A Stinky Smelly Situation in My Kitchen and No This is Not Another Post About Cat Puke

October 31, 2014October 31, 20148 Comments

Bart

Mr. KB

A few months back my cat Mr. KB was sick. He’s all well now but he is now on a special diet for his condition. The special diet is just fine with him but there is a problem with his new diet and that is the fact that I have two cats and that my other cat ‘Bart’ is now also on the special diet. The vet thought it would be better to put both of them on the same diet so there is no chance of Mr. KB accidentally getting the wrong food, because the wrong food could make Mr. KB sick again.

The new food is perfectly ok with both cats and they seem to like it a lot, but there is one small problem….

The problem is that I used to give them kitty treats first thing every morning and then another one again at bed time and the company who makes the food does not make kitty treats in the special diet.

Mr. KB is just fine with not having treats anymore but Bart being a kitty who does not like change is still not over the fact that he does not get treats anymore. I tried fooling him into thinking I was still giving him a treat by placing cat food in the treat container, this used to work when I ran out of treats in the past, but for some reason it does not work any more. Every single day never fail Bart still expects his treat. He waits in the morning and when he doesn’t get it he sits up on his back legs and begs for one. Finally after an hour of begging he will settle down and reluctantly move on into his day but then at bedtime he starts waiting and begging again. He also gets quite vocal when I go to bed and he realizes he will not be getting a treat again by coming into my bedroom to remind me that I seem to have forgotten the treat by meowing the most loudest meow I have ever heard over and over again.

A few times I tried to sneak Bart a treat when Mr. KB wasn’t looking but a few minutes after I give him a treat he got sick and puked (I promise this is not another post about cat puke) I spoke to the vet about this a few weeks ago and she told me the reason he got sick is because his system is accustom to the special diet now and that the treats will not set well on his tummy. She also said I should not allow either of the cats to have any food other than their new food. She then told me that I could make treats for them out of the canned version of the special diet. I was so excited to find out this news and I bought a couple of cans of the canned food deciding I would try to make the treats!

To make the treats I was told that I would have to take tiny pinches of the canned food, roll the pinches into balls, then flatten them and place them on cookie sheets to bake in the oven. Sounds easy enough…right? Unfortunately it was not as easy as it sounded and here is how it really went down…

First of all the canned food was very runny with gloppy shredded chunks of meat in it so rolling it into balls was not an option. Instead it was more like taking teeny tiny bits and dripping them on the cookie sheet and then trying to squish them into some sort of flat chunky mini puddles.

Secondly the food was the most horrible smelling stuff I have ever smelled in my life! It smelled like a cross between the strongest nastiest smelling tuna I have ever smelled and ….well I guess the strongest nastiest smelling tuna I have ever smelled! bluh! And to top number one and number two off, the real truth is that I am just not your Martha Stewart kinda Gal. Spending an hour placing puddles of sickening tuna smelling mush on a cookie sheet to make home made kitty treats is just not my idea of a fun afternoon! 😦

Once I got the hundreds of little puddle looking balls of stinky mush onto the cookie sheets I began baking them as I was directed to do and within moments I had the ~~fresh~~ sickening aroma of these ~~wonderful~~ gross little creations wafting through my house. The smell was so overpowering I had to move myself outside to the back deck until they were finished baking.

As I sat on my deck I wondered if that smell would leave my house or if my house would forever smell like rotting tuna. Another thing that I thought about was that my cats had better love these treats after all this trouble… though at the same time I think I secretly hoped that they would not like them because I did not want to have to make them ever again!

After about 30 minutes of baking the treats were ready to take out of the oven and cool. By now both cats were sitting at my feet looking at me with ‘what’s for dinner’ looks on their faces. After they cooled a little bit I decided to give them each a sample. Feeling quite proud of myself I sat one in front of each cat expecting them to fully love my new creations. Both cats began smelling them and then KB took his paw and pushed his treat around a bit, smelled it again several more times and then he walked away! Bart smelled his treat one time, sat down, looked at me and let out a huge meow as if to say “I’m not trying that thing! What else do you have?”

Neither one of them would even taste the treats! They just sniffed and that’s it! I was not sure if this was a good thing or bad thing!? Should I be upset that I spent my whole afternoon and stunk up my house to have my cats turn up their noses in disgust at these lovely little morsels I had just slaved over? Or should I pick them both up and hug them and kiss them while tears of joy streamed down my face in relief that I never had to make these stinky things ever again?

Well I didn’t go all ‘tears of joy’ but later in the day I did happen to find myself happy dancing all the way to the garbage disposal. Nothing was solved today other than me finding out that I do not like making cat treats and my cats do not like cat treats that I make. So at least we are on the same page about something. I do feel bad for Bart but I think he will eventually get over it.

This was my last day of writing for the series 31 Days of Hushin’ My Mouth as you probably have already noticed I did not write every day like I had planned to do. I only wrote 16 out of 31 days though that is way more than my usual average of about one time a week. I did also learn something through all this… Because I was trying to pay attention more and also think of something to write about each day I did take more time to try to slow down and listen to God better. I did see more of what he was trying to show me each day and I do actually think I noticed things I would have not normally noticed before, I just did not write about them all here on the blog.

When I started this blog I only did it because I felt like it was something God wanted me to do. I never really considered myself a writer and still really don’t, though I do like to write stuff down. I journal a lot but most of that is just musings or things that I want to remember later in my life so I document them in my journal. I really don’t have time to write a blog post every single day. If you write a blog you know it takes time to get them ready to publish… or maybe you don’t have that problem?? If not I don’t want to know…LOL… If you do then I guess you understand 🙂 Mostly though I just really want to do what I think God wants me to do and I do not feel like writing every day is what he wants me to do right now, though I do know that with God you just never quite know what he may ask you to do in the future so who knows maybe some day, just not today.

It still amazes me at times that I actually have readers that read my posts and some of you actually come back day after day and read them all. If you are reading this right now, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to come over here and read what I have to say today.

Have a wonderful evening or day depending on what time it is wherever you are and God bless you,

P.S. You can read the rest of the posts in this series by clicking here.

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Cleansing and Forever Healing Rain

October 27, 2014October 27, 201415 Comments

The day I met you I was broken and burdened

Running away, chains of yesterday’s past tangled tightly around me

Weights of shame and pain sinking me to the bottom of a pit of self-destruction

Ashamed of my past

Ashamed of who I’d become

So tired of running

So tired of the pain

And then I heard you whisper my name

When you whispered my name I was afraid to lift my eyes to you

Afraid of what you would see, if you looked on my face

so full of shame, I knew I didn’t deserve your grace

Burdens I had tried to bury deep years ago were festering like poison, decaying my heart

I was such a mess, but your arms were still open wide

Could this be a place of rest for my heart so broken?

Softly you spoke…

“Just come as you are there’s no need to hide”

“Lay your past at my feet it’s not yours to keep”

“If you open your heart and let me inside I’ll show you a love and a life like you’ve never known’

How could this be? Why would you love someone like me?

“I have always loved you,” were the next words I heard spoken

“Fix your eyes on me and don’t ever look back”

Deep pain hidden within the pockets of my memories of yesterday came flowing forth in torrents as hope fell like rain showering down on me.

Washing away stains of my past

Things I thought were forever branded were washed away

Burdens lifting as my newly clean hands lifted upwards to you

Grasping on to all you had to offer

Laying down my burden and shame

Sorrows of yesterday washed away

by your cleansing and forever healing rain

#write31days

Lord Send Me

October 25, 2014November 7, 201414 Comments

My prayer….Here’s my heart served up for you. Take it Lord and do what you want with it.

So he gives me hurting and broken people.

How do I help the broken people? The alone people? The lost? Sometimes I feel so inadequate or I tell myself things like my job or my family come first. Families and jobs are important but that also depends on the circumstances of which thing is God sending me to do at the moment. Sometimes I wonder if I am a hypocrite? I wonder do I sometimes want from others what I can’t give of myself?

She was broken and felt so alone. She knew Jesus and she knew he was there yet today things were really messed up in her life. Things were spinning out of control and she was spiraling down the pit of despair and for some reason she just couldn’t feel him as close as he used to feel. She reached out to people, but they had things going on in their lives and they were too busy to notice and those who did notice her pain didn’t know what to do, so they just avoided what was staring them right in the face. Many knew she had Jesus and told themselves that she knew where to turn.

And the truth is Jesus IS…always here and he is where she needed to turn.

We tell ourselves that Jesus is always with them, and that we are not him and that they need to turn to him not us.

We may even say that to them ….

Because we tell them what we know. We may tell them they’re not alone that they always have Jesus but isn’t it our job to show Jesus to them? Who are his hands? Who is supposed to shine his light? Doesn’t he do his work through us?

We ask God to send us and yet when he puts someone right in front of us instead of being there we have other things to do. So many things are blocking the way… so we say we will pray.

We pray he will help them. We pray he will show them that they are not alone….

Could it be he sent us in answer to that prayer? Did we give back to God what he gave us to do?

Maybe we are supposed to be the one to show them the hope. To take the time and show them the love of God.

Here I am Lord send me….

And when you send me please help me to see.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8

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Where Morning Dawns and Evening Fades

October 24, 2014October 23, 201410 Comments

My heart swells with joy when I see my husband is posting sunrise pictures on Facebook while he is supposed to be at work. I hope he doesn’t mind that I borrowed his picture for my blog post today.

One masterpiece fades softly into the background as another flows quietly and seamlessly forward erasing the darkness as bright colors begin spilling over the sky turning what was once a star covered canvas into a fiery sky of oranges and golds, beauty so captivating I have to stop and just watch in awe. Where morning dawns and evening fades I enter the place where joy is made.

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy. Psalm 65:8

As you go through your day today slow down and pay attention to all the beautiful gifts God surrounds you with. I think you will be amazed.

Have a wonderful day,

#write31days

The Amazing Journey to Peace

October 22, 2014October 22, 20144 Comments

I went for my recheck on the macular hole today. The hole is healed and no surgery is needed at all. I am amazed and so thankful!

I am not sure why God chose to give me this miracle, it’s not my first actually its one of many. Was this all to show me what he can do? Or was it just a normal thing planned from the beginning?

Worry… Worry is a word I used to know really well. All this eye stuff has taught me worry is a waste of time. There is no need to worry. What will or will not happen, will happen, whether I worry or not. So why not just believe that God has it covered and be thankful for all he has done.. That is what I hope to remember to do from now on.

This almost 4 years of eye stuff has been quit an amazing a journey for me. Is it finally finished? ….Well… the macular hole is healed in my left eye yet I have some odd side affect is going on in my right eye now do to the Lucentis shot I had 3 years ago coupled with my arthritis. She said that it is causing me to have a red eyes sometimes that look as if I have broken blood vessels in my eye. I have to take a steroid drop for that now that may or may not cause glaucoma or cataracts. Am I worried?? NO. A few years ago when a doctor gave me medicine I would skip it for fear of the side affects. To me it is the strangest thing if I think about it really hard…. Me at peace about stuff that used to scare me to death….

I think as long as I am on this earth there will always be something going on. If not eyes it would be something else. All I know is we can chose to wallow in the problems or chose to rest in the peace of God. I think I will chose to rest in the peace.

God is really good. He took me the most messed up fraidy cat person and somehow managed to change that. It is really nice to have this peace.

Have a blessed evening,

#write31days

Peace in Your Strength

October 21, 20147 Comments

Most of my life I have had panic attacks. When I have a panic attack most of the time they come out of nowhere and most of the time they seem to be about nothing. At times they can be so strong they cause me to lose a grip on the reality that I am having a fear about nothing. When a panic attack starts usually at first I will feel an overwhelming sense of doom, and then the fear will start to come in really fast eventually overwhelming me. Over the years I have learned how talk myself out of having a full blown panic attack. After Jesus came into my life they seemed to not be as severe anymore though I did still have them from time to time.

They came back pretty strong again when I woke up one morning almost 4 years ago with a bright glow in my eye due to a blood clot in my eye (story here). As I went through my eye issues over the next few years at first I spent a lot of the time in panic. Gradually over time God started really showing me how he was there with me during those times and eventually I noticed I did not have many panic attacks anymore and if I did they were very short lived.

Today I was driving my car and suddenly I noticed bright glow in my left eye…you know how when you look at the sun and then look away, how for several minutes you will see a glowing spot in your eyes?? What I saw looked like that. Because that glow is what I saw the morning I woke up with the blood clot in my eye now sometimes a glare off the sun or a light bulb will send me into panic. I know that sounds silly but that is how my mind works. So as I was driving down the road today I must have been looking at something that caused the glow to happen. The minute I noticed it panic started to grip hold of me. But suddenly the words “Jesus please take this” came out of my mouth and then I began to thank him for all he has done for me. Within a matter of second’s peace replaced the fear.

It took me a few minutes before I realized what had just happened. I remember a time I would go and cower in fear at the first inkling of panic with it eventually turning into a full blown panic attack. I realized today that I didn’t do that, I realized that somewhere along the line I have learned how to face my fear with strength in knowing God has it under control. Wow it was so cool to realize that I now take security in the fact that panic does not own me because I chose to let go of it.

Over the years I have found out that a lot of people don’t understand my panic attacks and to some people a fear of nothing seems silly. But to me the fear I feel in a panic attack is very real and is something way bigger than I can deal with. I now know that the fear was never mine to deal with in the first place.

When God created us he did not give us fear instead he gave us strength. He gave us the strength that can only come from him. All we have to do is call on him, trust in the fact that he is bigger than our fear. Once we believe and trust him we can relax and live in his peace.

Dear Jesus
Thank you for the peace that you just gave me. I know that if not for you sometimes panic would overtake me. Thank you for giving me security in knowing that when I call out your name you will grab onto my hand and lead me back to peace. I trust you and I know you are faithful. I know that nothing here on this earth can separate me from the peace that I have in you. When anxiety and panic sneak in and try to grip me I know where to turn to find peace. When I turn to you, your peace wafts over me, and takes away my fear. Thank you for loving me and surrounding me with you power.
Love,
T

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For the Hard Days and Every Day

October 16, 2014October 16, 20142 Comments

©www.astorybyme.com

The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace. Psalm 29:11

He will give you the strength and the peace you need today and every day.

Blessings,

#write31days

Rainy Days

October 13, 2014October 13, 20147 Comments

Once again I awaken to the sound of raindrops on the roof…

Another rainy day…

Though I love a sunny day there is something peaceful about a rainy day.

Rainy days make me feel all warm and cozy inside.

I love the sound the rain makes as it hits the roof and then as it pours into the gutters eventually finding its way to the ground.

I love looking out the window and watching as the world around me becomes saturated eventually the ground becomes soaked so deep that the raindrops have nowhere else to go except to form small rivers running across the grass.

I love how some of the drops stick to the pine tree needles looking like slivers of ice.

I love how it also seems to pick the fall colored leaves right off of the trees. Some are so heavy with moisture they stick to the ground while others drop on top of the streams of water to float softly away, like my thoughts today.

As I write this thunder rumbles softly in the distance and I feel like it is God saying “take notice of this gift.”

Thankfulness and contentment are my thoughts today.

Thank you God for rainy days.

For the rest of the posts in this series click here

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How I Almost Missed A Blessing

October 10, 2014October 11, 20148 Comments

Last night was a blessing that I almost missed because I was afraid….

Last night I was supposed to work the Compassion table at the Josh Wilson Carry Me Tour. When I first signed up to work at the concert it was scheduled to be held in Florissant Missouri. If you listen to the news you have probably heard of the rioting that has been going on in Ferguson which is in Florissant. For some reason the fact that the concert was in Ferguson hadn’t really crossed my mind yet… so that was not the reason I was afraid.

The reason I was afraid was because at the last minute they switched the concert to a place that is really far away from where I live and that I had never been to before. The concert was switched to Wentzville Missouri at the last minute because of the rioting going on in Ferguson the people in charge of the tour decided that it would be much safer in Wentzville. Wentzville Missouri is about an hour and 15 minutes away from my house and it would be really late when the concert was over. I was nervous about driving home so far in the dark by myself and to top matters off it was pouring down rain and I can not see well at night driving in the rain. So there I was faced at the last minute with going to somewhere I have never been before, in the dark and in the rain. About 4 hours before I was supposed to be there I decided I was not going to go. It just did not seem like a very smart thing to do.

After I made my decision that I was not going to the concert it still would not leave my mind. My common sense kept saying I should stay home where it was safe but no matter how much I tried to ignore it I I kept getting this nudge to go. I even prayed about it and I still heard go, but I kept saying, “no your just feeling that way because you just want to go and you also feel guilty for cancelling” and I still decided to stay home.

About 2 hours before the time I was scheduled to be there another of my advocate friends sent me a text message that asked if I had signed up to work that night. I told her yes I had signed up but that I could not go because of the rain and the dark and my not being able to see in it issues.

After her message no matter what I did I could not rest. Finally I was like okay I know the Holy Spirit is telling me to go. I then said, ‘OK God if you really want me to go I will go, but seriously this is crazy going out on a pouring down rainy night to a place I have never been in the dark! I threw myself together and got in my car and took off.

When I left my house it was still light outside but it was pouring down rain so hard I could barely see to drive in the daylight but I kept going and it kept getting darker from the rain clouds and raining harder and harder. But then about 30 miles into my drive I noticed the rain was letting up just a little bit. The man on the radio giving the weather forecast said it was supposed to keep raining all night. Against my own better judgement I still kept going. My brain said this is dumb by oddly I felt more at peace going than I did staying at home where it was ‘safe’.

About another 10 miles of driving and I drove out of the rain. Go figure… LOL! so I laughed and said to God, “Now if you can just make it not rain anymore tonight.” I will admit I said that sarcastically never actually believing that he would.

You guessed it….It was dry the rest of my trip there…

Once I got to the concert I met up with the rest of those who were helping and we set up our table of child sponsorship packets from Compassion International and talked to people who had questions about child sponsorship.

There were 3 music artists for this concert, Dan Bremnas, Citizen Way and headlining the tour was Josh Wilson. Not only did we work at the Compassion table but we were also able to hear and watch a lot of the concert.

This next part is kinda cool, funny and a little bit embarrassing all rolled into one. I am a HUGE HUGE Josh Wilson fan. His story and his songs hit close to home for me in so many ways. A lot of the time we don’t get to see the entertainment when we go to these events but I was soooo hoping I would get to at least catch a glimpse of some of Josh’s part of the concert. I am sure you can imagine I was really excited I would be able to do that. When we first got there to work we were met by Becca who was the organizer and our leader for the night. She was such a sweet girl with a southern accent and her personality was so contagious, she seemed to just radiate joy. I knew Josh Wilson’s wife’s name was Becca and it did not take me to long before I realized yep she was THE Becca, Josh’s wife. Oh goodness I was hanging out with Josh Wilsons wife (star struck) 😉

About halfway through the performance we do a packet pass with the audience. One of the music artists got on stage and told his story about his Compassion child. We had been told to stand at the top of the isles until we were called down to the front by the stage to pass packets. We had been told that some of the ‘guys’ would come out to help us when it was time to pass packets so I was standing in my isle and a young ‘guy” came up to the same isle as me with child packets in his hands. I started talking to him because we were sharing the same isle. We talked about nothing big, just chit chat about how we would split the isle, etc….

Eventually we were called to come down and stand in front of the stage, I was standing now in front of the stage with my new friend standing right beside me. The music Artist on the stage talked about what was involved in sponsoring a child and then he said “if you sponsor a child tonight you will also get a free CD from this man right here,” as he points to my new friend and he says, “Josh Wilson.” Thankfully no one could hear what was going on in my head… OH MY GOSH! I had hoped to maybe catch a glimpse of him singing but I had done even better! Though it was short lived I HAD JUST BEEN HANGING OUT WITH JOSH WILSON! lol cool! I can be such a ding dong at times why did I not know that it was him in the first place??. In my defense he did have on glasses which he did not wear on stage and it was dark in the room with bright blinding lights swooping around….at least that’s my story and I’m gonna stick to it 😀

After the packet pass we went back to the table and I was thinking if someone had told me I was talking to Josh Wilson I would never have been able to speak to him.. I am so shy and I would have been star struck and tongue tied.

I got to thinking later about that…Wondering why do I act like that? When I did not know who he was he was just a normal guy just like I am a normal girl. Both of us were doing our job. Why in my mind did I put him up on a pedestal? I am so glad I did not know it was him when I talked to him because I really love that I got to meet him and see who he really was.

I think maybe there is a lesson in here somewhere… There is always a lesson, huh.

A lot happened last night; There was this one other thing that happened that I want to tell you about. When we first got there and were setting out child packets a packet of a little girl in a pink dress from Haiti jumped out at me. I just had to pick up her packet from the table and look at it. Her birthday just so happened to be July 2 which is my anniversary too. I kept thinking maybe I should sponsor her but then also at the same time that I should not. All night long every time someone would come to the table I would hope they picked her because for some reason I was really wanted her to have a sponsor but nobody took her. Right before the packet pass that I just told you about we were each given a stack of packets that we would hand out, with hers staying behind on the table.

As we were heading into the auditorium and I walked away from the table I felt the urge to grab her packet from the table and I did. I put her packet it on top my stack that I had in my hands knowing fully that she was the first one I would hand out, and she was.

I didn’t think anything else about her packet after that until right at the end of the night a lady came to the table to bring her payment for the child she was sponsoring and I noticed …she had HER! The little girl in the hot pink dress! The lady and her own little girl were so excited to sponsor her and she looked to be close in age as the little girl who was sponsoring her. I could feel God speaking in my heart right then and I knew at that moment that all of this had been planned out way before this night had ever even started.

The rest of the evening went really well. We had 38 children who now have new sponsors so that was pretty awesome!

After the concert I got in my car to go home and it was still NOT raining even though on the radio they kept saying that it was raining. Guess what?… I never saw so much as a sprinkle on my way home.

Do you see what happened here?? God had me covered. He wanted me to go and as always when God asks, he will work out the details. Something else… whenever God asks us to do something and we answer yes there is usually always a blessing somehow tied to it. I had a wonderful pile of blessings sprinkled throughout my night. Blessings I would have missed had I not gone. I am so glad I did 🙂

Josh Wilson

Josh and Becca Wilson

If you are interested in knowing more about child sponsorship through Compassion you can click HERE.

Thanks so much for reading today,

If you would like to read the rest of the posts in this series you can click the picture below

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How Well do you Know God?

October 8, 20147 Comments

Have you ever had a friend that you can pretty much predict what they will say or do because you know them so well? The more you are around someone the more you get to know them and know who they truly are. The same goes for God, the more you spend time with him the more you will get to know him and know who he truly is.

Ask yourself today… What do I know about God? Who is God?

I don’t mean just what you have heard about him but how well do you personally know him? Do you know him from spending time in the Bible and spending time with Him or do you know only what other people have told you about Him?

If you want to be really good friends with someone you gotta take the time to get to know them personally. The same goes for God, he loves you always but if you take the time to get to know Him personally He will be the best friend you ever had.

Get to know him today,

Blessings,

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:13

To read the rest of the posts in this series you can click here – 31 Days of Hushin’ My Mouth

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