Colorado Dreamin'.

So I've been having some really odd dreams lately. Even odder is that I'm actually remembering some of them longer than the first 5 minutes I'm awake. I've heard that dreams are our brains' way of working out problems while we're sleeping, but I just can't see how some of them are working anything out at all. They're just, well, silly.


The other night in Dreamland....

Jacob, the Marine who lost his legs in Afghanistan 18 months ago or so, sought me out to go to the thrift store. Mind you, I've never met him in real life, as we know his wife, not him, so I was quite flattered that he wanted to spend any time with me. 

Instead of going to the typical thrift stores, we went to this big building with lots of corridors and rooms that didn't seem claustrophobic but airy. He was looking for something to surprise his wife, Ella, but he wasn't sure what it was. Finally, we came to the corner of the room, and there was a big dollhouse on the table. Because he and Ella are expecting a little girl in a few months, he was very interested. And as soon as he saw a little plastic Nativity scene that was in the shape of a ball that all the little characters fit in neatly. Sort of like one of those puzzle balls where you put the star block in the star-shaped hole. 

They wanted $40 for it, but he realized he'd left his money somewhere else, so he asked me to stay and watch to make sure nobody else bought it. While I was waiting, I noticed some sort of a lottery or bingo or something going on where they were giving little gifts away. As I watched the participants, I was acutely aware of the fact that I didn't want any of them to get Jacob's dollhouse, all the time sizing up the gifts that they were starting to fight over and trying to determine, if it was even worth getting a late start into the game.

It wasn't. So I decided to walk around and see some of the other rooms I hadn't seen yet. (So much for watching the dollhouse!) I came across a vendor who was set up in the stairwell landing. The shop owner was being told by the owner of the building he was no longer allowed to sell his wares, which greatly distressed me, because I found something I wanted. They were white flannel pajamas with all of the NFL team helmets on them along with a list of each player on the teams for the 2013 season. I knew that Hopper would love them, so I talked him into selling me the set I was already holding onto when he was told to pack things up. 

I wrote out a check, since he'd had to pack away his credit card machine. As I reached for the receipt, he held up my bra with a smirk on his face! (It was the same one I'd seen in the wash earlier in the day when I was washing laundry in real life. I remember thinking at the time that I really needed a new bra. It no longer really fits right after I've lost weight. Plus I had to remove the underwires after they snapped in half. So it really is a mess!) 

I was about ready to die of embarrassment when he started swinging it around! I told him he needed to give it back. Now! And he responded, "It's not doing you any good anyway. I mean, look at your physique!" Unfortunately, that physique looked the same in the dream as it does in the real world, so I was pretty much mortified at my lumpiness when I woke up. 

Obviously, it's time to get a new bra. I've lost just under 30 pounds since August, and while that's nothing compared to what I need to lose, it's a start. And losing that much weight really does change how a bra fits, so I'm thinking I need to stop dreaming about it and actually go shopping and do something about it.

Still, I wonder, if Jacob got the dollhouse and what Ella thought of it.

Good news, bad news, and heroes.

Sadly, the Waldo Canyon Fire has completely destroyed at least 346 homes, and they did find 2 people in one of those destroyed homes. It's incredibly sad, and I'm heartbroken for the families who have suffered such loss in the worst wildfire in Colorado history. 


That being said, and being a 'the glass is half full' kind of girl, I am amazed that the loss wasn't much more substantial. The neighborhood that was decimated by the fire was just on the edge of the area where roughly 20,000 people were evacuated. If the firefighters hadn't done such an amazing job, if they hadn't foreseen where the fire was headed and the potential devastation and called the evacuations when they did, it could have been even more catastrophic than it was.


I shudder at the thought, and I am so very thankful for the brave firefighters who have saved so many homes and so many lives! They are heroes, no doubt! 


Today, most of the evacuation orders have been lifted, and people are slowly finding their ways back home, and firefighting efforts are making a huge difference. Containment at this point stands at 25%. This morning, it was at 15%, while yesterday, it had finally made it to 10%, and it stood at 5% containment for 2 days. And while that may not seem like much, 25% containment of a larger fire is an awful lot better than only 5% of a smaller fire. 


There is huge progress. 


Thankfully, the weather has cooperated, and we've gotten a bit of moisture here and there to help with efforts. The raised humidity levels have helped as well. Sunday is the day where the weather may cause a lot of problems. There is no rain in the forecast, and the humidity levels will once again be dangerously low. I'm praying the firefighters will be able to hold their lines and gain ground on this fire in spite of Sunday's weather.


In the meantime, we got more amazing news!


Ella and Jacob's parents were able to fly to Germany to be with him late Wednesday night into Thursday morning. They were able to fly back to the States with him today, and he is safe at Walter Reed. I'm so very thankful that Ella was able to find her way back to Jacob, and that they will be able to get through this together. 


Their church is collecting donations to be able to help them with expenses. And t-shirts have been made up to not only raise a little money for the kids, but also to show support for them. The t-shirts say, 'Jacob is my' on the top line, followed by the Eagle, Globe and Anchor, which is the Marine Corps symbol, on the center line with 'HERO' on the bottom line. 


As much as I would love to use their real names and give the address out on my blog I feel I must respect their privacy. I don't know that I have the right to share without asking, and I don't feel like now is the appropriate time to ask one of them. They just have so much going on right now. Once things settle a bit, I will find out, if they're comfortable with the information being out there. In the meantime, if anyone wants to contribute, buy a t-shirt, or wants to write a card of encouragement to Jacob, please email me, and I will send you the information privately. 


I'm so very thankful for the heroes in my life. I hate to think of where I'd be without them. 


I'm glad I don't have to know.

Putting things in perspective.

Most of the time, I'm not the only one on my mind. It may come across from time to time that I'm really self-centered, but I'd like to think that isn't the case. I just sometimes get caught up in what's going on in my own little world to the exclusion of anyone else's. Typically, it's nothing but survival and usually comes about as a result of overwhelming stress.

The other day I was completely snapped out of my reality and realized that my stress is nothing compared to others'. I fully understand that what someone else is going through does not negate the stress I am feeling, and that I shouldn't ignore that I have struggles of my own. But it does help me to not focus on my own stresses and build them up in my mind any larger than they should be...

I've known Ella for the last 10 years or so. She's a beautiful young lady with a heart for God. I've seen her grow from a precious child to a capable woman in what seems like a blink of an eye. She and Jacob, a young man on his first enlistment in the United States Marine Corps, married in December. Shortly thereafter, Jacob deployed to Afghanistan. 

She got the call a couple of days ago that Jacob was severely injured in combat. She was told that he had broken his hip, had a compound fracture in his wrist, and that he lost one leg at the knee. Horrible injuries, no doubt. But today she got more of the story...

Her husband not only has a broken hip and a compound fracture to his wrist, but it appears he has lost both legs and is much more severely injured than she was first told. He's on a ventilator and is, according to Ella's brother, "pretty much injured all over his body". 

Jacob is at a hospital in Germany. Alone. No family over there to help him through this. My prayer is that we can find Ella a way to go to Jacob and be with him. To pray with him. To support him. To love him. To hold his hand. To bring him home. 

This has definitely put my problems in perspective.

They ain't nothin' but a thing.