Monday Inspiration

 

Have you ever asked more than one person how to get to a specific destination and suddenly you have two or more different routes to get there?  One route might be quicker and one might be more scenic and other routes might have a variety of good reasons to take them.  The destination is always the same but the way to get there is different.

Life is like that with God.  The destination is always the same but the route we take to get there is different with each one of us. I was thinking about this the other day when I was looking at old photographs of childhood.  There were pictures of my parents, the house and neighborhood I grew up in, school, jobs, travel, my wedding pictures and pictures of my sons.  I thought about how my girlfriends and I would sit on the front porch in the summer and talk about what our lives would be like when we were grown.  I grew up in a city suburb in a neighborhood of cookie-cutter like houses.  My mom was a stay-at-home mom and my dad worked all week and played golf on Saturdays.  Sundays were spent in church and at my grandparents' house.  We vacationed as a family every summer and life was good.  Because of this, I saw my life as being very much like that.  I would marry and live in a city suburb in a cookie-cutter type house, be a stay-at home mom, my husband would work all week and play golf on Saturdays.  We go to church on Sundays and then spend the day at the grandparents' house and of course, vacation every summer as a family.  I expected my life to be a straight shot toward this destination.  Little did I know that would not be the case.  I was 18 years old when my family moved away from the city to a more rural area for my father's work.  I was like a fish out of water.  Everything I grew up with in a city was now gone and I had to relearn life at a much slower pace without a lot of, what I thought, the much needed conveniences of city life.  I disliked it so much I made plans to move back to the city when I met and married a young man who changed my moving plans. 51 years later, I can look back and see the route I took to get to this destination.  Now, we live on 40 acres of farmland where the closest neighbor is 1/2 mile away, my husband worked shift work at a mine and couldn't stand golf.  He is a fisherman.  I was a working mom and lived too far away from grandparents to visit every Sunday.  Vacationing as a family was hard with my husband's shift work but we did get to go away sometimes in winter and sometimes in summer.  My destination in life (so far) has not turned out the way I imagined it when I was a young girl but it has turned out the way I love it.  I wouldn't change any part of it.  My girlfriends from my youth have reached the same destination as myself but they have gotten here in a number of different ways.

God has a plan for each one of us.  He has that plan before we are even born.  He has destinations for each of us and although we don't get there in the same ways, we do get there.  When life throws me a curve ball and I am living through something that brings stress and/or pain, I tend to wonder what is God's plan that I have to go thru this.  Then I pray and realize that God has a destination for me and every obstacle and/or smooth path He gives me is going to help me reach that place.  His directions have been "spot-on" so far, I trust He will continue to get me where I am supposed to be until I stand before Him and see His loving face.

"For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope!"  Jeremiah 29:11

Friday Funny

 

Catching Up

We had two birthdays so far in April.  B's was on the 3rd.  He said it was wonderful but we didn't have to get him a blizzard for his birthday just because he was turning 78.  The blizzard gave us 24 inches of snow and high winds that took out two trees.  Luckily the trees were small and nowhere near the house.  One good thing, we didn't lose power so although we couldn't take him out to his favorite restaurant for his birthday, we were still able to cook at home.

Our youngest son's birthday was on the 8th and he got a solar eclipse.  He and the dil flew from Michigan to Montreal so they could watch the solar eclipse on his birthday.  Nice gift for the 32 year old.  Still cannot get it through my head that my youngest is 32.  I don't feel old enough to have a 32 year old but then his brother will be 46 next month and I am amazed at that as well.

Yesterday, we went to the doctor's office to get my monthly B12 shot.  Nice thing about that is 15 minutes and out.  I also found out that I do not have to pay a copay for a nurse visit.  So that was a nice thing for a Monday morning.

After the shot, B and I went to do our monthly shopping at the grocery store.  Not too crowded so we expected to be in and out in a short amount of time.  However, when it came time to check out, there was only one lane open with a cashier and the line for that lane was ridiculous.  Of course, there were 5 self checkout lanes open.  While standing in line, the woman in front of me was telling her friend why she won't use the self checkout.  She said that if she wanted to be a cashier, she would apply for the job but since she's retired, she wants the employee to do it.  Everyone in the line was getting a bit peeved (including me).  Finally a gentleman at the end of the line went to the service desk and asked if they could open another lane until the line got taken care of.  The girl did not seem receptive to this idea so he asked for the manager.  Suddenly a lane opened up with a cashier.  Amazing!  Everyone including me and B expressed our thanks to the gentleman.

I am starting spring cleaning today as it is too rainy to do anything outside.  I am going to start on the guest room as that is the easiest to do.  Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 60s so I am hoping to open windows and air out the house.  Fingers crossed.

Have a great week.                     
 

Happy Easter!

 

Catching Up

It's hell to get old:  12 medications per day-6 for B, doctor appts, new prescription on glasses for me, cataract surgery for B's right eye (his left was done two years ago) followed by mine for both eyes, blood tests for me and since a mistake was made in one collection of blood, I had to go to the hospital for another blood draw (oh joy), a 24-hour urine collection which if you have never had to do this-be thankful.  All of this in the span of two weeks.  

Telephone bill has gotten much lower.  We removed a lot of extras from our phone plan and that brought the monthly cost down.  Speaking of lower bills, because of the "Lost Winter" we experienced this year in the UP, our electric bill was almost half of what it is normally this time of year.  This was a great surprise because our whole house is electric and our bills can get high in the winter running electric heaters all the time.

Buds on my lilac bush, maple tree and rhododendrum bush

chickadees, woodpeckers, morning doves and blue jays visiting the feeders daily

Reading on my nightstand:

 

Using up my stash of yarn by crocheting small blankets for the local pet shelter.  My fabric stash I have been using to make aprons, pot holders and napkins for my local thrift store and making Christmas ornament gifts with my embroidery thread stash.

Using up what's in both freezers

Waiting and waiting anxiously but not patiently for Spring

Pulled a muscle in my back on the 17th and have been in pain ever since.  Between a heating pad, hot showers and Aleeve, I am surviving. Thursday was the first night in 4 days that I slept without pain.  It was wonderful.

It seems March came in like a lamb and is going out like a lion.  It has done nothing but snow since the 18th and I am so sick of it!