We Interrupt This Series...

To wish a very happy birthday to my Arthur (far right) and his siblings.  It is his second birthday.  They were all together on their 1st birthday party at the breeders; they went to families all over Ohio and Pennsylvania.  It was so fun to meet them all!  You can read more about the party here...

Arthur is a true blessing in my life.  One of God's gifts that brings joy every day...

Ringing out and Ringing In - with Joy

This is the day when many reflect on the past 365 days...evaluating, recalling, even comparing them.  And I, like them, have done the same.

In church on Sunday, we were challenged with Psalm 90...a focus on time and the fact that at its best, life is brief. I was challenged by one particular verse...

"Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." v. 12

So when I look back at 2013, as most years, it has been a mix.  I gained two incredible colleagues who have been kindred spirits, my daughter and her family moved back close by, Edster and I have found a home church, I have reunited with some great friends, I continued to do meaningful work at the hospital, and I have experienced growth spiritually and creatively this year.

But Caleb has also had his struggles and times when my advocacy has felt futile, my mother went on to heaven in August after her decade-plus with Alzheimers, a gallbladder surgery, and after Christmas, I was hit with a hurt I did not see coming. And the Lord gave me another quote:

"Those things that hurt, instruct." - Ben Franklin

And what I realize is, no matter what 2014 brings...there will be joy.  It may be mingled with other things, but if I view my life from God's perspective, I will be grateful...and gratitude is the gateway to joy.

Sometimes gaining that heart of wisdom comes from the instruction provided by pain...sometimes there is no other way.

My job is to focus on the things that God deems important.  So much in life that concerns us really does not matter in the long run.

I commit 2014 to you, Lord.  Continue to conform me to be more like you as I allow you to love on me the whole year through.

What Would Anna Think? - Thoughts on Mother's Day

I'll just put it out there...I have mixed feelings about Mother's Day...

I love the good intentions of Anna Jarvis on 1908 when she held a memorial service on a Sunday for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia...and pushed to make it a recognized holiday...which did happen in 1914...but by the 1920s, she was already disappointed by its commercialism...

How much more would she feel that disappointment today...

I have thought a lot about it this weekend...

Imagine my disappointment when the red carpet was not rolled out for my feet when I stepped out of bed...nor was there an eloquent breakfast tray with a vased flower and linen napkin awaiting me when my eyes opened.  No flurry of calls from my children...no flood of accolades paired with expensive gifts of appreciation.  (Although my heart was full from a thoughtful card from Edster!)

But actually...I don't buy into those images...

Instead, while reading my latest literary adventure, The Gifts of Imperfection, the words reminded me once again:

Comparison is the thief of joy...

I believe we are set up for complete obliteration of our joy if we compare our lives with the images we see on Facebook that show everyone's best side...or the commercials that guilt us into believing if we don't buy this or that, we must not love our mother...

Instead...I thought about...

• The mothers who have a child who has died.
• The mothers whose children were never born.
• The children who can no longer reconcile and make peace with their mother as she is gone.
• The mothers who may have a child that broke her heart.
• The mothers who may have a child enslaved in destructive habits and addictions.
• The mothers who have children with profound disabilities who cannot say thank you or even say "mom."
• The children whose mothers have died or are living but no longer are who they once were.
• The mothers who find themselves unwantingly spending their Mother's Day as a single mother.
• The children who have grown up without a forever family and not knowing their mother.
• The mothers who have lost their children due to mistakes they regret than cannot be undone.
• And the mothers of children who today are still prodigals...

Instead...

I held the hand of the godly woman who bore me, although, like every day, she never opened her eyes...and am grateful...

I brushed and braided her hair...and I am grateful...

Kissed her and prayed in her ear...and I am grateful...

And comforted that she has good people around her...giving her good care...grateful this mother gave up her Mother's Day to serve others...including my mother...

And while I had expected to see my daughter and grandsons this afternoon...a call from my daughter that my youngest grandson had thrown up all over himself and everything...and was sick...changed that...been there, done that!  But I was thrilled at the handmade card I received from my oldest grandson when he knew I was sick last week...he made it at school...that also wished me a Happy Mother's Day.  I marveled at his wonderful spelling and handwriting of my little first grader...

But my daughter wrote this on her Facebook page this morning:

And a very special mothers day to my momma Denise Fabian! Thank you for all your love and support even though my questionable phases I'm life. You've showed me how to be a strong loving woman and to always trust in God. For this I will always be grateful and blessed. xoxo.

And how grateful I am to my husband, who put food spikes into the cold ground in January to feed the lilac bushes that produced an over-abundance of blooms to make a fragrant vaseful to fill my mother's room with an aroma better than anything that could have been purchased.

And no card, no phone call came from my son...because he is unable to do so...  He cannot say thank you...he cannot even call me, "Mom."  But today, through the commitment of motherhood, I know

• he is safe
• he is content
• and he is functioning at his best

What greater gift can I ask for?

I think Anna Jarvis would be pleased...and I am grateful for the mother whose greatest desire...the only gift she has ever craved...has always been to see her children standing at Christ's side on Judgment Day...

Think Happy...Be Happy...

Yesterday...I talked about how gratitude and joy cannot be separated...

Sometimes we get stuck...get in ruts...clogged...and it seems as if that has been the case with my groupie photography girls...

So...Sarah Huizenga came up with an idea...having a weekly challenge in our group based on a theme of a word or a color...

This week was either "amusing" or "orange"... and I chose one and wove it into yesterday's post.



Now I know joy is different than happiness...but you catch my drift, true?



Anyway...I think this Sarah is on to something...and it surely will be fun!

You Can't Have One Without the Other

As I progress through the current book I'm reading...The Gifts of Imperfection...by Brene' Brown.  She's spent her career as a researcher of shame and resilience, spending the past ten years focusing how the gifts of imperfection can lead to wholehearted living.

She writes about over the years to research...there are certain concepts that cannot stand alone.

The concepts of joy and gratitude...without gratitude, there is no joy.

A virus got ahold of me and kept me in the house for four days...as well as took my voice.  We have had the long-awaited 70-degree spring, sunny days those four days.  I felt as if I might miss Spring in Ohio because I couldn't get out in it.

I went back to work today...at about 50%...but I went.  After dinner, Edster and I took a walk with the doggies...a slow stroll through the neighborhood.  I inhaled the Spring air and each bloom and blossom were eye candy as all the lawns were a lush green.  I viewed the neighborhood a little differently...a gratitude walk...not only to be outside, but to have the privilege to be surrounded by the brief beauty of the choreography of Spring.

And then there it was...the reviving of joy in the deepness of my soul.

My God, you are so creative and so amazing by what I see...how can anyone deny you or think that for one moment a relationship with the God of the Universe is dull.

It's Arthur Time!!!

A lay low Sunday...Edster's been sick in bed all day...and I woke up with a sinus headache, which improved by mid-day...so we laid low.

I was blessed to see our Bruno and Arthur this afternoon as I watched them interact in the backyard...

Yes, they are playing...

And playing hard...

And it's a two-way street...

But again, Arthur knows he's runnin' with a big dog...

but he's making his way...

until Mom hollers, "Time out!"...

But that doesn't last long...

But Bruno reaches his limit and ponders..."What happened to life as I once knew it?"

So Arthur shakes it off...feels a little dejected...but in a nano second his attention is elsewhere...

Hmmmmmmm...SNOW!!!!!

Let's play "SNOW PLOW!"  He is overflowing with joy as he ponders, "Is there no end to this mischief?"

which shows ALL over his face...

and I laugh...

and am blessed!

Embracing Arthur

I'm embracing Arthur (remember my word for the year is embrace).  Have you met Arthur?  He was a surprising gift God led us to before Christmas...

I'm beyond having babies...and my grandboys have moved 2-1/2 hours away (and I don't think there will be any more)...and knowing Bruno's mortality at age 6...Edster and I started talking about bringing him a new buddy to be part of our family.

This is me holding Arthur with his sister, and Dentist Dave, the breeder.  I had to choose between these two.  He had a litter of 7, is keeping two (Kevin and Dorothy), sold three, owns the mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who were all there...and they all were delightful!

Arthur is a full-blooded pedigree Pembroke Welsh Corgi...he is 1/4 Sammy Sosa, who was named the #1 Pembroke Welsh Corgi in the country by the American Kennel Club in 2001 and won the Herding Group at the Westminster Kennel Club Show at Madison Square Garden in 2002.  Arthur, Bruno, Edster and I will be watching together on February 11-12, 2013 this year.

But Arthur is just our companion...no showing for him.  I don't have the stomach for the politics and that was not my purpose.  We just wanted to be assured he came from good stock.  And how!

But that does not mean he does not get into trouble...he ended up with the same inmate number as another famous person.

Now Corgi's were bred to help herd cattle...very intelligent and agile, they were bred to be low to nip at heels of the cattle that they would herd in the fields of the British Isles, particularly Wales.  "Arthur" is Welsh for "bear".

Speaking of famous people, Queen Elizabeth II is well known for her Corgis who even made an appearance at the summer Olympics of 2012 in London.  You can see her here, along with other famous people with their Corgis including Stephen King, Ava Gardner, Kiefer Sutherland (24), Governor Jerry Brown, Julie Benz, Selma Blair, and Kirstie Allie.  Jennifer Aniston is pictured in the slide show but the hair of that dog doesn't jive with a Corgi...

But he is fitting in very well...even carrying on with Bruno.  He's gotten off the porch...

And loves his "flack jacket"...

And has incredible wisdom...look what he says about mistakes (of which he'll have many)...

And how everything is new and full of wonder and opportunities of exploration...just thrilled to be alive!

And it brings me back to all that I need to embrace...to take nothing for granted...to see all as a gift from the God I serve.  To be too busy in wonder and joy to ever complain...because you cannot be thankful and joyful at the same time you're complaining or whining.

Part of I Peter 1:8 tells us to, rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory... because we believe in Him, the source of all joy.

So today I embrace Arthur, who God uses, through his little, spirited life, how I am to be...as a child, full of wonder and joy and realizing that it is a compliment from God that I was born.

Finding God...Finding a Miracle

My work week was short due to the New Year's holiday...

But it required the energy of six weeks packed into three days...

But I was witness to the hand of God in the midst of loss...a miracle.

Working with a family whose little one is dependent on technology for sustaining life, some very chaotic circumstances brought him into a hospital stay before Christmas.  The circumstances catapulting the admission were confusing and hard to understand.  Why?  Why now?

Returning to work this past Wednesday, I learned that the apartment directly above the family's apartment caught on fire in the early morning hours.  All the units are uninhabitable.  On top of everything else, now this?

And yet, somehow, God knew...and this child was in the hospital...at the right place...at the right time.  And God used the chaos...something God knew all about...and used it in a very redeeming way.

So what may appear as a dark, stormy time in our lives that makes no sense, if we will ask God and take the time to seek, we will see that He is in the middle of it all...holding us close to His heart.

Lightening Up for Christmas

When one focuses on gratitude and praise and all of God's wonderful mercies...you can bet one thing will happen.  You'll get sucker punched...and your joy seems to disappear.  But it hasn't...you just need to re-adjust your focus...again...and again.

I'm coming to grips at a deeper level that I am more an introvert, than extrovert.  I'm sure I will explore this in future posts.

But for now...I'll show you some things that have been taking up some of my time.  Lighten it up a bit.

I am so grateful for pinterest...

I am a Secret Santa for one of my colleagues in the office...wanna see some of the things I've made?

I took a jar...and turned it into a Snowman soak...see?

 

And while I have not had time to do much baking, I did make these Christmas fortune cookies for her...see?

 

The other two things I've made I did not get to photograph...but I'll try to sneak one!!!!! (note to self)

 

Final gift tomorrow...check in tomorrow night and see what it is...

 

Hope you're taking a moment or two out this busy season to contemplate all that is important and meaningful to you.