When Life Hands You Lemons!

You've heard it said many times that when Life Hands You Lemons,

Make Lemonade...

Life has handed our family many lemons lately...

And I have made lots of Lemonade...

BUT...

I'm taking it a step further...

I am now enjoying the benefits of lemons in our lives by:

This...

And This...

And These...

And This...

And This...

Considering Lifes Lemons Joyfully Delicious!

Cindy

A Day At The ED!!!

***Please pray for my friend Cindy at Army Brats and Me...she is having a total body bone scan done Friday...she is a beautiful young wife and mom of three who has been bravely battling cancer since last summer. Her husband has been transferred with the Army and the girls are with him while she stays home to finish her treatments and sale the house. They really need our prayers today!!!****

***New Update*** Cindy at Army Brats and Me reports that ALL scans are CLEAN - Praising God AGAIN for His constant faithfulness** Thank you for your prayers for Cindy and her famiy******



Oh how exciting my life has become. I spent 8 hours in the emergency department of our local hospital today - yippee!!

After experiencing some scary symptoms and a visit to the UC - Mark took me to the ED and I had a whole lota tests done! Fear of a heart attack caused the docs to do more tests than I can even explain.

As you can tell by my spending time blogging - I am home -no heart attack - Thank God - in fact my heart and arteries are working very well - thank you very much.

I also was looking at my labs on the way home and - at 50 - my labs sheet was one of the cleanest I've ever seen - not one number was out of the normal range - that is something to thank God about!!!

I do have to go to my PCP tomorrow and make an appointment with a cardiologist next week. My blood pressure is fluctuating up and down and I am having constant dizziness - Yuck!!

I absolutely would not allow my hubs to take any photos of me while in my pretty blue gown with tubes, wires and stuff stuck all over me but below are a few choice photos of the left-over evidence.

So, in attempting to find some joy in this, well I do get a night off from cleaning the medical office I usually clean.

Also, a friend from church emailed me Sunday and offered to bring dinner tonight - do you think GOD knew I was going to spend all day in the ED and neither my hubs or I were going to feel like fixing dinner. Thank you my friend for listening to God and bringing a fabulous dinner - WE LOVED IT~~~~~

Coveting your Prayers and...

Tonight I'm Considering being alive JOY!!!!!!!!!!

Cindy

Spillin' Some Beans!

***Just a quick update...I am having some heart/blood pressure issues...not exactly sure what's going on but am hopfully going to my pcp today!***03/17

***If any of you are Irish or just like to have fun...HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!!!!!***


Have you ever heard the term: "Don't Spill The Beans?"

I suppose it kind of means: Don't tell or I've got a secret I don't want any body to know.

Well Girlfriends - tonight I'm going to spill some beans.

No, I don't have some wonderful secret I've been waiting to share, I just want to share some of where I have been and what's going on in my life that has kept me from my bloggy friends for the past several months.

First of all, it is official, my husband can no longer work and has applied for disability. That in itself has been a very difficult decision and process. The decision came because, quite frankly, his body is just tired and broken down due to all of the immunosuppressants he has taken over the past 5+ years. Details don't need to be shared but, as a wife of nearly 28 years, it is very hard to watch this process.

Depression is a word now used in our home as he battles his own feelings and ponders his future.

With that said, other changes have followed. The process of applying for disability is a slow one. In the mean time I have taken on a third job as well as continuing to build a small business.

I now work my regular full-time medical administration job, which I love, I also work about 15 hours a week doing habilitation with my son, and now I work at night cleaning a medical office.

I continue to teach a ladies Bible study every other Tuesday evening at our church, which I also love. And, as always, I am still a wife, mom, nana, daughter, sister, auntie and friend to others.

My purpose in 'spillin' the beans is not to plead for sympathy but to Glorify my God who gives strength and wisdom to His children.

In church this morning we were singing a great song and these words spoke volumes to my soul: "It's Your Joy that gives me strength to go the distance".

My heart desires to visit each of your blogs sometime this week, but my physical body may not be able to sit at my computer enough to do so, yet I am with each of you in the spirit.

I covet your prayers for His Joy to be My Strength over these next weeks and months as we walk a new path and keep our hearts and spirits focused on HIM.

I, in turn, will be praying for you, my bloggy friends and family. You have lifted us up and I am here to do the same. Just know that in the night as I am cleaning a medical office somewhere in AZ, I am using that time to PRAY!!!! Isn't God Great - He gives us time to spend with HIM in strange and different ways!

As Always, Considering It ALL JOY!!!
Cindy

Does Anybody Know My Name?

Have you been wondering: Where has Cindy gone?

I have!

Some days I don't feel like I can remember my name.

Some days I look in the mirror and wonder: Who are you?

Seven weeks ago life threw us an very unexpected curve ball and I am yet to recover - OR - the reality of what took place is yet to settle in - not sure which!

Has that ever happened to you? You are standing at home plate expecting the same old slow pitch and WHAM - a fast/curve ball pops you square between the eyes.

Sometimes that is what it takes to get our attention.

My old buddy "JAMES" says this:

"If any of you lacks wisdom he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must BELIEVE (TRUST) and NOT doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."

James 1:5-6

I choose to NOT be a wave of the sea and NOT be tossed by the wind or every trial that I face.

God places my feet on solid ground.

If you read the first part of James - just before the above verses - he is speaking of trials and our need to walk through them in joy so that we can be made whole and complete in God. We cannot do that alone.

God is calling me and you to face our trials with joy in knowing that He is doing a glorious work in us. This thought brings joy to my dry and weary soul.

God also shares with us that we need wisdom to walk through our trials and if we don't have wisdom then we need to ask and He will give it to us. That is where I need to be. When I am unsure of the answers to lifes challenges then I must be seeking wisdom from the only one who knows the beginning from the end.

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set your ablaze, says the Lord." Isaiah 43:2

A few times over the past several weeks I have lost focus - today I am refocusing my eyes on the only place I can find peace - my precious Savior, Lord, Father and God.

Today I am Considering All Life's moments with Joy!

Cindy