{Post #860} R-E-L-A-X

We had our "Christmas celebrations" this past week...ALL week.  My two college-aged sons are home for winter break, and my daughter and favorite son-in-law were also with us.  My father-in-law and his wife came up two days ago.  My eldest daughter and I were ill yesterday, but the rest of the family was gone all day to visit with my grandfather-, mother-, and brother-in-laws.  I disliked missing the visit, but would not have been much of a companion. 

I hardly had any energy all day yesterday, but when I woke up feeling some better today, I made a list of long-put-off things to do.  I do mean long-delayed.  I cleaned my bathroom cabinets and drawers, deep cleaned the bathroom, folded 4 baskets of laundry (and put them away!) and decluttered and reorganized a hall closet.  Those are big things in my cleaning life.  I heard cleaning can kill you.  I'm not sure that's true, but I'm taking as few chances as possible!  My house is clean today...sorry you missed it!

Last month when Susie, Rachel, and I went to Florida, Susie and I planned to visit the newborn son of some friends at the hospital.  I have so many good memories with Susie!!  Anywho...we got to the hospital and called the parents.  They asked us to come back in an hour.  We were like, "Um...we're in the parking garage."  On the way to the hospital, about a block before it actually, I spotted a Steinmart store.  I got a gift card for their store about 4 years ago.  I mentioned to Susie that I had the ancient gift card and had never seen a Steinmart before.  I didn't know the balance on the card.  Would it--could it--be in my purse right that very second?  YES!!  I called the gift card balance number and found out we had $50 to spend.  One thing many of you might not know about me is that I.  hate.  to.  shop.  Especially for little-needed items.  I detest window shopping.  But we had an hour to kill, right?  We headed back and found ourselves trying to find $50 worth of stuff to buy.  I would have been happy to spend it all on Susie if she found something she liked.  You would think this would be an easy task, but no.

We started wandering around.  She tried on some absolutely goofy looking dress hats.  Then we split up because we weren't finding anything worth blowing the wad on.  My mechanic has one of these "Relax" signs at their service counter.  I have always admired it.  When I saw one of these at the Steinmart store, I knew that would be my first purchase.  One of my kids saw it in my room later, on my treadle sewing machine table and asked sarcastically if that was my new motto.  "No", I said, "Just a necessary reminder."  It is so hard for me to relax and enjoy...well, ANYthing!!  Seriously!

When I was cleaning out our hall closet (you might have been wondering why that came up earlier?), I found the nativity night light.  Isn't that where you store yours...behind the bathroom cleaning caddy?  I appreciate the reminder that I can "relax" because Jesus came to pay for my sins.  I have a home in heaven when I die...do you?  Everything does not depend on me.

Last night three of my children were shopping at a mall.  Within just a few feet of them there was a shooting.  A woman pulled a gun out of her purse and shot a man who was evidently abusing or trying to kidnap a small child.  The man was shot three times.  My daughter ended up being locked in a store adjacent to the hallway with the shooter, victim, etc.  A few moments later, several shoplifting attempts were thwarted nearby.  They are guessing that the thieves were taking advantage of the confusion because of the shooting.  We live in unsettling times.  A security guard knocked a thief attempting to flee into the storefront window a few feet away from my locked-in daughter.  When I heard about it over the phone but didn't have the details yet (remember, I was lying about at home), I was so glad God's grace was sufficient for me.  He was protecting my children, I was not.  Thank God they were unharmed.  

Here's hoping you can relax and enjoy the moments that make this very special holiday special indeed.  

God bless us, every one.

~Joan