New Blog!

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I am writing over there, now!

Welcome Back!

I know during the Christmas holidays (fondly referred to as the madness season), I tend to over indulge. It’s true... Knowing that there will be yummy casseroles, pies, cookies, wine, and other fruity beverages, I tend to just be ok with the extra calories and lack of movement. It’s probably not the healthiest track to take, but it works for me. So, I’ve had my two weeks of debauchery! It’s time to come off the sugar/carb high... ughhhhh...

So, welcome back to a new season, a new year, a new time. Do you make resolutions? I do, though they tend to take the shape of goals. My resolutions also don’t just happen at the beginning of the year, but all throughout the year- small goals in small increments. I like to say that life is a marathon, not a sprint. It helps me, at least.

Here’s to 2019... May your year be blessed and fruitful!

2019!!!!

Happy New Year!!

I welcome 2019 with anticipation and eagerness for a good year to come! I’ve made my resolutions and have tempered said resolutions with a measure of grace. I don’t want to feel like a complete failure in February or March when I’ve gotten “off track” of remaining committed to my self-made promises.

This year I have discovered challenges- one of my friends challenged me to walk one thousand miles in 2019. I didn’t sign up on a site, or anything like that, but I will try to walk one thousand miles! That got me to thinking about other challenges I could take, which led me to some cool ideas. For the second year in a row, I’m doing a reading challenge. I love to read, so I don’t know if this technically counts as a challenge, but that is what Goodreads calls it. There is a hike challenge I’m interested in, too. Plus, I got an Apple Watch for Christmas, so every day is a challenge in terms of activity tracking and things like that.

The family is doing well. Katie is dancing all the time (still) and Danielle is rocking her college career. Tommy is having fun (and getting dirty) playing with dogs (AND getting paid). Mark is plowing through grad school. I’m managing the household, homeschooling, driving the two living at home everywhere, and continuing to write. I’m a writer. I need to embrace that I’m a writier, and start acting like I’m a writer, so I can be a writer. So, there it is.

I hope everyone has a very good 2019!!

The monthly check in...

Well, November has been an... interesting (?) month.

My mom got sick- the kind of sick where the doctor says, “she may not survive this,” sick. My husband and I drove as fast as legally (ish) possible to get from where we are to where she and my dad are. It really and truly did not look good. And, she survived.

My dad injured his back- the kind of injury where he was using my mom’s walker- injury. He was in a tremendous pain. So, while mom was in the ICU, my brother and my husband and I made appointments with his general doctor, with the MRI people, and “cold calling” the ortho doctor to see if there was any way to get him seen sooner. 

Perseverance paid off, and he was seen and scheduled for surgery the next week. So... My brother and I made lots of plans to cover all the care for dad, from having to be taken to surgery and taken back home from the hospital, and transitioning him to getting back on his feet at home. You know, we made plans. So, of course everything changed. Dad did not need to be in the hospital for as long as the doctor anticipated, which is good news, but this skewed the anticipated time tables of piecing together work, time off, and things like that. Mom meanwhile, was also doing great (good news, again!) and was actually transferred to a skilled nursing facility and out of the hospital.

For about four hours.

Then, mom got really sick again. She was transferred back to the hospital, and that seems to be where we are now. She is doing better, and Dad continues to improve.

Life always seems to somehow like to throw us the proverbial curve ball. What we expect is never what happens. Right? We are always learning how to be fluid, I laugh because I keep saying that this is a fluid situation. It’s hard, in my opinion, to live a fluid situation lifestyle.

God is God, and I am not. I am clinging to that truth right now. It actually comforts me, and reminds me that I am always learning something.

Honduras Bound

We are headed on a trip... we are embarking on a mission trip! It is the first trip for Mark, Katie and I, and we are excited and nervius and praying that God uses us, and opens our eyes to more. There is so much more to life than the busy-ness that is Northern Virginia. I covet all prayers you can possibly send to wreck us all for the love of Christ and His story❤️🇭🇳❤️🇭🇳

No longer deceased...

I know it’s crazy- but Mark and I have been fighting this issues for several (5- a little over) months! Tommy was listed as deceased when we tried to enroll him for his phone through government benefits. It’s such a long, long story, but in a nutshell, Tommy qualified for a phone and when we tried to get this benefit, the phone company that is contracted by Virginia to provide the phone, told me he didn’t exist, he was deceased, he was not alive, etc.

They needed a proof of life video (um... this sounds like a terrorist negotiation), copies of all of his government documentation (social security number, birth certificate, ID cards), a “selfie” (really?), proof that he is living to include mortgage payments, utility payments, etc. (these things are provided by us, because he has a disability, and isn’t this program for people with disabilities?).

I had to use some buzz-words (fraud, taxpayer, registered voter) in a letter crafted to my state district senator, state district representative, Department of Medical Assistance Services, Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services, Director of Medicaid of Virginia, and then I cc’d my state senator and state representative to the US Congress, just for good measure. Interestingly enough, things started to happen after that letter went out... and now, I’m happy to report that Tommy is indeed alive and well.

Vacation!!

This year we did a full two weeks at the beach! I was beside myself to have so much time off. It’s always a little stressful for me to be away on vacation which is a little weird, I know. It’s being out of routine with an autistic household that makes it uncanny at times. This year, too, the middle is at college, so I was missing her.

So, this was a rather eventful trip! Every year I’ve gone to the beach, several times a year in some cases, and I have lived on the coast my whole life. I know that when I am in the water that there are sharks all around me. I know they are there, and are really not interested in me. However, this year I saw one — right next to me — twice — and I pretty much freaked out about it. I don’t mean close to me, either, I mean, this shark was inches from me. I didn’t stay in the water, but Mark did. We had three people get jelly-fish stings, too. Lots of marine life activity on this trip!

The weather was pretty perfect the whole time we were at the beach. We didn’t have any hurrricanes to worry about this year, so, the whole trip was awesomely great. Now, I’m just trying to get us all back into school and dance routines for this school year! Katie is a sophomore in highschool (gulp), and Tommy is working. Mark is in graduate school and I’m still a teacher, I guess:) Danielle is a freshman in college!

The whole gang

Sometimes, a break in routine looks like a vacation at the beach with your family that includes some of the people that you get to choose to be in your family. God is just awesome that way!