Day 3

30 Days of  Dealing Living:  Day 3

Duet 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.


I am not going to lie to you.  I know this is several days late, but there was no energy in me the past two nights to do this.  The scripture above was handed to me on Thursday night at Godsippers.  Bev said she wasn't looking at them and whatever one we got, is the one God wanted us to have. AMEN!  I needed this on Thursday.  I had to leave Godsippers early as Steven had a meltdown and wrecked the house.  That is why I had no energy or time for that matter to do this on Thursday.  I couldn't even really tell how the rest of the day went other than Steven walking to class.  I was dealing, dealing, dealing on Thursday night.

Take care and God bless,
Sherri

Day 2

30 Days of  Dealing Living:  Day 2

 

1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV

¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.


Today was a humdinger let me tell you.  Steven was upset on the way to school because a computer game wouldn't work right.  He was kicking some, but ended up being fine.  Which is good, because the van was making a tapping noise, then we stopped outside of Lebanon.  When we left, the van made like a back fire and then the tapping was very loud and the van lost some get up and go.  We eventually limped our way and took Steven to school and then went to Car X.  We were all but convinced that the van was done for and the motor had been blown.  They looked at it and the fifth spark plug had blown completely out.  Not what I was expecting to hear, but affordable.  It was going to take several hours for it to get fixed, so Bryan and I headed out on foot and went window shopping and to have lunch.  We spent a good bit of time walking around and doing nothing.  So even though we didn't get to the gym, we got our workout in.  It ended up taking longer than they thought once they were in there.  The school agreed to keep Steven over while we waited for the van.  Finally about 3:40 Bryan walked back to the school to get Steven.  4:10 the van was done! :)  Bryan was heading back with Steven and they were all but there.  We got home late, but we got home with our van.  I have done some laundry and that is it.  I want to be in bed actually, but I need to decompress more.  BTW, if you ever have car trouble in Fairview Heights the Car X guys are wonderful.  They are honest and respectful.  This is my second time being there and I had the same experience both times. 

Blessings:
1- The van didn't break down completely and strand us
2- The motor of the van wasn't blown
3- Car X was able to fix our van today
4- The weather was beautiful for Bryan and I to walk around in
5- Steven walked to class!!!!!!

Take Care and God Bless,
Sherri

Our van that seems to like adventure and drama

 

Day 1

30 Days of  Dealing Living:  Day 1

I'm trying so hard

To stop trying so hardJust let you be who you are

Lord, who You are in me

From Casting Crowns-The Altar and the Door

These are lyrics my sister Terri shared with me this morning and she is right, this hits the nail on the head with how I am feeling.  It was a pretty good day all in all.  I ate pretty good until it came to the Doritos Sour Cream and Onion chips.   I walked 1 mile at the gym walking 2.3 mph with a 0 incline.  It was kind of a rough morning and didn’t feel too ambitious.  I got some dishes and laundry done.  Hubby helped me with the laundry some.  I had one down time.  I had to call SSI about a letter I received about Steven and they seem to have lost paperwork that has already been done.  I was talking to Vincennes and everything was done with Belleville.  I definitely was dealing with this. L  I should have prayed before making the call, I will make to do that before I contact Belleville.   

 Steven had a big fit when we left the house for about 30-45 minutes.  He was getting physically aggressive.  He didn’t want to go back to school, he wanted to go back on vacation.  I was able to keep my mind clear enough to start praying and I finally decided to ask Steven if he wanted his Ren and Stimpy music.  He immediately sat up and calmed down and almost feel asleep while listening to it.  We had some trouble with the computer and he was doing pretty good with it where as other times it would have been a major fit.  He had a decent day at school, but he didn’t walk to class.  We had a good ride home and he was good overall tonight at home.  Uncle Mike came over to pick up some stuff and he was happy to see him.  We had some trouble because Steven wanted to sleep out in the camper.  Nothing major and he fell asleep by 8:00 while playing computer. 

I am going to end with the blessings of the day.  I don’t see how I can ever leave out my loving husband Bryan and our boy-boy Steven.  It is also a blessing to have ICA taking care of Steven’s schooling.  It is definitely a God send.  Also my sister Terri, as I stated above she hit the nail on the head with the lyrics she quoted to me.

Take care and God bless,

Sherri

 

Introduction

30 Days of  Dealing Living:  Introduction

Luke12:22-31 NIV

22And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.23“For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.24“Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!25“And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span?26“If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?27“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.28“But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith!29“And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying.30“For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things.31“But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

 

I have decided that I need to change my way of thinking from dealing with my life and actually living my life.  I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, asthma, allergies, depression with anxiety issues, and fibromyalgia.  I am tired of dealing with all of this every day.  I know what I need to do, so I just have to live right.  I thank God that He has taken care of me and given me the knowledge to know what to do.  I have to live and know that God is leading me where I need to be.  I know He loves me and will take care of me.  When I deal with something, I can feel it bringing me down because all I do is focus on what I am doing wrong.  I need to focus on the positive and do it.  If I do what I need to for me, I know it will help Bryan as well with his problems with gout.  I need to stop dealing with Steven and his behaviors and stop and pray to God to guide me to meet Steven’s needs.  I haven’t been listening like I should to what God is saying to me.  I have to stop and take the time to hear Him.  I am going to post my life over the next 30 days and give an account of how I did.  How I did with eating, exercising, housework, overall mood and how I lived my day and not just deal with it.  I welcome all comments and look forward to your thoughts. 

Take care and God Bless,

Sherri

 

How may I help you?

1 Thess 5:11 NIV
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

As you go through in life, you have choices.  The main choices tend to be are you going to be positive or negative.  We all have our trials and we can either wallow in self-pity or take them for what they are and learn from them.  We also have the choice what to do with them later on.  We have been going through the 40 Day Soul Fast at Godsippers and last night talked about letting negative things replay in our head over and over again.  Our minds don’t differentiate between real and memory.  The same feelings we had when the event happened tend to be what we have when we remember them.  Our bodies react the same with our blood pressure level and how stressed we get.  Don’t let the negative thoughts steal your joy.  Let them bring joy to others. 

That may sound like a strange statement, but it is a true one.  If we have gone through a rough time, shouldn’t we use what we learned about how to cope with it and maybe avoid it with other people?  There are some memories that I have and others have, that we would rather never re-live again, but there may be a time we have too.

I do know this; you are not alone in what you are going through.  We need to make sure and encourage each other through our trials.  There are so many people I can relate to with different aspects of my life.  I can help others who are going through tough times with an Autistic child as I have gone through so much with Steven.  I can relate to those who have several chronic diseases.  I have high blood pressure, type 2 Diabetes, high cholesterol, asthma, allergies, depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia.  I can relate to people who have to be careful with what they cook for someone with gout as Bryan has it. 

I guess I have said all the above to say this.  If you need to talk, I am here for you.  I am willing to give out advice or just listen to you cry or rant.  YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!!!   I don’t think that there is anything in this world that only one person has experienced.  We have to be there for each other.  Even if you have a concern that I haven’t listed, I will still be there for you.  I have a wonderful physical family and spiritual family.  I also have over 400 friends on Facebook.  I will do all I can to find someone to help you with what you are going through.  Please don’t feel like you have no one to talk to, you have me. 

Remember that God loves you and will put a way for you to handle whatever you are going through.  I hope you will allow God to work through others to help you.  Remember if you don’t let others help you, you are stealing the joy they get by helping others.  I have been there so many times not wanting to bother others with my petty problems, but we need to realize that is why God put us in each other’s lives.  To help.

Take care and God bless,

Sherri

Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life.



Well, over the past month sickness and broke computers have run rampant through this household.  Steven has been going from happy to mad to happy to pissed and then back to happy again.  He has been a handful and a half.  He has thrown, hit, kicked and screamed so much.  There have been medicine changes and lots of tears.  He has had fluids coming out of both ends, sleeping great and not sleeping well.  I know that God is here for us and loves us very much.  It is verses like this that help me keep my focus.  It is hard to focus on them at times when the meltdown is happening, but later on it helps keep my head up.  There are so many times I wish I could just go to heaven long enough to talk to God and see what He has planned.  I know that isn't possible and I just need to hold out my hand for Him to guide me.  Please keep us in your prayers to help us find our path that God has laid out for us.  Especially keep Steven in them.  Being 18 is hard enough, but with his inability to understand why things are the way they are is being overwhelming for him. 

Take care and God Bless,
Sherri

This picture is blurry, but it shows how I spent a lot of the past few weeks.

Competition

Proverbs 13:24 NIV
24He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.



I don't know if it is because I am sitting here watching all sorts of PBS Kids shows, but I am thinking again of how much competition has been taken out of our children's lives.  I don't understand how we are preparing them for life when we remove competition.  To me it is part of spoiling our children.  We are placed with the wonderful task of gearing our children for surviving life.  Whether we are a parent, a grandparent, an aunt, an uncle or a teacher we are blessed with this task.  If we don't teach them how to lose properly or how to handle a bad grade, we are not doing them a favor.  But we might hurt their feeling!  That is part of life and it is our job to make them feel better when this happens.  To me it is being lazy when we don't want children to face these problems that way we don't have to deal with it.  I had people tell me not to say no to Steven when he was younger.  They said I shouldn't teach him that negative word or he didn't understand it.  My reply was always that it was my responsibility to teach him how to deal with no and that he wouldn't learn what it meant if I didn't use it.  We HAVE to teach our children about competition and how to be Christians while dealing with winning, losing, achieving and failing.  We can't go overboard with competition either, don't push them to be the best and forget they are children and need to be children. I know that I am still teaching Steven to deal with highs and lows in his life and will probably never be done.  But it is my pleasure to do so.  I know they say Autism is a communication disorder, but I feel Steven's is more of a comprehension disorder.  Steven can tell me what he wants for the most part, but he doesn't understand why I tell him no to going on vacation or that I can't find his favorite video at Wal Mart.  But I have to keep plugging along, I can't know when he might finally understand.  We need to start with our children early to teach them to handle let downs.  The longer we wait the harder it is for them.  But like I said earlier it is also important for them to be children.  Just remember to pray for God's guidance in keeping the balance.  Of course now I will tell you that there is one thing we absolutely should not be in competition in.  We should not compete to be a better Christian than anyone else.  We should work to be a better Christian for God and work to help others be better Christians.  God's love and Heaven should be the one thing we don't want to try to outdo each other on, but build each other up.  Whether it is encouraging, praying or studying together we need to push each other.  My New Year's Resolution is to chose at least one person or family to encourage each week.  Think about paying it forward with God's love as your resolution.  But you know what, if you don't do a resolution (like I usually don't) just try to do good throughout the year to each other.

Take Care and God Bless,
Sherri


Quick family update:

Bryan does NOT need surgery on his thub
I am feeling better than I have in years and am up to doing housework like you wouldn't beieve.
Steven is Steven.  He can be doing great and then out of nowhere have a meltdown.  He seems to be doing better overall.  With the exception that he threw a book up on my mother in laws on Christmas (which we were only there 10 minutes as he didn't want to stay) and we couldn't get it down.  He is obsessed with it right now.  Replacement on the way it could be a long wait.

Just a picture to hopefully make you smile!