Living a Blessed Life

“ Everything happens for a reason But you don’t know what you don’t know And you’ll never have peace if you don’t let go of tomorrow ’Cause it ain’t even faith till your plan falls apart But you still choose to follow, If it doesn’t make sense right now, it will when it’s over There will be joy in the morning There will be joy in the morning Giving in to your feelings is like drowning in the shadows Oh, you gotta keep believing Even in the middle of the unknown ’Cause grace will be there When you come to the end of your rope and you let go It may feel like you’re goin’ down now But the story isn’t over ” — Tauren Wells I feel this song so strongly! “It ain't even faith till your plan falls apart but you still choose to follow.” -Tauren Wells Today is especially one of those days that has me swirling in an emotional pool. I woke up this morning to the sound of birds singing, and the sun shining. Darek and the kids showered me with love! I love this ki...

A few weeks ago on a Thursday morning we woke up (thankfully) without our usual alarms​. This may not seem like a problem, however, if you are like us and use the google home services to run routines for things like waking the kids up, it is a big problem. Not only do we depend on wifi to run our morning routines (turning lights on, playing alarms, etc.), we also use wifi for many of our daily processes. For instance, our doorbell and thermostat are both connected to our wifi, as well as most of the lights in our home. This seems like a trivial matter, and in the grand scheme of things, it is. However, when we become used to or dependent on a process working consistently, it throws us for a loop when things stop working. This also happened to be a gross weather week with cold temps and snow in April, meaning we were stuck inside. I figured the wireless router needed a simple re-boot and everything would be fixed. Boy, was I wrong!  The 5G Service was out! Not only did...

Hello there! It has been too long again, and I have had this topic on my mind for a while now. Today I encourage you to meditate on “gratitude” and what it really means to express a grateful attitude every day. An entire week has already passed since Easter, and it was during the time leading up to Easter that this word stuck in my mind. After spending time with my extended family at Easter (who I have not seen in a few YEARS) I felt even more inclined to write on this topic. I love my family dearly and feel fortunate to have the opportunity to spend time with them. I rarely see my grandparents, and spending time with them at Easter was especially sweet. We never know how many of those moments we will have. I go into each and every day thanking God for the absolute gift that the day is to me, and for what is to come that day. I honestly believe that starting the day off with the right attitude and perspective sets the course all that follows. (Even when I don’t feel like it. Let’s b...

Praise the name of Jesus!! “ Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. ” — 2 Chronicles 7:14 On Friday, March 24th I met with my oncologist to go over the latest CT scan and Lab results. I was feeling especially anxious as Darek and I waited in the consultation room. I think I have developed a little PTSD through this process, and I am working diligently to overcome that battle in my mind. There were words used in the report that I did not fully understand, and a finding that was new, but unrelated to anything else. I also had a couple of lab values that were on the lower side, so I was curious to know what that really meant. We waited about for what seemed like an hour (it may as well have been) but was really only 30 minutes and my oncologist cracked the door open. She peeked her head ...

I have never been great at ping pong. Let’s be real here. I have never even been good at ping pong! At least, not the physical game of ping pong. I am, however, a master at the mental game of ping pong, and let me tell you that it is good at stealing my joy. This past Monday I was initially scheduled to have a follow-up PET scan at the University of Minnesota. As the story goes, my insurance denied it because they do not find it medically necessary, so jumping through hoops again landed me a regular CT scan instead. PET scans are very expensive so I do understand why insurance companies do not want to cover them. There could also be the fact that before the scan they inject radioactive sucrose in the patient, and they do not want patients having that repeated frequently. Details, details! I am not 100% sure how they make their decisions. Instead of having to go downtown for my scan, I was able to have the CT at Southdale Hospital, which is much closer and more convenient. The CT w...

The Minnesota Golden Gophers Men’s Basketball team trailed in their game against Rutgers last week, never taking the lead until the game’s final basket. We watched in hopeful anticipation as the point gap widened and the Gophers brought it within six. Then it would widen again and come back within a few points. They just couldn’t seem to jump that hurdle and take the lead. Our family traditionally attends at least one Gophers Men’s Basketball game each season. Basketball (specifically, college basketball) is my all-time favorite sport to watch. I enjoy the NCAA tournament season and sincerely hope that our Gophers will find themselves competing further and further into that bracket challenge one day. We enjoy taking our kids to these games so they can watch, learn, and experience good basketball. Two of our three kiddos play basketball in our community leagues and they are loving it. We enjoy this opportunity to show them the level of accomplishment ava...

Gusty winds blow snow-like clouds through the frigid winter air outside my kitchen bay window. Trees are blanketed with fresh piles of fluffy white snow, yet birds continue singing the promises of Spring. We are in the midst of a late February blizzard, and I am honestly loving having our kids home for the second day in a row. We have had friends here to play (because that is what we do on snow days in MN) and sleepovers! These are the greatest memory-making moments of Winter. The aroma of homemade comfort food fills the air, and we celebrate by declaring pajama parties each day. The snow in our yard is as deep as our dog, Maple, is tall. She bounds through the snow with her head reaching just above the top layer and creates what we refer to as her interstate system through the yard. Watching her attempt to run through this snow is both entertaining and satisfying. If we must endure the looooooong Minnesota winters we deserve a blizzard or two to enjoy. S...