A Time to Instruct
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Diana sent word to Collette on Monday afternoon, that her old friend from Bible quizzing, Joan, had been engaged on Sunday night. This meant that Diana would be a bridesmaid three times that summer. One wedding would be in Pittsburgh and another in Washington. Joan’s would probably take place in St. Louis.
Meanwhile, though OLeif had eased himself off of the crutches rather rapidly, he was still limping and experiencing pain in his muscles. Aftermath, no doubt. Although Collette had high hopes of getting him into the doctor that week.
Back on Tuesday, the low was ten degrees.
Over at the house for teaching that morning, Carrie-Bri was in the kitchen preparing a grand Elvis-style breakfast (the breakfast Elvis ate every morning at Graceland): fried bacon, homemade biscuits with gravy (from the bacon drippings), eggs scrambled in the leftover bacon drippings and cheese, caramelized apples, and cranberry juice.
The smell was so tantalizing, that Rose had been obliged to quarantine both cats beneath a laundry basket with four encyclopedias stacked on top.
“They keep trying to eat the bacon,” Rose said from the couch, studying. “Snuggles has already moved the basket a little bit.”
Snuggles’ arm was at that moment, groping through one of the handles on the side of the basket, grabbing at the carpet.
Following breakfast, Carrie began to stoke up the fire with various things: an old wash cloth, paint ball, a pay stub, S.O.S. Pad, with the usual logs… This was typically a sign that Carrie was verging on boredom, when the pyromaniac in her was more apparent.
The rest of Carrie’s day consisted of piano and guitar, arm-wrestling Rose, writing emails regarding financial aid for school, sit-ups, receiving her first set of textbooks in the mail, oatmeal and raisins for lunch, answering numerous phone calls and IM conversations from Lucia and Elizabeth (respectively), back-packing up and down the basement stairs, and scheduling an interview with NAWS for the following Wednesday.
Late in the afternoon, Carrie bundled herself up in many layers and went up on the roof as the sun was setting.
Earlier, Mom, Dad, Frances, and Linnea had called and all talked with Rose on the phone. Frances and Linnea were both very excited about the giraffes and wildebeests walking below past their balcony. It sounded as though they were having a marvelous time.
“Sheep who are secure in the presence of their shepherd seem to lack an awareness of the extent to which they are watched over. They go merrily on their woolly way, grazing happily without any acknowledgment that the shepherd has just dispatched a pack of wild dogs or steered them away from a dangerous ravine or bypassed unsafe water. I picture myself (and you) like those comically clueless sheep. We have no idea that our Good Shepherd has steered us away from danger or gently led us to a safer place. Instead, as humans, we tend to focus on the times God didn’t seem to do His job. We wonder, ‘How could God let this happen?’”
– p.118, Bring ‘Em Back Alive, Dave Burchett