The Blessed Toilet Tissue

I got up early to help Art get ready for work, and I was going to go back to sleep. But now I'm not even remotely tired. My head is full of plans for the day (cleaning and grocery shopping and meal planning) and thoughts about the past year.

So much has changed in a year. Our perspective is quite different than it was at this time last year.

This time last year, I wasn't working, and we were barely surviving with Art's part time job. We couldn't cover our expenses by ourselves, and had to except A LOT of help from our parents. And I'm very grateful that they were able to help us. We could never pay them back.

We were so poor, that on TWO occasions, we couldn't afford toilet paper. TOILET PAPER. We ran out, and didn't have enough money to buy more, never mind enough money to fill our fridge or pay our bills. I was so ashamed and discouraged, and of course I couldn't blog about it.

Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew that God was good, but I sure couldn't feel it. I kept wondering how we were possibly going to get out of this mess. I kept wondering what God's plan was.

Now we both have full time jobs, we are more than able to meet all our expenses, and we still have plenty left over. Not only can we afford to fill our fridge, but I can afford to buy myself a new purse (which I did very recently). :D I can afford to get my jacket fixed when the zipper breaks. And we always have plenty of toilet paper.

There were parts of this past year that seemed really bleak, but other parts were still quite happy. We had the support and love of some very good friends. We had the love of a small church, even though we still didn't know the people very well. And we were in love. We found out that a hard year does not a bad marriage make. In the tough times, we had each other. And we had God.

I confess, I felt closer to God at this point last year than I do right now. I'm afraid I've gone the way of the Israelites: they cried out to God in their need, but after He came through for them, they didn't need Him anymore. I fear I'm starting to take God's goodness for granted. And I don't want that. I want to be ever thankful for all God has done for us.

So I have a little task for all of you: any time that I start to complain about my life, I need you to simply ask me, "Jenene, do you have toilet paper?" As long as we are at least able to afford to buy toilet paper, I know that we are truly blessed.

Prairie Girl is Back From the Prairies

Well, I'm back. On the wet coast again. Art and I got in late last night, showed his siblings our gifts, cracked up the heat in our room, bundled up and crawled into our very cold bed in our very cold room. I think we're finally at a normal temperature again.

I just finished catching up on my blog reading, and I have very scattered plans to unpack and clean and do laundry today. "Scattered" because I don't really know how I'm going to start. And I'm afraid I'm going to end up flitting from one thing to another and not actually accomplish anything. I like to have a firmly laid-out plan in my head, so that once I get started, I'm unstoppable.

I think I might start the laundry first. We'll see how I progress from there. But before laundry, I should probably eat. It just occurred to me that I'm really hungry.

I had a fantastic, busy holiday in Manitoba, and I plan to write all about it. I don't have to be back at work until Jan. 4, so I have plenty of time. But first, I must attend to my domestic duties. And my tummy.

Prairie Girl Back on the Prairies

Greetings from Manitoba! I've been up for about half an hour, and I'm feeling good. Art is still sleeping, which is no surprise. We had a very early morning yesterday, and a short night before that, so catching up on sleep is top priority.

My sister and her kids were here when we got home from the airport, and I got to meet my nephew Blake for the first time! He's so cute! I am in love. I got to hold him and rock him to sleep, and he even cooed at me a little bit. I could definitely go for more of that.

There is a small layer of snow here. The ground is more or less covered, but it isn't a thick blanket. Art brought all his snow gear, but I don't think he'll need it. I won't complain. I said I wanted snow for Christmas, and I'm going to have snow for Christmas.

My niece is so cute! She's such a big girl now, walking and talking. The last time we saw her, she was still scooting around on her butt. Now she can run, and climb stairs, and she repeats everything we say. Which means we have to be a lot more careful what we say. I'm not saying that I swear at all (because I don't) but what if I say start talking about some idiot driver we encountered on the road, and she overhears that and decides her new favorite word is "idiot"? Perfect. I've just taught my two year old niece to insult people. I don't want to be doing that.

Anyway, I don't really have tons of news to share. The flight was uneventful, but I did watch Julie and Julia, and I loved it! Such a cute movie. And then once we landed, we came here to my parents place, and we've been relaxing and visiting. We have a family gathering tonight, and I'm really looking forward to seeing my cousins and aunts and uncles. And this morning will be spent reading and listening to the cable guy install my parents satellite. That's right. After literally years and years of hearing my dad talk about it, they are finally expanding their television experience beyond the six local channels, otherwise known around these parts as "farmer vision."

It's kind of a big deal.

Well, I'm going to eat some breakfast and get back to my $5 Barnes and Noble novel. What can I say? I love discounts.