Thanks be to God!

Our Novena to the Miraculous Infant of Prague has been a lot more than nine days, but we are so thankful that the Lord has leaned His merciful ear in our direction. A couple of freelance checks came through just as we needed them, and my husband had two more sales for Lighthouse Catholic Media basically fall into his lap, plus the promised sale of a little music. We are still struggling for cash at the moment as those last three items have not been paid for yet, but we are making it by the skin of our teeth.

The paper slows production to every other week during the summer, so my checks for that will be much smaller, but I've picked up the annual project for my friend that I always do. And I am behind, unfortunately, but I hope to get caught up. I also have to get going on a story about a foster family for the upcoming issue of the paper. (They take in babies born in crisis situations until their parents either get straightened out or relinquish the babies for adoption -- cool, huh.) Plus I'm way behind on weeding my garden, teaching Zooey how to ride a two-wheeler without training wheels, etc., etc., etc...

But life is good, and I thank God for blessing us with the bit of extra income that we need.

--Sparki

Troubling times...

I came home yesterday around 5 p.m. to find two uniformed police officers standing sentry on the corner. I stopped to ask the cops if everything was all right, and one grimaced and shook his head...then shrugged and said it was going to be fine. Knowing I wouldn't get any more information out of them, I thanked them for being in the neighborhood and went inside...where the children and cousin M (who was babysitting for us) huddled in the house, afraid to go out.

Cousin M told me there were gunshots in the neighborhood sometime around 3 p.m. The police showed up right after that and had been there ever since.

I haven't yet heard back from the community services officer (left voice mail), and the television news stations had nothing to say, but on the newspaper's web site, I read that shots were fired six blocks away from our house at 2:47 p.m. yestreday. I'm guessing it might be that whomever did the first shooting came over and fired again in our neighborhood just minutes later.

I'm also guessing it is the same persons involved with the "domestic disturbance" we had a few weeks ago. One of our neighbors has a restraining order against somebody, which was violated when that person showed up with some sort of weapon. We had about a dozen police officers in the neighborhood that day, and one remained on the corner for the rest of the evening. Since then, the patrol cars have driven by at least once an hour round the clock, sometimes every 15 minutes (which leads me to believe that the know when this person gets off work or something like that, because they know when to come by more frequently).

Just days before that, a different neighbor down the block with a different restraining order had called the police because that subject was violating the protection order and refusing to leave the area. The cops cuffed him, but he managed to run away on foot. Again, neighborhood was crawling with cops until they found him hiding behind somebody's garage. At least that guy wasn't armed and was in cuffs.

Well.

The community services officer assures me that my neighborhood is not any less "active" than it was a year ago, and I do believe him. Most of the stuff that happens is usually a block over west or east, or middle-of-the-night things that we aren't aware of. This stuff is happening just a few yards away from my front door, though, in broad daylight and it does make me nervous. You hear about kids being shot by accident as they sleep in their beds, due to ricocheting bullets or misaimed handguns or what not.

We're not in a position to move, and really, I don't know how moving would help much. Bad stuff happens in every neighborhood. I am constantly praying for my family's protection, and I hope you will pray for us, too.

I wish we could move to an area that's a little nicer, where I don't have to be so nervous about my kids playing outdoors and all that, but it's just not in the cards right now. Bills. I really hate bills! But some of the nusiance bills are coming to an end. The dentist is almost paid off (and would have been by now if that jerk hadn't been so nice about me making payments and then stuck me with 16% interest added on every month!). But the kids have dental appointments in a few weeks, so there will be another (albeit much smaller) bill...and I still have to go in this year sometime to get that last wisdom tooth removed (that will be a NEW dentist, thank you very much). The doctor bill will be paid off as soon as I get my next check from the paper...just in time for me to set up appointments for Edyn's preschool physical and Lola's well-baby check, neither of which are covered by insurance, so that's $150 right there. And then, of course, we have the income tax bill.

Wouldn't it be great if you really could get $200 just by passing "Go"?

Okay, I'm whining, and I shouldn't be. Your prayers are much appreciated, as always. I in the middle of a Novena to the Infant of Prague. Sometimes it's hard to fathom that a miracle might actually happen, but I try to have faith.

--Sparki