Time to Catch Up!

Psalms 28:7 -- The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

I pray that this find you well! I have really not been here too much and am certainly behind with keeping in touch with my blogger friends...It has been busy times! I am still working on getting things into such a routine that I have more time for blogging/reading, but for now will catch up when I can and then disappear again, lol :o)

Over the last month there has been a lot of hardship (with praises mingled here and there of course!)...The last I wrote was about a month ago, on the 19th. Since then life has continued ;o)

One of the hardest things that has happened was the death of my friend's (of over 15 yrs) mother. She passed on Dec 22nd. The memories of her mother's death are very difficult for her (she was with her). I can only imagine. I continue to keep her in prayer.

My shoulder was often being used (over the phone, as we are over 2,000 miles apart) and with 3 hours difference, this could mean me being up very late. I praise God for His strength as she overcomes her loss. I was able to get the hankies for her and her two girls (they all lived with her) out the door yesterday...small in comparison...

I learned something new just this past week. Being 30 is NOT old! This is what I blamed my increasing slowness, tiredness, sluggishness on. I thought it just came with the age! Having six children to keep up with of course would just make me more so, right?! Since I had quit smoking, (increasingly worse after ds5E's appt downstate) I started getting kind of a woozy feeling, a dizziness that would increase as the day got later. Two weeks ago on Sunday, my legs started swelling up badly...this seems to be a normal thing the longer I am on them, and has been for quite some time. I asked my husband to make an appointment for me with his doctor. I am thankful that they have found a reason for my increasingly worse fatigue and lack of energy...I am battling hypothyroidism, I did not recognize several of my symptoms until after I was diagnosed, nor am I sure of how long I have been dealing with this. I had put up with some of the things for quite a bit as I assumed it was all about the withdrawal from nicotine. For example, having a hard time concentrating and staying focused. To make things more interesting I also had a double ear infection and had a vitamin D deficiency, go me! lol :o) I have gone through stages of shock, informed, depressed, and moving on! I spoke with my doctor and felt very relieved after doing so. I am praising God for leading me to someone that would find the answers! After all, I went in for dizziness and swelling, not for the majority of the other symptoms ;o) I remember saying to my aunt a month ago that it isn't right to feel like you are pregnant when you aren't! Take care of yourselves, if something doesn't seem right, don't put it off! I have been feeling better, with some set backs physically and, occasionally, emotionally. I am trying to keep my eyes on Him and know that He has the answers.

How am I doing with that? Wonderful!! I think it was day 12 and day 13 that in the evening I abused myself with a 1/2 of a cigarette...I am unclear as to why I would do it at all, but to do it again after the first night was pure stupidity. Both nights I felt *very* ill....Anyway, it stopped there, I allowed myself to get tripped up, but I will NOT go back...I praise God for getting me past that mistake and to give me strength to keep pushing on. If you are looking to quit, I would suggest to just do it and get it over with, in my experience of trying to quit, nicotine replacements only drag the addiction out longer. I found that herbal smoke products to be very helpful in the anxiety and frustration that quitting causes. The herbals seemed almost pointless for the first few days (those were the days I leaned into the Lord 24/7!!), but after that noticed a difference if I did not remember to take that day's capsule. Just a suggestion for anyone else that may be struggling with this ;o)

Well, I am sure that I could think of more, but I will leave it for now. It is getting close to some study time at Mona's house!

Have a beautiful day in the Lord!