After the Storm

I woke up this morning and took Bella out.....and walked outside to a beautiful, crisp morning!! It was wonderful! It felt so nice and cool, I loved it...made me ready for fall. Later that morning as we sat down to breakfast, I looked at the paper and saw some interesting facts and even more interesting pictures of some of the devastation. More than 775,000 customers were without power, 32 cities and towns had to be evacuated, 2,000 people were in area shelters. Hartford, Fairfield, Litchfield, Middlesex, New Haven, Tolland, and Windham counties all still have flood warnings. 25 homes in East Haven's Cosey Beach and 4 homes in Fairfield were destroyed. An elderly woman in Prospect died when a power line fell down on her house and caught fire. Another man in Bristol is believed to be dead after he and a friend tried to canoe one of the crazy, swollen rivers. The friend was able to make it to safety, but they hadn't found him last I knew. They did find the canoe down river wrapped around a tree...so sad. The shoreline had to deal with storm surges of 4-8 feet. Thirty-five communities had declared a state of emergency. Many towns and cities had 6-10 inches of water that came down in just a few hours. There were winds reported at 40-60 miles an hour. The highest wind reported was 63 miles per hour. After reading all of this and seeing the pictures, I really had to thank the Lord for taking such good care of us. We were truly blessed! Later on when I went out, I couldn't help notice how beautiful the sky was, barely a cloud, and such an amazing blue color. I couldn't help but think how bad the storm was, the time that we waited for it, then the time that we went through it, and though it wasn't bad here, it was bad in other places. Then thinking how the Lord helped bring so many of us through it as we asked. He brings us through it and allows beautiful days like this to show us what He can do after the storm.
Thank you, Lord, for getting us through this storm, and bringing us to such beauty on the other side.

Irene

Well, Hurricane Irene came and went. I still have power, and never lost it to begin with. I was definitely thankful about that. I was ready for it though, had chargers ready to go. The rain was definitely coming down when I got up this morning and took Bella out. Not much else was going on out there besides heavy rain. We didn't stay out long because Bella was getting soaked and she still has her summer cut, so she was ready to go in after looking around for a couple of minutes. When I came back inside I went right downstairs to see if there was any water coming in the room where we keep our Christmas trees. It was coming in, the carpet in the rec room was squishing under my feet. I got some blankets and rugs to put them down inside the room and on the carpet outside the room. I then went back upstairs to get some rest before the rest of the storm came. A little after we had breakfast. I kept my eyes on the weather to see if we needed to head downstairs. I took Bella out again, then convinced mom to come downstairs for a bit, just in case. We watched the storm coverage on NBC, we normally watch Channel 3, but couldn't because the power went out at their studio. Although there wasn't much happening where we were, there were some places that were having lots of problems. Trees were coming down, streets were flooding, power lines were coming down and catching on fire, people were having to be evacuated. A friend and her family had to be evacuated from their home. One time when I looked outside, I saw a small tree in our neighbor's front yard that had come down. I also noticed puddles of water by the house. So, I went into the laundry room to check and saw a little water coming in there, too. Beside those bits of water, not much else happened. It was a quiet day for mom, Bella, and myself. Mom kept wanting to go upstairs to her bed. She is pretty tied to that bed lately. She just loves to lie in it and watch TV. After a while I couldn't convince her to stay down here any longer, so she went back up. The storm still hadn't finished, but it didn't seem to be too bad. I knew she was going to end up going anyway, so I didn't say anything to try to stop her. So she did head back up to her bed and stayed there the rest of the day, except to come get dinner and her dessert. Ah well, thankfully she was ok up there where she really wanted to be. So all in all it wasn't a very eventful day, but that's not true for many other people throughout the state. Praying for those people. So, yes, just a little water and nothing more. I still have power and I get to blog again, thanking God for keeping us safe as we prayed for.
Thank you, God for protecting us and our home, and please be with those who weren't so fortunate.

Focus

As I have said before, there is just so much going on lately. Satan is so busy trying to discourage and pull us down. He continually tries to keep us from keeping our focus where it needs to be. Just today I heard some things that have broken my heart. First thing this morning I saw a couple messages on Facebook about an acquaintance I knew in college. The messages were asking for prayer for this person's family. As I was reading, I put two and two together and realized that these were not just normal condolences, there was something more. I came to my conclusion, then went to this person's Facebook page to see if my conclusion was correct and sadly....it was. This acquaintance from college chose to take his own life yesterday. The thing that has my mind whirling is that this had pretty much been planned for quite a while. He even had a timeline written out on his website. He was a strong, godly guy. There were many that wrote on his Facebook page stating how he was such a great mentor to them, how they saw Jesus in him, how certain messages that he preached were a great help to them and they still remembered and thought back on them, how he encouraged them in the Lord. How heartbreaking! He was grieving over his wife who he lost about three years ago. That's where I think he lost his focus, she was most important to him. I must say, I can't judge him, I can't even begin to imagine that pain. I know how hard it was to lose my dad, but I'm sure that's much different than losing a spouse. My heart aches for his family. I pray that they can find peace.
After hearing this unfortunate news of this friend from college, I get to school to hear about some other friends... a sweet, godly couple, who were wonderful parents to a couple of beautiful children for many, many months, having to turn them over to the care of another. Although they were not the biological parents, they took such wonderful, loving care of these children, you would never have thought otherwise. My heart breaks for these wonderful friends, I know they just feel blessed to have had these little ones. I believe those little ones were truly blessed to have them as parents and receive such loving care from them. Their focus seems to be on the right things. The Facebook status gave glory to God, even through the pain. They have been in my thoughts and prayers.
Then another friend asked for prayer for someone who is struggling in a marriage, struggling to desire to stay strong in it. What a difficult dilemma for my friend who is going to have to try to be a spiritual source of encouragement to this person at this difficult time. If the person has lost focus, it will be hard to share if they are unwilling to listen. I'm praying for my friend with this situation.
Focus seems to have been the word of the week, that's why I had to give that name to this post. I have had to remind myself to do that many times this week, in many different things, not just problems. I have had to focus in work that I have been doing, in things that I have been thinking, and trying to remember things I need to remember. I even saw that word on another friends Facebook status. I don't remember what the post was, but that word definitely caught my attention. It is definitely not easy to keep that focus when there is pain and heartache, we at times have to force ourselves to keep that focus where it needs to be. It's almost like those Magic Eye pictures that I love so much, you can't see the amazing picture without the right focus. It is sometimes hard to find that focus for those pictures, some people get it faster and easier than others, but once you get it, there is so much excitement to see that great picture. It's worth it to find that neat picture rather than just the jumble that you see just by looking at it. Where is our focus today?
Lord, help me to have the right focus. I can honestly say, I have been struggling with that lately. Satan has tried to keep my focus on me, on my circumstances, or my problems. I know that doesn't please you, so please forgive for losing that focus. Help me to be humble and to keep my focus on You, so that I can see the beauty that you really want to show me. Thank you for loving me and being patient with me even when I forget that focus. Thank you for good messages and good friends who help to bring that focus back where it needs to be.


Hurricane's a'comin'! Lord please be with us and friends and family, homes, schools, and churches. Hope to have electricity so I can post again soon. :)

Being Real

This has been a tough week, a very tough week, if I'm going to be real about it. Emotions were very high....confidence was very low. My mind was on turbo speed all week, while my body just wanted to be on pause mode. My brain, eyes, hands, and feet were going constantly and my eyes just wanted to close for a moment's rest and peace. Sleep had been evading me, and exhaustion was slowly creeping in. I did make it to the end of the week (obviously), but the process to get there was a little difficult. I'm so thankful that there were people who helped me through it. There were a few key people who let me be who I needed to be, let me feel how I needed to feel, let me share what I needed to share...let me be real with them. I didn't have to put on this perfect persona to look and seem like all was well. Even though all is well things sometimes stink. That's real, it's the reality of life and it's OK because as Christians, yes, all is well in the end. People need to work through to that point sometimes though, and there is nothing wrong with working toward it. And sometimes it takes a little longer than others.
I know I have already talked about being real before...a couple of times before, and said how I was thinking about doing a blog post about it. Well, the topic of being real came up so many times this week, there was no way to avoid it. I had to write a post about it. I so admire people who can be real, and who aren't uncomfortable or afraid of letting other people be real. Some people get nervous and feel that they have to fix someone who is being too real, to try to bring them where they think they need to be spiritually or emotionally. I talked to some real people this week, who weren't afraid to let me be real, no matter what that entailed. If it weren't for those few key people who let me be real this week, who were real with me, I'm not sure how this week would have ended. So thankful for being able to be real, and even to pray real prayers for real people who were hurting this week as well. I hope I was able to be real for those people who needed that this week. When people can be real about struggles, it helps them to be able to rise above that struggle victorious.
Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to find those few key people who were real with me this week, in the sweetest way. And those who let me be totally real with them. You know I needed that, it helped so much. Bless them for blessing me so much just by being real with me.

Thank You!

Thank you for thinking of me and praying for me in the middle of the night and early morning hours. Thanks for allowing me to share desires, needs,and hurts without judging me. Thank you for taking the time to listen, not just rush me on...for taking the time to care and taking the time to share with me. Thank you for even in my ugly times, still being a friend. Thank you for choosing to understand my hurts, and for helping me through them with such wisdom. Thank you for realizing what I may be dealing with and encouraging me, not just trying to make me feel better and agreeing with wrong things, but helping me handle the tough things in the right way. Thank you for sharing what I need to hear, when I need to hear it and in a way that is kind and caring. Thank you also for not just saying the words that you think will make you sound more spiritually correct, but listening to what needs to be shared with me. Thank you for sharing wonderful Scriptures with me to remember at different points. Thank you for allowing yourself to be used in such a special way in my life. Thank you for making me feel special to you. Thank you for being a wonderful friend. Thank you for being real with me, not trying to be something more than just who and what you are...not trying to push me to some feeling that may not be real for me at the time. Thank you for letting God use you to be such a blessing to me. Thank you for these and many other things!!! You know who you are.......thank you!!

Missed you!

Oh blogging, how I've missed you!!! I know you may not have realized I was missing you, but I truly was. A little over a week ago I was downstairs relaxing when mom came down. I moved from pappy's comfy recliner to the couch. I moved my Notebook over to the couch, too, so I could keep playing on the computer. I had to go upstairs for something, I came back down, and as I was sitting- it was kind of one of those slow-motion things, I could in the corner of my eye see that I was about to sit on the Notebook. It happened too fast for me to do anything. Now it wouldn't have been so bad, probably would have just closed the computer and been OK, if only it weren't for that DVD cover being in between the keyboard and screen, ugh!!! I could hear that little crack as it totally cracked the screen! It sickened me and I was so upset. So much for having access to the Internet and to my blog, it was killing me, because there were so many things that I wanted to be blogging about. But I'm back and so thankful to be able to get back to something I love and enjoy so much! The Lord has allowed some neat things to happen. One thing that I must mention before I head up to bed. A couple of Saturdays ago, I think July 30, my friend, Kristen and her mom came down from New Hampshire to spend the day with mom and I. Not just to spend the day, but to help us. Kristen's mom brought her sewing machine down and hemmed and mended some clothes for us, Kristen super cleaned our refrigerator, which I still don't recognize because it's so nice looking inside and out! They also brought an amazing lunch for us-homemade chicken Caesar salad with all the yummy fixin's. It was such a nice day. Mom also brought some papers and pamphlets for me, to help me with taking care of my mom. Things to think about and prepare for. What a blessing to know people who are so selfless that they would be willing to drive two hours to a small house, giving up their weekend to help some friends! I'm so thankful to them for being so loving and kind and helpful. Then today was so neat, the Lord did something else pretty amazing, but I'm going to save that for another blog. Oh blogging I have truly missed you, but I'm back!
Lord, thank you for friends like this who go above and beyond to be such a help. Bless my sweet friend and her amazing mom for their selfless spirits. Thank you for using people like this to show your love for us. Help me to be that selfless for someone else. Thank you for reminding me of your love and care for us. ....and thank you so very much for letting me have internet back so I can blog again! Ahhh it feels so good to be able to again! Also, and more importantly, thank you that I never have to miss you, you are always here for me. Help me not to forget that in the hard times.