The Blah-est Day EVER

It's strange the different ways I feel comfort when I miss my sister Shauna. The best is when I have dreams about her, which I did last night. This might not make sense to me later, or to anyone or maybe at all... but I dreamt she came back to life. Almost like God had given her a second chance of sorts. She looked good, like herself, I hugged her which was awesome. It felt very real... when she walked through the door I burst in to tears when I saw her alive. She was very serious, kind of solemn almost. I didn't understand why or HOW she was back... I was super confused and astonished. I asked her if she remembered where she went when she died and she said yes. I asked her if she saw Heavenly Father and what heaven was like and she said she didn't see Him, but that he spoke to her by way of a rock (? I don't know, this is a dream remember) and that she was given a mission for our family. We never got to what that mission was... but the part that stood out to me the most was the part where she said she didn't see God but that she was in a place where He could still speak to her. Then this morning, Randi (her partner before she died) had posted a video she made of photos of Shauna. So... guess what's on my mind today? I feel her with me... not to sound all weird and stuff, but I feel like she's around me today. And I'm grateful for that. I sure do miss her. I sent an email to my mom today telling her about this dream, and she too had an experience of feeling Shauna (and her dad) around her yesterday. I feel like she's reaching out to us to let us know she loves and misses us just as much as we do her.

It's been one of those days.... It was SO beautiful this whole weekend. The weather was perfect. Then this morning and all day it's been foggy and rainy and with all of that gloominess a lot of bad news. News of old friends whose marriages are ending, news of a loss of a friend's father, a friend's baby who was born prematurely and is a mere 1lb... I'm just so grateful for the power of prayer and how if we ask fervently the Lord will bless those who stand in need of comfort, even if it's ourselves we're praying for. I can't imagine what it must be like to go through each one of those trials, but I DO know that the Lord will bless each of His children.
There is some good in the world, not to make light of these other things- but a few months ago I bit down (pretty hard) on a rock/small pebble in my black beans at a Mexican restaurant here called Willy's. I called the manager up and told him what happened, saved the pebble and took it in as a "formal" complaint, which they logged (not sure if they kept the rock though!). But I love Willy's so much I still eat there often. Plus they gave me a free meal for the trouble. SO... fast forward a few months later, I go to the dentist for a check up and cleaning. There's a crack in my top and bottom molars in the filling... from the rock. It's going to cost around $1500 to get these fixed. Fast forward to last week... I got on to Willy's site after eating a delicious burrito and thought "meh... why not see if they'll help cover the cost of my dental work since their stupid ROCK messed my teeth up?" So I went to the comments section, typed in my email address and name and my complaint. I was nice, said I still liked their food and still visited often, etc... but that my teeth were messed up and I didn't think it was completely fair to foot the bill. I told Ryan about it... didn't think anything would come of it- but I got THIS email today:
Heather

Having to go to the dentist sure is not fun! I have had the broken tooth myself several years ago. Please send a copy of the dentist bill to (email address here) and we will start the process to get this wrapped up for you.

We will be glad to see what we can do to help.

Regards

WMG Inc.

(Some names have been changed to protect the innocent) I am pleasantly surprised by this! It doesn't hurt to try right? And thanks Willy's! You've kept my patronage! I'm not sure if they'll foot the whole bill- but any is better than none!
Anyway... I've got a nasty cough with a side of a stuffy nose and headache, so I'd better get to bed. Hopefully the weather is better soon. My poor sister is going to get PELTED in Chicago this week. First about a foot and a half of snow, then possible flash floods from Lake Michigan. I don't think she'll be particularly effected by the flood part because she's far enough away from the lake but it's not going to be pretty. I wonder what Sir Groundhog will predict tomorrow... hopefully Spring will be on its' way soon!