Category Archives: God

Eat mor’ chik’n

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Breakfast….because I only get an hour for lunch, I knew this was my best shot at making the CFA run!

Yesterday was Chick-fil-A appreciation day.  A day where people supported the fact that a restaurant or business is just as entitled to their beliefs as any other person.  Sadly, because Chick-fil-A, a Christian company (I’ve mentioned this before) supports the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman the entire liberal world is up in arms because (gasp) someone doesn’t agree with their view.  It’s not a hate thing, it’s a differing of opinions and I loved to see all the pictures from around the country of people supporting the same idea of FREEDOM OF SPEECH, freedom to express one’s faith and freedom to disagree RESPECTFULLY with one another.

 

 

 

abcnews, fresnobee and abclocal web pics

Hypochondriacs, UNITE!!

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Sometimes it’s a problem working in the medical field.  For a lot of reasons.  First, let me assure you, I enjoy my job, taking care of patients (I’m a nurturer), hearing their stories and seeing what’s going on inside the body (I like to pretend I’m a doctor and figure out what’s the problem–makes the day more interesting).  Buuuuuuuut……sometimes I get a little over it and have to dig DEEP for some compassion, because after the 20th whine story I’d rather get a spinal needle in the eye.  Just sayin’….that’s when my friend and I encourage each other with these kind of things:

you are never too old for a “Gold Star”…

The bad thing is that when people get sick at home and I’ve been dealing with sick people all day, sometimes I have to dig even deeper.  Pathetic.  I know.  And this week I’ve had to pull out the big shovel and dig for flippin’ China because we’ve had round 2 of our youngest getting sick AGAIN with a visit to the After hours Ped clinic and diagnosed with a virus lasting 5-7 days. Nausea, fever and all the good stuff that goes with it (if you can read between the lines).  After recent strep throat and treatment for that, I was less than amused to deal with a virus.  Nor was she.  <sigh>  Then it gets good….

Hubby becomes violently ill the next night with our daughter’s symptoms.  Great. (here comes living out that “in sickness and in health” part…. So after a night of holding our daughter’s hair back a few times and about 3 hours of sleep next to the human furnace, I was thrilled to head to work, leaving our 14-year-old in charge of doling out Tylenol and water.  Both of them were basically out of commission the entire day.  I came home from work and went to work bleaching both bathrooms, kitchen and doling out more fluids and meds.  They were rallying, then….

Dearest daughter complained of peeling feet and achy joints.  I made the fatal mistake.  yes.  I web-surfed her symptoms.  I know better.  Let me STRONGLY encourage you.  DO.  NOT.  DO.  THIS.  EVER.  SERIOUSLY.  Every symptom has a bizarre and rare disease to match on the web (this is why you DON’T surf the web for medical advice, people!).  I found a disease for her, too.  I did what any mother would do.  I made her another doctor appointment.  Hubby took her (he is now recovering somewhat).  She did not have Kawasaki disease despite the matching symptoms…PHEW!…she DID (they are pretty sure after the swab)…have another round of Strep throat, so it’s another visit to Publix for free antibiotics and hopefully we are all on the upswing…… but…..

There are 4 other people in the house still, so we will see how it goes!

St. Raphael, the Archangel, patron saint of illness and healing, Pray for us!

Olympics=International AWESOMENESS!!!!

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image cred: CP entertainment

I love the Olympics.  Winter or Summer.  They are so exciting, motivating,and  inspiring and I love to soak up as much as I can get.  In between a full-time job, 4 kids and a Hubby it’s often not much, but thanks to technology…..I CAN get every bit of info and playback I need!  Phew.  I mean, there’s only so many hours in a day and there’s no medal in Olympic viewing….

So far, for these London Summer Olympics here are my Olympic observations:

1)Seriously over-the-top creative opening ceremonies.  Um, the baby thing was a teensy bit creepy but overall (what I saw) was extremely imaginative and told quite the story spanning decades.  I loved Daniel Craig and the Queen and got a kick out of trying to explain to our daughter how Her majesty got from the plane/parachute to her seat for the ceremony so quickly and gracefully.  Lots of unexpected twists, however, like it or lump it….that show was some SERIOUSLY creative work and immense effort and organization to pull it off.  My head almost blew up imagining the logistics of it all!

2)  Awesome commercials, WAAAAAAY better than the Superbowl!  My current fave is Ryan Lochte (local boy done good….except for the UF part, but hey this ‘Nole will let that slide…) swimming to London.  David Boudia “diving” off world’s tallest building for Visa is pretty phenomenal, too.  Of course, there’s the P&G commercial with the nod to Moms in the training of Olympians and the sacrifices made in getting to the Olympics. Truly though, if you look in the stands you certainly see lots of dads and other family members present as well.  I only have to look to my own friends and their swimming/lacrosse/running/baseball/soccer/volleyball kids (and my own) and see the sacrifices made on an ongoing basis.  The crockpot is your friend, repeat after me….

3)  Speaking of families, I also love the numerous olympic stories that we hear about.  John Orozco, one of the US Men’s gymnast hopefuls was one that I caught last night. The amount of drive and discipline ALL of the Olympians have is astounding and this young man is no different.  His desire to make a better life for his entire family is touching.  The dude’s strength and prowess on the pommel horse and parallel bars, sheesh!  These guys make it look so easy, meanwhile I am huffing, puffing and using a chair and maybe get my chin up over the bar for a second.

4) The watching of the Olympics itself is an event.  An all-day event (thanks to the time difference here in the States).  The weekend has been great, but now it’s back to work, what to do?  what to do???  Ah, but there’s an app for that (and an app for walking/running if so inspired by the Olympics….):

Sshhhh, don’t tell my boss, but I am hooked up for work-day viewing! Just need to keep it charged!

Of course there are also Olympic watching parties.  We went to one last night. A friend of a friend hosted it at their mansion house on the river.  Food out the wazoo and Olympics on about 72″ of HDTV.  New people to meet, watching boats troll down the river from a day out on the water, fireworks to the south.  It was exhausting!

This little hairless kitten was one of the host’s pets…oh the interesting things you come upon when at an Olympic watching party…

5) The outfits which so far have been mostly swimsuits and gymnastics-wear, which just further point out the differences between the Olympian’s discipline and my lack-of-discipline.  Whatev. (If AT&T comes knocking on my door for some sponsorship I may consider cutting out the sweets.  Maybe.) I was interested to see the US women’s beach volleyball and Australia’s women beach volleyball match and even more interested in the difference in uniforms.  Once I got past the fact that the Aussies were quite covered up I realized at least those girls didn’t have to deal with the sand digging into areas sand ought not be AND that they also didn’t have to keep yanking up their bottoms.  It was different for sure.  However, they may be on to something.  Don’t get me wrong now, I was FULLY cheering our US moms on and thrilled for their win to move on!!

**speaking of outfits, how about the Dutch women’s field hockey team.  Wow.  Beautiful ladies.  Eye raising uniforms…..

6) More watching today with rowing, swimming, synchronized diving–China is the SHIZ, but SO happy our girls did so well!!  I was so exhausted from so many sports I needed a 2-hour nap to recuperate from it all.  Sheesh.  We should get bonus workouts just from vicariously participating in all this activity, in my opinion!! Who’s with me???  No worries, I’ll still be up at o’dark hundred for boot camp, even without sponsors and fanfare. (or not, since apparently we have a little bug going through our house and Hubby and daughter are battling it out for my doctoring skills….and it’s 1:40 a.m.—–guessing this is the REAL reason God gave me a huge nap today!)

I’m sure there will be more likes and inspirations as the days carry forth with the medal watching and you can be sure I’M watching whatever I can squeeze in!!  How about you?  Are you cheering on your country and becoming a little bit obsessed, or are you like my boys:  all like….whatever??  I swear, I don’t even know who they are…

A little education is a dangerous thing….

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I know it’s not for everyone (though it really IS)……however, knowledge is power, peeps!!  For us, NFP frees me up from remembering to take a pill, get a shot or have something foreign in my body.  NFP is openly communicating with my hubby and growing in faith whether we decide to abstain from (SUPER challenging, BTW…and in my opinion, probably one of the main reasons people don’t want to practice NFP) or embrace the marital bed.  There is ALWAYS the possibility of a new life, plain and simple.  The fact is, life is FULL of unknowns, unplanned-fors and surprises.  Life is fluid.  Always changing.  Never the same.  The more we try to control it, the more restless we become in this futile act of “control”.  Life IS.  The better we become at “rolling with it”, the easier it becomes with ALL unknowns, unplanned-fors and surprises.  For us, that is the bedrock of our faith, trusting that GOD has plans for us that we may not understand now (or ever), but His plans are ALWAYS far better than we could imagine and NFP fits right in that belief.  

NFP.  Natural Family Planning.  For some, these words strike fear deep in the hearts, for others its a lifestyle.  That lifestyle can be one deeply entrenched in faith and trusting in God’s plan for family size and being open to the children He provides us with (complete with sleep deprivation, dirty diapers, tantrums and potty training…..as well as that sweet baby smell, soft coos, chubby cheeks, and reliving life through all the “firsts”) OR perhaps it’s a lifestyle of eco-consciousness and organic living.  Whatever the reasons, it’s worth learning about if you are stuck in the mentality of the “rhythm method” or would rather just trust in this amazing body we have and learn to understand it in regards to our health and reproductivity.  One of the places you can learn more about “NFP” is on the long-awaited site, iusenfp, there is a wealth of information about the various methods of NFP, HOW to implement NFP as well as a blog (of course!) and a “real life” section on folks like you and me and how NFP works in their life and in their marriages.  There’s even a great article by Simcha Fisher–in her usual sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek manner on NFP and marriage. (**all cute little buttons are from their site)

 

There’s also 1Flesh.org a site filled with (more) blogging, stories and conversational topics anti-pill, pro-life, etc, etc, etc.  Geared toward a younger generation but a truly In-Your-Face, Let’s-Dialogue on the benefits of an NFP lifestyle.  It’s all kinds of confrontational….in a good and positive way.

There’s the Faith and Family website, where not only are there a myriad of articles each day on, yes, faith and family, as well as each day a forum geared toward a specific topic and today is….NFP.  And trust me, the questions are raw, honest and eye-opening.  You can learn a lot.  I sure do!!

And Catholicmom.com for a variety of topics and columns filled with testimonials, advice and information on NFP, in addition to news, homeschooling, prayers, crafts, parenting and faith topics galore!

These are but just a few areas to look around, feel free to leave your own link in the comment section if you’d like to share.

Blessings!

 

Speaking our mind

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I find it amusing that we all complain and tout our right to freedom of speech and yet, when someone speaks against a belief of ours we are deeply offended, self-righteous and indignant calling them hate-mongers and so on.  I suppose we are supposed to all have the same beliefs?  Really?  Last I looked we are all different, brought up with different life experiences, background, parenting, religious beliefs or non-beliefs with society making its own impact on our thought processes as we age.  So, it is with MY own right to freedom of speech that I share with you the July 25 “National Eat at Chik-fil-A Day”. A day to applaud the Cathy family in their support of marriage and yes, even speaking out IN DEFENSE of THEIR beliefs of a traditional marriage.  Agree or don’t agree, that’s your right.  However, why should Dan Cathy be ostracized for espousing a view that is in line with his Christian beliefs?  I’ll go ahead and break the news if you aren’t already aware, Chik-fil-A is a Christian-based company.  Run by Baptists.  They are closed on Sundays.  They say, “It’s my pleasure to serve you.” when you pick up your meal.  If you are anti-Christian, don’t agree with their beliefs or a statement their COO made, then eat somewhere else.  No big deal.  Move on.  If everyone truly believes in freedom of speech, that comes with respecting the opposing view and understanding we won’t all change each other, however, we can agree to disagree.

So.  On that note, I’ll share this:

July 25 and August 1….if you’re interested and/or are close to a Chik-fil-A, if not you can go to any other fast food restaurant. It’s all good.

**and since there was no boot camp today, I was up early with time to blog.  woo hoo!