Friday - The week ends, the holiday begins, summer's gone

Nope, huh uh, no way - I refuse to believe that it's Labor Day weekend already! I mean, really. How can that be? School just got out yesterday, I'm sure it was just yesterday! My grandma always used to say how the passage of time speeds up as you grow more mature (notice, I didn't say "older"). Now, at the tender age of 66, I know exactly what she meant.

Today was busy. We ran a bunch more town errands, and the phone literally rang off the hook - some serious potential CraigsList buyers, others were just "Lookie-Lou's." My poor brother, who has difficulty with speech (particularly on the phone), just hung in there and struggled through talking with all the callers. Only a couple of times did he ask for my sis or I to take the phone and do the talking. It's SO HARD to watch him struggle to come up with even the simplest of words to make a complete sentence. Although, sometimes he does really well, too.

We even got an email from a guy somewhere in Africa, or some such place, who wanted to send a cashier's check - Blah, blah, blah! Uh huh, sure. Another guy wanted my brother's bank account and routing numbers "so he could deposit a check" to his account for one of the cars listed for sale. Yeah right! They came out of the woodwork! Anyway, to make a long story short, we sold two cars today - one to the guy in Florida, of all things. He bought it sight-unseen from a few photos posted on CraigList and some additional ones we emailed. He wanted pictures of the under-carriage of the car, of all things. I was NOT going to let my ailing brother crawl under a car in this heat, so I just held my camera under the car in several places and pressed the button. Fortunately, my attempts met whatever weird expectation he had, and (after a dozen emails back and forth) he sent payment today via overnight mail to seal the deal.

The guy is having the car shipped to Florida. This whole thing was somewhat of a surprise, since the selling price of the car was hardly more than the cost to ship it to Florida. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. He guy said this car is one he's looked and looked to find. Kinda weird, but oh well... He's tickled and my brother is happy to have the car sold.

We're having a big family get-together tomorrow at my brother's. My neice & nephew are coming (with kids & spouses, etc.). My mom is making a "vat" of her famous potato salad (at my neice's request) and we're having other picnic-type stuff to go with it. We're looking forward to a great day together, in spite of promised triple-digit heat (without A/C).

I've been thinking for the past couple of days - dangerous, I know. Tuesday was my first-born daughter's birthday. Talk about time flying by. She's nearly twice the age I was when she was born, and truly, in many ways it seems like only yesterday. I still remember EVERY detail of her birth and the way I felt when I first looked into that little face when they plopped her up on my chest. I have to believe that the deep love we feel for our loved ones helps us to understand how much God loves us and wants the best for us. I loved that baby girl before she was born, just the way God must love us. At the Beth Moore meetings a few weeks back she kept saying, "God is crazy mad ABOUT you." I'm completely convinced that the love we have for our kids, family and friends is there to help us understand God's love for us - even when things are in an awful mess and we're tempted to wonder where God has gone, it's there. What a comfort that is!

I love you all - thanks for being there!

XOXO

MY TEXT FOR TODAY: Psalm 139:13-18
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body, and knit them together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous--and how well I know it.

"You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion! You saw me before I was born and you scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!

"How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can't even count how many times a day your thoughts turn towards me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!"