Being Grumpy

I did not wake up on the wrong side of the bed; the stupid wall moved during the night! This is the day I've had. The stupid birds outside the stupid window were shreaking their stupid songs to wake me up. Did they not realize I'm 20, and it was only 8:20 in the morning? Also, I'm in my favorite kind of pain for the eighth day in a row. Whee. Then I had a "conversation" with a sleeping Alabaster while I was eating oatmeal that had too much milk in it, so it was mush. Then Mom called and I had to go because of devotions. I knew if I didn't get some meditation in, my day was going to suck.

So I finished my first day of "reading through the Bible in a Year." I should have started this at the beginning of the summer; alas, 500 meaningless excuses later, I began today. I prayed; it was good. The edge of my bad mood had been curbed, and I joined Valerie downstairs to help paint. The spiders were less than friendly, and many met an untimely demise. After we ran out of paint, we decided to eat lunch. I liked my sandwich, and I was able to watch FRIENDS, so my mood lightened all the more.

Valerie and I returned to the yellow room to finish painting after our bucket was kindly refilled. PS, have you ever painted a textured concrete wall with paint brushes? It takes a while. Two days later, and we still have touch-ups to do, but I think the girls will really like it.

She made it through her grumpy schlump. Yay! Now here comes the part where we're all enlightened!

I'm not entirely sure if that's what you were thinking, but I'm going to throw you a curve ball if that's the case. I went upstairs to talk to Alabaster since our first conversation was less than stimulating, and everything was very pleasant....and both parties stayed awake. It was wonderful. Then I decided that I needed a shower, so I gathered my things, and as soon as I finished, there was a knock on the door. Valerie was telling me we were off to get popcorn for happy-girly-fun-movie night with the girls. I assumed that we were going to be driven there, but Cindy, Valerie and I walked. Don't get me wrong, I love walking. I wasn't the least bit upset about it until about the 5th "wolf whistle."

If they weren't whistling, they were honking. Gringas don't go unnoticed here. I had to continually remind myself that flipping them the bird would be very unproductive as I am on a mission trip. Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ echoed in my mind as it happened over and over again. I stopped counting at 15 because that seemed to make it worse. Round trip, it was about an hour and 45 minutes. We got two movies for the night: Rango & Zombie Undead. Wild gap, huh? Well Rango was a hit for all 6 of us, but Valerie decided to skip out on the zombies. I can't say I blame her. She probably made the better choice. The zombie movie was horrible...it's a British film. (go figure)

After cleaning up and saying goodnight, I was really looking forward to speaking with Alabaster again. Lucky for me, it was a train wreck from the first minute. My webcam has decided to be extremely tempramental and shut off whenever it pleases. The program for the software likes to pop up on my screen randomly, too. So I'm thoroughly annoyed, and my awesome mood seeps into the conversation and spoils the whole thing.

What a day. I look at this post, and I see my whining. I see that today was not totally unproductive. I see that happy-girly-fun movie night was a success, and yet I still feel grumpy. I understand that I am the only one that can change that; I understand that it's not beneficial to me or anyone in my war path to feel this way. I understand that I'm responsible for my feelings, but for goodness sake, it's hard to control my emotions sometimes. And sometimes I just don't want to. I sound like a brat...who am I kidding? I'm being a brat.

Father, thank You for Your continued patience with me. I have no insightful ending to this day, but You have promised me that you will never leave me. You put me here for a reason; please show me how to learn from my grumpy mood. I want to take up a permanent residence in Your Presence...because that is where the fullness of Joy is. Thank You for your eternal Joy that always lingers in my heart. I love you so much, Father. Wrap me in Your arms tonight.