Tag: surprise

Talk about mysterious…

All I will say for now is that today started out very differently than how it turned out. Note this exchange between a friend of mine from college and me from just after midday today (though, morning still for the friend).

J: How are things with trying to find work?
H: Iffy
H: I had a clear message from God to do other things while waiting for a reply for this one particular job interview. But it has been a few weeks now with no follow-up after the second interview.
J: Ahhh that’s hard to wait through. His timing can certainly be mysterious.
H: Yes!!

Fast forward to 18:45, and I sent that same friend the following message:

H: What did you start this morning?????

Suffice it to say for now that my prayers and understanding of God’s guidance proved true, and to an extreme. He kept telling me that I would understand and know how to proceed once they reached out to me, meaning the school where I had applied for the IT position. He didn’t say anything about whether I’d get the job or even that their reaching out had to do with that job – just that I would understand after talking with them when they reached out. And I had started getting antsy just the past two days, like it was getting close, whatever it was…

And, boy… what an unexpected conversation – two conversations – I had with them this evening when they reached out. God led me truly and clearly, that’s for sure. I have at least one more conversation to have tomorrow morning, but this much of a turn of events was certainly unexpected, though not unbelievable. God truly works in mysterious ways and with mysterious timing. To put it simply, though vaguely, God has just offered me almost exactly what I asked to have several years ago, but that I likely wouldn’t have been able to manage and handle at the time I first wished for it. Now that I say that, I’m not sure I ever prayed and asked for it directly, though I certainly wished it were possible and could and would happen. Man… what a wow-filled evening…

Thank you, God. Help me to act according to your will and to see clearly, especially tomorrow. Help me also to speak clearly and to have the words that make the best difference, tomorrow and always. Thank you for this blessing of an offer. Please, heal all those in need of healing, and help them to feel your love clearly. Thank you. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Sorting it out

We love each other. God, do we love each other.

But we are still struggling to figure out how to let go of all the insecurities and junk that doesn’t serve us, in order to accept the love each of us has for the other.

And that part has proven surprisingly difficult and incredibly annoying.

‘Why do we have to piss each other off so much?’

‘Because we’re so hard-headed.’

‘And defensive.’

‘What? Me? Speak for yourself!’

😂😂

I’m just glad we can see it all. It isn’t easy to work through all of this, but it would be loads harder and nearly impossible doing it blindly.

Thank you, God, for this love and this relationship. Help us always to become better with each other through your love. Help us to let go of that which does not serve our highest selves and you, as you intended it to be in our lives. Thank you for this life. Help all to experience and notice your love. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Home

Well, we are home now, and showered and going to bed. We are slightly sunburned and the man has something like a low-grade end-of-digestion stomach bug, and we are definitely exhausted and longing for a day of rest tomorrow. However, the weekend went quite well, we both enjoyed it, and I’m both grateful and glad that it all went how it did.

A fun moment:

We all do a silent auction for our family reunion now. So, my man and I always consider what we might bring to donate for it, though without having to purchase something new. This time, we had some extra handmade Mexican mugs from our previous trip together to Mexico. We had just last week (on his most recent trip there) purchased other mugs that we both really like, and so the previous unused, simpler ones were fully ready to find a new home.

So, we donate the mugs. After my mom arrives at the reunion, she mentions how the only things that particularly interest her in the auction are something-I-forgot and the mugs that we had brought. It made us both laugh. ‘No, Mom. Don’t buy the mugs that we brought, which have been sitting at our house, unused for the past six months.’ 😛

She didn’t.

But one of my second cousins did (that means the child of my mom’s cousin). He bid the full value we listed – because these mugs truly would have been for sale for $10 a piece here in Texas – of $40. My man thought the girlfriend must have said she wanted them, yet we found out that the second cousin actually truly wanted them for himself and he wanted to make sure he won them. So, he out the value down as the first bid, and he won the things.

However, his girlfriend also really liked the mugs, and, as he was putting it, he was pretty sure he would be having to split them with her. But there were two of each color, so that wouldn’t be too hard to manage fairly.

But get this: The whole reason we even ended up talking with him about it was because he was standing outside with his cousins actively drinking out of one of the mugs!(!!!) He wasn’t joking when he’d said he really liked the mugs. He started using them right away and was so happy about it. I even photographed the moment, it was just so adorable and hilarious.

I’m so glad they have found such a happy home that loves and values them so much now! It just goes to show that, just because we may not love something, doesn’t mean it isn’t awesome and lovable in someone else’s eyes. Put differently, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. No, they weren’t trash at all for us, but we definitely didn’t love them the way my second cousin loves them. Now, they will be loved appropriately, and I am so grateful.

Thank you, God, for the successful and safe weekend. Please, heal us both in all ways, that we grow closer to you and to each other. Thank you for my family. In your name, I pray, Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Blowing the surprise

I was so extremely careful with every photo I sent and with everything I wrote here, and then I got distracted and wanted to capture a video of my uncle starting up his boat, and rushed to do it, then sent it to my mom and my man without thinking about proofing the photo first.

And that blew it. I almost immediately had a phone call. “Where did you get those plants?” Plants? What plants did he mean? I checked the photo I’d last sent him twenty minutes prior. Those are only the trees in pots that I moved around a bit – not new plants. I think that must be it. And then I realize that I had just sent a photo to him and my mom, not just to him… and I definitely didn’t proof it before sending it.

Sure enough, right there in the center bottom of the photo is visible a whole corner of the new garden beds and their flower and shrubs. I worked so many hours on that thing, and I was so careful to keep it a surprise for my man when he got back this Friday… for two weeks, I have kept this secret from him successfully, despite a few close calls. But man… I blew it this morning, and now he knows about the brand new flower beds, which are gorgeous, by the way. I hauled almost a thousand pounds of bricks… twice… to make the border of the beds. Add to that the weed burning and pulling and digging-up, as well as the shoveling out of all the pebbles, and then the tilling of the soil and removal of random brick pieces buried all throughout the area, flattening of the border area, laying of pebbles, tamping the pebbles flat, and then placing and leveling the border bricks. It was a lot. And it was outside in the heat, all in my own.

And, before all that, I’d gone to talk with experts and to look at plants, researched a bunch online, and, later, even brought a soil sample to an expert to confirm that my planned plants could survive in the soil. I was keeping it on a tight budget, so far as putting in garden beds goes. And I’d arranged to get a bunch of free mint (three types) and oregano from my brother, who has a huge garden.

The only consolation I truly have is that he hasn’t seen the whole area, all together. It really is impressive all together, even compared to seeing just a portion of it. So, I hope he truly will enjoy that and be surprised by it. I know he’ll love it all, whether he’s surprised or not, and that’s truly the point – that he enjoy something I did for him to enjoy. So, we still have that, even if the element of the big surprise has been lost.

I did tell him how I worked so hard to keep it all secret and just to do it all period, and asked him still to be surprised when he got home. He readily agreed, and, when I reiterated later in the conversation, he replied, ‘About what?’, which was lovely of him to do.

Thank you, God, for this absolutely amazing man and for allowing us to choose each other. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please, help my flowers and plants to thrive and to keep our yard beautiful. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Getting back into it

I dropped off the cousin with another fourth cousin (this one twice removed!) today at midday, and have been working on getting back into it all since then. I got some studies done (though very little), picked up some, rested some, and ran some errands (specifically buying some hooks for the chickens’ fence to connect and disconnect easily to our yard’s fence and a wheelbarrow – woohoo!).

Then, I picked up my aunt and uncle at the airport as they returned from El Salvador. Unfortunately, they never looked outside to the pickup area, so they had no idea they would have to spend several minutes fighting their way out to me once I finally made it through the terrible traffic trying to pick up those hoards of people waiting in the heat, all caused by terrible construction at that terminal of the airport – construction that has been going on for over a year, at least, and is only getting worse. Nonetheless, they made it out just in time for me not to have to spend another half hour barely moving after circling the airport.

There were hundreds of people crammed into nowhere near enough space for them, let alone for their luggage, too. It was dreadful, and even freaked me out a bit. It was at least 200 meters long, the pickup area, plus the walkway to get there, and that was all packed just like in these photos, even more packed on the walkways and ramps at the start. It was frightening. What was more frightening was that the airport folks didn’t seem to be bothered by it one bit, as though it weren’t a major problem. Why was I not going to pull away when I was clearly parked at the end, the officer is asking (though kindly)? Because my family is over there, but they are trapped in the crowd and can’t get out. (I wasn’t even lying, y’all.) Fortunately, the officer then asked what they were wearing. I had no idea, though. Just as I said so, they suddenly popped into view in the roadway a few cars back, shoving their way forward by hugging to the vehicles that clearly weren’t moving very quickly or at all. As soon as they got to the car, they threw in their luggage and told me to get in and drive. I obliged. They were worried I wouldn’t be able to get out, due to the cars all trying to cram out. I’m no India driver, but I am a good Houston driver. Just as I had snuck my way in to be able to pick them up at the curb, I forced my way out, back into the third lane, the one with moving traffic, and got us out of there quite quickly. (They were impressed, and specifically commented on how they’d forgotten that I was a Houston driver and could do stuff like that. 😛 )

Anyway, they’re here and they’ve showered and gone to bed. Now, I’ve showered, and I’m going to bed, too.

Goodnight!

Thank you, God, for the safe travels today. Please, make us all well and healthy, and heal where we could use healing to help us become our best selves. Keep my man safe, please, as well as the dog and all of his stuff and our stuff. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Fireworks

I didn’t see any fireworks for July Fourth, though I heard plenty from my bed.

It would have been such hassle even to consider how to go see fireworks, I didn’t even bother looking into it, and I just went to bed that night when I was ready.

Tonight, without having to go anywhere or figure out anything, we got to watch great fireworks to music from the 1980s after the baseball game ended. We didn’t even have to leave our seats, and they had a perfect and central view of the fireworks. It was awesome, and way better of a view than I’d have had for anything on the Fourth, anyway. Plus, it was hassle-free and after a baseball game we enjoyed attending. Great surprise at the end there. Great surprise.

Thank you, God, for the blessing of today, and for that fun turnout with my getting to see fireworks after all. Thank you. Keep my man safe, please. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Guidance

Thank you, God, for the guidance I received for today. Please, help me to understand my guidance for tomorrow, too. In your name, I pray. Amen.

I woke up just after 4:30 this morning, used the bathroom quickly, and got back into bed, sleepy. But I couldn’t fall back asleep. By 5:30, I had determined to get on up. Shortly after that, I did a full workout, finishing around 6:30, and cooking and eating a bigger-than-usual breakfast around seven. And the day only went on well from there. Even the rainstorm felt beautiful today, somehow, despite the veritable pond that has developed in our backyard where the chickens are supposed to have free roaming.

Anyway, I got bitten horribly by mosquitos when I went outside this evening, but it was still a good day.

I even really started missing my man, in a way I really haven’t since woke first nights of knowing each other… but it was still a good day.

And now, I will go to bed and likely sleep very hard tonight, still missing him.

Thank you, God, for all this beauty and love in my life. We love you. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Happy Fourth of July!

Granted, when The Colonies signed their Declaration of Independence on July 4th of 1776, Texas was still a part of Mexico, which was still owned by Spain. But they did declare the country which Texas eventually joined, so, I guess it makes sense that fifty million fireworks keep going off all around the neighborhood and city tonight. 😛 (Kind of silly to think of it that way, right??) 😛

Nonetheless, I am grateful Texas became part of the nation back when it did and as it did. And I am grateful for the privileges and the rights which this country has offered me in my life. I pray that certain ones that have begun to become lost to us – to us all or to just some of us – be restored in the very near future. We have become a great nation in the past, and I pray we do it again, and even more so.

In gratitude, as I also do for Memorial Day, I did an extremely difficult workout today that is dedicated to a person who served in the U.S. military and have his life for the freedoms he supported in this country. His name was Zachary Tellier, and I am grateful for his service, for his sacrifice, and for the reminder that, though this workout would have been rather easy for him, it was very hard for me – my own difficulty today came from my not joining the military and training and serving as he did; his ease would come from the fact that he chose to serve this country through military service. Thank you, sir. And thank you to all who serve this country so openly.

Dear God, heal us all, please, and help us to create a nation that truly honors you and your children and all creation, as one nation under God. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Dentist says…

I’m all clear. The black spots are just charcoal toothpaste that got into crevices that aren’t dangerous and that they will clear out at my next cleaning, if even needed at that point. Not black mold. The sore tooth is just sensitivity likely exacerbated by that same charcoal toothpaste. Just have to be liberal with sensory r toothpaste for two weeks, and it should be fine again.

Easy peasy, yet still a bit stressful until it is all handled versus just diagnosed. You know what I mean?

Thank you, God, for the easier and safer solutions today! Amen!

Post-a-day 2023

A great day

Today, I did outdoorsy stuff and spent time with people I love and who love me. I had a great lunch with my dad, a great workout with a friend over FaceTime (and her little sister who was doing a lot of the stuff with us, on and off, which was adorable, including her counting aloud when she was on a way different count than either of us had been at the time :P)), and then I had a great evening playing pickle ball with friends for my friend’s birthday – none of us had ever played before today, and there is definitely an adjustment to be made from tennis – and then having dinner with them afterward. I got home tonight close to 9pm, absolutely exhausted and sun exhausted.

I could barely stay up half an hour to talk with my man before I went to bed. And my skin is only slightly burned, but I definitely spent some time in the sun today, and I can feel it throughout my skin and body.

Dear God, thank you for such love and fun and satisfaction today. Thank you, loads. Please, help us all to sleep very well and effectively tonight, that we awaken tomorrow ready for Church and your word, as well as pursuing and fulfilling your will and our daily goals! In your name, I pray. Amen!

And goodnight!

Post-a-day 2023

P.S. Happy July! Welcome!