Reflections of KJ

The Lesson of the Five Balls

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:09:00 +0000

Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drip it, it will bounce back. The other four balls – family, health, friends, integrity --- are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered. And once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls, you will have the beginnings of balance in your life.¹

I read this quote a few weeks ago while on vacation. I have been guilty of making my job more important than it should be in my life. Thinking that if I wasn’t there or if I didn’t do something how would the company stay afloat. I mean REALLY, I’m just a person who happens to work and those companies survived before I joined their ranks and are still around after I left.

I remember how it felt when I was laid off a few years ago. It wasn’t for performance, proven by the fact that I received notice of a pay raise on the same day that they announced I would be laid off, gotta love big companies, at least my severance package was calculated on the new higher salary. I had to do some real soul searching to make sure I didn’t place my own personal worth in the fact that I was working and had a good job.

Last week while I was on a business trip to Dallas, the company I am currently working for had 2 significant events, 1^st they was reduction of workforce (lay off) of +25 people and then 2 days later there was a hostile takeover of the company by an investment firm. WOW.

This week the new Company President was in our remote office with the 6 of us that work in Bellevue. It was a strange and stressful week. Would our positions be eliminated? Would they close the office?

The questions still go unanswered, but I know I no longer place my worth in my job. I like my job and will always work doing something but i the ball of work drops, it is made of rubber and it will bounce back. I have to stay focused on the other ones for now.

Matthew 6:26-27

¹ Susanne’s Diary for Nicholas, James Patterson, 2001.

How To Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:50:00 +0000

I received a text message this morning from a friend asking if I was ready for a vacation. I reply back, “No, I am glad to be back to the routine. We have figured out how to vacation.”

How many vacations have all of us taken and didn’t want to miss out on anything and wanted to make sure we got our “monies worth”. We schedule and plan and rush form one activity to the next. Setting the alarm each night to meet a schedule on vacations seems to be wrong on so many levels. We come back from our time away exhausted.

Last week my husband and I took our annual “vacation”. He has a limited number of vacation days and we tend to do a couple of weekend getaways each year, but we purpose to take a vacation each year. A vacation to us is about spending time together while getting refreshed and restored.

Now don’t get me wrong we still take what we call “working vacations” where we go with a purpose and a project to be completed. But these are becoming less frequent. Is that age or wisdom?

So how do we vacation? We stumbled on this formula by accident, but it has served us very well the last few years. We decide what part of the country we would like to explore, usually around something from the Civil War because that is one of Kyle’s passions. (Side bar – for all of you home schoolers, if you want someone to speak about the Civil War, I know this guy). We get a rental car, guide book and a map and we take off. Our only schedule for the entire vacation is when to be at the airport to leave and to return. Everything in between is left up in the air and we decide as we go. We don’t use a GPS because we might miss something and I am pretty good with a map. We don’t pre-book hotels, we just decide we are ready for the night and find one that looks good preferring one that has a hot tub/spa.

By doing this we take the structure out of our way too over scheduled lives for a few days. We spend quality time without distractions while in the car driving. We get as much rest as we want for a change sleeping in, going to bed early, and relaxing when we just want to relax.

Vacation - leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure.

MATT 11:28-30

Travel Companions

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:16:00 +0000

An elderly woman being accompanied by her daughter who is just a younger version of the first are sitting towards the front. There is the family traveling with 3 small children. A couple of young mothers one whose child sleeps quietly the others does not want to sit in one place. A college student is busy reading a text book while the business man is sleeping while the movie playing goes unwatched.

We all sit on the same airplane headed to the same destination, at least on this flight. We all get on for different reasons, some visiting family, some returning home, so going on vacation, all different reasons but a common destination.

As I sit and work on my laptop while my husband naps next to me I think about how being on this airplane is a small version of life. At different stages or “legs” of our travel we are doing life together. We spend time with people and then for various reasons we lose contact with people that we were once close to. Our travel companions though life will change, but we must chose to travel with the right people and along the right path.

After 3+hours we arrive at our destination and all of us get off of the plane. Some are done and will return to their homes, some will rush off to catch another flight, some like us are just moving onto a different mode of transportation to continue our trip.

Proverbs 13:20

Dear Dr E:

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:16:00 +0000

It has been 5 years and I have thought about what you said at our last visit many times. You probably don’t remember me, I am just another patient in a long series of patients and just another record in your files.

The look of the exam room – beige walls, veneer cabinets and a reproduction print of a lily that is found in many doctors’ offices, I am sitting on the chair in the room when you enter, as I sit in stunned silence you talk about my future.

I walk out of the office not sure what to do next, I am on auto pilot as I make my way through the halls, down the elevator and out to the parking garage where I get into my car and wonder what to do next.

Six months later in a small church on Main Street, Monroe Wa, God performed a miracle in my life and healed the cancer in my breast. Thank you Lord.

Dr E, I write this to you as I have just received my latest mammogram results and to let you know that for the last 5 years I battled in my mind almost daily as symptoms would come I battled to stay in Gods embrace and to keep the faith in Him. I battled against the words you spoke that day. I battled to prove you wrong.

Dr E, you were right it isn’t a matter of if – I have been clean for 5 years now, but where you were wrong is that it is NOT a matter of when either.

Matthew 15:30

End of a Season

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:45:00 +0000

Here it is Labor Day, the time when summer and all the related activities are coming to an end. Kyle just pulled the furnace filters and cleaned them preparing for the winter months. Seasons change and try as we might to hold on to one it will change into the next one. There is no stopping fall, then winter and then spring from happening.

As a farmer knows you spend time in one season so that you can harvest in the next. But after the harvest there comes what seems to be the longest season, the season of rest. It is in these season that the fields are dormant, you have to cut down the plants that were once producing so much fruit, stop the activity in the field and allow the ground to rest. Allow the ground to recover and rebuild the nutrients that the next crop will require.

Sometimes a season in our lives has to end, maybe it is has been a fruitful season and yet you know deep down that season is waning. If you try and prolong that time it would be like running around in shorts when the weather is cold and rainy. It will no longer produce fruit and it will cause much discomfort.

It is hardest to be obedient and stop doing the good things when you don’t know what you are going to be doing next, but if you don’t give up the old, how will there ever be time for the new? It is only after the dormant winter season that spring comes and there will be new growth, new plants and the potential for a new harvest.

ECC 3:6

Climate Control

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:15:00 +0000

After the record breaking triple digit temperatures we had here a couple of weeks ago there a lot of people interested in climate Control. There are many methods to achieve climate control, Swamp Coolers in the Southwest, Dehumidifiers in the South, humidifiers in the Northeast in the winter, central air-conditioning just about everywhere. All tools used to control the climate or atmosphere we live or work in.

So what do we do to control our personal climate, how we relate and respond to those around us? Are we cranky when we get tired? Short tempered when we are emotionally out of sorts? Grumpy with we don’t get what we want? All of these set the climate around us.

So what are we to do, put on a false front and pretend that everything is right in the world? NO. But we can clean ourselves up, look at the bigger picture and expect good things. Our atmosphere can be controlled even when the circumstances cannot.

Proverbs 3: 5,6

GOAL!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:55:00 +0000

Last month I achieved two goals one a long term goal – to climb Mt St Helens, the other a short term goal – read the Bible through in one month. With both goals I had to make intentional choice with my time, energy and resources to see them both through to the end

I’m a goalie, no not a net minder on a soccer field or an ice arena, but a person that thrives in a life with goals. I set goals professionally, personally, financially, physically. I am a goalie. Give me a goal and I will determine the objectives that need to be made to achieve that goal.

If there is no goal I tend to lose focus and interest. I don’t wander well.

To achieve success, you need both persistence and flexibility. When you face difficulties and unexpected problems, use all your persistence and determination to stick to your goals. But always stay flexible. If the way you do things now does not work, try another way. Keep trying until you find the one that works.

Don't change the ends, change the means. And never forget the difference between ends and means, between goals and objectives.

A goal is summarized in the phrase "a dream with a deadline," a goal is an observable and measurable end result having one or more objectives to be achieved within a more or less fixed timeframe. In comparison, a 'purpose' is an intention (internal motivational state) or mission. The question, "Has the goal been achieved?" can always be answered with either a "Yes" or "No." A purpose, however, is not 'achieved' but instead is pursued every day.

Habakkuk 2:2,3

“Lead on, Mac Duff”

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0000

This was my call as we made our way down St Helen’s. Unlike most people because of the issues I have with my knees, it is significantly easier for me to climb up then it is to make my way down. One of the men in our group took the lead and did everything he could to find the easiest way for me to get off the mountain. He would climb ahead sometimes back tracking and taking a different route going slow and making sure I made it. He could have gone on ahead and been finished probably an hour ahead of me, sitting in the shade drinking a cold refreshing drink, but instead he made sure we all made it down.

This man was only one of the phenomenal men that were a part of our group. Each went above and beyond to help the entire group succeed. I witnessed one man literally stepping up on a rock and then reaching back with his pole to pull another member of the team that wasn’t as strong up to the next step. Then there was the man that left the group to go back down the mountain with one of the injured members only to start over again once making sure that member was taken care of. And then the young men that took the lead and just for the pure fun of the climb brought along all us novice climbers. Finally, there was our leader that spent the day walking back and forth between the various groups spread up and down the mountain making sure everyone was safe.

“Lead on, Mac Duff” is actually misquote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It was an emphatic declaration to not only head into battle, but to do it immediately. Every man in our group of climbers rushed head long into this fight and without them the battle may have been lost.

To each of those men, I could name by name but they would prefer I not because that is the type of men they are, I say,

THANK YOU.

Climbing a Mountain

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:08:00 +0000

May 17, 2008 Journal Entry:

Yesterday morning at 8 am I went to the knee surgeon to get the results of the MRI. So no obvious problem that can be fixed by scoping it, the meniscus that is left is “frayed” and there are some big arthritis spurs and my knee cap is rubbing off to the inside. All that means is that there really isn’t anything that can be done until it gets so bad that I have a knee replacement. I can do some exercises to strengthen the muscles and that might help.

Then I called Kyle I was in tears because I really don’t want to become my mom. I don’t want to live with this. So I am going to try and exercise. I need to lose 15 lbs. and I’m going to take Glucosamine and most of all I’m going to trust you Lord and live the life You have given me with a capital “L”

May 30, 2008 Journal Entry:

So I went and signed up at the “Y’ and worked out last night. Hopefully this will work for me so that I: 1) get in shape, 2) get my attitude in shape, 3) and get motivated about other things.

July 25, 2008 Journal Entry:

Last night I went and worked out again. No one else came. Bruce at the Y asked and I told him it was pretty bad when the grandma in the group was the only one that made it. But then I thought about it, I have the bigger incentive, I need to be in shape in order to keep enjoying live.

July 29, 2008 Journal Entry:

Lori and Dan climbed Mt St Helens yesterday, on the way down, Lori sent me a text that said that next year they are taking me. I told them I would hold them to it. Lord I would really like to be able to do that. I have 12 months to get in shape for it. Lord give me a strategy.

July 25, 2009

I reached the summit of

Mt St Helen’s.

And The Adventure Begins

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:22:00 +0000

62 weeks ago today that I went to the Orthopedic Doctor to get the results from the MRI on my left knee to see what could be done to relive some of the pain that I was in just doing life. It was then that he told me that there was only one thing he could do to help me, do a knee replacement. The only problem with that is that Knee replacements tend to only last about 10 years and I’m a little young to start having that done. He said I could try some physical theory to strength the other parts of my leg and it might improve it some.

800 miles of treadmill, stationary bikes, elliptical machines, lunges, stair mills and walks are a good estimate of what I have done in the last 62 weeks getting my body in shape. I wish I would have kept a log of the actual distances. So here I sit this morning 25 lbs lighter then I was a year ago and what started out as a goal just to be able to more comfortably became a goal to be able to climb Mt St Helen’s .

10 is the approximate distance I will be hiking/climbing tomorrow to up and back tomorrow on Mt St Helen’s.

62 – 800 – 10 Numbers that define this adventure.

Psalm 23:3

Fresh Paint

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:09:00 +0000

For the last 4 years we have had extra residents in our house, our youngest son for 2 different stints and two different sets of interns from church. About a week ago we finally saw the last of them move out. I feel as if finally I have my own house. Not that the guys didn’t have their own room but there is just something about shared living spaces.

To make the transition complete I have spent the last few days painting some of the rooms in our house. There is no longer an intern room and the guy’s bathroom, but today there is an office, Katelynn’s room and the upstairs bathroom. Not only are these areas being repurposed but they have a whole new look to them.

Painting the different rooms in our house has been something that I have wanted to do since we moved in, but my work schedule and other outside responsibilities have always taken a priority over painting both in time and money. We decided that now that we are taking back our house it was the perfect time.

New paint doesn’t change the shape of the room, but sure did change the atmosphere. Having those rooms done, I am really motivated to complete the rest of them; I just need to work it into the schedule.

Last week I attended a conference and it was as if my soul and my spirit got a fresh coat of paint. I am still the same person but marks and wear and tear have been patched, smoothed, washed and refinished giving me a new outlook. I am again motivated to live my life fresh and new every morning.

Lamentations 3:22-24

I Didn't Call You Daddy

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:22:00 +0000

You weren’t there the day I was born; you never had the pleasure of changing one of my diapers. There were so many things that you were there for that those that you missed just aren’t that important.

What is important are all the times you were there. To teach me to play softball, to allow me to play on your summer team as a teenager in the days before there were leagues for girls. You were there to grind off the 1st tooth on my figure skates so I could play hockey on the pond with the boys. You were the one that taught me to shoot pool when I had to stand on a chair to reach the table. If it wasn’t for these bi-focal’s I could probably still be pretty good.

You took me into the garage and taught me how to use each tool and why it was so important to use the right tool for the job. You took me to the shop with you on weekends and holidays and to this day I still know how to pick a tumbler lock. Because of you I have a Mechanical Engineering Degree.

You taught me how to catch fish and had the patience of Job the night you caught that 27” Northern Pike and I got it so tangled up in the net it took almost an hour before you could cast your line again.

You were there when I graduated from high school and college. You didn’t laugh at me the night you came to one of my road trip college basketball games and came out onto the court with an afro.

You were the one that taught me laughter could get you through the really bad times. Some might say I have an interesting sense of humor. Remember the time you were in the hospital and we sent you a dozen long rose ‘stems’. Yes just the stems, we had the florist cut the blooms off. You laughed so hard the nurses came to see if you were ok and you displayed them proudly in a vase the entire time you were in the hospital.

You were there for one of the most difficult times of my life, when Donald died. You probably never knew that I heard you and mom in your bedroom the 1st night after I got home and you were crying and asking why not you. You would have gladly have taken his place in death.

You were there when you should have been in the hospital, refusing to go until after Christmas so you could see me when you gave me the Grandfathers clock you built. You poured your last energy into that clock that is gently ticking next to me right now; you never did come home again.

After I left for college I started to call you Dad, officially you were my step-dad but I regret to this day that I never called you Daddy.

What If?

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:00:00 +0000

I make decision every day. I have had to make decisions that had outcomes with the potential for great physical harm. I have had to make decisions in my own life that have had lasting consequences and I may never know if they were the right ones.

I face a decision now where the risk to a personal goal is very high as well as the long term effect on my body. I am weighing all the options, but there is no way to know which way would be the best. I struggle; I don’t want to quit and disappoint myself and others. I don’t want go forward and succeed at a cost that is too high. There is no way to know what the outcome will be ahead of time. If I hold back and fail, I will always wonder; if I go forward as planned and can’t make the final step, I will have failed.

I’m not talking about a job change, a relationship change, a change that really is important in the grand scheme of life. Either way all those things are secure. This is purely about my own personal goal and struggles. And yet; I pray for God’s direction and strategy.

Proverbs 1:5

Congradulations Pittsburgh Penguins

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:48:00 +0000

The Pittsburgh Penguins are the 2008-9 Stanley Cup Champions.

As a true fan of NHL I agree that the best team in the series won. Detroit played well but Pitsburg didn't give up and pushed them in the last two game.

I love a good hockey game and Detroit and Pittsburgh provided some of the best I've seen in years.

I will always be a Detroit Redwings fan and I will always be a Hockey Fan.

GO WINGS!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:41:00 +0000

Happiness: new grill, steaks and his truck

How Do Others See Me?

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Often you go to a fair or street festival and you will find an artist or two set up drawing Caricatures, a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person to create an easily identifiable visual likeness.

In literature one of the key features is the Character Sketch. Here you are introducing the reader to someone. You want your readers to know that person’s characteristic ways of doing things, to know something about their value system. Character sketches only give a snap shot of people.

This is true in life, when we are trying to describe someone to another person we often describe that person using exaggerations of certain characteristics or even oversimplification of others.

So how am I described to someone who hasn’t met me before? Is it by my physical features, my expressions that I use or by my character? Do others see what I am or what I try to be?

Others determine your reputation. You determine your character.
Character is defined by integrity and at the heart of integrity is the idea of wholeness.

Psalm 25:21

Who Has the Best BBQ

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:47:00 +0000

Today Kyle and I decided to take the scenic route home from Leavenworth, WA. We left and headed over to Chelan and then to Ellensburg for lunch. At TRC there are a whole lot of folks that rave about a BBQ place in Ellensburg so we decided we needed to check it out.

I have eaten BBQ in at least 47 of the 50 states and at least 3 of the Canadian providences. I really like good BBQ and was looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about at Rodeo City BBQ. I usually get my BBQ fix these days from 3 Pigs in Bellevue. Not only is it good BBQ, but it is also less than a mile from where I work.

So after eating a helping of Baby Backs, two sides and a piece of Cornbread here is the result: Rodeo City has really good BBQ, it is smoked a little more than I tend to like it, the top is a little tough from the smoking, but overall the meat was cooked well, tender and flavorful. The Sauce was a sweeter sauce and I was never offered a HOT version so I had to use Tabasco sauce, but that is not unusual. However, I think 3 Pigs is better.

3 Pigs has wonderful sauces that come in mild, medium and Hot, they smoke their meat with a dry rub so there is no toughness on the top layer. The meat is tender and easily peels off the bone.

Rodeo City has much better side dishes then 3 Pigs and the Corn Bread will be enough to bring me back.

I would rank both of these places in the top 10 of the best BBQ I have ever eaten.

The top 5 are:
San Antonio, TX on the River Walk. I was there for 5 days and at BBQ three times.
Memphis TN, Jack Neely’s Intersate BBQ
Oxford, MI – My sister Linda’s
Atlanta, GA – Dreamland BBQ
Chicago,IL – Russell’s BBQ.

So what BBQ is your favorite?

99 and Counting

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:20:00 +0000

This past Sunday my husband ‘s Grandmother celebrated her 99th birthday so we went to visit her and bring her some flowers.

We were sitting and chatting when Kyle asked her how she met Grampa Herb, her 1st husband. The smile on her face and the twinkle in her eye made me wish I had thought to bring the video camera to record this memory.

She giggled once and then started in:

I met him at church you know. It was when the church was down town and I used to walk to church.

I was all dressed up and walked in and looked at the clock to see what time it was, he was sitting right under the clock all by himself. I thought, “Oh look he is sitting by himself”. I went and sat next to him. Neither one of us got anything out of the preachers message because we talked through the whole service.

The service ended and I started to walk home. Pretty soon a car drove up next to me and it was him offering me a ride home. I told him no, I wanted him to know that I was independent. [Those of us that know her would probably laugh a good one at that, stubborn is more like it]. But after some prodding, not much really I got in and let him drive me home. And that is how it all started.

Another little giggle, big smile and the story was over.

Memories like these are often lost; I was so blessed to be let in on that little story.

Deuteronomy 4:9

What Do I Think

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Sun, 03 May 2009 04:11:00 +0000

Thinking involves the mental manipulation of information.

What information are we allowing into our minds, what are we doing with that information?

One morning last week as I was getting ready for work I caught my image in the mirror. I stopped to look. What I saw actually made me happy. I have been working out at the YMCA for about 11 months and in that time my body has slimmed down, toned up and is starting to look like one of the athlete I once was and not the grandmother I am now. I have lost weight, my clothes are fitting much looser and in general I am pleased with the results of my hard work.

So the information my brain was manipulating was all good and I only saw good things in the mirror.

Later that night as I was preparing to go to bed for the night I stopped to look at myself in that same mirror. This time I saw the scars, mutilation and defects in my body.

It was the same body, same mirror and two totally different results.

That night my brain was manipulating new information and it wasn’t good and I only saw the bad things in the mirror.

My mind ran away with all of the possibilities for the five days that it took for the test results to come back. I struggled to keep my mind focused on the positive and not the negative.

Now that I have gotten the best results possible I can reflect on what I saw in the mirror both times that day. I look at my image today and still see the positive changes and yet rejoice in the trials and history that the scars mark.

Lord, I thank You for all that You have done for me.

2 Corinthians 10:5

Waiting

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 05:09:00 +0000

Wait

Wait

Wait.

Not something that we enjoy. Sometimes we wait with expectation and anticipation. Sometimes we wait with fear and dread.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

Isa 40:31

Never mistake activity for achievement

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:00:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago Pastor Jeff used an avalanche beacon to illustrate a point in his Sunday Tru message. That next Monday morning I was meeting with a group of people to train them on a new product we were releasing that week. While we were waiting on all of the folks to attend someone asked me how it was going. My reply; “I am running as fast as I can to stay ahead of the avalanche of things that need to be done.” The good news is that our company is starting to accelerate; the bad news is that they are not hiring anyone so all of us have more work to do.

We can all get very busy, but are we really accomplishing anything? That is the question that I have to ask myself. I work through lunch, I go in early, I work in the evenings all trying to stay in front of that avalanche. What I really have to focus on in this time is keeping my priorities straight: 1) God, 2) Husband, 3) Family, 4) Church, etc.

I have to remember that work is not my life. I am blessed because I have a job I truly enjoy, but it still needs to be kept in the proper place in my life.

Ecc 9:10

Simple Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:02:00 +0000

One of my favorite summer memories growing up was the summer my family traveled from our home in Michigan to Kansas City Missouri pulling a rented popup camper trailer. We stayed in a campground that was up on a hill and had very few trees. The sun shone bright every day and the temperature would reach 120 degrees or more each day, that was hot. Down at the bottom of the hill was this big lake full of cool blue water, but for some reason it was not safe to swim in. We were there with the Majorette/Drum Corp for a National Championship so there were approximately 15 families all camping in the same area.

So what do you do when it is 120+, out in the bright sun, 50 or more people and a water pump? Well you have water fights. It didn’t matter whether you were 7 or 70 everyone got involved. Any and all buckets, balloons and cups were used when a water fight would break out. These were not planned and everyone had so much fun that it is one things that 40 years later anyone that was there talks about.

We have forgotten the heat, the dried out grass, but everyone remembers working the pump handle to get more water for the action. We didn’t care that we had to work for that water, we were just grateful it was there. That was part of the fun, working that pump handle. That memory just reminds me of a time when it was the simple things that were the most fun.

Psalm 116:5-7 (New Living Translation)

Absolutely Amazing

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:51:00 +0000

I want to tell you about my new friend. Her disposition is just that Absolutely Amazing. Give her circumstances she could easily be justified in feeling sorry for herself and yet she is the first to greet you with a big smile, a merry song and cheerful “how are you today”.

My friend is a lot like me, she is young; probably in her late 40s early fifties (see I’m that age so I consider that young). She has an engineering degree and worked for many years for Boeing. The big difference is that my friend is unable to form words to speak anything but a few phrases. There is a disconnect in her brain. I met my friend at the nursing home where my mom lives. She is has been a resident there since she was beaten, leaving her unable to use her right hand, unable to walk because her right leg is also partially paralyzed. Her mind has full capability except speaking. She knows what is going on and what she needs to say, but the words just don’t come. Her vocabulary is limited:

“How are you today?” “I’m fine thank you.” “Absolutely Amazing”

How I wish I knew my friend before, if those are the only things her damaged brain can say today. Think of all the angry, foul phrases that she could be spouting?

I look forward to seeing my friend every time I visit my mom; even though I do most of the talking we hold entire conversations. The speech therapist is amazed, I guess because we are so similar we converse easily.

I am truly blessed to have made a new friend.

Matthew 12:34

More Than a Meal

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 01:49:00 +0000

When we fix ourselves a meal we make our selection based on a number of factors. Maybe you are into organic food, maybe it is the ethnenticity, or maybe on convenience. But there are just some times that we select our meal based on the emotion behind it, thus the meaning of ‘comfort food’.

I have had a tough couple of weeks and last night when I got home from a long day I needed something in my body, not necessarily nutrition(I could miss a meal and be none the worse for it) but I needed to feed my soul. I needed something that would bring a little joy to my life. I have the ability to buy a lobster dinner, an expensive piece of beef but I needed Spagetti-Os.

I remember the 1st can of Spaghetti-Os I had, it was such an extravagant expense for our family. Such a diversion from the meals that we had it was sweet and fun and pure enjoyment for a child. I remember warming up Spaghetti-Os in a hotpot in my dorm room during my freshman year of college, another time where money was scarce.

I dumped the can in a bowl and popped it into the microwave while I spread lots of butter on a couple of pieces of good ole white bread. When the microwave finished I took my bowl to the table and sat and dipped that bread into that red sauce then into my mouth and I was reminded of all that I have survived, overcome and accomplished in my life and my soul was encouraged.

Not everyone may look at Spaghetti-Os that way, but last night it was just what I needed.

Deuteronomy 4:9-10

noreply@blogger.com (Karen P) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:04:00 +0000

Good stuff