Cardinal and House Finch
Tufted Titmouse
Eastern Bluebird
Male ⬆️ and female ⬇️ Red-bellied Woodpecker
Clemmy Clementine 🖤🤍
Wally Cornwall 🤍🖤
May God be with you. ❤️, Amy
Living life with Multiple Sclerosis
Cardinal and House Finch
Tufted Titmouse
Eastern Bluebird
Male ⬆️ and female ⬇️ Red-bellied Woodpecker
Clemmy Clementine 🖤🤍
Wally Cornwall 🤍🖤
May God be with you. ❤️, Amy
There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in it. In our whole life-melody the music is broken off here and there by “rests,” and we foolishly think we have come to the end of the tune. God sends a time of forced leisure, sickness, disappointed plans, frustrated efforts, and makes a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voices must be silent, and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator.
How does the musician read the rest? See him beat the time with unvarying count, and catch up the next note true and steady, as if no breaking place had come between.
Not without design does God write the music of our lives. But be it ours to learn the tune, and not be dismayed at the “rests.”
They are not to be slurred over nor to be omitted, nor to destroy the melody, nor to change the keynote. If we look up, God Himself will beat the time for us. With the eye on Him, we shall strike the next note full and clear. If we sorrowfully say to ourselves, “There is no music in a rest,” let us not forget the rest is part of the making of the music. The process is often slow and painful in this life, yet how patiently God works to teach us! And how long He waits for us to learn the lesson!
John Ruskin (1819-1900), English author, poet, painter, and art critic
These words have been a source of wise counsel to me through the month of January. As I’ve frequently written in the past, MS fatigue is my number one struggle. These last few weeks have been full of “rests” and the notes of the song seem few and far between.
I suppose January is as good a time as any to take a forced rest. We’ve had our fair share of lead-grey, overcast skies; bitter winds; freezing temperatures; and occasional snowfall in SW Missouri this month. It’s been the perfect time to hunker down and cozy up for most people in the Midwest.
The last couple of days I’ve averaged being able to be up and moving in 5-10 minute intervals before having to rest for a good 60-90 minutes.
Hubby has been so wonderful to take care of everything in the house during the long rests in the music of my life this month. Thankfully, he’s had some rests in the melody of his life too.
I don’t know exactly when, but the notes of the song will swell again and I’ll be up moving. When do you think? March, maybe 🤔?
May God be with you! ❤️, Amy
Hello! It’s been a long while.
We lost our sweet Laudy in October. Her loss so soon after Pip was one of the most difficult times of my life. We lost her at the same time one of our new kittens became very sick and the combination of it all was traumatic. For a few weeks my mind spun into a sudden, intense onset of anxiety followed by a bout of miserable insomnia. Though anxiety and insomnia are apparently common during the grief cycle, I was completely unprepared for them.
It seems impossible to explain the multitude of ways God, in His mercy and compassion, helped, encouraged, held, and slowly healed me. He used my family, friends, church family, scripture, devotionals, sermons, book recommendations, our vet, my doctor, and a psychologist to bring me through. At every turn He was present and grew my faith and trust in Him until my sorrow seemed a gift instead of a terror. Sorrow is never for nothing when seen through the eyes of faith.
Gratefully, I began to feel like myself again and came out the other side of the ordeal just in time to enjoy Christmas with family and ring in the new year. It brings to mind a poem by Robert Browning Hamilton that I learned long ago.
I walked a mile with Pleasure;
She chatted all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow;
And ne’er a word said she;
But, oh! The things I learned from her,
When Sorrow walked with me.
Clemmy and Wally healed up nicely from their spay/neuter surgeries with the help of some cat suits I made to keep them from pulling out their stitches.
They are a hoot and are doing their best to keep us young. They chase ping-pong balls, laser lights, and ribbons, carry toys from one end of the house to the other, climb every piece of furniture like playground equipment and take turns sitting on each other in their own version of King of the Mountain.
I’ll leave you with a couple stanzas of one more poem, this one is based on Isaiah 43:2, “When you go through the waters…they will not sweep over you.”
Seas of sorrow, seas of trial,
Bitter anguish, fiercest pain,
Rolling surges of temptation
Sweeping over heart and brain —
They shall never overflow us,
For we know His word is true;
All the waves and all the billows,
He will lead us safely THROUGH.
Threatening breakers of destruction,
Doubt’s insidious undertow,
Shall not sink us, shall not drag us
Out to ocean depths of woe;
For His promise shall sustain us,
Praise the Lord, whose Word is true!
We shall not go down, or under,
For He says, “You will pass THROUGH. “
~Annie Johnson Flint
May God be with you! ❤️, Amy
My cat story, told through pictures of our new, 16- week old Cornish Rex (CRX) kittens.
May God be with you! ❤️, Amy
Hello, Friend!
Some of you know we lost our beloved Pip suddenly between the time of my last post and this. It was a crushing loss for us, we loved him so much. It’s still very difficult to talk about and the tears flow easily. We are so grateful to God for the 5 years we had with him. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the Name of the Lord!
For those of you who know us it will come as no surprise that we knew we would open our hearts for another cat at some point. To our astonishment, God intervened and made an opportunity available more quickly than we ever expected. And, in the marvelous way only God can arrange, He took our sorrow and lovingly soothed us with not one but TWO kittens! We drove to Indianapolis Friday night and brought our Cornish Rex kittens home yesterday.
Introducing…
Wally and Clemmy brought us great joy and comfort through the weeks of our sorrow as we grieved our Pip and anticipated holding them in our arms. Now they are here, we are soaking up every moment and feel that Pip would approve. He was the sweetest cat who delighted in nothing more than bringing love and happiness to our lives. He would be glad we are comforted by two kittens who remind us of him in nearly everything they do.
Though there will always be a Pip-size hole in our hearts that nothing and no other cat will ever fill, he taught us that love is always worth taking a chance on. We’re so grateful we took that chance!
May God be with you! ❤️, Amy
Hello, Friend! Yes, it’s been a while. I’ve been under the thumb of 5Gs of MS fatigue lately. I’ve been mostly home enjoying my usual favs: cats, hubby, birds, and flowers in our garden.
May God be with you! ❤️, Amy
Hi, Friend!
Hubby has been on break between semesters at the college where he teaches. It’s been so wonderful to have him home with me every day. We took a day trip to Bentonville, Arkansas Thursday and enjoyed the beauty of the Ozarks as well as our time together. If you didn’t know, Sam Walton opened his first Walmart on the square in Bentonville in 1962. The Walton family has greatly and richly (😉) invested in the town turning it into one of the coolest and most happening places in the Midwest.
It’s starting to get warm and I’ve not been able to sit outside on the patio as much the past couple of weeks.
Sadly, the following bird photos are the last at our feeders that I’ll be able to get for a while. I’ve had so many squirrels and grackles eating the seed that I’ve decided to stop for a while, it’s just too expensive. 😢. I am researching some other options and hope to get something else in place soon. I’ve really missed my feathered friends.
Until next time, may God be with you! ❤️, Amy
Hello, Friend! I hope you are well wherever you are when this post finds you.
I’m currently sitting on the back patio watching the birds on a gorgeous May afternoon. I can hear cardinals, house finches, titmice, and blue jays calling, singing, squeaking, and buzzing from the canopy overhead and behind us. Though it’s a warm, sunny day, there’s a lovely light breeze in the shade keeping me cool and bringing the last scent of quickly fading lilac across the yard to me. It is a springtime feast for the senses!
Yesterday and today have been absolutely joyful days as my typically excessive MS fatigue has lessened and allowed me to be up and about more than usual. So, naturally, I rode my scooter over to the lake in our neighborhood yesterday and soaked in some Vitamin D and the beauty of God’s creation around me.
After I rode back home from the lake, I decided to sit under the birches in the backyard.
Thanks for stopping by. May God be with you! ❤️, Amy
When it rains it pours! Our dishwasher gave up the ghost Saturday morning (my birthday) and flooded the kitchen.
Thankfully, Hubby is a pretty smart cookie and got the water shut off.
He wrangled the dishwasher out of it’s nest and discovered the water lines from it were bad and the tub on the bottom had a crack.
We found a replacement the same day and my Dad helped us get it home and supervised Hubby’s installation.
It was a lot of work, but Hubby got the job done and it was sealed with Pip’s approval. 😻
Speaking of Pip, we have been dealing with a bit of a scare with him. Last month during his regular, annual check-up we learned he had a grade 2 heart murmur. Our vet referred us to the University of Missouri Vet Clinic to see a cardiologist to investigate the issue further.
She gave us some good news today that it looks benign and we are scheduled to go back next year to keep an eye on things.
The weather has been nice enough each afternoon this week and, despite pretty lousy MS fatigue, I’ve been able to make it onto the patio to watch the birds. They fill my heart with joy and gratitude to God for the wonder of His creation.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful day! May God be with you. ❤️, Amy
Have a lovely day! God be with you. ❤️, Amy