Friends | A Thankfully Imperfect Woman

May 1

8 Comments

And Life Moves On…

Today is a day of firsts.

Not only is it May 1st…

But it is the first day for Physical Therapy on my shoulder…(EEE-OUCH)

And it is my first day as not being an owner of Secret Sisters Boutique.

Yes, you read right.

Tim and I decided it was time to take a step back.

The primary reason is the need to give my body time to heal. With one shoulder done, another very sore, and a few other issues, it’s just time.

I will miss my little shop…but my partners, Autumn and Marcia will carry on the Secret Sisters name as they have since it’s inception.

And I would like to say how much I appreciate my dear husband and daughters for putting up with me while I was on that adventure! And of course a thank you to Autumn and Marcia for inviting me to join them 5 years ago…it was a fun ride ladies!

Now, you will find me blogging more…

Playing with the babies this summer (Sam will be watching them)…

Continuing my volunteer work with Ely’s Young Life committee…

And hopefully finding more fixes…and a lot more healing…

I’m so ready for this worn out body to be good as new!

And yes, I’ll also be praying for more patience!

Remember? And then God Laughed…

Yes, well…we’ll just keep saying it as a mantra:

Dear Lord give me patience…and if I can’t have patience, please give me Grace!

I thank God for this wonderful community of people I’ve found through blogging!

Here’s to more blogging…the funny, the serious, the inspirational, the prayerful.

You get a little bit of everything with me…

Take it or leave it – but I hope you take it!

It’ll be real, it’ll be nice, it’ll be FUN! (said by Mary Jo Shively on Designing Women) 🙂

Thanks for listening…

Talk more soon.

Have a great day!

Patty O

ps…thank you Pinterest for the image.

Apr 30

4 Comments

Be Thoughtful

I read this post this morning and could totally relate: The Perfect Gift

I too am a gift lover. I LOVE finding the perfect gift for everyone. I find such GREAT pleasure in finding something that reminds me of someone, buying it and tucking it away for a special occasion.

OK…those who know me well, know that I have a hard time waiting until that occasion. I tend to pull it out the next time I see you and say (all excited…bursting at the seams…smiling wide…almost (almost) jumping up and down excited) – “Look what I found for you!”

In the blog post above it talks about how much she loves to receive gifts too…and yes, I will admit it…I enjoy receiving too.

However,

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that I’d much rather receive the gift of thoughtfulness…

To see my youngest text me while she’s on the bus on the way to the Twins game with her school group to say that she’s picked up treats for herself, Tim and I at our favorite goodie shop.

To hear my middle daughter’s excitement in the “surprise” gift she’s making for me (that she’s already put 12 hours into).

To see my oldest on Skype showing me the colors she’s chosen to use for an afghan she’s making me for Mother’s Day. (Asking my opinion because she didn’t like one of the colors.)

To get an email from my husband congratulating me on getting a readers comment published on More.com.

To get a text from my friend, the babies Momma asking if they can come for a visit.

To hear my business partners graciously accept my “retirement” and feel their friendship.

It’s the little things that matter…

A phone call from my Mother-in-law.

A stop from my Father-in-law…checking to see if I need anything.

My sister texting me a “hope your shoulder is healing well” note.

A girlfriend calling to see if I want to go for coffee.

An email from a sibling asking how I’m doing.

An encouraging card from a co-worker.

It truly is the gift of being thought of that is the most important “gift” to me…

These are the moments that remind me of just how truly blessed I am.

And when I say a little prayer of thanks to God.

Let’s all take a moment to be thoughtful towards someone else today.

And may we all be open to recognizing our blessings…

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Patty O

Thank you Paying It Forward – One Day at a Time for the image.

Apr 15

5 Comments

Prayers for Carena, Prayers for Boston, Prayers for our World

A few days ago I wrote a blog post asking for everyone to Please Pray for Little Miss Carena.

In the days since I wrote the post, this little girl has gotten better, then went downhill, and is now in a holding pattern. She’s one tough little girl but her neck where they took the lymph nodes is infected and they think it might be abcessed. They’re treating her with a couple of different i.v. antibiotics but if they don’t kick it by tomorrow morning, they’ll have to go back in.

Please, please say more prayers for this little one.

And then this afternoon we see the news of the bombings in Boston. At this point there have been two fatalities and over 110 injured. Two bombs exploded while two others were found and taken care of without further injuries. (Added on 4/19: Obviously I made the mistake of watching CNN news. This information later appeared to be false – there were no other bombs found. The fatality rate is now up to 3 with the injuries over 140.) Read more

Apr 12

4 Comments

Please pray for Little Miss Carena…

There is a sweet little girl in the hospital today.

She’s actually been there most of this week with surgery on Wednesday.

She’s had undiagnosed fevers ranging up to 104.4 for months now and this surgery consisted of removing her tonsils and a few lymph nodes. Tests are being run, her i.v. keeps her hydrated, yet the fever continues on. Read more