In my formative teen years I listened to heavy metal music. I absolutely adored Metallica, Iron Maiden, Dio, Sabbath, Ozzy, Slayer to name a few; and even dabbled in King Diamond although he scared the heck out of me. That music formed part of my identity back in the day. In high school I was a “rocker”, I dressed the part and we went to concerts or shows any way we could get to. Either by public transportation or getting a ride when some of us got our driver’s license. I had a great time with my friends back in the day. Thrashing out to metal and getting caught in a mosh (that part was scary though). At one concert (A band called Overkill) I came home with a black eye and no idea how I had gotten it. It sounds bad but it really was a great time.

These days my music taste is much, much tamer. I listen to Christian contemporary music. I sing to Jesus and to The Lord with the same fervent energy that I sang along to heavy metal of days past. I love praising the Lord with song. I’m not much of a singer but I don’t care and I know God doesn’t either. I recently purchased concert tickets to 3 Christian shows. One in December, one in March and the last one in May. My girls are coming with me to at least one show each and I’m also going with a couple of great friends I met at church. One friend named Claudia is amazing to go to concerts with. She worships and sings like nobodies business and loves the Lord. I know I’ll have a great time when she’s around. We will be attending all 3 concerts together and it’s to her credit that I’m even going to all 3. She encouraged me to buy the tickets and I’m glad I listened.  Each show will be different but all will praise God.

When I was younger I never thought my music taste would change so drastically. But when The Lord is involved anything is possible.

I’ve started my Christmas shopping early this year, meaning shopping before Thanksgiving. I used to wait until after Thanksgiving and then hurry like crazy  to be finished before Christmas. Maybe it’s working full time that changed me. Last year I remember shopping earlier than usual and being finished earlier than  in the past. It was a good feeling to be wrapping gifts when I would usually be shopping for them.

My son is particularly difficult to shop for. He’s always been. Even when he was younger. Toys never held his attention much, he was that kid who would play with he boxes the toys came in. This Christmas I’m excited to buy him things for his new home. He’ll officially be moved into the group home December 8. He’s happy about the move; probably a bit nervous and who could blame him. I know it will all work out. God didn’t get us this far for it not to.

So far I’ve finished shopping for my parents, my husband, extended family  and partially done with my kids. I don’t feel close to being done but that’s ok we’re still in November…

 

I love Christmas music I really do, but not before Thanksgiving. I spent most of November avoiding one of my favorite local Christian radio stations because they were playing Christmas music, it was just way too soon man…

But now, now it’s simply great!  It’s Thomas, tradition that we put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving. “We” being the operative word here. It’s really Tommy and I and Thomas going to pick out the tree, Tommy paying for it and me stringing the lights on said tree. All and all it’s actually nice to get the tree up and have that done.

So in the evening yesterday I was putting the lights on the tree and I had my local Christian radio station on, (the one with early Christmas music) and I really enjoyed having the music playing while faced with the task of putting lights on the tree, you know; lights that lit up when you test them then don’t light when you put them on the tree…those lights.

I let the music soak into my brain and just enjoy the real reason we celebrate Christmas. The birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. Emmanuel; God with us. His birth is just an awesome time to celebrate. That God’s son came to save us from our sin. “Come to Bethlehem and see; him the birth the angels sing…” How glorious our Savior is that angels sang of his birth. Amazing.

I wish an amazing Christmas season for everyone, and that all who celebrate remember that the birth of Christ is the real reason for this holiday. I enjoy the giving and receiving of gifts as much as the next person, but; but…without the birth of Christ there would be no Christmas and no reason to celebrate that wondrous day in December we all hold so dear.

When we bought this house 16 years ago it needed a lot of work. New windows, a roof, new siding, plumbing work, an electric stove that after the closing only one burner worked…there’s more I just can’t think of it all at once. In the first few years of living here we were able to replace the windows, have the roof done and rip up all the God forsaken carpet that covered the whole first floor and stairs and master bedroom. We also bought a new much needed stove. We were able to update the kitchen a bit but everything we did just felt like a bandaid covering up and over things that needed to be torn down and done over again the right way. On the list of things we had done that were not bandaids are a new master bathroom, new 1/2 bath off the kitchen and new vinyl siding. I guess you could  say this house had been an on going project since we moved in.

Its all going to change this coming January! We are taking down all the room dividing walls on the first floor and going “open concept”. We’re also getting rid of all the painted over paneling and painted over fake plaster of Paris brick that is currently gracing the kitchen and living room. When all is said and done we’re going to have a center island, a new kitchen and a bigger dining/living room. I know when it’s finished I’ll be thrilled but I’m not looking forward to the actual reality of living through a renovation. I’ve already arranged for my mom to take one of our dogs for a while. She’s still a puppy of sorts and won’t know what to do with herself. Our other dog is older and will go upstairs to hide and that’s ok.

Stay tuned for January because that’s when this will all start, right after New Years. It should be interesting.

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Thanksgiving is a mere 5 days away. I’m hosting this year it will be my mother in law, my parents, brother, my niece and 2 nephews along with my family of 6. Sounds like a full enough house for me. I’m happy to host this holiday, I usually cook the turkey and a couple of sides and my mom does a few sides and apple pies. Alyssa wants to make pumpkin pie this year. It works for us and it’s stress free thank God.

The day after Thanksgiving is the day Thomas and I put the Christmas tree up. Tommy, Thomas and I go out and pick out a tree. We go to places that are local like a guy set up in a parking lot. Last year we bought the tree from Home Depot. Then Thomas and I trim it, string the lights and then Thomas perseverates over the ornaments and how many Christmas decorations and boxes I bring down from the attic. All in all I have a great time with him and I’d miss him terribly if I decided to change plans; not that I would do that to him.

Speaking of my Thomas, his group home move in date has been postponed until the first week in December. It’s fine we’ve waited this long what’s another 2 weeks or so? I told him about this last night on the phone and he was fine with it. I have to say deep down and aside from all his issues my son is very easy going and sweet. I love that about him and often wonder if he would’ve been that way if he were a typical child/young man.  I don’t suppose there’s any reason he wouldn’t have been, I mean he comes from a long line of sweet caring thoughtful men eg: his father (Tommy) and grandfather (Chick).

So I wish you all a Happy Healthy Stressfree Thanksgiving!

 

The ones I work with…these kids have stolen my heart. I’ve been at the job just over a month now and I like going to work. I like my co workers and the staff at the school. So far, with very few exceptions everyone has been great. We are all there for one common reason and that is the students we work with. Yesterday morning one of the secretaries told me she remembered my  Thomas. I was so happy to have my phone on me and I could show her a recent picture of him. She was thrilled to see him and told me she was glad I was placed at the school. It was a sweet way to start the day.

One unique way I start my day is one I mentioned in an earlier post. I talk with a student who speaks via an electronic board he controls with his eyes. You almost want to shout for joy for him that such technology is available. He’s a remarkable young man and I’m honored to have met him and play a small part in his life.

I have students I see on a daily basis that need various nursing procedures and/or medications. We all have an everyday schedule that rarely changes and in addition to that schedule we have “walk ins” meaning students who walk in/are wheeled in for any number of reasons.  The walk ins are what get me. Because you seriously never know who and for what are going to walk in the office. It could be a student who just had a seizure, someone who isn’t breathing well and needs an asthma medication treatment or something as simple a student who doesn’t feel right and wants their temperature taken or a paper cut even. You just don’t know and have to go with it whatever “it” may be.

One of the nurses I work with is a devout Catholic and prays for everyone; staff and students. She’s really nice and we talk often about prayer and God and church. I’ve invited her to my much loved church but she isn’t ready to take the plunge and try out something that is unfamiliar. That’s ok I’ll just keep inviting her.

God is so good!

 

 

What Jesus did for us. He died for our sins and was risen from the dead 3 days later.  I find it’s easy to gloss over what Jesus did for us, He died for us. Point taken and appreciated. But this past Sunday at church Pastor John went into a bit of graphic detail of what our Lord and Savior went through before He died.

Jesus submitted to the Father to the point of death and not just any death but death on a cross like a mere criminal. Pastor John explained that our Savior was “scourged” which means whipped in such a way with a specific weapon that would tear flesh from muscle. Personally my stomach turned at the very thought of that.  Jesus was also kicked, mocked and beaten mercilessly. He wore a crown of thorns that was likely beaten into his head.

My Savior Jesus Christ is alive after that horrible death, He was risen from the dead 3 days later, and now He lives! It’s amazing. This is The Gospel, plain and simple. And what is even more amazing is that we now have access to God the Father as well as an advocate with the Father. I think it’s so easy to forget what Jesus had to endure in order for us to be forgiven of every sin. When we focus on Christmas and the gifts and the shopping and yes…Jesus was born on that day it’s skewed to put Him last or in some cases,  not in at all.

It’s taken me three days to write this short post. I don’t know why it was so difficult to write out The Gospel. Probably because it’s not easy to really think about in detail what Jesus went through for us. God is so good !

 

 

 

Tommy and I will celebrate 22 years of marriage today. We were married at 25 so if you do the math you’ll have our ages not that I care to hide how old we are. I think back to how young we were. We had Thomas by the time we were 26 yrs of age so we didn’t have a whole lot of “us/alone time” before we had children. Now that everyone’s older and taken care of we really enjoy being with each other alone, even if it’s a trip to Home Depot and we are young enough to still want to do things that we couldn’t do years ago.

For our 20th Anniversary we went away for the weekend alone to a mountain house resort. It was really nice to be together and just be with each other. This past spring we took a short jaunt to Florida…alone. That was great. The weather somewhat cooperated and we drove just about all over the state visiting beaches and relatives. We had a really sweet time. Since I’m working now I had the pleasure of paying for dinner. I’m not behind sarcastic it really was my pleasure.

For this particular anniversary we went to dinner at a local popular restaurant that I’ve really wanted to dine at. The cuisine was Mediterranean and absolutely delicious not to mention the atmosphere which was soIt was nice, very nice.

We topped the evening off with television in bed, the excitement keeps coming! I’m so glad I married this 17 yr old  guy who never gave up in pursuing me, he made me laugh back then and he makes me laugh now even times when we shouldn’t be laughing.  He’s my lover, my best friend he’s in my soul…

God is so good!

 

The school where I work is a special needs population. There are all kinds of different needs and backgrounds and diagnosis. Some are more intense than others and some students’ needs are greater than others. Sometimes the more fragile looking student is more stable than one who appears “well”. I enjoy my job and interacting with the students and seeing their faces light up and communicating with some that I didn’t think could communicate at all. I’m also appreciating how fragile many students are on the health continuum.

Twice in a week’s time EMS has been called to my school for 2 different students. Both are fine now thank God, but to see them in a crisis was scary. The last one was for a student I was called to the classroom for. When the teacher told me to get there right away I literally ran down the hallway to get there. Thankfully my co worker followed behind me and was very supportive and helpful.

I really wasn’t sure what I signed up for when I was hired for this job. I seriously had no idea how medically fragile these students would be. Situations that in the past would surely have prevented these students from getting any kind of education or related services (speech therapy as well as physical and occupational therapies). The fragility of students varies from school to school, I recently spoke to a few of the nurses I trained with and their populations weren’t nearly as acute as mine.

I’m not complaining about my school I’m more amazed at these students than anything else. I had a conversation yesterday with a young man who has a voiced computer controlled by his eye movements. That was really sweet.

God is so good.

Finally after a year and 7 months of waiting and praying and waiting and finally deciding that things will happen when The Lord wants them to happen…Thomas is moving to his group home!  The big move is planned to take place over Thanksgiving weekend. I can’t think of a better time than that weekend to help make his transition easier.

This process has been dragging on for what seems like forever. People in charge at both the state and local levels not communicating and if they did communicate it was a very slow progression moving forward. Thomas, through it all has been extraordinarily patient. He’s surely gifted. He’s been ready to move since we first told him about the group home so many months ago. God has blessed this child of mine with many gifts; resiliency and patience being two of the most prominent.

Thomas is also already enrolled in a “day program” which is where he’ll go and spend his days from Monday to Friday. I’m hoping there are vocational opportunities for him. We shall see and I’m not worried at all.

It’s on to the fun stuff of moving Thomas his new home and buying bedding and decorating his room the way he wants it. All the residents in this group home have their own room, I’m excited for Thomas as he hasn’t been without a room mate since he arrived at the residential school over 5 years ago. I think he’ll enjoy having his own personal space. He has enough belongings and clothes to fill it up.

God is so good !