Hearts in Service Blog

We had a few smoke-filled days from the wildfires that are raging in Canada and the air quality was in the very unhealthy range. Our windows were shut tight and yet, the house still had a smokey smell. I am thankful that the past two days things improved tremendously. This was the mid-day sky on Thursday. The sun was so eerie looking and the sky was full dark and hazy. I've been deliberately putting things in my schedule that bring me joy - walks, time with friends and family, times to create, writing.  I had a second television interview on Saturday about plant-based eating and my cookbook. It was a different and fun activity. Yesterday, was our day off and Dan and I ended up going on a four mile hike. We ended the morning by going to a favorite spot and sitting on a boulder "on top of the world" to have lunch. Perfect! I've deliberately started scheduling in times of being present, times with important people in my life and times of working on projects (not work-rel...

If any of you have read my blog long enough you may realize that I'm not known for my rest. In fact, the words I hear from so many in my life is, "You are so busy." And those four little words have started to bother me. They are bothering me because that is not what I want to be known for in my life. I don't want people to think that I'm too busy to have a conversation with them or that I don't have time for a connection.  But if I continually project the word, "busy," then I really can't get too upset when I feel alone. I don't have to necessarily stop all the things I'm doing though I am looking at what is necessary and what is not. God has given me a fairly high capacity to handle many things.  However, I do realize that I'm not always good at being present and focusing on the person I'm talking to at that moment. I find that I have a tendency to jump up in the middle of a conversation to go do something that needs doing. The m...

  I've hit the ground running in June and have some traveling that is going to be happening over the next few months.  I started by spending the weekend (which was technically still May) with my daughter and son-in-law to celebrate her 27th birthday. It was a fun weekend which involved some hiking, some shopping, eating out and going to a graduation barbecue (my son-in-law's brother graduated from college). I was home for two days and this morning I'm headed out to Ohio for a conference. Since I'm on our national Alliance Women's team this is a working conference for me so I'll be busy the whole weekend. In two weeks I have a leadership retreat and then two weeks after that another event. Both take place in the middle of the state. This summer will be full with the farmer's market, working on a coaching certification, vacation, and other activities. Then the exciting thing is happening in September when I head to Senegal for ten days. I'm nervous, but lo...

  Another Easter has come and gone and as I sit and reflect this morning I am happy because it really was a good day.  My sons went and picked up my father-in-law and brought him to church. Normally, I'm doing multiple things on a Sunday morning, but I didn't schedule anything and deliberately chose to sit and enjoy the service.  We had dinner together and then played a game and chatted. I kept dinner simple which made prep and clean-up easy.  After Dan left to take my father-in-law home, I was even able to get out for a walk. My daughter called me and I chatted with my sister by text. Overall, it was a fairly uneventful, but wonderful day.  I'm having lunch with someone today, but other than that, nothing else is on my schedule. Since the rest of the week is going to be very busy, I'm looking forward to a day of puttering around my house and doing my best to ignore my email which never goes away! Even yesterday, on Easter, I received emails asking que...

My heart is full this morning as I sit here and reflect. I am also very humbled and honored with some recent happenings in my life. Normally, life bumps along and there are good days and not so good days. But overall, it's not really that exciting. I'm an average woman doing average things and mostly, enjoying my life.  But every now and then, God blesses me in a way that takes my breath away.  The first way this has happened in the past couple of weeks is that my new book, Fostering a Positive Ministry Environment, was accepted into a marketing bundle called, A Year of Expanded Grace. That will go live on March 31st and for one week my book and video overview of it will be free, along with other leadership resources. I'll share the link here when that happens. You can find the details on the link at the top of my blog under resources.  I am leading a webinar on this on April 28th and the book is also being translated into Spanish, French and Portuguese and distributed to...

It took a long time, but the snow has melted from my front lawn. The temperatures have been warm and wonderful the past week and I've been able to get back out at our local Audubon center and walk a few times during the week. The sun has been shining and my energy levels are up. It's been great! My activities have ramped up over the past few weeks as well. This is always a busy time of the year and it seems as if everything is happening all at once this year. I'm leading a leadership webinar next month so am working on that. I'm working on a program for this Friday night, prayer stations for our Good Friday service and getting ready for our district women's conference next month. I have a couple of articles to write. Whew! These are all enjoyable activities, but I also am taking time each day to sit and reflect, to get outside and do the things I love such as walking, hiking and photography. I have been trying to take time to do fun activities so that I'm not ju...

It's been a busy week and a half which is why I've been silent here. We've had a couple of church events, I preached this past Sunday, I participated in the local farmer's market on Saturday, and I have a huge Etsy order I need to fill. That's on top of my normal activity. It's been a good week though as in the middle of all the activity I've had time to reflect and pray, think about my life and ministry and making sure I stay on course. It has been a week of giving and receiving love as my middle son turned 33 and Dan and I celebrated Valentine's Day. The pink and red colors have been a welcome change from the sea of white that have made up my days since early December.  The sun is out more often and this week we finally warmed up out of the negative temperatures and even made it to 48 degrees Fahrenheit! Yesterday I actually heard a bird chirping.  The temperatures are going back down this weekend but I'm thankful for these little signs that spring...

I recently went for a walk and took this photo. The funny thing was I really couldn't see well nor look directly at the tree while snapping the picture because the sun was so bright. Since having cataract surgery I notice that being outside is difficult because the brightness does hurt my eye. I know that will change as my eye heals. But when I got home I thought this was a neat shot with the tree standing alone, the sun shining through the branches and the shadows on the ground. There was beauty in the stark branches against the backdrop of the snow. I love taking nature pictures. I love getting out and hiking. I enjoy being creative. God has wired me to be able to do many different things, to be able to do them quickly and do them fairly well. And yet, so often, I keep trying to stick to one thing. I think, "I have to stop doing multiple things and only do this thing." And every single time I attempt that I find myself sinking into feelings of being down and depressed. ...