Testing.... Testing....

Still at Mayo Clinic. "Umpteen" tests down, "umpteen" to go!

Waiting....

For anyone who still checks this blog after two-plus months of silence--an attempt at an explanation. Recently--for the past year or more--I've been dealing with a medical condition that has so far gone undiagnosed (although not for lack of trying). I've found my time, energy, and focus drained away by this...thing. I've spent a LOT of time waiting. Waiting for the energy to accomplish basic tasks. Waiting for another "good" day to show its face. Waiting weeks to get in to see specialists.

Now one phase of the waiting ends and another begins. This weekend, I leave for the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota...world-famous for medical help when everyone else is baffled. My wonderful family (immediate and extended) have worked together to make this possible.

Everyone thinks they want to know what God has for them in the future. But if God had shown me at 18 what He had planned for me over the following 20-plus years, I would have run screaming into the woods! The cool thing has been, though, that as I've reached each new step, each new "event" (and there have been some "EVENTS') God has prepared me as we (He and I) arrived there. His grace and strength have always been amazingly more than enough for *that day*!

So I'm packing....

Right now it's hard to keep focused on the "Big Picture" of going to Mayo...answers and (hopefully) treatment. The "little picture" is so in my face at this moment. I DO NOT want more tests--especially those imvolving needles! And I DO NOT want to leave my family for a week or more! I want to stay here and "be the mom"!

Please pray for God's comfort for my family and me as we're apart. And pray for answers and solutions. If you want more details, check with my husband, my parents, or my church, CWC. Thanks....

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"I Have My Mission"
--by John Henry Newman (author of the hymn "Lead Kindly Light")

God has created me to do Him some definite service.

He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.

I have my mission - I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.

He has not created me for naught.

I shall do good.

I shall do His work.

I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it - if I do but keep His commandments.

Therefore I will trust in Him.

Whatever, wherever I am. I can never be thrown away.

If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him;
in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him;
if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.

He does nothing in vain.

He knows what He is about.

He may take away my friends.

He may throw me among strangers.

He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me -
still He knows what He is about.

New Year's Resolutions

Direct from the Home Office...I have in my hand my New Year's resolutions! (Finally!)

I'm trying something different this year. Since I'm more of a "variety person" than a "routine person", I tend to quickly tire of the traditional List of Things to Change. So instead, I'm planning to work on categories. Rather than the same old thing every day, I'll invest a certain amount of time to each of several different categories. That way, I can do different things on different days and still be making significant progress in some very important areas.

And the nominees are....

1. Toward organization - 15 minutes a day (organize a drawer, de-clutter a countertop, etc.)
2. Toward better health - 30 minutes a day (exercise, go for a walk, floss, etc.)
3. Toward spiritual growth - 30 minutes a day (Bible, prayer, reading "deep stuff", etc.)
4. Toward publication - 60 minutes a day (write, research, submit to publishers, etc.)

Good luck to all the nominees!

Nope. Nuthin'.

I feel like Yukon Cornelius. You remember, the prospector in "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"? He'd throw his pickaxe into the air. When it landed, he'd pull it out of the snow, sniff it, taste it and then say, "Nope. Nuthin'."

How am I like good ol' Yukon, you ask? I have a deadline tomorrow. Not a "set in stone" one--just an opportunity to write something "on spec" if I submit it by the end of the day. So I toss my laptop into the air (figuratively) and when it lands I sniff the words on the screen, taste them..."Nope. Nuthin'." Ah, well....

Merry "Kid-mas"

Let's face it...kids make Christmas just that much more fun! Here are some Christmas "kid-isms" (how kids interpret the world around them). Most of them I "borrowed" from Robin. A couple I've witnessed personally.

Noel, Noel, Barney's the king of Israel
Deck the halls with Buddy Holly
Deck the halls with balls of holly
Deck the halls with balls of folly
See the blazing mule before us
On the first day of Christmas my tulip gave to me
And a cartidge in a bare tree
He's makin' a list, chicken and rice
Olive, the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names
You'll go down in Listerine
Frosty the Snowman is a ferret elf, I say
In the meadow we can build a snowman, then pretend that he is sparse and brown
Later on we'll perspire, as we dream by the fire
Oh, what fun it is to ride with one horse, soap, and hay
Sleep in heavenly peas
With the jelly toast proclaim
We three kings of porridge and tar
O come, froggy faithful

Enjoy!