What has God done for you this week?

Well I’ll tell you what He did for me. He reminded me again that He can bring good out of bad…

I had a co-worker that was diagnosed with cancer last fall. She was given 6-12 months to live. My prayers for her since then (and I’m sure many others) was that each day she would grow closer to God, that she feel His love wrapped around her each day and that she finds kindness and compassion in the nurses/doctor that look after her.

At her memorial service yesterday, it was wonderful to hear how God had answered those prayers. Marianne talked about how this co-worker (D) had started out feeling that God was a judgmental God. But over the months, through conversations, etc she learned and came to believe that she was God’s Beloved and in turn she wanted others to hear this message. She found her strength and acceptance of her illness through His love for her and from being His Beloved. D told Marianne of her experience when she was having a CAT scan. How she was scared and then she realized that God was in the room with her and he was wearing a golf shirt that had a pocket in it. And she was in that pocket. This image sustained her through her last months, the knowledge that she was in God’s “pocket”.

D’s daughter at the end of service, spoke about her mom and also to thank people for all that they had done. She thanked the nurses who had given her mom such compassionate and loving care. It was a wonderful memorial service that was indeed a celebration of her life. She was a wonderful person and will be missed by all.

Pedometer Challenge Week 4...

Okay, I ended last week with an average of 5k a day - 20% of that menas I need to average 6k a day this week. In order to try and acheive that (since there was no soccer games/practices) was to start to walk to work. Yep -30 and I decide to walk to work.

40lbs of outerwear later...

The one thing about having to wear so much to keep me warm is that I'm getting more of a workout and after you strip all those pieces off you feel soooo much lighter (okay I'm was trying to see the upside of it all).

By end of week I think I was down to about 10lbs of outerwear.

The interesting things was this weekend I was motivated to take the dog out for a walk since I seem to be missing my daily walks. We went for a really long walk today since it was so nice out.

It's been nice to have Kristie home for these few days and catch up on her news. She is really enjoying going to Western, thank you Lord for that.

Watching: Season 1 of Supernatural and Roswell

Breathing Places...

Was reminded of my mother the other day. When I was leaving the bank, I held the door open for an elderly lady and her daughter. The way the lady shuffled and her lost sounding voice to her daughter reminded me so much of my mom. I admit I cried a few tears on the way to Shoppers.

At Breakforth one of the speakers talked about how sad we are when we lose a loved one. We see their last breath on this earth but we don’t see their “next” breath. Their next breath in the presence of God.

I witnessed my mom’s last breath on this earth. Her struggle to breath, being in pain earlier in the evening before the drugs kicked in. I wish I could have witnessed her “next” breath. Oh how glorious it must have been.

Deep… whole… painless…

A breath that included her eyes opening and seeing the face of God.

A breath of freedom…a breath of joy.

Nothing much to say...

Just missing my daughter but glad she is doing so well, and is very happy at Western. Had fun watching Sarah's soccer game on Thursday night (they won).

Week 3 of the Pedometer Challenge:
I'm doing too good this week - going to be hard to top it ... so I've been not overly active today and don't plan on being active tomorrow :-) Went to Sarah's practice at the soccer centre and walked around the track the whole hour, walked to the bank, walked to the high school and around the high school for Sarah's open school night. I'm up to doing 1 k in 23 minutes on the treadmill - woo hoo!!

Pedomoeter Challenge...

At work the Wellness Committee has started a Pedometer Challenge. Those that wanted to be part of the challenge get a pedometer, sign up for a team (youth or adult - I'm on the "adult" team). First week you do your regular routine to get your "baseline" and then for the next 5 weeks you try to increase it by 20%. You also get bonus points for making healthier choices. They post the scores by team (not individuals), the team that increases the most overall "wins". I've discovered this is a good motivator for me - easy to let myself down but I don't want to let my team down.

Week 1 (baseline week)
Unfortunately was the week I went to Breakforth - lots of walking - more than I usually do. So I ended up with a 3.2 kl average for the week (thank the Lord for the driving days) Now that may not seem like a lot but I have a desk job so not a whole lot of walking at work.

Week 2...
First day was the drive to Regina - which meant car rides and sitting at my mother in laws table visiting. When we got home at 9:00 I did go on the treadmill for 15 minutes. But even with that my pedometer only said about 1.5 (I'm thinking the pedometer might not have been working all that well - well that's my story and I'm sticking to it!). So not only do I have to increase by 20% but I have to make up for Monday!

The team motivation has worked - I've been on the treadmill everyday when I get home. I'm aiming to be able to do it for 30 minutes and do at least 2k. Right now it's 15 - 20 minutes and around .8 k. I have walked to the grocery store, walked to the bank for work, chosen healthier foods to buy and danced with my daughter one night. I am hoping that once it's not so cold that I will walk to work at least 2 to 3 times a week. My average this week so far is 3.5k - an improvement but not 20%. But thats okay cause I'm impressed that I've done the treadmill everyday.

I'm thankful for this challenge that might actually help me get more physically in shape and maybe get me into a physical activity habit. Thankful for the $4 long sleeve t-shirts I found today. I'm thankful the groundhog didn't see his shadow. Thankful that I finally got letters written to all my siblings.