Day 296 An Inch at a Time Adds Up to a Mile

Dear friends,

Wondering, wondering, when Hercules will be done with therapy. As long as he's still improving it's worth it. Even though the progress is tiny. Incremental. Requiring patience.

I'm thinking all of you have something like that in your life. Some problem or puzzlement that improves very slowly, and may even slide into the negative column off and on. I have many of those kinds of operations going on in my internal life. Places where God is saying "change", and I maybe go an inch or two, then progress stops for a while. But it's over time that barriers are crossed, and obstacles finally laid low. Looking at Stephen's arm in the light of November 8th, your eyes would cross with the levels he's reached. We can miss the gains in the day to day. Got to take the long view. Sometimes very long.

For some reason I have one of those headaches I get from time to time this evening, so this post will be a little shorter. The response box for the Dessert Nite is growing. Yeah! The more, the merrier. Remember if you get the blog via subscription, the response email is www.smittythanks@gmail.com. The Perfect Blend in Delmar will be catering the affair. If you go on their website you'll see all the double yum goodies they have. Come have some cake with us! We are so grateful for your prayers and help, your donations and meals, and to our first responders and docs and nurses, for your gifts of life saving and life keeping. Of course the Great One gets the biggest hand of all, but He'll save His cake for that fabulous banquet of the redeemed that's coming sooner than it was yesterday. He'll be there with us, though, on October 23, as He has been through this entire wild trek through unknown territory...

So it's a nite for simple bullet points. Here goes:

Weather Outside: Hot. Love it. No complaints. I'll save em' for January.

Food for Thought: Chicken on the grill with new Chipotle Pepper marinade from Aldi's. (What would I do without that store? Keeps the budget in tact and it's right down the street.) Nonna and Heather at the table with us tonite too. There's nothing like friends for dinner. Or lunch. Or breakfast. Or a snack...(Tea and scones, MBJ, indeed!)

Children: High school schedules now straightened out thanks to the phenomenal Columbia guidance counselor, Sharon D. Hannah will be tutoring Spanish this year for $. I won't brag about her too much, but what about that? What about a girl seriously injured in a car accident, head injury no less, and gets her mojo back in 10 months? No question, there's more to come, but really, couldn't you just shout a Hallelujah! David wants to play the violin. We are contemplating whether this desire would last past a second lesson.

What I'm awash in: Maple tree seeds, Hickory nuts from the Hickory tree, mini crab apples, and unorganized school supplies.

Music in my head: Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee.... (That old hymn is oozing with truth and sound doctrine!)

Books I'm reading: Still working through Chesterton's "The Everlasting Man". Also reading the Father Brown Mysteries and digging about in articles by Richard Foster on living in simplicity. Psalm 139.

The ponderings: Can it be September already? The troubles in the life of our friend Sarge. My nephew in Afghanistan. The children in Haiti (I'm fixin' to get there, friends). Whether or not to buy a gas weed wacker. (The electric one doesn't reach all the weeds). How much blood, sweat and tears it may take to get David John to write a paragraph come Tuesday (first day of school...)

Go take your little steps and I'll take mine. I'm glad we're moving in the right direction - together!

Love you all dearly, but I need to find some Advil. As Scarlet O'Hara would say, "tomorrow is another day".

Your friend on the pilgrim road,

Loriann