Reflecting

It's early Sunday evening, and I'm not quite ready for the weekend to be wrapping up. The house is really quiet again. Casie has left to go back to her apt and summer classes, Linds is still in Oklahoma with family friends, and I've booted the 2 family canines out to the backyard for awhile.

Early this morning, as I was reading "Walking with God on the Road You Never Wanted to Travel", I came to a chapter entitled "Enjoy Every Oasis". It's a great chapter, one that basically tells us as we walk through a desert in life, God WILL provides oases along the way, and we are to ENJOY these refreshing times. Often our difficult roads will be long ones, and I can certainly testify to that, as I am walking a long one myself right now. I can also testify to the oases that are provided. The author categorizes 4 types of oases: refreshing seasons, refreshing servants, refreshing scriptures, and our refreshing Savior.

I spent a short time in my hammock today, reflecting on these oases. Often for me, an oasis will come along in the form of relationships. People will offer me encouragement that just refreshes me and enables me to rest awhile, enjoy the encouragement and then get back on the road.

This week, I was blessed to have a blogging friend send me an encouraging gift along with a sweet note in the mail. My boss, knowing my addiction to unsweetened tea from Sonic (and a cup of extra ice) bought me one on Friday. The ladies in my small group got together this week for the first time this summer and we shared dinner together and laughed until we cried. My mom, knowing I don't have money for the "extras" right now, sent me enough to "go have my hair did" as they say around here. A color and a cut can do wonders for your spirit! My hair appointment has been scheduled.

All of these gestures and events provided me with encouragement and refreshing. I'm so thankful for people who reach out. And as I walk through this desert road, I want to remember Proverbs 11: 25 - 'Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed." I hope that I recognize when others need that touch of a refreshing oasis in the middle of their desert, and I hope I respond.

Today I am grateful for:

1. Deserts....without them, would I know an oasis?

2. Oases.....so glad that God provides them along our journey.

3. Encouragers.

And The Weekend Begins...

It's Saturday morning, I'm propped up in bed with Casie next to me....we're being rather lazy. She came in here after she woke up, I'm on the laptop...we're watching a home improvement show and just hanging out. It's about time to kick it in gear and start our day. We're wanting to go see a movie and then maybe just have a dinner together. It's nice to just be lazy and relax with my daughters...whether we talk or not, I just like being with them. Linds is still in Oklahoma visiting a friend, and I am really starting to miss her now, and am eagerly looking forward to her coming back home. I wish she was propped up in bed with us this morning...although at age 13, I'm sure she'd be groaning about the home improvement show.

Last night, Casie and I went to dinner here in town and her dad met us there. It's nice to know that even in the middle of our family splitting up that there is still the ability for us to get together every now and then and just spend time with one or both of our daughters. Casie was telling us about her day of apartment hunting in her college town with her new roomie. She's so grown up, and it's just a joy to listen to her as she begins her final semester as an undergrad and to know that her life and so many opportunities are before her now. I do know that one thing the girls' father and I have in common is our deep love and pride in our girls. They are both....simply amazing.

Pretty soon, it will be time to take Linds back to school shopping. There's only one month left before she begins her first year of junior high...so hard to believe. I keep seeing back to school supplies in the stores now.

Well, time to get the Saturday moving from the lounging in bed to getting ready to venture out.

Today I am grateful for:

1. Weekends.

2. Lindsey and Casie.

3. The Dole All Fruit popsicle that I ate for breakfast. It IS July in the south after all, and an 80 calorie popsicle sounded much better than a big breakfast or a bowl of Special K. Plus, it made me feel like a rebel....lol.

Girlfriends

I just came home from a wonderful evening with my small group girlfriends. We've been together a few years now, and it's hard to put into words how I feel about this group. We are simply...."a good fit". I treasure the times we come together, and when we take a small hiatus from our weekly meetings due to our ever-changing roles with family, work, our churches and community....we always miss one another and look forward with anticipation for our next get-together.

We've taken a break this summer, and tonight was simply an evening of dinner and conversation. We talked about ideas of what we want to study in the fall, and we planned another get together in a few weeks just for fun.

There are so many things I love about this group of women. I love how diverse we are. I love the fact that our conversations can go from the silly and absurd to the funny and irreverent to the deep and intimate and to the spiritual.....all without us even batting an eye. I love the fact that we have grown so close and comfortable with one another, that we can drop all pretenses and just be ourselves. I love the feeling of warmth and acceptance I get when I am around them. I love their insights into our studies, how we take what we read and learn and apply it to our lives. I love how I feel challenged and able to think outside of the box when we do a study together. I love and appreciate the authenticity within each one of them. I love that I can both cry and laugh with these women.

Friendships like these are precious gems.

Today I am grateful for:

1. My girlfriends.

2. Laughter.

3. Hugs.

The Disorganized Mind

Having just recently been diagnosed with A.D.D., I find myself on yet ANOTHER unexpected journey at this stage of my life. I'm actually relieved to have a name and diagnosis now. Alot of things in my life are now making sense.

I've always been a people person, a hard worker, a creative thinker at times...but so much of my time and energy has been spent trying to focus on things that I couldn't seem to get done. I have a tendency to jump from one project to another, and I leave alot of things unfinished. I also struggle with feeling overwhelmed alot, although over the years I've learned to hide that pretty well and compensate for it in other areas.

I've been described as funny but scatterbrained most of my life. I like the "funny" part, but I'm hoping to lose the scatterbrained description.

It's been a week today that I have been on medication. I see a difference in some areas, but still have trouble focusing for regular periods of time like most people. But there has been improvement. Knowing that I need to "redirect" my brain and do some brain coaching and not rely on the meds only, I have immersed myself in learning as much as I can about A.D.D. The above book "The Disorganized Mind" has been very illuminating for me. As I opened it this past Sunday and began to read, I kept underlining and circling sentences and thinking to myself "This is ME!"

However, THIS is also me....I left the book at Casie's apartment when I was visiting. LOL. Yep, the book I couldn't put down is 2.5 hours away now.

Talk about "the disorganized mind". Guess I still have a quite a way to go!

Today I am thankful for:

1. This diagnosis...even if it IS later in life.

2. The counselor who suggested to me that I explore the A.D.D. possibility and get tested, and my personal physician who agreed, and the wonderful psychologist who actually made the diagnosis. Each of these 3 individuals have been godsends for me. So often we deal with providers who are impersonal and seem uncaring. I can honestly say, that my relationship with these people has been personal, warm and nurturing.

3. The ability to accept and even find humor in this situation. (Trust me...this is GOD at work in me, totally.)

Hot Flashes

I'm at the age in life where the hot flashes are normal....they're something I am living with, although I don't really greet them with a smile. Unless you've experienced this physical phenomenon, you may not understand just HOW HOT they can be. But trust me...it's like molten lava is running through your body. I remember one time at Home Depot, my family found me in the refrigerator section, with my head stuck in the one freezer the store had set up and running. Another time, they had an "intervention" for me...I was called to the living room where they sat in winter gloves, coats and hats....begging me to turn the A/C up because they were so cold. I looked at them like they were crazy....I was perfectly comfortable.

However, when Casie, my 22 year old daughter, told me over the phone that had began having these a few months ago, I wasn't concerned at first. I just figured she was getting overheated while exercising or doing something physical. But a couple of weeks ago, when she and I were in Texas, I actually saw her have a true hot flash....just like her menopausal mama. Now...she and I have alot in common. We love reading, we love old movies, musicals, Cary Grant and Gene Kelly, we love Sonic, we love dogs, and well...the list could go on and on. But hot flashes? We really don't need to have this in common. I mean...if you see a 45+ woman walking with a personal mister and cooling fan pointed at her face, you don't even blink. But if you see a young, cute college girl doing the same thing, you do a double take.

I told her to go get some bloodwork done when she got back to campus, and lo and behold...several days later we have an official diagnosis now. She has Graves Disease, unfortunately inherited by me. I was diagnosed at 27, and I thought THAT was young. She's just 22. Alot has changed in the medical world since my diagnosis, and as we learned today about her options for treatment and she made her choice, I was thankful she had other routes to go than what I had 20 years ago.

As we sat in the waiting room today, she began to have one of these "ever so fun episodes", and all we could find after frantically digging through both of our purses, was one legal sized envelope with which we devised a fan and frantically began trying to cool her down. We began to laugh and joke about how many middle aged moms and college aged daughters have hot flashes together.

As we laughed and joked in the waiting room, I realized I was glad to share this moment with her. NOT the hot flash moment itself, but the moment of spontaneous laughter we shared as we were dealing with it.

We picked up her meds tonight, and we are hoping that they work quickly.

Today I am grateful for:

1. Medical improvements.

2. The ability to laugh when things aren't going as you planned.

3. Portable fans and personal misters...and Sonic ice...and freezers....and snow cones....and cold showers....well, you get the idea.