Name them before you forget them

Morning y'all.  It's another night of waking up at 3:30 am and being unable to go back to sleep. Dad called before 6 am because he saw my house lit up on his way to breakfast with the boys. ;)  

We've had a few more bits of tough news this week. I won't say bad because it may all be overcome simply through medicine. Mom had been concerned about Macy's vision and took her to the elementary school she retired from for a vision and hearing test. Hearing was good, vision not-so-much. Took her to the pediatrician who basically said - we don't do eye tests on three-year-olds so we'll refer you. As a side note here: it's amazing how little doctors know about their community. He had no idea if there was a pediatric optomistrist in our area and flabbergasted that it was requested. Thank heavens for the nurse who knew the answer and got us referred to a great doctor. 

Mom took her to the eye appointment. Pretty much immediately mom knew something serious was up. Both sides of Macy's family has Marfans. Marfans impacts connective tissue - most frequently eyes and heart. Macy is only seeing out of a small portion of her eyes right now. She'll have to head back to the dr for a more thorough checkup for heart issues. She's getting special glasses that will hopefully retrain her brain concerning her eyes, but if that doesn't work, she's headed to Duke for eye surgery. *DEEP BREATH* I'm sure you can try to imagine Katie's reaction to hearing this about her baby girl. But let me tell you about this doctor. The fact she has heard of Marfans is impressive. The fact she sent my sister her cell phone number with instructions to call at nine so she could explain everything - WHOA. This lady rocks. And let me say here: thank you, Lord, for placing this lady in our lives. I give Him all the credit for making it happen. 

My family is pretty familiar with Marfans because we assume our dad has it, and all three of us kids have signs but haven't been tested. Don't want that not covered by insurance as a pre-existing condition. It can be bad ma'am-a-jama stuff. 

That was Wednesday. 

Thursday, my brother and his wife were told both of their micro-preemie baby boys have heart murmurs. Things have been going really well for the boys so this was a toughie. Granted, you knew there would be setbacks along this path. Anyway, this is a common issue in preemies and they are trying to address it with meds, too. However, if that doesn't work, it's surgery for the little fellas, too. 

In the midst of all this, I realized I let all the negative news in our lives dominate my very well-being. My heart, my soul, my health. It's like everything in me is weighted down with sacks of heavy boulders I'm desperately trying to carry everywhere I go. So last night I vowed to make a change. 

In my prayer journal, I will start with five things I'm thankful for- Five Blessings. Because I know if you get out of the habit of being thankful, you can't even see your blessings anymore. 

Last nights blessings: 

1. The doctors found this heart issue with Liam and Kellan, are familiar with it and know how to treat it. 

2. The Lord led us to a wonderful eye doctor for Macy, who believes in supporting her patients- even at nine o'clock at night! 

3. My cousin's abdominal mass (10 lbs!) was NOT cancer!!! Huge cheer!!!! 

4. The Lord has given Clay & Angela and huge network of supporters praying for them and their sons. 

5. The Lord provided my mom a friend in one of her sister-in-laws when she needed one. It's been a huge blessing because she's trying to deal with all these issues, too. 

I'm going back to the basics, count your blessings and name them one by one. 

Yup. This is a long wordy post. Sorry about that. Sometimes I just need to unload it somewhere. 

You know, I think we may need to check! I mean, it couldn't hurt, right? Ok y'all, I'm heading into work. Gotta try to get Macy a minions Halloween bucket from Mcdonalds today. :)  I mean, yeah it does seem like the world is crumbling beneath my feet, but you still gotta have priorities!! *wink*  thanks for your prayers! 

Name them One by One

Count Your Blessings, Name them One by One.
Count Your Many Blessings, See What God Has Done.

Don't ya'll remember that hymn? I'm sitting here at my desk at work, staying late so I can type this up and post it before I leave for the weekend, and that is what popped into my head.

My family, we've had some serious trials lately.  It's been less than fun.  Heck, it's been down right crazy stressful. My sister-in-law had surgery, then my brother-in-law about a week later, then my dad a week later.  My close friend 6-hours away from me, her husband had a wreck and was in critical condition.  Now I'm having a biopsy to screen for uterine cancer.  And my b-i-l's last surviving close relative passed away yesterday.  Can I say I'm stressed out?!?  Because I really am.  We all are.

So yes, I'm asking for your prayers. 

But I'm also sharing with you some blessings we have seen:

So many wonderful people - including folks I'll never meet and don't know -
have been praying for us tirelessly.  That's so humbling. And powerful. 

Our preacher has been on the ball, really giving us support and we are so thankful. 

My workplace has been wonderful about me being out for all this
and my co-workers have texted to check on us continuously. 

The first surgery went well - and we are still seeing positive results! (hooray!)

I pray I meet my two nephews in December!

The second surgery went well - this was my b-i-l's 2nd back surgery in 5.5 months.
The hospital was HORRIBLE last time - but was just GREAT this time.
Talk about being thankful! 

The third surgery went really well. I was afraid mom would be there alone,
but my brother and our preacher were both there with her. Again - so thankful!

My time with Macy has just been a delight. Yes, she's definitely impacted by

all these events, but she's just been precious. Three nights she spent at my house

and I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it. 

My friend's husband is becoming more alert, nodding his head and rolling

his eyes at questions he thinks are ridiculous (Like her asking him if he knew her! haha)

A good friend is expecting and I'm so excited! I've decided it's a girl... :) 

There are dozens more, I'm just too tired to remember them all.  I'm trying to write more in my journals to remember those blessings because sometimes, you need to look back at all that is good in life.  And there is so much. 

Please keep us in your prayers.  And please celebrate the good things in life! :) 

Home Sweet Home

Just got in, the car unloaded and strewn across the loving room floor, and heated up something to eat. Vacation is wonderful but nothing beats my own house and habits :)   

We kept it off social media and such, but my Mom, Dad, Katie, Roger, Sweet Nieces #1 and #2, and I headed for a week at Edisto Island, SC. Rented two houses, enjoyed hanging out at both houses, some beach time, some shopping time, just a good family vacay. 

One afternoon we took the girls to the beach for some sister pictures. I have others on my real camera so you'll be seeing them in the upcoming days. 

They are so adorable. Love love love! 

I'll talk to anyone and so will dad. We ate out for breakfast this morning and met a really nice thirty-something family from GA. They discovered they didn't like camping at the beach haha!  We always rent a house but this year our house was so horrible we left a day early and came on home. Ugh. Disappointing. The rental company was really nice though. But that didn't help the condition of the house! UGH!! 

If you've never enjoyed Edisto-it rocks. Not much to do, no chain restaurants, one Bi-Lo, a few gift shops, no hotels ... It's wonderful!! (Do you see this awesome photo?? Seriously!!) 

Sunset at the point. Dolphins were hopping by, tidal pools for the kids to jump in, sea shells and gentle lapping waves. Sunset at the point is unbeatable. 

I will recover from the lack of sleep and post more photos from my camera soon. Love Edisto but soooooo glad to be back in my house tonight!!! 

Changing my Word?

Isn't this pretty? Buy it here!

If you have followed along here for a while, you know I choose one word to be my focus for the year, in an effort to see self-improvement within the calendar year.  When I chose "Appreciation," I could see great improvements in my attitude and thankfulness.  Last year I chose "Breathe" and I totally failed.  This year, the word I picked was "Simplify," but I'm discovering this is difficult to implement and measure.  So I'm becoming frustrated. 

Yesterday I mentioned I would discuss further this concept of THINKing before you speak. After being severely chastized through #shereadstruth while we visited through Proverbs about my words, then this THINK poster popped up somewhere... it is one of those things none of us REALLY want to work on but KNOW we need to work on.  You know what I mean?  

I think my problem is two-fold.  I've lost my focus on "simplify."  While I won't completely kick it to the curb, I'm going to add the THINK concept to my yearly word.  This is something I struggle with and hopefully can make some progress in this year.  

Along with this, I shared a friend's blog yesterday.  Today I would like to share another blog with you, because this really seemed to strike in my heart.  Funny enough, both ladies that I have shared are my Cara Box peeps! Cool, huh?  Anna at The Things I'm Learning had someone pay it forward for her, which is inspiring her to do the same for others.  

After the tragic events at Sandy Hook, I wrote a blog post about the tragedy and the triumph over this evil.  America was buzzing with people doing good deeds in honor of those who were killed on that day.  I followed along on Twitter (#26acts, #20acts) and would end up crying at some of the acts of kindness people would perform for random strangers in the name of innocent lives lost. Seeing Anna's post reminded me of the beauty that came from such sorrow... 

I'm not sure where I'm going this year. I'm not sure why I'm struggling with my word. But I believe if I can incorporate all three concepts: simplify and focus on the priorities, remove the gossip and irrelevent talking from my life and pay love forward, I know I'll be a much better person in the end. 

 

Friday's Letter

One of my favorite pictures of the year!

Dear 2012, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on how this year has turned out.  I perused my former blog posts to help me, so here goes nothing.

Dear January, the Sock Hop went better than I imagined and is the number one hit page out of my blog. Everyone wants to know how to do a sock hop and I hope my work helps them. I chose Breathe as my word for 2012 but honestly, it didn't work out too well.  And I introduced everyone to my Prayer Peeps, who are awesome.

Dear February, the month of sickness. Let's not talk about it.

Dear March, thank you for finally revealing the gender of my sweet niece! We waited forever, but found out just in time for my sister's first baby shower.

Dear April, Of course, once we discovered the gender, mom and I set about doing the nursery! Sweet pinks and greens... getting ready for baby.  Also had a bit of drama at a performing art center, but it was resolved quite nicely!

Dear May, Katie had another baby shower and Mom received the honors at her retirement dinner!

Dear June, Ahhh... June! You brought me my sweet baby niece, Macy! *sniff sniff* Several posts were dedicated to her. My other sweet niece, AH, put on quite a show! 

Dear July, We celebrated several firsts, including my first Friday's Letter and my first installment of 30 Things on Thursday.

Dear August, I finally followed my dreams and took a step out of my comfort zone - and opened Pressed Clovers on Etsy!  It was scary, crazy timing just before a Presidential election and it was WONDERFUL.

Dear September, My birth month! You can still make my birthday wish come true! And... I gave you a behind the scenes look at scrapbooking Beth-style.

Dear October, you brought about some tough days.  I still believe we are tougher, but only through God's strength.

Dear November,  Thankfully, the election ended.  And I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving and Macy's Baptism within four days of each other. Ack!

Dear December, you have brought about happiness. Dad's last treatment *thank you for your prayers!*  and Christmas. And I LOVE Christmas!

Dear 2013, I do hope for a more serene and peaceful year, if possible.  That would be lovely.

Sincerely,

Beth.


PS.  Linking up today! (Monday! 12/31)

Joy! to the world!

Find this awesome gift here

I spent time this morning re-reading my letter from Friday.  And I was pretty down about Christmas. Not that I'm retracting this - nope, because I do believe gift-giving has gotten so out-of-hand that the focus is completely shifted to the materialistic aspect of the holiday and not the true meaning of CHRISTmas.  Add to this the sadness of unhappy events, like Sandy Hook, my family stresses, etc etc and Christmas can turn into one giant stressball.

But, I am taking a moment to shout in my head, "JOY TO THE WORLD! THE LORD IS COME!"  Joy!!! Joy joy joy! God shared His sweet baby boy with us to give us a path into heaven to be with Him! How totally joyous is that! It's amazing. Wonderful. Awesome.

So today, I'm wrapping up my wrapping (HAHAH! ... sorry), I am cleaning up the mess that all this wrapping has created, I may do some baking and I'm going to savor the holidays.  Stressball, be gone with you.  You aren't what the holidays are all about.

And Heaven and Nature Sing...

Hyperventilating...

Breathe Beth, Breathe...

Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh.

OK, so this morning one of the folks I follow, Mrs. Laura over at Mouse in the Kitchen wrote about how starting a blog has taught her bravery and thus she is opening her own store, Designs by Mouse, right there on the corner of her blog.  It has adorable ruffled scarves there right now, for everyone to go check out!  Just click right here!

I totally understand her fears of putting your creations out there to the public and announcing - HERE I AM, YOU GREAT BIG WORLD! PLEASE LIKE ME AND MY STUFF.  I took a similar step this year, just before election time (am I CRAZY?!) and opened my very own Etsy store called Pressed Clovers.

It was so scary. What if everyone laughed and whispered behind my back? What if no one liked my idea or everyone else's ideas were better than mine? All these insecurities bubbled up, but I took the step anyway.

My shop isn't fancy. It has no cool header - much like this blog - no cool header. I don't know how to add that stuff so it never got added. But, it still showcases my products... little pieces of me.

And I have had friends believe in me - oh my, have I had friends believe in me!! Paulene (check out her cool store here - she cheered me on from the first time I uttered the thoughts of opening an online store.  And Grace - she has single-handedly kept me in business! Even trusted me enough to make gifts for her co-workers, which really touched me.

But today. Today I received a convo from a perfect stranger. Someone I've never met but likes my books and wanted to ask about ordering two. Not that she will - she may not. But, she asked. A stranger. *sniff sniff*  I'm getting all emotional because someone LIKES ME! SHE REALLY LIKES ME! (or my stuff, really, but I am my stuff!!!)  This is what she liked - my Christmas Scrapbook.  I'm happy, can you tell?

I admire people who can put themselves out there with total confidence. I admire small business owners and independent stores who are living the dream everyday, despite the fact the dream comes with a lot of realities. My hat goes off to every single one of you. And I also cheer each person who shops with these stores, shops and independent owners, because YOU are making their dreams come true. :)

Beauty.

Earth laughs in Flowers. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Hamatreya"

See? I told you I would find pretty things to take a moment to notice! Hooray! I did it today! :)

The first photo - flowers beside my sister's house. These hydrangeas tickle her pink (or purple as it may be)  every time she walks out the door. Every visit she says to me - do you see my flowers? I love my flowers! At this point, I'm surprised Macy isn't being named Flower or Hydrangea!

These were taken in the evil evening sun, causing shadows like crazy.  Mom's yard this time.  She has pink at one end of the house and blue/purple at the other end.  This must be the year for hydrangeas because everyone's looks wonderful. Huge beautiful puff-balls.

Check out Kenzie with her mom's flowers.  Brande texted me this earlier today and it just fit perfectly into my flower theme today.  And Kenzie is just a cutie, so I had to share.  That sucker is bigger than Kenzie's head!! Look at it!

Yes, I screwed with these photos using Instagram. While I love this program, I find it very frustrating in uploading the pictures to here.  But it's all good.  I'm finding ways around it. Hee hee.

An update on Katie/Macy - things are calming down *whew* and hopefully she'll make it to the 37 week mark like the doctors want her to do.  I could have a niece here at any moment! :)

Laughable.

So my word for this year was, "BREATHE."

Fat chance.

I realized how incredibly horrible I've done at applying my word this year! It's been a roller coaster of a year. And it's almost half over! That makes me so incredibly sad!!!

So I think I need to take some time to smell the roses - or at least take a few pictures of them along the way.  *sigh* I'll see what I can do this weekend to give you something photo-worthy.

Until then, enjoy this photo of Ellie and Donna, where Aunt Donna is explaining the proper use for a softball bat to little miss Ellie. :)  Looking at this still makes me smile. Especially knowing that's Donna's socks pulled up as thigh-highs on Ellie, with her big toe poking out at the bottom. Hilarious!

Spring Blossoms

Although our weather has been a bit psycho, my rose bushes seem to LOVE it.  The knock out roses have gone bonkers, my "normal" rose bushes are heavy with blooms, quite literally covered with up to 20 blooms or buds. I walk outside and the smell of roses is thick and sweet - just perfect. Love it.

After the rain this weekend, I went out to take a few pictures. They are a bit dark, but I don't have a photo program, so you'll have to imagine them a little lighter. :)  Enjoy!

This one fits just right.

Early this year I was really struggling with what word I wanted to make the focus of my year.  Last year was Appreciation, which just came to me immediately and was perfect.  Positive popped in my mind for this year, and I toyed with it for a bit, but it wasn't meant to be this year. Don't ask me why, but it just wasn't working out for me.

Then the word Breathe came to mind and it seemed so right.  Breathe. Stop. Listen. And a million times over I've seen proof that I picked the right word.  So many times I've seen Bible passages about stopping and listening. Stopping and worshiping. Stopping and hearing God's voice in my life.

So much what I needed. To see it verified over and over lets me know I'm on the right track with this and it feels good. I needed to know it's ok to stop and breathe. Better than ok, it's expected. :)

Breathe. And again.



Get your reminder here

Sometimes it's hard to remember to breathe. Yes, it should come naturally, but in the whirlwind of life, breathing doesn't always happen without a reminder (or so it seems).

It's been a bit like that in our family.  We've seen some bumpy roads this last few months. Nothing too tragic but enough to make you want a hug and a little time to sit down for a second and process.  I think that's what breathing is about - taking a moment to process.

I'm reminded of the Bible versus, "Be still and know that I am God."  Psalm 46:10  Honestly, how can we give our attention to God, listen to Him or see Him, when we are running 90 miles a minute with no letting up?  Even in the midst of the storms, shouldn't we take a breathe and look to the Lord? This simple word, "Breathe," is so much harder than it seems!

I know this is a problem of mine. I feel like I must occupy every moment of my life, from first waiting up and checking text messages, Facebook and Twitter, until the time I go to bed with phone in hand, checking text messages, Facebook and Twitter. Occasionally I will take a moment to write in my Thankful journal (which I adore doing!) and other times I just crash with no distractions whatsoever. My body just can't take anymore and I sleep.

So, I think this is my word for this year. To stop and breathe, and talk to God. I had chosen positive, but for some reason I just wasn't fitting right. But Breathe feels good. It feels like I'm heading the in right direction. It fits just right. :)