My Journey to a Healthy Mindset

Here it is April, and I'm writing my first blog post for 2025. This is a new low, even for me. Hopefully, that is changing.

I had made an "attempt" in March to start walking again as my main form of exercise, mostly due to the fact that I was driving to Bentonville to spend a few days with my youngest son and his wife, who were driving up from Houston for their Spring Break. I knew we would do a lot of walking, and I knew I was definitely NOT ready for it.

I will write about that trip in my next post. Today, I am inspired to share about my struggle to becoming healthier. 

So, did my three days of walking 15 minutes each time make a difference so I could keep up with my family as we explored Crystal Bridges? Not in the slightest. I was often having to catch my breath, and quite a few times I experienced painful back spasms that forced me to sit down for a bit.

This caused me to start thinking about my walking for exercise before. I really hadn't done it consistently for years. I may not have done it consistently ever before. When I first moved 3 1/2 years ago to where I live today, I bought a cheap smart watch, that was only slightly smart. It didn't track my steps very well at all. I basically had to be swinging my arm at my side for it to even think about counting steps, and it didn't bother if I walked in Walmart pushing a shopping cart, which I did in cold or rainy weather. It didn't show the distance I walked at all, so I never knew what kind of progress I was making.

Naturally, I gave up. At my best I never walked more than 3 times a week, and the slightest chill in the air or any amount of moisture falling from the sky was enough for me to excuse myself from even trying.

I began to realize that I would have to get better at being active if I wanted to keep my mobility and my independence as I get older. So, when I was with my family members during their Spring Break, I started shopping online for a better smart watch. They both had good smart watches that I really liked. They weren't as expensive as Apple watches but were a good brand, and much higher quality than the one I had before. 

Long story short: I found out when I got home that conversations were held among all my children, some texting was going on in front of my face while I was in the same room with my son while we were in Bentonville and I never knew it. (Texting is sneaky like that!) They went together and bought me a new smart watch for an early Mothers' Day present. I have the best kids!

Since March 22, when my daughter brought my new watch to me, I have walked every day but one. I had an 11-day streak until the first tornado warned day earlier this week. Something is different in me; I am excited about going for a walk every day. I'm no longer content doing just enough to get by or walking 3 times a week to say I've done it and can check it off. I can't explain it, but I have a new determination to improve my mobility and retain it for as long as I can.

This new watch tells me how far I have walked, what my heart rate is, and much more. I have walked about a mile at day most days. One day, I went 1.5 miles because I went on a path that was that long with no other path veering off toward my car as an escape route! I will walk that path again when my endurance is a little better.

Here are some pictures I took on some of my walks. I have grown to love the ASUMH campus walking trails. The scenery is beautiful and varied enough to provide many different paths.

I'm on a journey to a healthy mindset.

Busy But Great Christmas

It was a busy Christmas season this year; it seemed shorter. Some have attributed it to Thanksgiving being so late in November. Whatever the cause, the weeks flew by.

It was a good Christmas. I didn’t see my son Jeff but we had a nice phone conversation today. I also didn’t see Jeremy, at least not technically at Christmas, but he did come in for a whole week at Thanksgiving, plus we also had a nice talk on the phone tonight.

Jennifer, Matt, Zoe, and Rhett came and spent time with me on Christmas Eve (pictures are on my page). We opened presents, snacked on chips, dip, and fudge, and played Uno for quite a while.

I went to their house today for a delicious dinner and more quality family time.

It has been wonderful. I’m so thankful I live in the same town with my daughter and her family. I also love that I can talk on the phone or FaceTime with my sons often.

I am also blessed with friends “back home” that I stay in touch with. I have hesitated to post about my trip to VB because I didn’t get to see everyone I wanted to. I just couldn’t make it happen during Christmas. I hope to see the ones I didn’t see this trip in a few months.

There are a few pictures of my VB trip below. They include my friends Debbie and Patty, plus a clip of the awesome VBHS band at the parade. There are pictures of the lights at ASUMH, too. I drive through twice this year because they are so beautiful.

I’m also blessed with friends here in Mountain Home; people I have met and grown to love over the last 3 years.

Most of all I am celebrating the reason for the season: JESUS. God has been good to me in this “most wonderful time of the year.”

“…today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

Merry Christmas to my family and friends!

Thankful

Yesterday from 11am-7pm, Chick-fil-A was in town. As usual when they come here, about once a month, they were a hit. I stood in line for probably 20 minutes for my delicious chicken nuggets and waffle fries.

And they were yummy! I was finally able to eat without pain, following my endoscopy procedure that I had just had 3 days before, on Tuesday. Everything except the most bland food was burning as it went down, due to the fact that the doctor dilated my esophagus. (Aging problems; a subject for another day).

I was so thankful to be able to eat something besides mashed potatoes, especially since my favorite chicken place only graces us with their presence once a month.

Yes, my friends from my hometown of Van Buren, I know you have a whole restaurant of said chicken as compared to my monthly food truck. I’m so happy you finally got one! I’ll be eating there on my next visit back home.

I’m just grateful they have started coming here with a limited menu on a regular basis.

That’s the theme of this blog post; by the way. I’m learning to be thankful in all things. I look for things to thank God for, but I don’t have to look very far. He is SO GOOD!

As I stood there yesterday waiting to buy my supper, I was thankful for the pretty sunset going on behind the food truck.

After I got home, I was thankful I didn’t have pain eating my supper.

I was thankful yesterday morning that we got a nice rain shower for about 30 minutes. We had gone a while with no rain in these parts.

I’m trying to post more often, and when I saw the sunset yesterday evening I knew what I needed to write about.

I am thankful for so many things, but I only listed a few. Until my next blog post, take care, my friends. God bless you all.

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NASB

From the Porch: Why is the Tree There?

Rain kept me inside all last week, but I've been able to get to the porch

for my morning coffee and prayer time for most of this week. Sitting out there, I noticed something.

All the other condos in my neighborhood have very similar landscaping. We all have hedges by the front entrance and some other shrubs that are almost cookie-cutter identical. 

My front area, however, has a cedar tree by the driveway instead of a round shrub. As I sat there a few mornings ago, I was pondering why this is. 

I'm not a fan of bright sunlit rooms in my house. I know that's not typical. I like more of a warm, softly lit vibe. Bright sun hurts my eyes; I'm just very sensitive to bright sunlight. I almost always wear sunglasses on the rare occasion that I am outside on a bright day.

This cedar tree shades my living room perfectly. From afternoon through early evening in the warmer months, the sun hits my house increasingly toward the southwest as the summer wears on. Together with the window treatments and mini-blinds, my living room has a bearable level of afternoon sunlight, filtered so well by the tree.

Some would say I was lucky to get the house with the tree when I was looking for a place to rent. I feel like it's more than that, though. I think God had this place in mind for me long ago, when the tree was just a sapling. 

Laugh if you think it silly. I don't mind. I'm sure lots of people laugh when they read my blog. I'm not sharing content that I think will draw people in. I'm just sharing my heart. I know my God orders my steps. Why wouldn't He give me a tree to shade me from the harsh late afternoon sun? 

One more thing. It's a cedar tree; an evergreen. It's green year round, just like God's love is everlasting. 

I'm counting it as one of my blessings. I thank God for the tree that gives me shade.

Be blessed, my friends!

 "I will exalt You, my God, the King,
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable." Psalm 145:1-3 NASB

From the Porch: Reflections on Bearing Fruit

Those of you who have read my blog for a while may have noticed I hardly ever post "from the patio" anymore. It has become more difficult to beat the sun out there in my east-facing back yard, since in my retirement I hardly get up before 8:00 unless I have an appointment. That's the main reason, and we'll leave it at that. 

So I now have a comfortable, shady little nook by my west-facing front door that is so good, thanks to some chairs I acquired a few weeks ago. It's not really a porch, but we're going to call it that.

Ah, it's good to be back. I didn't realize how much I had missed being outside with the breeze, the birds singing, and the beauty of God's creation.

Recently, as I sat on the front porch in my new plastic chair, I noticed that the petunia in my tiny little garden area is struggling, yet it has managed to bloom anyway. Even though the heavy rains in early August nearly drowned it and the extreme heat that followed the rains threatened to burn it up, still it managed to bloom. 

This caused me to reflect for a moment. When it would appear outwardly that it had become useless and needed to be discarded, it still did what God created it to do: bloom. In doing so, it was providing nectar for bees and beauty for all to see and enjoy.

I meditated on this thought for a while, as I sat outside enjoying nature during my morning prayer and devotions for the first time in many weeks. 

I believe we humans are not entirely dissimilar to my poor little plant. We have storms in life that threaten to destroy us. Sometimes we undergo sickness and pain and we feel we will surely not survive the heat of the trials we are suffering through. Yet we "soldier on" as the British say. 

As long as we have food, water, and health, we remain alive, though age and years of abuse from various types of adversity render us into an older and less than stable-looking version of ourselves. We look in the mirror and scarcely recognize the older, more "mature" face that stares back at us.

Yet if we submit to the hand of the Master Gardener, our Lord Jesus, we can still produce fruit in our lives. Even if we don't think we appear as appealing on the outside as we once did, (this is very subjective, and we are usually more critical of ourselves than others are), we still can do what God has enables us to do, fulfilling our destiny as Christians.

This is the desire of my heart; to be fruitful and useful for all the days God gives me.

Just a few thoughts from the perspective of a retired, "mature" (in age, anyway) woman.

Be blessed, my friends.

"I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15:5 NASB

God Knows and Cares

I have fallen behind in posting to my blog. I've really been feeling like I should post, but I felt like I had nothing to say. The last time I posted it was April; now it's the last day of August. Summer is so blah to me, and I get depressed by the way it drags on.

Yes, I'm weird. I don't get depressed in the cold, dark winter, but in the bright, hot summer. 

Anyway, today I had a neat thing happen, and I wanted to share it. The two people I chose to share it with, though, didn't respond to my text. 

This is not to fault them; on the contrary, I should have seen that my news needed to be shared with my blog readers. After all, I've been praying, asking God to let me encourage someone with my blog. I feel called to do this. He gave me something to share and I didn't pick up on it! So, even though it's hours later, I have repented and I'm now sharing it, even though it's a small and somewhat insignificant thing.

For several years, I have wanted some Adirondack chairs for my porch. Granted, I don't have much of a porch anymore since I've relocated to the small town where I now live, post-retirement. That didn't stop me from wanting them, though. 

I never managed to find two of them in the same color, or the store where they were sold would sell out before I could get them. And to be fair, most of the time once summer is underway I don't remember to look for them because I don't sit outside in the summer. It's too hot, and I'm mosquito bait anyway. 

Today, though, I ran across an ad on Facebook about a sale in a local (unnamed on here) chain store declaring the end of summer sale. I thought why not go take a look?  

I went to the store nearest my house. They had one blue chair. The sale, however, wasn't a half-price sale, it was "buy one get one free." I asked to buy the one blue chair, and they said it would be full price, because it was BOGO. 

So I bought a blue chair and was awarded a gray one for free.

I reasoned in my mind that it wouldn't be so bad. I could put one in the back and one in the front, since they didn't match.

Then it came to me: go to another of these chain stores and see if they had a blue one and see if they would trade me if they had a blue one.

Very unlikely, I thought, but what do I have to lose?

So I went to the next nearest store of this kind and they had ONE blue chair. The only one they had was inside their store, in their break area.

I know it's not important; getting a cheap, plastic lawn chair, but I breathed a prayer anyway as I stood in line in that store, waiting to ask. I prayed it rather apologetically, too, because a lawn chair isn't a big deal, is it?

The girl behind the counter said "sure," she could swap it out, as long as they still had one in their break area. 

What?!? 

So just like that, God gave me a tiny, insignificant little desire of my heart. The store worker even carried the chair out to my car and took the gray one back inside cheerfully.

I can't make this stuff up. God cares about every detail of our lives, both small and great. Even a small, unimportant detail that would not have made any difference when you really think about it. 

Are you struggling with something tonight, or whenever you're reading this? Take your concern to God. He cares. If He will make sure I get 2 blue plastic Adirondack chairs, how much more will He meet your need? 

I didn't really consider it a need, but maybe it was. Maybe it was needed to remind me that God cares. He sees me. He knows I've been struggling off and on with depression again, and I needed to know He knows right where I am.

He sees you. He knows right where you are, too. Reach out to Him.

"Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you." 1 Peter 5:7 NLT

I Got a Notion

I got the notion (is that a southern phrase, or what?!) to sit on my front porch tonight, even though it’s a bit cool for me (64 degrees). I’m a porch-sitter from way back; my mom and dad liked to sit on the porch in the early evening. We had a large front porch with a swing on one end. Our house faced east, so we didn’t watch the sunset. We just talked and enjoyed the cool air of the early evening. Maybe my grandma sat out there with us too; I don’t remember. But I could be a third generation “porch-sitter” if she did.

Anyway, I guess it brings back pleasant memories, as I sit here watching the sun set. Even alone, I enjoy it. The first pics are from my back porch, which faces east, and there’s not really much view, especially from the rickety old and tiny porch.

I moved to the front because of the sunset there, but it’s cloudy and probably won’t be spectacular. We shall see.

I guess, beautiful sunset or not, my message to you is enjoy the simple pleasures. I have enjoyed sitting outside for the last half hour. Now it’s getting dark, though, and it’s down to 62. I’m no longer just chilled; I’m downright cold and going inside.

Blessings to you, my friends.