Hot Dogs and Ka-Bobs

Inspiration for finding joy has found me today. Friendly faces fluttered in and out of my home yesterday and joy is once again restored. I'm sure that difficult place I was in is lurking and would love to set up camp in my mind and heart but it is not welcome here.

Meal planning has always been a challenge for me and when I had the idea to grill some yummy ka-bobs for Nick and me for dinner, I knew the kiddos wouldn't like it so much. So, I came up with the idea of grilling hot dogs for them. Once the catchy rhyme played in my head I smiled. Hot Dogs and Ka-Bobs made me smile. Really? Sometimes you never know what will put a smile on a face and some joy restored to your heart, but for today I will relish in it and secretly smile as we eat dinner tonight!

Tick Tock

If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

I grew up hearing that.

So, as I've gone to post in my blog lately, I stare at the cursor and eventually just close the screen and walk away. It is sad to me that my knee and this injury/surgery and recovery can cause such a depression within me. I used to love to run. I was outside. I was listening to podcasts. I was moving.

Filling my time doing rides and runs was great for me... for my soul... for my identity. Now I sit wondering what I will do or become if it isn't returned to me. Even cleaning the house, yoga, planting, anything with squatting, kneeling or bending is too difficult for me. So, I'm sitting in this place of identity loss and confusion.

Inspiration has left me. Motivation has vanished. And all too quickly (there's the tick tock) that big yellow bus will no longer come and take my kiddos away. I'll be in this place each day with them by my side desiring adventure and play. I am trying to embrace where I am and live fully and find the thankfulness that I have to give each day. I just needed to write why I haven't been writing.

Even the Seeds of Weeds

It is that time of year again.... the time of year where all sorts of spiritual analogies flood my mind as my hands are in the earth digging, pulling, planting and pruning.

Forgive me if I've shared or overused these analogies... but the Bible is to blame. Jesus used plant analogies LOTS, so I will to.

We want the good stuff, the pretty flowers, to take root and flourish. Right? So, I look at all that is involved in helping that desire along. I find great soil and I feed each plant with some pebbled looking "root blast". Root blast? Really? Well, hmmmm..... what would root blast look like spiritually in my life? In your life?
I water. I gingerly handle the plant and give it a nice place to live as I will it to take root.

But the weeds? Oh, no! I grip firmly and practically curse the entire root existence out of my flower beds. Be gone. I give some muscle into it and I pull with might and you know what? It's messy sometimes when it finally loosens and releases it's root from it's home. A messy splash of dirt in my face and all over my clothes cause me to think about how messy it is to deal with the sin in our lives especially to the root of the issue. What has taken root in your life that will be messy once you start to get a grip on it and begin the removal process? And even more... that one weed and the root that you've dealt with all too often has inevitably left some of it's seeds in that region.

The weed's seeds are there, my friend. Once exposed it more difficult to maintain weed free. Some may hear this fully and some may not. But, I caution you to not think you have dealt with the issue because the isolated event was dealt with. Those seeds go deep. But, God goes even deeper still.

Run. Bike. Dog-paddle.

Wouldn't that be a great bumper sticker? Run. Bike. Dog-paddle.

As I'm doing my physical therapy and thinking down the road of just what MIGHT be in my future, a triathlon popped into my head. When it popped in, I came up with this bumper sticker idea and think I could get pretty rich off of it. I can't tell you how many people say that the swim is their weak area.

Then, you know me... I had to plug this in somehow to something spiritual. :)

How many of us have a weak area? Praying. Evangelizing. Reading or memorizing Scripture. Giving.

When I think of God desiring our WHOLE heart, our WHOLE mind and our WHOLE soul (Matthew 22:37) I want to give 100% in all areas. Instead of passing something off as weakness, I want to let that be an area for HIM to be STRONG. (2 Corinthians 12:10b) And Lastly, I know that God desires for us to be sold out in one direction or the other (Matthew 6:24). He will not stand for the lukewarm (Revelation 3:15 & 16).

So, I will strive to use God's strength in ALL areas of my life. Will You?

And about that bumper sticker... I may not strive to be a better swimmer, so if any of you turn this into a bumper sticker, just make sure I get some of the proceeds!

Egg Shell Growth

Since I'm an open book, the real deal, extremely (too a fault sometimes) transparent; I used to the think of the idea of "walking on eggshells" as wrong. But this morning when approached by a subject matter that I KNOW can put a halt to the rhythm of our school morning routine I decided that there was nothing more appropriate or right than walking on eggshells!

As I treaded lightly through the minefield of this dilemma, I realized that over the years, wisdom has found me. Ironically enough, smarts hasn't found me as I've spell-checked twice already :)

Please hear me. This is not a prideful tone saying wisdom has found me. Truly it's an "a-ha" moment for me to watch how I respond differently to things because of life's experiences.

My Daddy always told me I wouldn't be grown-up until I ate tomatoes. Well, I eat them now, but I think I've grown up and matured because I'm finally learning from so many battles that could have been avoided had I treaded lightly!

Live Fully

When I wrote about our decision to stay in OK instead of moving to CO I had said that God clearly showed us we were to be here. There was a work that God had begun here on this street and I knew in my heart that God wanted me to listen to Him and be used by Him. I am so humbled as I write this story.

I remember thinking and possibly even saying to Nick that if we are called to stay in OK for my neighbor to enter into a relationship with Jesus, securing a place with God in eternity, then it is worth it! So, as documented on my blog, we accepted the job in December and I had mentally prepared for the years of growing in my relationship and watching for opportunities for God to use me and my life to show her HIM! These things take time, right? .....Yeah, on God's time table. Who knows how many perfectly placed seeds had been placed in her 50 + years of life that brought her to her readiness to call on His name and invite Him into her heart just three days ago!!

In these days following her decision, I have been able to first-hand watch transformation take place. I am so full right now. My life just feels FULL. I am humbled to be in a place where God is using me. Here I was in the midst of some physical pain and out of my routine trying to learn to give thanks in everything and BAM... My neighbor accepts Jesus!

Through this process, I realize how rich in faith I am. How blessed I am for all the flannel graph board stories, sword drills, bible verses memorized, life lessons learned, and 30 plus years of being in a relationship with Jesus. I am rich and I am full. I am choosing to live more fully with thankfulness in my heart. Are you?

MRI results are in...

.....As I laid in two different machines that hammered away images that would reveal to the doctor exactly what action to take with my troubled shoulder and knee, I prayed. I told God that I was so glad that He knew exactly what was going on and I took great comfort that the same God that created all the tissue and tendons and muscles and bones in my body was with me in the stillness (but not the silence) of the MRI.

Today, I patiently waited for the Dr. to finally review what was found. I felt like a medical student hearing advanced terminology for the first time and needing to see it all written on a piece of paper. Okay, i don't really know what it feels like to be a medical student in any way at all, but you get the point.

I received a steroid shot in my shoulder today to help with the rotator cuff impingement. After the inflammation is down a bit, with some stretching, hopefully we will kick this bursitis right out of there :) .... maybe swimming will be in my future?

Surgery has been schedule for my knee the week after spring break. We would have done it this week, but I am planning on taking my girls to CO for their Spring Break and I did not want to cancel on them.

So, the specifics: It's a knee arthroscopy with lateral meniscectomy and a chondroplasty. Yeah, I had to google all those words. Basically a short outpatient arthroscopic knee surgery with a pretty good recovery time.... considering I've already been out of commission for six weeks. Heck, what's another month or two?

My attitude and "take" on the report: I'm thankful. I'm thankful for doctors that can actually do something about what I've been suffering from. I will be posting soon about a book I'm reading that is showing/teaching me the importance of thankfulness in EVERTYTHING!!!!