Eeyore-ish???? Not So!

Some have been asking me if my life has been eeyore-ish lately, simply too boring or blah to blog about. That question makes me laugh. But actually, there has been a plethora of blog-worthy topics in my life. For example, Hurricane Ike was eventful for my family down in Houston. Mom and dad's garage was effectively destroyed, along with mom's car, when a ginormous tree uprooted and fell on top of it. All the support beams and everything in the attic came crashing down on top of her car, totaling it. Dad's car got scratched up pretty good, and got a new paint job this week. The tree and garage (what was left of it) had to be removed and a new one (garage, that is...not tree) is being built in its place. So while the garage was torn up, the breezeway that connects house to garage had a gaping hole in it. A raccoon made his/her way in there one morning; I was there when we heard it above us, setting up shop. Mom called the critter catcher, who probably makes a pretty good living in a place like The Woodlands.
Meanwhile, dad had a little stroke in August and September was filled with drs. visits and diagnostic tests. Last week, he had a carotid endarterectomy. That's a fancy way of saying they cut open his neck on the left side and gave that artery the roto-rooter treatment. The mini stroke turned out to be an amazing blessing from God, since the surgeon found a big clot when he went in. Without that warning back in August, he would have been unaware and would have had a massive stroke, or worse. We are all very thankful! And thank you who prayed for him; he's recovering very well from the surgery.
Here in Midlo, things are clicking along. B is in the middle of cross country, and is doing well. I'm tired of the 7 am arrival-to-school time, though. A has been on safety patrol the last 2 weeks at her school, proudly standing at the cone and opening and closing car doors for arriving students. So C is off to work early in the mornings and I sit down to write at a strangely quiet time. Which is good, because I've been working my way through 10 writing assignments, most of which take weeks to complete. You'd think the Hopkins were morning folk, from all the activity. But you'd be wrong.
On top of that, I've been writing devotional material (along w/ my good friend TC) each week for our church. It follows the Sunday sermon, and is printed for adults to pick up and use 5 days of the week. I like doing this, since what I write for LifeWay is so....mysterious once it leaves my desktop. Sure, I get some feedback from editors, but I have no idea how God affects people with it. When writing for my church, there's a greater personal connection, which is nice.
I was asked yesterday to tutor again this year, and I'm going to do it. It's not that I don't already have enough on my plate...it's just that I'll rearrange the plate in order to have the opportunity to interact with people a bit more in a non-church setting.
This blog seems pretty boring; I guess that's the problem with waiting so long between posts. I have to spend all my time catching you up! Thanks for checking in on me despite my blog-laziness of late. I'll try to get back on a 1-per-week-minimum rotation. :-)