Day 3 - I Am Thankful

It's been a long day - a blessed day - but also an emotional day. Life is hard and at times I feel very alone - I know that God is with me - ALWAYS - but sometimes I still feel very alone. But I am so amazingly blessed also - I even got prayer delivered to me today. In this month of Thanksgiving - I am thankful for the amazing friends that God has put in my path to help me along this long and overwhelming journey. Friends that love me and support me - no matter what - even when I wear my polka dot socks with my plaid shoes. Friends that have taken the place of my family that seems to be falling apart - and friends that will remind me to be nice to myself because I am doing the best I can - I thank you all for that - your love and friendship and prayers mean more to me than I could ever express in words - God Bless You All!

PS - Jan - this picture is for you - Sadie says hello!

Day 2 - Making a Moment

Today was a day of fellowship - and hard work. A group of us from church went up to the Neighborhood UMC in Long Beach to help them make some renovations to their sanctuary - like taking out the pews and pulling up the carpet - here are Rachel and I taking a break... The end of the day included our annual Fellowship IX Thanksgiving dinner - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and all the fixings! As I sit and type this evening, thought, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed - by the things I'm trying to get done before I leave for Idaho - including cleaning the house a bit - and a bit nervous about seeing and taking care of my dad - God, Please Help! I just need to let go and live moment by moment and trust that God is taking care of it all - because I know he is! Speaking of moments, I think my favorite moment of the day was when I was driving up to Long Beach - I was behind a school bus and this girl was waving out the back window - I happened to see her and smile and waved back and she got so excited - the smile on her face was huge and she looked so pleased - it was fun to make her moment.

Day 1 - Bringing Back the Blog

It's been a long time! I started this blog as a way to cope with my mom and Alzheimer's - it seemed like there was always some fun story to tell - unfortunately, it has only gotten worse over the last 10 months and it is harder now to find those fun stories - but whether I tell fun stories about her or tell other fun stories - I do enjoy to journal - so - I'm trying to bring back the blog... isn't it 21 days to form a habit? Well - here is day one... and speaking of my mom - I did go to visit her today - she was in the living room watching TV - and at one point some fun music came on the TV so I started to move to the music on the couch next to her - she went ahead and got into the beat as well... I miss her! For now, though, it is time for bed - am up early tomorrow for a work day at a church in Long Beach... stayed tuned for more...

Blessings...

Goodness... where do I start? How 'bout with how amazingly awesome our God is! All praise and honor and glory go to Him - I AM. I truly don't know how to thank God enough for the blessings he has bestowed upon me - as tough as life has been this year - I can look back and truly see the Holy Spirit at work in my life - and now... to find a board and care residential home for my mom to live - in Lake Forest and within my budget - miracles do happen. The Lord has blessed me in ways I never imagined would be possible. I know I sound like a broken record - but I just can't help it! My mom will be living 5 minutes away by the end of the month - in a nice home setting where she can get more of the care that she needs - I can't wait to move her! Of course I should probably show the place to her first! :) We'll see how that goes on Friday - but I suspect all I will need to say to her is - you'll be closer to me and I can come visit more often and she will be good with it! Thank you God! Thank you God!! Thank you God!!!

Can't Leave It Laying Around Just Anywhere

I learned something the other night... I can get over the fence at my condo complex if needed and can parallel park Clara the Company Car. And how exactly did I discover these truths... well...

Monday night I got a call that my friend T had gone into the ER - so after work, I headed down to Mission Hospital so she wouldn't have to be by herself. After a couple of hours in the ER, they finally admitted her for gall bladder surgery the next day (she is fine and now home)... well, I didn't get out of there until after 1am and when I got home I couldn't get into my complex - the gate was broken in the closed position! Needless to say I was more than a bit unhappy. So I parked the car right outside the gate and decided to hop the fence - it wasn't too bad - but all I could think is - great - someone is going to see me doing this at 1:30am and call the cops - but then decided that might not be so bad - maybe THEY could the gate open - and they might be cute! So I get over the gate - but I still have to figure out what to do with the car...

I go up to my condo to pick up the key to the pedestrian entrance and call the emergency number for the association - the dispatcher said the problem had already been called in - I asked her about an ETA of when it would be fixed and she had no idea - again - not very happy! At that point, I decided to try looking for a parking spot outside the complex - there is a lot of street parking there by my complex - hopefully there will be something open... so I drive up the street - and then down the street - and dang it - there isn't anything open! Now I'm really getting frustrated - if I had been in my car - I would have just parked it in the Target lot and be done with it - but I had the company car - and I can't leave the mobile billboard laying around just anywhere! I considered going over to my friend T's condo and sleeping there - I'm sure she wouldn't mind since she was in the hospital and the cats would probably love it - but it was late - I was tired and I really wanted to sleep in my own bed with my Sadie Kitty! So I decided to see if there is any other street parking around - and realize there is one more area I can check (it was about 1/4 mile away - but at that point I would have taken anything) - and by the Grace of God - there was one spot left! I kept looking around to make sure there wasn't a fire hydrant or sign restricting parking since the spot was open - but there was nothing - it was a bit tight - but I got Clara in there - I was so proud of myself - I'd never tried to parallel park her before.

Needless to say - although I had originally intended to go jogging the next morning - I decided to sleep in instead!

And Lynne... I hope to be a little more regular with my posting - have a couple of 10K stories to share also... stay tuned!

Peace In Unexpected Places

I found Peace in some unexpected places this weekend.

First was in the car. Had a kid who was a nervous driver anyway - and we were going on the freeway. As we were heading toward the freeway I just offered up a quick prayer and was overcome with peace and calm - and thought - ok, it's going to be fine. And it was. She did a nice job - of course when her mom asked her if she wanted to drive home after the lesson, she quickly declined - I think she was spent.

Speaking of spent - I've been getting to know a little about that lately. I went to my mom's this afternoon and when I got there - it was quiet in the hall and she wasn't in her room. I suspect she was at worship in the activity room, so I unloaded her laundry and then decided to just sit in her rocking chair for a bit. The rocking chair that I remember so fondly sitting in her lap in when I was a kid - when I was afraid or I couldn't sleep, she would hold me, rock me and sing to me. God Bless Her - I miss her. So I'm sitting rocking myself in that same rocking chair and I close my eyes and just sense a feeling of peace - even the musack they play in the hallway was peaceful. I probably spent a good 20 minutes just rocking in her chair - trying to be in the moment and not think about the future... trying not to worry about anything and praying about everything (Phil 4:6 - paraphrase mine of NLT).

The Blessings Of God

I have a story to tell... about the Blessings of God - I have been overwhelmingly blessed in what has been a really tough week!

It started off pretty status quo - getting used to the new job - getting ready for my first class - a parent/teen orientation - which I was really looking forward to - I'll be teaching the entire class so I was excited about making it mine.

Got up on Tuesday morning - didn't have to be to work until 12:30pm - was excited and ready for class that evening - when I got a call that would change the flow of the day completely. It was the home my mom lives in (by home I mean Assisted Living facility) and she has had a cough for a while and they felt she needed to be taken into the ER for treatment since she was coughing so much and was so severely congested. So I went up and took her into the ER - when I was getting her into my car - she started coughing so bad that I thought she was going to pass out - it was scary! It was a crappy day at the ER - it was crazy busy and we had a bitch of a nurse - but after being there most of the day - a friend called to see if I wanted her to bring me something to eat - being optimistic I thought we would be released soon and turned her down - in hindsight - I should have taken her up on her offer - but the offer itself was such a blessing! They did finally release my mom to go home with prescriptions and inhaler treatment in hand. Little did I know that the next day would go downhill even more!

The next morning, I missed a call from the home - crap - has she gotten worse? Do I need to take her back to the emergency room? Unfortunately - it was worse than that - the call I have been dreading - the resident director left a message that she needed to talk to me about increasing the amount of care that my mom needs - translation - more money. When I called her back - I just asked - what the money would be - when she told me - I burst into tears - I can't afford that... she told me to come in so we could all talk about it and see how they could work with me since they didn't want to lose my mom as a resident. I made an appointment to go meet with them and was blessed with a friend that offered to go with me. Not only that - but God gave me such peace to continue on with the rest of my day - which really helped in my new line of work - work has actually become a blessing as well.

I told another friend about what was going on and she was concerned about me going to the meeting by myself and wanted to make sure I had support - another friend kicked me in the butt (figuratively, of course) about taking care of myself. This morning yet another friend sent me a devotional about God's blessings and favor. But the best is yet to come...

So I met up with my buddy at the church this morning to go to the home for the meeting -another friend showed up to pray for me during the meeting and before we left - we went into the office and we had a group prayer. We get up there and are walking into the office for the meeting and I feel like I'm going to be sick... I sit down and the resident director doesn't beat around the bush... she went to bat for me with the rest of management and they are going to keep my mom where she is with extra attention for the same amount that I'm paying. God is so good! I never imagined that would be the outcome! Of course, it's not over - it just buys some time to look at other options and figure out what to do - but I'll take it. I'm just overwhelmed with the blessings of friends, the power of prayer and the goodness of God.