Unlucky Ducks

Today was better than yesterday, that’s for sure.

Last night, I stayed up a little too late (on into the wee hours of the morning) watching Water for Elephants (which was wonderful, by the way…and I am sooo not a movie person either), so our morning started a little bit later as well.  We rolled out of bed and hit the Old City Farmers Market first thing. Organic kale, pickled okra, dried strawberries, dried kiwi, hummus, and vegan stuffed grape leaves were on the list of goodies that we came home with.  Successful day to say the least. After hitting the local grocery store too, the refrigerator is stuffed to the max full of fresh goodness to carry us through the week.

A pickle-on-a-stick and a black Kenyan coffee may or may not have been breakfast.

In this life (and after yesterday…I’ll explain later), it’s easy to feel sorry for ourselves. Really, it is. No matter what the situation. We must remind ourselves however, that it is through the trials and tribulations that God molds us into the people He wants us to be.

Yesterday was not a day that we walked with sunshine over our heads, both figuratively and literally.  And it’s hard to bring this guy down.

Actually…you won’t. And thank God for that or who knows where I’d be.

We definitely had a play date on the nearby playground a few days ago.

Not only was is POURING here all day long (minus about ten minutes) but we also managed to get scammed three times… in. one. day. Our new record.

Let me explain.

Scam number one: We are currently in the process of finding a place to live once we move up to Jacksonville. We have searched and searched and searched. We’ve gone through realtors, classifieds, and now Craigslist too.  Even though I hate the word hate, I hate Craigslist.  There is very little good that actually comes from that site.

After speaking with a man/woman/it over e-mail quite a few times, we thought we finally found the perfect place.  He/she/it told us to drop by the place to check it out (he/she/it was “out-of-town,” so for today we could only see the outside). That alone seemed sketchy to us, so after driving 45 minutes up to check out the house, we decided to ring the neighbor’s door to find out a little bit more about this he/she/it. The place seemed too good to be true. My mom quickly reminded me tonight that “if ever something seems to good to be true, it is.” She was right.  The he/she/it in the e-mail claimed to be a man working in Alabama and that is why he needed to rent out his home. When we asked the neighbor about the owner he said, “Francsis? Oh, HER health started declining so SHE had to move in with HER son a few miles up the road.”

Realllllllyyyyyy……

This he/she/it is still e-mailing me (I haven’t yet let him know that I’m on to his scam), trying to get information to steal my identity and in a few more e-mails I’m going to let him know that he too has been scammed. So tricky, aren’t I?…Muah hahaha. Ha! Yeahhh

Scam number 2: Dustin decided he would go help out at a youth baseball center with a seemingly prestigious name (I’m not going to name names). We drove an hour up to this baseball complex to find a baseball field in the middle of a cow pasture (deep into the projects too). For a 14-15 year old team, the tattoos were pretty impressive (joking) and the language was well, let’s just say you wouldn’t want your children to here the words coming out of these also children’s mouths. Back to square one we go.

Scam number 3: While Dustin was at his incredible youth baseball practice, I decided to find a dog park in order to let Boss and Gunner run around. I Google-mapped a park and found “7 Leashes Dog Walking Park.” Sounds legit, right? I drive thirty minutes there to find a cement side walk…awesome dog park, Jacksonville, awesome.  We did two laps around the “park” (taking all of eight minutes), and loaded up and called it a day.

Enough was enough. Let’s go home.

You know those days where nothing seems to go your way, this was one of them.

Today was much better though, I can happily say. Even though there is so much confusion and so many unanswered questions in our life right now, I am certain and have full trust in our amazing God. I will never doubt the plans he has for us.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11