Intersections

I've been spending the past few days drafting grant requests for the Senior Living Network, and this morning, I went to the Alzheimer's Awareness Walk/Run committee meeting. I'm always impressed with the passion that these individuals have for their work. With all of the diversity of our personality quirks, backgrounds, responsibilities, etc, we have a really great team who works together and gets things accomplished.

The emails fly back and forth, people meet for breakfast, lunch, dinner to make the event happen to bless people's lives. People commit to getting things done and it DOES get done!

Sometimes, when I'm wallowing, I think I have so little opportunity to do much that's worthwhile. And yet being around ladies and gentlemen like these reminds me that we can be worthwhile in all that we do. Each life intersects others for a purpose, and where we do get the chance to make a difference, that difference can mean the world.

Little Miracles

I feel very humbled and grateful today. Since I signed up for classes over a month ago, I've been worrying about the schedule once college starts. One of the classes I thought I had to take started at 8 a.m. My morning routine is that I take Kelly to seminary at 6:40, go home and finish getting the kids ready to pick her up by 7:30. I then drop Kelly off at 7:40 at Hoover, Joe off at 7:50 at Tenaya, and Johnny and Laine off at 8:00 at Gibson to catch the buses for their respective schools. I couldn't see how I was going to get to a class that started at 8 am, and I've been thinking about it and praying about it.

Yesterday, out of the clear blue sky, someone at Fresno State called me and told me that they were reviewing my classes as a transfer student, and noticed that I had signed up for a class that met a requirement that I'd already completed at Fresno City College. Hooray! I don't have to take the 8 am class and can take a class that meets another requirement instead! And it starts at 9:30 instead of at 8:00. How blessed can I be?

I had been frustrated while trying to sign up for classes because it kept saying that I needed to meet a certain requirement and take an assessment test. Well, based on the conversation with the lady at Fresno State, I also discovered that this problem has been rectified, and I can now sign up for upper division classes and do not have to take Calculus or the assessment test.

Both of these things are "little miracles" to me, tender mercies of the Lord that demonstrate that even in the face of my own helplessness, he can make things happen that bless my life and let me know that he loves me.

I feel this is further spiritual confirmation of my decision to go back to school, and God blessing me because of my efforts to do what I felt he had asked of me. I hope he will similarly bless me in my efforts to get my business off and running so that I can continue to attend classes and be a mom.

Meatless Month

Last month, Kelly and I were talking about our nutritional habits. All the kids love meat, and even though I try to use it prudently and minimally (you'd be surprised the number of meals I can get from one chicken!), I still find that we spend an alarmingly high portion of our food budget on meat products, and especially with the prices of meat rising, it seems prudent to make some further changes. The kids and I agreed to try to make it the whole month of January without meat.

I've been thinking about this for a while. The word of wisdom in our religion tells us to eat meat sparingly. I'm not sure what "sparingly" is or if our use of it would be considered so. In addition, I've been considering switching to organic meat products anyway, because I know there are really high rates of antibiotics and other awful things being fed to the animals we end up eating. And meat handling practices are questionable. I raise my own chickens for eggs for that very reason. If we make it through the month, we will add small portions of organic meat products back into our diet.

Already, I've found there is a distinct lack of enthusiasm from Kelly, who suggested it in the first place, about menu planning. And the kids keep talking about how many days it will be until they can have meat again! I chuckle and know that they will come to appreciate healthier eating from this month ahead of us. In the meantime, I find I'm having to think harder about what to make every day. Saturday, we had bean and rice burritos (the pinto beans I made turned out SO good!!), and Sunday we had potato soup. Tonight we're having Cajun dirty rice, steamed broccoli, and home made rolls with salad. I'll be needing a lot of ideas!!

Happy New Year!

Lucky for you, you won't find a list of resolutions on any of my pages. I've found that waiting til the new year to make a list is a very ineffective way of making lasting changes. I strive to improve daily. You'd think if I was actually successful at that, I wouldn't need to keep improving...I'd be perfect!  To me, it just shows how truly far away I am from perfection.

I do tend to spend some time in reflection, thinking about the past year. I think overall, we have been very blessed. I refuse to dwell on the struggles and plan to keep moving forward in faith, knowing that I am far more blessed than I realize on even my most grateful of days. A lot of things will change this next year. I'm hoping that one of them will be that the Lord will lead even more people into my life to love, and hopefully one special person in particular. I am so very grateful for all of my family and friends who have touched my heart and my life during this past year. I'm so happy that God has given me wonderful children who are learning every day to be amazing adults.

I do hope the year ahead is full of joys and happiness beyond compare for all of those people that I love. I hope your sorrows only serve to sweeten your joys. I pray that your burdens may be lightened by those who love you. I ask that sunshine and peace be your faithful companions. And I hope that together, we can make this time on earth full of friendship, understanding and love.

Belle

While Erin and I were running out to pick up dinner this evening, we encountered a little dog lying in the middle of the road. I swerved to avoid her, and heard her yapping from where she was lying. We pulled over and went to see if the dog was injured. Poor dog was wet from the rain, and someone had hit her and left her on the road, injured. She raised the front of her body with her front paws, but didn't lift the back of her body. She was bleeding from her bottom and was panic stricken. Erin carried her to the car and I looked at her collar, hoping for a tag. We found that her name was Belle, and found a phone number. We were heartbroken as we spoke to the elderly couple. We drove Belle to her home where we left her with her human family, both in their 90's, and their son. They've had the dog for twelve years. It didn't look good. I felt so sad for them. I'm going to check on the couple and the dog in a few days. In the meantime, a few prayers couldn't hurt!

Christmas Photo

I can't afford to send out all the Christmas cards I'd like to send. So many people in my life to love! And this year, with my uncle dying so close to Christmas, we will be doing some unexpected traveling so this photo will just let others know that all those smiles are because of all the love we feel from all of our family and friends. We can't tell you just how much your friendship and love has meant to us every day! We wish you the merriest of Christmases, with peace and joy deep in your soul as you contemplate the Greatest Gift: Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who died and lives for us! Because of him, we can be clean from all our sins if we repent, and because of him, we can forgive others and ourselves. I love my Savior...I feel surrounded by his love. I'm grateful for all of my wonderful family and friends who bless my life each and every day!

My Heart is Sad.

I received word from my mother this morning that my Uncle Norman has passed away. He lived in a group home in Moreno Valley, where he's lived since my grandfather had to be put into an assisted living facility. In the photo above, he's the one sitting at the table. (Also in the picture, left to right, Richard and Molly Vermette (my uncle and his wife) and my Mom and Dad.)

It's odd that we received the call today...I was thinking about him all through this morning, about visiting him during the kids' break from school. I recalled how hard it was to talk to him on the phone since he didn't have a hearing aid, and felt that I should call my Mom to make the arrangements to visit him. I also thought about how one day, his body would be renewed and he would be free of all the impairments he was burdened with in this life and that I couldn't wait to see what he would be like in the afterlife. Then, an hour later, I received a call from my Mom, telling me that he had passed away.

Norman Vermette would have been 70 on January 26th. He never held a job due to physical and mental disabilities that began at his difficult birth (according to the doctor, he was oxygen deprived), though he was a hard worker in all that he tried to do. I grew up visiting him and my grandparents twice a week or more. He lived in 29 Palms most of his life. He often annoyed us as kids...he acted like a kid (teasing, tattling, being mean) but had an adult's body and we were expected to treat him like an adult. He had the largest collection of comic books I had ever seen, which he would let us read from time to time. He was an usher at the Catholic church we attended, and performed his duties faithfully every Sunday. He loved to watch television. He hated changes in his routine or that of anyone around him. He liked things in order and would often "spy" on us as kids to make sure things were in order. We all got used to him following us around. He was the first to call with any news, bad or good. He could whistle tunes like no one I've ever met. He doted on his mother and loved to buy her little trinkets. My funnest memory of him was when he would put us on the trailer in back of his little yard tractor and give us a ride. I also remember him driving a little go-cart around my grandparents' five acre desert home. I remember he had a pet monkey ages ago when I was very young, and he loved that monkey a ton.

He was always affectionate to me and to my children. He loved to watch the kids, and delighted in trying to figure out which relative they reminded him of as children. He had a nice smile and a funny laugh and would rub his hands together in delight when he told or heard a funny joke. Those same hands would writhe together when he was upset or anxious. He was very opinionated, and the anxiety he suffered from increasingly affected his relationships with people as he got older. He was valiant in doing the best he knew how to help his Mom and his Dad as their health deteriorated. His greatest accomplishment in my opinion was that he helped all of us learn to be less judgmental and more Christ-like in our love for others, both by being difficult (at times) to love and by being a truly loving human being. He believed in God and did everything he was capable of as well as he could. I loved him, and he will be missed by his five siblings and the members of our families.

Please, mom? No!

I just heard on the news that McDonald's is being sued for targeting ads to children, circumventing the parents and causing the children to whine and beg for McDonalds. And of course, those helpless parents just have to give in since their children are having a fit about wanting that happy meal. What the heck?? When I was a kid, every toy under the sun, every sugary cereal ever invented, every cool theme park in the world advertised on television. If I asked for something I saw on a commercial, my parents used this handy answer, with or without explanation, and I learned over time that it meant exactly what it said. Ready? Here it comes...NO!

In fact, this answer made such an impact on me when I was a child that I used it on my own children. I never once experienced a temper tantrum at the register over something my child wanted that I wouldn't buy, because any temper tantrum was either ignored or the child was immediately isolated without an audience. I never once was "forced" to buy my kids a happy meal or any other junk food item. If I purchased something for my children, it was because I wanted to. For the record, I can count on one hand the number of times that we have eaten at McDonald's since my children were born. Have we eaten at fast food restaurants? Yes. Do we do it regularly? No.

I taught my children from a young age that we eat food that's good for us, and have food that's not good for us as an occasional treat. When my children wanted a hamburger, I made one at home out of the boca burgers I had in my freezer. I prepared food that tasted good and had a variety of fruits and veggies. Now when they eat at fast food restaurants, they can tell the difference both in quality and in how the food makes them feel afterward.

Parents need to be parents and consumer groups etc. need to stop laying the responsibility for raising our children on everyone except the parents. Discipline, responsibility and accountability should be taught to our children by the parents, who should also possess those qualities themselves. Sheesh...what is this world coming to?

Rubbing out the Grinch!

This is Laine's new dresser. It's been sitting in my house for a few weeks, waiting for me to get around to staining it. I think today will be the day. I am feeling frustrated and upset by several things in my life, and they have made me struggle to keep a positive attitude. I'm feeling grinchy and grouchy and grumpy. This is entirely unjustified...the few difficulties I have in my life are FAR outweighed by my many blessings and I need to start acting like it, so I'm going to direct all this negative energy into something productive and beautiful. And if that's not enough, then we're going to move all the girl's furniture into the living room and rip out carpet and paint and lay hardwood flooring. Or maybe I'll move all my pantry items into the livingroom and lay tile in the breezeway. Or both! Regardless, I think I have enough to rub out the Grinch!

My Favorite Bear

"If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together, there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you.”  --Winnie the Pooh


I always loved Winnie the Pooh when I was a child. His gentle nature and humble way of looking at the world struck something deep inside then, but I never really thought about it until recently. I think I'm looking for my Winnie the Pooh. Have you seen him?