Simple Woman's Daybook 10.6.09

Outside my window...
dusk has turned to dark. It's cool enough to be called a fall night, but warm enough to want to leave the windows open a crack, and just listen. Crickets chirp. Now and then a car passes by. I can tell the age of the driver by the presence or absence of a drumbeat.

I am thinking...
about how I thought on Sunday that maybe I'd missed my calling in life, only to realize that I haven't missed it, I've just not been looking for opportunities by holing up in my church and home and school instead of
praying to share with people who have narry a clue about Truth.

I am thankful for...
the rich deposit of God's Holy Spirit in me in the form of Jesus the Word, and the Bible.

From the kitchen...
came a peanut butter and jelly sub for everyone's lunch today since I haven't bought regular bread in an embarrassingly long time.

And also came cereal for dinner since Paul's at a business dinner at the Wine Market with a client from Greenwich. All I can say is, "I hope he brings home leftovers."

I am wearing...
a brown polo and black capris, my wedding rings, a peridot ring, and
my spectacles. I've been in a black-and-green mood all day. That's a good thing, in case you're wondering.

I am creating...
in a little while...a rubric for the writing assignment and oral presentation my students will have to produce for next Tuesday. They each have to write and tell us about a Middle Eastern country they've been researching. I learned today what a rebab is, and started to crack a joke about loving rebab pie, but I restrained. I don't think they would know the difference between rebab and rhubarb anyway.

I am going...
to floss my teeth tonight. I can be abscessive-compulsive about that.

I am reading...
A Faith Worth Sharing, by C. John Miller. Easy reading on evangelism from the pen of one who makes it sound effortless.

I am hoping...
my parents have a happy 48th wedding anniversary on Thursday. "If ever two were one, then surely they."

I am hearing...
the gentle hum of Sarah's aquarium and the panting of my dog who loves to watch the fish swim. It's so enchanting to watch her watch them.

Around the house...
are stenches I can't quite pinpoint, let alone obliterate.

One of my favorite things...
the scent of men's cologne that wafts through the upstairs after Paul, Ben, Stephen, and Joel have had their showers. Yes, even my second grader loves Adidas Curves for Men.

A few plans for the rest of the week...
mainly to look less like a Chia Pet and more like a beauty queen for school pictures on Thursday.



A picture thought I am sharing...

See this little "waterpark"? It was at the resort where we stayed at Myrtle Beach. This part of it is only about a foot deep. However, the sidewalk around it is about 18 inches high. I have a depth perception problem to start with, so picture me judging it to be 12 inches deep. Total. I didn't land as soon as I expected, hence winding up backside down on the concrete, in the water. Sarah (whose foot is pictured) got the laugh of her life. Then, I stood up and started to stroll casually to the opposite end for a cooling off of the topside of me. That's when I misjudged something more: the concrete base of those huge metal poles which is cleverly camouflaged under the water.
It's about 12 inches high.
So is my shin.




Penned by Zoanna
Labels: misc

Better than a Paycheck Could Ever Be

After school today, one of my students came up to my desk and said sincerely, "Mrs. Zubrowski, I just want you to know that I'm doing pretty good in grammar now." (I smile at the irony.) "I never understood it before. I've never been good at it till this year. As a matter of fact, I've been praying for a good grammar teacher since kindergarten, and finally got one."

I wanted to hug him and cry. I looked him in the eyes and said, "It makes me happy to hear that, and I'm so glad you understand grammar better. Thank you for saying that to me."

"Oh, I'm not just saying it," he added. "It's true!"


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for Tuesdays Unwrapped-----------------------------------

5 Words Meme

Upon request, Krista sent me five words as a writing prompt meme (not that I usually struggle with verbal constipation; I was more curious than needy, surmising what five words she might think to send me). When I asked "why these five?" she said she thought I'd either have a lot to say about them, or she had no idea what I'd say.

In the order in which she wrote them, I will respond in a stream-of-consciousness way. No real organization. (My excuse? It's Friday night. The first syllable of that word is "Fried" as in my brain's condition right now.)

1 BOOKS ... I love the sound of the word "books." Only positive images come to my mind. Hearing my mom's voice read to my sister Rachel and me at naptime when I was three. Watching my dad take posterboard, markers, and a copy of Yertle the Turtle to create a children's sermon on pride. Smelling the brand new pages of brand new books when the Abingdon library opened . Smelling the musty old pages of Grandpa's Baptist hymnal whenever I dust them, and get the feeling of touching the hands that held the very same book and sang the same beautiful anthems to the same wonderful God. I grew up with parents who highly valued books. My mother was never what you'd call a "shopper" of clothes, shoes, and trendy household goods, but she could spend hours upon hours in a bookstore. I worked for a summer at a Christian bookstore, as did she. My son, Stephen, it just occurs to me, is a third-generation Christian bookstore employee. Much as I love books, I don't have as much of a problem parting with them as some folks do. This summer, when I decided to alphabetize all the books in the basement by author's last name, I heeded the Lord's prompting when tempted to hoard even such valuables as books: tithe on them (as in, give away ten percent of them).


2. ADVENTURE is a word that conjures up feelings of excitement and fear and wonder and energy. When I think of adventure, it involves a modicum of mystery: Where exactly is Vladimir, Russia? Will my room in heaven have all the flowers my mind and heart can ever want? How can I make grammar NOT boring to fifth and sixth graders in such a way that they "get it"? What will I look like when I'm 80, if I'm still alive? What if Plan A doesn't work out? I'm excited about Plan B. It always works out, and sometimes is even more fun that Plan A.

"Adventure" makes me remember Great Adventure, a theme park my friend
Cindy and her sister Sondra invited me (and my older sister) to when I was in seventh grade. It was one of the most fun days of my entire life. I splurged on a stuffed frog at the end of the day and had a bunch of people at school sign it. How many other people can say they've owned an autographed frog?



3. BABIES... Nothing says "Made just for you by Jesus" quite like a baby. No two alike, not even identical twins. I loved being pregnant with my babies, an unspeakable, unmatchable, unquestionable pleasure of being Woman. Never has joy been so great as when I felt a baby kick inside my womb. Never has a sorrow been so deep as when the doctor said, two different times, "I'm sorry, there is no heartbeat."
I can't write those words without crying, and it's been ten years since our second loss.

I didn't think I could ever love a baby as much as I loved my first baby, Ben, and when I got pregnant with our second, Sarah, I begged the Lord to give me as much love so that she wouldn't feel deprived. I think He laughed; it was an absurd request, thinking back now. Of COURSE, as surely as the sun rises and sets, I loved all my babies, and would love a hundred and twenty babies if I had them (though I'm glad God chose a much more manageable number for me).

I'm looking forward to having grandbabies. In fact, I find myself wondering what they will call me. Paul wants to be PopPop. I know I don't want to be Grandma (sounds so old ladyish) or Granny , but would love a completely unique name from my grandbabies, something one of them creates for me from baby babble. "Priddy Gammy" would do!


4. CHANGE--I am just about evenly split in my knee-jerk reaction to this word. Having lived in 13 houses by the age of 11, I adapted quickly and rather easily to change. I have lived in the country, the city, a small town, a college dorm, in the 'burbs, at the beach, in a duplex, in single-family homes. I have lived on food stamps and have dined on gourmet food. (I much prefer the latter.) After 21 years as a single, I got married and the change to wife was a lot harder than I imagined. But the change from not-a-mother to a mother ? Totally unprepared for that. To be responsible for another human being 24/7 changed me profoundly. The starkest revelation was that I hadn't changed fundamentally; I just couldn't hide the parts of me I had always been able to hide before: the ugliest, most selfish me. But then again, changing diapers and
hearing my babies coo and seeing their luminous smiles and gazing upon their blue-eyed beauty for lo these 21 more years, has been an uncomparable experience. I am ready to die, for I know my Savior and have been a mother. Those are the two deepest joys of my life.


5. PUNS -- For the most part, people think of my jokes as the first two-thirds of the word "pun." I can't help it. My husband calls it Dauber humor. I call it Kansas humor. I have no concept of living a day without puns. It would be an adventure, a real change, an idea to baby, something to put in the record books. Punless Zoanna. Unthinkable! (But worth a try, perhaps?)

Anybody else like to write on 5 words? Let me know in the comment box.

Matt is in Surgery

The surgery scheduled for yesterday was postponed to today.

My nephew, Matt, is undergoing open heart surgery as I write this. Please pray for him and the whole family.