Birthday Curse This Year?

I am not one who really believes in being "cursed," simply because my faith tells me all that I need to know. I know curses exist....I have worked with enough witches....I just believe that faith in Christ gives us the strength to rebuke and beat the evil Satan puts forth.

That said, something strange is going on with us this year. Jeff's birthday is in the middle of March. I had set forth to bake him brownies and a cherry pie...from scratch, of course. He would also have whatever it was he wanted for dinner that night. Leave it to my husband to want something that is messy, messy to make...but at least it's tasty! Anyway, I was in the middle of mixing ingredients for the brownies when I got a phone call about a friend's grandson who is a month older than Luke. He was on his way to the hospital via ambulance....and it didn't sound good.

About 20 minutes later, not long after I slipped the brownie pan in the oven, I got the update phone call. Little Cullen had passed away. Needless to say I was no longer in the mood to bake. It was a good thing the brownies were essentially finished because I was done. Besides, who can properly do anything when you're crying your eyes out?

Poor Jeff. He still managed to have a good evening, but it had to be very difficult since I was still a blubbering fool. I just can't imagine....

Friday was my birthday. I didn't get my ice cream cake, but DID have a wonderful dinner out with my little family. It was perfect. My actual day had been filled with loads of laundry, but that was fine. I had a show the next day and Jeff was going out of town on Sunday, so Friday was my only day to get things done around the house. Besides, my boy loves to help me. Truly, it was a lovely day.

So, where's the curse on my day? Well, it was Saturday that I found out, after I was done showing and the ponies were on their way home. My friend, Amanda, sent out a text message earlier in the day to share her news. I got the message late as I don't have my phone on me when I'm in the saddle. Friday afternoon the house that she shares with her 21-month-old daughter and her parents burned down. It was a silly thing, really. Lucille, the mom, grandma, and my back-up Bradley coach, had taken the ashes from the wood stove out earlier in the morning. Everything was done properly: the ashes had cooled in the stove overnight, were placed in a sealed metal container to go outside, wet down in the container before they were placed in a wet hole in the ground, wet down again, then mixed into the dirt.

Dangit if it wasn't windy that day! Oh, wait...it's ALWAYS windy here! Anyway, when Lucille lifted the lid to get the hose into the ashes, one still warm ember apparently blew out....right into the woodpile at the porch. From there it continued to smolder, getting hotter in the wood. Eventually it all just went up, fueled on by a propane tank on the grill exploding, and the gas line in the house rupturing.

Amanda's daughter absolutely refused to nap in her normal spot, in the room next to the porch. If she hadn't been sleeping on her grandparent's bed, she probably wouldn't have made it out. Praise God for giving Jayden the intuition to stay safe!! Everyone is safe and they're staying with family, but the house and belongings are all gone.

We spent the day together Sunday and shared a few tears together. Tears of sorrow, and tears of joy over the family being safe.

Honestly, it makes me nervous for June. I hope and pray....oh boy do I pray! I hope and pray that Luke's birthday will be a wonderful, yet uneventful day. This is especially important to me since we'll be away on vacation with his grandparents. My parents have planned a trip to the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore. I've always wanted to go, so I invited us to go along (I have such great parents to agree!). Jeff will have to stay back for work since we'll doing quite a bit of other traveling this year. So the fact Daddy won't be with us AND we'll be so far from home makes me nervous.

I don't think the situation would normally make me skittish, but after our birthdays and being a little superstitious about bad things happening in three's....oh my! Please, Dear Lord, please let my boy's birthday bring only good news!!!