Sunday, March 11, 2007

Over Doing It

Yesterday the family birthday party was fun except for a few glitches. The first mishap was with the big surprise gift – the bike. We had a scavenger hunt planned outside for him to find it. Dave at 4:30 went out to where it was hidden between the neighbor homes to inflate the tires. Dave is my quality control man if you didn’t already guess. After Dave completed the back tire and waited a few seconds the tube inside exploded! Dave came into our home and found me upstairs putting on my makeup "We have a problem." He proceeded to explain how he aired the front first then the back tire. He waited and then a "shot gun" sound went off. His ears were awake by that point. I quickly asked what time it was and for him to get a different bike or figure out how to fix this issue. Dave quickly went to the bike shop to get the original bike that Cole wanted. There was one left and to my delight Dave talked them down in price. He is a man after my own heart. I even received a phone call to tell me he did just that. Love you Dave! You did good. We will return the red bike today or tomorrow. The hot yellow bike after the scavenger hunt!
The next two mishaps were in the kitchen. The garlic red potatoes were suppose to be done in 40 minutes. Not! I increased the temp to 400 and they finally were cooked after opening the presents. We did a reverse party of opening the presents first then eating. It’s called flexibility.
Onto the lava cakes - I waited to prepare them till after everyone ate dinner. Their tummies were settling and while having a good conversation – something about lupper dogs. Ask soccer Gram about her new business idea she got from a PBS documentary. Back to the cakes- I was happily at work in the kitchen doubling the recipe due to eight little cakes that needed to be made. All was well but when the 13 minutes were up the cakes were not set. Another two minutes – still not set. Two more minute, etc. Not set. Finally after so many extra minutes they ate hot chocolate soup of sorts with fresh rasberries and whip cream. I sat there while everyone was eating their soup and finally devised that I forgot to add the 12 tablespoons of flour. Oh well. I guess I was so engrossed with the lupper dog conversation that I wasn’t totally concentrating.


For the most part all were well in the Snodgrass home after the party. Cole went to bed content and happy. Mom went to bed with a severe eye ache. I actually went to bed immediately after they did. It had been hurting for some time during the day. Thank you Dave for cleaning up after the party. I was out of commission. At 3 am I woke with an intense headache behind my eye and at the right back base of my head. I took two Tylenol and woke up Dave. I was crying. My body was shaking – nerves I assume. I told him that I was scared. It hurt quite but not as bad as the headaches prior to brain surgery. I was debating in my mind whether or not I should be seen at the hospital. We decided to wait to see if the Tylenol would kick it. Thankfully it did.

I over did it yesterday. My eye was fatigued towards the end of the day. I am realizing I cannot do as much as I did in a days time. I have even noticed when I sing with Stuart in the morning the Praise Ye the Lord song. I cannot go up and down in fast motion. Carter has already told me he wants a football theme party in June with an obstacle course of sorts. Will need to pace myself for that day. The easier the better on June 5.

As odd times of fear creep in pray that I will not dwell on that fear and be able to give it over to Jesus. Also needing encouragement in my heart at those times. I am praising God that this cancer is so much bigger than me. It forces me to give it over and not hold on. Thankful that the Lord delights in me before I even give my fear over.

Birthday breakfast tradition of a candle with your pancake!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i think the party was a huge success--the potatoes tasted delicious, as did the lava cakes. (remember, gooey butter cake was discovered under a similiar unplotted situation). i can't think of a better way to celebrate another year passing other than a series of tiny, unscripted disasters. hey, at least dave discovered the tire issue prior to the party, and not while cole was on the bike. that would've been a true disaster.

true, spontaneity can be both a beautiful and terrifing thing. and i know it's sometimes hard for you to slow down, to let things get disheveled and less than ideal, but it's not worth the headache. sis, we all know you're capable of throwing fabulous parties with or without key ingrediants.

Anonymous said...

Kate,

We had a similar fiasco with a bike that we gave Erin on her fifth birthday...only in our case, the brake on one side was stuck in the on position, and no matter how hard the poor kid pedaled, she didn't meet with much success! (It had hand brakes in preparation for the day when she would be training-wheel free!) We also ultimately wound up with a different bike! Funny that I had forgotten about that until today.

Love how you are praising God for your cancer being bigger than you...I hope that some day I have the maturity to praise God for the parenting challenges we have with our one child, and that some day she can see her uniqueness similarly. (Oh, to be as wise as you!)

Erika

Anonymous said...

Kate,

I just spent some time praying for your heart in these unplanned, unwanted moments of fear. I am praying that God would fill you up to the brim with Himself and with His presence, and surprise you at all times with how much peace He gives you.

Still praying for you,

With love,

Pam Mueller