CREATIVE LACK OF SLEEP

So once again I find myself wide awake at the majic hour...3am. It is the time of morning were I am BRILLANT!

I can find anything, remember my second cousins's sister's best friend's boyfriends dogs name. HAHA. It is the hardest time of morning because it is to late to take a sleeping pill but earlier enough that if I could jsut fall asleep I will want to be a person after my first cup of coffee.

So what do I do to fall asleep you ask? Well, I either watch a Korean drams..my eyes become exhausted from reading the subtitles. Lately I have been learning how to make jewelry. My latest creation...The Tree of Life Pendant.

Ok...now I am tired...but I have a new pendant to wear tomorrow...well later today.. Big Hugs & Blessings

TAKING CARE OF MY TEMPLE

I just received this book by Dr Oz from my MOPS Mom's. It's been hard with being ill for most of this year. Although I am feeling much better, that little voice in my ear has been telling me to do more. My first day back I was presented with this book and a gift card for CVS. Four days later I was in the ER with bronchtis and possible walking pneumonia.

So, now way before the New Years resolutions are made I search for the lifestyle changes I can make so I can enjoy life better.

HOLDING BACK

It's been a while since I have blogged. Many things have changed since my last post and some have not...like the pain that at this moment is wracking my body. Ironically I am on the way to the doctor for a new pain med prescription, however I must first endure this bus ride.

I have taken everything in the arsenal and nothing is working. It is all I can do to hold back the tears, when I am jousled by the bumps, starts and jerky stops the bus is making.  I use to have such a high tolerance for pain that at times I get annoyed at myself when a moan or cry slips out.

My prayers for peace and comfaort have been answered by the cutest texts or distracting calls and earlier exhaustion that resulted in a 4hr nap...pure bliss.

For now I will concentrate on the happy song Mandisa is singing in my head and the typing of every letter on the tiny screen of my Replenish. Anything to distract me for even a moment.

OUT OF PAIN COMES BEAUTY...

I have spent the past few days in pain. My body just aches and I know it's the weather. So I picked out a project to try and created these...

~~~DESPISE NOT SMALL BEGINNINGS~~~

I recently received a private Facebook message from a dear Pastor. I did not open it until this morning while enjoying the newest edition to my coffee collection. If you know me, then you know I LOVE TREES!!! There is something about them, their strength yet they can bend in the fiercest storms. I can stare at them for HOURS...It's one of the many reasons I now reside in the Poconos. So, this message spoke to me, inspired my heart and made me want to share with others. May this encourage your heart as it has mine. Big Hugs & Blessings

May 12, 2012 Despise Not Small Beginnings Many of you are about to give up because you have been believing God for something specific for such a long time and you haven't seen it manifest yet in the natural. The Lord gave me this analogy of two trees. Two seeds were planted at the same time for two different trees. The first was a cherry blossom tree seed and the other was a sequoia tree seed. They both had the same care as they both received the same amount of sunlight and water. The cherry blossom tree grew quickly and flourished beautifully with brilliant pink flowers and bright green leaves, but the seed of the sequoia tree seemed to be taking a long time to come up. As time went on the cherry blossom tree continued to grow and thrive but the sequoia tree didn't look as if it was going to amount to anything. After some time a small sprout began to emerge from the ground and the sequoia tree began to grow to an extreme height towering over the cherry blossom tree. The reason why the sequoia tree took longer to grow was because it required stronger and deeper roots which were going deep into the earth to support it's huge size. Neither tree was insignificant but served their purpose, and even though the cherry blossom tree was beautiful to the eye,  the sequoia tree grew to be the tallest and strongest tree in the world.  The Lord says, don't give up on your vision. What I have begun in you I will complete. The seed that I have planted inside of you will surely come into fruition and you shall become all that I have called you to be. Don't allow discouragement from delay to throw you off the course that you were once on. I will complete all that I have called you to do. Don't despise the day of small beginnings and don't compare yourself to others. Every one is significant in my sight and each of you are designed uniquely with a divine and particular purpose. Don't try to imitate someone else but be free to be the person that I have called you to be. I have made a Covenant with you and I will keep My word. Continue to contend for all that I have for you. Don't get weary along the journey and don't lose your vision. Never lose sight to your purpose and what you were created to do. Don't look back or you will get off course to where you are going. Your mistakes of the past will not cancel out my plans for your future as you continue to go forward. Follow after peace and don't be upset when there are detours or delays. Delay is not denial. Rejoice in Me and don't despise the place where you are now because your best days are ahead as you follow the narrow path that I have laid out for you says the Lord. Zechariah 4:10 For who has despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plumbline in the hand of Zerubbabel; these seven are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth. Mark 4:26 -29 And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." James 5:7 -8 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.   Thank you for your wonderful emails, phone calls, words of wisdom, prophetic words and especially for your prayers. Every one who is subscribed to A Word in Season is also covered in prayer. Abundant Blessings Please Visit my NEW Website www.awordinseason.info  Or www.TheVoiceOfBreakthrough.com  My Email Addresses: awordinseason@live.com OR Elaine@awordinseason.info

Mother's /Auntie/Godmommy/Birthmother Day 2012...What a great day.

Yes I was in excruciating pain all day...but was a great day none the less.
I played with babies while being comforted that my little ones are safe and sound at home in heaven, danced with preschoolers, sucked up every delicous hug, made the yummiest mushroom soup w/ white wine, inhaleed the sweet fragrance of my lilac Godmommy bouquet and laughed thru a Dr. Who marathon..and it hurt every moment.

There was just too much joy to focus on the readily apparent. Yes, has been 15 years of hospital stays a total of 14 surgeries 7 for bowel obstruction and removal of adhesions alone, and months of being bedridden in pain and unable to consume solid food...but there are days like this that washes all of that away.

RAINY DAYS & MONDAYS...

Due to the mild winter the arrival of rain is heralded. The dry dusty earth takes a deep drink of the life giving element. Every tree, plant and flower seems to stretch their limbs in a wave offering to savor each drop.

For me there is "no joy in Mudville" when it comes to rain. My body signals the change in barametric pressure long before the Weather Channel satelite. I feel every incision, and surgical clip, muscle and joint.

Prayer, medication yoga and lavender is used as the formula to bring it all under control. That and family and friends who will drag me out of bed when my get up amd go has got up and went.

That was penned a few months ago and the same holds true today. I am in excruiating pain. Tramadol, codine, muscle relaxers, and gabapentin have not touched the pain, and all this due to rain which the earth needs...ugh. They have records...they need more but I am closer to an appointment at Celebration Hospital...next Tuesday...maybe.

No words needed! :)

2 DAYS OF BLISS

At this very moment I am on the bus headed to yet another appointment to adjust the cocktail of medications that help to keep the debilitating pain under control. It's a long ride but a great time for me to read, write, think or pray. Today I am at peace despite the return of gut wrenching spams by one thought...I was pain free for 2 days...

Up until Friday night I was horribly ill. Itchy, tongue slighty swollen, slurred speech, unable to concentrate and fatigued and in pain. It was just like when I had Lymes Disease. My body and stomache ached. Nothing helped and I was exhuasted. So, I found some Naproxen and figured at the very least it would take the edge off... Guess what!?  I am highly allergic... ugh. What I had been taking every day for a week was the cause of the Lyme's like symptoms.  Thank God I had only been taking the pills once a day and for a friend who brought to my attention the fact that my speech was slurred.

After 12hrs after chucking the pills and drinking what felt like a gallon of water,  I was feeling great. I had recently cancelled plans to volunteer to work Purple Door,  a Christian music festival.. A dear sweet hysterically funny Sister in the LORD  and friend Carol took away EVERY excuse I had given for not going. Needless to say.. we rocked our faces off, sang, danced, cried, ate and hugged each other all day long. At one point they prayed for me. My body cooperated and I felt better.
.
I now realize was suppose to be there...to be saturated in love, prayer and Christian rock music. Months of prayers had been answered. The next 48hrs were amazing.  I ate, drank and slept pain free for 2 days.


In a word BLISS.

AND SO IT BEGINS...

Welcome!
It's been a long time coming, the telling of my story.In all honesty I have been considering starting this blog for over a year. It began as the "Adventures of Miss Frances", however so much in my life has changed in recent months that name was too broad. Hence, the "New Normal" was born.

In September 1996 I underwent an emergency hysterectomy. It was not my first surgery, but it was the one that changed the course of my life. December 28th, only 3 months later I was rushed to the hospital with what I thought was a stomach flu, at the very easy I had pushed my tummy past it's limits by indulging in every holiday treat I had come across. The flashbacks of  being doubled over in  excruciating pain at the front door still haunts me. At the local hospital a 3 day ordeal to diagnosis the problem have come be know as my Lazarus Experience. The doctors ran test after test, yet would give me anything for the pain, despite my pleas for relief. Tubes lead out from every orifice of my body in to vats, bottles and what looked like Ziploc bags. Every time someone examined the contents of one they would shake their head. My family prayed and fought back tears. What I didn't know is what I looked like. My eyes, skin and nails were yellow and the room smelled of rotting flesh.
On the 3 day the LORD sent an angel of mercy in the form of a visiting surgeon from Germany. Apparently my screams could be heard on the other side of the hospital floor, yet no one came to my aid. The nurses begged for something to ease my pain but their pleas went unanswered. I went from praying for relief to asking that the sweet sleep of death to take me. 
To make a long and very pain filled story short. the doctor turned out to be a highly regarded surgeon and upon hearing my crying came rushing in. I have never seen so many people run to attend to me since my being admitted. It was nuts, she had her medical students diagnosis the problem by just looking at the bags cradling black fluids..it was a bowel obstruction, and  I was in critical condition. Everyone was covering my case was dismissing pending investigation. In a flash everything was disconnected orders were shouted in rapid succession as the gurney flew towards XRAY, had cap put on my head and at last morphine and Valium cocktail pumped into my arm. The CAT scan confirmed her worst fears, parts of the bowel was nercrotic. 
To be honest I vaguely remembered much else as I was enjoying the bliss of being painfree for the first time in three days. I thanked God for the the doctor, while looking upside down at her face over and over. My last memory was looking into the gentlest eyes peeping out from behind a surgical mask. He was Asian I heard him whisper, "God is this why I am still here?"
As it turned out the surgeon was also a Pastor of a Korean spirit filled church in Flushing. He had just finished his last surgery and had been standing in the or asking the LORD why was he still there. Seconds later I would burst through the doors towards a  journey that has lasted 15 years, under the watchful eye of my German Angel.
Later, while in recovery , he came to examine me. He shared how he was amazed that I had survived and how I had such a baby face, yet my insides were those of a 70 year old woman. He recanted the tale of just standing in the OR asking God why was he still standing there when his last surgery had long been completed.   How the spirit spoke to him and said that the LORD had many things for me to do and I was special and his feverishly fast  call to  his church members to been a prayer chain. That day he and the visiting surgeon removed pieces of black and twisted bowel as he interceded for my life...and the LORD said yes. 


That's enough for now.. I am getting tired. Big Hugs & Blessings