What's Your Number? Part 2

0500, 0508, 300, and 166.  These are my numbers and here is why...

At 0500 (5 am) I woke up one morning, just as weary and discouraged as I was when I went to bed the night before.  I knelt down by my bed to pray, unsure if I'd even find words.  The words did come however and they pretty much consisted of: "Heavenly Father...I don't even know what to do any more.  I don't even know what to say." 

I followed my prayer that morning by getting up and checking my email.  At approximately 0508 (5:08 am) I found an email from a friend that had a scripture reference in the subject line followed by the statement 'it is true'.  There was nothing else in the email.  When I opened my scriptures to the reference, I found these words:   "...feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do."  For the rest of the day, I thought about my friend and his timely message and I had to ask myself: exactly who is this guy...and how did he do that?!

Amazed and completely rededicated to feasting upon the words of Christ, I resumed my life as usual. Little did I know, that another email would soon come and knock me off my feet.  Another dear friend, who is aware of my recent trials, sent me a little note to let me know that she and her husband wanted to do something nice for me but were not sure what I needed most.  After carefully contemplating what would be the greatest blessing to me right now, I responded with my request.  She asked how much that would cost and I told her $300.  She wrote back immediately,  completely awestruck.  Prior to asking what I needed most, she and her husband had considered just sending me $300, but had decided to find out what I needed first.

These events, both happening in the same week, were like marrow to my bones.  I felt renewed and humbled and I was ready to carry on.  Little did I know that there would be one more miracle. 
Miracle 166.

We have been attending a different congregation each week because we are technically in transit until our house in Illinois is sold and we can move into our house here.  We don't want to cozy into a new ward "family" just to up and leave again in two months.  We've all had enough 'goodbyes' for a while.

Just this past Sunday, while singing the closing hymn in a congregation in downtown Salt Lake City, it occurred to me that this was the third chapel, third congregation and third week in a row that we had sung hymn # 166; "Abide with Me."

"I need thy presence ev'ry passing hour. What but thy grace can foil the tempter's pow'r?

Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be? Thru cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me!"

0500, 0508, 300, and 166.  These are my numbers.  They are mine.  God gave them to me so that I would know that He still cares for the 'one', even when that 'one' is barely strong enough to pray. This 'one' has decided not to give up on Him either.

What's Your Number?

On the first day of our family reunion, my little nephew was on his way into the living room, when he passed his uncle who had just walked through the front door.  They were both a little surprised to see each other and given the distance between their zip codes, it may have been the first time for both of them.   Little Isaac paused, looked way up at this stranger and asked "What's your name?"  "I'm Uncle John" came the reply.  "What's your number?" Isaac continued.   This is where everyone in earshot paused, trying to think of just what this little guy meant by his query.  Our musing diminished as Isaac added: "Mine is three." What's your number = how old are you; one of the most fundamental pieces of information to a three year old.

To an adult, that question could have meant any number of things; what's your phone number, what's your IQ, what is your Sleep Number, how much do you weigh, what size are your shoes (brassiere, pants, shirts), Social Security, license plate, driver license, PIN, password, cholesterol, etc. etc.  If not careful, you could actually need to have a HIPAA disclosure just to ask someone the question, "What's your number?"

Last week gave me a whole new set of numbers;  0500, 0508, 300 and 166.  These numbers rocked my world.  They definitely got my attention and most likely, have you somewhat perplexed.  And waiting on the edge of your seat.

I'll tell you about them later.

Move Over Bacon...

I am officially a working mom.  A nine-to-five, eat lunch at your desk, come home, make dinner and  stare blankly at your kids while they notify you of all that they still stand in need of that, by the way... only you can supply... working mom. They possess NO idea of how impossible it all sounds as it rolls effortlessly off of their little tongues.  They're so cute when they're clueless.  

The irony in all of this is really quite funny (not).  You see, my new job as an administrative assistant in this office requires so very little of me other than my presence.  In essence,  I get paid to be here and that's about it.  I answer a few phone calls but spend the rest of my time trying to find something, ANYTHING to do.  So ironic when you consider the hours of tasks waiting for me at the end of the day.

 So I have been reading Advanced Google Adwords by Brad Geddes.   Yup...a real page turner. I'm just bored enough and curious enough though, that I keep turning those pages. I'm learning all about Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click and I'm doing it because I really want to know if it's possible to get Rosemary Hawley Jarman to not be the Rosemary 'H' Jarman that pops up when I Google my name (yeah...like you've never tried it).  She's an author too.  I've never actually read any of her stuff but I think I would if I ever came across a copy. 

  In addition to my name twin, there's a blogger out there (not of the Rosemary persuasion) who has a blog name almost exactly like mine. 'My unintentional life' ...only with dashes between the words.  C'mon...name taken, move on!  Ever heard of a thesaurus?  Accidental, random, inadvertant, unexpected, extemporaneous.  These are all other words that she could have used to describe her life instead of 'unintentional', but hey... I'm sure she didn't do it on purpose. ; )

I should be easier on my blog buddy.  We have more in common than our title after all.  She too just recently moved back in with her parents.  We both walk the walk of shame each morning as we emerge from our basement lairs.  Except I do have her on this one thing:  at least I didn't bring cats with me when I moved back in.  That' something, right?

Less OK

According to "How to Train Your Dragon", if you fall off of a dragon, you will be OK, but if the dragon then proceeds to step on you, you will be 'less OK'.  That's where I am now.  Less OK.

We were admonished to keep a three month supply of money in reserve for emergencies; we did.  We were taught to not have any debt; we don't.  But even with all of those good financial practices in place, our financial everything still sits out in the cold, open air right now, with ravenous wolves eyeing it on every side.  And there's absolutely nothing I can do about it.  Nothing.  There's always been something and now there's nothing.  Wait and watch and possibly.. wretch.

When Mark was in Desert Storm, it was the longest winter of my life.  There was nothing I could do about that situation either, but hope the phone in our basement apartment would ring at 3 am so that I could know that he was still alive.  We paid the phone company $1 a minute to talk to each other back then.  We'd talk until it was no longer possible to ignore the other soldiers in line, who were waiting to call their girls too and burn through their dollars as well.  AT&T definitely made the biggest killing of that war; but still to this day there has been no thrill in my life to match that of going from a state of sound asleep to hearing the phone ring in the other room to being in a full throttle sprint, as I tore out of bed and through our dark living room, grabbing the receiver before the sheets even had time to drop back down onto the mattress.

Eventually those frozen, overcast days of '91 started to melt into clear blue skies and the sound of melting snow trickling down rain spouts brought a new energy as talks of a cease fire became real.  To this day, the sound of melting snow trickling down a rain spout makes me want to skip like a seven year old. But for now, it looks like I've got another long winter ahead of me.  Again...there is nothing I can do about it and interestingly enough... I'm living in a basement.

   P.S. What do you do when your husband comes home from a war? I managed to set aside $400 dollars while he was gone so that we could do something special when he returned. We ended up buying him new clothes and going on a road trip to San Francisco with the rest.