It's a Snowgasm!

The Challenge: Read 12 books of 200 pages or more in 12 months. That's one book per month.

The Time frame: January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011

The Reason: Studies have shown that reading helps keep your mind healthy and active. The mind you save may be your own.

January

Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La! - Robin Jones Gunn

Sisterchicks in Gondolas! - Robin Jones Gunn

Sisterchicks Go Brit! - Robin Jones Gunn

One Tuesday Morning - Karen Kingsbury

Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes! - Robin Jones Gunn

Sisterchicks Down Under! - Robin Jones Gunn

Redemption - Karen Kingsbury

Remember - Karen Kingsbury

Return - Karen Kingsbury

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

What I'm Currently Reading

Rejoice

Karen Kingsbury

Book Count 2011:  9

Holy hannah!  When I say the cars are buried outside, I don't mean some little bits of snow around the tires.  I mean they are buried to the point that we can barely see the roofs of each car!  That's how high the snow is.  Twenty-two inches of snow so far and counting.

C'mon Lord.  Instead of a Superbowl visit by the Bears you send us this?  What ARE you thinking?  I would really LOVE to know.  Sometimes I really wish I were privileged enough to know and understand God's plan, especially when violent weather like this hits us.

All the roads in Illinois are closed, except to emergency vehicles, and even the snowplows aren't going to be getting out until later today or possibly even tomorrow.  This is the worst snowstorm I've ever seen and it's not over yet.  It's supposed to keep coming down today.

So yeah.  Yesterday.  It was an interesting day.

After all that happened with Corri in the morning, I wound up having to cancel my dental appointment and reschedule it for later in the month.  I wasn't happy about that.  But at the same time, it was probably a blessing.  My "free" dental appointments haven't been free.  I got a bill in the mail for $72.  Still, that's a far cry from the couple of hundred it usually costs to visit the dentist.  I can live with $72.  I just don't have the money.

Speaking of, I don't have the money for Shiloh either.  I had to pay half of my car insurance yesterday, and while that left me enough, another trip to Colleen's house to pick up Corri's things dropped me down to a half a tank of gas.  I had to fill it back up again when we got home.

When we brought Corri home yesterday and Al had that talk with her, then left for work, she discovered that someone had gone into her wallet and taken almost everything.  They left her state ID card and a couple of other things, but her credit union ATM card was stolen, her food stamps card was stolen, her library card was taken, social security card, and her birth certificate was stolen.  Colleen's mom found her credit union ATM card, all bent to hell like someone was trying to break it, so now it's no good and she'll have to get another one, but now Corri is going to have to have it replaced, along with everything else that was taken.

We finally found out that Jason had Corri's phone, and Al picked it up from his house on his way home from work last night because Jason was too much of a wuss to face Al directly.  He sent his father to the door to meet Al and hand over the phone.  Apparently Colleen took Corri's phone and left it in the car when she and Jason went out to buy more alcohol while Corri was passed out.

Jason admitted to writing on Corri's face, but the writing on her legs came from Colleen.  Jason, apparently, also wrote on Corri's backside, but we didn't discover that until yesterday afternoon.  Another penis with an arrow and the message "enter here" pointing to her rear end.  Nice, huh?  What an asshole.  And Colleen, I'm sorry to say, is a bitch.  She KNEW that Corri had been through rehab for alcoholism, and she is the one who stole the alcohol from her mother and gave it to Corri.

While I know that it was Corri's choice to take that drink, in a way, I not only don't blame her but I understand it.  To have it waved in her face like that, only two weeks out of rehab, is more than any addict would be able to take.

Corri and I talked a lot in the car on the way home from picking up her things.  She cried a lot, and kept telling me how sorry she was.  I told her she didn't have to apologize anymore.  I knew she was sorry.  I also told her that God uses everything for the good in those who love him, and the good I see coming out of this is twofold.

First, she is now aware of who her friends are NOT.  She wants nothing more to do with Jason OR Colleen.  Anyone who can do the things they did to her are NOT her friends and she realized that.  Better late than never.

Second, she is serious about her sobriety and she told me, and then Al later that night, that she never wants this to happen again.  She is getting right back on the horse and is determined she will not let this happen again.

I told her that I was glad she saw the light about Jason and Colleen, and that if maintaining her sobriety means she needs a WHOLE new set of friends, then that's what she's going to have to do.  Al told her the same thing.  I said that I knew Al and I were old, and maybe not as fun as her young friends, but she has us.  She said, "You're my sister and brother.  I always have fun with you guys."  I thanked her and told her I appreciated that, but that I hoped we would be enough for her until she can make new friends.  She said she thinks we will be.

I hope so.

They warned us at rehab about relapses, and that it was very common, so we shouldn't be surprised.  I wasn't surprised, but I was heartsick over seeing her like that, with the drawings and all, and so was Al.  It hurt us both.  It hurt us more than knowing she took a drink.  We were honest with her about that.

I see the determination in her eyes, so I know she's telling the truth about getting back on the wagon and staying on it, but she is going to have to earn back our trust again.  She knows that too.

Anyway, it happened and it's all in the past now.  All we can do is move forward with her.

This morning, she and I got up around 5:45am and did our meditations and devotions.  It's another sign she wants to stay on track.  Corri is going to do the video and workbook of A Woman After God's Own Heart when I receive it.  She wants to get back into bible study and whatnot because she wants to repair her relationship with God, too.  I'm proud of her for that.

Al's job is closed today, but since he had a scheduled vacation day, they are still going to charge him for vacation time.  I think that sucks.  They might be closed tomorrow, too.  Depends on how fast everyone is able to get dug out of the snow.  All the roads in Illinois are closed, except for emergency traffic.  That's how bad it is here.

It's the perfect day to stay inside, in pajamas, doing not much of anything.

Our devotional today was about telling our grace stories and writing them down to share for posterity.  I share my grace stories easily, at every opportunity, and my diary, I think, shows very clearly not only my falls, but also how God works things for the good, when I have been graced by him.  Having a relationship with God is not easy.  It takes work on our part, just like it takes work to have any other kind of good relationship.  Fortunately for us, our God is patient and kind and loving.  He understands that we don't always understand him or his ways.  We often want him to act immediately, and we have to adjust ourselves to his timing.  But he always comes through and he always works even the worst things, for the good, in those who love him.

I knew a man who tried a new diet about every two months or so.  He would buy the newest diet book and throw himself into the program wholeheartedly.  For a week or so, he would remain faithful, then, when results didn't occur fast enough to suit him, he'd fall awa.  He would curse the diet plans, saying they were no good, completely ignoring his own responsibility to stick to the plan.  A book, a law, or a set o rules won't have any effectiveness unless we remain faithful to it.  The desire to succeed won't come from a book; it needs to come from a deeper source. For us, that source is Jesus Christ.

Today's thought:  Christ is better than any diet book!