Count It All Joy

This last week has been anything but boring. Last Thursday, we found out that Evan’s van isn’t allowed on our neighborhood’s property. We, unfortunately, were not aware of the rule, especially since he had his van from his last company on the property for five years. If you believe the hearsay (let’s call it what it is – gossip) from some of our neighbors, we have a troublemaker or two in our neighborhood that like to go around inspecting everyone’s property and reporting all violations to the management company. Good times. It is easy to want to retaliate and find all of their violations and report them, but that’s not what God calls us to do. Believe me, Evan and I had our venting time within the confines of our house. But, after much prayer and thought, we’re taking the high road.

We’ve asked for the Board to make some amendments to the rule as it is for Evan’s employment. In the meantime, Evan is going to talk to his boss about bringing his van back to work instead of taking it home each night. This was something new they offered as of last month. We were excited that it would save us so much in gas, especially since Evan was going back to a five-day schedule. But, I’d rather do what is right and trust that God will take care of the details. If we can’t have the van here, it is a big inconvenience, but there are worse things that could happen. We’re just praying that the Board would be more understanding of the situation. Unfortunately, their next meeting isn’t for a couple more weeks.

Monday was supposed to be Evan’s day off, but his boss called and asked if he could come in as they were majorly short-handed. We didn’t have anything planned and he wouldn’t be working too late, so he helped. These hours were all considered overtime, which makes it a little easier to handle. Who knew that those hard-earned dollars would be spent before Evan even returned home that evening.

I love Gabby. I love both of my cats, but she is the one that loves me back the most! She follows me around during my morning routine. She always comes and sits on my lap if I am telling any story where there is passion in my voice. She’s a very sweet cat. But, she’s got problems. She’s built like an ox and in the last year is more prone to urinary tract infections.

She was fine all that day, but all of a sudden I noticed her going down to the litter box several times. I shook my head knowingly. I called Evan to see when he would be home, but it would not be for another hour or so. I winced at the thought. I proactively called the vet and made her an appointment. Then, the fun began. Gabby is the hardest person to put into the cat carrier. Like I said, she’s built like an ox. She is super-strong when she wants to be, which means I cannot push her into the box without a serious fight. Also, because of her UTI, she was having a bit of a dribble problem, to put it nicely. Add in a “helpful” four year old and it’s enough to drive someone crazy.

But, I did it, and less than forty minutes later, we were home with two prescriptions, an expensive bag of UTI pet food, and a larger-than-I-wanted-but-better-than-I-thought bill. Now, for the next week, I have to try and give the ox two pills each day. You should have seen how much growling was happening yesterday and she wasn’t too happy either.

I’m thankful though that I caught it early. I’m thankful that we have the money for these emergencies. I’m thankful that we have a car for Evan to drive, and that I don’t have to give him mine or drive him back and forth each day.

Nicholas and I are trying to get used to having Evan gone on Wednesdays and Thursdays. We’re looking forward to seeing how early he gets off of work. I was looking at some upcoming activities and was thrilled to see that Evan should be able to come with us. This is one of the reasons we wanted this shift. His shift officially ends at 4:00, but we expect an hour to two hours of overtime each night. That’s still early compared to getting home between 7:30 and 10:00 each night.

So, while some less-than-ideal things have happened this week. I’m choosing joy. This isn’t easy for me, but I find that choosing joy is so much more refreshing than choosing worry. I’m proud of myself for letting some of these things go. I’m only hoping I can remember this when the next situation arises. It is my lifelong battle, but I’m thankful for these victories.