Things that make me smile #7 (and some things that don't)

It's that time of the week again.   I've been looking forward to the time when my kids were in school today, so I could sit down and write about all the lovely happy thoughts I've been having.  This morning, as I took Gideon to the doctor to get his stitches out, I thought about how I would share that exciting news with you later in the day.  But just as we were leaving, chloe and evelyn collided as they ran down the driveway to the car.  Evelyn did a faceplant and ended up with all kinds of scrapes on her hands and knees.  So I got her home,  finished placing the five bandaids in various places, and set my attentions on rebandaging gideon's thumb (because the doctor did a bad job).  Just as I was finishing with Gideon, chloe came into the room holding her mouse in her hands, and went into a big long story about how she accidentally cut the mouse with some scissors.  Then she opened her hands to show me her  mouse covered in blood.  After much discussion it was decided that the poor little thing should be put out of its misery, so we took it to Chris at work so he could do the Deed.  I'm sure it was pretty funny sight to see chris standing in the parking lot with his three girls all bawling as they hand him a paper bag.  I think I cried as much as chloe. I'm such a sap.  The big question of the moment was, "how is daddy going to kill it?"   We drove away with chloe yelling "bring it back in one piece!

After my very eventful morning (this all happened before 9:30 am), I've come to two conclusions.  1.   between the mouse and Gideon's thumb I've had my fill of blood and gore for the rest of the month -maybe even the year.  and 2.  It's a really good thing I never tried to be an ER nurse.  I never would've made it.

so...now that i've mostly recovered from all that trauma, I'm ready to get my mind off of it by sharing the things that have made me smile this recently:

I'm SMILING about the beautiful weather we've had this week, and all the time we've spent at the beach.  And i'm LOVING all the tidepools and rocks that have been uncovered on the beaches after our recent storms.  We've found so many great seashells and things.  There's so much seaglass all over the place that I've had to buy new  jars to hold our collection.  Plus, after finding a golf ball every time we're there, we've started a new collection.

Over the weekend, I ENJOYED going out to a local Japanese restaurant for chris's birthday.  We got to watch the chef prepare our dinner at our table, complete with some spatula percussion, egg juggling, and a giant fire.  We also had a GREAT TIME on sunday evening celebrating with friends. 

I've LOVED the girlfriend time i've had this week. lots of fun with good friends.

I LAUGH when I look in the refrigerator an see the bright green goo sitting in a tupperware container.  That's what's leftover from our very colorful St. Patrick's Day meal that we had last night which consisted of corned beef, cooked red cabbage, green mashed potatoes, green milk, and a salad.

I've been AMAZED every day when I look at Gideon's thumb and see his skin reattaching itself and growing back together.  I can't think of anything that man has made that could do something so miraculous.   What an amazing God we have!  I'm in such wonder, that gideon has begun to complain.  Every time I look at his thumb, I exclaim, "That's Amazing!!"  and he rolls his eyes and says, "you *always* say that!" :)

I'm CELEBRATING because Gideon got his stitches out today (as you've already heard)!   Our celebratory dinner will be breakfast burritos at Gideon's request.  And while i'm on the subject of getting the stitches out, you might be interested to know that I asked the doctor how often he sees this kind of cut.  His answer:  About 3 times a week (!!!!) often from experienced chefs who say, "i've never cut myself before!"

LOVE the fact that mice can be quickly & easily replaced with a quick trip to petco and a couple bucks.  I'm also GRATEFUL for the fact that my children learned a life lesson on experiencing the loss of a loved one.  Not fun, but a part of life that must be experienced.  --and also the life lesson of being careful with scissors...and pets.

and finally,

I've LOVED pondering what it means to be the apple of God's eye.  Trying to understand what that meant, I looked it up on Wikkipedia.  this is what they said: "The original Hebrew for this idiom was 'iyshown 'ayin (אישון עין), and can be literally translated as "Little Man of the Eye." This is a reference to the tiny reflection of yourself that you can see in other people's pupils."  This made me think about how that little reflection of yourself is only seen when someone is looking at you closely.  I love the idea that God's face is so close to mine that I can see my reflection in His eyes.  Just like lovers gazing into each other's eyes.

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Update: I've just returned from picking the kids up from school where, I'm told, Zachary fell on his face. He's got a nice little scratch on his nose & several band aids to match Evelyn's. And now I must run to help Gideon who, I'm told,  has just stepped in the dog poop he was supposed to be cleaning up.  If next Thursday is anything like today or last week's, I might just start boycotting Thursdays --or maybe I'll just buy stock in Band-aids..