I hope you’ll forgive me if some of this post overlaps with my end-of-October reflections in yesterday’s post. Some readers come for one or the other. 🙂

I’m linking with Susanne at at Living to Tell the Story to share some of the week’s blessings.

1. Fall color. I think the peak of fall color in the trees usually comes in a little earlier in the month. On the way to church last Sunday, I purposely kept my eyes on the landscape to watch for fall leaves, and saw some. Then Tuesday, we had to go to an area of town where we’d never been. We passed through some woodsy sections that were just gorgeous with a variety of colors. It always does my heart good to drink in some of that beauty before the trees shed their leaves.

2. Early voting. We went to a different place than usual, thinking it would be less busy than our usual place. And it was. We got in and out very quickly.

3. Meals out. Tuesday afternoon involved a long pre-op visit for oral surgery next week. I had one appointment with the oral surgeon, one with patient registration, and one with pre-anesthesia testing. Then we decided to go vote since we were out. By that time it was almost five, and Jim suggested dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I was happy to oblige. Finding low sodium options at restaurants has been a challenge, but they have at least one entree I can eat with confidence.

Then my friend Melanie and I met up for lunch one day. We were going to Red Lobster, and I looked online for some low sodium options there. But when we got to the restaurant, they didn’t have any of those entrees. I chose the one item that sounded the least salty and only ate half of it, and that seemed to work okay. But mostly we enjoyed catching up–it had been a while since we had gotten together.

4. Pain relief. I mentioned yesterday that my dear husband has had what seemed like a sinus infection for over a week. Antibiotics weren’t helping, so he went to see the doctor, thinking to get a stronger antibiotic. She said it wouldn’t help, but suggested a couple of over-the-counter products to try. Those gave him the first relief he’s had in days. He also tested positive for Covid while there. We’re not sure that’s accurate, since his symptoms line up more with a sinus infection. But at least he’s on the mend now.

5. Low sodium convenience food. It hasn’t been too hard to adapt to low sodium cooking at home (making it, anyway–I’m still getting used to eating it). At first I kept running tallies of how much sodium was in every item. It doesn’t take long, though, to learn what items are high sodium and and what’s not. We do like to keep a few convenience foods on hand, but most of those are off the charts in sodium content. I stopped in the store one afternoon and took time to explore. I found a couple of canned soups and frozen entrees that were within the range I was aiming for. I haven’t tried them yet, but I was encouraged that there were choices!

Happy last week of October!

This month is winding down quickly. I’m pausing for a bit to recount the week’s blessings with Susanne at at Living to Tell the Story.

1. A good visit with my primary care doctor. He has a tendency sometimes to brush off concerns that I have, so I prayed that he would be attentive and unrushed. This was probably the best visit I’ve ever had with him. I felt we had a good discussion and was satisfied with his counsel, even though it differed from what I originally wanted to do.

2. Rediscovering my son’s old blog. Jason had a blog for a while after Timothy was born, sharing experiences from the NICU and life with a preemie to encourage other parents. In the course of providing for and caring for his family, the blog was eventually forgotten and taken down by whoever was hosting it. I was always sorry those posts had been lost.

A few days ago, I was scrolling through the blog feeds I follow through Feedly and came to some that had not posted in years. I was considering deleting some of them when I came across Jason’s old blog. When I tried to click through to the site, I got an error message. But the posts themselves were still there on Feedly. So I copied and pasted them into a Word document. It was so good to reread them and see into Jason’s heart at that time and God’s grace in their lives.

3. Dinner out. Eating out is going to be a challenge with trying to maintain a low sodium diet. I looked up some articles on low sodium choices at restaurants and found a recommendation for Texas Roadhouse’s barbecue chicken. I only had half of it there and got a salad and fresh vegetables instead of their salt-encrusted (and delicious) baked potato. It was so nice to find I had some good options for restaurant food.

4. Getting back out among people. Between the hospital and illness, we’d felt kind of isolated for the last few weeks. So we had Jason, Mittu, Timothy, and Jesse over for dinner Friday night. Some of us sat in lawn chairs and talked while the guys played basketball, then we went in to play some games. Though I always love having them over, that was an especially good night. Then it was good, too, to make it out to church and our small group last Sunday.

5. A good dentist’s visit. I’ve had visits where I thought everything was fine only to be told I had a problem somewhere in my mouth. So it’s always a sigh of relief to get the all-clear. In addition, I’ve gotten vertigo pretty badly my last few times at the dentist when they sit me back up. The hygienist said she could lean me back just slightly and stand to do the cleaning. That worked great. I was so thankful she was willing to do that.

Bonuses: Getting my hair cut, and having a coupon for $8.99. Finally getting our microwave back after four weeks of waiting for parts and repairs. Jason and Mittu’s HVAC getting repaired after a couple of weeks of it not working (due to waiting on a part). Roses that Jason, Mittu, and Timothy brought over that are opening beautifully.

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a good week!

This Friday seemed to come around even faster than usual. I’m sharing the blessings of the week with Susanne’s weekly gratitude link-up at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Home from the hospital. My last FFF was written from a hospital room, but I was able to go home after lunch that day. This week I’ve been resting, taking more antibiotics, and recovering from the hospital stay. 🙂

2. Healing. The cellulitis appears to be completely gone. But there was a diagnosis on my charts and discharge papers that I have never seen before, and no one seems to be able to tell me where it came from. No doctor has ever told me I had it. I see my primary care doctor for a follow-up today with a list of questions.

Also, though normally antibiotics mess with my digestive system, that has not been as big a problem this time–surprising considering I was on a couple of different kinds in the hospital. I’ve had more yucky gut feelings the last couple of days–it may be catching up with me. But I am still taking probiotics to help combat that.

3. IB Guard. It’s kind of expensive, but it does help with stomach issues.

4. Sight-seeing by proxy. My oldest son, Jeremy, was in Chicago for the first time this week for his first-ever conference with his new job. He went a couple of days early to sight-see around the city and sent us some photos. I thought it was neat that he happened upon Moody Bible Institute in his walk around the city–not something he was looking for, but it was fun that he found it.

5. Low-sodium eating has not been fun, but it was recommended since I tend to retain fluid in my lower legs, which makes it easier to get cellulitis. It’s been a learning experience. Some things I suspected of being high-sodium have not been, but there has been a surprising amount of sodium in places I didn’t expect, like breads and cheeses. We’ve found that some of the no-salt flavorings have been good on salmon and chicken– not so much on potatoes and other vegetables. But I imagine I’ll get used to it after a while. And I am thankful there’s something definite I can do to help.

That’s it for this week. I hope yours has been good!

By the way, I am giving away a book here: Things We Cannot Keep by Amanda Cox.

Thank you so much for your kind words, encouragement, and prayers regarding my post about being in the hospital with cellulitis. I’m still in the hospital, but there’s hope of going home today. The doctor will decide today whether I need more IV antibiotics or whether I can go home with oral ones. Much as I’d like to get home, I don’t want to leave too soon and end up back here. (Update: I am home now!)

I wasn’t sure earlier this week whether I’d have a FFF post or not–partly because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to around all the hospital disruptions, partly because, frankly, I was a little down. But there are always blessings, always something to be grateful for. So I’m sharing today with you all and Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Improvement, though it has been slow. Cellulitis is a skin infection which is serious, and a nuisance, but can be dealt with. Its biggest danger is that it can spread quickly and then cause major problems. So when this experience involved more area than ever and looked deeper and “angrier” than I’d ever had, I was alarmed. Then when it seemed stuck at the same level for so long, I was discouraged. But finally it took a turn for the better.

Also, once I accepted the situation rather than chafing against it, my spirits improved. I might as well just lean into the chance to read, doze, and rest.

2. Good nurses. Most of the nurses and technicians have been great, a couple of them exceptional. Efficiency, cheerfulness, and thoughtfulness go a long way.

3. A nice view. I happened to get a room at the end of the hall which is a little bigger and has a lot of windows.

It’s been nice in the mornings to watch the light come up over the hills.

4. Humor. While still in the ER, they wanted to do an ultrasound on my leg to make sure there wasn’t a blood clot, which can also cause redness and swelling. There wasn’t, thankfully. When they brought me back from the ultrasound, Jim said, “Boy or girl?” 🙂

5. Camping. Jim, Jason, and Timothy were supposed to go camping this week since Timothy is off for fall break. I felt bad about derailing that. So I thought it neat when Jason sent pictures that he and Timothy set up a tent on their back deck and were camping out there.

Bonus: Hearing from a long lost friend. A good friend and I eventually lost touch when we started attending another church. It wasn’t deliberate–our lives just went in different directions and we didn’t have that weekly opportunity to touch base. She’s not on Facebook but heard from another mutual friend that I was in the hospital. She dropped a flower and card at the house, which Jim found when he stopped in to pick up some things. Then she sent me a couple of texts. My heart was so warmed to hear from her again.

And that’s it for this week. I hope yours has been good.

This has been a weird week. It started out great! But Tuesday night, I suddenly developed flu-like symptoms: chills, nausea, headache dizziness–and my left leg hurt. I had a pretty miserable night and morning. But by around 4 p.m., all the symptoms were gone except for a slight fever and redness in my leg. I saw the doctor Thursday and tested negative for flu and Covid. He’s not sure if the leg and the flu symptoms were two separate things or part of the same infection. They took blood to check my white blood cell count, but I haven’t heard back from that yet. Meanwhile, I am on antibiotics with strict instructions to go to the ER if it seems to be spreading. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen!

I’m not sure how much to talk about physical issues. I don’t want to sound like a hypochondriac, especially when it seems like there’s been some physical problem every week lately. But that’s what I’m dealing with just now.

In the midst of the unexplained and uncomfortable, it helps to look at the good things God spreads across our paths. I’m linking with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to do so.

1. The stoppage of flu-like symptoms. I hate nausea more than any other symptom, even more than pain. So I am especially glad that didn’t last long.

2. Being back in church. After a couple of weeks of heart rhythm issues, it was good to be in church in person again. We had an excellent discussion in Sunday School.

3. Sunday lunch with the kids. Our church has smaller “care groups” that meet a couple of times a month. Jason and Mittu are in a different one from Jim and me, and often our groups meet on alternate Sundays. But none of us had care group this week, so we enjoyed a nice lunch out together at a favorite pizza place.

4. Productive days. I got a lot done Monday and Tuesday.

5. Cool days. At least in the mornings and evenings. Next week our highs are supposed to be in the 70s all week with lows in the 50s.

How was your week?

Thank you for your encouragement and prayers concerning my not-so-great week last week. This week has been better. The microwave still isn’t fixed. But we’ll manage. 🙂 My heart rate is back to normal though the rhythm isn’t completely there yet. But I feel much better this week.

When some things are going wrong, they fill our vision until that’s all we can see. But this practice of looking for God’s hand whether the week seems good or bad reminds us that He is always with us and showers many more blessings on us than we often realize. I’m thankful Susanne at Living to Tell the Story began and still encourages this practice not only of gratefulness, but of sharing with others to encourage them as well.

On to this week:

1. The first day of fall! We’re starting to see a little change of color in the leaves. But I mainly enjoy knowing that the high temperatures of summer will soon give way. In fact, our forecast shows highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s the next several days.

2. Avoiding a cold. I had a painful sore throat earlier this week and was afraid it was going to progress to head or chest congestion. Thankfully it never did and feels better now.

3. Much-needed rain. Thankfully, it was mostly a gentle, pleasant rain.

4. Culver’s. I may have mentioned them before. Though they promote mainly their burgers, we like that they have a variety of options to choose from. I like their Beef Pot Roast sandwich and Crispy Shrimp, among other things.

5. Book discussion. Our writing critique group starts our sessions with an icebreaker question. This week we talked about favorite novels that involved books–either set in a bookstore or library or having a lot of bookish references (or if they hadn’t read a books like that, they could mention a favorite character from a novel). The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was mentioned most often, both the book and the movie. It was an enjoyable discussion that I wish could have gone on for hours.

Simple blessings for a fairly low-key week–a blessing in itself.

How was your week?

This has not been a good week.

First, I woke up in afib Monday morning, with a heart rate bouncing between 130-150. Now my Kardia device is showing tachycardia rather than afib, but my heart is still beating at around 115 beats per minute. I had hoped that the ablation back in February would give me years, rather than just months of relief from this. I am beyond frustrated, yet I know stewing over it doesn’t help. I sent a note in through the cardiologist’s patient portal and was told to increase one of my medications for the next 2-3 days to see if that helps.

Our microwave also died Monday. Some of you may remember that it died last October, and after five service calls over two months, they finally replaced it in December. And now this one has failed. Jim called the company, who sent out someone, who needs a part that will take five days to get here. Let’s hope this doesn’t become the rigamarole it was last year. This is a first-world problem, for sure, and there are bigger calamities going on. But it is a frustration.

Then Mittu slipped on their stairs and has a swollen, painful area on her lower back. They don’t think anything is broken, thankfully.

And I was trying to take a pan out of the oven Wednesday, and my finger slipped from the hot pad onto the hot pan. It hurt for hours, but feels fine now. I have a place on one fingertip that looks like a blister, but it’s flat and not raised. I’m thankful, because a raised blister on a fingertip would bump into everything.

It’s is a week like this when it is even more important to intentionally look for God’s hand in our lives. I’m once again thankful Susanne at Living to Tell the Story started this practice and encouraged others to join her.

1. Good fellowship. Last Friday, before all of the above, Jason and Mittu had invited some folks from church over and asked us to come, too.

2. Grandparent’s Day. Jason and Mittu had us over again Sunday night for Grandparent’s Day. It’s funny this holiday hasn’t taken off like Mother’s and Father’s Day. But I don’t think Jason and Mittu and Timothy have ever forgotten to celebrate it with us.

3. Jesse’s birthday. We celebrated my youngest son’s birthday this week.

4. The cake came out okay! Some years ago, Mittu made a gluten-free lemon blueberry cake that came out great and that Jesse loved. He has wanted it for his birthday ever since, but it has been a challenge for both of us. This time I asked if he minded if I went back to a GF lemon cake I’ve made before and just added blueberries to it. He was fine with that. But, just because a cake has turned out well for me before doesn’t mean it always will! Thankfully, it did this time, and he liked it.

5. My husband’s help. He made dinner for us this week, ran errands for me for Jesse’s birthday (even going to Hobby Lobby!), and has helped with dishes so I could try to rest as much as possible.

Bonus: Family history. My husband’s brother sent him a ton of information he’s gathered over the years of their family history going back several hundred years. I’ve skimmed some of it but haven’t had time yet to read it all. But the guys have enjoyed delving into it.

Looking for and focusing on God’s good gifts and blessings doesn’t make the problems go away, but my perspective has shifted. I no longer feel like a little dark cloud has been hovering over me all week. 🙂 God promises grace for every need.

How was your week?

This is a solemn day in America–the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I can still remember the disbelief and the stunned horror and grief as we watched coverage of what was happening through the following days.

Truly, we “do not know what a day may bring” (Proverbs 27:1). Yet God doesn’t want us to live in constant fear of what may happen. When we know Him, we have the promise of His presence with us and His grace for whatever we need.

As horrible as 9/11 was, I miss the aspect of the days immediately after when there was more unity in our country and a general turning to God. I remember Congress people singing “God Bless America” on the Capitol steps on 9/12. My Facebook memories show that I wrote on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, “I’m grateful people turn to God in their hour of need. I just wish they realized they need Him every hour.”

I also remember stories of courage, bravery, and compassion coming out in the months following 9/11.

Today I’m joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share the blessings of the week.

1. Grandchildren. When Timothy started school this year, his parents put us on the list of people who could pick him up from school, mainly so we could get him if they were at an appointment or sick or something. But he asked last Friday if Granddad could pick him up and bring him to our house for a while. It touches my heart that he likes to hang out with us and doesn’t find us boring.

2. Labor Day. We don’t really celebrate it per se, but it’s a good excuse to have the family over for burgers and to play games. Mittu made a yummy peanut butter pie.

3. Getting more done than I thought. I was a little disappointed and frustrated that I didn’t make any headway on my to-do list one afternoon. But then I realized I did get several things done–just not the things I had planned on.

4. Finding something I thought I had lost.

5. A husband who does the grocery shopping. I know I’ve mentioned that before, but I am thankful again/still.

I hope you’ve had a good week.

Some weeks. we have to look hard for blessings. Other weeks, they overflow. This has been the latter week for us. I’m linking up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share the good things of the week.

1. Family visiting. My step-father, two sisters, and nephew from TX flew in Monday afternoon. Jesse came over–Jason and Mittu had previous plans. Then we all went to J&M’s house Tuesday night for a great dinner. My aunt and uncle from Knoxville were able to come to that, too. Then we followed my TX family driving down to SC to visit with two sisters and our niece and great niece there. We enjoyed so much the time together, the conversations, and the laughter. It’s been four years since we were all together, and I hope it won’t be another four years until the next time.

2. Celebrating sobriety. My nephew celebrated nine years of sobriety this week. We’re so thankful and proud of him.

3. Celebratory cake. My youngest sister asked Mittu if she’d make “one of her fancy cakes” to celebrate my nephew’s sobriety anniversary. She outdid herself.

4. Thrift shopping. The last time my TX family was here, we found out the very last might of their visit that they enjoyed thrift shopping. We have two thrift shops near us, so we proposed visiting them one afternoon while they were here this time. It was a fun outing and we each got a little something.

5. Discovering a good restaurant. When my TX family is here, they like to go to local restaurants rather than the chain places they can visit at home. There was a little sandwich place near the thrift shop that we’ve often wondered about but never tried, so we went there. It was so good. It’s a family-owned place that makes its own bread fresh every morning. I got a wonderful brownie there that took me three days to finish. We saw some other things on the menu we want to try, so I am sure we’ll be back.

Bonus: A sweet memento. My aunt brought something they had found while going through things–a Gideon’s New Testament with my mom’s name in the front in her handwriting. I don’t know if she used it, or if it was given to her and stuck in a drawer–but it is special to me.

Today (Thursday) has been a quiet day–washing sheets and catching up with computer stuff.

How was your first week of September?

It’s the last Friday of August and time once again to reflect on and share the week’s blessings. Thanks to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for starting this weekly exercise.

1. More family time. My oldest son was here through last Sunday morning. This was a quieter than usual visit with no major outings except to each other’s houses, but we all enjoyed just hanging out, talking, and playing games.

2. My birthday. My family always goes out of their way to make my birthday special. Mittu made this pretty and tasty Texas Sheet cake.

3. Family photos. When everyone’s here, we try to get a photo of us all together.

4. Cracker Barrel take-out. Monday night, I had a craving for Cracker Barrel’s meat loaf. That’s not even what I usually get there, but for some reason I was hankering for it that night. I asked Jim if he’d mind getting take-out from there for dinner. It’s not his favorite restaurant, but he indulged me. Thankfully, he said what he got there (their Monday special of chicken and rice and a salad) was the best meal he’d ever had from there. Mine hit the spot, too.

I had also been wanting to try their biscuit beignets, so we split an order of those for dessert. They were so good. We had enough left over to last for a few days.

5. Haircut coupon. When I don’t need a haircut, I see coupons for the place I go all the time on Facebook. When I am looking for one, I can’t find one. Their FB page (and phone app) just has ads, not coupons. We’ve had coupons pop up on sites after we’ve discussed the business or the product, which is creepy. But I decided to see if I could work the system this time. 🙂 As I scrolled through FB, I kept repeating the business name out loud. “OK, Facebook, I need a coupon for _______.” “Hey, Facebook, where are your coupons for _______?” Nothing happened. I force-closed the FB app and opened it again–and there was my $5 off coupon right at the top. 🙂

When I told the stylist about this, she said next time I see a coupon but am not quite ready to use it, I can just take a screenshot. All they really need is the coupon code. Good to know for next time.

How was your last week of August?