An unexpected flood in my basement, as well as a few random home repairs and maintenance this week has resulted in some expenses I hadn't really anticipated. A Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University fan - I've followed all the steps, prepared for emergencies, stashed the money away for such things, but never really WANTED to believe I might have to use it. It's really not very FUN to spend your money on repairs and replacements....... But that's what it's for. I went to bed disgusted I have to dig into that fund, but I woke up for some reason remembering a story - one of those stories I always seem to get when wearing my "school shoes" at work. It was one I needed to recall this morning. One I need to share. I once cared for a very wealthy, well known, and ... View Post
Put That In Your Pipe
I've heard it said - whatever it is you feel you need, or are lacking, give THAT away. Need some money? Find a way to be generous with yours. Need some groceries? Invite someone for dinner. Remember the story of the 5 loaves of bread that fed a crowd? Generosity always results in abundance. It just does. Feeling down? defeated? discouraged? Find someone to encourage. So that's why I'm here. Because today - I am discouraged. Over and over, God tells us to look back - to take a look at what He's done because it makes looking forward not only easier, but it makes us more joyful and expectant waiting on Him. I need to be able to do that today, so I'm looking back and sharing with you. So this, my friend - is for both of us. I was seven months pregnant with an ... View Post
I Love You, So Wash the Toilet & Scrub the Floor
I was reminded today, while talking to my friend who runs tilersplace.com, of a time when my sons were young, and I was trying desperately to raise them as best I could. Getting them to mind when they were toddlers wasn't really that difficult. Most times, they were glad to do as I asked, and they were happy when I was proud of them for doing whatever it was I'd asked them to do. But kids grow up. They make friends. They gather at playgrounds, and so help me God, they compare notes. And as my sons grew, their worlds and circle of friends became larger, and the doorbell rang more and more often. Saturday mornings the neighborhood kids would come around to gather them for football games, or just to run around and play outside in the fresh air. But there were chores ... View Post
The Last Girl Cheese
My family and I recently moved my mother just a few miles down the road into a condo, and just like every other move we've made over the years - we managed, despite all of our checks, rechecks, and repeated rechecks, to lose something small, but of significant sentimental value to all of us. A small note book, filled with funny things we said as kids, and additional pages with times her grandchildren made her laugh is now missing. We're trying our best to remember those stories so we can record them again - which seems difficult, but while I am enjoying my own grandchildren, so many memories come flooding back that make me grin! It's a slow process, but I think we might just pull it off! This week I heard a mom say she longed for the day that she could reach into her ... View Post
Let the Season Begin (Again)
Still navigating my way through empty-nest-hood, I rearranged many favorite books in my Mama Cave this afternoon. (I use this word "empty-nest-hood" often, so I'm going with - it's a real word. You won't find it in a dictionary because I made it up, though. But it's real, okay?), The same empty room has, over the past 5+ years, housed four different individuals who needed homes for awhile. Therefore, my nest technically hasn't really been very empty, after all. I've had mostly good experiences, but some not-so-desirable experiences, and finally decided last fall it would become my Mama Cave again. After all, if I was going to call myself an empty nester, I needed to empty the nest. That room has gone from my study room, to my ironing room, to what is currently my ... View Post
Loads of Love, Mother
Like a chicken with its head cut off, I'm running around this morning getting ready for several things going on this week, beginning with a funeral I need to leave for in an hour. This blog could wait. It should wait. But, here I am! Name change papers, name change papers...... I've got to get those out and make a copy and get them in the mail for Ian. Laundry on the steps waiting for me to carry up and fold....... Where are those papers??? Well, I found them. But in the process of searching, I also ran into my grandmother's will. That is a picture of her on the front of this blog. I have kept and cherished this will for many years. I loved that it was her handwriting. Isn't it beautiful? I wish I would have really known her. I wish I could have sat as an adult at ... View Post
Just As You Are
Recently I had the opportunity to pray with a homeless man. He'd been witnessed to before - that was obvious. We had a very lengthy, interesting conversation. I asked him if he wanted to pray, and give his life to the Lord, and he said yes. He said he finally felt like he should do that. But then he became a little upset and said he didn't remember any of the prayers he'd memorized as a child. I told him to speak from his heart. Nobody wants to be spoken to from a script, ESPECIALLY God. In fact, it's our hearts God wants us to surrender, and its FROM our hearts that He wants those prayers to come - with whatever honest words we have in us at that rock bottom moment to express our deep need for him. And so my homeless friend began to pray. His eyes were closed. My ... View Post
I’m an ICU Nurse, and THIS is my code status
There's not a day that goes by my body doesn't remind me of the fact that we don't live forever. Sometimes I hurt from head to toe. Come to think of it, most mornings I hurt from head to toe. I'm an empty nester, looking forward to hopefully retiring one day (with dreams of becoming top sales associate at the Vera Bradley store! ;) This year on the tippy top of my priority list was seeing a financial advisor to find out if retirement is even a word that should be in my vocabulary. And then I made some changes to my will, my trust, etc. That involved documents regarding what my end-of-life wishes are. Yeah, that always brings up some crazy conversations. Fortunately, they are conversations I'm used to having - but mostly with the family members of my patients. I ... View Post