Still here

Yes, I am still here, and yes I know that I promised that I would post photo's of before, during, and after the surgery, and I will. The problem is my daughter Lauren, who took the before and during photo's with her camera, has been working or gone so much in the last week, that I have hardly seen her, much less had the chance to have her send the photo's to my computer and upload them here. I will just as soon as we have a couple minutes together. Which may be after this weekend, because she is going to St Louis for the weekend. It is hard to adjust to having an adult-child. You don't have the say in their lives like you use to, but you have the worry. Anyway, I will post photo's asap.



My parents have been staying with us for the last two weeks while I went through the surgery and recovery. They are leaving today to go home. I hate to see them leave. I also go back to work on Saturday; uugghhh! I really don't like working on Saturday. It takes away any family day that we have to do anything together. Sunday's are full and Andrew works long hours during the week, so with me working Saturday, we have no time at all to go or do anything, and it really starts to wear on you.



I don't have much to post right at the moment so I will leave you with something I found on http://mylittlefella.blogspot.com/ it really ministered to me. It is truly where I am at today and have been for some time. Hope it blesses someone else like it did me. Thanks Lori for the reminder that God is always there and He hears our prayers, even though His answer may not come when and how we think it should.

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate...

and the Master so gently said,

"Wait."

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!"

Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

My future and all to which I relate

hangs in the balance

and you tell me to Wait?"

I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign.

Or even a 'no,' to which I'll resign.

You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:

I'm weary of asking!

I need a reply.

Then quietly, softly,

I learned of my fate

as my Master replied again,

"Wait."

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,

and grumbled to God,

"So, I'm waiting...for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine...

and He tenderly said,

"I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.

You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.

You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint.

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;

you'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me

when darkness and silence are all you can see.

You'd never experience the fullness of love

when the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save,

for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,

the faith that I give when you walk without sight.

The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

You'd never know should your pain quickly flee,

what it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,

but oh, the loss if I lost what I'm doing in you.

So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see

that the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.

And though oft My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still

"WAIT".
Author Unknown

Back from the abyss

Well, I survived the surgery and most of the recovery. I go back to the dr tomorrow to have the stitches taken out and the splint taken off. And get the first real look at the results.
The surgery went well, according to the dr. I was out and don't know how well it went. But I do remember little snippets of things after the surgery. They shot me up with demerol afterward and I couldn't pull myself out of it for most of the rest of the day. I slept in the recliner all that evening and the following two nights.
Yesterday I got up and actually rode to the store with my daughter and sat in the car while she went in. I didn't take any pain meds yesterday at all, not even tylenol. Today I got up and started doing little things around the house, nothing major. I am still unable to lift anything over ten pounds and can't do anything that could injur my nose.
Noah has done so well with all of this. He hasn't cried for me much and when he would wake up and cry for me, they would tell him that I have a boo boo and can't get him. Then he would ask for his sister or mawmaw. So he seems to understand. He will come close to me and we will give "easy sugar" and he will carefully and lightly kiss my cheek. I am so glad that he has done so well. I will have to be very careful for some time that he doesn't bop me in the nose or throw something my direction that may hit me in the nose.
I will take after photo's tomorrow and post the before, during and after. It really wasn't that bad during. I didn't bruise and swell nearly as bad as I thought I would. So the photo's aren't so gruesome.
The weather is wet, rainy, and cold! Just as I feared; straight into winter weather without so much as a layover in fall.
Well, there isn't much going on around the home front. My parents are here and helping with the little ones. The puppies are growing and getting everywhere. Another week or so and they will be finding new homes, I hope. I am hoping to have the house routines back to "simi-normal" conditions in a few days.
I will be working on the new addition to my blog where I spot light someone who has been special in my life. I am working on the who's, what's, why's, and how's of it. So keep checking back.
I would really like more feed back from those of you who read my blog. I know I get emails from some of you and you tell me you are reading my blog, but I would really like to get more comments on the blog from each of you. So if you would, please leave a note to let me know you where here visiting.

Menu Planning...

Thanks to Joyful Mother I found Laura's blog and this Menu Plan Monday. I think I am going to try it. I have never been one to plan my meals ahead. But lately I have been feeling the need to organize things and streamline my life. I have heard so many people say that it save them time and money to plan a weekly or monthly menu. I think I will start with a weekly menu. I followed the links to those who are participating in MPM and found some great ideas. I will try to sit down this week and work on mine. We will see what happens. If you are interested in trying it I recommend you check it out also. There are some really very organized ladies out there that I could really learn from. Because the Lord knows that I need to be more disciplined and organized in many areas of my life.

Today's Encouraging words

Don't wait for something big to occur. Start where you are, with what you have, and that will always lead you into something greater. ~~ Mary Manin Morrissey

Give away

Joyful Mother is giving away copies of Amy Grant's book, Mosaic, Monday morning, so go by and get your name in the drawing. I did.

Contentment

Contentment-when someone is contented they have a feeling or behave in a way that shows satisfaction with their possessions, status, or situation. How often in our society do we experience these feelings? We live in society that is constantly wanting more. More things, more money, more friends, more houses, more clothes, more food, more pleasure, more entertainment, more, more, more... The media tells us that we need more things, newer things, newer versions of the same things we currently have. Nothing is actually made to last for long in our world. Most things are disposable. Our attitude is "throw it out, get a new one", "easy come-easy go". We are driven by consumerism. If you don't believe me then all you need to do is sit down for an hour or so and watch television (strictly for research purposes), flip through some magazines, get onto the internet, go through your mail. Believe me, I know about the mail... I deliver hundreds of catalogs, fliers, and sale papers every week. All of them are trying to sell you more, more, more. And we are buying into it. Literally, buying into it...The numbers of people in America suffering from debt are staggering, and growing larger everyday. We no longer own our possessions, they own us. We buy new things and spend our lives trying to pay for them. We work so many hours that we never enjoy our things, however, we are compelled to buy new things. Continuing the cycle of debt. At the rates that Americans are going into debt, the new retirement age will be Death, because we will never be able to afford to retire. I see this cycle in my own life and am trying to put an end to it. I see the lessons that I have taught my children through the years, and cringe. I have often quoted the saying, "youth is wasted on the young, and wisdom on the old." The youth are strong and healthy but have no sense, and when you get older and gain the wisdom then you are to broken down to use it. I would love to think that we could live two lives, one in which we learn and the second one in which we use the wisdom gained in the first life to live the way we should. But I do not believe this is so, and I must try to undo some of the ill that I brought about by making poor choices.

Philip Gulley, a wonderful writer that I enjoy reading, and I highly recommend, has a segment on WFYI, Indiana's PBS station called "Porch Talk". One of these segments was called Contentment. I highly recommend you follow the link and listen. We could all stand to be a little more like the lady he is refering to in this piece. If you are truly caught up in consumerism, then take a break from it for a week. Don't buy anything, except what is absolutely necessary for your survival that week. If you succeed that week, try another one. Soon you will realize that more things won't bring the happiness or contentment you are seeking. Things will just add to the clutter of you life and the stress of your debt load. Lets all just try living with less and on less and maybe just maybe we will find more, more contentment, more joy, more true happiness, and more time to do the things we truly enjoy in life. Maybe the saying is true, "Less IS more".

Today's insiration

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” ~epicurus

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”~Fredrick Keonig

"Mini-Vacation"

Five Minute vacations...Several years ago I read about this technique. A way to unwind, rejuvenate, and calm yourself is to take 5 minutes and visualize something wonderful, look at a beautiful photo or landscape, listen to beautiful music, and for 5 minutes in the middle of your hectic life you can be on vacation. I was skeptical at the time, thinking that 5 minutes couldn't possibly make that big of a difference. However, I have since learned how important these little "mini-vacations" can be in my life. I have one "mini-vacation" on my way to work. As I am driving on 430 which takes me to my job, there is a point as I round a curve and look ahead, and the river comes into view. Small swells of hills lie on either side of the highway and as I approach the bridge, the sun is usually just rising into the sky and reflecting on the water. A fine mist floats just above the river and I can look around and see Pinnicle Mountain in the distance on one side, and The Big Dam Bridge on the other. Houses are perched upon the highest points above the river in my rear view mirror and they remind me of photos I have seen of distant places, and for those few moments I am on vacation. I soak up the sunshine and feel the excitement of something out of my normal routine. For that moment in time, I forget where I am going, all the worries that may have kept me up the night before, and I forget what lies ahead. I am in the moment. Taking in the sights and the smells coming in through my opened window. Making note of a boat on the water, or a bird swooping down to catch a fish. I feel all the feelings of a child looking onto such a scene, and try to draw in as much as I can through all of my senses. And then it is past, and I pull into the turn lane to take the exit to my job. But I am different somehow. I feel freer, lighter, that anything could be possible now. And no matter what I face after that, I can deal with it much better. I feel calmer when I get to work and can enjoy the day in a way that I couldn't have otherwise. So I have found other places, and ways to experience that same feeling of a "mini-vacation". One of them is listening to music. There are some pieces of music that give me those same sensations. Try it sometimes. When you are completely stressed out and ready to stroke, find something that appeals to you and take a 5 minute vacation and see if you don't feel better afterwards. Let me know what you would appeal to you and cause you to feel as though you were away on vacation. I would be interested to hear how you spend your "mini-vacation".

Today's Inspiration

Stress is the trash of modern life - we all generate it but if you don't dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life. ~Danzae Pace

Friday Felicities

My Friday Felicities

~cool mornings

~spending time with my honey

~laughing with my kids

~feeling content

~walking barefoot on the beach

~watching the sun rise over the mountain

~snuggling