SRKindredSpirits

I have spent alot of time in a children's hospital since my son had emergency brain surgery. We have went through lots of tests and lots of waiting.... While I'm waiting, I often watch the people.  There is the poor family that looks like they don't have a clue of what's going on..... walking around in pajama pants - wishing they could be home drinking the pain away. There's the rich folks in their $500 shoes, typing on their fancy electronic gadget's looking like maybe the can work the pain away and wondering "how in the world could this happen to my child?" There's the family that has kids at home and kids in the hospital - trying to juggle being a parent, visiting the sick kids, keeping up with the house and working a full time job. There's the grandparents with the look of sadness in their eyes, as they ponder the seriousness of the situation. There's the young parents who look like kids themselvese unsure

Stop trying to be something your not! This could be considered useful advise for just about anything.... b ut, today I'm talking about exercising. This time of year you hear of people making New Year Resolutions and the top one for many people is to lose weight. Now I'm not saying weight loss or exercising is bad. What I'm saying is if you have to be something that's not true to who you are to achieve it.... it's simple not worth it! I'm all for losing weight (You can see my getting healthy story here ), exercising, eating healthy , becoming fit, being happy,and changing into the person who you want to be... just don't go about it the wrong way! Let me explain what I mean.... I have always been short (5ft.). As a kid, I hated walking with my mom and sister, because they could walk circles around me... ( short legs don't go fast) . When I was 12, I was ran over with a produce wagon and have had many leg problems since. I have str

Be A Blessing.... Often when someone is in the hospital we want to help, but rarely do we know what to do.... may I suggest a snack basket. Ideas for a snack basket:  Fresh fruit with a pairing knife Plastic silverware, napkins, and paper plates  sweets - candy, cupcakes, trail mix salty - nuts, chips, crackers, popcorn, combos meal/snack bars  cheese sticks  fruit snacks or died fruit bottles of water or other drinks  pudding cups, jello  bread, miracle whip (packets), lunch meat, cheese and chips to make sandwiches  My mom and my mother in law, both brought us in snacks and it made such a difference. Another thing is offer to stop and pick up a meal or a burger and fries, or shake. A pizza tastes better than hospital food any day. We also appreciated an extra $10 or $20 that was gifted to use to use for food or things we needed while we were at the hospital.  I was lucky that there was a hospital across the road that had a nice salad buffet

2017 Year In Review: January - Jekyll Island, Georgia vacation February - finished painting interior trim and doors throughout the house. March - Rhoda 1st. surgery May - Faith high school graduation          -wyatt surgery in hospital stay June - Wyatt 2nd. surgery/ hospital stay July - Wyatt home from the hospital and infusions at home for 3 weeks August - Rhoda 2nd. surgery and 3rd. emergency surgery September - visited College of the Ozarks and the St Louis Arch in Missouri October - Hocking Hills Ohio trip December - Blessed with a new Church family and friends. Stephen - still working at the glass plant and stays busy keeping things looking good around our little farm. Rhoda - busy with our Shaklee business , homeschooling , and being wife, and Mama. ~ Married 12.2 years ~ More in love now than ever! Rented a cabin in  Hocking Hills, Ohio  for our anniversary and enjoyed hiking the rim and gorge trails. We enjoyed the hot tub and the alone

I have many, happy, childhood memories of Christmas caroling.  When I was a kid, we used to go caroling with our church and with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, every year.  It was a family tradition.   We would all bring cookies and candies, and put together cookie plates to give to those that we went caroling to.  After the plates were made and we all had our caroling books, we would pile into cars and drive to the people's place's that we were caroling for. I loved riding in Grandpa's car or with my best friend Carla.  Growing up in a conservative family, we did not decorate for Christmas or have a Christmas tree. So, as a kid, I loved seeing all the Christmas lights and decorations in the people's homes we visited.  My favorite place to go caroling was our old neighbor lady Adell's house. She doted on us kids and would pass out candy and I loved her C hristmas lights and her singing Santa doll.  After caroling, we all c

I am a christian.... but I haven't been to church regularly for over five years... and it's been over twelve years since I've had a church where I felt loved, needed, and a part of. I used to help on buses, be a nursery worker, do bulletin boards, decorate the church, help with Ladies meetings and loved singing special music. The reason is NOT for a lack of wanting or trying to find a good church. On the contrary... we have visited a lot of churches over the years always hoping we'd find what we were looking for, but always coming up short. My biggest issue with finding a church after what it believes and preaches, is that there are people there that want the same as me in life. Some of my needs in no particular order: (This may be a good time to point out I am conservative and like things rather old fashion.)  Independent, Fundamental, KJV Baptist Church  Home-schoolers - wanting to raise their kids for the Lord  People dress up for church

"Spending time with old friends is good for the soul." Old best friends are like magic. You may not see them for months or even years, yet when you meet, it seems like yesterday that you were having a good chat and drinking tea!  Old friends remind you of parts of yourself that you might have forgotten about. Even if you have changed a lot since that time, you will be reminded of the path that it took to get you where you are. Those memories are treasures. Old friends allow you to skip the small talk and go deep. There’s nothing like picking up right where you left off; that’s the beauty of connecting with an old friend. You can cover so much ground in such a short time because the foundation has been laid. Old friends make you feel loved and secure. There is a depth of connection between old friends that wraps around you like a warm blanket. You feel known, and safe. Few words are needed, because they understand you– your heart, and how you process thing

Today, I'd like to give you three Ideas to minimize stuff you don't need. Many people often think that getting rid of clutter is a long, hard process, but in fact it is simple. 1. Look around your home and see what items you would take with you in the event of a hurricane, flood, tornado etc... I bet there's not a super large amount that would make the cut.... I did this a few months ago and realized there's not a lot of stuff that means a lot to me.  So, now you know what items you treasure....  2. Next add in the items that you need. For example sheets, towels, dishes, toilet brush, lawn mower, broom, toilet paper, clothes.... these are the items I'm talking about.  Everyone knows you need these items, but most of us own way too many. For example two towels for each person and 2 sheet sets per bed are plenty.  Dishes.... do you really need and use all that you have? For years I have collected a Chutney Corelle dish set , which I still use and love,

Watching love comes softly movies. I'm amazed at how the family's heritage not only passes down though the generations, but how the family dynamic changes. How family isn't always blood, and how you can always grow to love someone, given time. I love how the grandpa tells Belinda in  Love's Unending Legacy  that they are not there to replace any other grandparents, but that they believe that a child can never have too many people love them . Here's the Love comes softly family tree: Clark Davis     + Marti Clarridge               - Son Arnie Davis       + Aaron Clarridge              - Son Aaron Clarridge Davis  + Ellen Barlow Davis               -   Missy Davis LaHaye Tyler - Daughter                + Willy LaHaye                         - Adopted Son Jeff Huff LaHaye                       - Son Mattie LaHaye                           - Daughter Kathy LaHaye                  +  Zac Tyler                   - Adopted Son Jaco

Somehow life always pushes 'moms' needs into the closet..... the door gets shut, life gets busy, and then years later, mom realizes she doesn't know who she is anymore.  Well, that is my story. Looking back, I was just a baby when my first baby was born....and I became a mom.  I was 17 when I got pregnant.... I had just finished high school and had not even thought about what I wanted to do with my life.... I was living on my own, in a one bedroom efficiency apartment. My goal in life was short term - pay the rent, keep gas in my car, and food in the fridge. I never really wanted to be a mom - it just happened. And after marriage, step kids, divorce , and a second marriage, I went on to have two more kids...... Our oldest daughter had a lot of health problems requiring lots of tests, doctors appointments, lab work and children hospitals over a five year period ( you can read more about it here). Our second child is special needs and has many learning disa

Enjoy: The Gift of Sexual Pleasure for Women , Dr. Clifford and Joyce Penner This book is from Focus on the Family. It's a good book, but I honestly felt like it is written for someone who is not yet married, or who is in a sexless or unfulfilled marriage. Although I agree with the majority of the authors writings... it simply does not apply to me. You see, I've been happily married for 12 years to an amazing hubby who always puts me first in the bedroom. He is loving, understanding, spontaneous, adventurous, gentle and very respectful of me.  I won the lotto, when it comes to my man ! *Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through Tyndale, book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Let me preface this by saying- my hubby and I are research geeks. We research a subject until there is nothing left of it.... dead. Never to rise again..... which sometimes can be a good thing, and other times, lets just say, not so much. That's when after I had major surgery (that I had researched for over a year)..... I was completely taken by surprise. I mean, I knew that there would be pain and that I'd need someone to help me, but I honestly never expected it to be this hard, this painful, and this much fatigue. With that said, I did have an emergency second surgery 12 hours later due to internal bleeding and I'm sure that is partly to blame for some of it. The Doctors said having the emergency surgery really set me back.  I was supposed to come home with a pain pump, but they had to remove it during the second surgery.  Anytime, some one has as much internal bleeding as I did, it causes excruciating pain. I also lost so much blood, that I had to have multip

What if I all I want is a small, slow, simple life? What if I am most happy in the space of in between. Where calm lives. What if I am mediocre and choose to be at peace with that? The world is such a noisy place. Loud, haranguing voices lecturing me to hustle, to improve, build, strive, yearn, acquire, compete, and grasp for more. For bigger and better. Sacrifice sleep for productivity. Strive for excellence. Go big or go home. Have a huge impact in the world. Make your life count. But what if I just don’t have it in me. What if all the striving for excellence leaves me sad, worn out, depleted? Drained of joy. Am I simply not enough? What if I never really amount to anything when I grow up— What if I am not cut out for the frantic pace of this society and cannot even begin to keep up? And see so many others with what appears to be boundless energy and stamina but know that I need tons of solitude and calm, an abundance of rest, and swaths of unscheduled time in order

I knew my son, QW had not been feeling well.... he had been complaining of headaches that last week, but I didn't really think too much about them, figuring, it would pass. Then he started having a fever - not super high, but enough for me to worry. After a few days, he wasn't eating.... We knew something was wrong. I took him to the med express center. They ran a throat culture, and tested him for the flu and strep - all came back negative, but they said that sometimes the strep test can be wrong, so they sent us home with antibiotics saying it was probably strep.  The next two days, QW kept getting worse. I finally took him to the Emergency Room on Sunday, May 28th. They did blood tests and took a CT scan and said that he had acute sinusitis (a bad sinus infection that was deep in the air pockets of his face) and sent us home with a stronger antibiotic. Memorial Day, May 29th, QW seemed better - he ate lunch and walked outside.... we thought he was feeling