I am thinking that this has been a most usual week with some roller coaster rides along the way. And anyone that knows me knows that I don't "do" roller coasters.
Sunday I stayed home from church because I was on my fourth day of an upset stomach with digestive system problems. I felt chilled, so I started a fire in the fireplace, which is powered by propane (remember we live in the woods). I've noticed a strange smell, but I did know that it wasn't the deadly propane gas because I had to take a sniff test and sign off on that the day the propane was installed, about a year ago.
Subsequently, we have been noticing that our air filters to our heating units were getting dirty really quickly. In fact we changed one Sunday evening and by Tuesday, it was pitch black. But we are slow to catch on.
Our builder first suggested that we just needed to change the filters more due to living here in the woods. That was after asking if we burned candles. Of course, I have about eight decorative candles, but because of our birdies, I never burn them. Candles can be deadly to the birds.
On Tuesday morning, BC came to wake me up with the words, "I think that Birdie is dead."
I have had Skye Bird-Dee for five years. She was the spunkiest little bird I've ever known. And she did the cutest things. Her only problem was she thought that she was the Queen of our home, one of us, a person.
The greatest shock is that I do so much to take care of those birds. They are parrotlets, the world's smallest parrots, and there are many things that we do and don't do to protect their health. Their life expectancy is beyond twenty years, so I was totally blind-sided by her death. She had been out just the night before playing with us before bedtime and was her usual upbeat self.
These little guys, weighing only 25 grams each, have their own huge parrotlet palaces, and each has another cage for bedtime sleeping, as they need up to 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.
That has to be "the bad" in my week. I've mourned her loss all week, as anyone who has lost a beloved pet will understand. We are now considering a special place to bury her little body. "Fly free and high, my little Skye!"
"The Ugly" came on Tuesday when the cleaning lady noticed all of the black residue on our mirrors and on the mantle. That is when we started putting two and two together. After looking around, I discovered that we actually have soot high on the ceiling and walls of the kitchen, which is a soft butter yellow. It's so bright in our kitchen and there are so many shadows up high, due to a very high, huge skylight, that the soot went unnoticed. I don't relish the idea of painters being in here with ladders that will reach up to at least twenty or more feet to that corner of the room.
The propane man came on Wednesday and diagnosed the problem as wrong placement of the logs, which was sending all of the fumes, fire, etc. into our home instead of "up" the flue to the air outside. He had a variety of fixes, including installing a different set of logs or charging us $100.00 to clean the soot off of the ones we have, as they are black. At the very least the log placement needed to be adjusted.
Our builder didn't agree with all of that, so he called the people who had installed the firebox to send someone out to take a look at it. That young man came yesterday, and he agreed with the original diagnoses. He moved the logs over so that they were properly placed, adjusted the propane so that the fire doesn't burn so high when lit, and gave me the names of some cleaners to purchase to clean the logs myself for a lot less than the quoted $100.
The good parts of my week have been in meeting Christ where he walks with me through these minor trials which at one time would have thrown me into a spin zone. I have pondered about what I was supposed to learn from this. Christ has been on my mind a lot this week. And that is not just "the good," but it is "the best!" And in all of that I have prayed so hard all week for those who have much more serious problems than I, and I have had conversations with people who love me and care for me and want to share my hurts.
Each of our two daughters shared a story that happened to them this week that shows God walking in their lives doing some big things. That is such a joy for a mother. One of them told her story in a rather painful way because she questioned herself, then found that God wanted her to do exactly what she did do. The other reached out the be the hands and feet of Christ to someone with an infant in medical distress. I am so thankful for these young women and how they are living their faith. Oh, God, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of their lives!
I end with this prayer:
God, I think you for being with me this week, for all you do, for your goodness.
My prayer is for healing for the many who are hurting physically, mentally, and spiritually.
And I give thanks for the little girl, our first granddaughter, whom you sent to us 15 years ago this past Wednesday. Lord, it is not easy being a teen in today's world. Be with her and the adults and teens in her life that she may feel your presence and your grace. Amen.
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