Valentine's Day

I read an article yesterday about pets being your valentine.  How yes, there are crazy people who shell out money for their pets on Valentine’s Day. It is the old fashioned kind of love that you can’t text or send an e-mail to.  You can’t call them up (though many of us do) and leave messages of love on your phone.  It’s the kind of love that you actually have to give to them in person.  Kneeling on the floor, rubbing behind their ears, scratching the top of their head.  NayNay will actually let me hug her.  Zeke won’t sit still enough.

I declared to my best friend of 22 years--Kelli—“I am beginning to believe Valentine’s Day is for dating couples and newlyweds.”  

Valentine’s Day was only important to me in the absence of a boyfriend or when love was new. When you are single, somehow Valentine’s Day seems even more important than it really is.  When you are just dating—it’s just exciting to finally have someone to celebrate love with.  Now that I have been married nine-and-a-half years, when I think Valentine’s Day I think over-crowded restaurants and over-priced flowers.   I ask my friends and co-workers what they are doing and the ones that have been married for years often begin the conversation with some word that is more like a noise.."Hmm..nah...".  They may say they went to dinner a couple nights ago or will over the weekend, but to all you starry-eyed single people out there-- us married people were probably already going to go out anyways, we are just calling it Valentine's dinner and to celebrate may even allow ourselves an appetizer. 

So Kelli tells me that Valentine’s Day isn’t important either but she wants to get something for the kids.  Later she texts me and tells me of the flowers and chocolate-dipped strawberries her husband of almost 20 years surprised her with.  She’s weepy and Kelli’s never weepy.   She even takes pictures of it and sends them to me, minus one chocolate covered strawberry she has already eaten.

I have decided to bake Steve a cake and I know he has plans to go out and buy me something small....other than a spice rack ;).  We don't normally celebrate Valentine's Day and truthfully neither I nor Kelli would be disappointed with nothing.  The truth is, we agree that it isn't Valentine's Day that is so special, it's when someone just takes the time to think of us and to do something special.

So for either of us—Valentine’s Day isn’t about the chocolate-dipped strawberries or the chocolate cake (though of course you could never have too much chocolate- strawberries, cakes or labs)!   It’s about the thought, and truth be told it’s really just a day that reminds us to stop and love the one we are with.  So for this Valentine's Day post-- I wish my husband, partner and  valentine...Steve..Happy Valentine's Day.   You and I both know that love isn't about a day but about what we have that gets us through every day, every joy, every trial, and every path in life.

Supplements

NayNay has always been grey around the muzzle.  Since the day we picked her up from the shelter.   We were told she was two that fall day in 2004.  We seriously doubted it with all that grey but the way she acts at "maybe eleven" makes us believe she would've very well been two.  She still bounces off the walls when she gets to playing.

Now she's grey around the eyes....the grey on her muzzle has grown out a bit.  The grey doesn't bother me since she's pretty much always been grey-- it's the stiffness that bothers me.  How she gets up and stretches after a long lay-- and yet she walks with stiff hind legs across the room. She doesn't seem bothered by it but I notice.  I think we're blessed.  Usually labs show it earlier in life with all their hips and joint issues.

Nay is so little compared to Zeke.  Almost half his size.  When she lays in the bed she looks like a little bear cuddled up in the blankets.  Sometimes when I walk through the room only her eye balls follow me. 

Sometimes I want to lay in my bed forever.  The other night I came home from work and walked straight upstairs and got in bed.  My mind had been playing tricks on me and it was affecting me mentally and physically.  Like I was going to shut down and not move.  Whether it be called an anxiety attack or just a pity party-- one thing was certain-- getting out of bed, stretching, and moving on was going to take initiative on my part.

And so I did-- get out of bed, stretched and moved on.  Steve was sick and sleeping so it was dinner by myself.  I made myself a healthy meal, a hot cup of tea...and watched two hours of Downton Abbey.  Did it help?  Well how could a cup of tea and Downton Abbey not help? 

I think it was one of those things where I had made it difficult on myself.  Though I am still a "young thirty-seven" year old...it seems as I age the battleground of the mind becomes more frequent.  Not panicky over huge things-- but panicky over little.  Why won't my computer work?  How will I ever retire?  I shouldn't be eating these chocolate chips!!!  (BTW....I grabbed a few chocolate chips as I just typed that)

And so the "day to day grind" is now inflicted with the battlefield of my mind.  What do I need?  I need a supplement!  I pop NayNay a supplement to help her each day....stretch those stiff legs.  But it takes her having it every day to get her through.  I need a supplement.

When I was young I thought a Bible verse would always fix things....a prayer would sway my mind in a new direction.  It isn't always that simple.  It's not like aspirin-- take it when you have a headache only...it's more like a vitamin.  You add it every day.  Taking it once may not help immediately--- but a daily supplement will help.  Sometimes it is just saying "My heart is fixed on Thee..." Psalm 57:7  A daily supplement of meditating on God's promises, God's love...and God ALONE.

I Am Certain

Zeke.  Chocolate lab.  Loving.  Snow-lover. Snack-lover.  Cuddler. 

I know these things about Zeke.  I am certain of it.  He waits on the porch for me.  To let him, for lets say five minute before he asks me once again to let him out. 

Some people say they are certain of many thing.  I say I am certain of few. 

What I do know is that every day begins and every day ends.  What I do with the hours in between the beginning and the end is my choice.  Life is a journey of many choice.

I began blogging when I found myself in the midst of trials.  Wanting to share my heart but not knowing how.  I shared my blog with no one.  I shared my passion for my labs and slowly began to journal my feelings about God.  They blended along the way and I've noticed how my labs....who cannot speak words...speak to me.

And I know it isn't just my dogs who speak to me.  It is people in my life.  It is circumstances.  It is hard days.  It is messy feelings.  So I stop and I realize God is speaking to me.

A God that no longer speaks verbally, yet so powerfully uses everything else in my life to speak to me.

And what is speaking to you?  Are you letting it speak?  Have you stopped?  Have you listened?

Was it the sunrise?  Was it the wind?  Was it the trees empty of leaves?

Was it the clerk at the store?  Was it the phone call from a loved one?  Was it the pet who cuddled close?

God's speaking to me.  Of that I am certain.  And I notice it only when I listen for the message. 

There is a difference you know?  Listening to the message and listening  for the message.  You have to listen for the message to be able to listen to it.  To know what God wants you to hear.

Expectations

I'm thinking they have an internal clock. The chocolate ones.  It's like they know when the master will arrive at home (Yes, the master would be me, or so they let me think!) 

 

The storm door is the place they sit, they watch, they wait.  Nay likes to sit for hours.  When the neighbors walk by with their own dog she barks like she's saying "I'm gonna get my shotgun if you don't get off my property!" but she can't do a thing since the storm door is locked.  She can only bark behind the glass.

 

They expect entertainment at the door.  For the world to come to them.  They expect to see the postman approach, the neighbor kids to run by, the dogs to run by with their owners.  They expect me to pull up in the driveway.  They expect.

 

And sitting at the door of 2013 I expect.  We have our list of expectations, "This is going to be a good year, the year of {fill in the blank}."

 

I will lose "x" pounds.  I will eat healthier.  I will read the Bible through.  I will get up earlier every day.  I will go to bed earlier.  I will work less and live more.  I will keep a journal.  I will pray more.  I will play more. 

 

I dont' make resolutions because I end up putting my expectations in myself.  I have to live one day at a time with the challenges of that day.  My challenges may be the same each day...but my circumstances are not the same each day and what I might need from God today may be different than what I need tomorrow.

 

Psalm 62:5 says "My soul, wait you only upon God; for my expectation is from him."

 

So I change my expectations.....it is no longer a list that begins with "I" but a list that begins with "He".  What will He have for me in 2013? 

 

I don't want to sit at the glass door looking out expecting what this world can give me, but I want to expect what an omnipotent, eternal God can give me.  Whether through quiet or through storms, what can I expect from God?  No matter...the glorious part of all is not the EXPECTING but the WHO we expect from.

 

Debbie

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living in 2012

My chocolate labs, they keep me sane, they keep me responsible.

If it weren't for them I may never vacuum with my friend Mr. Dyson.  I may have never learned the importance of measuring kibble. 

I may never find the cold wind hit me in the face when I open the sliding glass door every morning.  I may never see eight chocolate paws running across the snow.  I may never yell out my back door "Go Potty!" for all the neighbors to hear.

I may never be nudged by a chocolate head to be reminded "I am here to love".


My chocolate labs remind me, life goes on.  They remind me that though problems are small or great, "I still need fed, I still need let out, I still need attention and love." 

They remind me.......to live.

2012 was a year of many things.  A year of change, a year of silence.  A year of heartache, a year of joy.  And every year we hope and wish for a year that is one of good things happening, like movie scenes flashing across the screen with happy music in the background. 

And I have learned that living is for one day at a time.  That sorrow will not skip me, but neither will joy.  That trials will happen, but so will blessings.  That this life is meant to live.   To live in the fullest, to breathe in the moments, moments of happiness, and the moments that teach us through hard things.

And so I end 2012, telling myself....that no matter what happens in life....LIVE...for each day is new with mercies.  Each day is fresh.....waiting for memories to be made...like my own movie.....where Jesus is the Creator, Producer, and Director.   Where He guides and gives me a life.....that through His eyes my life is just what He has allowed it to be.  To Live..to Enjoy.

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

 

When I saw this picture in it's original form I saw pieces of my life.

With the churches along the fire place mantle.  The chocolate lab laying on the floor.  The blanket draped over the couch.  One of NayNay's bones.  The couch that seems to fit me just right as well as leaving enough room for the big chocolate goofy one, Zeke, to curl up with me.

It has flattened with all my comfy sitting.  That couch is one of my happy places.  I find myself there watching tv while folding laundry.

And then there was the quote, that I barely noticed.  Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much.

I never really paid much attention to this photo..... "Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much."

Friday,  December 14, 2012 we were all reminded of that.  To live well, laugh often, love much.

If you saw the news as I saw it you were at one point relieved to see only one had died.  Then one turned to twenty-eight deaths, and then twenty of them were children, and then a whole class was gone. 

And then you thought of Christmas presents unopened.  You thought of family Christmas cards just sent.  You thought of empty rooms and empty beds.  You thought of empty hearts.

I don't know what these families would say, what these children would say if they could speak.

I am reminded though that each day is a gift.  That each loved one is a gift. 

When we complain about work, traffic or rain.  When we gripe about messy rooms, laundry piles, and dirty dishes.  When we grumble over lost items or lack of time to finish a project.  This is when we must remember to live well, laugh often, and love much.

I cannot offer wisdom or answers.  I do not know your experience. I do not know your exact need.

But I know my God, and I pray to my God....and He knows you, and He knows your heart and hurts.

So I pray....for Sandy Hook.  For families.  And in thinking of those families I think of thousands of families sitting in hospital rooms this Christmas season....praying over their own loved ones.

May you find time to Live Well, Laugh Often and Love Much. 

God's biggest gifts are often little and it's the details that help us see....help us to live well...make us laugh often.....and inspire us to love much.

Debbie

The Feeling of Christmas

Nay-Nay does not handle stress well.  She flees from it.  One night Zeke had a seizure that seemed worst than most and harder for him to fully recover from.  After a seizure I have to keep him calm so that he doesn't rush to stand before his legs are ready.  One night Zeke's seizure was scary enough that Nay-Nay left the room and crawled in her bed with her bone.  The picture above is how I found her.

I was driving down the road listening to Christmas music, watching the girl in the car next to me shove a piece of pizza in her mouth.  She looked like she was on a road trip, possibly to visit with family.  The roads were wet and the the air was cold.  It felt like Christmas.

I don't understand how things can "feel" like Christmas.  Every other winter day that is just as cold in January and February we don't say...."It feels like Christmas". 
Feeling like Christmas....when the music plays and it seems happy and everything seems happy and I think to myself how can this be duplicated?  Will listening to Christmas music in March bring the same kind of blissful happy feeling.

I get Nay-Nay. Stressful situations do not feel like Christmas. I understand going upstairs to bed and curling up with my favorite "bone".  I always call it my "happy place".

Today as I un-wrap Tuesday I am reminded to unwrap every day like it is Christmas.  Since I unwrapped last Tuesday....a friend loses their beloved pet, a brother dies too young, an uncle is suddenly gone.....grief and loss.  Pain.  Life.

These are all reminders that we should unwrap every day like it is Christmas.  We may not have the music, the lights, the baked goods...but we can still live it.  We can still have the joy of Christmas.

My happy place doesn't have to be "curled up in bed with my bone" but my happy place can be every day.  In the seat of my car, in the chair at my desk, in the pew at church and cuddled on the couch with my chocolate ones. 

Hard times have passed, hard times will come....but the feeling of  Christmas cannot be beat by the JOY of CHRIST during difficult days.

Whatever you are going through, may YOU find the JOY of CHRIST.

Un-wrap tuesdays with me and Emily Freeman at

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