Honesty and the consequences of sin

Wow.  I am glad Bag Blog gave us a heads up on the new blogger thing. 

Today I would like to ponder the subject of honesty.  And the consequences of sin.

Without naming names and gossip, let us just say that someone we know got knocked up, and is having to learn the hard way that when you skip the steps of marriage first, you'd better employ a lawyer because the daddy stole her baby.   And when the baby's grandma called and asked for prayer and cried, I cried, too.  Now I am in the anger stage.  Angry at the girl for being so trusting.  Angry at the grandparents for not getting some paperwork done.  Come to find out, like the grandma told me, if you call 911 and report a dangerous manhole cover missing...they will send someone right out so no one gets hurt.  But, if you call 911 and report your baby was stolen by the daddy not married to your daughter, the police will tell you sadly, no.  Without paperwork, you lose.

Sin has consequences.  And they are not pretty.

Hang in there---I see a corilation---

Five months ago, the water department installed "smart meters" up and down our street.  Supposidly, these meters talk to the home office and report your water usage.  No more meter men and women checking by hand. 

Well, our bill dropped $20 a month.  In fact, it showed zero consumption.  We still paid $25 for sewer and garbage, but there was a zero in the gallons consumption column.  So, I called.  They sent someone out to test the meter, pulled the lid off, had me run some water, and lo, it was working. 

But, our bill continued to show zero.  Our usual 5,000 or 4,000 was not showing up.  So, today, I called again.  It is no fun dealing with "press one" to hear a menu in English.  And "press zero" to talk to an operator, who is dealing with 12 folks ahead of you...  But, I waited.  And Vivian assured me they had sent someone out months ago and it was fixed.  Had my water usage changed??  No, I assured her we were still showering, washing, flushing and doing laundry... and our bill still read zero consumption.   I thought of lots of snarky comebacks, but I am a Christian, and bit my tongue. 

Vivian said she would put in a work order, but it might be 5-7 days.  No problem. I told her it was not an emergency, and I understood.   But, a few hours later, I happened to be washing my hands and noticed a city water truck out front, and a man checking the meter.  I ran outside with my bills---a year and a half worth to prove I was not crazy.  The man thought he had figured out the problem, that it had something to do with the lid too close to the meter, shutting it off.   And that he'd send a crew to either raise it up or lower it.  But, it might be a few days. 

I played around on the computer some more, took a bath, and was getting dressed when I noticed a truck out front again.  this time a crew was pulling out bricks and digging up the meter.  They installed a new box, and only had to turn off my water for under an hour. 

Honesty means we pay what we owe, even if we have to prove we owe it.

Honesty means your pipes might cough and sputter, and that we should not take fresh, clean water for granted.  Honesty means Bob will have to spend a few hours resetting the bricks and restoring the sidewalk.  Honesty and sin both have consequences.  

I am so sorry, Lord, that we have to learn some lessons the hard way.  But, what is best for this child?  To be restored to his unwed momma, or to grow up with his young dad?  Please comfort the grandma's heart.  It is so painful to contemplate losing one of our grandchildren.  But, when one of your Christian friends and sisters-in-Christ is hurting, then so are you.   It is so tempting to think of very non-Christian ways of getting that baby back.  Your will be done, Lord.  In Jesus Name.  Amen

Toyotaville

Waiting around for four hours yesterday for the Toyota dealership to send their "courtesy" van was a hoot yesterday. I still don't understand it. They called at 11:20am and said the car was all done being repaired. A bearing under waranty was the source of the noisy tires. yay

I was promised that the drive would be right along to pick me up. So I sat by the phone and kept an ear out for the front drive. I feel like such a dupe. dummy. Each hour, I would politely call, only to be met with excuses like, "well, the driver went to lunch" or "he has to pick up someone in Keller, but you are next on the list..."

When he finally pulled into the drive, I was not a happy camper. Then I had to hold on while the guy tried to make up for lost time by driving too fast and the traffic was heavy. This drive gets off at 4pm, and we were minutes from that. And he received three cell phone calls while driving on the freeway into which he barked that the traffic was heavy.

If only....I had driven Bob to work, then I would have had a car to go pay for the car, and then pick up at our leisure. If only....I had had the driver pick me up at 11am...as the car was finished on time. If only...I had made other arrangements. Good grief. Just be honest. Tell me you are going to let people in front of you get in line ahead of you on a silly list.

While I'd much rather wait around at home, than at the dealership---dropping the car off the day before mean three hours of dealership daytime tv, and being shuttled to an Enterprise Rental place that had no cars into which I fit. (and the promise of a $5 rental turned out to have all sorts of hidden fees, like the $16 insurance, and $5 a gallon gas...)

I am thankful that the bearing was still under warranty. But does that mean we have three more bearing that might wait to go out in 10,000 miles? Our warranty is only good until 75,000 or June of 2014, whichever comes first.

And I would like to apologize again to my longsuffering husband. Not only did he have to endure the hourly emails, but I have been wanting a full coverage warranty next time we buy a car. But, unless you specify limo service with a driver, it would be a waste of money. We paid an extra $1314.00 for the 75,000 warranty. Between the bearing going out and some warranty work early on, did we get our money's worth? Time to pore back over all the receipts I have faithfully kept.

Easter 2012

Sorry. I just was not feeling it this year. And our church's song service excuse instead of teaching never fails to dissappoint. Mental note: skip Christmas and Easter at our church. Unless you like singing. Even then--it was hard to tell when we were suppose to join in, and when we were suppose to be good listeners. I got a few funny looks. To hell with them. ha

If I wanted good music...

If I wanted karaoke...

And we are preparing to leave on a trip. (is it safe to post this here?) Should I say instead, hey come rob us, we'll be gone ten days?

We enjoy helping our sons and their families at this stage in our lives. And Bob would leave tonight, but Amber's folks don't leave until tonight, so we need to wait until tomorrow. Then help them load up whatall they are hauling themselves, and drive to Missouri. James has a six month class.

Paring down whatall is in the frig...I'd love to leave it empty. I'd love to completely empty it out and do a defrost. Get rid of all the water and ice that does not go in the usual defrost cycle.

We got home from church yesterday, and Bob tried to mow before it rained. I fetched sandwiches from Schlotzsky's. We had eaten the dozen eggs by means of egg salad sandwiches on Saturday. We are down to one apple...a ham bone, and condements.

The strangest Easter of all. No chocolate...except the cocoa puffs.

But, our children blessed us with pictures on facebook, and little mini movies of Baby James chatting on the cell phone (case) of his mom's cell phone. He even harumps through a little cough here or there as if talking under his breath. It is a hoot. We have watched it on facebook over and over. Bob has spent time trying to break down every sylable...as if Baby James is ordering out for pizza.