Who has your back?

When life happens, I clam up! Do you ever get overwhelmed when life is throwing so much at you? I sure have felt that way for the last six months! We had two wonderful weddings which brought great joy to all of us, followed by my three siblings having serious health issues. Those of you who know me, know I am a doer...a cook...a driver...locater of whatever is needed kind of sibling. The more I do, the less time I have to worry. Do you find worries creeping into your mind...what if...how will... and before you know it you are burdened with sadness, anger, guilt, or loss.

Have you noticed who heave backpacks are for kids today?! My grandson is in 3rd grade and he has a backpack for school that is as big as he is. He often walks leaning forward due to the number of books, lunch bag, laptop and all the other items needed for school. NOW THAT'S A BURDEN!

Our lives can often become burdened with challenges, concerns and issues especially in our world today. I am sure that all of our backpacks look different. What do you carry in yours? Our children are often carrying the burdens of anxiety, fear, and sadness especially as we watch the world around us.

My sweet husband often talks about how kids as well as adults keep adding rocks aka...worries and concerns into their backpack of life never being able to release them and move forward.

When I become overwhelmed, I realize that I have forgotten who is happy to carry my backpack full of worries and concerns. I am reminded in my quiet time of Matthew 11:28

when Jesus says..."Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest.'

Letting go can be hard....until I open God's Word...I am reminded that He has my back! As I look outside my little world, my worries are very minuscule in reality to those families in Ukraine. I am indeed blessed.

So today and tomorrow and the weeks ahead, I plan to let go of my concerns and focus my prayers on the people in Ukraine, who have lost everything. May we all lift them up daily and give what we can to help these families in much greater need. I often find when I focus on others my backpack suddenly gets lighter.

Have a blessed week.

The Day the Earth Moved for Mark...

It is not what you're thinking!! Late this summer, I was working in my office and went downstairs to ask my husband a question. He looked up and said, "Did hear that boom and feel the earth move?" "Nope...what are you talking about?" We soon discovered the earth had moved so much that we had no water in our house! So what happened?

Google Fiber happened!

Have you had Google Fiber in your neighborhood? You are lucky if you haven't...they arrived unannounced months ago to dig up the easement in front of every house all the way down the street. The end result was ugly orange wrapped cable sticking above ground for months. What an eye sore...they even left a hole unfilled that my husband stepped into that could have broken his leg. We were never given a heads up as to when they would return. Suddenly after months they reappeared this summer going from house to house cutting a line of concrete out of the road to lay the orange tubing and then covering the hole with a gray concrete that doesn't come close to matching the road concrete.

The infamous day that the earth moved, the team hired by Google to install their fiber were cutting the concrete when they cut the waterline to our house! Everyone else had water....we had nothing! I had planned to cook all day for a birthday party. I headed outdoors to see what had happened. A team of three from the Google group and soon after 5 more men arrived from Metro water....it wasn't a good situation....I was out of water for the entire day! We had two massive truck that came and blocked the road in order to figure out how to resolve the issue. Thank goodness for my neighbors across the street who had a circular drive so our neighbors at the dead end were able to get in and out of our street to do what they needed to do. The Metro Water team was awesome and worked diligently until dusk to get our water back on!.

Everyone left...but the road has not been fixed since August. Clearly, it is the responsibility of the group that Google hired who caused the damage. Someone poured rocks in the hole, but it is very unsightly. None of us on the street asked for Google fiber and yet we now have it and a street that looks a mess. Why can't companies take pride in their work and clean up after the mess that they create. Metro Water did an awesome job and cleaned up after themselves!

Our side of the street Our neighbors side of the street