Help! (Lennon/McCartney)

Well, yesterday ended the week rather strangely, for the first time after weeks/months of talking about "how bad things are" Rob can home without his weekly check. Ouch. Thankfully I had a check arrive this week so we're ok for the week but unsure of how to proceed from there. We have some money set aside for our roof project that is slated for next weekend and I really don't want to have to use it for bills because the roof really needs to be redone, it leaks in multiple places. They are hoping some payments that are due come in early next week and Rob will get paid but for this week his boss gave him $100 to 'get by' on. So if my friends could join me in standing on two scriptures I'd be grateful. They are:

"Make a roof for it and finish..." (Gen. 6:16)

and "...he puts the deep into storehouses." (Psalm 33:7b)

It is at times like these we reach a new level of aparigraha (nonpossessiveness and nonhording). Trying to hold on the the past and the job and what little money may be available will do nothing but be the cause of stress. Letting go, as utterly terrifying as it may feel, allows us to walk through the next door to a new venture or realize what is right outside our window to help us remedy a situation. I say powers that be -- make it so.

Since roof stuff was put on hold Rob spent the morning playing Museum Caper with the boys while I went into Lapeer to grocery shop. And I got TWO walks in. The theme: gone to the dogs! I coerced my friend Lynne, who is trying to develop better fitness habits now that she is laid off, to come out for a stroll with her dogs Johnny and Edgar, the beautiful sheperds at the top of the photo. Her other two older labs stayed home. We took the path along DeMille from Appleby's toward the education complex, finding along the way the work of some Christian vandals who wrote '777' and 'Jesus is god' on the door of the utility building. Doesn't that make you proud.

Got home after shopping and made some sloppy joes and brats (gotta use up some buns Sarah gave me), french fries and some awesome fresh green beans. Then the boys got the tires on their bikes filled, seats adjusted and we all headed out down Kings Mill toward Jefferson. The boys on bikes and Rob and I on foot; even Jake came along in his glory. Alex was working a 3-8 shift at BK. A neighbor down the street got "flocked" by Crosswalk Youth Ministries which cracked me up. I saw a house in town that got "mopped" by them too! What a cute way to raise funds and awareness. On Jefferson we passed my next door neighbor cruising home on his tractor with his mother Marion close behind with a load of hay. This woman amazes me, she must be pushing 80 and she's still out there driving equipment, milking cows, and every other type of farm duty you can image. I can only hope to have so much spunk at that age.

Mother came home from the hospital a day early but things seem to be under control. My brother is staying with her for the weekend. Thursday she started having a major itch attack so they gave her some medication to combat it and help her sleep. When she awoke hours later a young man was sitting at the foot of her bed. "Who are you?" she inquired. "I'm a sitter, I'm here to watch over you." he replied. Apparently in her drug induced sleep she got her knitting scissors and cut her self free from her IV pole and was wandering around the floor. When a nurse asked "Where are you going?" My mother answered "I don't know." There were also some conversations with cats that the nurses didn't think to be a good sign. Hence they brought in a medical student to sit by so she didn't hurt herself. Friday after she was more lucid she annouced she wanted to go home, she was done with treatment. Doctor complied and she was discharged about 4:30pm. Bless her neighbor Carol for coming to pick her up, also Jackie for taking care of Grady the cat, the young man who sat for her and all the staff on the 8th Floor at Karmanos.