Sunday Sing-a-Long

This is one of my all-time FAVORITE songs off of Mandisa's newest CD. I love this song because it's about worshiping and giving God praise even when you don't think you have anything to bring to Him. It was my anthem when I was going through my latest kidney battle.

Every time I've heard it over the past few weeks, I've thought of Kelli and other friends and family who are going through some life-changing and scary medical issues. So, I thought I'd share it with all of you today just in case you might be going through something that makes it difficult for you to praise God right now.

I hope it blesses you as much as it blesses me each and every time I hear it. :)

It Really Shouldv'e Been Called "Squished Like Playdough"

Or maybe "Mangled Like Play Dough"

Or even this old favorite from my childhood "Folded, Spindled, and Mutilated Like Play dDough"

And the reason I say that is only because the title to my latest favorite book is called "Blue Like Play dough" and that title totally went over my head! Add to that the fact that while the cover of the book is, in fact, blue...the play dough on the cover is ORANGE! Personally, I think Tricia just likes messing with me....but really the color of the play dough doesn't matter one bit. Because this book isn't about the color of the play dough at all! It's all about the manipulation of the play dough. The shaping of the play dough. The molding of the play dough into a useful vessel to achieve a certain purpose. Can you guess what the play dough is? It's a mom! Actually, it's all of us moms, but this is the story of one mom in particular...my Twitter/Facebook friend, Tricia Goyer.

Tricia and I are both moms, (duh!) but we both became moms under completely different circumstances. I got married less than 3 months before my 27th birthday (I know, an old maid by some standards...and a young chick by others!), I was married for 3 years before I got pregnant with my first child, and I gave birth to that first baby 3 weeks after I turned 30 years old! Tricia, on the other hand, was an unwed teen mom who married a man who was not the father of her child when she was hardly more than a child herself.

Two completely different stories, yeah? And yet I told Tricia that after reading just the first 4 chapters of this book, I was laughing out loud at how "the same" we are. :) Now, I could go not only chapter by chapter, but probably page by page, and share with you the different things that God spoke to me through Tricia's story, but I won't. You're welcome!

I am going to restrict myself to just one thing that I took away from this book because it hit me as the most accurate description of motherhood I've ever heard. And yes, that includes "It's the hardest job you'll ever love" which has, up til now, held that distinction.

Being a mom is the equivalent of being in Junior High....all over again!

That is not a direct quote. Tricia puts it much more eloquently...'cause, you know, she's a writer! Here is the paragraph that made me want to stand up and shout "AMEN!"

"What my son also doesn't know is that the awkwardness of that eighth-grade Madonna wannabe didn't go away like my hairstyle did. The truth is, being a mom brought with it a level of intensity to match the intensity of those junior high days. From the moment the two pink lines on the pregnancy test told me I was expecting, my body and emotions have been in a constant, awkward state of change."

I know, right? All those feelings of wanting to be liked, and accepted, and successful at the politics of junior high are now transformed into wanting your kids to be liked, and accepted, and thereby stamping a seal of approval on yourself as a mother. Whoa, that's deep.

In this book, Tricia tells her story. It is the story of a girl who struggles with making the right choices and learns to let God make those choices for her. She just says "yes" when she hears His voice and His call. And she reveals how every time she does that, He takes care of all of those little details that she thought she had to concentrate on to receive that stamp of approval as a mom. It's the story of how God redeemed a life of poor choices, and turned it into a life of helping others make better ones....mine included.

Reading about how God has formed and shaped Tricia, like a lump of play dough, has encouraged me so much. I am encouraged not to worry so much about the appearance of being a good mom, and concentrate on just trying to be the mom, wife, daughter, and woman that God wants me to be. Because you know what? His is the only opinion that matters, and when that is the one that we care about, He will take care of all the others! When I look at Tricia Goyer, I don't see an unwed teen mother. I see God's glory. And that's what I want others to see when they look at me.

Next week the ladies in my church are getting together for dessert and a book exchange. I wasn't really sure which book I was going to bring, but I think after seeing how much better I feel as a mom/person after reading "Blue Like Play Dough", I think I'll be bringing a copy of it to pass on to another mom who needs a lift! I just don't think it will be my copy! I think I need to hang on to it for awhile! LOL...

Read an excerpt from the book: http://triciagoyer.com/cmsdocuments/Blue_Like_Play_Dough_Prologue_CH_1.pdf

A note from Tricia: Are you a mommy who feels squeezed by Motherhood? Could God be shaping something beautiful in you?

In my new spiritual memoir, Blue Like Play Dough I invite women to discover the extraordinary in the ordinary! To learn to see God's hand lovingly at work in every aspect of your life---from laundry-folding to the umpteenth reading of Goodnight Moon.

And now I’m inviting YOU to come bring your stretched self and attend a fun Facebook Launch Party for Blue Like Play Dough! I know you’re busy (and tired) so I’m bringing the festivities to you! So grab your comfiest chair and slip away from that long To-Do list and join me for a two hour Play Dough Party. I’ll be sharing some of my mothering experiences (the good and the bad), hosting a fun trivia contest, giving away Mommy Play Dough Packs, answering questions, and getting to know YOU!

I’d be honored to have you as my guest – and to prove it I’ll be giving away 2 ginormous Mommy Play !Dough Packs to two party attendees at random! The winners will be announced at the end of the party. Grab your friends and let’s party! oh, and don't forget your camera! Snap pictures during the party and upload them during the festivities. I'll be giving a prize away for the best photo!

So come join me on July 27th from 5-7 pm (PST)! Friend me on facebook and join the fun!

FACEBOOK Launch Party (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=206503170034)

Want to get to know Tricia better? Go and check out her website!

Author website: http://www.triciagoyer.com watch a video and read the endorsements

Want to purchase your own copy of the book?

Link to purchase the book: http://triciagoyer.com/store.html

Want to read what other bloggers have said about this book?

Blog tour schedule! http://www.litfusegroup.com/latest/what-is-new/87-blue-like-play-dough-blog-tour

It's Better Than No Title at All...

I thought I'd stop by and give you all a bit of an update...just for fun! :)

Okay, so first I guess I need to explain what the surgeries were for and what they were supposed to do.

The first one was a laser cystoscopy--which means that the dr. goes into the kidney with a camera and a laser and blasts any stones that he finds blocking the kidney.
This was done in both of my kidneys.

However, the dr. said that there were too many stones both in the kidney filters and deep in the kidney tissue as well....sigh. So he decided to do an experiment and do an extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy--which means that they send shockwaves through a bag of silicon into the kidney to break up stones in there. It is usually done on just one stone, and it has to be precisely aimed at that stone over and over until it is broken up into pieces small enough to pass. Since I didn't have just one stone, the idea was to try to break up as many of them as possible to clear out my filters and help my kidneys to work a bit better and relieve some of the pain and hopefully the nausea.

I was hoping that they would be able to clear the kidney of all those little suckers completely, but apparently there were just too many. They are only allowed to give you 2500 shocks per procedure, and apparently that wasn't enough. And since there is the possibility that the shockwaves could also cause damage to the kidney, I won't be able to have it done again anytime soon. My doctor, however, told me yesterday that while there are still a bunch of calcifications in my kidneys, they were able to get out more than he had expected them to get. :)

Today and tomorrow I am having a kidney function test to determine how well my kidneys are functioning. I will continue to have those tests on a regular basis and will repeat the above surgeries as needed, and as often as can be tolerated I suppose, to try to preserve my kidney function.

And that's where we are right now. :)

Now it seems that every time I've posted about something that is medically wrong with me, my friend Kelli posts something even worse! So, in order to help out my buddy, who insists on "one-upping" me all the time, I think I'll just start feeling better and post happy things for awhile! :) (And I won't even mention the mammogram or the bone density tests I had yesterday!)

For a minute there, I thought I was back!

Well, I posted twice since my kidney surgery in June, and I thought I was going to be back to regular posting, but then the sickness hit again, and I was just getting through the days again...sigh.

So, last Friday, I had a different type of procedure done on my right kidney to see if it would help me out any. The jury is still out on whether or not it did the trick, but at least the recovery has been better. I just feel bruised on that side--like someone beat me up. But I've only had one really bad day of nausea and fatigue with it, so for that I'm extremely grateful!

I'll have an x-ray here in a day or two, and then I'll meet with my doctor to see whether or not this last procedure did what he hoped it would. If it did, then we might do it on the other side sometime this year (while my medical deductible has been met!), and then hopefully, I'll be good to go for awhile at least.

Thanks for all the prayers, and I hope to get back to blogging and reading blogs soon! I miss visiting you all more than I miss coming here to write! :)

Getting Schooled by Aunt Ruby

At the family reunion last week, I was sitting and talking to my Aunt Ruby. We were discussing our shoes. I was wearing my everyday pair of Nikes and she was wearing some sort of walking shoe. She mentioned that she liked my shoes and wasn't really happy with hers but that they seemed the most practical for the conditions. I agreed that I normally would have been wearing my Crocs flip flops, but the rocky terrain had persuaded me to pull on the Nikes instead.

She told me that she always wore heels in the past, but that she just couldn't do it any more. (I believe Aunt Ruby is somewhere near 91 years old.) I mentioned to her that I could no longer wear heels myself for more than an hour or so before I was completely miserable. Then I mentioned to her that my mother-in-law still wears heels and she is 77 years old!

Aunt Ruby's response to that? "Well, of course, I did too when I was that young!"

We're Not in Kansas Anymore....Literally!

My sister and I just got back from a 4 day road trip. We were in Sabetha, Kansas for a family reunion on our bio-dad's side of the family. We had a really great time, and I got to meet lots of family that I'd never seen before. It was a lot of fun.

But it was the weather that was the best. We left Texas at 107 degrees and arrived in Kansas at 75 degrees! It stayed in the mid-80's during the day and high 60's at night while we were there. It was fabulous!

I went for my first walk since before my surgery at 7:00 this morning and it was already near 80 degrees! And so, with Dorothy I say, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto."...sigh.

I'm having my next procedure a week from Friday. I appreciate all of you who have been praying for me. I'm doing MUCH better than I was right after the surgery, and a little better than I was before it. The goal is to be feeling A WHOLE LOT better after then next procedure! :) Thanks so much for walking through this with me.

Well, it's 2 minutes until the alarm goes off to start our school day, so I need to get moving on that. You all have a great day!