I watch. Who needs that raunchy “humor” in their head?? Does it glorify God? Heck no!!

 

I KNOW I shouldn't hold grudges and wish bad things on people who I think have wronged me. One of my friends posted an awesome quote on Facebook by Mother Theresa that really convicted me on that particular level:

 

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God; it was never between you and them anyway.

-Mother Teresa's Anyway Poem

 

Wow. It's between me and God. That's all.

 

I could say, "Well, so-and-so does this, so that's why I did it, too."

 

No excuses. It's between me and God.

 

So, simply put, I KNOW that as a Christian, I shouldn't invite certain things into my life. YET I KEEP STINKING DOING IT!! I’M KNOWINGLY SINNING AND STILL DO IT!!!

 

My own personal version of apostasy.

 

Not, by all definitions abandoning my faith and turning my back on God - but isn't that sort of what I'm doing on some level every time I chose wrong over right?

 

I want to change. Lord, I am willing.

 

Those were Monday's thoughts.

 

Today, Kay Arthur's post on Crosswalk.com helped answer my frustrations. How did she know exactly what I am going through?? Her post is titled "Do You Long for the Goodness of Life?"

 

Yowza.

 

Some excerpts that grabbed me:

 

Why have people in general become so narrow-mindedly "me" centered? Why are we so broadly tolerant that whatever others think, we accept it as right? Why is our society made up of so many frustrated, unrestrained individualists who put self before others? (Sidebar from Addie: ME!! I DO THIS!! I'M SO VERY GUILTY OF THIS!!)

 

Why, Beloved?

 

Have you considered it might be because we have lost our sense of the fear of God?

 

Romans 3:11-18 describes what happens when people lose their reverential trust and awesome respect for God. It describes what happens when a generation is raised apart from a biblical knowledge of God. That passage is the self-portrait of a person who does not acknowledge the God of the Bible. It is the epitome of someone who walks according to his or her own understanding - dictated by his or her own desires, making decisions according to personal criteria that ignores God and His Word.

 

You and I desperately need to know what the Lord abhors and what the Lord approves of - and the consequences of not living accordingly.

 

We need to do everything we can, dear one, to instill - first in our own lives, in the lives of our children, our families, our churches, and then in our society - a biblical knowledge of God.

 

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7).

 

There is no better time than now to discipline ourselves anew for the purpose of godliness; to set schedules, to order our days, to stop and think about our future and where we want to be.

 

Wow. Amazing truth in those words.

 

So pretty much, I need to stop and think before I act.

 

Why does this all of a sudden feel like a kindergarten lesson? Maybe because I've been acting like a child and God needed to get my attention.

 

Truth. Grace. Faith.

 

Renewing yourself daily in Christ. 

 

Actually acting like His Beloved. 

 

And believing it.  

 

 

Today I love: Do-overs due to grace and forgiveness.