Living a Blessed Life

Music has always been a huge part of my life. I grew up singing to songs on the radio, singing in choirs, singing on the worship team at church, singing with my family as my dad strummed the guitar in our home, and creating our own songs (mostly goofy) that revolved around events in our lives. My brother and I wrote our first song when we were 9 & 10 years old. We shared a bedroom that year, as our parents both went back to college to complete degree programs, and I clearly remember sitting on my bed while my brother plucked out a tune on our dad’s guitar. The theme of the song was this: My brother hates blue jeans! HAHAHA! Seriously, here are the lyrics - “Blue jeans, blue jeans, My brother hates blue jeans, He really hates to wear them…” (repeat) I don’t exactly recall why he was being forced to wear blue jeans but I suspect it had to do with wearing jeans to school or something. This was our big musical debut and from here we broke into the music industry! JUST KIDDING I rem...

Today is what I would call a typical Sunday in our home. We attended church this morning and came home to have a light lunch so we could relax this afternoon. The skies are their regular shade of overcast gray (thank you Minnesota) and as I occasionally look out the window I notice the now exposed squirrel nest in the trees void of leaves. All signs point to BRRRRR!!!!! The MN Vikings football team graces our living room TV and the fireplace does its magical work of keeping me warm and offering ambiance. For those who are still following my updates, you may wonder how I am doing and if I have had any recent appointments. I did, in fact, have my quarterly CT scan two weeks ago as well as my regular panel of labs drawn. I had to wait EIGHT long days between those appointments until I saw my oncologist to discuss the results and how she interpreted everything. I have mentioned previously that I have a bittersweet relationship with the Patient Portal App. This is an incredibly useful to...

I can honestly say that I never thought I would add another member to our household / family. We have a pretty complete family of five, with our three children, Toby, Carina, & Kaiya, but about a month ago we were presented with a fun opportunity to add another to our family. Before you get any crazy ideas, no we did not adopt another puppy (nope, nope, nope, nope). Maple does a great job holding down the position of our family dog. She is certainly more than enough! Rewind to late August at Meet the Teachers night for our kiddos. We walked through schedules and delivered school supplies to each classroom as requested. Finally, we stopped by Mrs. O’s classroom. Mrs. O. is Toby and Carina’s Spanish teacher. They love having her as their teacher, and she also happens to be our neighbor, so the kids have an extra special bond with her. Upon entering her classroom, Mrs. O. mentioned that there would be opportunities this school year to host short-term exchange students. These studen...

You know the feelings that flood in when you enter a space that smells like a memory from your past? When I was young I learned that the sense of smell offers the strongest memory recall. We cannot always put words to the scent, but our brains have this uncanny method of recall, and the reels of our past begin playing. I have recently had this same flood of memories, more strongly associated with songs than scents. Once in a while we will hear a song and it will take us back to a period of time, but sometimes it will transport us to a specific event. I can hear “Bye, Bye, Bye,” and instantly head back to high school (or the answering machine greeting that my college roommates and I used our freshman year-Haha). Sometimes a song comes on that my dad used to play on his guitar, and I see our family sitting in the living room singing along. “Let it be, let it be, let it be, Oh, let it be… Whispering words of wisdom, let it be.” I’m certain you can also relate to this, but it might not ...

April 8, 2024, marked a significant event in our lives. As a family, we traveled to Arkansas to experience a total solar eclipse! This event was special for many reasons, of which I will share a few. According to eclipse2024.org , “(There are) none in North America until August 23, 2044 . This one is a nice “Prairie” eclipse, coming down from Arctic Canada into North Dakota. But then, the one so many people will have been waiting for: A beautiful summertime eclipse that goes over quite a few big cities, as well as a certain theme park in Central ...