Reflecting

Good Last Saturday morning of the year!

     I cannot believe how fast time has went, and after almost an hour of looking back at the past year, I can't believe how much stuff was packed into it. And I guess my biggest thing is looking back at my post from a year ago; I cannot imagine the changes that happened- Good and bad.

In January, we hosted Donna Beegle, she is probably one of my favorite motivational speakers for low-income families. She lived it, and overcame it. She was a product of generational poverty. When you work in my field, you learn there is generational poverty, and situational poverty. Generational is a lot harder to overcome, but Dr. Beegle is living proof and inspiration that it can be done.

In February, I did my Family and Community Development Recertification. We spent most of the days studying goal- setting. I came home with the tools to set SMART goals ( talked about more in this blog post: Got Goals? it is a good time of year to review this.)

In March, the President released his budget and it proposed zeroing out LIHEAP. I wrote another blog on that, it happened to be the most read single blogpost I have ever written (Whats' on my Heart) . I am working on another project right now where I am doing some in-depth studying of Community Action roots. I don't know how many times in my studying I come over, "and the President proposed cutting Community Action. In my homework this week, after talking about a coalition that was formed, I just put, "we learned to fight". Sadly, it is a constant battle.

As I was reading over April's blogposts, I noticed one of them mentioning that in one day, I had my hands on 31 computers. I remember that day. 31 was only about a sixth of the ones I really needed to "put my hands on". Those days are over, for the most part. And will be totally over in the next few months.

May through September, I quit blogging. There were a lot of reasons, more of them God knew and I didn't, but it was right. It was good to come back to though.

In May, I got to speak at our annual IACAA conference on social media outreach, we started our Facebook page for the agency this year (Embarras River Basin Agency).

June was filled with good and bad things.
     My friend's son, Logan (one of my other kids) got married
     My friend Glenna had surgery
     Andrew spent 4 days in the hospital
    Glenna died
    I had my first meeting with Mike Miller regarding IT stuff.

I think the thing I think of most in that is Vaneta, Amy and I all felt a very strong pull to go see Glenna. We knew she was not awake, but we all knew we were supposed to go, and we did. It was very much God telling us to do this, and I am so glad we did.

I keep saying there is going to be a longer post about my meetings with Mike, and there is, because once we get the entire project done, I want to record everything in one place but this is something I have never really put down here.

The night I met with Mike for the first time, all I was doing was trying to find someone to take over as my IT support. I dealt with a different company and had been feeling for the last couple of years that I was an afterthought to them. I know how to do a lot of stuff on my own; most offices don't have that unless they have a real full-time, in-house, IT tech. I always had the feeling that my IT support company thought if they ignored me long enough, they wouldn't have to make a trip because I would figure out how to fix it myself. 9 times out of 10 this was true.

Ironically, the week AFTER I met with Mike, I went to Florida. I missed the first morning of my conference because our computers were down and my current IT support told me they didn't have time to get to it that day. After me saying some not so nice things, they started at least trying but were using people that didn't know our setup. I ended up fixing the problem myself with one of the bookkeepers face timing me, and being my hands as I told her what the problem was. That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Anyway, onward:

I spent July working on my ROMA implementer credential, and working with Mike on getting a plan for an IT upgrade in place. Once we had all of what we needed to do in place, he could start working on an estimate. We met with Cathy the end of that month and laid it all out for her, next step was board approval.

The highlight of July though was spending time in St. Louis with Dani and Tammy. We celebrated our 50th birthdays. We went to see Mama Mia, spent time in St. Charles, ate at the Spaghetti Factory, but the thing I treasured most was the time spent together. We were supposed to get together again on the 28th of October, the day I cracked my head open. I have had dinner with Tammy once since but haven't seen Dani at all :-(. We have to get something planned!

August brought a trip to Chicago, which was much needed by the time it came. It was the week after Andrew spent another few days in the hospital and the week before the board approved our project. It was the last weekend I would spend away from the office for several months.

September was busy doing all the prep work for the actual changes to computers in our own office. I was also back in Energy Assistance mode, so we were prepping for that as well. We installed the actual terminal server in our office on the 23rd.

In October I finally finished all of my homework and exam for ROMA certification. That same month I started my work towards CCAP, the Certified Community Action Professional. This is the highest designation inside my profession, strictly for my profession. And of course, we continued working on the IT project.

November 8th, we installed the first VPN, or Virtual Private Network, in Olney. Our field office was now directly connected to our main office. We have done 5 since, and have 2 more VPN's to put in, and then we have the office that is connected by radio, so it isn't really a VPN, it is just adding them to the direct network. My plan was to have that done by now, but we hit some snags and now the goal for that is the end of January. Cathy asked if I could have the project 100% by the end of March, I wanted it so badly to be the end of this year, but yes, the end of March is realistic.

November also brought my friend Amy's dad passing away, my own dad passed away in November, so it just hit closer to home for me I guess. This was also one of the men that stood in the gap left by my dad as Granddad for Robert, so it was hard on him as well.

The bright spot was that I finally found my car and everything fell into place for it to be right. I really wanted to wait until my IT project was done, but buying a convertible in March was likely to be more expensive than buying one in November. I have not been this in love with a car since my 1988 Cavalier Z24, that I bought brand new.

My December was awesome. Lots of celebrating the Christmas season. I had my first ever Christmas party and I thought it was really nice. The Alumni Band and "future" Alumni band members played carols on the square, we went Caroling with our church, it was just a good season.

So, that is my year, and what have I learned?

I think the most valuable lesson I learned is to keep those people that God puts in your life close. Everything else will come and go, it is what it is, and "this too shall pass" but those PEOPLE that God GAVE you to help you through it, that's what counts. And you never know when they won't be there anymore so treasure them.

One other thing that happened in December was we had a success strategist come and talk to everyone in the agency. He was VERY well received. His name is Jonathan Edison; some of us had heard him before and were very impressed. We were that day as well. One thing that I want to leave you with as you start into the new year is one of his little sayings:

What you focus on the longest becomes the strongest. I think this is going to be my thought for 2018,
I see so many people in the world that tend to focus on what is wrong with them. We need to be focusing on what is right-- and concentrating on making those things stronger.

So, this is not a devotional today, just a thoughtful blog.

And back to treasuring your friends. I am leaving you with Charlie Puth's One Call Away.

I LOVE this song and I hope and pray ALL of my friends and family know that if there is anything I can do to help them through something, I truly am one call away.

Merry CHRISTmas!

Not going to lie, when I realized it was snowing, I was downright giddy! I have even stated I would compromise, as it is such a busy travel weekend-- I am happy with a little on the grass, and some flakes in the sky.

It seems like a lot of our friends are celebrating Christmas today, including us, as far as with the rest of our family. I kinda love when Christmas is on the weekends, I love spending time with my family, but when it coincides with being in church, worshiping Him, it just feels very right. (By the way, we are having our Christmas Eve service at 6 tomorrow night, some of you with kids, I know this makes it easier for some-please join us!)

We are also coming to the close of our year, and I have been reflecting-- it has been a busy year, but I believe the good outweighed the bad this year in our house. I am hurting for my friends who can't say the same.

I want to set all of that aside for just a few minutes and really focus on Christmas. Almost 2000 years ago, in a lowly barn, surrounded by animals, a tiny baby was brought into the world. Very few people knew at the time that this was truly the Savior of the world. 33 years later, He would suffer and die on a cross, so that you and I could have eternal life. Nothing complicated here, God offering a very simple gift but the most special gift of all time. I personally can't understand why people have to add to it, or not believe it, it just is.

One of my favorite (read: overused) statements lately has been, "It is what it is." Folks, God's Love is what it is. It is perfect, it is always, it is real. And all you have to do is accept it. Battles are all changed when you truly do that. And yes, I truly believe that. I don't have my head in the sand, I am not dodging reality. I KNOW. I know that my best day here on earth will pale in comparison to any day in Heaven. I know that no matter what I suffer here, I won't suffer there. I know that my life is not all peaches and cream here, but because I know the end of my story, it will be okay. (and yes, I am still working on the post that is all about this).

Plain and simple- John 3:16 "For God so LOVED the WORLD, that He GAVE His only son, that WHOSOEVER believes in Him, should not perish, but have EVERLASTING life."

No if's and's, or but's. This is it. It is all you need.

As you celebrate Christmas, I hope you take time to really appreciate the fact that Christ came to earth because you were going to be right here, right now.  Let that soak in. Please also remember that when He died on the cross, He promised a comforter. When you accept Christ as your Savior, that comforter is there, you can choose to ignore Him, or you can embrace Him. God put Him there for you.

I leave you with Sandi Patty's Someday. A friend of mine use to sing this, and it always made baby Jesus so real to me.  (Thanks Cherilea for reminding me of the name!)

Merry CHRISTmas!

Perspective

Today is one of those mornings that I am having too many thoughts to get  clearly down on paper, or a screen as it is. Once again, it is Christmas time and I have friends going through major turmoil. I have been there, done that, and right at this moment, am thanking the Lord that for the most part, things are calm at the Browning house this year.

I have been on a journey this week, and it has spurred some new studying, not only looking inward, but to really have a better understanding of how I feel about our journey here on earth, predestination, and my part in what others believe as well. This is truly something I need to think about a lot, and study, before I really decide what to put down in words.

In the last 48 hours though, I have had more than one friend make comments that made me think of a blog post I wrote last year. I think the best thing for me to do is share that post again.

PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS FROM DECEMBER 10, 2016. (Link is below).

I wrote this because I myself am always searching for the "perfect" Christmas, and I think in this post, I made myself realize that the only thing that has ever been perfect about Christmas is Christ.

I needed it today, and looked back at it, and maybe someone else is needing it too. I know I have friends right now that can not wait to get 2017 in the books, and have a new starting point, this is for them too. I have a couple of friends right now dealing with some major disappointments on top of just recently losing a loved one, God knows their names, please keep them in your prayers.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Mary Did You Know?

Content

I was truly hoping to wake up this morning to a blanket of white on the ground. Didn't happened but it is all good. It will happen. I know I have friends who absolutely don't want any snow, of course, normally I think to myself; hey, if you dislike it that much, move south.....but now the South has snow. We make plans, God laughs.

So, milestones were met this week on my big project at work, and I am so very excited. One of the sub-projects was to put in two sets of radios at our buildings in Greenup. One running from our building to our newer building next door, and one running from our building to the outreach office uptown. Andrew put all of the hardware and cabling in place for me (he has learned to work with Cat 6 cable, and got to buy new toys to test and create cables, so he has had a learning experience too). Mike worked with the software side and yesterday morning at 11:15, they were all working!

Now get this. You pay for bandwidth speed. Normal, household internet (as well as small businesses) around here is usually a 10 down/2 up connection or at most a 20 down/ 4 up. Because we have a bigger network at our corporate office we have 100 down/40 up connection. When we are broadcasting that to the other offices, it translates into, they are going to have faster internet than they have ever had. When Mike was bringing it up on the speed test, I was about to cry. He turned around and told me not to bawl. I was seriously so happy though, it was hard not to.

To say the last few months have been stressful, would be putting it mildly. I have this little handful of friends and family though that are very much my support staff/ listening ears/ and sounding boards. I told one of my friends this week, my thoughts don't always sound stupid or unrealistic in my head, but when I say them out loud, and hear myself- sometimes I realize I'm having one of those "stinkin' thinkin'" moments. It is good to have someone to talk to, I am so very blessed with my group here on earth. I feel they were all put in my life to keep me pointed to God.

And obviously, God will always listen, and He is always there. I just want to point out that sometimes you may have people in your life God put there to be there for you. Let them.

I had dinner with another one of my friends the other night, she knows all the craziness going on in my life and stated that she really does think I am content through all of it. My mom said she thinks I am happier than ever. They are both right. They are two of that handful of friends and family though, they know what is going on, they hear me say stupid things, and they love me anyway. That does make life so much better. I keep hearing that word content though, and realize that is the perfect adjective for me. I am content. I am happy.

Hebrews 13:5-6 says, "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
    So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."

In this Christmas season, we see so much greed, from manufacturers, who charge way more for something than it is worth, to the kids who want everything, to their parents who think in order to keep up with everyone else has to get them everything.  -Sidebar- when Robert was little, I was one of those parents. I have never been a huge fan of Kathie Lee Gifford, but she made the statement one year that she always just had three presents under the tree for each kid, one to represent each of the wise men's gifts. I loved the idea. It put more Christmas meaning into buying gifts. To this day, my now 25-year-old son harps if I ended up with 4 gifts for him under the tree. And, as a kid, when he knew he was limited to asking for 3 things, it made the list more bearable.Anyway, I love seeing people content, almost as much as I love being content. 

God gives contentment, He sent Christ to die for us, and before Christ died He promised to send a Comforter. When we truly seek Him, that contentment comes. Sometimes that contentment can come in a wash, and yes, I am one of those that emotions come a lot of times with tears, and it is okay. Big girls do cry, and sometimes it just feels good to let it out. And if it brings a feeling of peace afterwards, thank Him. 

I do need to add one disclaimer, I don't think being content is an excuse not to move forward and grow. I think we are always to be learning, growing and striving to be better at everything we do, but if you are happy with where you are as you are moving on that path, it makes it so much easier.

So, my wish for you today is to find contentment in your life. If this is sitting still for five minutes and just focusing on what God has given you, and what He allows you to do, then so be it, but find the time to focus on what is good, and what is important. I believe that is the beginning to finding true contentment.

I am leaving you with one of my all time favorite Christmas songs, I wish it were easier to find, but I found it a few years back and as I drove through town last night and saw our temporary skating rink, the song flooded my mind, and hasn't left. The story behind this song? We sang it for our Christmas concert my 8th grade year, less than a month after my dad died. I realize now, that it too, was offering contentment because even though we had been through a really rough time, we live in this awesome community that was helping us be okay. I know it took me a while to realize that, even moving away because I really thought all I wanted to do is get away from here. There truly is no place like home.

Have a great week!