Full disclosure

As this blog is about a hope (the need for it and source of it) I aim to fill you in on all aspects of our story, good and bad.  Sometimes it may not be obvious, when I'm reporting on trials or bad news, that through out it all there is so much joy to be found. 

I've been thinking a lot about the analogy I posted in Kay Warren's devotional last week:

We tend to think that life comes in hills and valleys. In reality, it’s much more like train tracks.  Every day of your life, wonderful, good things happen that bring pleasure and contentment and beauty to you. At the exact same time, painful things happen to you or those you love that disappoint you, hurt you, and fill you with sorrow. These two tracks — both joy and sorrow — run parallel to each other every single moment of your life.

I get so much joy from little things, odd moments that keep all the negativity in perspective.

Yesterday the kids had some friends over to play in the morning, and I love to watch them interacting, showing their unique personalities and quirks!  Check out some of the things I captured:

Emma and Joey went off-roading...

 Joey had a lot of trust in Emma!

Toby did a pretty good job of pulling the wagon, but he leaped out when Emma tried to pull it with him in!

Emma and Joey took a more leisurely drive in  the Corvette..

  

At one point Joey had got out of the car and Emma said "Joey's in the store, and I'm waiting in the car."

On Friday, Toby and I went shopping and I got a big kick out of his "grumpy old man" body language...

Running parallel to this is the truth that I side-swiped another car in a parking lot on Monday.  It was at the supermarket and I tried to pull in too close - consciously, because I am usually so nervous I keep excessively far away.  I'm going back to that, needless to say!

The people whose car it was were really understanding and we dealt with the situation amicably and fairly quickly.

The good news is we have accident-forgiveness and due to some of the other policy quirks, we may not have to pay out a dime, and our premiums won't go up!  I couldn't be happier about that because I felt so bad that we would have to pay out of our savings (a.k.a. the truck fund!) to repair the two cars.  Scott has been so gracious, not teasing me or laying any guilt trips on me.

Another plus is that the indicator lamp on that side had been working on and off - suggesting a loose connection, not a defunct bulb.  Now it's consistently working!  ;-)

Oh, and Scott saw a guy he used to hang around with back in his wild, misspent youth.  That's a good thing because Scott really wants to help those guys who aren't in jail or haven't died of an overdose, that there is a hope and greater purpose for their life.  

One things for sure, life is never dull around here!