Diet Dr. Pepper and other visual stimuli...

I'm preparing for next week, which is month five of scheduling and my first week of heavily reduced work. I'm a sucker for visual reminders, so I have some things to help me get through and remind me who is in control. Diet Dr. Pepper, cookie dough and welcome home signs. You may think I’ve gone crazy and you may think these things have nothing to do with the events of next week or with one another, but they do.

Most important is the Diet DP. First, I’m pretty frugal and fairly health conscience, so I hardly buy my beloved Diet DP- but for this week it is very important, so I got the needed 12-pack. You may laugh, but 12-packs of Diet Dr. Pepper remind me of God’s faithfulness. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. Some years ago my oldest brother was battling cancer. As you can imagine, it was an extremely hard time for my family. I don’t really have the words for it and probably never will, but it was a huge walk of faith and often, a struggle. There was also a lot of waiting. Waiting for a better day; waiting to see if the treatment worked; waiting for another treatment to start; waiting for God to answer our prayers. During this time I took on the extra responsibilities needed since my mom was often at Doctors or hospitals with my brother. I helped to home school my younger siblings, keep the house in order, prepare meals when needed and field phone calls. It was hard work. A dear friend of our family knew how much I was doing and in addition to her constant prayerful support, meals etc., did something special for me. She brought me Diet Dr. Pepper. That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I L-O-V-E Diet DP (and I had just lost a lot of weight and was worried about gaining it back) and she knew. She would come to my house every other day or so and bring a 12-pack. Sometimes she would ring the doorbell and talk to me, tell me she was praying for me, give me a hug, etc. Other times, she would just leave it on the porch with a sweet note. It seems small, but it was huge to me-HUGE. God only knows what she spent on soda throughout my brother’s illness-Lord bless her! My brother survived and is doing wonderfully now in all aspects of his life, not just physically. (I am so thankful that’s how it worked out, but God would still be God and still be faithful even if it hadn’t) Every time I see a Diet DP 12-pack now I think of that dear, sweet lady and I think of God’s faithfulness, how even the little seemingly nothings were (and are) taken care of. He saw us through some very hard and dark times…this is different, but He is not. Sometimes that’s easy to lose sight of. Yes it’s silly, but the soda reminds me.

As for the cookie dough. George really, really likes chocolate chip cookies! I managed to perfect a recipe in Ghana and he’s hooked. I want to make sure to have cookies for him when he comes. I’m pretty certain that I’ll be so beside myself with excitement before he comes that I would somehow mess up cookies from scratch…so Pillsbury it is! When I see the dough in the fridge, it reminds me that he IS coming and I pray HARD!!

And the signs…Those are so good for me! I don’t know why, but it’s like therapy to sit down and work on a welcome sign. I finished one that will be on the front door and I’m working on huge letters to cut out and hang in the apartment, they say ’welcome’ in his first language, Ewe.

I’m well aware that these things (or maybe just sharing it) makes me a complete cheese ball. I don’t care.