Faith Dare Friday, #5

This past week's FAITHdare was about solitude, making a place and finding a time for solitude in your day every day. I was quite excited for this 'dare.' But surprisingly, I found it somewhat difficult. It's easy for me to find time alone, yet distractions bombard me and keep me from having solitude. Mostly those distractions are technology related: cell phone, Internet (Facebook, email, etc.), and TV. I realized that I have the TV on far too often and most of the time I'm not even watching it; it's there for background noise. When I realized that I thought, "How gross! Who wants the noise of a TV show as the background noise for her day?" Even when some of the time I set the TV to the Christian music station, it's still constant sound in the background of my daily routine. There really weren't any silent moments in my day.

At first this week, I really got into the dare and made it a point to have a moment of solitude. My place of solitude where I can be alone from people, pets, and technology, and just be alone and be quiet, is one of my favorite places in my house: our jacuzzi bath tub.

I absolutely love a soak in a nice, hot bubble bath. Plus on days where my muscles happen to be extra sore, I can turn those jets on and receive a little massage of sorts. Oh how wonderfully calming and relaxing! So 'sneaking away' at night for a quick soak in the bath became my time and place of solitude.

But as this week became "busier," with my wisdom teeth extraction consultation, Josh's selection, his wisdom teeth extraction, an unexpected trip to the ER in the middle of the night (he had an allergic reaction to his medicine from the surgery), trying my best to take care of my husband and the house, and a lack of sleep, made 'finishing' this week's FAITHdare quite difficult. The events of life this week definitely were overwhelming at moments, and I will blog a little about that tomorrow, and perhaps a moment of solitude would have been especially needed and appropriate during those times, but of course, those very times when I need solitude are when it's hardest to do it.

Even though this is another dare I didn't accomplish how I wanted to, I still took away some important lessons from it and will be making some changes to my lifestyle. Change number one: I am making it a point to not have the TV on during the day and enjoy any silence I find naturally occurring in my day. I'm also making it a point to continue to find at least 5 minutes of solitude in my day every day. Solitude is so important for staying energized; it helps combat feelings of stress or times when you feel disheartened. It rejuvenates, clears your mind, and, most importantly, I think, gives you a greater connection to God and time for you to listen to what God wants you to hear. And of course God knows all of this and tell us this in His word - found in the same verse that I have on a wooden sign by our jacuzzi tub:

"Sanctuary: Come away to a secret place and rest a while. Mark 6:31"

FAITHdare #5: Mud Pies Underfoot

For more information on this FAITHdare click the above link. Here are some snippets from the FAITHdare #5 blog post:

C.S. Lewis said, "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be specifically focusing on three different idols that I think prevail over most in today's culture: Relationships, ambitions (often in the form of safety and security), and possessions. This week, however, I want us to focus on uncovering our idols.

1) Watch the video at the bottom of the post here.


2) Do the work of wrestling with God over this issue. Maybe these questions will help: How do you spend the majority of your time? To whom do you take your needs and desires? What (or who) do you have in your life that you could not live without? Do you attribute thankfulness to the One who has given you every good and perfect gift? If so, how often? Would you be willing to leave everything and everyone in your life to follow Jesus if He asked you to today? When you read the account of the rich man (Matthew 19:21-23), do you find yourself relating to the rich man and feeling sad? Would you be able to do what Jesus asks the rich man to do?

3) Create a thankful habit. Be creative with this. I want you to develop a way in which you are recounting God's faithfulness at least once a day. That may mean starting a thankful journal where you write down one thing you are thankful for each day. For me, that means creating a thankful jar.

Do you dare??

Hailey's Hope Update

Hey Hailey's Hope supporters!

I have some very exciting updates for you - some of them are a little overdue (especially if you don't keep up with our page on Facebook) so I apologize.

1. As many of you know, Project Sweet Peas was featured on Good Morning America yesterday morning. Sam Champion did a short story on our project in light of our recent Pepsi Refresh grant.

Here is a link to the video (it should still work I hope): http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/pepsi-refresh-winner-project-sweet-peas-11257915

Please read a blog post I wrote for the PSP blog about our feature on GMA! I feel so honored to be a part of such a wonderful group of parents and am so excited for what's in store for us! You can find the blog post here.

2. Hailey's Hope donated 2 NICU gift bags this month to two families we know. One of our friends from college had their baby girl (Lyla) very prematurely so we shipped a bag to them in Texas. Our other friends, Josh's recruiter from college, had their baby boy (Austin) very prematurely and he is having some problems so we shipped a bag to them in Illinois. We are hoping from experience that these bags will bring them some support and comfort as they go through this difficult time of having their babies in intensive care units. With these past two deliveries we are officially all out of completed bags and have no more to donate.

3. Today Hailey's Hope received our first donation of items for our 2nd delivery that is coming up on Hailey's 1st birthday on December 1st. Our friend shipped us a large package of preemie outfits for boys and girls as well as 2 adorable baby blankets (1 for a boy and 1 for a girl). To see some pictures view our Facebook page. To our friend, you know who you are, thank you SO much for your donation! So many babies are going to be blessed by your generosity and heart for them. :)

4. And lastly, I am working on a newsletter and some flyers to mail out about Hailey's Hope and our next set of bags. I'm hoping to get them out in the mail by August 1st so we can start gathering more donations to meet our goal of 50 basic NICU bags and 10 Angel bags. I am so excited!!

And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:35 (NLT)

Wisdom

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. James 1:5

God did it again!

What, you ask, did he do?

He proved that his plans are greater than my own. Once again I planned for something. Something that was a month in the making. And this something happened to be oral surgery to have my wisdom teeth extracted.

I planned and planned for this. No surprise if you know me. I over plan and over prepare by nature. But God was going to show me that his plans were going to be slightly different. It started when my plans of having Josh be my driver were foiled a couple weeks ago when we learned that my appointment fell on the same morning of his PT (fitness) test. I will confess I was slightly mad that this important detail went overlooked when the appointment was made, but being an Army wife and the events of this year are continually reminding me to learn to roll with the punches, and so we made plans for one of our friend's to drive me.

Over the past few days and even this morning God gave me a sense of peace and courage to go through with my wisdom teeth extraction (like I said before, while to you this may not be a big deal, for me, someone who hates doctors and has never had a surgery of any kind, this is/was a big deal). So this morning I confidently and patiently waited for my ride to arrive to take me to my appointment. And guess who strides in through the door 10 minutes before I have to leave? My knight in shining armor ... well really, my husband in sweaty PTs. But I was thrilled he could go with me. It was much more comforting to have my husband there even though I appreciated the help of my friend. Another change of plans.

So I walked into the oral surgeon's office at 8am this morning. I was ready. I felt good. After all, I prayed over it and prayed over it, and I know family and friends said some prayers for me as well. (And I will admit, Hailey was giving me some courage. I kept thinking if her little bitty new baby body could undergo surgery and blood transfusions and so on, and she could be such a brave fighter, so could I.)

The oral surgeon, a very sweet, elderly gentleman, looked at my x-ray I brought with from my dentist, and we discussed the reason behind my dentist's referral - I wasn't having any issues or problems other than occasional jaw / tooth pain around my molars, but that is caused by the fact that I have been known on occasion, specifically stressful occasions, to clench and grind my teeth when I sleep) so the surgery was purely preventative. (I should mention that this oral surgeon does the surgery the same day as the consultation.) After the doctor heard what I had to say, he looked at my x-ray some more, and said, "Well, I'm going to have to tell you that I am not going to extract your wisdom teeth today because the risk is too great."

Did I just hear him right? What?!

Here I am all planned and ready (even have cases of jello, pudding, and ice cream ready and waiting at home), and I'm not have surgery?! Change of plans again!

The surgeon explained that the roots of my wisdom teeth appear to have grown into my nerve (especially on my left side) or at least are very, very close to the nerve (on the right). If he hit the nerve during surgery, it would cause me to have permanent numbness in my mouth. Therefore, his expert opinion was to not do anything so that I could enjoy feeling in my mouth for as long as possible. Here is a picture of my x-ray (sorry for the poor quality, it's a scanned copy of the x-ray - oh and I added all the 'stuff' in including the question marks which represent my missing wisdom teeth on the top):

In a sense this was good news for me because I did not want oral surgery. It was also good that my doctor was conservative in his decision making because I could have come home today with nerve damage and without feeling in my mouth that would have lasted for the rest of my life. On the other hand, this is bad news, because at some point or another, my impacted wisdom teeth are going to cause me problems, serious problems. But the doctor and I are hoping this happens when I'm in my 60s so that I can enjoy as much time as I can with having sensation in my mouth. But it is inevitable it seems that one day my wisdom teeth will have to be removed, and there will be unavoidable nerve damage when that happens.... So now my fervent prayer is that this day is many many years or decades from now.

Today is another example of exactly the opposite, of what I expected and planned for to happen, happening. But I feel confident in what happened. I prayed for God's will to be done with my wisdom teeth. I prayed for God to give my doctor wisdom and guide his decisions and hands. And, funny enough, my mother-in-law, who happens to have some unfortunate experience with nerve damage, was praying this morning that I would not have nerve damage from my surgery. I think this just shows that God answered all of our prayers and God's plans and His will for our lives will be done when we ask. You just have to be ready for what he says, because his plans are not always our plans.

So this morning I walked away from the doctor's office full of wisdom ... my wisdom teeth... and some Godly wisdom... :)

Big Week = Prayers Please

This is a 'big' week at our house.

1. Tomorrow I am having oral surgery. My bottom two wisdom teeth are fully impacted and, therefore, are being extracted. I have never had  a surgery of any kind before and have never been under with anesthesia so I am nervous. When it comes to doctors, dentists, and the like, I have definite white coat hypertension and generally suffer from anxiety leading up to and during my appointments. This time has been no different. This appointment was made several weeks ago, and I have been dreading it from the start. Thankfully through lots of prayers this past week, I have felt the calmest I have since making the appointment. I just pray that I have a continued sense of peace going into the office tomorrow.

2. Wednesday is Josh's selection. For all of you non-military people out there this is the day in flight school where he selects with airframe he is going to fly for potentially the rest of his career in the Army. This is also the day where he will choose 3 posts that we would like to PCS to next (Permanent Change of Station AKA "move"). He, like the rest in his class, goes into a room not knowing exactly what airframes are available for him to choose and not knowing what posts are available for our next duty station. With all of those unknowns come big decisions - what does he want to fly and where do we want to go? So he has to make some big, somewhat impromptu, decisions on behalf of our family Wednesday that will have a significant affect on the 'next' stage of our lives. No pressure.

3. Thursday Josh is having oral surgery. We just found out today that he, for sure, has to have all 4 of his wisdom teeth extracted. (All four of his came in and aren't bothering him, but when the Army tells you to do something you do it.) During his consultation today they told him it might somewhat difficult because the roots of his wisdom teeth are pretty deep... And this will be 48 hrs after my surgery.

Hence my blog post title "Big Week = Prayers Please."

Please pray that both mine and Josh's surgeries go correctly and smoothly and that we would both have quick recoveries. Please pray for Josh's selection that Josh would feel confident in his decisions and that God's will for him and us would be done .

Thanks!!