# 2 of 52

Here it is already the 10th of January 2015.... Time is flying... It's only 349 days 'till Christmas... That's CRAZY when you think about it..... So let's not, and say we did... My "Momo",  (pronounced Mom-O) usta say that...dI'd t ever and still don't have any idea why she said that...
Thinking of her, My "Momo"... She is what I aspire to be.   She loved, she was a "caretaker", she was flamboyant in all the right ways...There was a time in my life that I would pray for a God to take me before her because I didn't think I could or wanted to live my life without her.  She passed on Dec. 26, 1977...Two days before Christmas, a few years later, they discovered my Daddy had cancer , I knew I couldn't live past my Daddy passing.... After all he was only 62 years old... He passed on St Patrick's Day The very next year 1982...Then one of our FosterSons passed on January 2 a few years after that.  A few years after that my Step-Daughter passed the day after Thanksgiving...Then that brings us to 1/1/06 My Mom passed... All of these were significant losses in my life... All passing anniversaries in less than 6 weeks each and every year.
This morning a very dear friend of ours passed, we celebrated his 70th Birthday New Years Day.  He, His loving wife and his family valiantly fought for months with his bout with brain cancer.

I want to take an idea from sports commentator Stewart Scott who passed recently from cancer.  During his battle he eluded to the fact that if we pass from cancer, it doesn't necessarily mean we failed in battling it.  But that the winning is in how we fight the battle... Our friend and his family fought valiantly, with joy for each and every day with love for each other and sharing every blessed minute...
Another passing/graduation to celebrate during the Holidays.......Joe, we will miss your smile, your love, your caring spirit....man did we have fun... You are an awesome Man, a husband, father, uncle, brother, grandpa and friend.  You worked hard at everything you ever did... It was and is an honor to call you our friend.

Grief is totally unpredictable.  Grief is personal.  Grief is ever-changing.  I tell people all the time that loss is undeniable....no one gets through life without it.   How we navigate this is the challenge.   In my case that people would find it necessary to tell me to ... "Put on my big girl pants and "get over it".... Nope... That wasn't and isn't  for me...I can't "get over it".  Sincerely, I don't believe it's necessary, to "get over it"... But the thing that is imperative, for me, is that I can endeavor to "live passed it".  I work to define a new "Normal" after each great loss.  To me the loss of your child or your spouse has to be the worst...but in each and every loss, it's important to allow yourself time and experience... Start learning how to breathe again...Really, you will breathe again....it'll just be different, and different is ok.

So I said all that to say, "The Holidays come with a mixed bag of tricks.  This is true for many many others as well. Finding a soft place to land in these times is very important.  Surrounding yourselves with loving, gentle, understanding folks is of utmost importance.  The Holidays alone are enough to make a sane person talk to themselves...and then you add sickness, loss & grief, well a mountain called "Holiday" can be seriously overwhelming.

At Christmas time we can see the JOY that the Savior brings as we celebrate His Triumphant birth.  But it's hard to keep up the pretenses without lots of determination.  I have a young friend who has suffered great loss and throughout this past Holiday Season she was able to hang on to and surpass her greatest expectation with a goal that she was determined to accomplish. She had good people around her, she had soft places to rest, she designed her activities to ensure her success. A good lesson for us all.  Singlehandedly, we accomplish...."not much".... Together we accomplish "much".

Then comes the January Blues...I'm "Fightin Back With Joy"

"Fight Back With Joy" Blog Blast entry!

I have a disclaimer.... I'm so not experienced in blogging but I wanted too post this for Margaret and for her recently released book " Fight Back With Joy" .  So here goes, with help from Jessica aka: the "Chihuahua on Red Bull"  ...

Margaret Feinberg, is one of my most loved and respected authors. She has has been through a brutal fight with cancer and shares some very unexpected lessons she discovered along the way.   These nuances are expressed in her new book and Bible study “<em><strong>Fight Back With Joy</strong>”</em>.

It’s inspiring to learn how Margaret has been practicing a defiant joy, and I thought you might like to get an insider’s look, a sneak peek of the video and read an interview with Margaret.
<em>http://www.margaretfeinbergstore.com/products/god-bless-this-hot-mess-t-shirt </em>

“The Secret To Living A Defiant Joy”: An interview with Margaret Feinberg

Through a brutal fight with cancer Margaret shares the unexpected lessons she discovered along the way in her new book and Bible study “Fight Back With Joy”.

<em>Preview the 6-Session DVD Bible Study, here.</em>

In her newest book and Bible study, Fight Back With Joy. She shares how the book was born out of her fight with a life-threatening illness. What is your difficult diagnosis, and what has your journey to health entailed?

For the last 18 months, She's been battling breast cancer. Breast cancer isn’t just one disease it represents thousands of different diseases with their varying components and factors. Being diagnosed under the age of 40 is significant. She's been through a brutal year of chemotherapy, radiation, and more surgeries than Anyone would want to count or even want to remember.

Why did she write "Fight Back With Joy"?

She had studied joy for a year and was putting the finishing touches a book on joy—just two weeks from turning it into the publisher, when she received the diagnosis. She had been pursuing and activating joy in her life in the relatively good times, now she had to do it in the midst of darkness, depression, and torturous pain. Through the process, she discovered the breadth, depth, and power of joy—that despite hundreds of sermons and many decades in the church—no one had told her of before.

In Fight Back With Joy book and Bible study, she really pushes the reader to reevaluate their definition of joy. Why do you think this is so important?

Much of the teaching I’ve heard on joy over the years is oversimplified. I remember those days in Sunday school learning that JOY is spelled Jesus, Others, Yourself. While that made perfect sense at 9 years old, I’ve seen how distorted that can become as an adult.

I see friends who love Jesus but spend so much time pouring into their kids, grandkids and others that their joy looks something like this: jOy.

Technically, it still spells joy, but more than anything, these men and women who are so exhausted, so empty, so running on fumes from pouring into others need to pause and take time to focus on themselves. Laying hold of joy right now will require them to reevaluate for a season and discover the joy that comes with JYo.

I also noticed how most of the definitions of joy define it more by what it isn’t than by what it is. I constantly heard that happiness is based on circumstance but joy is not dependent on circumstance.

Biblical expressions of joy turn out to be far different than what I had been taught. She is now convinced the writers of the Bible would say that, the reason we have joy is because we have great circumstances. If you are a child of God, you are drenched in the grace and mercy of God.

No matter what you’re facing: Your circumstances are better than you think.

If you’re not experiencing joy, perhaps it’s because your definition of joy is too narrow.

On a scale of 1-10, how hard was it for Margaret to write this book and Bible study?

An eleven! This journey has been the most painful experience of her life. And, to share about it requires some vulnerability. Okay, a lot of vulnerability. And, that’s really, really hard. But she feels like she's finally ready to share what God has stirred in her heart along the way because although cancer has been the most painful journey—it has also been the most joyful. And no one is more surprised than She is

Pick up a copy of Fight Back With Joy at Amazon or Barnes and Noble today.

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Blog #1 of 52.             Second try at the first one...

Have you ever been at a place in your life that you have so much to say....you don't know how to say it with expertise or even who to say it to?  I stand at that place today.

I wrote a post for my very first blog in 2015.  The more I read it and perfect spelling, phrasing and all that mechanical stuff, the more I became frustrated with what I wrote.

Why is that the case?  I'm contemplating that answer as I write this second try.

Do I live in fear of what others might think of my writing skill?  (Of course) Am I afraid that they, whomever "they" are might think my subject matter is silly? (Of course, how silly is that?) 

How do I write with "Hope" and "Joy" in every word?  

I'm
Gonna
Find
Out

In the first chapter of the Book of John, the Word tells us of a Savior "who was and is and is to come"... John 1:29 "sort of".  John the Baptist was heralding the embodiment of the "Savior" spoken of in the Old Testament.  If I believe the Word of God is true, and I do, then I must also believe that He is the "Author and Finisher of my faith" and ALL that I do. And if He is ALL that,  then I just need to get on with today and this blog, with a 2 & 1/2 year old little granddaughter on my lap and Mr. Peabody & Sherman on the TV.....

The year 2014 was a busy one.  But then again, I like busy... I care for 4 of my grand children 4 days a week.  So my days are very busy with my kiddos.  I'm such a blessed "Mema" and I wouldn't have it any other way.  Mike, my husband, works out of town and lives in our Motor Coach during the week...we have a couple, very good friends of ours, that are staying with us until their new home is ready to move in to.  They moved here in April last year and they are hoping to be in their new home before Valentine's Day.  We started attending a new church this year, ...we went to Cancun to our nieces wedding, we went to South Dakota, I went to Colorado to a writing boot camp with Margaret Feinberg and Jonathan Merritt... I have 5 kids and 10 grand kiddos...so as is every year...it was a busy year... 

2015 is looking lots less busy... At least today it does...

My goals???

To live in the "present"... 
Being "anxious for nothing"...
Continue to be "Available"...

If I can accomplish all three of these things, even some of the time, I'll allow myself to feel accomplished.  I know that these things will not be accomplished if I don't incorporate those three goals.  From this point forward I will endeavor to proceed with the confidence that "He that began a good work in me, will see it through to the end...in Him I am successful always.