stories of a real life wonder woman

Work on the house continues. I am not there as often as I am not sure that I will be of any help. But work continues in the cold. I don't really have any updates there except to say Kenny is hoping to get it all closed up with the roof finished in the near future. Then he can have better protection from the elements and some of the other things inside can be done. I did post briefly about Thanksgiving so if you want to check out that blog you can. Besides that I have been a little sick this week and that is no fun. I have become a big baby when sick so I get grouchy and that is no fun for anyone. Now back to advice from a sick person. I talked a little about phases/stages of being sick. This week I want to talk about the "why me?" phase. The why me phases is when you ask questions like - Why do bad things keep happening to me? Why am I sick? What did I do? Often followed by - I don't deserve this. This isn't fair. This can be a tough phase to be in and g...

Thanksgiving is and has been for some time my favorite holiday. It's a day when eating carbs on carbs is expected and I love that. As you know, if you know me or read my blog, you also know how much I love parades and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is one of my favorites. And though TV shows and movies tend to make it seem like spending time with your family is the worst - I enjoy that I have family to celebrate with. Sometimes I have to remind myself I can't get too annoyed with them since they put up with how annoying I can be. Since I so often in the past have posted about all the bad days I thought it would be nice to have an extra post of celebration. (The regular scheduled program of advice from a sick person will continue again on Sunday.) So lets get the obvious out of the way first - I am thankful to be feeling better than ever. It's still a strange feeling to me to feel so good - strange in a good way. And I am and forever will be so thankful to the do...

Work is slowly progressing on the house still. The work has been a bit slower recently because of the weather. Mom is praying that we can get the roof finished soon since it's Illinois and the weather is getting crazier. Also be praying for Mikey, Kenny, and Dad as they work at the house in some of this weather - they do stay at home when it's too cold but a lot of work needs to be done that they want to get done. This week in my advice about a life of sickness I wanted to talk about the stages/phases you go through emotionally while dealing with a life of sickness. Now I will say people who get sick later in life most likely experience these phases differently than I did because mine didn't occur when I got sick but as I grew up and began noticing the realities of my life. Now I don't know that I could name each phase or the order they will come in but they often resemble the stages of grieving. I tend to think this is because you may be grieving the loss of the ...

We've still been making progress on the house but it is a lot of work. Anyone will tell you that. So thank you to everyone who has been helping. We are so grateful that you are still coming out to help us even in the cold. We also love having Kenny back in town not just to help us with the house but because we love being with him. It's nice seeing my dad with his best friend. Now as promised some sort of words of wisdom for this week. (Side note - my notes for this keep growing so it should be a multiple week thing. Also feel free to ask questions whenever you have them.) First -  because I am known to come with my own personal disclaimer I do want to say I am no expert. I don't have a degree when it comes to anything medical or anything to do with counseling. I don't always have the right ideas or words. I have not always dealt with the things in my life in the best of ways. My coping mechanisms can be found lacking. I only know what has and hasn't worked for ...

This week I have been called "the best" a lot and I want to say thank you. I don't know what I am doing to be thought of so highly but I am grateful for your love. I am trying my best to take it all in and consciously notice how loved I am. Thank you for that love. Work on the house is still going on. Kenny is there most days during the day. This week he was working on the addition putting up walls. The house is almost ready for the new trusses which is super exciting. We are very thankful for all the help in getting the house to this point and for those praying for this whole process. I have been to the society again this week and I am still enjoying it. I knew I would but I had to build up some courage to go there at first. I find that I am often the cowardly lion constantly praying for courage. I try not to make it evident but quite a few things make me nervous. But like helping at the society most of them turn out great. The only other news I have is that I am t...

Exciting new from this week - I have started volunteering at the Lee County Historical and Genealogical Society this week. Though I feel like I may not be the best person for this work I am loving it. I get to see the coolest stuff and they are so excited to have me. They have me on a pretty big project. I am in the process of trying to categorize the contents of three large boxes from an old town historian. I have come across pictures of buildings downtown being built, the arch being built and what it originally said, years worth of pictures of paper boys for the telegraph, pictures and descriptions of what used to be a sort of trading post, and so much more. And I haven't even really looked at what they already have at the society. It is an incredible opportunity for me and I am excited to learn from all the people that volunteer there.  This could also be a great experience and aid in me getting a job in the Public Library in the coming months. So be praying for me because I ...