Tag: thought

Reset, Again

Resetting the brain of a PS2 inspires me… really?

November 10, 2018

Reset, Again

In the last blog (Proper Burial) I mentioned that Rebeccah likes to tinker with stuff.  She often fixes electronics when we think they are broken.

She had our playstation 2 unit scattered apart on the table (for the 5th time).  After hours and her final conclusion of “I have no clue what’s wrong with this thing!” she decided it was truly trash.

She always puts the garbage electronics back together like they were supposed to be – search me as to why (maybe because I once told her that sometimes resetting something was all it needed to come back to life) but she claims “a proper burial” for broken electronics is with the item totally back together.

So after Rebeccah put the Playstation 2 console back together for its “proper burial,” it now works.  (It was bought used and had a short since day one, sometimes the CD tray got stuck, and lately it would just choose to die.)  For days, that console has been working great.  She reset it back to “original” after cleaning every part in it and it has new life!

I’ve been considering that for some time.

Sometimes God wants us to close the doors on something old and leave it buried.  Sometimes he wants us to reset it.  Maybe what we’re resetting isn’t so much the item as it is our way of thinking.

The playstation console’s brain just needed all the dust cleaned out, everything disconnected and reconnected, and the source of power reset.  Yes, this was the 5th time!

Maybe we need to allow God to reset the way we think – clean all the garbage out of our brain and connect all the synapses to what we’re supposed to think about (remember, whatever is good, just, lovely, think on these things?) instead of dwelling on misfires like our failures… hmm.

Is that a lot to think about because I saw the inside of a playstation brain cleaned and now it works?  Maybe.  But I like to analyze things… maybe I analyze stuff too much.

I try to allow God to renew my mind daily.  (He says each new day is fresh in Him.)  Thinking about the things I see in life (like a silly piece of electronics) working according to God’s design helps me think that all things obey God.  (I know, silly, but if it helps me be encouraged, maybe it will help someone else!)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Number Seven

Yes, ambiguious title and puzzle til the end of a long post…

October 24, 2018

Number Seven

Ambiguous title?  Yes.

Am I being cryptic on purpose?  Yes.

You are supposed to figure out the puzzle from the clues in this story.

(WARNING!  LONG STORY! – and it’s pretty deep because there’s a lot of feelings and thoughts smashed in here.)

Anyway, in April and May, I was in and out of clinics and the hospital because of a severe reaction to black mold.  (I know, crazy, right?)  I researched the medication I was to finish and every side effect possible happened to me (they always do, it’s just my weird, unique biology) so my hair fell out, hormone levels changed, pimples exploded over my face, and various other physical changes happened, I wasn’t watching for anything else.  It was a low period for me because it seemed my favorite parts of my body (long hair, my figure, health) was disappearing.  (Crazy reason to be depressed, isn’t it? After all, I was still alive!)  Although I kept telling myself this would work itself out, and I kept praying and believing God had control of this situation too (He has everything in His hands.), it was sometimes hard to face it without feeling sad.  Especially for me when I brushed my hair and it seemed there was more hair in the brush than stayed on my head.  (Of course, shedding hair means length disappears, so I went from semi-thick long hair that was below my waist to thin few-strands-to-the-middle-of-my-back.)  My hair was something that even as a child I was really proud of.  I’ve never cut it.  I always wanted to have long hair like Lady Godiva (ever seen the version where Maureen O’Hara plays Lady Godiva? I loved that movie because she was a strong, bold woman who loved her people.) and loved the Bible verse that says our “long hair is our covering.”  Plus, Louis likes my hair long. (Yes, after getting married, I thought it would take too much time to have to style short, plain hair so it was cool that my husband liked it long and straight.)

Being that I’m allergic to almost everything chemical (latex, cleaning fluids, pills, antibiotics, the inhaler I was prescribed!, etc.), we pretty much rely on natural family planning and some non-latex help.  Usually, I know my body well.  Part of the side-effects to one of the drugs was hormone imbalance which threw my body off where I wasn’t sure what it was doing.  Not considering it a good time for pregnancy, we decided to hold off on any potential baby-making.  Period.

Oh well, God laughed at that.

Certain things began to reverse during July.  My hair began to grow back (I have one-inch-long sticking-ups all over my head), my figure returned to normal, and other small things in my body seemed to reset.  I was very curious because although I’d been off the huge assortment of “we-don’t-know-what-this-is-but-treat-everything” drugs in the hospital for two months, everything I’d read about the steroid they’d given me was that it took twelve to eighteen months for the hormone imbalance to correct itself and I was still taking one occasionally to prevent asthma attacks.  What was turning my imbalance around?

Yep, God decided to reset my body himself; with a baby.

I love being pregnant, but worried that the drugs I’d been on had effected the child – then relaxed about as soon as I thought about it because if we were trying to keep it from happening (Starting in mid-April with the only 100% sure way), yet God said “haha, you thought you knew this stuff,” He obviously was in charge of baby’s health.

For the first time in my reproductive life, the only “date” I have can’t be.  I keep calendars that are honestly way too detailed, but those dates don’t match with the dates counting backwards.  (Every other time in my life I knew the day/night we came together to start our little blessing!)  Based on these “diary facts” as my girls call them, I can’t figure the time.  (What happened?  The little swimmers had to get through sheepskin & sit around inside of me for eight to ten days?  Really?  If I use the LMP date, that’s what had to happen because after that was nothing. Period.  I didn’t know hanging around inside was medically possible.)

Now, I’m totally enthusiastic about being pregnant (I am one of those crazy women who LOVE carrying life – every part of it); I just am amazed at the mystery of this baby.  I figured you know, I know what protection is, we use planning, and yeah, I get it, I’ve seen women on the pill, using protection, and even two who had their tubes tied get pregnant, so I know anything is possible.

I mean, philosophically we trust all to God’s hands, including family size and timing.  (Or say so, we were technically trying not to get pregnant with the whole breathing and health thing “at least until we moved to a mold-free house”)  But can you say surprised?  Yes.

So, “number seven” is this little precious life growing inside of me!  (Yes, I know most people, including many member of my family, think we are completely nuts, and maybe we are – but we are loving this adventure!)

New job, new baby, surprise!  God says!  Now I have an awesome job I can’t believe I really get to do and seriously get paid for (I love teaching children!) and a new little life growing inside that Lucas can’t wait to wrestle with (he comes and mashes on my belly, talks to “his baby,” and the baby responds by racing around, kicking, punching, whatever inside me).  I’m so excited… what does God have next?  A plot of land we can call our own and a trailer to stick on it or some plot with an old house that needs work – maybe?  Or are Kimberly’s dreams of building our own “movable house” accurate?  Okay, I’m totally open to the next step in this adventure!  (And, yes, I’m fine if that means, “rest, sit tight, you’re in pause mode right now.”)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Imagination Playtime

Building fun with Rebeccah 🙂

August 8, 2017

Imagination Playtime

This morning was a surprise of miniature proportion.

First off, when I stumbled into the kitchen to start my coffee at 5:20am, my preteen was awake!

Secondly, the playroom was spotless (toyacts was creating a few new videos in the playroom the previous night).

This sparked an idea.

“Let’s play legos, want to build something together?”  My suggestion was met with rocketing jumps where my five foot tall eleven-year-old banged her head on our roof.   “Yippee!  Ouch.”

We discussed all things building; like which pieces came from which sets, which sets were missing pieces (thanks to the vacuum, Sheba’s mouth, or teething younger siblings; Rebeccah is the lego master and knows where everything went – much like me with my childhood bricks), and whose head and hair I had mismatched on my mini-figs.  (Once, I had Elron’s hair with Commissioner Gordon’s head, the result looked like a sweet old lady to me.)

Our building progressed to a tree fort with crazy entrances and exits, three towers, complete with the tallest one having a princess locked inside where her puppy is trying to save her while the Barbarian ax man is considering Chinese food. (See picture, if you can find it!)

The blue magician conjures up a storm and an adventurer seeking the everlasting flame (in the bowl, middle, second tower) will accidentally be shot by a kid bowman’s awry trick shot from the top of the bridge.  We goofed off until it was almost lunchtime.  The girl elf hair ended up paired with a repaired face that looks like it has feathery bangs to make a crossbowman.  (She was going to be an archer – my favorite – but the hair wouldn’t fit with the quiver and I couldn’t have her without ammo!)

I love delving into imagination (last night it was duplos to build tunnels for Lucas’ train and car tracks) and discovering how my kids’ brains see problems.  Building blocks bring that out.  They help teach children to think around their problems (yes, that they created, like “Mommy, I want two cars to go under it!” Jillian, last night.  Or “How are we going to camouflage this huge tree fort effectively?” Rebeccah, today.)

Oh, and don’t forget the sharks patrolling the island fort (notice the blue water on the plates?) as Rebeccah claims the most important part of any lego set are the critters included.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Florida Weather

June 7, 2017

Florida Weather

Today was normal weather for northeast Florida.  Meaning, when driving over the 312 bridge, we left a vicious thunderstorm and emerged under the sunny blue morning sky!  On the way back 30 minutes later, to our left was pouring rain and to the right was partly cloudy.  Off I95 and 16, there were waves of torrential downpours.  The Walmart parking lot was a temporary lake.  A low-riding car crawled through Lake Walmart with wheels nearly covered!  Fortunately, an escaping toddler had a mother with leopard reflexes and Mom prevented said toddler from a plunge into Lake Walmart.

If you don’t like the current weather, wait ten minutes (or maybe less, we can go from parched to flooded in less time than it takes to read this article).

Florida is a wonderful opportunity for weathermen.  You can basically wave your hands over my town and say, “today has a high chance of rain.” This is 99.99% accurate any day between June and November. (If it’s currently sunny, just amend that to “today we have a 10% chance of rain” and you’re covered in case a cloud shows up over your head because nature likes to laugh.)

You know, sometimes they say “its 90 degrees but feels like 104 because of the heat index.” This is to help you understand that walking around in anything more than a bathing suit and flip-flops will result in rivers of sweat cascading down your body – everywhere. (This includes your fingers and toes!) If you’re asking “what does outside feel like?” the answer is always between “surface of the sun” and “broiling.”

Humidity is never zero. This is because we live surrounded on three sides by water – a peninsula. (a finger of land testing the water screaming, “please, cool me off!”)  Humidity means water in the air.  Okay, imagine walking through the rain and you’ve got my town’s humidity level.  Chickens walk around in perpetual fluffiness and when you pet a dog, your hand gets wet.

All in all, this is a great vacation spot!  You leave normal life to visit us so you can experience noon heat, 2pm humidity, and the afternoon torrent of a cloudburst where everyone’s phones go *BEEP* because the instant weather alert warns (ten minutes after the storm has passed) that “Thunderstorms may be imminent.”  After your vacation, you wonder if the reason people actually live here is because the brain cells of the natives are fried.

Honestly, all jokes aside, we live here because we love it!

I love Florida weather – and love my special little town.

As a side note, the best invention ever for Floridians was the air conditioning unit.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

 

Winners

May 28, 2017

Winners

It’s been an awesome day.  I covered morning reservations and we went to church.  I always feel refreshed and ready to conquer the world after church.  Today the discussion was about winners.  We talked about how all believers are winners in the end because we get to go to heaven.  (You know, we all start out winners too… only the fastest one made it!)

Everyone loves to win.  It’s embedded in our genetics.

The whole “winners” thing is just an attitude adjustment.  It means looking at life like we know the end.  (We do!)  Seriously, people in the early church thought it a blessing to be persecuted for Christ’s sake (it’s there over and over in the Bible – “counted it an honor” means the same as us saying “blessed”).  How can someone say “it is an honor to be persecuted for Christ’s sake,” after the verse before says they were beaten, and be like “but that’s awesome!”   They tell us why!  Because they know they will win.  They know they will go to heaven.  They know the end.

You see, if we equate our life as “everything will be smooth and easy” we are really missing it.  We aren’t really touching people if we aren’t messing up some applecarts.  Our life here is meant to touch others – to “win” others to Christ.  Does God bless His people?  Amazingly!  Are those blessings always financial?  Nope.  We miss things like the sunrise, oxygen to breathe, babies to snuggle, friends to laugh with, clean water to drink, and food.   Being a winner means focusing on all of the many gifts God gives us every day and rejoicing in any situation – finding the good in anything.  There is good in any situation.  Sometimes it’s a challenge to find it.

Bankruptcy – we can start fresh.  Moving – new people to touch.  No dishwasher – be thankful for running water.  Hard day at work – be thankful for a job.  Remember the story of the little girl who was always finding something to be glad about?  Always looking for the good in people?  She is ridiculed and rejected often, until finally her positive attitude changes a whole town!  That’s how people are touched, by our lives standing fast and having the joy that comes from within despite what’s raging around us.

But we do have an advantage.  We do know the end.  We are winners because the battle is already won.  If we believe that, how can we not be a winner?

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

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