The excitement that is my life.

What's going on here? (I mean that in a real-question way, not a snarky way.)

Ben has been sick with a cold, I've been sort of nursing him but trying to stay far away. I hold my breath when I walk through the living room, we use separate bathrooms, and I'm wearing my rubber gloves a lot. I bleach towels, overuse the dishwasher, make a lot of tea. Today I asked what he wanted to make him feel better and he said, "Cookies." So I made Peanut Blossoms, those peanut butter cookies with a Hershey kiss in them.

 Now you want them, don't you? Sorry.

It must have worked because he is outside in the freezing rain as I type, replacing the lower ball joints on my car.

I would say I'm keeping the home fires burning, but in actuality I almost let them go out. By the time I noticed how few coals were left, I stuffed a few pieces of wood in there and it smoldered for almost an hour before it "poofed" into flame.

Also, I've spent three days searching for a suitable article for my last article review paper for this class, and I'm highly unmotivated. But I think I found one today, and formatted my paper. Now if I could just get some words on it.

In other news, Abbey called yesterday from the Goodwill in Lynchburg to tell me (I thought) that she had found two pairs of junky jeans to wear on her upcoming missions trip to do construction work in Louisiana. I thought that was a pretty minor reason for a real-live phone call. I was right.

Then she said, "So . . . (dramatic pause) that piano is still here." That would be the piano she told me about a few weeks ago that was $75 and I was too cheap to buy it for her. But she said, "And it's down to 50 bucks."

*Silence while I'm thinking.*

So we went through all the questions: Does it play? Are any keys broken? (only one—the second from the top—does anybody ever really use that key?) How are you going to get it home?

End of story: She now owns a piano. Man-squared and five of  his friends plus two of Abbey's picked it up and got it in her living room today. She is on cloud nine.

And all of this reminded me of that verse in Matthew that says, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (7:11) It was fun for Ben and me to buy her a piano. Not because she needed it, but just because she wanted it. 

I imagine God sitting up there on his throne, waiting for us to ask so he can give us something—just because it's fun. Just knowing that is a blessing.

Be thankful ~