Been Way Tooooo Long

I'm back! Finally. It has been a hectic few months. We started out the New Year with sick kids. Our yearly winter vacation consisted of two sick kids, one sick aunt and one healthy guest. (The nieces and brother were all good. They were sick before we got there.) After weeks of recovery, Alex got sick....again-pneumonia. Then my wonderful, awesome niece Matty had emergency surgery for an ovarian cyst. Then my husband was admitted to the hospital for bilateral pneumonia. Then my darling baby girl and I contracted a nasty bronchitis that seemed to last forever. Then my "NICE" goddaughter Brianna was admitted to Children's in Buffalo for a rather serious infection.  However, the good news is, as of today, every one is home and all seem to be in good health. I hope I don't prove myself wrong before the day is over. Annie was looking a little peeked after church today.

So, as for any life changing deep thoughts; I haven't had any time to have any, unless of course you ask Ashley about tissues and decongestants. Or you can ask Jennifer about repainting her shed. That pretty much sums up the depth of my thought processes over the past few months. I feel like I have only been getting by.

I can say that I know the source of the strength that was getting me by. It was the same strength I saw when my kids endured one of the most awful vacations of all time, while vomiting for 16 hours in the car. I saw that strength when my dear, Matty and her parents had to face serious emergency surgery in the middle of the night. It was the same strength I saw exhibited in my husband as he admitted outpatient defeat and was sent to the hospital for treatment for a week. I don't know how he could stand the steroids he had to take! He did though, without complaint. And again I witnessed it this week as my dear friend Barb, took her baby girl to the emergency room for tests and ended up with an ambulance ride to Children's Hospital, in the middle of the night, so far from home. I have to say this, and I don't mean this in a condescending manner in any way, but I am so proud of Barb. I saw her take huge steps in her faith this past week and it gave me joy, despite the sadness, to see her choose to lean fully on her Savior during a most trying time. She did things this week that I'm sure she didn't know she was capable of doing. She hung onto God with both hands and he sustained her and Brianna.

People have two choices when they encounter hardship.
1. Be angry and blame God
2. Have faith and trust God

So often people will choose to be angry and alienate themselves from God during the difficult seasons of their lives. For some it is easier to be angry and place blame than to have faith and trust in God, even when things aren't working out your way. Faith isn't easy, but I assure it is best. I've been there wanting to scream at God and ask him, what he was doing. It's okay to tell him how you feel. He already knows anyway. Talk to him. He wants to hear from you. It is a great exercise in strengthening your faith....remembering he is there and that you can talk to him.

This week's Bible memory verse for children's church is Isaiah 41:13. It's a good one for all of us!

"For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says, do not fear. I will help you."

Those are his words. Not mine. You can depend on them.

The bravest baby ever!

Stop and Smell the Bananas

Do you remember, in my last blog how I said that most of the lessons God has taught me in the grocery store have to do with slowing down? Well, I must confess that my first "God Moment" in the grocery store was exactly that and nothing more. Though I have become better at the whole "slowing down" thing over the past twenty some years, (that could be mostly due to age at this point), I have found that it is a small part of every lesson I need to learn, a common thread.

I think my first "Grocery Story" happened when I was about 22 years old. We were living in Amherst, Ohio, a bedroom community of Cleveland.  My husband was working for the small local hospital there. As a matter of fact, we lived directly across the street from the hospital. It was a great arrangement for commuting. We saved a ton on gas. The only downfall to that arrangement was the nurses and doctors could see when we were home and would call whenever they wanted for whatever they wanted. (Usually when we turned out our bedroom light for the night. I think it was a game they played, since they could see the light to our bedroom which was in the front of the house.)

Well, the morning of my first lesson was a hectic one. Leo had gotten called over to the hospital for an actual, legit, emergency. It was early when he was called out, but despite the early hour Leo was not able to come home between the emergency and his office hours. So having great compassion on my poor "uncoffeed" and "unbreakfasted" husband, I decided to run out to get him a little something to tide him over until lunch. I bundled Ryan into his winter coat, hat and mittens for the four mile trip to McDonalds. Their coffee is way better than mine. Since I was out, I thought I would make a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up some things I needed for dinner. Being a suburb of Cleveland, the grocery store, of course was massive, definitely not like Giant Food Mart here in Cuba. It was actually a Super K-Mart. Since I was only picking up a couple of things from produce, I didn't bother with a cart. This was my first mistake. Ryan and I made our way back to the produce section and we immediately made a bee line to the green peppers. There wasn't a very good selection so I was having to dig around to find a good one. In the few short seconds that I was attending to the green peppers, Ryan decided to attend to the bananas nearby. He already had breakfast, but if you know Ryan, you know he can eat 24/7. He's always been that way. As I popped the green pepper into a produce bag I turned to see Ryan shoving the very last bit of a banana into his mouth. He had the whole thing in there! His pudgy little cheeks bulging with the ripe fruit. His pudgy little hands holding the empty peel. He looked up at me and tried to smile around the banana in his mouth. I didn't know what to do! He stole and ate a banana while we were standing in the produce section! I frantically grabbed the peel from him and looked around. "Who do I ask what to do? Do I weigh him at the check out and guesstimate what I owe?" I was about to panic.  So doing the most sensible (and dishonest thing I could come up with I stuffed the empty peel into my coat pocket, (mistake number two). I grabbed Ryan's hand and started toward the check out, pulling him along as fast as his little legs would carry him. By the time we got to the check out stand, Ryan had finished chewing and swallowing his stolen banana. I had no cash on me that day, so I had to write a check. As I was writing the check Ryan picked up a box of orange Tic Tacs. He wanted them. I told him "no" and put them back on the display. I went back to writing the check and just as I finished filling out the first line  I hear what sounded like a small "Tic Tac waterfall" behind me. I turned around to find Ryan standing in a puddle of orange Tic Tacs. How he got them open is beyond me! It takes me a minimum of 3-5 minutes to open a box of Tic Tacs. I grabbed the empty box from his hands an put it up on belt with my green peppers to pay for. Besides the stolen banana peel in my coat pocket was already burning a hole in my conscience. I grabbed Ryan's hand and pulled him over next to me and as I did he hit his head on the metal check stand. It made that hollow metal sound you would expect when you hit your head on the check out stand (mistake number three). Of course Ryan decides to speak out at that moment, since he wasn't chewing anything and yelled, "Ouch! That hurt!" I think the lady at the check out probably thought I was the worst mom in the world. I was just waiting for someone to call CPS or at the very least store security. The cashier told me my total, including the empty box of Tic Tacs (not the banana) and I finished writing the check. Ryan and I went back out the car. Of course I was fuming about this brief, yet painful, grocery store experience. I lectured Ryan's little two year old ears on the evils of stealing, as I sat guiltily in the front seat with the banana peel in my pocket. I drove through McDonalds and took my husband breakfast. When I got home I sat down feeling very defeated and emotionally exhausted from my quick trip to the store. It was then that God spoke to my heart. This didn't have to play out this way. It could have played out much better. I didn't need to be in such a hurry. There wasn't a fire anywhere. Leo was in no danger of starving to death. I wasn't being the mom I needed to be. I wasn't being patient. There really was no good reason for my impatience. I needed to slow down. I needed to stop and smell the bananas with Ryan, and maybe buy a couple for us to share, rather than steal an empty peel. God and I had a good talk that day. It was a good lesson to learn.

So this week if you are feeling harried and hurried, be sure to take a moment to stop and smell the bananas. I am positive you won't regret a few moments of peace in your day. Besides, God has it all under control anyway.



Grocery Stories

I know you may think I am crazy, when I tell you that some of the most valuable lessons I have learned about the Christian faith, I have learned at the grocery store. Well, not just the grocery store, other stores as well, but primarily the grocery store. Everything from loving your neighbor as your self, to sharing what God has blessed you with, to raising your children up in the way they should go. If you look among the aisles and colorful displays of food  you will find God there. We already know He is everywhere, omnipresent, but most of us go about our daily lives forgetting that very important piece of information. So, if we know He is omnipresent, why would we think He wouldn't be at the grocery store?

To be completely honest I never thought I would experience a "God Moment" at the grocery store, and certainly not multiple "God Moments" while grocery shopping, but over the years I have met God in the aisles of the grocery store more times than I can count. Actually, I have found most often that He is there to teach me something about loving and caring for others...AND it is usually when I am in a hurry, or tired, or running late, or trying to get home to my family, at the end of a long day. Part of every lesson I have learned has been to slow down. It is a lesson most of us need to be reminded of, frequently.

Over the next couple of blogs I plan to share with you the things God has taught me in the middle of a quick trip to the grocery store. I can't wait to share these life changing shopping trips with you. I hope that these vignettes will cause you to pause and think about the goodness of our God and that He is with us always....even at the grocery store.

Next: Slow Down and Smell the Bananas





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