Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Quiet after the storm

My title here is a little deceiving... I like storms.  I like the lightening and the thunder (although it scares the bejeebers out of our dog Luna).  I like the activity.

This weekend has been one big flurry of activity.  I watched some really great kids graduate from high school, sitting with some really great co-workers.  Really, you should be as fortunate as I am to love a job so much.  And I really, really do.  My DD came home from a trip with her BFF's.  We cooked out and made ice cream.  We tried to eat outside last night but got rained on.  The guys worked in the yard, we ALL did some much needed spring cleaning, we watched some episodes of SNL (the first season), and had a family meeting.  This was all yesterday.  Part of the family meeting was satisfying my DS's merit badge for Boy Scouts, one he needs to earn his Eagle badge - which we are well on our way with.  I say "our" because the parents are highly involved with this process."  One thing we had to do was pick a project to complete as a family.  I want to redecorate and repurpose a room in the house but the guys were soooo not interested in that.  So I was reading the little guide book and it suggested teaching the family how to preserve food through canning and freezing.  I have done that a good bit before I started to work full-time and the kids always like the results (pear preserves - yum) so they decided we would do that as a family project.  It should be interesting.

So today is the quiet.  DH has gone to the office, DD and DS have gone to the movies and to run some errands, and I get to enjoy my house and the quiet-ness.  I will probably finish up another step of the spring cleaning, but I am also getting to read a book and will watch some food network before everyone gets home.  I will also sit down at the piano and see if I can find any music in my fingers and work on regaining some skill and dexterity.

I do love these days.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Scars

Scars
Mine are invisible as they are on my heart
Mostly I forget
But then something happens, someone shares their scars
And I remember

I would rather forget
But I know that when I let mine be shown
I can show how much I have healed over time
(a long, long time)

But they will always be with me
They will always be there to remind me
That I need to forgive those who hurt me
So that I can be forgiven

Under the scars
It still hurts the child within
And the woman on the outside smiles and says
I'm okay

His scars brought me salvation and healing
Maybe mine can help someone, too

Saturday, May 12, 2012

A year's perspective and dreams

I am having a quiet morning and now have some time to think on the last year.
My DH has just left to go pick up most of our DD's belongings at her college and she waits to take her last final exam of her freshman year of college.  She is quite a remarkable young lady.  You can read her blog here.

This time last year we were planning her graduation party, packing for the senior trip to Colorado (I got to go - wonderful), and I had a lot on my plate.  Two months later, I was at the doctor for my yearly thyroid check (I hate my thyroid but love my medication) and the NP pointed out my weight gain for the year.  YIKES!  I had previously lost 51 pounds but had managed to gain back all but 12 of that two years.  How's them numbers for you?  So I went back on Weight Watchers with a new attitude.  I have dreams, you know, and being 80 pounds overweight was not in those dreams. I now have 32 pounds to get to my initial goal.

  • I dream of playing with my grandchildren someday.
  • I dream of being able to run a 5K (but really?  I hate exercise so this could be a stretch)
  • I want to get more education - got to get my teaching certificate current and some other stuff.  Not sure  how far I want to take it.
  • I want to travel to the lands of my ancestors - Germany, Holland, Scotland, England, Alabama (haha... this would be funny if it weren't true - I just want to find all the cemeteries and take pictures in Alabama).
  • I want to learn to make gourmet cupcakes. I am actually going to play with this over the summer.  It seems inconsistent with someone trying to lose weight but I'm going to give most of them away.
  • I dream of my knees not crunching when I walk... but turns out this is a family genetic problem but just isn't helped by my weight.  They have improved substantially in the last several months.
  • I dream of taking a fantasy trip to Greece and Italy with my daughter and maybe stopping in Paris, too.
  • I dream of all of my family members having a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
So maybe that wasn't so much of a year's retrospective as it was a bucket list.