The beauty of a vacation

Ah....a vacation.   A breath of new air.  A reset.   A change of scenery.  Time away.  Getting out of the rut. 

These are the things I love about a vacation. 

We just got back from a fabulous 8 day Caribbean cruise with 4 other couples and it was amazing.

Beautiful beaches.  Dancing and music every night.  Lots of laughter.  Doesn't get much better.

I love getting away.  Sometime the daily drudgery gets to me and it's so nice just to get out of it and do something else.

It doesn't have to be a great big vacation either.  Just something different.  Somewhere different.  It breathes new life into me.

But if you haven't taken a cruise before, I highly recommend it!  It can be pretty inexpensive (although they will try to sell you something at every point!) but you really can't beat it.  The food!  The places you see!  The entertainment is even pretty good.

Getting out in the sun and salt water is so therapeutic too. Just sitting and relaxing. Ahhhh.... love it!

So plan a trip!  get out and see the world!  As for me, I'm just getting back to reality today and dreaming of the ocean.

The one sided friendship

Aren't friendships supposed to be two ways?  Isn't that the very nature of a relationship.  Sometimes you give, sometimes you receive.  Sometimes you need help, sometimes you give help.  Conversations swing back and forth.  You talk, they listen.  They talk, you listen.  This is how a relationship works.

Sometimes you need more.  Sometimes they need more.

But the point is that it should be mutual. A two way street!!

When it's one sided, it gets very draining.  If the person is always dominating the conversation, or if they are always turning it back onto themselves, then it's one-sided. When the "friend" is constantly talking about themselves and rarely asks about you, then it's one-sided.

The thing is a person has many sides! There's so much depth and emotion and personality to people!  Why only focus on yourself in a friendship??

How do you truly get to know someone?  Ask them questions.  And then listen to the answers.  Ask related questions to their answers.  Dig deeper.  Truly listen.  Don't just think about what you will say or a great story you have related to what they are saying.  Listen to their words and listen to the emotion behind their words.

One sided friendships are tedious. They drain the life out of the other person.  People want to be filled up and poured into. People want 2 way relationships.

I try to be conscious of how I interact with people.  Am I interested in them?  Have I asked about their day?  How can I be of help to them?

And then when I need help, I can ask others.  When I need a word of encouragement, I can ask.

One way streets are often dead ends.

I want to be in friendships that give and take. Ones that help, encourage and go 2 ways.

So how are your friendships?  Do you take too much?  Do you give back?  Are you too giving and never ask anything in return?  These are the questions we need to ask ourselves. 
God made us to need each other.  And that's a good thing.

When it rains, it pours

My oh my! We are only 8 weeks into 2018 and already there's just been so much.  When it rains it pours, for sure. And it's literally been raining in the Dallas area for weeks now with no end in sight.

Maybe it's because I tend to be an Eeyore, but this year has just been a lot to handle thus far.
It started off with Larry and I both getting very sick.  It really put us under for almost a month!  In the midst of that my mom passed away.

Then I got a mysterious rash on my elbow that grew suddenly!  I had to go to urgent care for that one.

Oh, and there was a flat tire on the entrance ramp to the highway one morning on my way to work! Fun times for sure.

So then, Larry will probably have to have surgery on a torn muscle in his arm.  He hurt it last year and even through months of physical therapy and lots of tlc, it is still causing him a lot of pain.

And then we almost lost Larry's mom.  She was (and still is) pretty sick, was hospitalized and is now in need of getting some full time care.

We are navigating these new waters as we look at our options and see what's available.
Meanwhile, family members are all pitching in and helping take care of this Godly woman who has poured her life into so many people.
It's new territory.
It's a lot to take in.
Praying that the Lord will guide us with each new step.
And I pray that this year gets a lot lighter.
Maybe I should learn to dance in the rain.

Stuff

So, the issue of stuff is on my mind as of late.  You know, our beloved household belongings that somehow multiply over night it seems.  Where does all this stuff come from?  How is it taking over the house? and the garage and every single closet!

Well, I'm a big fan of cleaning out the clutter!  To some people it comes naturally, others have to work on it, and unfortunately some people just never get it.

But the question comes to mind, and the thing I've been thinking about lately is being a burden to my kiddos after I die.  Who is going to have to come in and clean stuff out to sell the place etc?  My kids! It's already such a burden to deal with funeral arrangements, close accounts, etc etc.

So how, you may ask, do we keep the clutter down and not leave such a burden of STUFF to our kiddos?

Well, here's a few things I do to keep the clutter under control:

When I buy something new I try to get rid of at least 2 other things.
I always have a bag ready to add to for donation to a thrift store etc.

If you are completely overwhelmed, start with a drawer.  Dump everything out on the table or some place where you have room to work.  Clean out the drawer and decide what exactly you want to use the drawer for.  Then put only the things back that fit into that category.  Whatever is left, you will need to decide if it goes into another place or if you can give it away.

Ask yourself these questions:
Have I used this in the last year?
Do I have something else that will suffice for the use of this item?
Is it costing me more to store it in my house than if I could go buy one? (your home is so much $ per square feet--how much room does the object take up in your square footage?)
Would I use this in the next year?
Am I saving this "Just because I might need it"?
Might I really need this at all?
Do I want to leave this for my kids to go through?  And will they want it? (don't assume--ask them!and then don't be offended if they don't want it.  It was important to you but may not be to them and that's ok)

Next, you can do a closet! Then a room!  Then the garage!

In all our moves, I've paired down, sorted things and given lots away.  One question I always ask myself is "If I had to pack this in a Uhaul, haul it across the country, unpack it --would I still want it when I got there".   That has actually been a good measurement to the things I really like.

So, how about it?  Spring is just around the corner.  Spring cleaning anyone??

2018 A New Year

Well it's 2018!  How is that even possible??  Time speeds up faster and faster as we get older.  That's gotta be some sort of scientific rule or something.

Anyway,  2017 has come and gone.  I usually do a year in review.  So just a quick recap:

It was a fabulous year!  

We got to go on a marvelous trip to the Baltics!  

My sweet daughter had my first granddaughter!  

My sweet son got married to a sweetie pie!
Got to see my handsome Marine son twice! He came home for Thanksgiving & Christmas!

We moved into our new condo on the canal!  It is beautiful!
We got to see the most amazing thing--the total Eclipse!! 

So many positives, so much good that happened.

Then the calendar turns and it seems like everything changes so quickly.  The new year started off with a bunch of yuck.  Larry and I both got sick.  We are actually still battling it 2 weeks later!  Then my mom passed away.  It's bittersweet really as we had a rocky relationship-especially the last 10 years. Trying to just come to grips with my feelings in all of this.  In a way it's a sense of relief.  We don't have to be at odds anymore.  I'm sad for my sister because they were very close.  I'm happy that I feel like I can see my dad more.  A lot of mixed feelings.  Still trying to sort through them.

My daughter came up for the funeral and wrote me the most heartfelt note.  She described perfectly the things I was feeling.  She has such a sweet spirit.  In my contemplation of mother-daughter relationships, I am thankful for my relationship with my daughter.  I have made a conscious effort to do things differently than my mom did with me.  We have had our ups and downs for sure over the years but I think we are on the upswing now.  I still have to work on old habits and old ways.  I have to make an effort to not fall into the ways I learned from my mom.

She wasn't a bad person.  She was kind to most.  But somehow we always seemed to butt heads.  We had our differences and couldn't ever seem to reconcile them.  I got to see her in the hospital and I am grateful for that.

So as we start this new year with all kinds of changes, I pray our relationships grow deeper, our relationship with the Lord grows deeper too, and we continue to grow and change in whatever ways we need to (it's never too late to change!) and that we would be humble enough to know and accept how we need to change.

 Have a wonderful 2018!

O Come All Ye Faithful!

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays!  Gifts are my love language so that may be why! Ha! Even though I usually don't get a lot of gifts--since my family does NOT have the love language of gifts! Ha!  No matter!  I love giving gifts!

I also love the Christmas carols.  They remind me of going on long car trips when I was a kid and singing carols with my dad.  In those days we had to make our own fun in the car and we loved to sing!  My dad knew all the verses and we learned them and enjoyed singing to pass the time.

Another favorite- It's a Wonderful Life! and A Charlie Brown Christmas!  We watch these every year and I can practically quote them by heart! Good messages in both and watching these definitely puts me in the Christmas spirit.

I also love to go driving and see Christmas lights.  Another fond memory as a kid-we used to drive around to the best neighborhoods and just look at all the beautiful lights. One neighborhood I remember had a life size train at the end of their cul-de-sac that kids could ride and the people would give us hot chocolate!

Christmas was really fun when all the kids were at home!  Shopping for them and watching them open their gifts, baking with them and watching their wonder was amazing.  

It's different now with an empty nest.  But new traditions are starting and now that I'm a grandma it will be a different kind of wonderful!  

Love this verse --"Luke 2:17Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child."

Let's not forget to make Christ widely known now and all year long!

More of my favorites of Christmas-y things here.

May your Christmases be Merry and Bright this year!  The Light of the World came to seek and save the lost!  Oh Come Let US Adore HIM!

It's been a while

Hey all!
It's been a while since my last post.  Seems like life just keeps going.  Faster and faster at times it seems.

To catch up, we got to go on an amazing trip to the Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, & Poland back in the first part of September!  It was absolutely wonderful! Got to see so many pretty sites and countryside. We also got to learn a lot about the history of the Baltics and how they were occupied by different countries and how they eventually got their freedom!

I need to write an entire blog post about this grand adventure in the near future!  Mental note!

Then we got to take a quick trip to see my Godson in Pittsburgh for his birthday!  Those are always fun little trips!

In October, my son got married!  It was a simple, sweet ceremony and very beautiful!  

I'm also enjoying visiting my granddaughter!  I wish they lived closer but for now I'm loving going down and seeing them each month!  She's growing so quickly and is just an absolute doll!  I love seeing my daughter and her husband be such great parents!  It's kinda surreal but I love this stage of life.  

So that about catches you up!  Now it's Thanksgiving time and there is much to be Thankful for!  Sometimes things aren't exactly how you would plan it or do it but that's ok.  Learning to be thankful for each season.  Learning to trust and rest in Him.  God is so good.