Spring has sprung, the grass has riz...

I wonder where my redbud is?

We have a retarded redbud. I'm not really even convinced that it is a redbud. My awesome dad showed up with it a couple of years ago. He knows Handyman loves Redbuds. And he brought a nice little one out of his tree line. We planted it right by the curve of our driveway, sheltered, but where we would see it often.

I swear it's just a wild cherry. Nary a bud. The forsythia is coming on. The lilacs are leafing out. The daylilies are well on their way. The clematis is coming. The rhubarb is making a big showing. But the "redbud"? Nuttin.

Daaaaaaaaaaad?

On another note, I took a bad step backing down the hayloft ladder on Friday afternoon. Handyman built me this wonderful ladder, that I have been up and down--on average--about 4x/day for the past year and a half. Not one problem. It has a terrific slant, with wide treads. I can almost run up it. I carry the hay in my right hand on the way down. Can do it in my sleep. Except for Friday.

I knew my right, descending foot had missed the step completely. I was turned a little toward the right, looking toward the horses. When my right foot missed, for a second I thought about not wanting to hit my body or face on the ladder as I fell, so I must have spun a little to the right and pushed off with my left foot to clear the ladder.

I landed on my left foot, with that leg completely straight, into the gravel. The right leg went forward, heel first, digging a trench in the gravel. And then I was sitting on my butt. But, I know that my whole body weight landed on that left foot. I'm not sure which step I was on, but I fell far enough that it spooked both horses to run out of the barn, even though they knew lunch was coming down with me.

I felt kinda sick for a moment, thinking if I had broken my leg, what a mess we'd be in. Handyman was up at the house, with my dad and our neighbor the fireman. I had no phone with me. I did the horseman's routine assessment before moving and my Princess Tashi came dashing in the door to me. She had hesitated on the barn porch looking in, knowing that I should not be in that position. She knew something was up and was relieved that I called her to me. Although she didn't pick up on the "go tell Dad that Mom's been hurt" when I asked her to.

I stood up and knew nothing was broken, PTL, PTL. I limped back to the house but didn't want set off any alarms with company. But, it's definitely stoved and sprained. There is no bruising anywhere and no localized pain. But, interestingly, my calf muscle is VERY sore and it is swollen compared to my other leg. It doesn't hurt to put weight on it but both my knee and my ankle are tender, and only work in the straight forward position.

I slept with a heating pad last night, moving it to different places up and down my leg and that helped a lot. I feel confident that nothing is busted and once again, I am thankful for mercy. I think the Lord just wanted me to know how fast anything can change and how fragile we all are. I am glad of another opportunity to rely on the Lord, always, throughout my day and appreciate the amazing engineering He has put in our bodies.

Our church recently finished a series on the book of Job. I can't tell you how worthwhile and uplifting it was. And I was not looking forward to it. Here's a link to the first message in the series. Here's a link to the Sermon directory if you want to read/hear the rest of the series. The first week was January 11, 2009 and it was a 7-message series, if you're interested. You can read the text, download to an MP3 or just listen online. Because, it's not WHETHER you will have suffering in your life, but WHEN. We all need to be prepared.