An Extra Day

An Extra Day To Live

An Extra Day To Love

An Extra Day To Give

And Extra Day To Rejoice

And Extra Day To Celebrate

And Extra Day To Bless

What are you doing with Your Extra Day?

The First Piece

So many people whom I have met

During this grief journey

Have expressed their need to have "A Place"

A Place to go

To grieve

To cry

To pray

To talk to their loved one

Many choose the site of an unexpected death

But most choose a cemetery plot or the like

My Mark chose cremation

He was adamant about not spending money

On a cemetery 'place'

The mortuary we chose kindly split Mark's remains

Of which 1/2 of them we took to his mom last July

He has a beautiful resting place in Bridgeport

Where he was born and raised

And where his mom can watch over him

I have not yet decided what to do with the remains I have

Although I have recently felt the need to have "A Place"

Since Mark passed away at home 

And we didn't use a cemetery

I have decided to create a 'memorial garden'

In my back yard

It will become "My Place"

To go

To grieve

To cry

To pray

To talk to my Mark

I do not yet have all the plans made

But I have added the first piece to the garden

Father's Day 1996

My boys made the above pictured garden stone

For my Mark

They were so much younger

14 and 10

But it has been a piece we have kept for all these years

As I cleaned the yard yesterday

It found its new home

And it will be the welcoming piece to what will eventually be

Mark's Memorial Garden

And 'My Place'

Prayerfully Considering How God Will Put It Together,

Cindy

7 months down

A quick update on my

Total Mouth Restoration

7 months down

 17 months to go

Lots of progress

With LOTS more to do

Still Happy About my Decision!!!!!!

Now I have to figure out

How to get rid of those

Annoying red lines on my chin!!

The Littlest Cain

I just had to share

The newest photo of

The Littlest Cain

Missy is 29 weeks along with this beautiful little angel

Due May 10th

This Nana cannot wait

To meet 'her'

'The Rules of Inheritance' A Review

How timely that this book should arrive for review at the end of the first year following my husband's passing.

Claire Bidwell Smith writes this memoir with the honesty I wish we all could live.

Her willingness to share her heart and life following the deaths of her mother and eventually her father, made me root for her as I read.

'The Rules of Inheritance' is not what I imagined it would be.  Claire allows us to enter her life in segments ranging from 14 - 32 years of age.  Each chapter opens a fresh understanding of her journey through grief and life.  I have lost a parent and understand the depths of grief but I have also lost a spouse and could relate so well with Claire as she recalls her struggles and challenges following her losses.

Though there is no clear path to grieving, it seems there are 5 typical 'segments' to grief.  Therefore, Claire has taken those segments and creatively weaved her journey therein.  This is not a chronological account, but a true reflection of the waves of grief that most suffer after a deep loss.

   I could not relate to Claire's choices during those tumultuous years but I could glean from her story the depth of her loss.  After searching in many unfulfilling directions, Claire has taken what were the voids in her life and now uses them to help other's who are walking a similar path.  In that it seems, Claire has found true happiness and balance in her life.

**One note of concern, especially for the younger or more conservative reader, Claire has no hesitation in using a four letter word freely in her writing.  I cringed as I read it each time and it did prohibit me from truly loving the book.

You can join in on the discussion of this book here.

Though I did received a small compensation and a copy of the book, all opinions written above are strictly mine. 

M. I. A.

Sorry I have been

Missing In Arizona

Away from the blog world

But I have been doing a lot of this

 

Praying and

Seeking God

About the possibilities of

A New Door Opening

In My Life

They say not to make any major changes

Or huge decisions during the first year

After the loss of a spouse

Well, friends

It has been 14 months

And I believe some Changes are on the Horizon

Continuing to Pray

And looking forward, forward, forward!!!



Just Thinkin'

About

 Happier

Days

Invited To Share

I have been blessed to meet so many new friends

As I have journeyed this widow's walk

One such friend is Leah

She lost her sweet Chris to suicide

In May 2011

A new widow has so many life changing events to process

But while doing so

This young woman has chosen

To reach out to others who have and are walking

The same difficult road

During this Love week

Leah has invited a few widows to share

Stories about there loved ones

Who now reside in Heaven

I am honored to be one of those few

Please join me today

At Leahs' Place

"Out of Deep Waters"

Thank you Leah

For loving me through it all!



On This Day of Love

How could I be sad

On this day of Love

When I was blessed

For more than 30 years

To have lived with

The Love of My Life

Yet today, as with all my days

There is sadness within my heart

A part that will always long for his touch

The way he looked into my eyes

That quirky smile that told me

He loved me even when I was silly

To hear his voice

To hold him just once more

But I also rejoice in the memories

I hold dear

The blessings of a long marriage

And the Legacy of Love

He left behind

Mark,

I will never stop loving you

Never stop missing you

Never stop anxiously waiting

To see you again

Rest well my love

For you are in the presence of our King

Happy Love Day To All

Cindy

400

Heellllllloooooooooo

Is Anybody There

It has been a while since I have blogged

I really didn't mean to take a break

But Pneumonia just kicked my ... well, you know

I had hoped to do a fun 400th post

But I just haven't been in the bloggy mood

Tired as I've ever been

A little sad

I had all the kiddos and grands here today

For a bit of a Valentine get together

WOW...Did I miss My Mark

I've held back tears all day

I talked to his mom tonight

That is always hard

I think we both attempt to avoid his name

In fear that the tears won't stop

Anyway,

This is my 400th Post

I can't believe it!

I pray the next 400 bring with them

More Joy Filled Moments to Share

And Many More Bloggy Friends

To Get To Know

Here are two shots I took today

Totally unedited

 This is my K~Bug

This is my K~Bel

Our next little K~

Will be joining us in about 8-10 weeks

Oh, I just can't wait to share her with you

Considering 400 posts with Joy!!

Cindy

Being Featured!

Today I am honored to have one of my posts

Featured at

Widow's Christian Place

This is a site dedicated to helping

Widow's walk the Widow Road

With confidence while journeying through grief

Thank You Ferree

For featuring my post

To check it out and encourage Ferree

Just click

Here

Pneumonia

After spending 60 hours in bed

I got up this morning, showered and readied myself for work

Once there I had the PNP and DO check my lungs

Yep...

I'm back home and in bed

It seems I have a case of pneumonia

 I am faithfully taking my breathing treatments

And antibiotics

I've had a couple crackers

And a few sips of 7up

But mostly I've just slept and rested

These are the days I REALLY
Miss My Mark!!!

Sure hope I'm feeling better tomorrow

I had a full calendar at work today

Several meetings to reschedule

Looking forward to

Finding Joy In The Morning!!

Happy Monday All~~~

Lesson From Nana's Little Helper

Last week was gorgeous

So I took my gorgeous little K~Bel outside to do a bit of yard work

She is such a little helper

 She wanted to do Everything I did

But with a twist

If I pulled weeds out of the rock

She would throw them back in

If I swept the weeds into a pile

She swept them into a scatter

 But she thought she was helping her Nana

It was actually a delight to watch her

I smiled and laughed so much

This week I was praying

Asking the Lord to 'help' in my circumstances

Reminded during prayer of these photos

The Lord spoke to my heart

I wonder how often God 'works' for my good

And my 'help' only causes a mess

Let me trust you Lord

Trust that You are working for my good

And though you want me near

You don't Always need my kind of help

Thank you Lord

For speaking to my Heart