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Psalm 36: A Psalm of David

Psalm 36 A Psalm of David

Today during my devotional I read Psalm 36.  I’ll be honest the first time through I didn’t get much.  I had to apologize to the Lord and ask him to help me wake up.  I haven’t been sleeping well.  It’s probably my kidney stones. :-/

Once I was more alert, I read the chapter again.  The following is what I gleaned from my devotion.  Hope it helps you as well.

1) The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.

4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

5 Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.

7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

10 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.

12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.

Scripture taken from King James Bible courtesy of BibleGateway

Character of the Wicked

Verse One shows us that the wicked are not at all afraid of God, not even when they commit an act of wickedness.  We can also deny God in our lives when we choose to willfully sin, at that moment, we are telling God we are not afraid of his chastisement for sin.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be lumped in with, “the wicked” and it scares me to think of how God views a willful sin.

Verse two shows us that wicked think much more of themselves than they ought too.  Now, the Merriam-Webster dictionary tells us that flattery can be an insincere praise and this wicked person could possibly be offering himself that, a form of pride, but I think “a pleasing self-deception” is more likely what this wicked person is doing.

After all, Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Apparently this wicked person’s lack of ability to recognize how deceived and prideful he or she is also leads to being hateful.

Titus 3:3  “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.”

As hard as it may be to grasp, before Jesus came into our lives and saved us, we were hateful.  I certainly have no desire to go back to malice, envy, and hatefulness after all the Lord has done for me.  Pride will put us right back in that place of hating and envy so we need to guard our hearts and protect against it.

Verses three and four show us that when a wicked person speaks, they are saying ugly things and/or deceiving others with their words.  This deception is for their own personal gain, not to actually help others.  The thoughts of the wicked person are all vanity as well.   This person can only think of plans that go against the Word of God.  They have forsaken wisdom from God and have turned to whatever sounds best to them.

I aspire to be a lady in whose mouth was found no guile.  Unfortunately, I can’t say that is true all the time.  I have been provoked to anger and I’ve certainly said some things I wish I could take back.  Haven’t you?  I do believe that God is faithful and he alone can help us to be a purer vessel that will be found with no guile.  All we have to do is let him work in our hearts.

God’s attributes

When I think of just a handful of God’s attributes, I’m truly overwhelmed.  My friend sings a song called, In My Father’s Eyes.  You may have heard it as well.  I honestly can’t imagine what the Lord saw when he reached down for me.

Verses five and six tell of us God’s mercy, faithfulness, righteousness, and judgement.   He is faithful to extend mercy to us so many more times over than we deserve.  I know that just since I’ve been saved, I’ve failed him more than I could count and yet he’s NEVER failed me.

His righteousness is GREAT like the mountains.  I’ve not seen many mountains, but when I have, I just have to stand in awe.  It’s so beautiful yet so intimidating.  Can you imagine meeting someone that was so right in all they did that they were never wrong?  Wouldn’t it be intimidating just to sit and eat with them?  Think of an extraordinarily successful person, how would you feel sitting with them to a meal?  Honored I’m sure, but you’d also put on your nicest clothes, make sure you didn’t over eat, and maybe refresh your manners.  And yet God, who is right in all his judgments, desires a relationship with us!

Lastly, in verse six, we are told that God himself, not anything we can do, preserves both mankind and animals.  Why does he do that?  He loves his creation!  That is why he sent his beloved and only begotten son to die for our redemption and that’s why he still preserves us today.  I’ve faced a lot of illness, so have many of my friends and sometimes all I could trust was God will preserve me and hold me together.

Colossians 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

That single verse kept me going through some of the worst pain in my life. If you’d like to read about the painful disease called endometriosis I lived with for years, click here.

The Joy of the Christian!

Now that we have seen the traits of the wicked and the holiness of God, David gets excited over the life of the redeemed!

In verses seven through ten we see the lovingkindness of God mentioned twice.  Not only does he love us, he expresses that love with kindness.  What good does it do to love someone and never show them your love with kindness?

As wives, we need to show our love to our husbands.  It’s so easy to get caught up in the mundane, run of the mill life.  Don’t forget to find ways to show your husband you love him.  As a mother, we need to show our children love.  As home educating moms it is very easy to get wrapped up in paperwork and lessons and find yourself not showing the love your children need.

Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

As women, we need to protect ourselves from fatigue because the devil is doing his best just to wear us out.  I don’t know about you, but when I’m wore out, I’m not loving.  Be vigilant to protect your heart, mind, and the body from just being worn out.   For some of us with chronic illness, this means we will need to say “no” to some things so we can stay healthy enough to take care of our families.

In verse seven, my King James Bible has a note on the word “excellent”  and it says “precious.” Is the lovingkindness of God still precious to you?  If you find you’ve been taking for granted the lovingkindness of the almighty God who desires a one on one relationship with you, it’s time for a heart check.  Above all, we should never forget to show the Lord our love in return for all he’s done.

David’s Request

Verse eleven is a prayer made by David.  David is asking God to keep him from being puffed up with pride.  The position of King can cause a man to become full of pride.  Pride was the devil’s sin and he will provoke us to be prideful as well.

1 Corinthians 8:1 “Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.”

David was a good King and he knew that he needed God’s help to stay humble and keep his mind pure.   God gave a wonderful testimony about King David when he said that David had followed God all the days of his life, except for the matter of Uriah, the Hittite.

1 Kings 15:5 “Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.”

If even the great King David could fall into sin, how much more do we need pray this prayer, let not the foot of pride come against me?  Probably every one of us could improve our prayer life.

The Plight of the Wicked

Verse twelve shows us that wicked do not truly prosper in the end.  The wicked fall and are cast down.  There is no one to help them help stand back up since they have turned from God.

In contrast, a righteous man can fall and God will send someone to help him back up.  A righteous man knows when he has made a mistake or even committed a sin.  King David certainly knew and he was very quick to repent and ask God’s forgiveness and help when he did mess up.

Proverbs 24:16 “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

Final Thoughts

There is a lot to unpack in this short Psalm.  Twelve verses cross reference us all over the book and teach us a lot!  I’m thankful that God wrote his word down for us to read over and over again.

As Christians, we should seek to make improvements on our lives daily.  If we are successful with making those improvements through daily sanctification, we need to take care that we do not become filled with pride.  We need to remember that we can slide right back into the behavior of the wicked man.

2 Corinthians 10:12 “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

We also need to remember not to compare ourselves with what we perceive another Christian lady to be.  We need to stay in our own lane, run our own race, and compare ourselves with the perfect example, Jesus.  How well are we shining Jesus through our life?

If you’re still reading, I truly want to thank you for stopping by.  Let me know if this daily devotional helped you.  I love to hear from readers.

Until next time-

Davi

 

 

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What To Do When You Fail

When You Fail, Dont Stay Down.

We have all probably heard the famous Thomas Edison quote, “I have not failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  They key to his success was learning from the first mistake and doing something differently the next time he tried to reach his goal.   When you fail, you need to be like Thomas Edison!  Dust yourself off and try again.

Let’s take a minute to look at some things to do when you fail to get back on the horse again.  Each failure, when properly analyzed can be a stepping stone on your path to success.

Relax and Step Back

Don’t be too hard on yourself when you dont meet a goal.  If you’re anything like me, it’s pretty easy to brow beat yourself for not reaching an expected goal.  Yes, we want to meet deadline and crush our goals, but spending to much time kicking yourself while down hinders your bounce back.

Let’s face it, we have enough negativity coming at us from other areas in life.  You can’t always control what you hear from your boss, team leader, or co-worker but, you can control what you hear from yourself.  Don’t be your own worst enemy!  Be realistic, not self destructive.

Take Inventory

Next, you will want to break down the steps you took in your attempt to reach your goal.  Have you ever woken up and thought, how did I get here?  Sometimes we don’t really realize how certain decsions will hinder our progress on the road to our goal.  For example,  if you have a financial goal to save a certain amount of money in a week but you give in to the temptation of buying a Dunkin Donuts iced coffee every day on the way home from work or school, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.  Without really realizing it, you’ve spent $10.75 or more.  Small decisions can add up to a derailing quickly!

Perhaps you plan to write a novel and you set a goal to finish the entire manuscript in 4 months and then you fail to reach the goal.  Begin to take inventory by asking yourself some questions.  1) Did I have a good idea for a story?  2) Did I make an outline of the basic story? 3) Did I think through my main characters?  4) Did I set small daily writing goals?

As you answer the questions you have about your failure it becomes easy to identify your weaknesses.  For me, failure to meet a daily writing goal happens a lot.  Some of this is the season of life I’m in and some of it, if I’m honest, is just poor time management skills.  These are examples of things I have actually failed at in my daily life!  You now have the priviledge of learning from my mistakes.

Remember failure is an event, not a person.

Failure happens to the very best of us.  In fact, it’s a vital part of learning.  Both failure and success are just an event that happens, neither are people.  If you show me a successful person, Mark Cuban comes to mind as I write this, I’ll show you a failure too!

It is so very imporant and liberating to remember that a failure is simply an event in your day, like the page on a book.  This failure does not and will not define you as person.  My husband often says that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

A success, lottery winners for example, can quickly turn into failure if you react to it wrong.  Often we see lottery winners spend money so quickly that they don’t have enough money for taxes and end up with a large IRS problem.  Inversely, a failure can spur innovative thinking and creativity that can launch a new product, a new career, Lydia Senn’s virtual assistant career comes to mind, or maybe even a new scientific theory!

Failure is Education

Failing isn’t really the issue, the issue is refusing to learn from the event.  I’m sure you’ve heard of “the school of hard knocks.”  Using a failed circumstance as merely a learning expierence is what that saying refers too.

You can go to school and get a degree in buisness and still not learn everything you need to know about your business.  The failures you meet along the way on the road to building your business are going to provide valuable lessons you just can’t get in the class room.

I remember years ago in EMT training we had drill days to practice our skills that we studied in books.  Everything reads well in the books but it’s very different when you try to put a C-Collar on a person in  an actual squashed car.

In high school my brother watched all of games on video so he could identify his weakness or point of failure during a game.  By doing this week in and week out over the course of his high school career he was able to improve significantly faster than those who relied solely on the coach’s observations.  He won many achievements and awards by using failure as a teacher and we can do the same.

Failure is NOT an Excuse

Finally, failure is not an excuse to give up.  My father always told me that nothing worth doing is easy.  Maybe that’s not exactly true since eating is relatively easy but, his point was clear.  Worthwhile things take time and commitment.  If something goes wrong, we need to be problem solvers and not quitters.

Winners don’t always win but a quitter will certainly never win.  Failure can drive us to educate ourselves better and change tactics but it should never be an excuse to just give up.  What if you are only one failure away from success?  Don’t let failure scare or stop you!  Remember it’s not a person, it’s just part of life.

In fact, Jesus told us to expect to fail at some point!

Luke 16:9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

Prepare to Fail Again

Since we now know that failure will always be a part of life,  we need to prepare ourselves to face many times over the course of our lives.   Failure doesn’t have to be a terrifying monster.  It is something we can tame if we view it differently.

Tom Corley has a great book that show us how our daily habits can be a point of failure.  I highly recommend giving this book a good read!  I bought my copy on google play books with some reward money.  I’ve linked a hard copy version from Amazon here.  I enjoyed this book so much, I ordered one for my public library.

In order to accomplish great things one must be willing to risk a great failure.

“It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.” —Abraham Lincoln

I hope this has helped you to view failure in a new light.  Please comment below, I love to hear from readers.

Until next time-

Davi

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Pensacola Symphony Orchestra: Music For Families

Pensacola Symphony Orchestra performed a great family event Saturday May 19, 2018.  I’m so glad we were able to go!  Music for families was an amazing event!

The event was held at the Saenger Theater in downtown Pensacola.  We had never been to this theater before.  The details of the inside were beautiful.

Blue’s Angels music store was one of the sponsors for the event.  I really love the Blue’s Angels music store.  They have a really awesome guard parrot that lives in the store.  They also have fish tanks that look like drums.

The atmosphere at Blue’s Angels is really relaxed and enjoyable.  The staff there make it a great store!  Blue’s Angels has a lot of teachers available for all types of instruments as well.  There is also a nice selection of pianos in their show room.

Cox and Wendy’s were also sponsors.  I’m glad these two businesses teamed up with Pensacola Symphony Orchestra to bring this entertainment to us.

The “Petting Zoo” For Instruments

We absolutely loved this idea!  The petting zoo was a place the children could visit nearly every instrument in the orchestra and learn a little about how it makes sound and give it a try on their own.  Each instrument was accompanied by a member of the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra.

Piano

My DD went straight for the piano!  She’s been playing for years and she’ll play it any time she has a chance.  They had a nice black babygrand piano on display for all of the children to use.

Cello

Sneetch 2 went for the cello.  He was recently given a cello by a nearby church to learn on.  YoYo Ma is one of Sneetch 2’s favorite musicians.  The man at the cello station gave Sneetch 2 a little mini lesson on the cello and we watched him play a few notes.

Violin/Viola

Violin and Viola were also on display.  Viola is my personal favorite!  It plays the alto and has a warmer more homey sound.  It’s like the violin’s mom.  Sneetch 1 didn’t go with us but he prefers the Violin.  Violin is just so stereotypical though! Hahaha.  You know you love someone if you let them practice those high E string notes on violin in your house.

The Bass

We had to take a look at the Bass.  I’m not sure if some of the kids were just done looking at it or perhaps intimidated by it’s large size.  We have a Great Dane and the bass is bigger than he is!  We really enjoyed talking to the man giving the demonstration.  He let all of us play it and then he even played us a little song, Mary Had A Little Lamb.

Winds and Brass

They had an entire room of winds as well.  We went there and saw the Tuba, Basson, Flute, and Trumpet.  The lines in this room were also long.  They did clean the mouth piece after each use but, my kiddos just couldn’t bring themselves to blow on a mouth piece that had been used by 15 kids while we waited.  Perhaps my days of nursing school rubbed off on them!

Percussion

One of our favorite attractions was the percussion demonstration that the Blue’s Angels music store staff put on in the “instrument petting zoo”.  There were several different types of drums set up, maracas, and tambourines. The girl that lead the demo taught us different beats.  The big drums got to bang “ham and cheese”, the smaller drums beat a “run for-est run” beat, and those of us with tambourines and maracas shook to a beat of “pea-nut but-ter”.  Once we had it down they played the song “Happy” and we tried to stay on beat!  This was absolutely hilarious with about 30 kids in the room!

The Concert!

After all the time in the petting zoo was over, the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra played a concert for us.  The maestro, Peter Rubardt and a woman named Nicole talked to the audience about how instruments produced sound.  The concert had a “music train” that the conductor (Peter Rubardt) drove Nicole around on.  They pretended to look for all the members of the Orchestra.  Those of us in the crowd had to help “start” up the train.  On the floor level half of the people stomped feet to a beat.  The other half of the floor level audience chanted “chugga chugga”.  Those of us up in the balcony made the whistle sound of “woo woo”.  It may have been a little corny but, I loved it!

Drumland

When they got to Drumland, Nicole and the conductor introduced us to the “mayor” of Drumland.  He gave us an overview of all the instruments in the percussion section of the Orchestra.  Lots of people enjoy the drums but I think my favorite has to be the triangle.  The triangle reminds me of the ‘wild west’ where I’m from (west Texas that is).

Once we were all familiar with the instruments that fell under the percussion umbrella, the three guys playing percussion played a short little song.   I had no idea that composers even wrote songs for only percussion!  It was neat to see.

Brassburg

Nicole acted as though she thought only the drum section was the entire orchestra.  The conductor told her that he felt there were a few more people in an orchestra.  They hopped on the train again and found Brassburg.  Brassburg was home to the tubas, trumpets, and all those horns.

The mayor from Brassburg was a tuba player and he told everyone about the brass section.  One interesting thing this mayor mentioned was that the sound for these horns first starts with the way you buzz your lips!  I did not realize that the lips had to buzz to make the correct sound.  I’ve always thought it was like a flute or something and you just blow on it.

Once again we were treated to another song.  This song was brass plus percussion.

Woodwindville

The next stop on the “music train” was Woodwindville.  This section of the orchestra had bassoons, flutes, and oboes in it.  This little town had our first female mayor!  She played the bassoon.

Once we were educated on this section of the orchestra, you guessed it!, we got another song!

The flutes really added to the music.  I enjoyed those a lot.

String City

The last stop on the “music train” was the string city.  This is my favorite!  Our family really gravitates toward the strings.  I’ve got a small YouTube channel showing my progress as I learn both violin and piano.

I’ve also got this article here about learning to play as an adult.

The mayor of String City played the bass but he said he got elected mayor due to his vow to bring the viola back!  I don’t have a viola yet (hence learning violin instead) but I cheered loudly while the four violists held up their violas!

At last we had the entire Pensacola Symphony Orchestra assembled.  It was time for the full effect!

Finale

The Pensacola Symphony Orchestra played a mash up of all the songs in the Disney Beauty and the Beast film.  Nicole had picked this song for everyone.  Once this song was over she asked the crowd what song they would like to hear next.  Everyone luckily shouted Star Wars, which was already on the program!

Conclusion

This was a great program for kids and their families!  People were excited to hear the wonderful live music and everyone was polite and courteous no matter how loud the babies were.  We had such a great time we will definitely be back next year!

The best part was, the tickets were a mere $5 each.  You can’t go to a movie theater for that folks!  Your brain is certainly not going to be as engaged during a film either.  Lastly, your kids may never get to see and touch that many instruments in a single day!

Sheet Music

These are affiliate links.  This means if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a small commission on this sale at now cost to you.  You don’t have to make a purchase.  If you do choose to make a purchase, it helps keep this website free. 

If you’d like to play some classical music at home, click here to buy some virtual sheet music.

They have 4 levels of sheet music to choose from for virtually any instrument you can think of.  It’s not purely classical either, they have all types of music.

Chicken Picks

These picks were developed by Eppo Franken in 1984.

I haven’t tried these yet but, I’m so looking forward to getting a trial set.  I last purchased these picks from Amazon.

These are okay but the thin ones broke over time and they are slippery if your hands get sweaty while playing.  I can’t wait to see how the chicken picks compare!

Thanks so much for stopping in today!  If you’re planning a vacation to Pensacola or live within driving distance, I hope you’ll consider watching the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra!

Until next time-

Davi

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Endometriosis: Myths Busted

Endometriosis Myths Abound Everywhere!

As a person who has had endometriosis for as long as I can remember I can attest that myths about endometriosis still run amok all over the place.  These myths aren’t found just on the internet either.  I’ve heard them at school, the mall, even in doctor’s offices.

March is Endometriosis Awareness Month

Since March is Endometriosis Awareness Month, I thought it would be a good opportunity to touch on this disease that eventually had me walking with a bright blue cane for awhile.  You don’t know what Endometriosis is?  Check out my previous post on Endometriosis , or save it on Pinterest.

The myths and misconceptions I’m about to cover are not in any order of importance but they do need to be stopped.

 The Myths

  • All you need is a hysterectomy and you will be cured.  It’s a very common thing for someone to say to those of us with Endometriosis.  Unfortunately, it’s not the actual normal plumbing that is causing our pain.  Endometrial lesions are OUTSIDE of the uterus itself not just on our reproductive organs.  Some of my friends have had these lesions on bowels, ureters, a kidney, and really the list can just go on.  Mine was in the peritoneal wall of my abdomen, ligaments, and the Sigmoid colon.  Since hysterectomy only takes out the uterus and in some cases the cervix, all these painful lesions are left behind and so is the pain.
  • Endometriosis is just “monster cramps” take some over the counter pain medication and stop being a baby. When I had my excision surgery in September of 2015 with Dr. Ken Sinervo, that was the first time in my life that I remember having no pain from endometriosis.   After only 2 days, I didn’t need any pain medication other than over the counter Advil.  I didn’t need Advil for very long either!  This was also the first time that I actually realized that an over the counter pain reliever ACTUALLY WORKED.  Most people didn’t know that when they would offer me some of their Wal-Mart over the counter pain medicine, I thought they were crazy for thinking it worked.  I’m not even kidding when I say that taking Naproxen, even prescription strength, was as useful as taking sweet tarts or tic tacs for my pain.   If you also suffer from Endometriosis pain, you know that I’m not even exaggerating here!  Most of my life I thought all of you taking over the counter pain reliever were being sold snake oil, imagine my surprise when I took some, and it worked!
  • Just have a baby and it will go away. This is really bad advice and please don’t say this to anyone.  A baby is a permanent addition to your life that many women want and some of them can’t have due to Endometriosis and other issues.  Some ladies will find they have some time with no pain at all.  I on the other hand had a massive increase in pain due to the location of my disease.  When the pain finally returns, you now have a baby that needs you even though you can barely breathe through your pain.  Please understand, I don’t regret having children in spite of endometriosis and I’m not suggested if you have it, you shouldn’t have kids, just please do not think that having a baby will fix it. 
  • If you have Endometriosis, there is no way you will EVER have kids. Again, this is simply NOT true.  There are a lot of factors that will determine if a woman with Endometriosis can still have children.  It is much more difficult for you to conceive if you have Endometriosis on your ovaries or Fallopian tubes for example.  Personally, I was able to have some children, but my lesions were not primarily on my reproductive organs.  Ironically, many women are not even diagnosed with disease until after the first child is born.  Did you know that many of us have seen several different Doctors for as long as 10 years before we even get a diagnosis? 
  • If you just eat/drink this/that and exercise, all your pain will go away. While I am completely aware that certain types of foods can trigger different pain reactions, diet and exercise alone are  not enough for many ladies!  My doctor actually has a great chart in her office showing how certain types of food break down into compounds that can increase the pain sensation.  She also knows that I tried that (AND adhered to that!).  I spent 5 years as a vegan and lost weight and had some good days but it never reduced the pain long and it did in fact increase my thyroid disease. (But we aren’t talking about Hashimotos today.) 
  • Endometriosis is from retrograde menstruation/tampons. This one, I can sort of understand why it is still out there, it was the best theory years and years ago.  However, science has improved and we now know that even babies still born have had the lesions inside their little bodies.  While it is true that no one can agree on a definite cause, this isn’t it.  My own mother has endometriosis and wouldn’t let me wear tampons for this exact reason!  I still had Endometriosis though.  Some great Endometriosis specialists like Dr. David Redwine, Dr. Andrew Cook, Dr. Robert Albee, and Dr. Ken Sinervo have all published work showing that this theory is nothing more than a myth.  Unfortunately we still have pharmaceutical companies publishing this myth on their websites and pamphlets.  

These are 6 of the most common things I hear regarding Endometriosis.  What about you?  Do you hear myths about Endometriosis too?  I’d love to hear what you’ve learned about this disease and what has been proven false.

I have Endometriosis or think I may, what do I do now?

First of all, I’m so very sorry!  While we can’t yet say, there is a cure, there are some better methods of surgery that are becoming more main stream.  This is called excision surgery and it’s not the same as ablation surgery despite the many claims that it is.  You’re not alone!  At least 1 in every 10 of us have it.  Below I will list some great resources for you.

  1. Center For Endo
  2. Nancy’s Nook
  3. Endometropolis
  4. Stop Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain by Dr. Andrew Cook
  5. Dr. David Redwine’s Endopaedia

Thanks So much for spending time with me today.  I love hearing from ya’ll so please leave a comment or message below!

Until next time-

Davi

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Journey Learning To Play Music As An Adult

“Did you hear that? She was born with such talent!“

Have you heard something similar?  I know I have, in fact, most of my life I heard that musical people come from musical families and it is a genetic thing.  “Either you’re born with it, or you’re not!” That is another thing I heard all the time.  This comment always puzzled me since babies are not born speaking English or German, or any other language, they are taught how to speak the language by their parents.  Growing up on a ranch I also saw my fair share of calves being born.  They do walk pretty quickly but, they don’t just start off amazing at it.  In fact, I bet if they didn’t need to learn so quickly so they could reach for food, they may take a few more days getting better at it because they fall a lot on that first day.

My Inner Struggle

In 2010 I began a real struggle on the inside.  I desperately wanted to learn more about music and how to play at least some of it.  However, I was paralyzed by fear and of the lie I had been conditioned to believe.  I was taught, whether on purpose or not, that music was to be reserved for only certain people, those who were born with a natural God-given gift that I was most certainly not  given.  More over, I believed that adults could never learn music, learning music was only for children, special children, of which I was not.  These lies I believed choked my desire to learn, I would find myself wandering through a book on music in an emotional tirade thinking I was not good enough or smart enough to understand any of the concepts outlined.

TED talks to the rescue!

I’m pretty thankful for YouTube as silly as that may seem; I found TED talks on YouTube when looking into the possibility of an adult learning to play music.  Adults have fully formed brains and if we didn’t learn music as a child, our Corpus Callosum is smaller; therefore we can not learn music because it requires a LARGE Corpus Callosum!  Well, thankfully, this may not exactly be the case, you see as much as human knowledge has improved (we think anyway) there is still much to be learned about the brain, thyroid, and well just the human body in general.  Watching TED talks gave me hope that 1) learning never has to stop 2) an adult brain can adapt and learn new pathways at least some and 3) proper nutrition has more to do with brain function than ever known before.  Jonathan Harnum wrote a book, The Practice of Practice and it really changed my view on my ability to learn this new skill, music.  I highly recommend that you read it.  Obviously, I may never be as good as my children since they started music at a very early age but that doesn’t mean I can’t be good enough to play quite a few songs my friends and family enjoy!

The Commitment

Every week I try to set aside time to practice, that is really the biggest detractor from adult learning, you know, all those responsibilities.  We all run around chasing kids, pets, trying to keep order in the home and still maintain some me time.  Now that I know I can learn music, I actually find it truly relaxing to play the portions I do know well.  Now, while I’m learning a new concept and creating a new neural pathway in that gray matter, it is work!  Sometimes I even think I feel a heated “tar” being laid over asphalt in my brain, so don’t be fooled into thinking adults can learn music means it is easy.  However, it’s work that I love!  I know that I’m fulfilling a life long dream of finally learning piano and violin!  I’m helping to keep my mind sharp and giving my brain power up for later on in life in the event I do suffer from a stroke.  Exercising my brain with music is building alternate routes for the future if I ever need them.  Moreover, I know that I am currently making a joyful noise for my Lord and Savior and one day, one day, it may even be played skillfully for all of you to hear!

Psalm 95:1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Psalm 33:3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

My DD made me this cover sheet for my music binder.  I can tell you she knows I struggle on guitar!  She just thought this cover would be so funny. HaHa For some reason both piano and violin just click in my brain better.  I’m pretty sure that brain signals crossfire when I pick up a guitar.  I know what I’m supposed to do with a guitar but for the life of me I haven’t been able to make it click into place.  Sneetch number 2 on the other hand is a natural guitarist.  He loves it, is largely self taught, and can also play piano!  He doesn’t enjoy piano as much but he plays it well and if he loved it like he does guitar, I’m pretty sure he’d be just as good on one as the other.  It’s already difficult for those who don’t listen to him daily to tell which was his first choice instrument.  Now he wants to start flute as well.  You can be assured this house is rarely quiet unless we are all sleeping.

MomsMusicCover

I hope that this inspires you to at least consider picking up an instrument and fiddle with it.  I’ve got a couple of videos, albeit very amateur ones of what I learned in the first 3 or 4 months of practice.  I need to make some more since I’ve learned a tad on the violin since then. My Music Progress 1 My Music Progress 2 I’m almost too embarrassed to even show these videos but, everyone has to start somewhere!  I’m even more embarrassed that I’ve only made 2!  My hope is, by documenting the change over time, someone can click through and see improvement and be inspired to at least give it a good college try!  Let me know in the comments below if you play or think you may now!

Well, it’s getting late so, as always,

Until next time-

Davi

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Are Your Flowers Dainty Daisies or Twisted Briers- Endometriosis In Real Life

I really should have made more of an attempt to do this article while in recovery.  It would have been nice to have a more “month by month” story but in reality, I was busy getting well and recovering. In the early days of recovery, I was also dealing with thyroid disease that was newly diagnosed and I was just so tired, it was all I could do to just feed myself.  Thankfully, I am here today a little over two years later and I feel like an entirely different person!  I’m not 100% well, I may never be, but endometriosis hasn’t been a problem for me in two entire years and that is HUGE.

What is Endometriosis?  What could possibly have me reeling in pain day in and day out month after month with no end in sight? Well, let us start with what endometriosis is NOT.  According to the CEC (www.centerforendo.com) it’s not dysmenorrhea or “mild painful menses” in common terms nor is it just “killer cramps.”  In fact, when I was younger, like I’m talking 12, I used to boil over in anger when people suggested that I couldn’t handle being a girl… Yes! YOUNG girls DO suffer debilitating pain from this very disease! Also, it’s not just a little bit (or even a lot) of endometrium that has been misplaced or implanted from back flow of menses.  This is probably one of the most common myths.  Below is one of my favorite quotes from the CEC…

“Endometriosis is not a simplistic condition whereby normal uterine lining implants itself waywardly throughout the body like daises in a field with each period – yet unfortunately, this outdated, widely-touted notion continues to keep endometriosis mired needlessly in delayed diagnoses, hysterectomy, poor surgical treatment, ineffective medical suppressives and worst of all, a lack of hope. Fortunately – endometriosis is not a hopeless disease and quality treatments do exist.”  CEC

Endometriosis is tissue that looks like but is NOT the same as endometrium tissue that grows outside of the uterus.  It has a lot of symptoms but the most common one is extreme, debilitating pain usually around menses and often during ovulation as well.  These tissues can grow just about anywhere, not just on the reproductive organs.  Women have it on their diaphragm, liver, bladder, colon; it is not reduced to being located only on the ovary, Fallopian tube or uterus.  Due to the lack of education on Endometriosis, it is commonly misdiagnosed and women wait on average 7-10 years to get a correct diagnosis.

To make matters worse, endometriosis is often responsible for the build up of adhesive tissue that begins to slowly glue our organs together so that they can’t move freely any longer.  Adhesion tissues also contribute a great deal to pain levels, poor quality of life, and reduced mobility.  By the time I was 32, 20 years of pain had passed (what would you do in 20 years of time?) and so had adhesion build up.  I literally could not sit up in a straight back chair because my mobility had been so greatly reduced.  Once I had been a pretty athletic person but as I aged, the amount of exercise I could do was greatly reduced until finally I could barely walk.  I felt like I was loosing who I was in leaps and bounds while everyone else had a normal body and aged slowly.

During one the episodes of menses pain I laid in my bed and really wondered how much more I could take.  I decided to search on youtube for endometriosis and I found a video done by Rebekah Hoyt called Ending Endometriosis.  I was actually down right mad after watching it! Surely she must be selling snake oil and getting paid truck loads to make money off our suffering (she wasn’t!).  You see, my mother had endometriosis and she had been to several physicians and nothing was ever able to help her.  In fact, most of the treatments my mother went through actually made her pain worse each time she tried it.  I had been conditioned since I was 12 to believe there was no hope for this, it was just my lot in life.  However, my subconscious held on to the information in the video and a few months later, in agony again, I called the Center for Endometriosis Care, I had reached the end of my rope, I wasn’t living, I was literally just existing; something had to be done.  Locally, I was only offered the traditional treatments of pills, Lupron, or surgery.  I wasn’t willing to try Lupron with my newly diagnosis thyroid disease, pills had failed so many times before, and the surgery they offered here was the same type that failed my mother and every other person I’d known with endometriosis.   I was determined, if I must have a surgery, it will be a different procedure than they offered my mom.  Little did I know then, this would soon be the best thing I’ve ever done for my health. Hope was rekindled, life was on the way.  Excision surgery via vaporization was now the agenda.

Watch Rebeka Hoyt’s Documentary Video Herel

I’ve never met this woman but I am SO thankful she made this video or I may still be in pain today!

Do you want to know more about my life with endometriosis?

Comment below or give me a like if you’d like to see more information regarding endometriosis in my life and how I eventually overcame it or if you’d like to see more resources.

Need more resources about Endometriosis?

If you’re on Facebook and would like to know more, join Nancy’s Nook group where lots of great up to date endometriosis information is posted by some of the best in the field as well as patients who have gone many years longer than I have to date with no recurrence.

Until next time-

Davi

 

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Looking Forward 2018 Book List

I can hardly believe that 2017 is nearly complete history now!  This time of the year, a lot of people are making New Years Resolutions and reflecting on the things that went poorly this year.  I’m not sure you about you, but I often forget to look at the good things that happened during the year unless they are really big like, one of my best friends got married, or another out of state friend had a baby, etc.  The negative seems to linger more for me.  Since I’ve pin pointed this dilemma, I’ve decided to remedy it by making lists to track my accomplishments during the year.  It’s not a new concept really, I mean when you’re in school you get report cards that keep you in touch with how you are progressing.  I can not really remember even 5 of the books I’ve read in 2017!  I know I read many (my overdue library fees will prove it!) Are you compiling a list yourself?

Our sweet little bookstore, Read It Again, is going out of business this year, December 31, 2017.  It’s really pretty sad for us since the owners have watched our children grow up over the last 10 years.  The silver lining is, we were able to use up our store credit and the books were 40% off as well.  With $33 dollars of credit in tow, DD and I went shopping!  Here’s a list of much of what we found and what currently makes up my 2018 reading list.  The books are not in a particular order.

Build Your Author Platform by Carole Jelen and Michael McCallister (2014): I hope that this book will still have relevancy since my end goal is to write full time.

Sim and Schuster Handbook for Writers by Lynn Quitman Troyka and Douglass Hesse (2005): I’m sure this will come in handy!

Teaching Developmental Reading by Normah A. Stahl and Hunter Boylan (2003): It’s probably a good idea to freshen up on “how” to read so I can also learn to write better.

Two Parts Textbook, One Part Love by Louanne Johnson (1998): This seemed interesting!

Lessons From A Lifetime of Writing by David Morrell (2002):  Hope this will get me a little bit of a jump on the learning curve.

Yankee Home Hints by Earl Proulx (1993): because my homemaking skills can always use a little tweaking I’m sure. 😉

Blue Mountain- Turning Dreams Into Reality by Susan Polis Schutz (2004): I’m excited about this one!  I hope it inspires me and ya’ll… I got this one brand new in the shrink wrap, a retail of $35.95 for $3.60!  Gotta love a bargain for your frugalista self!

Incidental Music- Remarkable Stories About the Worlds Greatest Composers by David Ott (I can’t find a year): I’m really stoked about this book too since I’m an aspiring musician and love to hear stories of real people years ago.

A Short Guide to Writing About History by Richard Marius and Melvin E. Page (2002): I have always had a desire to write some sort of historical book.

What’s Yours is Mine Open Access and the Rise of Infrastructure Socialism by Adam Theierer and Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. (2003): I have no idea what to expect here, but it was very inexpensive so, why not!?

Defense of the Faith or Christian Doctrine by Albert Garner (1956): I really like the very old Christian Writing from the 1800’s and early 1900’s so 1956 is a little “new” for me but I thought I would give this a try.

Unfashionable Convictions by Bernard Iddings Bell (1931):  Again, a little newer than I generally like but, the title was alluring.

Cupcakes by Susanna Tee (2006): Everybody needs a new book on making cupcakes once in awhile. num num DH is looking forward to reviewing this one with me, only he will do the eating not the reading!

Zone Meals In Seconds by Barry Sear and Lynn Sears (2004): It’s a cookbook but i have no idea what zone meals are.  I sure look forward to having food in seconds though!

Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson (1999):  I didn’t get this one at our book store, I ordered this one off of Amazon.  It looks like it may be able to offer some information on the art and science of homemaking and I always desire to improve there, especially in house keeping and clutter control (my biggest area of failure).

Cold Knights: Two Brothers: One A Prince by LeRoy Clary (2017):  I saw the cover and have looked forward to reading this since!

GotBooks

I plan to review all of these books, we shall see how the endeavor goes!

What do you think? Did you get any ideas for your book list?  Get started today, not much time is left before we start a brand new year.

Until next time-

Davi