Storm Watcher

Well.....this is a familiar feeling. Sitting in the living room with a storm raging outside waiting for calmer weather on the flip side. Last year it was hurricane Irene....and then Winter storm Alfred....this year it's hurricane Sandy. No power outage so far.....thank you Lord! Although the candles are out and ready and I even dug out the infamous "Ho Phone" which you can read about HERE if you missed that story. Today didn't start out all that great.......but that will be for another post.....a more somber post.

For this entry though I was actually enjoying the weather today. That sounds odd I know....who could enjoy a hurricane? Well....truthfully...not being in the direct path of danger helps. However, there's an excitement that is inherent with being close to danger.....that moth to flame syndrome. The high flying Peter Pan always seeking the next adventure. I know not everyone feels that way....my mother for one definitely does NOT feel that way. LOL My brother's and I all seem to have inherited that danger gene however, so I'm sure we've contributed to her gray hairs over the years. My older brother has of course settled down with a family of his own now so I think his danger years are probably past him. For my younger brother and myself however..... well....let's just say mom still prays a lot. LOL. There's something thrilling and invigorating about staring danger in the face and not backing down. Maybe it's the lineage.....but I would much rather be standing near the seashore smelling the air being swirled from thousands of miles away and feeling the sting of the salt water on my face than sitting safely in my living room.

 My whole life I've been like that though.....as a little girl I remember playing with my dolls all the time.....however unlike most girls who were content dressing them up and playing tea parties....my Barbie dolls were spies climbing down knotted rope ladders from the balcony of their Dream House  on cold war espionage excursions. My Barbies didn't drive a pink convertible.....that would have been too conspicuous....they drove a jeep bronco. Perfect for all terrain escapes and plenty of room in the back to pack enough evening gowns and shoes for every situation. Love interest? Sure I had a Ken doll...but he wasn't cool enough for my Barbies.....no....that role was reserved for my Indiana Jones doll! Perfect for spying since he was not only buff....but he came with his own gun and holster!

Ok so enough about cloak and dagger Barbie and foolish adventures into violent windstorms. What's the point of this post? Ehhh....there is none....just enjoy the moment you're in.....maybe find a little adventure along the way.

On a separate, yet related side note.....I want to thank Lori Byerly from The Generous Wife Blog for the honor of winning her Thanksgiving and Gratitude contest. The prize was a copy of  "Fierce Women: The Power of a Soft Warrior" by Kimberly Wagner. I look forward to reading it! Thanks Lori! Please take a moment to visit her blog. It's always a good read and so I wholeheartedly recommend her to everyone.
 

From Darkness To The Light

So it’s now been 5 days of no power, no heat, no internet. The silence has been unbelievable. I must admit though….after the first two nights, it was kind of nice. It brought me, and Ben and friends back into a world that has been mostly forgotten in our technologically obese society. The world of relationships with each other has long been ignored because nowadays we are so busy texting, face-booking, and other such stuff. How many times have a friend and I laughed because we are sitting next to each other talking to each other not in person, but via text or the internet.  This week instead of disappearing into the internet or other devices, I talked…in person, played games…..without the aid of a mouse touchpad, read books…..with paper pages, went to public  places just to sit for a few hours and struck up conversations with complete strangers….just because I felt like it…..and more importantly, I re-discovered gratefulness in things long taken for granted.

 As I was writing this the power came back on....ironic....but interesting. The lights are on again, although not as many as usual...the darkness doesn't really bother us this time. The house is now getting really warm again and the faucet is now sending out hot water again. All signs we're back to civilization....but I think I'm going to take a few things out of this. 1) I think I'm going to turn off the laptop a lot more often now. 2) I'm going to convince Ben to step away from the computer and play a game with me a lot more often. 3) I'm going to try and get together with friends just to play games a lot more often now 4) I'm going to go sit in public cafe's and other locations a lot more often now and socialize with complete strangers....just because. 5) I'm going to do my best to appreciate all the things I forget to be thankful for on a daily basis...like a warm house, a warm shower, fresh food and light....both physical light.....

Psalm 18:28 New Century Version (NCV)

 ²⁸ Lord, you give light to my lamp.
       My God brightens the darkness around me.

...and spiritual light....

Job 33:28 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

²⁸ He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I shall live to enjoy the light.'

Ring a Ding Ding

Well….it’s been 4 days now with no power, heat, or internet. We did finally get our phone back though after my brother suggested I go foraging in the basement. We get a lot of donations from people for our street ministry and so we never know what will be in a box or a bag. It can be anything from basic clothing, bedding or house wares all the way to kids toys, books and knick-knacks. So I decided to go to the basement and look through and see if I could find an old school , plug in wall phone that we could use until we get power back. Sure enough, there was one down there. It wasn’t exactly the kind I was expecting to find though.  I thought maybe I would find a simple off-white or black plug in, or maybe even a cool retro rotary phone. Ohhhhhhh no…..no, not this one.  This is the Babij household after-all….and we thrive on the unique. So what does our temporary home phone look like? Well, let me describe it to you. It is a basic plug in hand held black phone…(so far so good right?)…that has been covered with fuzzy fake zebra fur….and then to add a level of class and sophistication…..trimmed out with a band of pale powder blue marabou feathers.  **What the….??????** Yep….that’s what I said…..fake zebra fur and feathers. The first thing out of Ben’s mouth when he saw it was, “Where ON EARTH did THAT come from???”

“I have no idea….I found it in the basement..”

“…in OUR basement???”   (Who’s basement did he think I had rummaged through?)

“Yep, somebody donated it…”

“It’s HIDEOUS!!!”

“Yes it is….”

“Who would DONATE that??”

“I have no idea…hopefully somebody with little kids…”

“I don’t want that thing….”

“We aren’t keeping it dear….we’re only going to use it until we get power back…”

“Good, cuz that thing’s ugly!”

The really sad part is that the price tag is still stuck n the bottom of the phone. Would you like to know how much the original owner actually PAID for this piece of hideous electronica? A shocking $39.99! That’s right; somebody felt that 40 bucks was not too high a price to pay for this tack-a-licious fashion statement!! I thought I had experienced buyers remorse before….but I can just picture the donor now…. “WHAT was I thinking…WHY did I pay so much for THIS …THIS……THING ?!?!??!?! I know, I’ll donate it to charity…that way nobody will ever have to know it came from me!!!” Sooooo…………..In the 21^st century, an era filled with amazing technology that allows people from one continent to communicate to people on another continent in real time and actually see them talking, our verbal communication to the outside world has temporarily been reduced to the abilities of….not a HOME phone, but…..a “Ho Phone”. 

Life is good!

Dogs Can't Spell

Well.....it has been an interesting past few days and nights to say the least. Connecticut got slammed by storm Alfred this past Saturday and from the last report I heard over 750,000 state residents have no power. When we woke up Sunday morning and looked into our normally beautiful backyard with pine trees, fruit trees and a dogwood tree...it looked like a tornado had come through. Thank God though nothing hit our house and no power lines were ripped off of our house. The truly sad thing is that by comparison this was not a bad storm at all. We've had horrible storms before that dumped several feet of snow...and not had damage like this. The reason this has caused so much destruction is that most of our trees were still at peak color meaning they still had leaves...and lots of them. So instead of falling through bare branches to the cold ground below...the snow loaded up the leaves and just decimated the trees. We went for a drive yesterday afternoon to see the damage in our city and it is just unbelievable...power lines down everywhere, trees down everywhere, roads closed, businesses closed, 30 car, or more, lines at open gas stations...until they ran out of gas like a few have. Then people are just parking their cars in the gas stations and waiting for the next delivery truck to arrive so they don't lose their place in line. Without being facetious, I have a small inkling now of what a refugee must feel like. Wow...what an eye opener this has been....it reminded me of tornado damage growing up in Alabama.
Soooo.....the Pollyana moment perspective? Come on.....you long time readers know it's coming...here it is. We have been blessed by helping our neighbors to restore heat, and other necessities. Friends who needed help with generators, animal care etc....even car care....we've been able to help Then at night, when the darkness and silence are overwhelming....it's amazing how much better we can hear from God when we tune out the world....or when it's tuned out for us. For the moment we are at a friend's house and I am amazed at how thankful I am for God's provision. I'm sitting at a friend's computer overlooking a gorgeous lake with snow,sun and wind and blue sky...sure I'll be back in power loss in less than an hour or so, but you know what....praise God even in the midst of adversity!

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD, I will be joyful in God my savior.

Habakkuk 3:17-18

Anyway, so we back to no power, no phones and no internet. Just me, Ben and the two dogs playing scrabble by candlelight. LOL....the dogs have really crummy grammar by the way! Everything is spelled T-R-E-A-T .


Joy all All Ways,
Fran