Chronic Illness

  • "Life" Books,  Chronic Illness,  Let's be Real

    Russian Roulette Healthcare

    Jumping right in today… If you are not aware, RFK jr. has been in a bunch of hearings this week for the HHS budget. And as the quote above states, I am always looking for even the slightest bit of change. An apology, even a “oops, I didn’t mean to phrase that comment that way,” something! I have watched half of today’s hearing and I am sad to report, nothing of the likes have occurred yet. Although, as an information and facts junkie, I was curious to find out how the administration was defining two phrases that they use repeatedly, and seemingly to deflect giving real answers. Allow me to…

  • "Life" Books,  Chronic Illness,  Consider This...,  Jesus

    The Gift of Release

    Release: verb: to set free from restraint, confinement, or servitude. Noun: relief or deliverance from sorrow, suffering, or trouble. Synonyms: set free, let go, turn loose, dismiss… If you have ever battled chronic pain or illness, or a pain or illness that has lasted for an extended period of time, then you will understand what I am going to describe today. If you have not, then I will do my best to give you a picture as close as I can. It’s no secret that I have migraines, and that I always will. They are triggered by things that I can control, and more of things I cannot. I am…

  • "Life" Books,  Chronic Illness,  Consider This...,  Let's be Real

    Care for All Noggins

    Jumping right in to it this week… Behavior, communication… all depends on the way our brain is wired… Mental Health. It’s real. It is something that if it hasn’t touched your life, in some way, I would imagine it is hard to grasp the severity of the moment we are living in at this moment. It’s one of those health avenues you either completely ignore and disassociate yourself with (red flag!) or you live it, watch it, and/or advocate for better. Real tragedies, current and resurfaced/documentaries, have sparked my interest in why state mental hospitals were closed. I read a couple of books about Dorothea Dix in the past couple…

  • "Life" Books,  Children,  Chronic Illness,  Consider This...,  Let's be Real,  Pass it On...

    Speaking From Experience …

    Laughter. Tears. Speechless. Frozen. Numb. Want to Scream. Want to hide. This week my life experiences have felt like a mess, a wreck of emotions, or is it that my experiences make me pay attention? I believe it’s all the above 😊 It’s all happening at once. I know ya’ll just love when I write about vaccines, but the so called “recommendations” coming out of the CDC this week, are something I have experienced before vaccines were available for two of these viruses and I will not stay silent. When children are literally dying from diseases that have been almost non-existent and hardly ever fatal, because of “grown-ups” not getting…

  • "Life" Books,  Aunt-ing,  Children,  Chronic Illness,  Consider This...,  Family,  Friends & Neighbors,  GRANDparents,  Let's be Real,  Memories,  Pass it On...

    When “Showing Up” Looks Different

    “I’m learning to love the pauses, the quiet stretches, where nothing much is happening, but everything feels okay.” -Unknown The man in the picture above, my Paw-Paw, is the closest thing to being a “show up” legend for his grandchildren and even other children he loved! He wasn’t perfect, and he wouldn’t want to be seen as such. But when he started to get to weak to make his two a day visits to my grandma in the nursing home, it was a huge sign that he was extremely tired and his body was giving out. He worked in human resources for quite a while at the end of his…

  • "Life" Books,  Adoption,  Aunt-ing,  Being "Single",  Chronic Illness,  Family,  Friends & Neighbors,  Grief,  Jesus,  Let's be Real,  Migraines,  Mommy,  My Little,  Single Parenting

    Worth Fighting For

    “Fighting Words” by Ellie Holcomb Fear is like a broken recordSame old songs of accusation playLike “Who are you to speak the truth”“Just look at all your failures and mistakes”“And if they really knew you”“There’s no way they could love you anyway” The enemy keeps talkingTelling me to hide my face in shameWhispering that everything I’ve done will drive the Father’s Love awaySaying, “It’s too late for hoping”“That something in your heart could ever change.” My debt is paid, oh, I’ve been set freeAnd You gave Your life up to rescue meYou say that I am worth fighting forAnd Grace is like waves that keep crashing on the shore Fight…

  • "Life" Books,  About,  Chronic Illness,  Family,  Grief,  Jesus,  Let's be Real,  Migraines,  Mommy

    Keep It Boring!

    Please excuse my absence last week. Life caught up with me and just had one of those weeks. If you know me, you know how true this quote above is! 😂 I began writing this post this past Sunday, just to put some of the wording in perspective 😉. And I will be wrapping it up with today’s thoughts. I just finished an hour of making med bags for 14 days. I’ve gone through every possible way of trying to attempt to make taking medicine easier on a daily basis, so I ask that you hold back you opinion on how many baggies this takes in a year or how…

  • "Life" Books,  Chronic Illness,  Let's be Real,  Pass it On...

    Souls and Stories

    There is a two year old boy undergoing hip surgery today. Let that sink in – block out the distractions – and go back and read this sentence. And this is only one out of many children undergoing procedures today. I don’t know this little boy or his family personally, but the algorithm of instagram has introduced me to them. His name is Jackson. He loves Waffle House and he gets very excited about ice cream. He has blown the minds of his doctors with his growth and progress, and continues to grow and be such a light for my heart, and I am sure for many around the world.…

  • "Life" Books,  Chronic Illness,  Family,  Grief,  Hydranencephaly,  Jesus,  Mommy,  My Little,  Siblings

    Looking Back. Seeing His Faithfulness.

    If there is one thing I have learned about the special needs (physical/intellectual/emotional/behavioral/learning disabilities/differences- lots of way to phrase this) tribe, is that you upset one of us, you upset us all. Honestly, we try to breathe and let a few things slide, but it’s near impossible to do. I have been having a bit of a need to go back and look through a notebook/journal that my mom kept for both my brother and I. She didn’t write something everyday, but she wrote the key points in our lives at the moment, and funny stories or things we said, our many doctors appointments and school meetings, things that were…

  • "Life" Books,  Chronic Illness,  Consider This...,  Family,  Friends & Neighbors,  GRANDparents,  Jesus,  Mommy,  My Little,  Single Parenting

    What the Sprinkles!?!?!

    Oh dear, aww shucks, what the heck…. We do our best to avoid those sneaky four letter words that are so rampant in culture. We quickly try to think of a substitute… That’s what happened with my mom and I when one of us just blurted out, “What the sprinkles!” We were shocked, I don’t even remember what it was about, and sprinkles were in eyesight and so that became the substitute and now is a common phrase around the house. “Potty mouth,” as it was called in the 1990s, was a no-no in our house growing up, but as I have become an adult I have found there are…