Thoughts Along the Journey

Last night, as I lay awake (insomnia is great for introspective moments), this blog came to mind.  It was begun back in 2006, as our family made a faith journey, as well as a literal journey from one state to another.  I needed a sort of "incognito" space to express my thoughts and feelings as we moved from the denomination of our childhoods to a new place.  (As a wise friend put it, we were learning to stop putting God in our boxes.)  From time to time, I also shared some of the struggles of dealing with anxiety and panic attacks. Then, as we settled into a new phase of life, the postings became a bit more of the practical, day-to-day-in-the-life-of-a-home-schooling-mom style.  It was an outlet for me.  I spent most of my hours being "mom" and "teacher".  Sometimes I just needed to be "Joni". Along the way, I met several other bloggers.  I learned so much from their writing styles and techniques.  On a deeper level, though, I learned fr...

I gasp when I see the time lapses between my posts.  This blog used to be a daily ritual!  It's not that I have nothing about which to write.  I often lay awake at night, thinking of a myriad of topics I could address.  But alas, life and it's busyness take over my time.  Writing is a luxury, not a priority. And now, on with the post! This evening, I was viewing a one (of the thousands) of videos that pop up in my Facebook news feed.  It caught my attention, as I have been intrigued (and sickened) by the Holocaust since my childhood.  It is a level of inhumanity I cannot comprehend.   The subject of this particular video was Eva Mozes Kor, one of the "Mengele twins".  If you're not familiar with this term, these twins were the human guinea pigs of Dr. Josef Mengele ("Angel of Death").  Dr. Mengele conducted experiments on these children, with seemingly no care for their health.  His goal was to find new ways to exp...

Credit: baranq - Fotolia Copyright: BartekSzewczyk.com What a crazy spring and summer it has been! In April, my dad fell a couple of times.  He had just recuperated from Influenza B, and was coughing again, too.  Thankfully, after some quick phone calls, he was taken to the ER.  He was experiencing several health issues.  Within the next two weeks, we almost lost him.  Dad was taken to the Kansas Heart hospital, and went through a couple of weeks of tremendous pain and sickness.  While Dad was in the hospital, Mom had eye surgery for wet macular degeneration.  I'm so thankful for my three older sisters, and all the ways they cared for my parents during this time!  The following weekend, Dad's condition worsened again.  Our family made a quick, one-day journey to Kansas.  The day after we arrived, Dad began a  transition into hospice care.  Within a short time, he was moved to a nursing care facility closer to th...

I haven't posted on this blog in over a year!  Facebook has become so much easier.  A few sentences, and everyone is caught up on my life.  But it just doesn't have the "got the writing out of me" satisfaction that I have gained from blogging all these years. This week is one of those that makes life interesting.  It stretched my faith and keeps me on my knees. My husband came down with a cold-type thing last week, which turned into bronchitis.  Earlier this week, the germs caught up with me.  On Monday, my car began making horrible noises.  The mechanic discovered a few problems with the exhaust system.  That meant a trip to a muffler shop.  There are more repairs that will need to be made ASAP--don't want to lose the transmission or gas tank in the middle of winter, right?  After taking care of all that, I came home and went straight to bed.  Those nasty germs. That evening, we supported our local library by ordering Chi...

I haven't posted on this blog in about 6 months.  No excuses from this blogger, only the fact:  Life. In the past, my times of silence have been due to the busy-ness of life.  You know how it is, right?  Activities, work, appointments, family events...life. This period of quiet as had another source, though.  Grief.  Grief for situations in our personal lives and the lives of those we love.  This has been a year of great loss for our family and extended family.  Loss of dreams, loss of loved ones, and loss of hope in the midst of seemingly insurmountable tragedy. In the past five days, it all seems to have escalated: - a dear family (from our church) lost their home to a fire.  A family of 10, including a newborn, suddenly became homeless; - a family member underwent a scary health situation, which is still not completely resolved; - a man close to our family is undergoing tests to hopefully reveal the cause of physical symptoms that...

Life doesn't always treat us the way we've planned.  Over the past month or so, my life has been turned inside out and upside down in more ways than one.  I've cried a lot of tears and felt a lot of pain. There's this really amazing portion of a psalm (56:8) that has been rolling around in my heart: "You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they  not in Your book?" In ancient times, mourners would collect their tears in a bottle.  The tears would be placed at the tomb of a loved one as a visual reminder of their grief.   From Wikipedia:  " Tear Catchers were commonly used during   Ancient Roman   times, with mourners filling glass bottles with their tears, and placing them in tombs as a symbol of their respect for the deceased. It was also used to show remorse, guilt, love and grief. The women cried during the procession, and the more tears collected in tear bottles meant the deceased was more important. The bottles...

One of my favorite movies of all time is "Eloise at the Plaza."  If you're unfamiliar with the Eloise movies, here is the basic story line:  Eloise is the 6 year old daughter of a world-traveling mom.  Eloise lives at the Plaza Hotel in New York City with her nanny, whose name is...Nanny.  Miss E has many adventures and a contagious smile. In one, very "Eloise-esque" moment, she is trying to discover the meaning of a French phrase.  She follows her tutor, Philip, into the bar at the hotel.  Of course, she is underage, being 6 and all.  She puts on her "little man" disguise and strides right on in.  And, in a way only she can, she wants to know the phrase.  She knows the words, but she wants to know what they MEAN. It's humorous, and I hope you enjoyed the clip.  But, of course, I'm going somewhere with this. The words "Pro Life" and "Pro Choice" are thrown around in our society as catch-phrases that are supposed t...