Nana Renanalogies

Jeff Steinsholt (26) is a very sick young man who has spent almost ALL of the last 8 months in the hospital. He is on dialysis, but his condition has been complicated by multiple infections, surgeries and procedures. Doctors repeatedly think they've figured out the problem, only to have things go awry again with the return of the unexplained nausea, vomiting, & weight-loss!! All they can do is scratch their head and run more tests. Needless to say, Jeff is very discouraged. If you or a loved one has ever had an extended hospital stay, you know how mentally and emotionally exhausting the days that drag on and on can be. He longs to be able to attend church and just go eat at Gringo’s, his favorite Mexican restaurant. His mother, Pat, -- a woman of amazing faith and determination -- is desperate for something grand to raise his spirits. We've all heard of drives to send cards to a sick child. Why can't we send them to a very sick man!!?! She would LOVE to see his room FI...

I don't remember where I first heard this saying, or else I would give proper credit -- but it's been a comfort to me for years. God answers EVERY prayer. Sometimes He says, "Yes." Sometimes He says, "No." And sometimes He says, "Wait." It's that last one that we struggle against the MOST. Like a child on Christmas morning, we can easily accept the "Yeses!" It puts a smile on our face and, hopefully, gives us reason to pause and give Him thanks and to testify of His goodness to others. We absolve ourselves from feeling greedy by reminding us that it is HIS WILL to bless His children. Conversely, we use that same logic to accept when His answer is "No." As mature adults, struggling to mature as Christians, we take a deep cleansing breath, straighten our posture and begin the process of accepting the realization that THIS TIME, we didn't get what we wanted. We remind ourselves that "all things work together for goo...

(I'm not actually, just needed a catchy title!) Remember the guy a few years back who (I THINK!) won a Super Bowl and when asked what he was going to do next, he replied, "I'm Going To Disney World" Well, I feel like that guy right now. 'Cept I need a week long NAP before I try it! LOL With the help of my darling children and some very, VERY precious friends, I pulled off the impossible today. We threw my husband a 50th birthday party and managed to COMPLETELY and TOTALLY surprise him. It was MY Super Bowl Victory!! To any and all who know Mike one little whit -- they know this was NOT an easy task. I have been more deceitful and duplicitous in the last two weeks than at any time since I was a sophomore skipping Coach Murray's Gym Class. (Of course, anyone who went to BHS knows Coach Murry never showed up for that class EITHER!) LOL To set the stage for those who DON'T have the pleasure of knowing Mike, this next bit will make him sound like a sus...

....try not to pay attention to how long it's been since I blogged. I've wanted to, TRULY, I think of really good things and then I forget them. Sort of like when you have a really vivid dream and go to tell someone about it and it just evaporates....? Hopefully it will get better. I've started text messaging myself with keywords and ideas....so maybe I can piece the tho'ts back together when I finally have a chance to sit down at the computer. This one came on quite suddenly a little while ago, so I'm gonna post it real quick like. You may have heard me say this before (I DO repeat myself and often, hence the need to blog about it and be done with it!) -- following my Weight Loss Surgery I learned that a lot of obesity issues aren't so much about your taste buds and appetite, but swim around in the gray matter gravy between your ears. Last night I happened to say to my pastor -- who's encountered his own weight loss in relation to correcting other physical...