Hearing Heart Blog

If you’ve read my earliest posts, you’ve seen that I am approaching menopause and dealing with a little of the craziness attached to it. To be more honest, I mean a lot of the craziness. Before a couple of years ago I wouldn’t have considered taking medication for what I decided must be a natural part of living. I would “tough it out”, through hot flashes (what’s wrong with being a hottie ?) and through insomnia (it must be my “watch” for prayer). At the end of it all I’d emerge a healthier older woman, free of side effects and risks associated with taking medications. Something started going seriously wrong, though, when my soul began to sink into bouts of depression and anger. Wow. Powerful emotions became a part of a “cycle” that was eroding my relationships, especially with my husband. Amazingly, I would fall in love with him on a deeper level as he demonstrated his faithfulness and commitment to me. At the same time, though, I would blame him for his bewildering emotional withdraw

I woke up at 4:20 a.m. hearing my answering machine beeping. It was a Benton County caseworker looking for emergency shelter for some displaced children. Maybe it was just one child. Maybe an infant. Maybe it was a group of siblings, playing in the department office trying to appear like they weren't concerned. Or maybe they were all sitting on hard chairs crying their eyes out. The call came in at 12:28 a.m., while I was blissfully asleep in my big comfortable bed hearing the first serious rain of the season falling on the trees outside my window. Are they still there- in the office waiting for me to respond, or for somebody ? Did these kids get pulled out of bed and taken by the police from their home? Were they at a party with a parent? a bar? on the street? Was there shouting, and cursing, when they left what was comfortable to them? Are the children bruised? hungry? Did they leave their favorite toy, blanket, or pet? Is there a teen-ager in the group that can't believe tha

My daughter was an underage student at Linn Benton Community College last year. I enrolled in courses at Lane Community College - so what does that make me? RIGHT! Don't say it.

I felt so old last weekend! Arrggh! In the Diamond Peak Wilderness area where my husband bow-hunts for elk and deer, I took the first day of our camping trip "off" to just hang around camp and do whatever I pleased - alone! The second day, though, I was prepared to follow him up into the wilds to show him "I'm with ya all the way, honey!" Last summer I helped him pack out hefty carvings of elk meat. The season before that was my first hike up there. I'd been working out at CURVES for more than a year, so I actually impressed him with my stamina. After our last mission trip to Zambia, Africa, I decided to drop out of CURVES to help pay off our debts. In just a manner of weeks I could tell my legs were getting wimpy. "Oh well, I thought, it's all for the sake of the kingdom..." Well, you can guess where I'm going with this. I was a wreck! Huffin' and puffin' up the hill, gasping, stumbling... totally embarrassing. I was done before w

Encouraged again! I'm just encouraged again ! Out of the blue, my new boss and new friend, Eric, called a contact from the publishing company that I’d wanted to contact and got a recommendation for me! My business instructor had said that I should ask someone at this company some questions about the path I should take in order to get into a proofreading or editing position. She encouraged me to be prepared with a resume’. (It's very interesting to draft a resume' when you've spent the bulk of your time the last 28 years as a family manager-at-home mom!) I did come up with a pretty nice one, though, and have it with me in case something should open up for me. He doesn't seem concerned that he might lose me as an employee - though I'm more than that to him. He's a family friend, and we've been working together to build up his small car detailing business this summer. By calling this contact he has opened a door for me that I didn't want to try to open

It was so funny, when I decided to enroll in some community college courses last spring, that I started getting "junk" mail addressed to my parents! Come on now, I'm a Grandma! Advertisers decided it would be good marketing to send student loan applications to my parents! Can you imagine YOUR Grandma getting a letter addressed like this: 'TO THE PARENTS OF...'? Fortunately my parents are still living, and could get a kick out of this! With such a tremendous boost to my ego last week (to change the subject slightly), I found my grades online from the two courses I took summer term. TWO A 's! I posted my grades on the refrigerator - well, somebody's got to do it!