So much has happened since my last post.  I’m reminded of how much good comes from difficult situations and how important it is to trust in God: His plan, His wisdom, His providence, His guidance through the Word.  Having a God who loves us and does what’s best for us, whether we see it at the time or not, and who supports us and strengthens us so that we can endure trials  is an amazing blessing.  I’m also reminded of how important it is not to take for granted the good things in our lives.  We truly do not know what tomorrow will bring.  Our lives can be over or be changed forever in the blink of an eye.  I don’t worry about that  because I know that God is in control and I will do my best to focus on living for today and making this day count for His glory.  People I know and love are hurting – there’s been loss and there’s been pain and I hurt for them.  There is also victory to be gained and blessings to be found in these situations.

Good morning from snowy Minnesota!  I’m so excited to see our first snow this year!  It’s more like a dusting, but it’s beautiful!  I can hardly believe it’s been so long since my last post.  I try to write every few days, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to keep up that pace over the next few weeks.  I know it’s a busy time of year for everyone, but we are especially busy this year – my daughter’s 18th birthday is next week, Thanksgiving a couple of days later, our church’s Ladies’ Holiday Tea on Dec 1 that I’m co-hosting with a friend , all of the pre-holiday  and pre-company cleaning,  decorating, cooking, shopping, organizing and planning, plus the first of our family arriving for the holidays/wedding around Dec. 20th,  our son’s 21st birthday on Dec. 23,  Christmas, and then our daughter’s wedding on Dec. 29!!!  Whew!  So much to look forward to and enjoy, but I think you can understand why I might find it difficult to keep up with the blog every few days!  I will try! 🙂

I’m so thankful that I am still feeling pretty well and the side effects are not too difficult to deal with these days.  That could change at any time, but I’m enjoying feeling good now and being able to do all I need to get done!  Thanks for the prayers!!!  God answered “yes”! 🙂  I’m having some problems with my hearing aids and feedback.   I may have to consider getting some new ones.  These are working at the maximum capacity they are capable of, and I’m wondering if that is the reason the quality of what I’m hearing is pretty intermittent and there is so much feedback.  I don’t really want to have to spend money on new ones right now, but it might be the best option.  We’ll see.  I think my hearing has been fairly stable.  There have been a couple of questionable moments when it seemed intermittent, but it’s very hard to say if it’s actually my ears or more of an equipment problem.  I’ve experienced both scenarios recently, so it could go either way.  Next doctor’s appointment is Nov. 28.

Last night in our flock groups, we talked about some of the Psalms – specifically ones regarding thankfulness.  I know that this is a time of year when many people are spending time counting their blessings and giving God thanks for them.  I was thinking about the relationship between trials and our spiritual lives.  I think that there are so many things we take for granted and sometimes there’s really no way for us to recognize that or realize it unless it’s taken away from us or from someone we know. I feel that way about what’s happened with my hearing.  During the worst part of that time, my eyes were opened to so many things I’d never even considered.  I found (and find) myself grateful for so much that I had always taken for granted.  Our perspective changes.  It reminds me of this scripture:

Ecclesiastes 7:2-4:

Thankfully, I am doing much better these days than I was.  My emotions have stabilized again (really thankful for that!) and I feel fairly normal as far as energy goes.  Thanks for the prayers and for the words of encouragement!

I find myself having many thoughts about many topics lately.

My daughter is getting married next month (wow!) and my thoughts inevitably go to “Have we taught her everything we need to” and all of the other things a parent thinks about when their child is getting ready to begin their adult life on their own, outside of your protection and care.  It’s a big step and one that has to happen at some point….it’s what we are working toward in our parenting – equipping our children with all of the tools they need and the morals, wisdom, conviction and faithfulness  to go out and be godly, productive, responsible workers in the kingdom, excellent husbands and wives, parents, providers, etc.

There are also many thoughts about the details of planning the wedding and all of the things that go along with that.  As mother of the bride, there is a lot more to be done than there was when my son married and it’s fun and busy at the same time!  This wedding falls a few days after Christmas, so there are also holiday things to plan and work out along with all of the family coming from out-of-state and plans for our time together!  It will be a wonderful!  There are also lots of details to work out.

I’m also thinking a lot about the experience I just went through with the attitude problems and am trying to think about what I can do to avoid having that happen again.  I think it’s inevitable that I will have some emotional ups and downs.  I just need to try to figure out the best plan of attack to deal with them when they do happen.  Have you ever noticed that when your attitude needs adjusting it seems like it so easily turns into a “snowball” of negative – suddenly you don’t “feel like” getting in the Word as much, even though you know you should, and you don’t “care” about getting your work done or how healthy the food you’re putting in your mouth is, or whatever.  Suddenly you realize that you haven’t spent much time in prayer either (how did that happen?)…seems like it just all goes downhill quickly.  Then there is the aspect of feeling frustrated with yourself for letting that happen and disappointed in yourself that you can still fall so easily into those traps…it quickly becomes a vicious cycle.  The harder you are on yourself the more cranky and out of sorts you feel, which leads to more negative attitudes  which leads to more self-recrimination….I realize how very important it is to nip this all in the bud the minute I realize it’s happening.  The longer it goes on the worse it gets.  Maybe it’s just me, but I suspect this happens to others as well.  I’m so thankful that we have a way out, even when we slip up.  Our Heavenly Father knows us so well and has provided us with words of encouragement through the scriptures and through others in the faith.  He’s available 24/7 with a listening ear and comfort and strength when we need it.  I’m really thankful for that.  How in the world do unbelievers handle these things?  I can’t imagine.

As far as my hearing goes, I’ve had a couple of moments where is seemed like there might be some fluctuations, but it’s really difficult to tell.  It’s possible that it was more some technical problems with my hearing aids, although it would be odd if they acted up in that way.  So many factors influence how well I can hear – it can be very difficult to tell for certain.  I feel like I’m tolerating the steroids a little better this week.  Hopefully that will continue for the duration of my treatment.  I’m on the home stretch!  Unless something new happens, the latest I will be on them is the end of January and it’s possible I could start tapering off by the end of this month.  ASL class is still a lot of fun and we are learning a lot of vocabulary.  It takes quite a bit of studying to remember it all, but I have found it very useful even now in many situations in my daily life!  I feel like I am hearing pretty well these days.    I’ve adjusted to the new normal for the most part.  When I answer the phone and can’t hear the speaker, I go to my captioning phone; when I’m in church, I use my Domino Pro and set up the microphones the way I’ve found they work best; when I’m in group situations, sometimes I just know that I won’t follow what’s being said and I  sit back and relax and let someone fill me in when I can tell it’s something significant. The primary people in my life have learned how it’s best to communicate with me, too. I’ve learned to let people know in the public that I don’t hear well, and most people try to adapt and make it work.  Overall, I feel like things are going well in this area of my life and I am functioning pretty well.

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while.  I know there are some of you that check in often!  I do try to keep up with things here, but found it difficult to come up with anything to write about during the last week or so!  Thank you so much for caring enough about me to check in and for the prayers and encouragement!  I really appreciate it!