Friday, December 11, 2009

Like when your foot falls asleep and then starts waking up

Paying bills this week: for the first time in years, there are NO large medical bills in the pile. Paid off and closed a couple of small credit card balances, too.

Some of my wife's disability money has arrived. Things are turning around in some major ways.

The older kid is accepted at South Dakota School of Mines, Ohio State and Penn State, with MIT's verdict still out.

The autistic kid eats neatly all of a sudden. I'm not kidding, he's just plain stopped making a mess of himself at the table.

My wife is much more her old self - she rolls with the sick/tired days, but personality wise, she's a blast to be around again.

I'm still doing p/t work at the hospital but I have a new daytime position and am home for dinner with the family every night.

You know how it feels when your foot falls asleep and starts to wake up? You want it awake but it sure hurts to get there. All of this good news is a bit disorienting after several years of havoc, and I find myself out of sorts, even as I experience profound relief and thank God for it.

I'm still dealing with burn-out symptoms. I expect I'll be taking short trips, retreats and generally reclaiming some enjoyments that were dropped while slogging through the last few wilderness years.

Anyway, lots of thoughts and most of 'em good. Our family will probably throw a party at the church, celebrating the triumph of prayer, generosity, compassion and endurance. In other words, a celebration of what happens with Christ in our lives and what could not possibly have happened without Him.

I suppose that this is going to end a fruitful run of blogging. Where will I be absent the angst? Minus the melancholy? Who will listen once the sobs of struggling faith fall silent? Brave Clarice. You will let me know when those lambs stop screaming, won't you? Uhh... sorry, now I'm wandering.

Happens when I'm... happy?!?!?!?!?!?!

6 comments:

Shel Boese said...

amen - throw a party!

Wilf said...

Bless you, Father Tim.

I'll be keeping you in my prayers.

Jill C. said...

Tim, I know. Transistions are tough. Steve and I are sitting here at home without jobs but won't feel the pinch until next year . . . unless one of us finds work. Still no church home. Turning 50 has been very tough for me but I know God is still there.

TLF+ said...

Jill, I was visiting with a friend who is a local intercessor. She says that so many of God's faithful are reporting this kind of cloudy time. "Why?" "How long?" I wish I had answers.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back to blogdom,Fr. Tim!
I've been praying and lighting the occasional candle, for you and you family.
Rdr. James Morgan
Olympia, WA

TLF+ said...

Thank you for those prayers and the light to signify them, James! Our family realizes that it has been carried these last few years on the prayers of people like you.