A look back at 2015, and some goals for 2016

Looking back over 2015, I am very thankful, that despite some health concerns, nothing major took place. I will be on blood thinners for the rest of my life due to a genetic clotting disorder. But I can't really complain, because I still have the OK to travel, as long as I stop every 2 hours to walk around. Actually, it's sitting at home typing on the computer that probably does more damage - once I start writing, it can be hours before I'm willing to get up and take a break. In 2016, I need to eat better and exercise often (maybe lose a few pounds), and continue to help others.

My biggest accomplishment for 2015 was becoming a co-author in the book Emerge. A program called Transform thru Writing started in March and ended in September. I saw it as a means to an end. I had always wanted to write a book and I saw a FB post from Cassandra Washington (a coach I had met at a convention) looking for co-authors. I thought, why not check it out. The timing was good, because I wasn't that busy with gathering lessons at church or working a business my husband had left for me. And so I joined - and my passion for writing showed up right away and has not left my side. And through the lessons and the coaching calls - I discovered it wasn't going to be my writing that transformed, it was going to be me. And I'm continuing with the program in 2016 because I know there is still more of me to be transformed. I know God's not done with me yet, and there are so many more ways for me to grow (not outwardly, though!) If you haven't bought a copy of the book Emerge: Real Stories of Courage and Truth, I would recommend going to my shop tab of my website and click on the book Emerge - and it will take you directly to Amazon. My chapter, appropriately titled "Finding My Way" after the death of my husband, has been a journey all it's own. And I'm still traveling on that road, but discovering new roads toward greater things. 

So each year I like to have a summary of places I've been to during the year - so feel free to continue to read about my adventures. At the end of April - I took a short road trip to the King of Prussia (that's a city near Philadelphia) for a women's business conference. On the way home I was finally able to buy one of those EZ-Passes for the car. 

Then in May, I bought a new Camry and the very next day drove it to Chicago with a couple of friends to attend a Children's Ministry conference, The Gathering. We had fun traveling, and I was soon teased along the way because I almost ran into one of those toll bars. In PA, the toll booths with EZ-Pass, you just slowly drive through it, but in OH, apparently there's a bar! They even teased me at a RR crossing, "Sue, watch out for the bar!" Gotta love traveling with friends. Two days later, we drove home and then the next day I drove to Buffalo for a business training. Whew! Lots of miles on a new car - and that EZ-Pass? I don't know how I lived without it for so many years.  

In June - I drove down to Knoxville to watch my granddaughters in their dance recital -and left my car with my daughter Amy while my other daughter Sarah and I drove all 6 grand kids up to my house in PA. Amy and her husband drove up later. So for the first time in two years, I had all of my kids together with their significant other and kids and we had a family picture (there were 25 of us) done at a local park - on a bridge by a creek. Before Amy and her family left - we took a side trip up to Niagara Falls with the kids.

In July - I found myself wanting to drive out to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, but not able to accomplish it on my own, so I changed directions and drove back down to Knoxville and got a hotel with a mini-water park attached - and had two kids at at time. It was a lot of fun, though I didn't get to see my daughter much. It was August by the time I got home from that trip. So I told the grand kids, they got to spend the summer with me!

In August - I took another trip up to Niagara Falls, but this time on the Canadian side with a friend, who didn't trust my ability to get from point A to point B - at all during the trip. Even when we were walking, "Are you sure you know where we're going?" I can laugh about it now.

In September - I flew down a day early to Dallas for a business annual convention. I was hoping to meet up with a friend I knew in GA, but as it was, she wasn't available. After the first night of activities, I was able to meet up with Cassandra Washington and several other co-authors from the books Emerge and Strengthen Your Wings (first book in series). There were some that were there for the business convention also, while others just lived nearby. It was surely a highlight of mine to spend time with them. We became instant friends.

At the end of September - I flew out to Chicago with another friend for another children's ministry conference: Group's Kid Min Conference. This was another great oppty to reconnect with friends from years' past. This was the 5th conference, and my 4th. Children's ministry is another passion of mine. I'm not as involved as I had been in years past, because I currently am not in a children' pastor position. But I have several friends that still keep up with me - and had been praying for my late husband and for me. 

In October - I decided to drive back down to Knoxville and help my daughter pack up her house. Her husband had accepted another position at a school in Charlotte - so they were going to be sorting out, getting rid of, donating, etc and needed some help. And my motto has always been - when in doubt, throw it out! So I went down. A week before going though, I felt like I might have gotten another blood clot in my leg and had gone to the ER to have an ultrasound done. It was negative, so three days later, I drove the 10 hours to Knoxville - stopping every 2 or so to walk around. The pain in my leg only intensified each time I got out of the car. But I ignored it - I was drinking lots of apple juice for the potassium (thinking i needed more to make the pain diminish). I arrived on a friday night - and on Saturday - we ran errands and I got to watch a couple of dance rehearsals. By Sunday - I was noticing a shortness of breath - espec walking up the stairs (the bedrooms were in the basement). I had talked about it with my daughter and decided to wait and call the Dr on Monday - to see if I could just get a script for my anxiety meds, which I had left at home. Well, Monday morning came - and I was chatting online with a nurse (from home) and she said - go to the hospital now - you have a PE (pulmonary embolism - aka blood clot) - and so when Amy got home - she took me to the ER. I was just going to have her drop me off there -but she stayed the entire day (as I was in the ER for 9 hours - mostly due to the lack of a free bed for staying overnight). So there I was - hearing the news once again that indeed there was a blood clot in my leg and multiple clots in my lungs. I knew something wasn't right - because although I did travel alot - I did take precautions - wearing the compression socks and taking breaks. I spent three days in the hospital in Knoxville and can say I wasn't much help afterall - with Amy packing - but we did get in a few conversations here and there, so that was good. No one wanted me to drive home myself (actually, I was a bit concerned as well) - so my sister and her husband drove down on the Sunday and spent the night, and then she drove me home in my car and Doug was in his, We stopped every two hours to walk around. I would walk until the pain was unbearable - could have been more clots - but never found out. It was good to be home finally - and I've been home ever since. Probably  my longest stay at home!

But I have a love for traveling - so I'm sure there will be some done in 2016. With two daughters getting new houses - surely, they need me to come visit them, if only to watch them carry boxes into the houses. 

I'm working on my goals for 2016 - some for personal, travel, health/fitness, business, financial, other. It's good to have a starting block - and then you pick the pace - everyone has 365 days and 24 hours - the same amount of time. Just want to make a difference for others - and be whom God wants me to be. 

And so my story continues...

And the greatest of these is love

Every time I open up my webpage, I see the old red barn sitting there with the lovely yellow forsythia bushes in bloom. That old barn fell down a few years ago, so it's always a pleasant memory to see it on my page.

Things come and go all the time. That's the way life is - the sun rises and the sun sets and as it says in Ecclesiastes, "everything is meaningless under the sun." Everything - school, dinner time, Sunday football games, the World Series, a lightning bug. Everything is meaningless under the sun.

Then why do we care so much about things. Are you putting our efforts into things that don't matter? Probably yes, but maybe not so much. It's all about your opinion in what you believe.

I believe that God created us to honor Him - to give Him the glory for everything we do - so if that's at school or sitting around the dinner table, or even watching the sports on TV - whatever we are doing during those times, it should be for His honor and glory.

God also created us to love Him with all our hearts, mind and soul - and to love our neighbor as ourselves. That's not such an easy task, but it's doable. These are His two most important commandments in the Bible. If we are doing only these two things, think of how much better our world would be.

Just love others. Show love to others. Share love with others. Be in love with others. This is the best four letter word I know - LOVE!

Reading from I Corinthians 13:1-13 (Jesus Centered Bible) Heading: Love is the Greatest

'If I could speak all the languages of earth and and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing.If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand it's own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about in justice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through ever circumstance.

Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. but when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Three things will last forever - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love.'

Seasons

And on the seventh day, God rested. Whew - He was one busy man. He created everything just for us - His children.

I've been living in my current place for almost 18 months now, and therefore, have witnessed all of the seasons. I moved in during Spring, the leaves were just starting to unfold on their branches. The daffodils were blooming, as the birds were flying about from their nests to the trees, just waiting for their little ones to hatch. There was a nest above my porch light. The momma robin would scream at me every time I went in and out of my front door. She would fly out of her nest and flutter about five feet away, just waiting for me to get out of her way, so she could return to her eggs, to protect them.

But as much as I wanted to help her protect her little ones, the mess she created on my sidewalk and around the porch light was not so nice, as if someone had gotten hold of a can of white spray paint. It became a nuisance for any visitors. The alternative was to have everyone walk through my garage and come in through the laundry room. Not very pleasant either.

One day I decided to invite my new neighbors over to a Tupperware party. To prepare, I spent some time cleaning up the front entrance which also meant that I decided to move the nest to a tree in a wooded area. I cleaned up the light and the side of the house, and scrubbed the sidewalk. I was all ready for the guests to come. I had allowed the Tupperware lady to enter through the garage, so because I had left my garage door up, everyone came in through the laundry room. All that work, and they didn't even come in the front door. Thankfully, I did lead them out that way after the party. And after a few days, the robin was able to locate her nest. She wasn't too happy with me, understandably, as I was trying to make a good impression with my new neighbors and didn't want the robin to startle them away.

Summer came and went, and soon the leaves were changing colors and falling down to cover the grass. I have been blessed to be able to live in a development which provides some maintenance, so as lawn mowing, leaf raking and blowing, and even snow plowing. I love sitting in a chair in my bedroom and looking out the window at the nature God had created. Not a day goes by that I don't see a squirrel, usually being chased by a chipmunk - around the trees and through the grass, and sometimes along the garden border (which is like a wooden rail). It's amazing to watch the squirrels jump from tree to tree and even on the skinniest of branches. You wonder if they're even going to hold them - you expect the to fall - but then off they go - onto another one. Such entertainment God provided that doesn't have to be plugged into any circuits. Gotta love what He has done for us. I was able to witness a fawn this year, outside my window, less than 20 ft from my house. I've seen turkeys around the neighborhood, and some have reported seeing bears, also. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised to see the wild animals at our homes, since we took away their homes to make ours. But God is good - and still provides for all of us.

Even in the winter time, which is the least favorite around here, yet everyone is still here. I always comment to others when I hear them complain - "then why are you still living here?" I like the snow, I just don't love driving in it. When we get a good snow - good packing snow, I'm waiting to go out and play in it. Last year the snow just wasn't packable - til it started to melt. But even though it was, it didn't roll. So there I was with my shovel, out in the yard - lifting up wet snow - about 12 inches thick and making the biggest pile of snow I could handle. And then I carved out a snowman. It was funny looking, but it was cute. And of course, I put it in view of my bedroom window.

To love all the seasons, including the coldest one, is why I love living here in Meadville, PA. You get them all, though maybe not as much summer as we would like. Winter tends to come early and leave late. But there are so many beautiful things the snow can make - like the first snowfall on all of the branches - with the sun light glittering through the snowflakes. When you think about each snow flake - all originals. Amazing. Even an occasional ice storm can capture a photo worth taking. There is beauty in everything God created - even thunderstorms, which are not my favorite. But I've seen some amazing displays of lightning - almost more thrilling than a fireworks show. And the clouds that form tornadoes - photos of wall clouds, funnels, even the eye of a tornado or a hurricane - breathtaking. (Thankfully, I haven't experience a tornado yet.)

My favorite season is Spring - when the buds start popping out - from branches or stems. The first crocuses around the dogwood trees. Even a spring snow is nice. And when the weather warms up - the showers and walking through puddles. Yes, you're never too old to do that.

God created all of this beauty and more for us to enjoy everyday. You wonder though, how many people just pass it by without a thought or a wonder. People who live next to the Rocky Mountains but have never traveled into them; or those who live within driving distance to the ocean but miss opportunities to watch the tides roll in and out. Nature is all around us - even those who live in the bigger cities spot an occasional deer running into a toy store or a flock of geese flying south for the winter. Don't let the days pass you by without noticing what God has provided - use your senses to grasp the full meaning of life - the smells, the sounds, the sights, even the touches. It's all there for us - because He loves us.