It's a good thing that I got the flu. I've been able to finish the second edit of "To Previve or Survive Breast Cancer!" Now I just have to go through this book and add some more scenery and dialogue. The flow is right now though.
This book not only deals with BRCA 1 genetic issues, but it takes the reader along with me through my Celebrate Recovery 12-steps process. It amazes me that God aligned the two of these major events of my life during the same year! It was definitely a year of healing.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
What is Love?
Is There a God?
Since I was 12-years old and drowning at the bottom of the American River, I knew that there was a God. I was on a kayak/canoe trip down the upper American River below Sutter's Mill with my dad and siblings. The seven mile long "Gorge" was daunting to navigate with the high water flow rate released from the dam, but the cliffs were too steep to carry a raft and climb. The only way through it was via the river.
My dad and I hit a 30ft tall boulder that stood prominently in the middle of the river. It broadsided the slow leaking side of our raft and the water pushed the other side of the raft into the boulder like a fly swatter. I sank and sank and sank with my eyes closed waiting for my sinking to be over. Finally I was ejected out of the strong undertow, my body gently touched the bottom, and I opened my eyes.
Green slime was all around me! I screamed and pushed at it to get away from it. Then I realized as I watched my air bubbles rise that I was without air. Fortunately, my push moved me into a slow upward current. I could no longer move from lack of oxygen and relied solely on my life jacket to raise me, but I was very deep and the river was so powerful.
Suddenly this beautiful white tunnel of light appeared and gave me hope that I was near the sun and would breath air again. I felt like it pulled me toward it. Like a doll I just slowly rose upward. I finally broke the surface and gasped air before I was pulled under again. My older brother and sister watched helplessly as I went over a 10 foot waterfall and was pushed under again.
When I rose up again, I dog paddled to keep my head in the air. I was so far away from everyone and so weak, but I paddled diagonally with my remaining strength to get nearer to them. I managed to get near enough to the shore that my oldest brother was able to grab my life jacket and pull me out of the 1-foot-deep, swift-moving water in which I was going to drown otherwise.
As I lay on my back on the shore breathing in the wonderful air, I noticed that there was no sun in the sky to shine a tunnel of light through the water to me. It was a completely overcast day! In that moment I, this 12-year-old girl with only a minuscule introduction to religion, knew that there was a God, and that He wanted me to do something for Him someday.
At 48 I am now doing what He wanted me to do---which He created me to do. I am writing about my honest story of my life in my books from my "Anatomy of a Midlife Crisis Series." My first book is released. It's "The Romance of Kilimanjaro."
I would also like to applaud this amazing teenage young man who understands the playing field in which we live, too. He is doing what God wants him to do, as well. He's telling us his story. http://gma.yahoo.com/video/news-26797925/sick-teen-s-videos-go-viral-after-death-27729605.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fnews-26797925%252Fsick-teen-s-videos-go-viral-after-death-27729605.html
My dad and I hit a 30ft tall boulder that stood prominently in the middle of the river. It broadsided the slow leaking side of our raft and the water pushed the other side of the raft into the boulder like a fly swatter. I sank and sank and sank with my eyes closed waiting for my sinking to be over. Finally I was ejected out of the strong undertow, my body gently touched the bottom, and I opened my eyes.
Green slime was all around me! I screamed and pushed at it to get away from it. Then I realized as I watched my air bubbles rise that I was without air. Fortunately, my push moved me into a slow upward current. I could no longer move from lack of oxygen and relied solely on my life jacket to raise me, but I was very deep and the river was so powerful.
Suddenly this beautiful white tunnel of light appeared and gave me hope that I was near the sun and would breath air again. I felt like it pulled me toward it. Like a doll I just slowly rose upward. I finally broke the surface and gasped air before I was pulled under again. My older brother and sister watched helplessly as I went over a 10 foot waterfall and was pushed under again.
When I rose up again, I dog paddled to keep my head in the air. I was so far away from everyone and so weak, but I paddled diagonally with my remaining strength to get nearer to them. I managed to get near enough to the shore that my oldest brother was able to grab my life jacket and pull me out of the 1-foot-deep, swift-moving water in which I was going to drown otherwise.
As I lay on my back on the shore breathing in the wonderful air, I noticed that there was no sun in the sky to shine a tunnel of light through the water to me. It was a completely overcast day! In that moment I, this 12-year-old girl with only a minuscule introduction to religion, knew that there was a God, and that He wanted me to do something for Him someday.
At 48 I am now doing what He wanted me to do---which He created me to do. I am writing about my honest story of my life in my books from my "Anatomy of a Midlife Crisis Series." My first book is released. It's "The Romance of Kilimanjaro."
I would also like to applaud this amazing teenage young man who understands the playing field in which we live, too. He is doing what God wants him to do, as well. He's telling us his story. http://gma.yahoo.com/video/news-26797925/sick-teen-s-videos-go-viral-after-death-27729605.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fnews-26797925%252Fsick-teen-s-videos-go-viral-after-death-27729605.html
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Kayaking Once Again!
It's been toooooo long since I've kayaked!!! First I had to get the mild concussion from the kayak hitting my head to heal. Then I caught the flu. I'm fine now and the day was sunny with little wind, so it was time.
I took it easy, since I'm just starting to exercise after being sick and my arms are weak. The surf was small for Ponto Beach again which made for an easy passage to the ocean. A rogue wave did sneak up on me, but I paddled hard and bucked over it.
After paddling for an hour it was time to return to the beach. I missed a couple waves and decided to just paddle toward the beach. Then a good wave caught me. My position was a little low, so the lip broke on my head. I managed to hang in there on the kayak while I couldn't see. I could feel myself surfing. Finally, the wave cleared my head, and I could now see where I was surfing. I was surfing right into the new sand that they were pumping onto the beach from the lagoon.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Some Foot Soldiers Fighting For American Values
Today started off in my normal holiday routine. I wake up early to write for a few hours before my son and I watch "Star Trek, The Next Generation" and eat lunch. Then we figure out what to do from there.
Today the phone rang in the morning. A high school friend that I haven't seen since 1979 texted me. We've kept in touch over the years via e-mail and now facebook. He invited me via text to lunch with his mother at the Fisherman's Restaurant in San Clemente. I knew that he was in SoCal, so I seized the day and drove up to see them.
It was sunny, gorgeous, and the ocean waves curled perfectly for the surfers as I approached the restaurant on the pier. As I got to the restaurant I noticed a text telling me their exact location, so I found them immediately at a table looking over the beach. They'd been there for a bit and had crab that they were cracking. I gave my friend a big hug. Though it's been 33 years he still looks great! I shook his mom's wrist, since her hands had crab all over them. She gave me a big smile.
We had a lovely discussion about our current lives. We didn't reminisce, except for the short discussion about his high school love, and me being the only blond nerdy girl on campus. We actually really talked about how God has honed us through our painful life experiences. I learned so much about his childhood that I never had known.
He became the man of the house at 15 due to the abusive alcoholic father leaving. I told him that's one of the ways God honed you to become a great leader. He was the student body president of our high school two years before I was. Now he's about to publicly launch Warpshare, a company that he created with some new nerd friends to protect our freedom of Internet speech.
His mom had interesting stories about the challenges of being a Filipino principal in the Elk Grove Elementary School District in the 1970's. Elk Grove, CA was just rednecks back then. The high school football team was known as the meat and potato boys that lifted cattle for fun. Ethnic diversity wasn't even a phrase back then. She had many challenges from the parents---being an outsider and "ethnic."
The story that really stuck in my head was about one of her Japanese school teachers. There was a teacher's meeting after school. It happened to end early and this Japanese school teacher went to her car and found a Ku Klux Klan doll, the calling card of the KKK, on her windshield. She immediately got into her car and drove home. The janitor saw the KKK return about 5 minutes after the she left. The teacher certainly had God watching over her!
My friend's mom offered to transfer the Japanese teacher to another school for her safety, but the Japanese teacher refused to bow down to terror. She stayed on and taught the KKK's kids. That's how ethnic diversity happens in America---by ethnically diverse heroes and heroines standing their ground and turning the bad into the good. That's also how God hones us by giving us bad experiences, so that we can rise to the challenge, become stronger, have a broader perspective, and be a better light of God.
Today the phone rang in the morning. A high school friend that I haven't seen since 1979 texted me. We've kept in touch over the years via e-mail and now facebook. He invited me via text to lunch with his mother at the Fisherman's Restaurant in San Clemente. I knew that he was in SoCal, so I seized the day and drove up to see them.
It was sunny, gorgeous, and the ocean waves curled perfectly for the surfers as I approached the restaurant on the pier. As I got to the restaurant I noticed a text telling me their exact location, so I found them immediately at a table looking over the beach. They'd been there for a bit and had crab that they were cracking. I gave my friend a big hug. Though it's been 33 years he still looks great! I shook his mom's wrist, since her hands had crab all over them. She gave me a big smile.
We had a lovely discussion about our current lives. We didn't reminisce, except for the short discussion about his high school love, and me being the only blond nerdy girl on campus. We actually really talked about how God has honed us through our painful life experiences. I learned so much about his childhood that I never had known.
He became the man of the house at 15 due to the abusive alcoholic father leaving. I told him that's one of the ways God honed you to become a great leader. He was the student body president of our high school two years before I was. Now he's about to publicly launch Warpshare, a company that he created with some new nerd friends to protect our freedom of Internet speech.
His mom had interesting stories about the challenges of being a Filipino principal in the Elk Grove Elementary School District in the 1970's. Elk Grove, CA was just rednecks back then. The high school football team was known as the meat and potato boys that lifted cattle for fun. Ethnic diversity wasn't even a phrase back then. She had many challenges from the parents---being an outsider and "ethnic."
The story that really stuck in my head was about one of her Japanese school teachers. There was a teacher's meeting after school. It happened to end early and this Japanese school teacher went to her car and found a Ku Klux Klan doll, the calling card of the KKK, on her windshield. She immediately got into her car and drove home. The janitor saw the KKK return about 5 minutes after the she left. The teacher certainly had God watching over her!
My friend's mom offered to transfer the Japanese teacher to another school for her safety, but the Japanese teacher refused to bow down to terror. She stayed on and taught the KKK's kids. That's how ethnic diversity happens in America---by ethnically diverse heroes and heroines standing their ground and turning the bad into the good. That's also how God hones us by giving us bad experiences, so that we can rise to the challenge, become stronger, have a broader perspective, and be a better light of God.
Monday, December 26, 2011
There's Nothing Like Watching a Sunset Over the Ocean
After 8 days of trying to get rid of the flu via resting and not exercising, I finally did it! Today was so beautiful that I was having a dilemma about what sport I'd do to start exercising. I wanted to kayak, but I was concerned about the cold water and a relapse. I thought about biking, but my loop starts on a long uphill, and I want to gently start my exercise. Then I remembered this great walking trail along the Batiquitos Lagoon. The trail head was even near the post office, so I could send off my dad's birthday present!
Lots of people were enjoying the trail that runs along the edge of the lagoon. The birdwatchers and dog walkers were out in force. I walked briskly to get my heart rate up and after 45 minutes climbed this hill to see if the old, secret rope swing that looks out over the lagoon and ocean was still there. It was, but it was in really bad shape and couldn't be used. I remembered how I used to bring the kids to this swing. They just loved swinging off this steep hill high above the ground and back. It's too bad that the kids of this generation don't have many fun outdoor surprises like this hidden rope swing.
When I finished my hike, I drove down the coast highway to see the ocean. It was so beautiful that I pulled into Ponto Beach's parking lot and pulled out a beach chair and water from my truck. My Chevy Suburban is my two-seater sports car, since only two seats are available due to all my sports equipment---my kayak and surfboard take up most of the truck. lol
As I sat and watched the waves and the people, I relished all the beautiful blues of the ocean with the yellow line of the sun reflecting upon the water. The waves were so small that I wished that I would have chosen to kayak, but there's always tomorrow! Today though, I was just going to sip my water and watch the sunset. It was beautiful!
Lots of people were enjoying the trail that runs along the edge of the lagoon. The birdwatchers and dog walkers were out in force. I walked briskly to get my heart rate up and after 45 minutes climbed this hill to see if the old, secret rope swing that looks out over the lagoon and ocean was still there. It was, but it was in really bad shape and couldn't be used. I remembered how I used to bring the kids to this swing. They just loved swinging off this steep hill high above the ground and back. It's too bad that the kids of this generation don't have many fun outdoor surprises like this hidden rope swing.
When I finished my hike, I drove down the coast highway to see the ocean. It was so beautiful that I pulled into Ponto Beach's parking lot and pulled out a beach chair and water from my truck. My Chevy Suburban is my two-seater sports car, since only two seats are available due to all my sports equipment---my kayak and surfboard take up most of the truck. lol
As I sat and watched the waves and the people, I relished all the beautiful blues of the ocean with the yellow line of the sun reflecting upon the water. The waves were so small that I wished that I would have chosen to kayak, but there's always tomorrow! Today though, I was just going to sip my water and watch the sunset. It was beautiful!
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas! First of all thank you God for giving us the gift of your son, Jesus! I am such a sinner and would never be worthy to enter your kingdom without His sacrifice so that we could be forgiven. For those who are serving in the military and away from their families, thank you for your sacrifice for us. For those who are alone, remember that God is right there next to you---you're never really alone! Just look for Him. It's hard to remember that when you're sad, I know. I'm also sending hugs to your way! For those who are a with their families, enjoy the moment and love, love, love.......
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