Signing Off

The other day I was dusting my little ones bedroom. On top of his dresser sits a large personalized piggy bank. When he was baptized I invited those in attendance to sign it for him. My first child had one and I thought it would be nice for the second one to have one as well.

While I was dusting, I took the time to look over a few of the inscriptions, and one jumped out at me. It read as follows:

God Bless you,____, You bring so much joy and happiness to my life. Love, ____

Sweet sentiment, isn’t it?

But, guess what?

This relative hasn’t even asked me how this little one is in over a year, how my other child is, or how I am.

She is very busy. Life is hectic. Running here and there. Hardly has time to fit everything into her day. She doesn’t seem to have time to communicate or acknowledge anyone anymore.

I can’t think of a birthday or Christmas that I’ve missed in her child’s life. Not one. I’ve yet to miss her birthday. You wouldn’t believe the number of calls or texts I’ve sent in support of job interviews, checking to see how doctor appointments went, or just to see how they were doing. I’m not saying that I’ve done these things because I expect them in return. I’ve done them because I care. What I am saying is that it is sad how some can so easily disregard those that they claim are important to them.

It is amazing that one who supposedly brings so much joy and happiness to another can be easily forgotten and dismissed. It takes two minutes to pick up the phone or a quick moment to send a happy birthday text. Quite difficult to do when you can’t fit anything else into your day though, right?

But wait…

That’s right.

Facebook.

Two hours or more each night.

She has time for that.

Something to think about, isn’t it?

I think it’s great that you can receive 51 happy birthday comments on Facebook because of all the friends you’ve reconnected with or made online. On Twitter you can receive 18 good luck tweets fairly quickly before heading out the door to an interview because you have 500+ followers and you sent out one tweet.

But turn off your computer for a minute.

Forget about Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest and your other social media sites.

Pretend it’s your birthday.

Your phone rings. Who is it?

It rings again. Who is it now?

Who are the people that are truly a part of your life? Those that truly care about you?

Are you neglecting them?

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Submission #9: Christmas Came Early

As many of you know we have had a tough few weeks. Seraphina is still only tolerating half strength feed, she has lost a considerable amount of weight. We went up to Sheffield again and have had to start another medicine called azathioprine which is an immunosuppressant as well as pushing the steroids up to maximum again as she doesn’t tolerate them being lowered.
We saw the ophthalmologist this week who again confirmed that she has a cortical visual impairment (although not too bad) and then we saw our local consultant who looked at a lump I had been a little concerned about in her tummy and confirmed it was an incisional hernia (her bowel has herniated through a past operation incision) so this means another op for my girl to fix it.
Then we had to go to the hospital twice with temperatures so that they could check her blood cell count due to being imunosupressed so they could see if she was able to fight off the infection and have medicine accordingly.
Life seems to be a game of ”hospital hokey cokey” at the moment and the other children are also feeling the strain, particularly the eldest three. Their schools have been good reducing the amount of homework they have to complete and we have spoken to them all and prayed together but it is hard when they ask you why God hasn’t healed Seraphina completely yet.

I have no answers for that… my faith is still strong, but my longing to see my girl healed is too.

Yesterday was one of “those” days. I was looking at the photos and pictures we had taken only a few days ago…Seraphinas 5th Birthday. How my heart ached to see her eat some cake, open her own presents, blow out her own birthday candles…speak and run around like any other 5-year-old girl. She had spent the morning crying with tummy ache, hadn’t been well enough for physio for months and was having more spasms.

I cried out to God …WHY?? Have you forgotten her??? PLEASE show me you still care…that you remember my little girls name!!!

I immediately felt bad about my outburst even though I knew that God didn’t mind.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. Isa 55:8 came to mind and I left it there and carried on with the rest of the day. David had one of his rare working from home days and we had an appointment in the afternoon.

Then, a couple of hours later….with Gods help my little girl gave us the BEST Christmas present we could ask for!

I grabbed my camera phone straight away and tried to capture some of it on film before she got too tired…she had already walked the length of the living room from the hallway and I just got the tail end of her walking here…Im sure you get the idea! Watch out Christmas tree this year!!!

I know many of you won’t agree with this but this is what I believe…

God hasn’t forgotten her…things may not be panning out the way I thought they would, or hoped they would but he DEFINITELY hasn’t forgotten her and I believe this is what he was trying to tell me.

HIS ways not mine….always.

Submitted by Caroline from Seraphina’s World

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September Blessings

The first day of September is already coming to a close. It seems this whole year is just flying by. When it comes to September I wish that life could just slow down. If only these 30 days could just last longer.

I love the close of summer and feeling the weather change as we approach fall. It has always been my favorite time of year. For many reasons. One is that it is finally cooler! I’m not a big fan of the 90 degree days especially with the humidity that accompanies them where I live. I love the colors of the fall, the crisp fresh air that we can breathe in and the anticipation of the upcoming holidays. It’s as if people are eager to be better versions of themselves and they actually are. I notice it most between Thanksgiving and Christmas but it usually lingers into January as well. If only that was how we operated throughout the entire year. Life would be more peaceful for sure.

Is there something specific that you tend to do more of during the holiday season? Perhaps it is an extra visit to a family member, a delivery to a favorite local charity or taking the extra two minutes to help someone carry their groceries. How about incorporating it into your September? Why not take this beautiful time of year and make it even better?

Sounds like it is time for me to unwind with a cup of tea and think of all that I look forward to this month as well as the ways I can bring more peace and hope into it.

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