God gave me back my JOY

Rotten Tomato

admin — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 15:29:58 +0000

When we moved into our log cabin in the woods last summer, my dog Sammie, our 4 year old golden retriever, took the longest to adjust. She waited by the car like, “OK whenever you guys are ready to head back home, I’m ready because these are NOT our smells!” But adjust she did, and soon she was busy exploring the perimeter of the house and amazingly staying within the boundries of our property. One day we were cooking out on the deck and Dan, my oldest son, former Solanco baseball player, discovered a rotten tomato. Instead of throwing it out, he decided to chuck it into the woods. He has a pretty good arm and he threw it hard! Sammie happened to be on the deck when he threw it and thought, “I guess he threw that for me to go get!” Off she went down into the woods. Oh boy! “There is no POSSIBLE way she will find that!”, we all thought. We kept an eye on the woods and sure enough she emerged WITH the rotten tomato in her mouth and gently set it down on the deck. “There you go Dan!” Sammie went up a notch that day in all of our minds!!!

Isn’t that kind of like God? No matter how damaged, broken, or rotten we are, God will go get us, and bring us back to where we should be, which is right with Him. We think we are no good, rotten, ”just throw me away.” But God says, “You are SO worth it to me, I can still use you, I got you.”

SWEET!

new cell phone

Jean Ross — Sat, 01 May 2010 03:20:44 +0000

I HAD to get a new cell phone. I didn’t want to. I like my old one, silver with the little round mirror on it. I know how to use it. It’s not complicated. But after charging my phone to full power, the minute I flipped it open to make my first call I lost a bar. I HAD to get a new one. So my husband takes me into the store where the young, enthusiastic guy with gelled hair is excited to assist me. I am in mourning of losing my phone. He says, “So what would you like?” I say, “I want the exact same phone.” I know that’s not possible but it made my husband laugh so it was worth saying it outloud. He walks me around the room with WAY too many choices and starts in with, “internet, keyboard,etc…?” Think simple. So he finally left me with my unenthusiastic thoughts and went on his merry way. In time I picked out my new phone, not too fancy but nice. I went into work that night and showed someone and they said, “Oh you got an old one!” It’s been one week since I’ve had my new old phone and I guess it’s going to be OK. I only had to get the manual out once to figure something out. ahhhhhhh change

Pumpkins

Jean Ross — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:16:55 +0000

Funny thing about pumpkins…you can’t see them until something extreme happens. Let me explain.
As you drive along the roads of Lancaster county in the summer you never notice where pumpkin patches are planted (saying the word pumpkin patch reminds me of Charlie Brown). But come October/November, suddenly there they are laying out all over the field! What happened? Frost!
That’s not so different from what happens in our lives sometimes! God has this awesome plan for us that we don’t see, we’re just going along with our lives, growing…living. Then suddenly something catastrophic happens, and our world might be torn upside down. We think we might not survive, or be able to go on. We have two choices to make at that point. We can either turn to God, and ask for His strength to get through it, or we can turn away from God and become bitter towards Him, “How could you let this happen, God?”. God can handle either one, but if we turn toward him He can turn us from a green vine into a pumpkin!
God used a tragedy in my life to get me to use my goofiness and desire to make people laugh for Him! I truly believe that I would still be only a vine had my son Mark not fallen, but instead I’m a pumpkin for Sisters in Christ and God is using me to bring joy and laughter to women in Lancaster County! Yee hah!
Believe me, the frost hurt and it continued to hurt for two years! But then I gave up depending on me and gave it to God. It’s not easy, but don’t let the frost kill you! Use it to bring you closer to God so he can make you a pumpkin! Be blessed, Jean.

Almost a compliment

Jean Ross — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:36:23 +0000

You gotta love kids! They are so honest and innocent! I was with a friend of mine the other day, who happens to be 4 years old, and we were getting ready to go outside to play a little soccer with her pink soccer ball. She looks up at me as I’m helping her tie her shoes and says, “Jean Jean (ya gotta love that!) you don’t look old”. “Blessed child”, I think to myself as I smile at her. “But your hands do”, she says matter of factly. Alrighty then!! I quickly recovered and tried to be as agile as I could as I played goalie/defenseman/whatever she wanted me to be. Be blessed today!! And remember: you are only as old as you feel (or as your hands look).

Parent of a Teenager's Creed

Jean Ross — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:50:38 +0000

I came across this looking through some old notes and thought I’d share.

Parent of a Teenager’s Creed:

I am cool.
I know things.
My clothes look good on me.
I am funny.
My opinions count.
People care what I say.
It matters what I did “at your age”.
I’m not “that old”.
I gave birth to you and I will love you,
no matter how many times you roll your eyes at me.
I look forward to the day,
when you think I’m cool again.

REPEAT EVERY MORNING IF NECESSARY
Jean Ross 2005

A Visit Ordained In Heaven

Jean Ross — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:48:29 +0000

My son Mark and I took a trip back to Hershey Medical Center a few weeks ago to visit someone. A 3 year old boy who fell and hit his head and suffered a stroke on the same side as Mark. The similarities were so similar to Mark’s it was eerie! I knew when I heard about it that I would have to go. But I wasn’t sure if I should take Mark or not. I let some time go by before I decided to just drop by. I doubt they had too many visitors drop by who said, “I’ve been through this very thing.” I prayed about whether or not to bring Mark, and the first available opportunity for me to visit was a day off school for him. “Okay then, you’re coming.”

I gussied him up and tried to make him look as handsome as possible. No clothes that were too small for him, no sleeping in the car on the way over to mess up his hair, etc. I know Mark is not perfect and I know that’s OK, but for this mom I wanted Mark to represent that “everything will be OK no matter how bleak the prognosis”.

As a bonus we got to see our “angel nurse” who took care of Mark (and me) 10 years ago when Mark was there. She was also their nurse so I knew they were in good hands! We went into the hospital room and I had a chance to visit with mom and dad as the boy and Mark sat quietly listening to us talk of intracranial pressures, surgeries, family upheaval and therapies. As we stood to leave Mark said the sweetest thing, “Mom don’t you want to hug him?” As a matter of fact… The boy’s mom also encouraged, “Give her a good one” (with the shoulder shrug). So I got myself a hug and I was really glad I took Mark.

I called the mom a week later at the hospital and confessed that I was worried that I wanted Mark to look perfect for her. She said, “He was so happy! Isn’t that all you want for your child, for them to be happy?”

She is a wise girl! Let’s all remember that today!

Mark and I enjoyed our trip over to Chocolate World and we went on the ride twice!! Is that legal?

As you go about your day today, remember that God loves you!

Jean

Mark

Jean Ross — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:48:08 +0000

I talk about Mark too much when I write. I know I do. But I can’t help it! It’s like Mark and God and I are all mixed up together, and it’s hard to talk about one without the other! My son Dan took advantage of this when he was younger (he’s in college now). He put a default word in for the word Mark. So one day I’m writing on the computer, about Mark of course, and I look up to see the word “stinky socks” all over the story I’m writing! “Hey, I didn’t write that!” , I think. It took me a few minutes to figure out what he did. Of course I didn’t know how to fix it so I had to wait until he got ome from school. Good one Dan!

So here I go again! We just took Mark to a Children’s Hospital in Phila. to see whether it is time for us to consider some tendon lengthening for his affected left arm and leg. It has been 10 years since his head injury and stroke and he is growing like a weed! This has made it much more difficult to stretch him out and get him into his splints. We thought some day he would need some surgery, but we didn’t know when. His therapist suggested we look into it so off to Phila. we went.

Let me give you a little history of me handling surgery for Mark. I DON’T!! Mark had 2 surgeries initially after his injury. Then he started recovering and improving. Then came the time to replace the piece of his skull that they had removed to allow his brain to swell and not cause damage. I did NOT do well at all during this surgery. I was so afraid of how far we had come and I was so afraid of losing him! He did just fine. In fact, when he woke up in his hospital room, my dad walked near his bed and he said, “Hi Pop”. My dad nor I will ever forget it! Then there was the eye muscle surgery. No big deal right? Wrong. I was soooo irrationally afraid that the doctor had to literally BEG me to let her do the surgery. Later she told me she never did anything so unprofessional and would never try to convince someone like that again. I’m a mess!

So now here we are again. But a lot of time has passed, and hopefully alot of spiritual growth has occurred in my life. They want to operate on his left arm and his left leg. It may help a little with function, and help with his walking ( I think he walks fine! See there I go again!) Everyone I tell says, “that’s great Jean!”. What are they hearing that I’m not saying? I’m saying, “they have to operate”. They are hearing, “maybe we can get some increased function in those limbs.”

Dear God, please help me focus on the end result and not the scary operation!
I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!

Playin' Ball

Jean Ross — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:37:30 +0000

Last weekend my son Mark (12 yrs.) and I went over to Kirkwood park to play baseball. We play all the time in our backyard, but everybody knows it’s WAY more fun to play on an ACTUAL baseball field! I am the pitcher and he is the hitter. For those of you who don’t know, my son Mark suffered a head injury and a stroke when he was almost two, so he has a weak left side and he bats one handed. The motion of his swing is normal, he just uses one hand! He’s pretty DANG good too!

So there we were having a grand old time when another boy came around who looked to be about 5 or 6 who was also having a grand old time with his Pop Pop throwing a football around. I noticed him watching Mark from afar, then he came over, sat on the bench and watched him closer. His Pop Pop called to him, ” Come on over and play!” thinking he was bothering us.

The boy called out, ” I want to watch this kid bat!” Then he said to me, “Is he a handicap?”
I grinned and said, “Yes he is.” He just sat and watched some more. Mark appreciated the attention and continued knocking balls around. Mark asked him if he wanted to hit some.

“Pop Pop, can I play with them?” He batted a few balls I pitched to him and he was very coordinated and hitting the ball hard! Then he did something that I loved! He started hitting one handed! It was just one of those moments for me! This boy was appreciating Mark with his “differences” and seeing what it was like. Mark was enjoying watching him “hit it out of the park!” Each boy was enjoying the other and mom was just grinning inside from ear to ear! God wants us to be JUST like that! Accepting each other with all of our differences and “playing nice” together.

Colossians 3:12
Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, KINDNESS, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Jean

Good Mom

Jean Ross — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:34:10 +0000

Sometimes you just have to be proud of yourself! This morning (Sat. which is sleep in day) I was awakened by my 17 year old son sighing heavily and rummaging in the dark of my room. “What’s the matter?” I say, pulling myself out of my dream sleep fog. “I need my work pants!” he says. My mind tries to remember the status of the weekend work uniforms. Cha ching! “They are hanging up in your closet!” I proudly announce. “I need my cross country sweats too..” he says. Cha ching number two! They are clean, I just know it! Still in the laundry basket in my room, but clean nonetheless! Unable to get back to sleep but content that mom had come through on this occasion, I layed there for a few more minutes in the dark.

Ladies, you know how hard we are on ourselves, especially when we become moms! When someone reaches for the milk, and there’s none there (or only a 1/4 inch) we KNOW it’s our fault. When appointments are forgotten or sports uniforms aren’t clean on game day–our fault. When husbands are quiet and we don’t know why–our fault. Well, it’s time to be proud of ourselves when everything goes smoothly. I did a good job today! Of course, it is still REALLY early in the day…

Proverbs 31:27
She carefully watches all that goes on in her household and does not have to bear the consequences of laziness.
Proverbs 31:30,31
Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

Anybody proud of themselves today?

Jean

Fishtanks

Jean Ross — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:33:11 +0000

This post is just a reminder to us all to be a blessing to people. I was going through my journal notes and this entry struck me, it’s from 2003. My husband got this idea that it would be nice to put a fishtank in a nursing home. It would be something for the residents to enjoy looking at. So we did it. Of course we had to maintain it, and we weren’t professionals, but we did our best. My husband was ready to move on to another project after a year or so, but being a women (you know how it is girls-once we start something-we’re in it for life!), I faithfully took care of that fishtank for more than 10 years. It was alot of work, but oh the blessings I received! The residents LOVED it when I would take the kids in, especially Mark because he was so outgoing and always talked to them. The following story is just one of the many blessings I recieved!

7/5/2003
I went to clean out the fishtank today. Doris (name changed to protect the ininocent) was there and she was telling me about a fish that had died. With my hand down in the tank and half listening to her she said, “Guess what we found when we cut it open?”

I stopped cleaning the sides and looked at her. “You did an autopsy on the fish!?” These fish are small tropical fish (just so you have a visual on the size) “Well we HAD to know what he was all bloated from! One of the nurse’s aides cut him open.” (I’m pretty sure that’s NOT in their job description!) Doris continued on, “Bile!” she says, and she iis just beside herself in wonder of this. I’m still reeling that they did an autopsy on a fish! I’m trying to picture the scene in my mind…four old people and a nurse’s aide huddled in someone’s room hoping noone comes in. I knew the fishtank would occupy them, but I just thought feeding and looking at them would be the extent of it. This was amazing to me!
Over the years of cleaning that fishtank, I bonded with Doris and many others, and they with me. Be a blessing to someone, somehow. You never know what you’ll get in return!

Jean