Chaos Theory

Those scientists who developed the theory of evolution apparently never lived at my house.  How could they possibly believe that disorder, left to itself, can somehow turn into order?  I have proof that it takes organization and supervision to begin to keep even a small house in order.  Maybe the scientists didn't have any children, spouses, or pets...or food...or clothes...or appliances...or water heaters (ours seems to be not completely fixed yet)...but I digress.  Any given day, my house looks either like we have a lot of stuff piled around, or like we have a lot of stuff strewn around.  On a good day, the stuff is basically where it is supposed to be (in my mind, at least).  On a bad day, well...you don't want to know.  My point is, if the house is left to itself, and nobody cleans it up, it gets more and more disorganized, and things start to break.  This disintegration of order begins almost immediately. I have never left my house to itself for any amount of time and found it to be in better shape.  (It stays about the same when we go on vacation, but we usually have to clean out the refrigerator and the hamster cage when we get back).  Trying to imagine that a bunch of sludge somehow organized itself into a cell, which then organized itself into a reproducible organism, which then evolved into complex life forms, ending in the "highly evolved" human takes a bit more faith than believing that there is an intelligent creator who organized and is supervising the world.  We all agree that human beings have some part in the eventual destruction of the earth.  I believe that this started when Adam and Eve ate the fruit that was forbidden by God, following Satan, and brought sin and death into the world.  At that point, the world started its journey from perfection to chaos.  The good news is that we can skip ahead in the book to where there is a new heaven and a new earth.We will have new, indestructible bodies and a new house, and we will get to meet our loving God face to face.  I wonder if we will still have water heaters?

Musings

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Romans 8:18

It's funny how things can be brought into perspective.  When you are in the midst of a crisis, big or little, it is all you can see for that time.  But God is good to bring things into your life to widen your vision.  As crazy as Thursday was, and as frustrating as things can get when they don't go right, there is always someone having a worse time than you are.  Yesterday, I found out that my childhood neighbor has died of a massive heart attack, and also that a dear friend has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  This has reminded me how short this life is, and especially that we never really know how much time we have left.  I do believe that all of us who follow Jesus Christ are destined for a greater life, but we shouldn't rest on that fact and ride out the time remaining to us on this earth.  Of course, we all have basic things that have to be done each day, but we need to be conscious of how we are doing those things, and also what we are doing with the time we have free from required tasks.  I need to remember that people are more important than any things (even the 2-foot deep pile of toys in my living room).  When all is said and done, the only thing we can take to Heaven with us is other people, and I believe we should try to take as many as possible.  They will only come with us if we have a relationship with them, and we need to make each relationship the very best it can be.  Jesus said that anyone who had seen him had seen the Father.  Now, in the same way, we are to show Jesus to the world.  They need to be able to see Him through us.  Everything we do should be done with a loving attitude.

I guess this post is a bit heavy, but I needed to hear this.  I pray that I will be able to follow it as I go through the day today and interact with my family and friends.  It sometimes seems that I give my best self to strangers, and treat my family to the stressed-out, short-tempered side of me.  Give your loved ones a hug, and I'll do the same!

Best Laid Plans

Who said "The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go awry"?  Well, I can't tell you about mice, but Teddy the hamster and I can sure tell you about ice cream...okay, maybe it wasn't the best laid plan.  It seemed like a good idea, though, at the time.  If you read my post, yesterday, you will know that because of all of the beautiful snow, I decided it was a good time to make ice cream.  Well, the funny thing about ice cream is that when you put it in an ice cream freezer it's actually supposed to freeze.  The instructions say if you're using the electric motor, that should happen in 20 to 40 minutes.  Well, son Rory and I started out hand-cranking it, but of course we got a bit tired, so decided to use the motor.  Now, one thing you have to know about me, is I am not a "fix-it-and-forget-it" kind of girl.  (Hence, my crock-pot ineptitude, but that's another story).  So, since the ice cream is completely hidden (gasp!) in a metal container, packed in slush, you have to take the top off to see if it is freezing.  Right?  Well, we started the ice cream freezer mid-afternoon.  Somehow, by midnight, the ice cream was no more icy than when we started.  I do not know how this happened, but I do know that Teddy the hamster was quite upset about the noise by this time, and was scratching at his cage as if to say "MAKE IT STOP!!!"  So, at 1:00 A.M., I finally went to bed, after having poured the ice cream down the drain because it mysteriously got little gray dirt specks in it, dumping out the bucket (boy, it was cold out last night!), washing the ice cream freezer parts, and wiping up the water off the floor.  I put the soggy towels in the washer to soak with the white couch cover which now has spaghetti sauce on it, because my sweet daughter got away from the supper table and went to see Daddy before I realized it, because I was preoccupied with the ice cream which we'll never get to eat..................(breathe, breathe,..)  Okay.  The good news is that I was able to accomplish all of this cleaning-up with hot water from the tap! Oh, joy!  While I was obsessing over the ice cream, dear hubby fixed the hot water heater!  Yay!  Just to let you know, I am not defeated.  I will prevail.  There will be ice cream one day.  The weather forecast is for c o l d  for the next few days, so the snow will be around for a while, and, hey, we have a half-acre of it to work with!  Daa, da da dum, dum, Daaaah!

Starting Out

Hello, this is my very first post.  Today was a snow day, so I decided to start a blog.  My husband, Mike, actually called in to work for the first time in 22 years, and is now snuggle-sleeping in the chair with my 20-month old daughter (cute!)  Rory is busy watching Anastasia on TV, something he is usually not allowed to do on school days.  But, hey, it's a snow day, right?  They both just got finished shoveling the driveway.  Mike had to shovel so that he could get to the hardware store to buy new elements for the hot water heater.  It is officially not working, so I have spent the day boiling water on the stove so that we could wash dishes, hands, etc.  I also made some bread, and we're getting ready to make ice cream in our hand-crank ice cream maker (fun!)  Rory is ready - we haven't done it for over a year, but with all this snow to use, who could resist?  We also have leftover candy canes from Christmas to add to the ice cream - yum!