Love Speaks

One regular Sunday morning run day, I set out with my group of running buddies and one new runner.  I introduced myself and she did too and we were going to walk with the rest of the group because they had done their long run Saturday and wanted to walk.  My new friend and I did not run on Saturday so we decided to take off and get some miles and meet back at Starbucks with the rest of our group for coffee after our run.  Then we all split up and go to church.

My new friend and I had a blast that day and it seemed we had known each other for years.  We talked about everything and nothing at all.  It was an amazing day with a great run and even better company.  We exchanged numbers and the rest is what they say "history".  We are best buds now and we rapidly discovered that God brought us together and the reason had nothing to do with running.  I have learned so much from her and her family.  They inspire me to be the best me that I can be.  The most important lessons I have learned from them come directly from her oldest son and her care for him.

You see, her son is differently abled.  His touch is like the touch of an angel.  When he takes my hand he has the most gentle touch I have ever felt.  He and I rapidly grew to like each other.  I could tell by his excitement when I came in the door.  He would wave and come out of his room when I came over to visit.  We listened to music together and talked about the sky and the water in the pool, and the warmth of the sun.  We swam together, enjoyed the fountain together, arranged the pool floats together.  Oh so rapidly, our like for one another grew into love.  More quickly than some forms of love, this love knew no boundaries.  It spoke no words.  It manifested in the form of a kiss on the cheek from my friend's son when I was about to leave.  He didn't say a word, just took my hand and leaned down to kiss me on the cheek.  I will never forget that moment as long as there is breath in me.  He didn't tell me he loved me, he showed me.  You see, my friend's son is nonverbal.  That means he can't speak.  He doesn't have to speak.  His actions speak for him.  Love speaks.  He didn't need to talk to get along in this world.  God saw fit that my buddy could have a fantastic quality of life without the ability to speak and without the ability to do other things.  Wow!  I feel blessed to have a front row seat to see what God is doing in this young man's life.  He has already done great things in my life just by having the privilege to be friends with him.

I watch his mom and dad care for him, have good days and frustrating days, need a break and be able to continue.  I see their love for their son and I see their fear from the prospect of growing old and having an eternal toddler to take care of as their bodies age.  I know God chose these special people to be super parents.  They wouldn't say they were super parents, but I do.  God does.  We are all special people but God chooses extra special folks to do extra special work.  I don't fear for their future because I have faith God will give them an extra measure of youthfulness to care for their son as he ages.

I wish you could meet him.  He has the voice of an angel.  It isn't often you get to hear what someone says through only their eyes and touch.  I love to talk to him every chance I get.  It fills my soul.

May we all see love speak today and every day.

Thanks for reading my blog.  I hope you all have the best day ever!
Jennifer

What Matters Most

Wow!  It has been a while since I have blogged.  Looks like about three months.  I have been super busy with summer camp the past bit, so have been limited on my efforts with writing.  This weekend I had the best time I have had in a while.  Ironically, I was by myself on an adventure to Atlanta for the Peachtree Road Race.  It poured down rain a good part of the time but I had a perfect time and came home refreshed.  Moms, take any chance you have to get away by yourself.  It makes you a better mom and goes a long way toward helping you recharge your inner battery.  I am quite refreshed today after my 3 days by myself.

I visited my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins while I was there.  My aunt and I sat and talked for the longest time about everything, or nothing at all.  We discussed politics, history, shopping, cooking, recipes, flowers, and friends.  We went shopping several times and just window shopped or we found things we "needed".  We spent time with my cousins and watched fireworks.  It was an absolutely perfect weekend.  What was the best part of the weekend?  My family.  Not the shopping, not the fireworks, not anything but spending time with the people I love.  It is an amazing feeling to realize that some of your family members are actually people that you would pick out of a crowd to be friends with.  But instead, they happen to be family.

In February my mother in law passed away.  I have heard for years and also read in the Bible that I should not lay up for myself treasure on earth.  It became real for me when I was there when as my mother in law passed and the funeral home came to pick her up.  The nurses at the facility she was in came and changed her out of her own gown and put a hospital gown type thing on her to leave in.  We gathered up all her belongings from that room and took them home with us.  She left us with absolutely nothing.  No money, no clothes that belonged to her, no jewelry, no purse, no nothing.  It hit me like a ton of bricks that "things" are not important.  I knew this in my head but seeing it play out and be real was an eye opener for me.  So what really is important if we leave this earth with nothing?  People.  That is what is important.  Family.  Friends.  People that cross your path every day.  They are what is important.  When we are on our death bed, we are not going to be wishing we had one more time to carry our Louis Vuitton purse shopping again.  We are going to want to hug our children, our family, our friends.

I treasure the time I had with my aunt, uncle and cousins this weekend.  People are what is important.  On my death bed, I will not wish I had another chance to go to the Vera Bradley Outlet and buy a bag.  I will want another hug from my family.


May we all remember that we leave this world with nothing.  May we eject ourselves from the rat race and focus on people.  They are what matters.

Be sure and visit my website at www.funthoughtsonlife.com

Thanks for reading my blog!  Let me know what you think!  I love reading commentary.

Jennifer

A Note to All Adoptive Parents from an Adult Adopted Child

I was at the gym this morning minding my own business and ended up with a random guy in my workout group.  The crowd was sparse today, so groups were in twos today.  So it was me and random guy pumping some iron.  Not a whole lot was said along the workout until I made a statement about a little girl sitting on the sidelines waiting for her mommy to finish her workout.  I turned to my gym buddy and said, "That little girl is one of the prettiest little girls I have ever seen."  He agreed and we moved on to the next station.  Somehow he and I ended up in a big discussion about kids and genetics.  This is amusing because genetics is one of my favorite subjects to discuss.

Her eyes are the color of the ocean.
She is 6 months old.
Her adoption was final last week.

STOP  Stop right there.  "I was adopted when I was 6 months old too!!!"  I was completely captivated by his description of his baby from this moment on.  In fact, we missed one of our stations because we were talking about the fact that his daughter and I are just alike.  Both adopted at 6 months old.  Both adored by our parents, both so very special and so very wanted.

The gentleman was also captivated by my story and started asking me about adoption from an adult child's perspective.  Which led me to today's blog post.  I have a few words of advice to all adoptive parents.

Now here is where my parents come in.  They didn't do everything right I am sure they would say, but I can't think of a single thing they did wrong in raising me.  But, the one thing they did perfectly was made me feel special.  I never felt adopted, never felt an outsider, or different.  I have seen quite a few shows with adopted people in them who never felt right in their homes.  This is not my experience and I give my parents all the credit for how they raised me.  First of all, "adopted" was never a foreign word to me.  My mom rocked me and told me how special I was and how much she wanted me.  My dad constantly told me I was the best and I believed it.  They told me how heartbreak in childbearing for them led to me being their daughter and how grateful to God they were for me.  As years passed, they would continue to talk to me about how special an adopted daughter was.  They never sat me down and told me I was adopted.  That is the worst thing a parent can do is set the child down and tell them they are adopted.  Instead, breathe it to them as you rock them, talk about it while you bathe them, and it will just be a part of life, not a secret revealed when they are old enough to understand.  I understood being adopted from the day I was adopted.  I was 6 months old and had full knowledge of what adoption was.  Adoption was having a mom and dad who cherished me.  Always and forever no matter how old I get.

As I collect my thoughts to share with you, I am reminded of the story in Timothy when we are reminded that Timothy's faith dwelt first in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice and now dwells in him.    Lois and Eunice did not set Timothy down and say, "We need to have a talk."  Instead, faith was just always something he grew up knowing and understanding.  Adoption is that way for me.  Always something I knew.  Whether I knew all the answers about adoption didn't matter just like knowing all the answers about faith didn't matter.  Timothy knew he had it, and I knew I was special and wanted.

I have never wanted to know who my birth mother is.  I still don't.  I have a very full life and I don't need to know who physically grew me, because my parents are the ones who gave me life.  When I was in college, I did pray to God that He place it on my birth mother's heart how grateful I am that she did not see me as property but as a life who deserved better than she could give me.  What a selfless woman that I do not need to know.

I am grateful for my parents who did everything right.  Especially making me feel like I am important.  From the time I was a baby, they told me I was kind, I was important, I was smart.  And I believed it.


Jennifer

Beautiful Ashes

I have been having lengthy conversations with a close friend over the past bit.  She is a lifelong friend.  Someone I have known my whole life.  We have been friends since I can remember friends.  It's fun when you have a friend that you can go a year without seeing and then suddenly see them and start a conversation like you never missed a beat.  She is that friend.  I am truly blessed.  I have to give this friend credit for today's blog post.  She didn't write the words but she inspired the thought because she brought the thought to my attention.  Thank you, Friend.

When have the ashes of your past been beautiful to someone else?  When have you been candid enough with someone who was struggling to give them tools from your own struggling that can help them as they experience hard times? We all have valleys in life that we wish we didn't have to navigate but when we get back out of the valley and file away the information we learned to get through the difficult time, it can be used to the greater good when shared with a friend.  Now, I am not at all saying we need to go around and lay all our problems out on a table for all to see and hear.  But what I AM saying is that when an opportunity comes to share a situation you have been through so that another of God's children can have strength for another day then we need to remove our veil, or mask for them to see that they are not alone.  The worst feeling in the world is alone.  To feel like you are the only one experiencing this pain, this loss, this agony, this problem.  We have such a unique opportunity with our circle of friends and family and coworkers to help each other feel like they are not alone.  What a gift.

Isaiah 61:1-5New International Version (NIV)

The Year of the Lord’s Favor

61 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.

In Isaiah 61:1-5 we are told to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom to the captives and release darkness for the prisoners, to comfort all who mourn and bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.  When have your ashes been a beautiful crown to someone else who was in need? This passage also says they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.  Oak trees are very slow growing but the strongest trees when the winds blow.  They roots are very deep.  When we share struggles with friends who have lived a day in our shoes, we create this great oak.  Slowly, deeply, and strong enough to stand the winds of trouble.
              

Make your ashes beautiful for someone today. Have a great day!
Jennifer

Spaghetti

Do you know how to check to see if spaghetti is done?  Well, when you think it is done, pull out a piece and throw it against the refrigerator.  If it sticks, it is done.  If it doesn't, it isn't done.  That simple.  Foolproof.

Sometimes when I am cooking spaghetti, I am in a hurry and hope that it is done and will pull out a few pieces and throw them hoping they will stick.  Other times, I KNOW the spaghetti is done and pull out a piece and throw it knowing it will stick.  How many times in our lives are we in a situation where it is ok to just throw as much spaghetti as we can toward the refrigerator just hoping that some of it will stick?  For example, with our children, don't we try to teach them everything that we can think of before they leave home hoping that some of it will stick?  We throw all the wisdom we can think of at the refrigerator of their lives and hope that when it comes down to it, some of it sticks?  Still other times, we are down to the wire of a situation and before we can throw the spaghetti we have to have an educated guess, a certainty that the spaghetti will stick when we throw it.  In these times, we can't afford error.  We HAVE to make it stick.


What situations are you dealing with or have dealt with that you tried to just throw as much effort as you could toward it hoping some of it was successful?  Then what situations are you dealing with where you can't afford error and you have to know the effort will be successful before you invest in it?

Let me know what you think.
Jennifer

Branches, Christmas Parties and Dr. Seuss OH MY!

For the past two days, along with closing ceremonies for school, I have been at work for various things.  Yesterday I was at an all staff meeting and today I was in attendance for the staff Christmas Party.  Sounds simple enough but I am a bit of a deep thinker.  So the entire time I was at the all staff meeting I was thinking that I would not attend the Christmas party because I really am not much of a worker at the Blue Hair's Facility.  Yes, I worked a lot during 2/3 of the year last year, but not anymore.  I am working one to two days per month just to stay on the payroll in case the new full time bus driver is sick or needs time off.  I praise God for the fact that they found a great full time bus driver.  There was a time that I wondered if I ever would be able to be a stay at home mom again.  In the meeting, the interim director went over the Christmas gifts we would receive from the company and the raffle prizes that would be given out.  The entire time I listened to this confirmed that I did not need to attend.  I don't need to take what I didn't earn.  

Then the light dawned on me.  Maybe because of something the director said in his ramblings during the meeting or maybe something I thought of myself, or maybe something The Lord put on my heart at that time, the light dawned. These verses came to mind while I was in the meeting. 

John 15…4"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.5"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

Mark 4:17
But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

We are told that God is the vine and we are the branches.  Together we can bear much fruit.  But apart from the vine, we dry up.  If we are dried up then we are useless.  Likewise, if we have no root then we wither and die.  I am clearly not the vine or the root of the company I work for.  But I AM a branch.  And branches produce leaves which provide life for many other creations.  I realized that even though I now only work one to two days per month, that I am still a blessing to the company.  I am sure it would be hard to find someone to basically just "hang out" on the payroll in case someone gets sick and they need some help.  

I said all of that to say this:  May we never feel like we are not important in life.  May we never spend a moment thinking we should not be a part of something because we play such a small role.  No matter how small our role in anything, we are important.  We all play a role in society and work together to form a whole.  Our entire staff at the Blue Hair Facility, from the executive director all the way down to the fill in bus driver, each fill a role to form a whole.  Likewise, each individual in society works together with our own talents, along with God the vine to make a whole. 

I went to the Christmas party today and I had a great time.  I was never so proud and happy to be a part of something.  A very small part, but a part nonetheless.  Maybe my role is the peaceful part.  The little tiny thought in the back of my boss's head that thinks "If someone doesn't show up for work, I can call Jennifer.  She will come help."  That is an incredibly big role.  To be the peaceful thought in your boss's mind.  The comforter.   

At the end of the party, I thought of our individual jobs, big and little and I thought of Dr. Seuss.

Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small,
Would stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing.
They'd stand hand-in-hand. And the Whos would start singing!

We didn't hold hands at the end of the Christmas party, but we did sing songs together and it was really fun.  The tall and the small of our company sang together in celebration of Christmas.  May we all realize just how important we are.  

Jennifer

Fun Idea for Porch Urns

Today we are going to get in touch with our inner groovy.  Necessity is the mother of invention they say, and that was true for me today.  I have been in a pickle with my porch urns for a while.  Anything I put in them dies because I forget to water them.  A couple of years ago I purchased some fake topiaries for my urns and they were great for two years but didn't hold up well in direct weather since my porch is not covered.  I threw them away a couple of days ago and have been trying to think of something to put in them that won't die.  Think, think, think.

The main criteria for my urn creation is that it must not cost a lot of money.  I decided to buy a dowel rod for each pot, stick it in the drain hole in the bottom of the urns and zip tie deco mesh around the dowel.  Then, I zip tied a peppermint candy that I made last year.

 The peppermint candies were cut with a jig saw from plywood and they painted in a candy pattern.  I looked at peppermint candy and copied the pattern on my wood.  Then I screwed a stake to each one and hammered them into my flower bed.  Tadaa!!  A great whimsical look for almost no money.  I had the mesh in my attic.

The holidays have always been a happy time for me and my family throughout my life.  It has come more and more obvious to me that not everyone is happy for the holiday time of the year.  Many have experienced devastation or death or a host of things during the past holiday seasons and it makes it hard for them.  Some people don't have family to be with.  If this is you, I want you to know that I am thinking of you.  May we all be more aware that not all holidays are happy for everyone.

Thank you so much for reading my blog.
Jennifer