New Year and New Blessings

I have just a moment to jump in here,
scribble some stuff down and get on with my day--
so here goes:

My life has been incredibly busy--
last Fall was a blur,
Christmas lasted two minutes,
and I can hardly believe it's January 2014!

Diana came home less than a month ago,
and we've been busy getting her the medical care she needed
to be healthy again.
I was concerned for a couple of weeks
because she was so ill,
she wasn't eating much at all,
lethargic, yet not sleeping.
I took some time off work at the store
so I could monitor her, take her to Dr. appts.,
and in general just keep an eye out on her.

I am grateful to report that she is doing much better.
The color is back in her cheeks and she's adjusting being at home,
already making plans for Spring Semester at BYU-I.

IN addition to caring for Diana,
there is the constant condition of making calls, appts,
etc for Dean.
He was over for Christmas day,
and that was a gift for me.
I was worried he wouldn't be here and that he was,
is a blessing for me.
He is still struggling,
and there are daily phone calls, emails, appts., etc.
going on about his care,
but we are crisis-free going on Week 3 now.

Last Thursday,
we (me, Joseph, Arianna, n' Diana)loaded up the Sub
and headed north to Rexburg, Idaho
to take Daisie to BYU-I.
She had planned for this college experience in
the most minimal way possible.
It was as if she had barely thought of it at all--
without going into details,
girlfriend is like that--
flies by the seat of her pants!
Only when it was time to leave her there,
did she have a small emotional moment.
We offered prayer for her, gave hugs and scooted out the door.

Since then,
she has posted many things on facebook about her great happiness
being there...so I guess the lesson here is that not all of us needs to have
an exact plan, spelled out in detail, to be happy.

Lastly,
my own business, UpStaged! home staging
is growing faster than I can keep up with it,
thus affording me to resign my position at Shades of Amber,
as a merchandiser and devote more time and energy to staging.
I am grateful for this so much.
Mostly because I am so dang tired.
I know that any extra strength I have is purely from heaven,
as that has been the consistent prayer of my heart--
to have the strength to meet the demands of my life.

I have had to cut back most social activities,
pick and choose what/who I will exert energy into--
and mostly keep my focus on the big things around here.
That alone, has benefitted my well-being:
doing what I can, when I can,
slowing down or eliminating what I can't do,
conserving my energy where possible...
circling the wagons, as I like to say.

Last week, as I drove hundreds of miles
in a car full of mostly sleeping/texting/ipod-wearing teenagers,
I had some time to think
as the ribbons of grey highway rippled under me--
I counted my blessings,
I counted my challenges,
I reached for heaven's grace to fill in where I cannot.

Those prayers are being answered.
I feel gratitude, hope and clarity.

Feelings of inadequacy are not fruits of the Spirit.
We were sent here to learn from the vicissitudes of life--
not be crushed by them.
Next up:
Declaring our New Year's Family Motto!
Let me remind us of last years:
"We Seek After Bacon"
and the year before's:
"Don't Suck".
One can only hope 2014's will be just as inspirational!