Author: emyloom

Above and Beyond

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With all the negative press regarding law enforcement officers, I’d like to give shout of praise to one special officer my life.

All the police officers I know have huge hearts. They don’t always wear them so they are visible to all… Mostly they have tough exteriors but soft and sweet interiors.

This special officer is my son a LEO in Colorado. He is a detective and part of his job is handling elder abuse cases. Recently he was sent some information on an elderly lady who officers met due to call at her residence. When the officers were there they noticed the lady had a rotten floor in front of her doorway and wondered if Aaron knew someone that could help her get it fixed.

He made some calls and got a donation from Home Depot and he went over on his own time and repaired her stairs and her floor.

As he got to know the lady, he realized she had been living in this home in Colorado for 44 years and for the past four years without a furnace.

He found someone to donate a furnace. Because she had no furnace, her pipes had frozen and she also had no water. He also located a company to donate the repair.

Her roof leaked, he found someone to fix her roof.

Relatives that were taking advantage of her over the years, had left junk all over house he organize teams of volunteers to help clean it up.

Then he organized donations for new carpet and new appliances,

All this was done over past month, he worked on his days off to help her.

Law enforcement is a tough job. Everyone should walk their walk a few miles to fully understand the challenges and rewards.

PS: I did not get approval to tell his story. He’d never seek accolades on his own. I’m claiming Mother’s privilege. 😍

~ Oh September

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Good night August and Good Morning September!

I Love September!  The last few warm days of Summer – cool crisp air in the mornings with that unique September scent. It reminds me of early morning walks to the school bus stop.

I love it because some of my favorite people were born in September – my grandmother, my Auntie, many of my “sisters” and me.

The new year is January 1st but September to me always seemed like a new start. Probably because it was the beginning of the school year and because my age ticked over another year but later in life I learned it is the beginning of God’s timetable for the New Year (Rosh Hashanah) which often begins in September. It makes sense now. It’s a time for a change, reassessing my life and purpose; turning my back on what’s behind and looking forward to the year ahead.

So Happy September everyone! Be blessed and enjoy

Views and Beliefs

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I am a person of faith and as such I am called to live by a certain set of standards. Anything below those standards is sin. Do I fail there? Yes, daily. Daily I am a failure and a sinner.

Now comes the difficult thing to explain to others who are respectable, responsible, moral, law abiding, loving friends, family and acquaintances who do not understand my views.

First of all, I do not presume to speak for God. He has set forth guidelines and commandments for living. These guidelines are for those who accept to follow. I do not believe I have to force these onto my neighbors, friends or family. These are not my rules but God’s rules given to his people.

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. —Matthew 22:35-40.

So God’s commandment firstly, is to love him with all my heart, soul and mind. Secondly, love my neighbor… All my neighbors, not just my fellow believing neighbors. In that effort, “in as much as it is up to me, I will try to live in peace with everyone. ” Romans 12:18

In doing that do I agree with everything my neighbor does? No, not at all. In cases, where my neighbors’ lifestyle is contradictory to mine, I just do not engage. Where we have common ground, I enjoy and fellowship with them.

However, social issues that have been front and center the past few months appear to have forced a paralyzing wedge between my views and the views of some of you. Although, many are unaware because there is a fear to speak as the unspoken mantra is, “Accept this view. In fact accept and rejoice in it, or remain silent.” If not, you will be labeled a bigot.

So here is my view:

As a civil rights issue, equal rights to all, on a government level, I say let the government issue marriage licenses to all. If they are talking about marrying according to a state ‘ordained’ union then let the state do what the majority wants. However, I respect and honor the principals of God. So when it comes to forcing those views on churches or religious institutions, to go against their values, to perform God ordained marriages against their religious beliefs. that’s where I believe that freedom ends.

Why should they be demonized because they are holding their beliefs? Isn’t religious freedom one of the founding principals?

I have in my family, homosexuals and transgender individuals. I do not judge them, I do not force my faith or views on them. I love them, not whatever their lifestyle, beliefs or political causes may be. Hopefully they feel the same of me.

I do not even take a view of homosexuality as right or wrong. I do not have all the answers of what makes up the essence of who people are. My hope and prayer is that God has the answers and reasons for each of us; he knows each of us more intimately than we know ourselves and he is a just and loving God to all of his creation.

Now comes the paradox. I may find, among my believing friends those who will call me a heretic, and say I am living with a foot in both worlds. I am fallen away, not religious enough or simply misguided. I suppose by definition I could be one or more of those.

To them, I ask you pray for me, as it appears God has put in me a questioning spirit. I desire to be an example of God’s love as he leads me. My hope and prayer for myself is that it will all become clear and I will understand my own journey and trials one day.

I guess what I am asking is for the same respect all are asking; for tolerance of opposing views. I hear you and respect you; I ask only the same consideration in return.

19 June 2015 at 8:31

Blessed

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Today, February 17,  it is 64 degrees out; the trees are blooming, the birds are singing and last night the sunset at the river was breathtaking. Once again I think how blessed I am.  Truly the best things in life are free.
The window washers came this morning and I took time to smell the roses!

The past few days I have seen in my yard; a small herd of female elk, Erkle (my pet elk), a deer with two fawns, the black bear on video in my trash :-), a wide variety of bunnies, and a family of raccoons.

I look out my clean windows to a gorgeous view of Mt Si and the cliffs are dotted with the mountain goats, there are eagles and hawks not to mention the Canadian geese, the robins, the stellar jays, the nuthatches and the black capped chickadees. There are herons in the marshes along the low areas.

Sunday we plucked two little frogs out of the pool and to be so small they sure have a loud song!

I drive 4 miles to the office and I pass pastures with horses, lamas, alpacas, cows with little calves, one pasture even has a group of Texas longhorns, I cross two branches of the Snoqualmie River and quite often I see the elk are crossing. As I drive past a large field of cows in the middle stands one lone coyote looking around…I don’t believe he could take any of them on!

All this surrounded by towering 70 ft douglas firs, cedars and evergreen trees. Blooming rhodies and azaleas, flowering plum trees full of pink blossoms and hundreds of tulips and daffodils…

and I say to myself… What a Wonderful World

Trish B – 27 April 2010

February 14th

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Valentines Day: Another one of those holidays people have intense emotions about, both good and bad; I do not feel strongly either way but observe with purpose.

My ‘Valentine’ is away again this year as it quite often happens. No big deal, I’m not heart broken, distraught or tearing my hair out because I didn’t get a hallmark card, roses and a big-hunk-of-love bear!

I don’t want any of those things. I get plenty of things I do want many times throughout the year because my valentine is a person who works very hard and he shares the fruits of his labor with those I love. My family, friends, and people in need. He took a trip to Israel with my Mother, 79, in tow and looked after her with saintly patience; he’s gives generously to help others make a house payments, pay for surgery, legal representation, needed transportation, provide firewood or buy groceries. He doesn’t just give funds he gives of himself. What precious free time he has, he’ll do consulting pro-bono, fix garage doors, help people move, make car repairs, drive little ladies to the doctor or across the pass to comfort someone with a sick family member, and together we are pros at hospital visits.

I didn’t get big red paper heart; I have Valentine with a real heart filled with compassion and love.

When he is in town, we spend valentine’s day sharing love with others; dinner with old friends, widows or those alone. It seems natural to spend this day sharing love with those around us maybe those who are feeling unloved and need to know someone cares.

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One of the sweetest Valentines days I can remember was three years ago. Mine was gone and I went across the street for dinner. I quietly read my messages and watched a little girl at the table next to me happily drawing the pink wild roses that were in the vase on the table. Her parents were in deep conversation about their day and I would occasionally glance over as she would finish one drawing and start another attempting to perfect her art. My dinner came, they finished theirs and left. As she walked past me I looked up and we exchanged smiles. I continued with my dinner and a minute later there was a tap on my shoulder and this beautiful little blond was beside me with one of her drawings in hand. She said, ‘Here this is for you,” and with that she skipped off out the door to where here parents were waiting by the car.

My heart melted and I was filled with joy! Yes, she had it! Spreading joy and love to others. Nice on February 14th but beautiful throughout the year.

Holiday Spirit Lost

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I am having a really hard time finding the holiday spirit. Where are the 300 young girls that were kidnapped? A few days of news and we moved on. How many people have been beheaded? Horror at the first one then successively our shock and outrage has waned. Planes shot down, planes never found; not even a scrap of metal. Worshippers brutally stabbed inside their synagogue. Children slaughtered. Anger, hate, anger, hate everywhere — I cannot be consoled by holiday lights and trimmings. The sorrow is burning deep in my heart.

We feed off the sensationalization of it all, but move on like it was yesterday’s a bad weather. Real evil exists in people and groups and they are actively plotting their next move. Real evil!

I long for peace.

On the Wings of a Snow White Dove

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White doves,  the symbol of peace, love, purity, gentleness and innocence.

That was Lovey Dovey.   We got her in 1998 from a young man who had been homeschooled and she moved to our home with our homeschooler.  She came with a mate and we built a dovecot beside our house for them to live.  However, the dangers of the wild are fierce and one summer evening while they were sleeping a hawk reached through the wire with his talons and grabbed her mate. He had also grabbed at Lovey Dovey but she managed to escape; her wing was injured but she was alive.

We brought her inside and nursed her back.  Her injured wing would always hang down but she could still flutter about.  She had a perch she would sit on as the boy did his schoolwork and she always was eager to coo in converse with anyone who would participate. The boy was particularly good at “Dovey Language.”

As time passed and the boy grew we spent less time at home, so Lovey Dovey came to live at the office.

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She was the calming force on many a tense day.  Everyone loved Lovey and would stop to say good morning or chat.  Over time everyone began to call her Birdie.

She loved the attention; people in the office would come and get her and let her sit at their desk while they worked.  She especially liked Howard.  Howard talked to her and even long after he retired, when he would come to visit Birdie would perk up at the sound of his voice.  It was love.

She was a fascination for children who would visit the office as she was so gentle; she would calmly rest on their fingers without a fuss and pose for photos with them.

Birdie had become the office mascot!

She was the star of a a video we produced for a Christian organization; as a symbol of God’s Peace.

Every year in November she would be posed in some elaborate photo shoot for the company’s  annual Thanksgiving card.  All in all she was a very good sport about it, although there were times things got a little crazy.  If someone had been taking pictures of me and Colleen as we cooed and tried to catch her attention to look this way or that, I am sure we would have made a comical video.

Birdie had been a little slow and quiet lately.  Getting on in years, she had been part of our family since 1998, but still last week she cooperated as we set her up for her annual photo shoot.

This morning we came in and it was apparent Lovey Dovey was going to leave us.  I picked her up and held her until she passed.

Even as she  passed there was a beauty and peace about her.  I imagined her flying up into a deep blue sky as if on her way to heaven.

She was all the things listed above and she was more; she was perfect.  Her wing was crippled, but she is soaring now.

Halloween – Love it, Hate it or in Between – You Choose

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It is that time of year again Autumn the season of Halloween and Thanksgiving; two diabolically different occasions.

I am not a fan of Halloween.  As a kid I remember dressing up and going trick or treating wearing one of those hard plastic masks. I even let my kids go; although with my youngest we’d dress him up and go to the mall it was more a big costume party.

However, even when I was little I had an uneasiness about Halloween.  I grew up in a Southern Baptist church in a small town and I still remember how terrified I was at six years of age, when they converted the Sunday School classrooms into a “House of Horror”.  The lights were out and one of the older kids took me by the hand to lead me through.  I was made to put my hand into a bowl of brains and eyeballs and guts.  I panicked and began crying until they let me out to the room.  Later they showed me it was just spaghetti, grapes, jello; didn’t take much to terrify me.

I have never liked scary movies, horror movies, satanic movies and during October –  yep,  that’s pretty much all that is on TV. I’ve never seen the Exorcist, or a Freddie movie, no Chainsaw Massacre, no Shining, no Omen and no Vampires… you get the picture.  I remember when I was a young adolescent watching Alfred Hitchcock and Twilight Zone or Night Gallery with Rod Sterling with my mother.  We would huddle on the couch, lock the door and I’d stay awake half the night seeing shadows in the dark!

So pretty much for me that was the extent of it.  Since then I have been guided by the knowledge that once something is in my mind it is nearly impossible to erase.  I just choose not to fill it horror, evil or demonic visions.  I believe there is enough real horror in the world without having to deal with someone’s vivid imagined horror and terror.

Evil exists, I get that but I don’t think having the memory of it existing in my head is of any life changing or edifying benefit.  A personal choice.

So I take a deep breath.  Tomorrow is a new day, a new month and a new focus.  November –  Thanksgiving,  a season of gratitude and giving thanks.  I can grasp onto that.

Reason, Season or Lifetime

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Do you know the story; People come into your life for a REASON, a SEASON or a LIFETIME? I have found it to be true.

People that are in my life for a REASON come and go, usually in a short time and when they are gone, I am sometimes sad…sometimes glad. Afterwards, I think of them occasionally but usually do not make contact.

People who come for a SEASON, I have a deeper relationship with. They usually reveal a hidden truth in my life and always carry a special place in my heart. When the season is over whether a year or ten years, I always remember them fondly and when I see them occasionally, it always makes me happy.

People who come in to my life for a LIFETIME, well you now that is pretty self explanatory except to say they are the family that God gave me to replace the broken family that I had. They are always near and dear to my heart and even some I have not seen in 10 or 20 years. We call and write each and and stay in touch and when they need me or I need them they are always there. They are the family of my heart.

Life’s Clock

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Originally written April 21, 2013.  Little did I know that in few short weeks my life would be turned upside down and I would be looking at the reality that I could lose my son to a deadly illness.  Lesson, lived.  Remember we do not know what tomorrow will bring; live as if today might be your last.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I woke up this morning and heard a statement on a morning show that put me on a thought path that is just playing over and over in my head today.

The Statement was: (Paraphrased) The victims of last week’s bombing and the explosion in Texas had no idea when they left there house that morning that day would be their last.

Reporter Lee Cowan said, it …” serves as reminder that we don’t get to set life’s clock.” and that while we all think we have a tomorrow to say whatever we need to say sometimes tomorrow never comes.

Then as this theme is running through my head, I am working upstairs trying to catch up on accounting there is a movie playing in the background called “What If.” Similar thought and theme. We are all so busy with life and goals that we let it interfere with living and letting those we love know how much we appreciate them.

To that end. All my friends know that I appreciate you all. Hopefully at times along the way I have succeeded in showing you how much I care and love you; but please forgive me when I have failed to listen, put other things less important first and have done and said stupid things that hurt you. Forgive my humanness, selfishness and impatience.

I will try and hear more carefully what I say and watch more carefully in how respond. I pray that I will always be reminded that “I do not get to set life’s clock.”

Sadly Evil Exists

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Life for me rolls along and from the comfort my home I hear the stories of missing planes, planes shot from the sky, wars, suffering, children dying and suffering, people being beheaded, riots, anger… I want to believe there is good to be found in everyone, but I am beginning to see how that belief can become a fatal flaw.

It is distressing;  what can I do to help in the bigger picture?
Give, speak up, pray?  Sometimes I wonder if any of it helps. I don’t understand evil, but must acknowledge it exists and understand sometimes it takes fighting back to defeat it.  I am thankful those who step up to fight that battle for me (us).

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-blind-spot-for-sheer-evil/

Fatherless

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FATHERLESS

Celebrate your Fathers today,
Know that you are blessed
To have had a loving guiding protector,
That allowed your soul to rest.

To a girl without a Father,
Life lessons were hard learned.
Looking to fill that empty space
In a heart that always yearned.

Substitutes stepped in at times
With promises to love and protect,
But they always went their own way
and left a heart with reject.

I envied and I longed
For a Father to hold in times of need,
Offering comfort With his strong arms ~
In every word and deed.

Now I know, I always had a Father dear.
Present at every trial and turn, sending down his love;
Each time life’s journey overwhelmed,
He was watching from above.

Fathers Day, yet I have none on earth to call my own,
But in heaven I have a wondrous One.
And I will see my Abba’s face,
When my days on earth are done.

Trish 2014©️

Father’s Day – 15 June 2014 @ 12:45

Unspoken Thoughts

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You know those thoughts that linger around your mind, ones that speak truths to you that you do not want to acknowledge, not even to your closest friends or spouse?

They capture a fear within. A fear that if they materialize into words you will forever regret giving them voice.

You rebuke them in your prayers, turning them over to God but they still whisper.

Then it happens. A quiet moment with your partner, your soul mate, the conversation opens to a crossroad with those thoughts.  One of you brushes the edge and the other realizes those thoughts are not only troubling you.

For the briefest second you look at each other as if you have each bared your soul and realize the reality those thoughts could become.  You look at the stark truth together and take a deep breath.

It is done. They are acknowledged to one another, you are not alone with them. You realize you share something very deep.  A message to your soul.

It is a relief. A moment that you realize how closely bonded you really are. You wonder if those thoughts are preparing you for some future time.

The thoughts still linger.  However, you won’t speak of it again.  Only once.

Once was enough to see into each others heart and know your deepest hidden unspoken thoughts are journeying together.

1 March 2014 at 06:08

Health Coverage…It’s a big stinking mess!!

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I just read that pre-Affordable Healthcare Act 48 million Americans (approx 15% of the population) had no health insurance.  According to the CBO by 2023 ( ten years) there will still be 31 million uninsured people. 

    From Huffington Post: “In the first year of the Obamacare coverage expansion, 14 million people will gain health insurance, the Congressional Budget Office projected in May. By 2023, there will be 25 million fewer Americans without health insurance than if the law had not been enacted, although 31 million will remain uninsured, according to the CBO.”

I believe everyone should have access to health coverage and limiting preexisting conditions is a good idea. Could there have been a better way?  According to the Census Bureau the number of people who lost coverage because of the ACA  is about 4 percent of Americans, which comes to about 11 million people. Some claim these lost policies are all cheap lousy policies that offered little or no protection. Not true for us and our 7 employees. We are losing our 90/10 copay policy with $500 deductible and maximum out-of-pocket of $2500. Don’t see anything close to that on the exchange.

So again I ask why? Why did we turn everything upside down for the benefit of approx 6% of the population. It seems there could have been a better way.  Why not put the requirements on Insurance companies to eliminate pre-existing conditions, why not limit profits or better yet why aren’t insurance companies non-profitable.

It is just sad to see some in Washington DC calling people liars when they (the People) say they are losing very good insurance policies, that their premiums, their deductibles and out-of-pocket maximum are doubling.  It is true.  I know many people it is happening to.  Once again the burden is going to fall to the middle-class: low income people are going to get coverage for near nothing, the rich don’t really care what they have to pay (doesn’t affect them), but the middle class are seeing their premiums reach unaffordable levels and many are just going to pay the fine and roll the dice.

I have some friends that immigrated from another country with a national health program.  They have told me they were appalled when they came here and they would see collection jars in stores to help people pay for their serious health issues.  After all this,  with still 31 million people uninsured in 10 years,  those jars aren’t going away anytime soon.

I don’t have all the answers but it seems this whole mess has everybody’s knickers in a twist for a net-gain of insured people that amounts to 6% of the population.

A Long Hard Summer

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1 September 2013

Summer – Memorial Day to Labor Day the season I long for the other 8 months in the year, but this has been one long hard summer.

It’s Labor day weekend and I am sitting in  a hospital room watching my son sleep.  Rewind to Memorial Day;  I was doing the same thing but the morning of Memorial Day little did I know the events that lay ahead.

I went from the unknown, to harsh reality, to moments when I was afraid to breathe for fear that if I took a breath time would move forward in a way I couldn’t bear.

On the darkest days in my soul, I would look outside at a glorious blue sky and the views of Puget Sound and the mountains.  They were reminders of the beauty in nature.  The gifts God gives us all to take in and give us pause, to take a deep breath; to know that the God who created all this majesty, beauty and glory cares for me.

Today we have more answers;  there are still challenges ahead, but I know that the love, support and prayers of all my friends and family that saw us through this long summer will help us support him through the all of these.

Summer; that gap in between Memorial Day to Labor Day ~ I didn’t mow my grass once, didn’t get into the pool, didn’t see my garden flourish with blossoms.  However,  I did enjoy the green pastures of God’s lawn surrounded by my friends that were flowers to my soul and I dove deep into the pool of God’s love.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul;
Psalms 23:1-3

Journeying

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Journeying
26 July 2014 at 19:56
From July 22, 2013

I’m journeying on.

In the center –not the young, or the grown but in need, and not the old on their way to you but still journeying the in this world.

DSCN2621Life In the crossroads. laughing at where I’ve been, the joy and the wonders, the sorrow and the tears.

Knowing that, I question where to turn and what turns lie ahead?

Understanding I am weak and small.

Generations previous faced these same questions and cross roads.

Did they just keep putting right over left and walk life out to end … Or did they find the answers to all its meaning purpose?

Longing and desiring answers and directions — are we just a speck in massively expansive universe?

Am a I just a grain of sand on a massive beach where we are indistinguishable one another from the other? is there something unique and different on this small crystal?

Will life on earth be different, better or worse. because I was a speck on your beach?

Journeying on, trying to understand – but all I can do is love you till the end of my time.

When to Hold On and When to Let Go

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22 July 2013

Some time back I saw this message and wrote it down.  I was trying to reconcile a relationship and work out the steps of moving forward because I wanted so badly for it to continue.  Sadly, I am slowly learning a deeper lesson from it.

Forgive“Sometimes you choose to forgive people simply because you still want them in your life” … and sometimes doing so is futile because when you are dealing with mental illness or shear toxic self-absorbed behaviors there is no reconciliation, no peace, no harmony.

If that someone cannot address you with a civil tone, show some compassion and remain silent when there is no benefit in what is said; then your spirit and soul are better off removed from them.

Lies, manipulation, controlling, abusive, narcissistic, self-absorbed, playing the victim role, refusing to see their own faults and failures…these things lead to a heartache and destruction.

There comes a time to heal. Move beyond, and live a life free of the discontentment and destructive behaviors. Not everyone will grow and mature at the same pace but in their time, through life’s experiences, they will.

There comes a time to be set free from the crazy, the drama, the abuse. At those times, you are better off without certain people in your life.  Hard lesson but true… and sadly I am removing people from my life in the hope they can no longer hurt me and the ones I love.

So… “Sometimes you choose to forgive people even though you know they cannot remain in your life.”

A Mother’s Love

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If a mother’s love could heal,
No one would ever see
A heart that’s aching for so long
As I can see in thee.

If a Mother’s heart could heal,
The pain would say adieu
The despair and grief would melt away.
Your bright future would shine through.

If a mother’s love could heal,
Wounds would disappear:
Mighty strength would return
And the answers would be clear.

Oh if a Mother’s heart could heal,
I know mine would have done,
Because never has a heart so loved
As I have for you dear son (one).

Emyloom 2013©️

PGB

Breaking Free

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It is a Sunny Fabulous Fantastic Tuesday and we are packing up to go home!!! Breaking free a day early!

~ We love Dr. M ~

Five weeks ~ three surgeries ~ two trips to ICU ~ three stays in Imcu ~ 10 units of blood ~ five units of Plasma ~ hundreds of nurses ~ dozens fo doctors ~ antibiotics, pain killers, steriods ~ MRI – Cat Scans ~ Picc lines ~ TPN ~ AND buckets of ice chips: $????

Answer to thousands of prayers: PRICELESS
.•*¨`*•..Our God is an Awesome GOD .•*¨`*•.

“You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!”Psalm 68:35