Apology to my Morning Coffee

Dear Morning Coffee,

I like you a lot.  You greet me every morning with your caffeinated goodness.  Your warmth snakes it's way through me and gives me energy to face the day.  I don't know what I would do without you.

But I have to apologize today.  I forgot to buy white sugar when I got groceries two weeks ago, and my sugar bowl is completely empty.

So I had to put brown sugar in you this morning.

I know.  I'm so sorry.  I felt like I was committing a sacrilege.

But don't get me wrong.  I still love you, and this is all my fault.  You still taste pretty good, and I find myself wondering why people don't use brown sugar in their coffee more often (because isn't brown sugar supposed to be less refined than white sugar?  Maybe I'm wrong...excuse me while I go perform some Internet research...)

Okay, so I'm wrong.  Turns out brown sugar is just white sugar with a bit of molasses thrown in.  Maybe that's why you, my precious coffee, taste slightly different this morning.  But I think it's a good different, and it certainly doesn't mean I like you less.

So, Morning Coffee, I wish I had better news for you, like that I'm going to get groceries today and will get more white sugar then.  But I'm not.  Grocery day is still two days away.  So you're going to have to make do with brown sugar until that happens.

I think we will be able to survive.

With thankfulness that you really have no say in the matter,
Your faithful coffee consumer

Just another Fall morning

The sky outside my window in the mornings is all black now.

When did that happen?

I knew fall was coming, but how did it get here so fast?  The days are a dichotomy of warm temperatures and leaves falling like rain.  There are long stretches of grey days and unending drizzle followed by long stretches of days with pure sunshine that call for shorts and mornings spent planting bulbs in my garden.

I fear those days of warm sunshine will soon be coming to an end, and we'll be left with days of bright sunshine that does little to combat the cold of winter and snow.

My soul feels a little weighed down lately.  The women's Bible study I'm participating in is focusing on revival; this past week's session talked about how easy it is to be asleep in our walk with God, and how the Christian life is not about doing things, participating in the right rituals, serving in the right way.  Instead, it is about a relationship, and without that deep relationship with Christ, it can feel like we're in a desert.

Don't worry.  I'm not in a desert.  But some days it feels like time passes so quickly, and before I know it, I've forgotten to have that quiet time with Him that I so desperately need, and once again, I find myself begging forgiveness for not drawing near to Him when I know full-well that I can't get through this life without Him.

Sometimes, I think He lets us have those days when nothing goes right just so we can be reminded of how desperately we need Him and His marvelous grace.

Anyway, I'm rambling.  The sky outside my window is becoming a shade of midnight blue, and through the trees that line our back fence, I can see the construction workers arriving to begin work for the day. 

I will begin my work for the day soon, too.  Dishes, laundry, dusting, meals to cook...  May I remember to bring Him along with me as I walk through this day that He alone has made.

Yesterday, four years ago

Yesterday, four years ago, I was 41 weeks pregnant.  My midwife came for a home visit and gave me some tips for helping labour along.  Contractions had been starting and then stopping every day for about a week. 

Yesterday, four years ago, Tim and I took our last (really long) walk as a married couple with no children.

Yesterday, four years ago, we had some friends over for supper, and we had tacos with apple pie for dessert.  Then we spent the evening watching TV, and I sat in the rocking chair, counting the contractions that finally didn't quit, and then everyone went home, and we called the midwife and went to the hospital.

And on this morning four years ago, at 1:30 AM, a beautiful baby boy was born, and we called him Reuben.

And today, on his fourth birthday, this boy-child crawled into my bed and snuggled in close, and I held my son, this man-in-training, and treasured the moment of lost sleep, thinking to myself that there won't be many more moments like these, so I might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

Happy Birthday, Reuben!

It's Chicken Pox?

So we think Kaylee has chicken pox.  It started with what we thought was a pimple on her forehead, and then she had a spot on her leg, and then two on her arm, and then another one on her arm, and two on her ankle, and one on her stomach.  I started to think maybe it was bug bites, but they didn't look like any bug bites I'd ever seen before, and a thorough search of our house has not revealed anything that might be biting her anyway.

Then I thought, "Maybe it's chicken pox?"  So I called Telehealth, which was less than helpful, but what did I expect by trying to get someone to diagnose spots over the phone?  Apparently the nurse thought that Kaylee should have more symptoms other than just spots, but if it's such a mild case, would the other symptoms really be that obvious?  Anyway...

Then my parents came over, and their immediate reaction is that it is, in fact, chicken pox.  So I think that's what we'll go with at this point.  I may bring her in to see our doctor on Tuesday (go figure it's a long weekend), especially if it gets worse, but we'll see if I bother or not.  Maybe I'll post pictures on Facebook and get some more opinions...

So moral of the story, I'm stuck here at home with her this morning instead of heading to church, which is ironic, because the only place I can figure that she caught it from was at church.  Assuming Reuben also catches it at some point, we could be stuck here at home for quite some time.  Joy. 

Oh, and if there's anyone in the Hamilton area that really wants your kids to catch chicken pox, you are more than welcome to come visit.  I don't know if her case is severe enough to be that catching anymore, but feel free to give it a go.  The door is always open, and I'm told I make good coffee.

The Changing Seasons

I find myself with mixed feelings about the coming of Fall this year.  Generally speaking, I hate Fall.  I don't like being cold, and summer is always filled with such great memories of camping and visits to the park and fresh fruits like strawberries.

But for some reason, this year, I am finding something comforting about the changing of the seasons.  The nights are getting colder and longer.  The trees, while still green, are beginning to look like they're thinking about dropping their leaves, and in the case of the maple in our front yard, even starting to let a few go in anticipation of the long months of raking ahead.

Don't get me wrong.  I still hate Fall.  As pretty as all the colors are and as refreshing as the cool nights are after the heat of the summer, Fall means that Winter is coming, and I hate Winter even more than Fall.  Snow is great and all, and I love Christmas, but I'd be much happier if we had about one month of Fall, one month of Winter, and the rest of the year could be divided between Spring and Summer.

(That being said, I don't judge anyone for liking whichever season you choose.  If you love Fall, you go right ahead and do that.  Just don't expect me to love it with you.)

This year at least, I'm finding reassurance in the knowledge that our change-less God is the one controlling our ever-changing seasons.  Not that I didn't know this before.  But for some reason unknown to me, this year, however unwelcome, the coming of Fall is bringing me a sense of comfort to know that whatever crummy things we (I) may face in life, the world hasn't ended.  God is still in control, and the seasons still continue to change.

"Praise be to the name of God forever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
He changes time and seasons..." Daniel 2:20-21a

The busy-ness

It's been a busy week.  Tim's sister got married last weekend, and with Reuben as ring-bearer, it meant some extra busy days fitting in rehearsals and skipping naps.  We left the day after the wedding to go camping at Pinery with my family and had a few more busy days of skipping naps.

Now we're back home, and that first night back I headed over to my sister's house to say goodbye to our other sister who is heading off to a new life of graduate school in Edmonton, Alberta.  They left yesterday.  And I miss her already. 

And of course, there's always the post-camping mountain of laundry to tackle and the necessary trip to the grocery store after cleaning out the cupboards to pack the cooler.

So life continues on.  And I struggle to find a way to heal the ache in my heart, and deep down, I know that only my faithful Father can take care of that for me, and so I thirst to drink deeply of His living water while making do with mere sips of moments in time.

"As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God." Psalm 42:1

As they eat...

Shhhh...

Do you hear that?

That, my friends, is the sound of quiet children because they are occupied with chewing...

...the sound of a meal being enjoyed...

...the sound of watermelon, and yogurt, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches providing sustenance to hungry bodies.

It is glorious, and for five whole minutes, I stand in my kitchen and enjoy the peace of this moment.

A bright moment among the grey

And sometimes, all you need is...

a chick flick

a glass of white wine

nachos with salsa, cinnamon powdered donuts, and chocolate-covered almonds

two hours of laughter

unforgettable moments with a loved one who's about to move away for two whole years

I love my sister.  :)

That Moment

I love it when my kids blow me away.

Reuben likes playing games and watching kids' videos on the Internet.  I'll be the first to admit he probably spends too much time doing said activities, but that's an issue for another day.  This particular story happened one day as I was helping him to get started with one of his videos, and he asked me to sit with him and watch one for a little while.  So I shoved aside all thoughts of getting dishes done before the kids went to bed and sat with him.

My first impression of the video wasn't a great one, and even though it was supposed to be geared towards kids, the story line was about a ghost train, and it had some pretty spooky music.  So I told Reuben I didn't think he should be watching that video and that we should find a different one to watch because I thought it was too scary for him.

He proceeded to tell me the following:  "It's okay, Mommy.  I won't be scared.  I have God in my heart."

Yeah.  It was that moment.

And I have to admit, it was tinged with just a little bit of guilt that he hadn't heard of the idea of having God in his heart from me.  I haven't figured out yet how to teach my kids this concept.  So I had to ask him how he knew about having God in his heart, and eventually, through some strategic question asking, figured that he must have heard it at church.

Isn't God's grace amazing?

As much as I felt that twinge of guilt, I also felt so humbled and then so extremely thankful to know that God truly can work in my kids' lives, even as often as I screw up as a mother.  And I am also extremely thankful to have found a church that takes such an interest in kids, because although I know they need to hear about God from me, it helps to take the pressure off when I know they're also hearing it from other places.

"You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever." Psalm 30:11-12

How to Get Deodorant off the Wall

Yes, you read that right.  During naptime earlier this week, while the rest of the house was sleeping, my precious son decided to take my stick of deodorant from my bedroom and smear it in several different places in his bedroom.  In his words, they were drawings of "dinosaurs".  Some were just practice ones because they didn't turn out, and then one or two were "good ones".

For me, it meant several really sticky, greasy messes to clean up.  His locations of choice included two places on the wall, the headboard of his bed, the side of his dresser, and the wicker ottoman that sits beside his bed.  Yes, wicker.  So of course, the deodorant was also embedded in the little cracks between the fibre weaves.

How I cleaned it up:

1. Having never had to clean deodorant off of anything before, my immediate reaction was to head to my trusty friend, Google.  Believe it or not, apparently this kind of thing hasn't happened before, or at least, it hasn't happened to anybody who's thought to write about it and share their wisdom with the rest of the world.  The best I could come up with was how to get deodorant stains out of clothing...not really all that helpful.

2. Since Google failed me (*sob* I can't believe it...), and I was left to my own devices, I decided to attempt to tackle the problem using the old tried and true method of vinegar and hot water.  I made sure the water was as hot as I could stand, and I added a significant splash of vinegar to the bucket to make the solution as effective as I possibly could.

3. Then I took a regular kitchen cloth, and Reuben and I went off to the bedroom to do some serious scrubbing.  (His punishment was that he had to stay inside and help me clean up while Daddy and Kaylee went out to play in the sprinkler.  One of these days, he's going to learn he's not allowed to take Mommy's things from Mommy's bedroom.)  So we set to scrubbing with less than stellar results.  Deodorant is extremely greasy, and it didn't take long before my cloth was coated in it.  It was very difficult to rinse off, so that by the time I got to the last and worst section of deodorant-covered wall, it took me quite some time to get it cleaned enough to call our job done.  In the end, it felt like all I was doing was smearing the deodorant around more, and you could still see the greasy outline of my son's "dinosaur" drawing.

4. Talking to my Mum later, she suggested dish soap as a way to cut the grease, so I went back for a second shot at the residue I just couldn't get off with the vinegar and water mixture.  The dish soap seemed to work well, although it took quite a lot of rinsing to get the soap off the wall.  Unfortunately, I think I waited too long to try it because after the wall dried, you can still see a grease stain on the wall, but I couldn't feel anymore residue on my fingers.  It really doesn't help that the paint someone used in that room is the non-glossy stuff, so everything just soaks right down into it right away.  Whoever THAT genius was clearly wasn't thinking when they painted a potential child's bedroom with that kind of paint...

In conclusion, I think dish soap is the answer for getting deodorant off the wall...or any other surface it might happen to have been rubbed on.  Heck, it may even be the solution for getting it out of clothes, although the Google searches generally conclude the vinegar and baking soda option works best. 

I think from now on I'm going to keep my deodorant under lock and key...

Just life...

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few days.  I had a few transcription files to work on over the weekend, so that's kept me busy, and we also made an impromptu visit to Chatham to see my parents after Tim got home on Saturday afternoon.  I don't think he's been back there since Christmas, so it was a good visit.  The kids always love going to see Grandpa and Grandma.  :)

Life continues on.  Kaylee speaks more and more every day and continues to come out with words we had no idea she knew.  Reuben is, as always, full of energy and seems to be constantly fighting a cough because he just doesn't slow down enough to ever get all the way better.  Tim's work as a driver is the same as always, and we're looking forward to having him around for a few days till he goes back out on the road again after his schedule being weird for the holiday weekend.  We celebrated our sixth anniversary this weekend by going out to dinner while the kids were with my parents, and it was a wonderful evening of looking back and seeing how far we've come.  As I said on Facebook, still young, still in love... (although with two kids, sometimes it's hard to feel so young...)

And I am doing all right, too.  I've had some good days lately with the kids, being able to enjoy them for who they are and taking pleasure in watching the great joy they get out of life.  And then these are usually followed by extremely challenging days where I spend the entire day praying for patience and struggling not to snap at them for every little thing.  It's the life of a mother I think, and I am ever thankful that I have the Lord to rely on for strength.  He never fails to get me through.

"My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever." Psalm 73:26

Thoughts while driving

With Tim gone so much, it's rare that I actually get to be the passenger in the vehicle when I go anywhere.  More often then not, I'm the one driving while dealing with two children in the back seat, and the experience ends up being less than relaxing.

However, this past weekend, my sister Justine and I decided to surprise my dad for Father's Day, so we packed up the kids at 7am into HER car, and I got to sit for four whole blessed hours in a vehicle NOT DRIVING (two hours to my parents', two hours home at the end of the day).  There were still two children in the back that I had to deal with, but when you're not trying to focus on the road at the same time, the experience was significantly more enjoyable.

I actually found myself with some time to ponder while we were on the way home, but it struck me how the way I travel as a passenger has changed so much now that I have kids.  It used to be that I could sit for hours, just looking out the window day-dreaming, or I could sleep for a chunk of time, or I could read for the whole drive.

None of that really happened.  Yes, I still do those things (well, not the sleeping because of the dealing with the children thing), but I'm not doing them for chunks of time anymore; the pattern is a little more disjointed.

How can I explain this better?  Basically, I spent the drive home on Sunday going from one thing to the next, but never focusing on any one thing for a long time.

I'd go from staring out the window day-dreaming to staring out the window writing blog posts in my head.  I'd go from just sitting quietly marveling at all the awesome shades of green God created to chatting with my sister about random things and mental images, and then we'd randomly start singing along with the John Denver CD we had playing -- ah, the good old days.  (And yes, I just admitted that I sing along with John Denver...)  I'd go from feeling melancholy about the passing of time to feeling content and at peace with just being in the moment.

I'd go from enjoying the silence to desperately trying to figure out what book of the 20-some-odd books we had with us my daughter meant when she incessantly yelled, "Cat!" and, "No, no, no, no!" when I'd try to give her the wrong one...

I don't know if it was the constant interruptions from the kids in the back seat, or my brain was just not having a good day with focusing, but it was a weird feeling not to be able to focus on doing any one thing.  I think part of it was just that I wanted to be able to do all of those things, but the two hour drive just wasn't long enough to fit them all in.

I need to be a passenger more often...

Remembering...

That I may never forget the little one we never knew, who would have been due four years ago today.

On pests and homeownership

Something ate my garbage last night.

I don't know if it was a raccoon or a squirrel or something else, but when I looked outside this morning, our garbage can has been tipped over, the lid is off, and there's garbage all over the ground. Given that we're also having a lovely thunderstorm this morning, it's going to be very yucky to clean up later. Joy.

I strongly suspect that most homeowners have to deal with pests of all sorts, but it feels like the battle is never-ending. Whether it's bugs in my laundry, chipmunks in my basement, ridiculous amounts of spiders living in the corners of every room, and big black ants that crawl on me while I'm sleeping, I never know what to expect next!

Obviously, the next pest problem is whatever is tearing the lid off my garbage can to eat my garbage. Frankly, I'm surprised they haven't gone for my compost bin because that's where all the food scraps go. Although given the smell coming from said bin lately after all the warm weather, I can't say that I blame the poor bugger.

The neighbour suggested a way to rig up the lid so that it's tied down and nothing can get in. That sounds like a lot of work to me as it involves drilling holes in one side of my garbage can because we only have one handle. I think we'll probably just end up keeping the garbage can in the garage.

Stay tuned to find out which pest we get to deal with next...

The birthday girl always cries

We had a party for Kaylee's birthday last night. At one point, the irony struck me that there were actually only three children at the party, two of whom were mine, and the other 14 people were adults. I think my kids need to get out more and make some new friends...some younger friends.

But no offense intended to any of our party guests. In fact, all of them were specifically requested by my kids, and interestingly enough, the names of two children my kids have been asking about seeing all week didn't even come up. So there we have it. A child's relatively child-less birthday party.

And it was fun. At least, I think it was fun. The kids got extremely excited when the first guest arrived and got progressively more and more worked up as more people came. It was good the weather was so nice so they could spend some of that energy outside.

We had burgers and salad and cake. Kaylee opened her presents and said some really cute "thanks" to everyone. She kept asking for a Buzz Lightyear toy, and I'm not sure if she was actually disappointed or not that she didn't get one. I don't think I had even realized she wanted one. Do two-year-olds get disappointed when they don't get toys they want for their birthday?

And of course, the birthday girl ended up in tears when it was time for her to go to bed at the end. Can you blame her after having so much fun?

Tylenol is my friend

I want to apologize for the lack of super awesome posts this week.  After coming home from convention, my immune system finally caved in to the virus that had been attempting to infect me with the vicious cold that my children introduced to me already before I left. 

I think being exhausted from convention hasn't helped because it is a monster of a cold involving knives stabbing into my throat when I swallow and much coughing that keeps me awake half the night.  Halls cough drops are only so helpful.

I went to the naturopath on Wednesday, so I've got two pages worth of things to do and take for myself and the kids.  I will honestly say, as much as I hate being sick, I can't even remember to do half of it because there's just so much on the list.  And it's one thing to remember to do a list of things for yourself; it's another thing entirely to have to remember two additional lists for the small ones.

That being said, my sore throat is finally feeling significantly better today, and my lungs don't feel quite as congested, although the pounding head leaves something to be desired...something like Tylenol, and lots of it.  I think we just might attempt to get to church this morning as the kids seem to be doing significantly better than I am, and I would love to have a little bit of a break, even if it means sitting on an unpadded pew for a little while. 

So Happy Sunday, people.  And hopefully I'll be a little better at posting something interesting this week...

My mornings

I have a morning routine.

One of the kids, (usually Reuben, but sometimes Kaylee joins too), wakes me up early.  By early, I mean before 6am.  The rule, however, is that we do not go downstairs until at least 6:00, so I keep him quiet-ish in my room before we sneak down the stairs, trying not to wake Kaylee up if she is still asleep.  I put on my pot of coffee, and I get Reuben a snack of cheerios or crackers and a cup of juice.

And then I do the blog thing. 

I'm not like other moms that get up at 5am to have quiet devotional time and workout.  I tried that.  It didn't work for me.  I am all for starting my day by focusing on God and bringing Him into the journey with me, but my kids are just too distracting in the mornings for me to get that quality one-on-one time with Him, and I just do not sleep well enough at night to try to get up before they do.

So I read blogs of other women who do get that quality quiet time, and I am inspired, and I think of Him and pray as I write blog posts while looking up scripture passages on BibleGateway.com.

And sometimes.....who am I kidding.....CONSTANTLY, I am interrupted by curly-blond-haired beauties clad in footie pajamas covered in robots.  More juice.  More goldfish.  The show is over; can we pick another one?  Sometimes, against my better judgment, I give into my sinful urges to grumble. 

But other times, I reach out my arms to draw that precious little soul in for a hug, and I watch her tiny feet stretch onto their toes as she reaches up to put her arms around my neck.  How can my heart do anything but melt?

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul." Psalm 143:8

Worn Out, but not Broken

Great title, right?  As I read those words, I realize there can be so much meaning found in them beyond what I am actually using them to describe.

The transmission in our van is worn out, not broken.  This means the warranty that we paid for when we bought the van last August won't cover the necessary repairs.  I'm sure most of you are well aware, fixing your transmission is probably one of the most expensive repairs possible on a vehicle, and one of the things you can't really fix yourself either.  It figures.

But I can still praise Him in the storm. 

We were pretty excited this year for our tax refund.  We've got a long list of things we had planned to do with the money, many of them things around the house, and I was looking forward to getting some much needed new clothes and a new bed frame to get our mattress off the floor.  It looks like we'll be putting those plans on hold.

But the tax refund means we can actually afford to get the van fixed.  Praise the Lord for His provision!

I'm not going to lie to you.  It still totally sucks, and I definitely started crying on the phone with the warranty guy when he told me the news.  (I hope that makes you feel good and crummy, you cursed warranty company man!  I'm sorry....that wasn't nice.....)  But the only way to get through this without sinking into the pit of despair is to look on the bright side.


So the title of this post also pretty adequately describes the state of my spirit right now, "worn out, but not broken".  It's like the passage in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."  It helps to focus on knowing that God has provided, and we are able to have it fixed without going into further debt.

It also helps to have an overgrown garden that I could hack away at yesterday and vent off some of my frustration...  :)

Oh cat...

This is my cat.  Generally, she is a good cat.  However, in more recent months, I have discovered that she has a major flaw.  She likes to eat things.  Rubber things.  Important rubber things.  Like my yellow rubber gloves (which I've gotten very good at hiding, so she actually hasn't eaten them lately) and also, like the rubber sleeves from the ends of my earphones.


"Why are these so important?" you may ask.  Well, let me tell you.

If you have been hereto uninformed, as well as being the part-time admin assistant for our church, I also work part-time from home as an independent contractor doing transcription work.  As such, it is extremely important that I have a good set of headphones so I can clearly hear the audio that I am working on.

Triple Flange Sleeves

I have a set of Shure earphones that has been lovingly provided to me by my dear husband.  These are the ends that I like to wear with them.  I have been rather unfortunately endowed with small ears, so the standard black, grey, or yellow ends just don't fit well into my ears, and I end up spending more time shoving them back in so I can hear than I do actually typing my file.

Well, last week, my cat decided she would eat the ends off my earphones.  It was probably my fault because I left them laying out on the desk.  But in all fairness, I've been doing this for two years now, and I've never had a problem with her eating them before.

*sigh* Just my luck.  So now I have to get new ones.  Which of course, costs lots of money in shipping.  Figures.

In other completely unrelated but even more frustrating news our van is having transmission troubles.  Some prayers that the warranty company comes through for us would be appreciated.

That's all for today...

Strength for the day...

Reuben had me up at his standard ungodly-early hour this morning (5:30).  Usually, I lay in my bed, and he joins me or lays in some blankets beside my bed, and I try to convince him to lay quietly enough that I can doze for another half hour or so.  We didn't do that today.  Today is The Day.  The Day I have to finish all the packing, mine and the kids and Tim's, so that we can all leave tonight.  The Day I still have to somehow fit in a visit to the church office to take care of my responsibilities there.  The Day I have to drive six hours to Michigan with the kids in our van, and hopefully with one of my sisters if not both to help keep them under control, and even more hopefully that they end up sleeping most of the way since we won't be leaving till 6pm.

The Day that I actually remembered to turn to prayer when I started feeling anxious while I was yet in my bed thinking about all the things I had to do today.

God brought to mind the song "Always Enough" from Casting Crowns that I've been listening to lately.

"In a dry and weary land
Lord, you are the rain...

Your love is peace to the broken,
faith for the widow, hope for the orphan, strength for the weak
Your love is the anthem of nations, rings out through the nations
And you're always enough for me"

Today I want to remember that when I'm dry and weary, He is the rain that brings refreshment.  Today, when I'm tired and weak, He gives strength.  Today, when I'm going out of my mind with craziness and packing, He is always enough to get me through it to the other side, and He's drawing me closer to Him.

I remind my soul to sing,
"I rejoice for my Savior reigns
I rejoice for He lives in me
God on high, He has set me free
And worthy is the Lord."

He reigns.  He lives in me.  He has set me free.  He is so worthy of all my praise. 

Even when I'm crazy busy packing.