Category Archives: About Me

In Everything Give Thanks

God created us to bring Him glory. When God miraculously heals someone, He gets glory. When He gives joy, even without healing, to a quadriplegic, He gets glory. When He blesses someone with great wealth – from Job and Abraham to J. C. Penny , He gets the glory. When He provides for each daily need, He gets the glory.

It’s easy to give glory to God in the good times – when the miracles are obvious.

The Bible is full of miracles – like the time when He kept the oil from running out in I Kings 17:8-16 and when God blessed Solomon in II Chronicles 1:11-12.

When I was in college, I got a last minute opportunity to be a summer missionary. I had never heard of such a thing, but I wanted to try it. The deadline had passed, but there were still unclaimed openings.

I signed up and was accepted. That left me very little time to raise money for the trip, but God knew what He was doing. He brought in every last dime that I needed in time for the trip. God’s timing is amazing!

When God told us to move to Rhode Island, we had very little notice, yet amazingly, our house sold & closed just 2 weeks after putting it on the market!! Then He helped us out of a sticky situation by helping us find a very well cared for van that we could easily afford with just a 24 hour notice! Yes, God’s timing is perfect. He wanted us to go and He provided the way.

God is not limited by time, resources, or circumstances. He has proved time and again that He can do much with a small window of time. And in all these things God receives the glory. That’s easy!

It is not so easy to give God the glory He deserves in the tough times – when the miracles are not so obvious.

Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? ~Job 2:10b

Job certainly had a lot to be thankful for (1:2-3), at least for a while (1:13-19), but when the hard-times came, Job still trusted God and blessed his name (1:20-22).

How do you give thanks to God when He allows hard things to happen? Amazingly there always is a blessing hidden in there somewhere, and while seeking God for that blessing, you learn more about Him, and He uses you to bless others through your hard time.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  ~I Thessalonians 5:16-18

Fortunately, He promises His presence and peace when we are going through those not so easy times.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  ~John 14:27

In everything give thanks!

About a month ago on December 15, 2011, we found out that our youngest child, Thaddeus, has a terminal illness – Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy . In case you’ve never heard of it, DMD is a disease that affects the muscles. When a person has it, his muscles degenerate over time. Since the heart and diaphragm are muscles, the person with DMD usually dies from congestive heart failure or from not being able to breathe.

Thaddeus has no symptoms yet, but they usually start by the age of 5 when the muscles in his hips start showing their weakness. His future probably holds many falls, leg braces, muscle stretches, some minor surgeries, a wheelchair, and maybe even a ventilator.

This definitely is not an easy phase of our lives. While you never know how long any child will live, it is hard knowing ahead of time that your child most likely will not reach his 30th birthday.

But God’s timing and power are great in tough times too. Jesus accomplished more in three years than any of us will achieve in our 70. And God can do amazing things through Thaddeus in his short years.

My brother died of this same disease when he was just 15 years old. My mother was asked after he died, “Don’t you wish you’d never had him? Neither of you would have had to suffer.” Her answer was, “Absolutely not!!”

For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.  
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.

~Psalm 139:13-18

God created children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. While life is more difficult for them, God is able to use their lives to reach others. They can touch the lives of so many people in just 15 or 20 years!

God was not taken off-guard. He knew before Thaddeus was ever born that he had DMD. He chose to make Him that way, and I do not have the authority to ask Him why. I may never know.

But I do know this. I love Thaddeus dearly! To wish I had not given birth to him would be missing out on an amazing amount of sweetness and joy! I plan to cherish every moment I have with all my children. I will train them all to be godly men and women, to go into this world, passing God’s blessings on to as many people as possible!

I am sure more posts will follow on this topic, but for now, I will end with Blessings by Laura Story.

A Kind Inspiration

Today at Stop & Shop, the lady behind me in the checkout line was very kind to me. I forgot something pretty close to where I was checking out, and she actually offered to go get it for me and was still smiling when she returned! How often does that happen?

While putting my groceries (and kids) in the car, I heard the lady parked next to me on the phone asking someone about jumper cables. (Yes, it took me this long to notice her hood was up!)

Well, I had just been treated very kindly, so I was inspired to pass the kindness on. So, I started helping her look around for someone with jumper cables, thinking who better to jump her off than someone in a 15 passenger van, especially since I happened to be parked right beside her?

Once I was done helping her, I made my grand exit. I walked around the front of my van, and suddenly I was flat on my back! Yes, it happened that fast. I have no idea what happened, but one minute I was up, and the next I was down. I fell over a shrub and ended up laughing on the ground while the lady I helped stood helplessly over me saying, “Are you alright?”

By the way, did I ever tell you that my name means “gazelle,” which happens to be a very graceful animal! Ha!

100 Things About Me – # 50

Hey! This is half way!! Are you getting bored yet? Hopefully not!

I mimic laughs. When I hang around someone awhile, I tend to start laughing like them. I don’t do it on purpose, and I’m not making fun or anything. It just happens. Does any one else share my weirdness?

100 Things About Me – #49

I actually like to do laundry! I always thought I hated it. I think he reason for this is that I always waited until I had 5 or 6 loads before I started. Now that I am doing about a load per day, I actually enjoy laundry. I am not sure what difference this makes, but at least I don’t dread this necessary task any more!

100 Things About Me – #38

I like to run. Now, I don’t mean that I like to run miles at a time. I probably could not make it even half a mile without having to stop to catch my breath!

When I was growing up, I ran everywhere I went. When my dad sent me next door to my Grandma’s, I ran! When we went to the park, I ran. There was no better way to get from here to there (until, of course, I learned to drive!).

I learned recently that I still like to run. Over the summer, I played volleyball and soccer a few times. Whenever the ball got away from us, I almost always ran for it, even if others were going after it! There is just something exhilarating about running. The wind is in your face and you almost feel like you are flying! There’s nothing quite like it! I am glad to have rediscovered this long lost love for running (short distances!). 🙂

100 Things About Me – #47

I have always hated sports and anything relating to sports! At least that is what I always thought.

I never played sports in school because my classmates liked to make fun of people when they messed up. Since I “messed up” a lot,  I figured that I just had no natural talent at sports and decided then and there that I hated them.

What I didn’t know was that if I had just laughed at myself with my classmates, things would have worked out a lot better, but that is an entirely different post, isn’t it?

I have learned since having children, that I really do like sports! I am just now learning to risk looking silly in front of others as I attempt to play sports.  I think it has something to do with the fact that I am playing with my homeschooled children. I can’t deprive them because I am afraid to look silly, or worse yet, unskilled at something that I truly have had no practice at!

I have played baseball, kickball, and actually got the opportunity to play soccer tonight. I had a blast!

So, I guess today I discovered something new about myself! I genuinely like at least some sports. I think I even like them enough to get together with friends to play games regularly! Sounds like fun!

100 Things About Me – #46

I wear glasses. Now, I know you may have seen my picture already and know this fact already. I also know that I tend to take my glasses off in a picture (because of glare), so it is possible that you didn’t know this already. So, now I’m telling you!

I remember visiting the eye doctor for the first time when I was in the 5th grade. When I put my new glasses on, I could actually read writing all the way at the end of the hall! I was absolutely amazed that everyone else could see so clearly all the time!

Within one year of getting my glasses, my grades in school went from C’s and D’s to A’s and B’s. So much work was dependent on being able to see from a distance. Since I assumed every one saw the same way I did, I never thought to tell the teacher that I was having trouble seeing.

I will not say that I was never called “four eyes” or teased in other ways about my glasses, but I will say that I was so thrilled with being able to see that, after my initial embarrassment and refusal to wear my glasses, I eventually came to the conclusion that seeing was awesome enough regardless of  the teasing!

100 Things About Me – #44

Carcassonne - US Edition

Image via Wikipedia

I absolutely love board and card games! I could stay up and play games all night long, and then if someone asked me to play again the next day after being up all night, I would probably accept! 🙂

To me a game is better than a movie because there is more interaction and getting to know people. Of course, there is definitely a time for watching a movie, too. (I must admit, I’m kind of in a movie mood now). 🙂

When I was young, my favorite games were Clue, Monopoly, and Uno. Since then, I have been introduced to a few other games.

Now, I think my favorites have changed to Scattergories, Scrabble, Phase 10, and Hand and Foot (scroll down in link). Okay, maybe I am having trouble choosing favorites. I also enjoy Carcassonne, Murder, Skip-Bo, and Sequence! Did I mention that I really like games?

Do you like games? Which one(s) so you like?

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