Hello there!

Well I'm back! So my ground rules for this fast was no facebook, blogs or really much recreational use of the internet at all and no TV. So in all honesty, I cheated some and ended it a day sooner than I originally planned but defiantly reduced my consumption in this area by about 90-95%. This was inspired by the book Seven by Jen Hatmaker. I have done some other fasts since reflecting on that book and will do more, I am realizing the was great wisdom in the fasting examples from the new testament. 

So as I reflect on this fast it surprises me that it was easier, actually enjoyable, at first and then was harder. What I realized about media consumption is how much I let it suck away the precious gift of time God has entrusted to me. The hours I spend each week watching TV or being on the internet can really distract from living a purposeful and  missional life that I want too. The first few days felt freeing and liberating, then a feeling of loneliness and at times boredom crept in. A good side of the internet has become a way to stay in touch and be connected with those we don't get to see in our everyday lives. I hope as I let media back in my world again, I find a better balance with it.  Beside scripture I read a lot from the book 1,000 gifts during the past few weeks. The writing is amazing, deep and maybe even a little too advanced for me but it was the perfect read for this time. Its about noticing all the gifts/blessing we overlook daily, we check out or get focused on tragedy and hurt and miss all gifts God gives us each moment of each day. Living presently with a grateful heart for each moment is another spiritual task of self discipline to work toward in my life. Here's some pictures of the last few weeks of things I felt more present with and grateful for.

A new found love for TuTu's

Ava loves to look at the "bubbles" on the sunroof after it rains. 

Ice cream date, just me and my girl

back seat giggles

watching the way he loves her

Geese in our back yard

Her, "I did it by mself" smile

Conquering new challenges

After dinner family walks

Self Care

Self care is an important concept in my field. In community mental health especially we are exposed to secondary trauma daily by hearing and connecting to the life stories we do. We've been hugged and we've been spit at, we've been praised and we've been blamed, we've been thanked and we've been cussed out, we've known the best of human behavior and the worst of it. The work we do is hard. The only way to sustain a life's work in this profession is to develop the skill of balancing the caring for others with caring for self, making sure your filling up more than your giving out.

I know I'm one of the blessed ones in that deep in my core I have a knowledge and a fulfillment that the work I do is exactly what I'm suppose to be doing. From my first day on the job, I loved it and I knew. Community mental health isn't for everyone but it is for me.  My whole career? Maybe. For right now? Certainly.

I'm writing this post because mostly I feel I need to put some words to some of my work experiences over the past week. It is been probably the hardest week I've ever had on the job. We had a crisis situation that I was in charge of managing that ultimately had a good outcome but along the way involved some very difficult experiences for my staff and myself that I feel we will take some time to heal from.

Self care is an important concept no matter what you do or where you work because the truth is life is just hard sometimes and its a necessary life skill. Sure you might survive without it but you certainly won't thrive without it. I had already planned a media fast prior to the events of this week. I think the timing is not coincidental. As I reflect on ways I currently practice self care, I will be challenged to do that in different ways, deeper ways, and I'm sure longer lasting ways.

I'll be back with some more reflections post fast until then see you in a few weeks...

A loaded gun and a call to 911...

Let me set the scene for you last night about 2:00am at our house, Me and Ava huddled in our bed, Ryan's standing outside our bedroom with a loaded gun while I'm on the phone with 911.

Ava had a cold and woke up about 1:00 and came to sleep with us. All four of us (Rory too) were sound asleep in our bed when at a little after 2:00 the house alarm starts going off, a loud siren noise followed by an intermittent voice saying "alarm - side garage door", over and over.  I was in such a deep sleep, it took me a minute to even register what was going on. Ryan however took about .3 seconds to respond, he was already up and loading his gun while I was still registering what was even happening. He loads his gun and then proceeds to the kitchen to get his phone and check things out. The alarm company was already calling to see if they should send someone. Ryan throws me the phone and we tell them to go ahead and send someone. We waited a bit, we can't see the door in question well from inside the house.  No officer yet. So I call 911 to check the status. (I learned our cell phones bounces to the wrong 911 dispatch center so they had to transfer for me to Oklahoma county). The dispatcher says they sent someone but the alarm company gave them to wrong address. I hear her talking to the officer and he gets routed to the right address and comes over within a few minutes. He checks out the back where the alarm sounded. The door in question is closed and locked. Our sprinkler system was on so he said foot tracks would be easy to see but there were none. So we still don't really know why it went off, possibly the wind and/or combination faulty sensor. So the best news, appears no actual intruder appears to have been involved. We were then of course all wired with adrenaline and couldn't go back to sleep for a while.  So our unintended intruder drill was very informative, while it felt like the real deal at the time, it was so nice to know after the fact that there appears there was no actual crime occurring.

P.S. Our friends house was still standing when they returned this morning. Lots of prayers of thanksgiving for the safety and security of our family as well as our friends this past 24 hours.

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot!

While this kind of extreme heat was not on our Summer fun list, we have tried to not let it slow us down. We had three things in Broken Arrow that were on our list and we got to enjoy them this Friday and Saturday.

First off, I forgot to take a picture but we visited a dear friend, Wendy and her little man Silas! We had fun with a first play date and spent a good part of Friday visiting and catching up.

Next up was to visit Mema and my parents, Mema unfortunately had to be in put in the hospital before our visit. We got creative with having Ava visit her, which actually worked out great for both of them. The last two times we've done hospital visits Ava got a stomach bug, so I was hoping to minimize our germ exposure this time around, we did a morning outside visit that they both seemed to enjoy. It was pretty nice in the shade. We had some wheel chair races for entertainment.

This afternoon, we went to my parent's neighborhood pool trying to beat the heat. High of 112 was the forecast. Ava got some swim lessons from meme.

We had a to take a long, out of the way route home this afternoon, the fires closed down the turnpike and most of the immediate routes around it. I was on the phone with my dad as he mapped out us out route after reviewing the fire maps online, which got us home. Once we got through the main fires it was actually a pretty scenic drive. Ava slept the entire two and half hours it took us, so it wasn't too bad. 

Ryan's best man and dear friend, just moved to a new home in Manford, they had to hose down the roof and take what they could before they were evacuated. We are prayerful and hopeful their home is spared.  I've lived my whole life in Oklahoma but sometimes I'm still amazed at all the different natural events that can occur that leave such a path of destruction. Praying and thinking of all those displaced families this evening. 

These aren't clouds it's smoke covering the sky Near Tulsa.

Another smaller fire we saw on the drive home. 

Texas Travels...

We've had fun visiting friends and family this summer, which included several trips to Texas. Here's some pics Daicia took of the girls while we were down there that I love!

We went to Dallas again this past weekend to do our annual birthday bash. We celebrate all the adult family's birthdays in one weekend the summer. We had fun swimming, watching the olympics, cuddling Adley, playing card games and just having a good time. Here's some of the fun in instagrams:

 Being the Olympic junkie that I am, my olympic viewing schedule is leaving time for little else this week. Hope your having a great week too. Go USA!