Who Do You Turn To?

Last night three of my co-workers and myself went out to an early dinner.  We ate Italian.  I am not sure there is anything better than getting together with a group of girls and eating and laughing your way through two hours.  OK "anything better" might be a slight exaggeration.  It was just plain fun.  We spent a lot of time talking about work, of course, but it wasn't so much the topic of conversation as it was the conversation itself.  You see a different side of people when you get together in social circumstances.  When you put off the professionalism and work persona and are just friends sharing life. Growing up, friends were hard to keep.  When you move every two or three years it isn't easy to keep up with everybody.  I made a few friends in high school, but then we parted ways, life happened for all of us and now the only updates I see are on Facebook.  My first two experiences in college yielded no lasting relationships e...

I try to do my part to reduce, reuse and recycle. I am not over the top, but I do find ways to fit it in to my lifestyle. For example, I have three trash cans on the back porch in which I throw as much paper, cardboard, plastic and aluminum as I can and then haul them to the local recycle containers every other week. I try not to use paper towels, but bought some pretty dish towels instead.  I don't use the drying cycle on my dishwasher and I try to hang dry some of my clothes if possible. I bought some pretty plastic plates and cups to use at cookouts and parties instead of doing paper/plastic plates that are thrown away after one use.  I have also tried my hand at making my own cleaning supplies. I don't yet have a compost bin, but it is something I really want to start. When I attend a baby or bridal shower or party, I offer to take all the tissue paper and gift bags that are not wanted. Now I have been in Amherst for over three years. This means I have atten...

Well I have just had my first experience with someone trying to scam me. It really made me mad! I have listed some furniture on Craig's list and immediately had half a dozen replies. Being so excited with all the interest probably outweighed my judgement. Luckily, counsel from friends and a knowledgeable PayPal employee prevented the worst - me loosing $950.  I received a full price offer on some dining room furniture. The pieces are in good shape and my offer is about half of retail price so I didn't think too much about it even when they didn't want to see the furniture. This person was willing to deposit the money in my PayPal account. He informed me that he was depositing my portion plus enough to cover shipping costs/fees. So when I looked at my iPhone app for PayPal, it actually showed a pending transaction, but only for my portion. When I questioned the man on this, he informed me PayPal was holding out the amount for the shipping and as soon as I sent...

While OASIS Church was being held at the high school, we had a woman attending who decided one day to stop at the local nursing home and see if someone wanted to come. Initially, she had three or four takers. As time passed on, one would be sick or couldn't come for this or that reason. One person; however, has remained faithful so as to wait on the porch each Sunday for someone to come collect him for service. When we are not there he is upset. He quickly tells you the next week that he "Waited a long time last week, but no one came!" We always apologize and try to explain, but he remembers. His name is George.  George has no family. He was never married, never had any children. He worked on the farm his entire life. Now, he lives in the local nursing home and waits for visitors who rarely come. The only people who see him are the owners of the farm where he used to work and those from our church who pick him up each Sunday. He will tell you he is "Go...

Sunday is my time to give corporate worship to God. My husband and I attend church and fellowship with other believers. We sing songs of praise and learn more about God's word through a sermon. I highly encourage you to do the same. So, from this point forward, Sunday will be dedicated to the Lord. I will provide you with some scripture and ask that you spend time reflecting on the words. Today, also take a moment to thank our men and women who serve with their lives protecting the freedoms we often take for granted. Psalm 17 O Lord, hear my plea for justice. Listen to my cry for help. Pay attention to my prayer, for it comes from an honest heart. Declare me innocent, for you know those who do right. You have tested my thoughts and examined my heart in the night. You have scrutinized me and found nothing amiss, for I am determined not to sin in what I say. I have followed your commands, which have kept me from going along with cruel and evil people. My steps have stayed ...

Today, I had planned to do quite a bit of packing. The key part of that statement is " I had planned". Well you know what they say about the best laid plans. I work for a hospice as a call RN. That means after business hours are over, I take calls from patients and handle them either over the phone or with a visit. The phone rang this morning at 6:30 and the answering service told me one of our patients had passed away. I quickly got dressed, gathered my things and raced out the door. I was already worried about missing a doctor's appointment to re-check my ear infection. I was worried because I knew this patient's home was 40 minutes from mine, that I couldn't call the funeral home until I got there and that most funeral homes took on average of an hour to come. This also meant a 40 minute drive back home to the doctors office - it would be cutting it close. Rather selfish of me wouldn't you say. I mean this family just lost their wife and mot...

So my husband and I are watching a Sandra Bullock movie on TV. There is something about a love story that just gets me every time. I am a true sucker for a romance plot. Some of them I have watched so many times I can repeat the lines. What is it about a love story that catapults most women into a sudden dreamland of their own. It starts very early in life with bedtime stories about a princess needing rescue from a dragon or lofty tower or some evil queen. There is always a handsome prince that saves the day and they always live "happily ever after". I think that is why I was so drawn to the new TV series "Once Upon A Time". It takes all your favorite fairy tales and turns them into a 21st century storyline. If your little ones aren't enticed by the book stories, Disney has made a movie for just about every one of them.  Is it just clever marketing or does every little girl have something buried in their heart that longs for a dashing prince to save h...

W ednesday's are super busy for me. One of my weekly Wednesday activities is a music lesson. Now, I am a piano player from a very young age. Until recently, I didn't have a piano in my home. Several months ago on a trip to Florida, we rented a u-haul to bring some things back and my childhood piano was one of those things. I had a tuner come and when he took the piano apart he informed me it had never been tuned. Did I mention it was my childhood piano - 39 years old. I asked how he knew this and he responded with "Because this is a part of the original packing material", as he held up a piece of wood. I just laughed. Some weeks I spend a lot of time on it and then some weeks go by and I don't play a note. However, the purpose of this post is to define was soothes me. While I love the piano, it is not the instrument that calms my soul. About 5 years ago, I was doing a study on David. David was quite a man. The bible describes him as "...skillful in p...

Today is my second day of packing. As I sort through everything we have, I am struck by how much we have. When you live in it each day, it doesn't seem like so much. Now that I am trying to decide what stays and what goes, I feel somewhat like a hoarder. Do we actually need all of this? I have been working this last year to prayerfully consider everything new I want to bring into my home. Do I already have something that does the job? Will I really use it? Is it a want or a need? In this world of gadgets and things designed to make our life easier, it can be hard to resist the advertisers. It is an item by item thing and I truly have to ask myself those questions each time I am out shopping. But, it has made a difference. My mom has spent the last eight months dealing with clutter. Last November her best friend passed away from cancer. My mom, while honored to be the executor of her will, has found out how stressful dismantling someone's estate can be. He...

Often God speaks and we either don't hear him, or worse we don't obey. Perhaps we didn't think He really meant it or we want additional confirmation. Whatever our reason, if we do not honor the request, we are outside God's will for our lives. My husband was called into ministry many years ago. At first, he didn't truly see what his role was suppose to be, but eventually he knew he was suppose to pastor a church. We made excuses along the way thinking we were not qualified in one respect or another to shepherd a group of people. In the end, they were just excuses and God was still telling him the same thing. Now, we have been told to "Go". I can promise you this, when God is in something and you are obedient to his commands, it will happen and it will sometimes happen so fast you cannot keep up. Yesterday we informed our church, OASIS, we had been called to go. The Lord has provided us with a pastorate at Church @ the Lake in Lake Yale, Fl...

Today I want to tell you more about me. I have added two new tabs to the main page titled "My Testimony" and "Media". The first will tell my basic story and how I came to know Jesus. The second is a scrapbook in pictures of my life. There is more to the story mind you, but it is a good beginning. My husband and I were married August 31, 2002 in Florida. We honeymooned on Sanibel Island. We both were registered nurses working in different emergency rooms in the central Florida area. My husband had retired from a long career with the Orlando Fire Department. He was married before and has two grown boys. Both boys are now married and the first has three of the cutest girls you will ever see. My parents joined the State Department when I was nine. We lived in Zambia, the Philippines, Liberia, Ghana, Tanzania and Iraq. I was in local schools until I turned 13 at which time I went to a boarding school in England called TASIS. I graduated from TASIS ...

One of the things we find beautiful about Virginia is the changes in season. Each one brings something new sprouting from the ground or returning to it. When we moved to this home, we were very blessed by previous owners who had already put their touches in the garden. We have, as yet, to plant one single thing in the yard. I can't even tell you the number of things that spring forth. Now I have always secretly wished I was one of those people who had a garden that became the cover of Southern Living Magazine or a winner in a local garden club. However, I have realized you actually have to put time into the garden to see those kind of results. This is probably where I come up short. I love to ride the riding lawn mower, but pulling weeds.....huuummmmmm.....not so much. I bought a bunch of bulbs two years ago and they are still in their "cool" zone in the basement. So, I am still hoping one day to have a highly photographed yard. I just haven't reached the ...

My husband checked out my blog yesterday and looked at me with a smile. Translation: it was good. I asked him to be my first "follower" by email so he could make sure I didn't say anything too out there. He asked if that was before or after I posted and I responded with "After!". A girl has to retain some control you know. I quickly followed it up with "I can edit something that has already been posted". He also asked how often I was going to post. I told him my hope was daily. Now, I am one of those people that is never at a loss for words. However, that doesn't necessarily mean I have something impactful to say each day. I realized, it will be an awesome responsibility to tell you how Jesus can be your source of strength and comfort each day. Some of you already know that. So I want to talk about losses. It seems that is a prominent theme for me today. So my day begins with a breakfast date with a girlfriend. We were trying to catc...

Who do you turn to in life? There are so many choices out there, it is hard to know the right direction. I have never been known as a "follower"; never succumbed to peer pressure. In fact, the harder I was pushed the more resolve I seemed to gain. Friends, real friends were sometimes hard to find. Many times the path I chose never seemed to get me anywhere. It wasn't necessarily a bad path, just non-productive or not very fullfilling. Sometimes I wished for a guide. Sometimes I needed a guide. The right one was waiting patiently for me to see Him. My hope with this blog is that you will allow me to introduce you....simply put his name is Jesus. Now my road hasn't suddenly been made smooth. However, I can say the direction and destination have been made clear. I also have guidelines to get me around every turn, over every hill and through every mountain. I will tell you how I got here and then maybe you will continue to journey forward with me. If you...