I can’t reveal all the things that have gone on this week because… well I don’t even think you would believe me if I told you everything, however, let’s just say that it included finding out that Matthew’s tooth is dead and he’s in need of a $1000 root canal on Tuesday.  Something happened on Monday, but I forgot what it was… isn’t that horrible.  After the discovery of the $1000 tooth fix it went down hill from there on Tuesday.

By Wednesday, I was spent.  I was in a funk.  The boy was in a funk.  The kids are clueless, which is a good thing, because they don’t need to worry about this stuff but Wednesday morning, I decided that I was going to turn my week around.  Afterall, I’m always hearing from my Pastor that my attitude is my choice and due to my spiritual struggles to begin with, I just decided that I wasn’t going to crumble…I decided that I wasn’t going to fall.

Church last night was good.  I’ve been struggling there as well with some changes that have been taking place and we all know how I am with change, but I went and it was uplifting and there was a little bit of change in me.  It was good.  I felt good.

So I get home…I call my Dad to wish him a happy birthday and then I was talking to my mom and all of a sudden I hear, “I’m going to need some help…the dog just went after a skunk and I think she got sprayed.”  I handed the phone to Samara and as I ran out into the yard, I heard Sam yell “Get tomato… uh, something … to wash her with.”

Tomato Juice.  In case you’re wondering… tomato juice.  And if you’re having a bad week and you go to the grocery store at 10:30pm at night, I can gauruntee you that the cheap, Kroger brand of tomato juice?  The one that’s on sale for 2 for $3?  Yeah.. it’s going to be SOLD OUT.  Can I ask why the rush on tomato juice this week? Did the same skunk hit half of Roanoke County?  Seriously!  So I had to buy the Campbell’s tomato juice for $3.39 a jar.  Of course, not knowing how much tomato juice it would take to wash my 75lb black lab, I bought 3.

But since I was there, I picked up some other stuff that we were out of… and $35 dollars later, I left to go back to the house to wash the dog who STUNK.

Fortunately, Rhoda was a champ.  She really was.  Getting hosed down with cold water and tomato juice I’m sure was not the most pleasant thing at almost 11pm at night.

By the time I fell into bed, I was beat.  But the whole time I just kept looking up…I just kept talking to God.  “Hey Big Guy… I know there’s a lesson here.  I know it.  Can you just tell me instead of making me figure it out myself?  But if I need to figure it out, I’ll keep trying.”

So when I posted about the stinky dog last night on Facebook, the Boy’s sister summed it up the best with “You really have had a stinky week.”

Understatement of the year, Sis… Understatement of the year…

But you know what?

Today is a new day.  Today I woke up and I started over.

So we’re going to see.  We’re going to see what happens.  But so far?  I think there’s a light at the end of the tunnel…

And I’m just praying that it’s not an oncomming train…

Until next time…