Tag Archive | Family

Our Nana is Awake

As I wrote just a few days ago…”What a Difference a Day Can Make”. Yesterday our Nana was on a ventilator and today she is off and breathing on her own. Not only is she breathing… She is talking!

God Is Sooo Good!!!

As I sit here holding her hand, I thank God for His sweet presence.

Nana still has a long road ahead but she has come such a long way so quickly.

Please continue to pray for our Nana as she still has a nasty infection which is wiping her out!!!

But for now…

Our Nana Is Awake!!!

Love Lee ♥

Praying For Our Nana

Sep6

Amazing the difference a day can make. On May 7th 2011 the family was celebrating the graduation of one of my nieces the next day our Nana took a nasty fall in the parking lot of the hotel. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital and while she had a couple of nasty bumps and bruises on her forehead and a laceration on her knee she was cleared for discharge home. Later that month, we had our 5th annual Smith Family Reunion and Nana was not able to attend because her knee was not healing. In-fact because she is a diabetic it was progressively getting worse. She was so disappointed she was not able to attend as she loves being surrounded by family and friends.

The first of June Nana returned to the doctor to find out she had a nasty infection in her knee and would require IV antibiotics…After long term antibiotic therapy and 6 knee surgeries our Nana took a turn for the worst last Thursday.

One day she was celebrating the graduation of her granddaughter…the next she sustained injuries from a fall.

One day she is getting a manicure, pedicure, and her hair done while sitting on the side of the bed…the next she is in ICU engaged in a battle for her life.

Our Nana remains in ICU in septic shock…She is on a ventilator, receiving mega doses of antibiotics, feedings, and dialysis…

All of this from a FALL…

I share our Nana’s story for three reasons:

To Remind Everyone to Put Safety first!!
Falling is the leading cause of unintentional injury at home among Americans 65 and older. Older people sustain such injuries by stumbling on stairs; slipping in bathtubs; falling off ladders and step stools; and tripping over garden hoses, dog leashes, and household appliance cords. Nana fell in a parking lot…
To Remind Everyone to Talk to your family about your wishes!!! What do you want if:
Your heart stops beating or you have a lethal arrhythmia: Do you want someone to try to get your rhythm back by performing compressions or shocking your heart with a defibrillator?
You quit breathing: Do you want to be intubated and placed on a breathing machine?
You are not able to eat: Do you want to sustain your life with feeding tubes?
Your kidneys shut down: Do you want to have dialysis
To Remind Everyone each day is a Gift!!!
We are not promised tomorrow so…Grab every opportunity you have to tell your family and friends how much you love them.

Please Continue to Pray for Our Nana…

Love Lee ♥

Tread Softly on My Dreams

Aug28

I remember in our early years of marriage Richard and I would sit for hours and dream of the future. Believe it or not…We still do!!! I love sitting out on the swing while having coffee and listening to him as shares his thoughts and dreams. Oh, and I so love the fact he is interested in mine!

When sharing my dreams with others, it is such a reality check to be reminded of my age… The buzz words are “at your age”…I am not quite ready to be an “old woman” and at times can be a sensitive subject for me; I sooo miss my youth!!!

I love this quote by James Dean:”Dream as if you’ll live forever… live as if you’ll die today.” I have always adopted this mindset. We only get one chance in life remembering… Dreams can often become challenging, but challenges are what we live for. ~ Travis White

Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born. ~ Dale E. Turner. So, as Justin Bieber would say…”If you don’t dream big, there’s no use of dreaming. If you don’t have faith, there’s nothing worth believing.”

Having a dream is all the more realistic when I dare to dream with the person I love the most in this world. It is even more special when we both have individual dreams but they are amplified because they complement each other and are intertwined. For me to have a dream and my husband’s dream is the act of creating what I dream for…That is God in His awesomeness further amplifying how we compliment or complete each other….A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality. ~John Lennon

Do you have a dream you are afraid to share with others? Don’t be!

Speak up…Share your dream and conclude with…

I have spread my dreams beneath your feet. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams. ~W.B. Yeats

Love Lee ♥

Pace Yourself

Aug24

Families across the nation are adjusting life routines to ensure their children receive a formal academic education. With a new school year under way so much time and energy is invested into:

Waking on time
Preparation of a healthy breakfast
Arrival to school on time
Completion of homework
Preparation of dinner
Early bedtime

Whew, and at the end of the day you wonder why you are so tired? But wait, you’re not done…

What about your childs Spiritual education? Where in the course of the day did you educate your children about the Lord, His mandates, His Love, His Mercies, His compassion and His favor. Everyday, God makes Himself known to you. Do you recognize His presence, provisions, and mercies? Do you share His presence, provisions, and mercies with your children. God’s word says,

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6

As a parent you have a huge responsibility to train your children in the ways of the world and the ways of the Father. And, while the focus is on the beginning of the school year, it is vital for all to remember this is a race and it will last for nine months out of the year so…

Pace Yourself

Love Lee ♥

We Stick Together Like Glue

Aug18

Love and Faithfulness are the glue that binds any relationship together and to have one without the other renders us as incomplete. This holds true whether it be Marriage, Family, and or Friends.

Love is a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection
Faithfulness is the act of being steady in allegiance or affection; loyal

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:3

While some of my friends would call the “around your neck” a noose and “the tablet of your heart” a tatoo…LOL

I choose to think of the “around your neck” as a precious necklace and “the tablet of your heart” as an engraved heart-shaped locket because

I LIKE BLING!!!

All, joking aside, I really love to envision my arms wrapped tightly around my Daddy God’s neck with my head resting on His chest allowing me to hear His heart beating for me…

Loving my heavenly Father and being Faithful in my relationship with Him is so incredibly easy because I know He Loves and is Faithful to me!!!

We Stick Together Like Glue…

Love Lee ♥

Choose Now

Aug2

What are your choices? Whom are your choices for? Not just for yourself.

Choose now whom you will serve, and that choice is going to affect the next generation, and the next generation, and the next.

Choice never affects just one person alone. It goes on and on and the effect goes out into geography and history.

You are part of history and your choices become part of history.

-Edith Schaeffer

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15

I love this scripture! In-fact so much so, it is the displayed at my front door so all who enter know…

As for me and my house…We Will Serve the Lord!

Love Lee ♥

Freedom in Passion

Jul23

More times than I can count I have been told I am passionate about different things…

To that I respond…YES, I AM!!!

I am of the belief we must be passionate about our beliefs, life, people and things we love. It is the passion we feel for all of these that give validity and importance!

In-fact…I have a passion meter; the higher the passion the greater the importance. While the term passion meter may not be used everyone has one. Other terms people may be more familiar with are

Soap Box
Button (as in when someone “pushes your button”)
Focus

To be passionate at any level ensures you are connected, engaged, care, or on board…In-fact the absence of passion leads to bondage; the bondage of apathy, listlessness, and disconnect.

Think about it…If God were not passionate about us He would have not given His Son as the ultimate sacrifice to give us freedom from our sin!!!

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Allow His passion to free you from your past, your sin, your apathy…The more you become aware of His passion the more you will become passionate about Him, people, things and the life He has blessed you with!!!

Step into Freedom…Connect with your passions!!!

Love Lee ♥

Under the Influence

Apr27

The influence of negativity is very contagious…I pray daily God will protect my heart and mind and allow me to remain positive and not succumb to the negativity which I am often bombarded by. Do I always measure up…NO ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

However, because I am soooo incredibly opposed to negativity and the influence it has on others, I am in constant pursuit of knowledge related to dealing with negative people. The article below does an excellent job of providing strategies for dealing with negative people. I wish I had read it yesterday…

How To Deal With Negative People – 10 Strategies.

God says to Love one another but…He never says we have to lower our standards and participate in their negativity…

And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

Are You Under the Influence…

Love Lee ♥

He Is My World

Apr8

In a recent communication with a precious friend, I shared my itinerary from now through the month of June…She commented, “You need a personal assistant”…

That comment has rolled through my head many times!!! Then like a lightening bolt flashing before my eyes it came to me…I have one!!!

Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.Psalms 54:4

Without His presence at this time in my life, I would be a total failure…

He makes my paths straight

He goes before me

He fights my battles

He keeps me singing

He is my light