Worth a Repeat

In honor of breast cancer awareness month, I thought this might be worth repeating. I wrote it 6 months ago after my routine mammogram came back with something suspicious. As it turned out, all was fine and next week I'm due for my 6 month follow-up. I'm a smidge nervous but only slightly more than I would be anyway. Prayers would still be appreciated though. Thanks. For more information on Breast Cancer click here on Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Be Blessed.
Melanie

My Lockness

Deep within my right breast,
lurks a mysterious little something – I've named it Lockness.
Now, you might be thinking this girl’s insane but just sit tight and I’ll explain.

You see, I recently went for my annual exam
And was handed a script for a mammogram.
I know it’s important for this to be done; I am afterall at year 41.
So I made my appointment; I didn’t have to be pushed
To lay my breasts down and get alternately squished.

I was neither surprised to receive the next call.
“Additional views needed.” It’s routine, after all.
So I promptly was scheduled, put my right boob on the plate
and was then sent to the hall and asked…to just...wait…

Well, wait I sure did for what felt a long time.
Others came and they went; I felt less than fine.
Red flags shot up as people whispered my name.
“Just gathering information” was the only answer that came.
There’s an area of concern, I finally was told.
An ultrasound was needed. I suddenly felt cold.

I was led to a room and asked to lie down.
The last ultrasound I had, my belly was all round.
But a baby was not what this was about.
I tried to stay positive and fought off my doubt.

I could view the screen easily and was fascinated to see
What looked like an ocean – well, it did to me.
And that’s when I saw it – what they were looking for.
A dark shadowy something. Was that it? Would there be more?

She zeroed in on the area and measured, more or less.
And that’s when it struck me – that monster called Lockness.
It bobbed up and down, this threat in my breast.
I thought “I’m so weird” while she finished the test.

But happy I wasn’t and I started to pray
For peace while I waited to hear what they had to say.
Would my lockness have teeth? The radiologist wasn’t sure.
But a biopsy would certainly tell everyone more.

I met with a surgeon the very next day.
She doesn’t think that it’s cancer. It doesn’t look that way.
She said cancer cells are jagged and much darker too.
But go ahead with the biopsy - try not to let it worry you.

So, a core-needle biopsy I’ll soon undergo.
And await the results that will finally show
If a cancerous threat lurks within my breast…
This suspicious area I call Lockness.

25 Puns to Ponder about Your Faith

I saw this on my previous church's website and loved it.

According to Websters, A pun, or paronomasia, is a form of word play that deliberately exploits ambiguity between similar-sounding words for humorous or rhetorical effect.

Puns make us think, just a bit more about the meaning. They are brain teasers that make us ponder. Can you ponder these about your faith...

1. Give God what's right -- not what's left.

2. Man's way leads to a hopeless end! -- God's way leads to an endless hope.

3. A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.

4. He who kneels before God can stand before anyone.

5. In the sentence of life, the devil may be a comma--but never let him be the period. (love this one!)

6. Don't put a question mark where God puts a period. (this one too)

7. Are you wrinkled with burden? Come to the church for a face-lift.

8. When praying, don't give God instructions - just report for duty.

9. Don't wait for six strong men to take you to church.

10. We don't change God's message -- His message changes us.

11. The church is prayer-conditioned.

12. When God ordains, He sustains..

13. WARNING: Exposure to the Son may prevent burning.

14. Plan ahead -- It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.

15. Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory position.

16. Suffering from truth decay? Brush up on your Bible.

17. Exercise daily -- walk with the Lord.

18. Never give the devil a ride -- he will always want to drive.

19. Nothing else ruins the truth like stretching it.

20. Compassion is difficult to give away because it keeps coming back.

21. He who angers you controls you.

22. Worry is the darkroom in which negatives can develop.

23. Give Satan an inch & he'll be a ruler.

24. Be fishers of men -- you catch them & He'll clean them.

25. God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. (I used to remind myself of this quite frequently).

Be blessed.
Melanie

A Little Boy's Insight

The last two nights, I've attended funeral services for my very best friend's mother. RJ and I have been friends since we were five years old and I have always considered her mom like a second mom to me.

RJ's 4 year old son is having a hard time processing all of this. He dearly loved his grandma and she dearly loved him as she did all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Looking at her in the casket, he didn't quite understand who that was. It sort of looked like grandma and everyone told him it was her but to him, there was clearly something missing and he determined that with everyone telling him that grandma was in heaven that this was obviously "fake" grandma.

The next day, still trying to process it all, he told his mom that "God took "real" grandma to heaven and she's feeling better now and He left fake grandma here in the "treasure crib". To him, the casket looks like a giant treasure box but since it has a pillow and it's cushy inside with sides that are high, it also looks like a crib - a treasure crib.

A treasure crib... In that casket truly was a treasure. I looked at Mrs. B's hands and saw hands that had prepared some of the best lasagnas a person would ever eat, played endless card games, sewed everything from dresses to costumes and everything in between. From those lips had come a clearly distinguishable voice, one that makes me smile just thinking of it and one that is carried on very similarly in at least one of her grandchildren. And that now still heart, until just a few short days ago, overflowed with love for her family and friends. But there is something very empty about that treasure now in that 'treasure crib' and that sweet little 4-year old boy knew it. He knows that his "real" grandma, the real treasure, is in Heaven with Jesus.

Matthew 6:20 says "Store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven where moth and rust do not decay and where thieves do not break in and steal."

In this world, relationships can fail, loved ones die and jobs and finances are never truly secure. When it comes to what we treasure - those things we count on to carry us through the hard times and the things we look to for joy and peace, the only way to tell what's real and what's empty is to place it against the backdrop of eternity.

Jesus is the true Treasure in Heaven. The better we get to know Him, the quicker we'll become like my friend's little boy desiring nothing less than the real thing and recognizing empty treasures when we see them.

Be blessed and hug someone special today just because you can.
Melanie

Waiting on Him

I've been feeling a bit down the past couple of days. Nothing major; just homesick, I guess. I miss my friends in PA and I really miss my job there. If you've read some of my previous posts, you have an idea of how much I enjoyed working there. The people were great but it was more than that. I got to be a very small piece of something much bigger and I liked it - and miss it - very much.

A dear friend gave me a book called Praying for Purpose for Women by Katie Brazelton before I left and it is proving to be quite a blessing to me. There's a good reason no one has ever accused me of having the patience of a saint. I very much want to find God's purpose for my life here and I'd like to find it now, thank you very much. I'd love to just jump right into our new life with both feet and pick right up where I left off in PA. Unfortunately, I seem to be a holding pattern right now. We're new, no one knows us and we have very few connections here with anyone. It's very much a place of starting over and until people get to know us better, they'd just as soon I keep my feet to myself - for now anyway.

In the meantime, thankfully, Jesus will gladly keep walking with me and my antsy feet as I do my best to be faithful to bloom where I'm planted. It's all in His timing.

Be blessed.
Melanie

God's Chisel

Saw this on a friend's Facebook page. Thought I'd share it with you.

Be blessed.
Melanie

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It's Kindergarden All Over Again

That's what it feels like. My kids will start getting ready for their first day back to school in about 7 hours from now. And because they're really nervous about it, so am I. I promise I'm nothing but understanding and encouraging words to them about all the new friends they're going to make and how nice the teachers all seemed, etc. but inside I feel just like I did on their first day of kindergarden. Everything is so different and foreign and not at all familiar. What makes this especially difficult is that on their first day of kindergarden, they were excited; the anxiety back then was all mine. Now, they're scared - at least they were when they went to bed. I pray they're feeling better in the morning. Me too.

Prayers are gratefully accepted here.

Be blessed.
Melanie

Florida livin' at its' finest...

...for my 9 year old son, anyway. While my daughter has been working herself into a tizzy contemplating the injustices of a "stupid" dress code wherein children are forced to tuck in their shirts, my son is all about the gators and lizards and frogs, oh my!

Side note: Sierra even sought out and introduced herself to the school principle last night at orientation just to ask if they are ever allowed to untuck - the answer? "Rarely". She politely responded with an "Ok, thank you" but as we walked away, she turned to me and said with utter frustration, Rarely! What does 'Rarely' mean!?!

Anyway, here's a sampling of Justin's summer adventures...

Crikie, what a beauty! After weeks of scanning every lake we passed by in hopes of catching a glimpse of an alligator, he was beyond thrilled to see, touch and, ughh, sit upon this very real gator at - of all places - a McDonalds in Orlando!












Catchin' lizards wherever they hide.















He caught a little guy just like this on top of our front door post. It took standing on a chair and a long stick to get him but he got him and played with him for hours. Not sure the frog had as much fun but he was set free by day's end.







Be blessed.
Melanie