the window to my mind...

Here's a quick little update for those who have been asking about what's going on in my life: I moved back home to Michigan at the end of December, 2020. The plan was to beworking for a brand-new nonprofit that was going to be making temporary, movable medical stations for underserved communities around the world. One of the parts that made this extra exciting was that the first community was in Oaxaca, Mexico. This meant I was hired because of my nonprofit expertise AND my bilingual skills - SCORE! Plus, it was flat-out stated in my interview that I would be working from Mexico at times -DOUBLE SCORE! Well, since then, life happened. The boss has had several life-threatening health scares and is now likely never to return to work. This means that the nonprofit (his pet project) is indefinitely on the shelf, so to speak. He also owns a big exterior sign company and our office was within this business so I was offered a position as a project coordinator as a means of...well, pay...

 I know I haven't really been super good at this whole transparency thing even though that was the initial purpose of this blog. For that I apologize and I am going to try to make up for at least a little of the lost time by revealing a secret that not many people know. Here goes...I suffer from depression.  I don't mean I have down days sometimes. I mean I am on two different anti-depressants and an anxiety medicine. I mean I have to force myself out of bed a lot of mornings and plaster on a somewhat convincing smile for the rest of the world. I mean if I had the option, I would much prefer to stay at home, all by myself, in bed all day. And that is while I am on my medicine.  A few years ago, I began counseling and had to do some serious evaluations of myself during that time. I also had to make some serious confessions to myself. For instance, I had to admit that I had been in an abusive relationship: physically, emotionally, and sexually. I also had to admit that I wa...

A while ago, my youngest son, Ben, asked me a question: if money wasn't an issue and I could do anything at all for a job, what would I do? Surprisingly, I fairly quickly answered "write". I love writing...I know I've said that before on this blog. I have tons of journals with random entries and writings that I have collected over the years and I have started several books. I've never gotten very far with them because I get distracted by life. You know, being a mom, a wife, an employee, a pastor, a volunteer, a daughter, a grandma, and the list goes on.  In November, my life changed dramatically when I quit my job and moved to Michigan by myself. All the kiddos are big kids now and I had a yearning desire to be away from my adopted city and back home to my native land. Now I have a cute little apartment and a little bit more free time. This means I have time to actually concentrate on writing!  So, I decided that my new years resolution would be (even though I don...