How I Lowered Blood Pressure-My Journey to Getting Off the Meds

August 2017 was my wake up call. I'd been checked into the hospital with stroke level blood pressure readings and it took them a couple of days to get my blood pressure to stay low at Hypertension stage 1 levels with medication and constant monitoring. Having to start taking blood pressure medicine every day didn't...

…If you Judge a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree, it Will Live Its Whole Life Believing That it is Stupid.” -Albert Einstein

Well I'm not a Fish. But this quote makes me think of another struggle in my life. The one where I have struggled to be like the gazelles. I just have to come to terms that I’m an ox. All these women around me on the treadmill going all fast, light on their feet... they...

What if you fly?

I know a writer. Even though he's never been published, I consider him a writer. I've read somewhere, "If you write, then you are a writer." Well this guy writes. Every day almost. Before work, during work, on breaks. He keeps a small notebook with him and writes and writes. Over time, I learned he...

What Kind of Habits Are You Nurturing?

Are we what we repeatedly do? Once you start making poor decisions, does it get easier and easier to allow ourselves to make more and more poor decisions?

The Greatest Gift–part 3

A continuation of The Greatest Gift part 2 To start at the beginning: Part 1 My caseworker drove me 20 miles out of town, down 7 miles of dusty dirt road to a small house with a big back porch and a barn in the back yard. I could see horses in the distance and...

The Greatest Gift–part 2

A continuation of The Greatest Gift –part 1. My time at the next home was short. I can't say they were horrible foster parents, but they weren't Melrose. I quickly noticed the differences. I no longer got to go on shopping trips, no longer got to pick out what I needed or balance my ledger. There...

The Greatest Gift –part 1

I started writing this post around Christmas, when the title was much more appropriate. It's been on my mind the past three months as I struggled with sharing or not sharing. Around holidays you hear so many people searching for the perfect gift to give their loved ones and last Christmas, I heard some friends...

When is the Last Time You Learned Something New?

WOW! It's November already! Where does the time go? Think, quick. We don't have much time before it's time to start planning for Thanksgiving, then shopping for Christmas, and  then goal-setting for the new year. Whew, I'm starting to feel overwhelmed already. Speaking of goals, mine this year were not terribly specific and maybe that's...

“Some of God’s Greatest Gifts are Unanswered Prayers.”

This Week's Favorite Personal Moment: I think I watched my husband fall in love with me all over again last night. He watched TV as I lay on the other end of the couch playing on my tablet. I have this terrible or fun habit (depending on who's judging) of hearing a word or taking...

“Courage is Being Scared to Death, but Saddling up Anyway.”

I don't always feel courageous. I often feel scared, worried, hesitant that my decisions will somehow negatively affect something or someone. Regarding times of chaos and crisis, I been asked, "how do you handle the stress?" or "how did you stay so calm?" I remember saying, "Have you ever seen a duck floating around a...