At home with the family.

Today is Sunday and at church this morning we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first day our pastor came to our church.  It was a wonderful and fun filled service.  I was reminded once again of how important our home church family can be in our lives.  Walk with me for a minute down memory lane.

Our wonderful mother started taking her 6 children to this church when I was a toddler.  Of course, I don't remember much from those first few years.  The things I do remember revolved around the people of the congregation and my interactions with them.

One person I remember was a man I called Uncle Wilford.  I loved that he always knew my name and he always spoke with me as an intelligent person who was worth his time.  That is very important to a child, believe me!

Another member of the church family was a lady that everyone called Gran.  Nothing else, just Gran.  She treated each person as though they were her very favorite child or grandchild.   A lovely Christian woman and a world class cook!  Her cinnamon rolls were perfection and she always had delicious cookies for her visitors.

There were times through the years at LC when life for me seemed especially hard .  My church family showed us support over and over.  They prayed with us, they provided meals when we faced overwhelming grief or times of struggle, and they gave us the love, joy, and peace of knowing they would always be there.

I remember summers in that little white church with all of the windows wide open and everyone using cardboard hand fans to stir the air and hopefully cool themselves down.  During the winter we would all gather around the old gas heating stove in the back corner for worship service.  No central heat or air conditioning back then.

 I remember Vacation Bible School with so many children that we had classes in every room in the building plus classes outside on the lawn.  We had more teachers needed for VBS than we had adult attendees on Sunday mornings.   Our VBS was a favorite in our rural community.

Mother and us kids would clean the church every week for Sunday services.  I felt that it was a privilege to be allowed to clean the CHURCH!  That was big!  And I loved that we siblings and our mother would sing hymn after hymn, in perfect harmony, while we cleaned.

The last 40 years with the same pastor has been a wonderful journey.   The LC family has grown from just 7 in attendance to more than 200 attending over two morning services.   We went from being the little home mission church with a huge heart to a very large church with a very big heart!  Through all that growth, Max has been leading, and guiding, and learning with us.  Thank you,  God, for bringing that very young college student to us as a student pastor all those years ago.  And thank you for letting him stay!!

Keep Joy Filled.

Sick Again!?!

Well, I have a cold! Now a cold is not much to deal with, right?  You have a few days of fever, sniffling, achy body, and not being able to breathe through your nose.  Then it runs it's course and you return to normal.  Nice!  If you're normal.

I am proud to say that I have never been Normal.  I think normal would be boring.  However, I do wish that I had not arrived on this earth already set up for health problems.  As I stated in my previous post, I was born 21 days prior to my due date with the respiratory issues that come with early birth.  I did not spend any time in intensive care so it must not have been too bad.  Then Mother and I went home.

For those of you who were born after the ban on smoking in public places took effect, you have no idea how lucky you are.  Back in the 50's, yes I know I am older, smoking was allowed anywhere and everywhere.  Even in doctors offices and hospitals.  My dad and the majority of his extended family smoked.  A lot!  If you have not seen the facts about tobacco and it's effect on the human body, look it up when you can.  There is way more than just lung cancer and emphysema connected to tobacco exposure.

Now I am not going to start a rant on how everyone should quit smoking right now and blah, blah, blah.  You have heard all of that before.  Let me tell you instead about life for one person with an allergy to tobacco.  Me!

Years of living around smokers brought on repeated throat, bronchial, and lung infections.  I spent so much time coughing sometimes that I would cough up blood just from the irritation to the infected tissue.  Years of repeated bronchitis and subsequent pneumonia resulted in my being diagnosed with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) at the young age of 40.  But that is another blog.

According to the Surgeon General's office, they have identified 7000 chemicals present in all tobacco products.  What that meant for me was that it didn't matter what type of contact it was, I was going to have an adverse reaction.  Childhood was full of bouts of bronchitis, sinus infections, ear aches, skin rashes, headaches, and probably a few others I have forgotten about.

One time my grandfather spit his tobacco at me and it landed on my bare leg.  I immediately developed welts every place it landed on my leg.  I felt like someone had poured hot oil on my leg, it burned so bad.  The welts oozed for several days.

I looked at the main chemicals that are found in tobacco and then looked up the effects of exposure to those chemicals.  Just one, Benzene, gave me the following information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Long-term health effects of exposure to benzene

• The major effect of benzene from long-term exposure is on the blood. (Long-term exposure means exposure of a year or more.) Benzene causes harmful effects on the bone marrow and can cause a decrease in red blood cells, leading to anemia. It can also cause excessive bleeding and can affect the immune system, increasing the chance for infection.
• Some women who breathed high levels of benzene for many months had irregular menstrual periods and a decrease in the size of their ovaries. It is not known whether benzene exposure affects the developing fetus in pregnant women or fertility in men.
• Animal studies have shown low birth weights, delayed bone formation, and bone marrow damage when pregnant animals breathed benzene.
• The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that benzene causes cancer in humans. Long-term exposure to high levels of benzene in the air can cause leukemia, cancer of the blood-forming organs.

Scary stuff!  I have dealt with many health issues since infancy, including chronic anemia.  My sisters and I also dealt with the effects on the female body.  No fun, I assure you.

Life goes on and you learn that what doesn't kill you, makes you enjoy the days you live just a little bit more.

Stay Joy Filled

Here is a short list of some of the more dangerous ingredients in tobacco.
Extremely Toxic Chemicals: Formaldehyde,  Benzene,  Polonium - 210, Vinyl Chloride.
Toxic Metals:  Chromium,  Arsenic,  Lead, Cadmium.
Poison Gases:  Carbon Monoxide,  Hydrogen Cyanide, Butane, Ammonia,  Toluene.

Survival of an Everyday Warrior

Many of my family and friends encouraged me to start this blog.  The main purpose of this blog is to share the stories about how I have survived several life events and became a warrior in the eyes of those same people.

First an introduction.  I am a 57-year-old woman.  My life is shared by my husband of 36 years, our daughter in her 20's, my cats, and our extended family and friends.  Joyfull has been my nickname since high school and you will learn the significance of the number 98 as I continue my blog.

I LOVE CATS!!  I like all pets as well as wild animals, but cats are special.  A cat has the ability to read your mood and will offer help change it, regardless of your wishes about it.  They help you with your chores and activities whether you want their kind of help or not.  And, as the saying goes, cats don't have owners, they have servants.  The entire package that is a cat makes me happy.

I love to sew, whether it be my own clothes, quilts, costumes, or special items.  I learned to embroider and crochet at a young age and fell in love with both arts.  Over the years, combining these early passions has lead to some wonderful creations.  Learning to paint opened up a whole new avenue of self-expression.  I paint on almost any surface including fabric and ceramics.

My closest friend in the world is Jesus Christ.  God has brought me through so much in the last 50 plus years.  I praise Him daily for His gifts and grace that get me through every day.  I will never apologize for openly talking about Him and what He has done in my life.

Life for me started in confusion and has pretty much continued in that state.  According to my mother, she became ill with something near the end of the pregnancy.  She began heaving and could not stop and nothing helped.  After a few hours of heaving, she went into labor and Dad rushed her to the hospital.   I was born 21 days early, on my sister's second birthday.  She held a grudge for spoiling her birthday party for a couple of years.  That was the first time I survived a strange event.  It would not be my last.

Stay tuned for more about surviving when I shouldn't have and how it all came to good.