Stronghold

I've recently started reading through Psalm 27 and I am breaking it down verse by verse and spending time thinking about, praying about, and writing about what each verse means. It's been incredibly fruitful and I love what God is teaching me (or reminding me of!). I'm not going to share my thoughts on each verse, but will trying to give you a sampling. I'm using the ESV Bible.

"The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"- Psalm 27:2

From Merriam Webster: "A stronghold is 1) a fortified place, 2) a place of survival or security, and 3) a place dominated by a particular group or marked by a particular characteristic

Where to start....

A fortified place is a place that has been added to, built up to provide extra protection. Everything around me can fall apart (by the way, I'll write more about this with my thoughts on verse 3...) but if I stick near to God, the stronghold, the fortified place, I will not be shaken, or rather, the important stuff won't be shaken (i.e. the fact that I belong to Him) because face it, we're human and stuff does shake us up. Praise God that He doesn't move.

A place of survival or security- for me, the thought of trying to draw one breath without God is, mind-boggling. I know I "did it" at one point- before He, in His grace and mercy showed me my need of Him, but I could not imagine going through every day life, let alone hardships, without Him. It points back to the "fortified" part- He is stable. This world is not. I can mercifully seek Someone who is stable and I know He is there and that my hope lies with Him. Eternally.

A place dominated by a particular group or marked by a particular characteristic- I want to be marked as a woman who loves the Lord (that's the particular characteristic)- that every action, word, and thought is saturated with Him, that people see Him through my actions and words. I fall very short of this mark, but it's a process, and I pray that my desire to honor Him in everything will only increase through the years.

Race

I signed up for a race.

The Reindeer Run/Walk 5k. The first race I ever did three years ago. This year, I'm going to walk it with my running buddy, Lisa, who is awesome.

I'm just a bit excited to sign up for a race again. Just a bit.

::imagine 50 million ginormous grins right here::

See told ya, just a bit.

Small touches

Just a few small things I've been doing around the house:

1) White spray paint is awesome

A $3 can of spray paint goes a long way. I painted these frames to better fit in with my color scheme. And "Harriet" got a white coat as well. My roommate, Claire, bought one of these wire blackbirds from CB2 (his name is Horatio) and I liked it so much that I bought one too (Harriet)

White frames

Harriet and Horatio


Harriet's perch

2) Light fixtures!

Irma's husband, Jonathan, came over today and spent 2.5 hours hanging several light fixtures that I had purchased. Amazing what a difference it makes!

Perfectly nice Tuscan style, but not me.



Hehe, much more me :)


Again, nice Tuscan style, but not the look I am going for



Sleek, modern pendant (sorry for the different angle). Ah, now for a dining table!


From bare bulb in the closet-turned-office to funky flower fixture :)

Workouts this week!

Oh yeah, that's right, I am posting about my WORKOUTS THIS WEEK!!!!! ::happy dancing::

Monday- had PT and my chiropractor said not to come back this week. Yup, you read correctly, I'm trying only ONE PT session per week. Thank you Lord!

Did a two mile walk Monday evening and it hurt. A lot. I stepped off of a curb too hard and jarred my back so strongly that I exclaimed outloud and grabbed my back. But after some ice, it felt back to its usually "hi, I'm Melissa's back and I like to make my presence known but I'm getting less stubborn about it" feel.

Wednesday- 4 miles on the recumbent stationary bike and a 1 mile walk. Felt pretty good.

Thursday- 2o minutes on the elliptical (first time I have done that! The back didn't hurt AT ALL) and a 1 mile walk...felt the walk, had to slow the pace.

I plan to aquajog today.

And all of this with only ONE PT session this week. Considering I've been doing 2 sessions a week for the past 3 months, this is a HUGE deal. So thankful to be moving in the right direction, ha, just thankful to actually be moving! :)

Cleaning supplies?

This is a pretty random post. I've been trying to stick with "green" cleaning supplies as much as possible. I started with the Greenworks brand when I first got my house- but it turns out I am not a fan because it leaves a sticky residue (sticky floors are not fun).

I recently switch to using Meyer's products (cleaners and laundry detergent). I LOVE this brand. They smell SOOOO good.

Basil scent for laundry, floors, and bathroom. Lemon verbena scent for kitchen

The laundry detergent is a great deal too. I thought at first "this is going to be pricier" but when I looked at the numbers- nope. Most all natural laundry detergents that are good for H.E (high efficiency) machines are expensive (usually around $9-11 for ~26 loads). Meyer's (purchased at Walmart): $7.98 for 32 loads. Not a huge price difference, but it still counts!!

If you're using natural cleaning supplies as well, what do you recommend? And yes, I know that you can mix vinegar and stuff like that, but 1) I'm lazy and 2) it doesn't smell as pretty :)...still, Id be interested to hear suggestions.

Fall decorations

I've never decorated for fall, but I've been to a few of my friend's houses recently, and I just love their fall decorations (Irma...Megan...Jessica...) so I decided to get into the spirit of things, small scale :).

Gourds, pumpkins, and fall foliage around the kitchen sink (I have another bowl of gourds on the coffee table too)


Fall foliage and Yankee Candle's "Autumn Leaves" candles
(can't thank Lisa enough for introducing me to that scent)

So, like I said, small scale. But the decorations make me smile. :D

Medical update

So the latest on the medicalness of Melissa...

Saw the rheumatologist a week ago. We upped the dosage on the organ rejection medication (used for immune suppression). Turns out I've been running fevers of about 100 degrees every day starting around 4pm- this is due to my disease and just illustrates that my disease is VERY active right now (my doctor admired my gruesomely purple fingers and toes, with lovely angry red blister/ulcers on them...seriously, who needs a Halloween costume when you've got my hands? :) ).

He then asked how my back was doing and if I had decided go with the spinal injections. I told him that I wasn't convinced that the ortho doc thought it was biomechanical and given that I have made some awesome progress in general and especially since going on the new medicine, I am thinking it's all disease related, and given that the spinal taps I had in high school botched some nerves up for a good few years (my left leg would go numb if I sat in a certain position), I didn't feel that poking around in my spine right now was the right thing to do. And he agreed with me 100%. That made me feel good.

My disease flared a little stronger this week (stress) and my SI joints became inflamed again. But I was actually pretty happy about it because it shows that it is my disease and not some weird other back thing going on. They (SI joints) are already feeling better so I figure I will be back where I was activity-wise last week as soon as things calm down again.

But in general (pretending this week didn't happen)...things are definitely improving!