Thankful Thirty #1

Source: upliftconsulting.com via Cee on Pinterest

November could not have come at a better time for me with all it's thoughts of thankfulness.  Please join me this month as I focus daily on something in my life deserving a moment of extra gratitude.

Every once in a while something we've taken for granted or not paid attention to at all becomes strikingly meaningful.  This happened for me two months ago as I sat at home, awake late at night with my newborn babies miles away in our hospital NICU unit.  Watching television as a distraction, I watched a March of Dimes commercial intently for the very first time.  Never before I had really paid attention because never before had I considered the family the March of Dimes was helping could be mine.

It happened to me again this week as I watched live coverage of Superstorm Sandy hitting the eastern United States.  I was struggling with the feeling that this magnificently devastating storm was not moving me like I thought it would if it was happening somewhere else in the world.  And then came the images of precious but struggling newborn babies being evacuated at the height of the hurricane from the NICU unit of NYU Langone Medical Center.

This is the image that really did it for me...

Source: People.com

An ordinary nurse suddenly thrust into an extraordinary situation, curling over her tiny precious charge as together they brave the harsh elements raging all around them.

 It has reminded me today how grateful I am for the NICU nurses that so attentively watched over my little Jax and Lucca 24 hours a day for 16 days while I was unable to be with them.  Clocking in each day for a 12 hour shift where their sole responsibility was to make sure our defenseless wee ones had any possible thing they would need.  And assuring me that entrusting them with my two newest gifts from heaven was the way it needed to be.

Today I am grateful for those people in the world

who choose to live each day in the service of the littlest and weakest among us.  

Uniquely December: Ice Cream Day

If you were reading awhile back, you know that I love Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey and that I also struggle supporting that particular ice cream establishment due to our differing political views.  When I mentioned it just a few months ago I hadn't found the impetus to make a definite turn away from my favorite frozen delicacy.  Today, however, I've taking my stand.

With Ben and Jerry's today throwing their corporate support behind the Occupy Movement, I will no longer support them even to indulge my strongest cravings.  Not because there isn't good to be done buried somewhere deep in the mess that is the Occupy Movement.  And not because I disagree with their long-standing efforts to support employees and consumers over corporate interests.  The reason I can no longer sneak my Chunky Monkey has much more to do with their decision to fuel a completely ineffective and direction-less movement.

Over the past few months I've found myself in several different states and seeing fairly up close the Occupy Movements in several those areas.  I've listened intently to what the Occupiers in my own neck of the woods are saying, and there's not much coherence there.  I know they must believe strongly in what they're fighting for-why else would they have stretched their protests into the bitter cold of winter?  But no one else is believing them because their is no concise point for us to be believing.

Let me share my view of the Occupy movement based on what has happened here in Salt Lake City...

Pioneer Park for years was a haven for homeless people and drug dealers.  It was a BIG problem; a historic and significant area of the city and nobody was able to enjoy it.  Finally the city stepped in to clean up the park and the problem.  Over the past few years they have made tremendous strides in cracking down on crime and finding shelter options for those in need.  Families are coming back to the park.  The farmer's market sets up there once again and a new summer concert series packs a crowd every week.

So what is the logical next step for a park with such a troubled past?  I promise you it's not a group of unorganized squatters pitching tents and piling up trash in the walkways.  It's not a group of people who apparently also have no homes because they never go there and also maybe can't read because they are completely oblivious to the printed park curfew signs.  The city bent over backwards, set aside their own city tenets, to enable a peaceable protest.  The SLC Occupiers recognized that. Then a man in a tent died. The city had to put their foot down. And the occupiers lawyered up to sue on the grounds that the city violated their own laws by letting the protesters stay.

What are the SLC Occupiers fighting for?  I have no idea.  On Black Friday they were calling for a boycott of shopping at Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart undercuts prices and products that are American-made.  Today, they're "riding our bikes very slowly" in front of trucks leaving the Wal-Mart distribution centers to show solidarity for the Wal-Mart workers who "deserve a living wage" and should unionize.  Are you kidding me?  Riding your bikes very slowly in front of a moving 18-wheeler?  Great cause.  Great movement.

If I think about it, I suppose the Occupiers are out there fighting for me.  Right?  Middle-class family struggling to keep health insurance, a bit afraid of the rate at which the price of food is rising, and wondering what comes next.  But you know what?  My husband and I won't be joining you.  No.  We're working.  We're supporting our family.  We're making ends meet the best way we can and looking for opportunities to intelligently make our situation better.  Know what else?  We're bathing!  (Well, okay, except for the no shampoo thing...)

What does all this have to do with ice cream?  Absolutely nothing.  Except that Ben & Jerry's has made it their new mission to stick their noses into the mess.  If, in the long run, their clout and own corporate dollars are successful in finally bringing a point to the Occupy movement, hurray for them.  Let them be a catalyst for something good (it'd definitely be better than touring with a burning effigy of the President).  For now, though, I am one of little faith.  I'll continue to grant them their creative tastiness, but will no longer be indulging...in their ice cream or in their involvement with the Occupy movement.

When the Lord Calls You...

My parents moved to Alabama.  Two months ago my dad volunteered for a one-week missionary & construction trip serving an area devastated by last spring's overactive tornado season.  By the time he returned home, the Lord had spoken to his heart and he knew he was being called to dedicate more time to the work and the people in the hills of Alabama.  Everything else just fell into place...

Within weeks the finances to cover obligations at home had wondrously appeared, as well as the beginnings of what they would need to move from Iowa to Alabama and modestly survive while they are there.  Circumstances at my mother's job had been building towards an opportunity for long-term leave for quite awhile and made sense completely as soon as this opportunity was presented to her.  And another family member seeking a new beginning in her own life was right there to take over the day-to-day responsibilities my parent's would be leaving behind for an undetermined amount of time.

That's how they got to Alabama.  Here is what they are doing:  

Working directly with the organization Carpenter's House and the program Mercy Flows, my parent's find themselves working with volunteer labor and donated resources in an effort to help rebuild a rural area in northeastern Alabama devastated by multiple tornadoes during a one-week time period this last April.  My father's background as a construction foreman and owner of a small construction company have helped him seamlessly step into his new role coordinating the 10+ projects that Mercy Flows currently has in varying stages of the re-building process.  Along with getting her hands dirty right next to his, my mom has found her own niche getting to know the homeowners and community members personally by learning their histories, hearing their tornado-related experiences, and sharing encouraging moments of prayer with them and their families.  Together, they've left a house behind to live in a small camper trailer and serve wherever they are needed.

It's been an interesting few months for my family as we get used to the decision my parent's have made.  Even though I moved far away from home more than 10 years ago, part of me feels sad and alone knowing they are not there.  Some of my sisters were confused at the idea that they would just drop everything and leave; others didn't take it seriously until my parents had packed up and driven away.  Yet, in the first three updates we've received on the work getting done in my mom and dad's new home, it is impossible to deny that the Lord has important work for them to do there.

I hope you will visit my parent's website and learn more about the area in Alabama which they are working, more about the work that is being done, and opportunities for you and the people you know to share your support by getting involved.  Add the link for their blog to your reader.  And if it moves you, remember them, the people of Alabama, and the rest of my family in your prayers.


More information available at Built On Grace Alone.  Once on the site, follow the blog on the News page.  And if you do click over there, please come back to leave a comment on something you have learned.  I'll be happy to return the kindness with an extra entry for each of my upcoming Blogtastic Extravaganza giveaways. 

In My Heart On Thursday

"Isn't it sad that we have a job where we spend two weeks avoiding the stuff we have to do fifty weeks a year?...Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you ought to set up a life you don't need to escape from."

- Seth Godin, Tribes

In My Heart On Thursday

                          "Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live."

                                                                                            -Margaret Fuller

Figuring It Out

I was really good at firing people.  Don't do the job right and get sent packing.  A few people I let go had managed to find my emotional side and they might have seen me a little more generous in the time allowed to get out, but they still had to go.  My world is completely black and white.  There are rules, expectations, and consequences or rewards for work done or not done.  It's as simple as that.

My working years were great because I was the person in control.  I was good at what I did and received the feedback satisfactory to go along with it.  Since leaving the workplace and starting a family I have been in a constant daily struggle.  Today it has finally occurred to me that this is the reason why.

Kids (and husbands, too, I suppose) do not live in a black and white world.  They don't receive instructions one time and follow them to the letter.  They don't respond well to constructive criticism, if they respond at all.  I can't fill my filing cabinet with their performance reviews and letters of recommendation.  Nobody is punching a time clock with the outlook of freedom at the end of an eight hour day. And I can't print a paycheck for last days work and send them on their way.

My kids are here to stay and it's my job now to fit into their colorful world.  I need to let them encourage me. Rather then looking for an opportunity to get rid of me, they greet me each morning with a giggle and a smile.  In their world there's no such thing as "hurry."  Instead of typing memos and conducting meetings, they beg me to plop down and play...all day...that's it mom...let's just play...

Hopefully I'll figure it out before they can me.