Hearts in Service

I 've spent the weekend with my mom, stepdad, and grandmother and will be leaving to fly home tommorrow evening.  I will be leaving with a renewed admiration for my parents.   They are 83 and 73-years-old and yet, are caring for my 91-year-old grandmother.  I've watched my mom have to dole out medications, give insulin shots and bathe and wipe my grandmother.  I've heard the frustration that she feels at times when she has to repeat the same instructions over and over to a woman with dementia and Alzheimer's and give up her freedom to care for another.  I've seen my stepdad selflessly give up his space and time and share his home with an elderly woman as he also deals with his own health issues.  These two continually amaze me as they could very well say, "This is all we can do."  Yet, they are also active in their church. My stepdad is an usher and works at repairing things around the church and christian school the church runs. ...

As I sit in the airport, waiting to board my plane at the crazy hour of 4:30 a.m., I feel blessed.   Blessed that I was cleared to fly by the orthopedist.  Blessed that I get to spend some time with my parents and grandmother. And blessed that I have a husband who is always so willing to hold down the fort.  He got up with me at 2:45 a.m. and drove me to the airport without complaint.   I'm getting ready to wing my way to North Carolina and am thankful that there are no storms in sight for the next few days. My grandmother is 91 and I'm not sure how much longer she'll be with us so this trip is definitely something I'm thankful for.  Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

I am bleary-eyed and dragging this morning.  My head is pounding and I'm still sleepy but I'm feeling blessed.  Dan and I got back yesterday afternoon from a wonderful weekend away at camp with five teenagers from our church. It was a weekend of fun, laughter, inspiration, and tears.  It was two days of giving and receiving encouragement.  It was a weekend of solidifying relationships. It was wonderful and worth the lack of sleep.  It may take me a day or two to spring back, but I'm so thankful I went and would do it again. This week I'm thankful for blessings #2671 - 2680 2671.  Spending an entire weekend with my husband without the stressors of home and church. 2672.  Nathan held down the fort while we were away. 2673.  My knee did okay, even with all the standing and sitting in uncomfortable chairs.  I got the results of my MRI on Friday and it is a torn meniscus. 2674.  A message that the teens heard ...

I'm pleased to announce that my new book, "Let's Have Coffee," is now available on Amazon! This is a book of short, weekly devotionals designed to encourage today's woman.  Scattered throughout the book are "Let's Have a Cup" segments where I share a bit of my life and heart. Click on the link  and let's sit down and have a cup of coffee together!

Every so often something will happen that is so clearly a God thing.  This afternoon was one of those times.  My MRI was originally scheduled for next Tuesday but I received a call the other day from the hospital.  They had a cancellation and wanted to change it to today at 5:15. Dan, Emily and I arrived at the hospital 30 minutes early and I checked in.  I walked over to where Dan and Emily sat and took my coat off.  I had just sat down in the chair, when an older gentleman got up from his seat and came over to us and started talking about politics.  I let out a silent groan.  I thought that I was going to spend the next 30 minutes listening to a "crazy" tell us everything that was wrong with the world. I am so ashamed that was my initial reaction.  The man was obviously wanting to talk to someone because he moved from his views on politics, which I believe was his way to start a conversation.  Instead, he sta...

Winter has finally hit full force this week and everything is white and cold.  I was thankful for this little splash of color outside my window yesterday afternoon .  My neighbor has numerous bird feeders and these little guys come and go all day long. My knee is feeling much better though there really feels like something is off in there, so I'm thankful I'm getting an MRI done this afternoon. My new book, Let's Have Coffee, is so close to being done!  In fact, I should be finished today and then it's ready for publication and should be available on Amazon in about a week.  Then I can check that unfinished project off my list!  I changed the cover and like it much better. Dan & I are getting ready (mostly mentally) to take a group of teens to Teen Chill this weekend.  This is our denomination's winter camp for teenagers.  I'm not looking forward to the lack of sleep, but am looking forward to spending some time with some wonderful teen...

1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 (HCSB) ~ Rejoice always! Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Don’t stifle the Spirit. Don’t despise prophecies,   but test all things. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil. In my role as Assistant Director of the Great Commission Women for our district, one of my job assignments is to be the chairperson of the committee that plans our spring retreat.  Generally, anywhere between 300-330 women and teens converge on the Holiday Inn in Auburn, NY every April.  It's an event I look forward to every year and is fun to plan for.  Myself and the committee meet in October to go over every detail to make it a special time for the ladies and teen girls that come.  We plan the meals, including special dietary needs, line up the speakers, meet with hotel staff, plan out the special touches that are needed in anticipation for that weekend.  It's a lot o...

I spent a few hours in the kitchen yesterday and enjoyed trying my hand at some new things.  I've made homemade vanilla extract before and decided to branch out into other extracts.  So I made both orange and lemon extract. You just peel or grate the rind of 6 oranges or lemons and add one cup of vodka.  It needs to sit for about 4-6 weeks in a cool, dark place and then I can strain it and use it.  I've been wanting to make cheese for quite a while and finally decided to try my hand at it yesterday.  I made the easiest kind possible; Queso Blanco.  It was surprisingly easy.  When it came time to strain the curds, I didn't have cheesecloth big enough so I ended up using a piece of fabric that I'll never use for anything.  It worked better than the cheesecloth would have. Now that I've done it, I just need to purchase rennet and then I can branch out into other types of cheese.  Love it! Lesson lea...

A friend teased me one day about the many pictures of food I post.  He said, "Unless you are going to bring them to my house, stop posting them!"  I told him if we lived closer then he would be welcome here anytime. I do post a lot of food pictures and I mostly do that to show that for those of us who are wired that way, food is a labor of love.  I enjoy coming up with meals for my family that show creativity and love.  Everything I make is from scratch and that started for two reasons. Living on one income and being in the ministry means there is not much money to go around.  It is much less expensive to make things from scratch than purchasing costly processed foods.  It costs me about 50 cents to make a batch of 16 flour tortillas that are soft and delicious compared to spending $2-$3 for a pack of 12 that look and taste like cardboard. The other reason I cook everything from scratch is Emily's allergies....

It's been such a strange Valentine's Day weekend here but one that has been blessed none-the-less.  Dan never was able to go get Stephen for the weekend because of snow.  I've spent the week in pain on the couch and finally headed to the doctor on Friday to discover that I may have a torn meniscus.  So needless to say, I haven't been able to do a lot of standing on my feet which includes grocery shopping.  Dan & I started celebrating Valentine's Day as a family quite a few years ago and it's always been a fun time of having a special meal. However, it really wasn't on my mind because it was hard to move.  The doctor gave me an anti-inflammatory to get through until I can get in to have an MRI, and that has actually helped me to feel better the past two days. Yesterday I was supposed to have a children's art and cooking class but that got cancelled due to a lake effect snow storm which left me with dozens of cookies that I had made for the ...

I've had many roles and titles in my life... Director of Family Literacy Assistant Director of a Preschool Teacher Teacher's Assistant Tutor Administrative Assistant Assistant Director of Women's Ministry Author Business Owner But none are as important to me as the titles of wife and mother.  Being a stay-at-home mom can feel a bit unimportant in this day and age where women are encouraged to make something of themselves, contribute financially and move up the corporate ladder.  And when you are the mother of older kids people often start to act as if there is something wrong with you if you are still at home.  I've heard things such as, "Now that the kids are grown, what are you going to do?"  "Are you going to get a "real" job?"  When my children were little my primary job was to care for them.  I read them stories, rocked them to sleep, wiped runny noses, prepared their meals, and cared for their needs. Because I hom...

I want to wish my middle son a very happy 23rd birthday today!  Dan was supposed to go get him today for the weekend, but we woke up to 2 feet of snow and the promise of more today.  So the trip is postponed until tomorrow. I miss Stephen and do feel badly that I didn't even send him a card because he was going to be home!  However, we will have his birthday celebration on Saturday.  He won't get home until tomorrow night (it's a 10 hour round trip and Dan can't leave until mid-morning). In the meantime, I've come up with an acronym to describe him! S = serious.  He has a great sense of humor and makes me laugh a lot, but he really is the most serious about life of all my children.  T = tender-hearted.  I still remember the time a boy was constantly bullying him at school.  I got so mad that one day I said, "You just need to grab him by the shirt and tell him to KNOCK IT OFF!"  (I know.  Not very Christ-like of me).  ...

James 5:7-11 (NLT) ~ Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.  You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look—the Judge is standing at the door! For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.  We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy. On Monday, I squatted down to get a pan from my bottom cupboard and my knee groaned in protest as I tried to stand back up.  Within a half an hour, I could hardly put any weight on that leg and the kn...

Once a month on Monday nights, a group of women from our church get together for a time of fellowship, food, missions and Bible study.  It's really a sweet time together and I always come away encouraged and inspired. Last night was our meeting and once again, it was a great time of challenge and encouragement.  We are working our way through the study by Nancy Leigh DeMoss called, Seeking Him: Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival.  It's definitely thought provoking. Dan and I were chatting this morning and discussing how often the Lord uses different experiences in our lives to stretch us and cause us to grow.  Being called to this church has been one of those experiences.  God is working on things in my life that would never had been addressed elsewhere.  It's as if He keeps moving me up to a higher level as we move to each new experience or church. There will always be something that I need to work on and that only happens as I'm ...

I turned on my kitchen light and was faced with hundreds of tiny ants, crawling all over my counter tops and sink.  What a way to start a Monday!  I hate bugs, especially when they decide to invade my home!  And these ants are symbolic of all the little pests that can destroy my attitude and my joy. My morning is starting out with not enough sleep, a sick and very cranky daughter, a not-so-nice response from me first thing this morning, the knowledge that our entire bathroom needs to be replaced because of a rotting floor, and a few tasks looming this week that are making me feel overwhelmed.  And then on top of it, the ants picked today to show up.  This could make for a rotten start to my week.  BUT....I'm choosing joy; joy in the small things.  I'm choosing to focus on the blessings, and not the burden.  I'm making a choice to be thankful and not whiny!  I'm deciding to look for the way those "ants" can be a blessing. Mondays are ...

I brought home the last of my items from the local shops yesterday and I felt a twinge of sadness at the closing of this chapter.  However, I'm also ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work on the new chapter of my life. The first thing I need to do is find a place for all of this!  Yikes!  It seems as if I get one mess cleaned up and then another magically appears.  Stephen will be home next weekend so an even bigger mess will appear for a few days.  lol This week has been great because I've been able to work steadily at revising and editing my new book.  It's taken me longer than I liked because of the fact that my laptop literally caught on fire one day about a month ago.  I had to go buy a new one and the computer store salvaged my old documents.  However, in transferring it to the new computer, the formatting went bonkers in my book  So I had to spend precious hours fixing those type of mistakes. I have so m...

I have been blogging for eight years and have enjoyed getting to know my readers.  I love doing these blog drawings periodically to show my appreciation for taking the time to read what I have to say. I put all the names in a basket and drew a name.  The winner of the drawing is... Linda Smith Linda, if you could email me your address to terri.groh@aol.com, I will get your package out in the mail.  I'm putting in one of my books (if you have one of them already let me know which one so I don't duplicate), some handmade goat's milk soap, homemade soy candle and some other goodies.  Let me know if some scents bother you so I can adjust what I send. Thank you all for participating. It makes it fun!

Psalm 59:16-17 (NIV) ~ But I will sing of your strength,      in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress,      my refuge in times of trouble. You are my strength, I sing praise to you;      you, God, are my fortress,      my God on whom I can rely. As I prayed over a situation yesterday afternoon, an image popped into my head of a medieval fortress.  These were designed to be a protection to the army in times of battle, as well as give them an advantage point of being able to see their enemies coming and be able to attack from above with arrows. God is our fortress when we are going through rough times.  He is our safe place where we can retreat and rest up and gain strength.  He gives us wisdom so that we can see where the enemy attacks us from.  When we are faced with a difficult situation, we often feel as if we are out in the open, vuln...