It seems that time just stopped for a few days as we were out of town with family and dealing with the news of my cousin’s deaths. I have no idea what day this is…and I’m not sure what’s for lunch.
While we were gone, two of the clocks in our house actually stopped. Weird.
And yet, time did not stop. Life goes on…even when you’re in the midst of tragedy and grief and you feel like everything else needs to stop and wait for you to catch up.
So we’re back home now, and reality is setting back in.
Because we left in such a rush on Saturday…there were a few things that normally we would have taken care of before leaving for a trip that just didn’t get done.
As a result, we came home to a stinky house. :) Somehow there was wet laundry that had gotten put into a pile in the bathroom…and we all know what wadded up wet laundry does in the course of five days. And…the dishes in the sink had begun to grow fuzz…which of course added to the stinky house situation. And…there’s just a lot of moisture in the air from all the rain and humidity…so everything just feels heavy and wet…and stinky.
So, today…I’m working to de-stink my house. Several loads of laundry and a few open windows later…things are starting to smell better. (Oh, and I handed my boys the toilet brush!)
The lawn looked like we’d moved away for good….with it’s 3,457,982 dandilions and only 12 blades of grass….all long enough to clog the mower. Sheesh. 
But we also came home to this:
And it proved to me in a joyful way that indeed, life does go on. And for those of us remaining on this earth, God will continue to bring about changes and death and new life.
He is real. He is unchanging. He is steadfast. And because of Him…life goes on.
Melanie says:
Stinky houses stink. Glad you’re getting it aired out. Still trying to de-stink ours from the wetness of the basement leaking. I think we’ve almost got everything dried out now, thankfully!
May 30th, 2008 at 11:12 am
jayme says:
Coming home to my house was also really hard. Harder than I thought…my chest got all heavy and ouchy.
Life does go on…I’m sorta glad and I sorta hate it all at the same time.
I’m sorry things were stinky. that stinks.
I love you still today.
May 30th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Amy says:
The hardest thing for us after my 22 year old brother was killed in a car accident was that life went on (seemingly for everyone BUT us for a while, which was even more frustrating in our intense grief)… but it was also the best thing. What a trying, stretching time!
May 30th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Sally says:
I’ve been having a hard time figuring out what day it is, too. And although I don’t have stinky laundry to deal with, I do have tons of regular laundry…and we had an empty fridge and dogs who thought we’d abandoned them…but I’m SO glad we had the last 6 days to spend with family. I think I will go through family withdrawls for a while. And it seems really weird to not have emails and jokes and posts from Kim…
May 30th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Diane says:
You and your family have been in our thoughts and prayers over the last week. May you feel the Lord’s presence as a healing balm for you and your family’s hurting hearts.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Donna says:
Laura,
I’ve been praying that God would give you rest. It’s hard to come home after such an emotionally exhausting time to a ton of work. May God give a special place of rest for you over this weekend.
-Donna-
Psa 55:6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.
Your words encouraged me so much BTW! Thank U!
May 30th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Lenetta says:
Our irises *just* started blooming, too! While the baby and I were gone over Memorial weekend (hubby was home, mind you), the house got funky. Might have something to do with the cantelope rinds that he forgot to take to the chickens. Yuck-o!
May 31st, 2008 at 6:39 am