Fervent- Your Past

I had planned on posting about the each section of Fervent as I read it, but life happened. I do want to post about the chapter on your past (chap. 5) because of how impactful it was on my life. I recently started meeting with someone I asked to be my mentor. I had shared with her some of my past sins and current ones that I was struggling with. "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results." (James 5:16)

She asked me if I had forgiven myself. I hadn't. I know that God forgives. I had asked Him to forgive me; I knew in my head that He did but my heart was having a hard time accepting it. That night I was really beating myself up about it. The next morning I looked up scriptures on forgiveness.
"But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." I John 1:9


I also read the next chapter (chap. 5) in Fervent. It was about your past. How timely! The introduction really opened my eyes and hit me. Yes, Satan does this to me!
"If I were your enemy, I'd constantly remind you of your past mistakes and poor choices, I'd want to keep you burdened by shame and guilt, in hopes that you'll feel incapacitated by your many failings and see no point in even trying again. I'd work to convince you that you've had your chance and blown it- that your God may be able to forgive some people for some things, but not you..not for this." (pg. 93) 

Instead of feeling and celebrating God's grace and forgiveness I felt shame and undeserving. This chapter reminded me then and now, almost a month later, that instead of feeling guilt and shame and guilt I should be celebrating all the grace that God has given me! And that it should bring me closer to God not make me feel like I should be running in shame from Him like Adam and Eve did. 

I still struggle with sin (who doesn't?). I need to be remembering that God's grace is freely given and when I mess up I need to turn to God instead of the wanting to hid from Him. Satan loves to rewind scenes from my past (even as recent has yesterday) in my head taunting me with them, even though I have confessed them to God.  It is a hard thine accepting forgiveness. I forgive others easily. I just need to learn how to forgive myself!

Week 9 (Game) Star Fluxx

My baby brother is staying with us while he is on spring break this week and next. So we invited him to join us in our weekly stay-at-home date night.

Jadae is a big sc-fi geek! He loves Star Wards, Star Trek, etc. So I got Star Fluxx from Amazon knowing that he would enjoy it. (We already own Family Fluxx and Wizard of Oz Fluxx). Fluxx is a game where the rules always change and how to win the game (by achieving the goal) changes also. I like certain sci-fi movies (such as Back to the Future) but I really am not into Star Trek. I did enjoy this game though and know enough about a lot of the sci-fi genre that I got the cards and they made me smile!



Because of copyright infringements Looney Labs (the creators of Fluxx) had to be creative with some of their cards. For example, in Star Trek the men who wear red shirts always end up dying- in this game that is a keeper card and the card is called "The Expendable Crewmen".  The cards make reference to  references to Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr. Who, A Space Odyssey, Stargate, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and probably some others.

This version of Fluxx has some awesome extra abilities on some of the keepers. These make the game more interesting and fun! I will say that this version is not the best to introduce someone to Fluxx as there are more complex cards that the other versions do not have unless there are people playing that are familiar with the game.

Even though my brother joined us we still had fun! We ended up playing several rounds.  I can't remember who won. I know I didn't win any rounds though. But that is not what mattered.


52 Date Nights in 52 Weeks
Getting out of a rut- The post that explains why I started this journey

1. Week One- (movie) The Bucket List

2. Week Two- (game) Post Cards from North America
3. Week Three- Art Night!
4. Week four- Deal or No Deal

5. Week 5- Game Night (Chrononauts)
6. Week 6- Wii Game (Super Mario Maker)
7. Week 7- (movie) Tourist
8. Cruise!

Week 8- Cruise!

I actually only planned 51 stay-at-home dates because we would be on vacation for a whole week.

Back in August Jadae took me to Cleveland for a long weekend to celebrate our 10th anniversary Jadae told me sister that he would be taking me on a lunch cruise over Lake Erie.  He remembered that on our 1st anniversary I had expressed a desire to go on a cruise for our 10th., so this was as close as he could get. While we were in Cleveland he had my sister plan a surprise anniversary party and indicated that people were not to bring any gifts.

Well, she listened somewhat. Instead she told people about my dream and if they wanted to they could contribute money to make it a reality. So when we got to the party we both were surprised with the cruise!

Jadae and I went on the Independence of the Seas through Royal Caribbean last week for a 5 night cruise to the East Caribbean. We had ports at  Falmouth, Jamaica and Labadee, Haiti (which is a pennuisula that Royal Caribbean has a lease for 99 years). The weather was wonderful!

We experienced some hiccups on the way there. First I misplaced my license and credit cards after we checked our bags but before we went through security. Talk about your heart sinking! Jadae found them in a side pocket of my personal item. We ended up at the airport several hours early so we went to a pub. I journaled and used my kindle while Jadae enjoyed a cold one. We then went to our gate. They started to board and I realized that I could not find my kindle. So I ran all the way back to the pub to see if I left it there. It was not there! Jadae then called. It was in the same pocket that I had misplaced my cards. I booked it back to board in time!

We went to a show every night and sometimes took in an extra one in the afternoon. There was ice skating shows. A dancing show called, "Invitation to Dance"which was choreographed by... We took a short ballroom dance class and a towel animal folding class. Played putt-putt on the ship. Attempted to boogie board on the wave surfer. Rocked climbed on the upper deck. Enjoyed the hot tub. Ate a lot of food! We really enjoyed ourselves!

 In Jamaica we decided to just go the the Red Strip Beach and enjoy the ocean. We thought about doing another excursion but we wanted to have plenty of time to shop in the souvenir shops. We got Jadae some authentic Jamaican coffee. We also brought some Sangster's Jamaica Rum Cream Liqueur (both original and coconut) which was very yummy.

In Haiti we took a coastal tour of the island in a little boat. So much of Haiti is dependent on tourism. We saw men out fishing in their boats. After they caught their fish they take them home where their their wife cleans it then sales it to provide income for their family.

52 Date Nights in 52 Weeks
Getting out of a rut- The post that explains why I started this journey

1. Week One- (movie) The Bucket List

2. Week Two- (game) Post Cards from North America
3. Week Three- Art Night!
4. Week four- Deal or No Deal

5. Week 5- Game Night (Chrononauts)
6.  Week 6- Wii Night (Super Mario Maker)
7.

Week 7- Movie "The Tourist"

Note- We ended up having this date after our cruise. Due to our family needing us we had to postpone our date

For our weekly date stay-at-home date nights I wanted to stay away from too many movie/tv nights. So often that is what we end up doing by the end of the day. So when I was planning the weeks out I decided I would allow one scheduled movie a month but the movie would have to relate to something else. Last month we watched the Bucket List and made our own. Other months we will go on field trips related to the movie or have a themed night.

This week we watched "The Tourist". The movie takes place in another country. It was a decent movie. I was able to figure out who the person was that was being searched for by the gangsters before it was revealed. It was a decent movie. Somewhat slow. Not tons of action. Was really not my favorite movie but it was still interesting.

52 Date Nights in 52 Weeks
Getting out of a rut- The post that explains why I started this journey

1. Week One- (movie) The Bucket List

2. Week Two- (game) Post Cards from North America
3. Week Three- Art Night!
4. Week four- Deal or No Deal

5. Week 5- Game Night (Chrononauts)
6.  Week 6- Wii Night (Super Mario Maker)

Week 6- (Wii Night) Super Mario Maker

            This week we had a more laid back date night. We played Super Mario Maker for the Wii U.  I had originally planned on us making levels prior to play but that did not happen. Instead we decided to take turns playing the 100 Mario challenge to help unlock a new costume for Jadae. We each were allowed 3 lives or passing one level before we had to turn the controller over to the other person.
          We fun just playing something that reminded us of our childhood. It was very relaxing, not mind draining, but yet challenging. And a little confession on my part I still scream like when I was younger when I play video games. I scream when a bad guy gets too close or you almost get hit my a fire stick or fall in a hole :)
         For those who are not familiar with this game I will give a brief synopsis. There are several different ways to play. One way is to make your own Mario levels that you can upload for others to play. You are able to use the Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U platforms to make the levels along with creating tunnels, sub-levels, etc. in the outside world, the ship, the castle, etc. Or you can play levels of your choosing that others have loaded. And you also can play 100 or 10 Mario challenge. Where you get that many lives to try and beat so many levels (depending on difficulty) once you do you get to unlock a costume that allows you to change what Mario becomes when he levels up (getting bigger or a special power). The costumes have all kinds of outfits, like being a gomba, Link, Lugio, Donkey Kong  etc. My whole family loves this game. Jadae tries to design levels that Monkey boy can play. Monkey Boy enjoys making levels filling them with as many bad guys as possible!




52 Date Nights in 52 Weeks
Getting out of a rut- The post that explains why I started this journey

1. Week One- (movie) The Bucket List

2. Week Two- (game) Post Cards from North America
3. Week Three- Art Night!
4. Week four- Deal or No Deal

5. Week 5- Game Night (Chrononauts)

52 Weeks- Week 5 - Chrononauts

Time travel is very interesting. It has always intrigued people. Sometimes people wish that they go back in history and have a redo. Other times people wish they could speed up the clock; such as when a child is going through a difficult stage, you are very pregnant and just want to have that baby. Other times people want to either go back into history and see what it was like to live back then or peek into the future to see what might happen

But with time travel there comes consequences. In Back to the Future II, Marty and Doc were very careful not to mess up what had already 'happened' in the future because a time paradox could happen.

Doc: "I foresee two possibilities. One, seeing herself thirty years in the future would put Jennifer into shock and she'd simply pass out. Or two, the encounter could create a time paradox. The results of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe!... Granted, that's the worst-case scenario. The destruction however might be limited merely to our own galaxy."

Marty: "Well that's a relief!"

— Doc and Marty were discussing the ramifications of Jennifer running into herself.

Chrononauts is a game that allows you to make paradoxes left and right without real-life consequences.

It took as a little while to learn the directions of the game but once we understood them the games kept rolling. We ended up playing 5 games. Jadae won 3 and I only 2. I am looking forward to see how the dynamics change when another player is added. There is also an option to play solo.

(Disclaimer- This post does contain an affliate link, meaning if you purchase a game I will receive a small portion of the sell at no extra charge for you)

52 Date Nights in 52 Weeks
Getting out of a rut- The post that explains why I started this journey

1. Week One- (movie) The Bucket List

2. Week Two- (game) Post Cards from North America
3. Week Three- Art Night!
4. Week four- Deal or No Deal

Neurofibromatosis- What is it?

I have mentioned Neurofibromatosis briefly in different posts and I know that I will bring it up again. So I wanted to let others know what Neurofibromatosis is. (also known as NF).  I am going try not to sound too much like a textbook or a medical website while I explain it a little bit.  Both Josiah and I have it. I inherited it from my mom, who got it from her mom.

NF has 3 different types. NF1, which is the most common type and the type that my family has and it is what I will post about. There are also  NF2 and Schwannomatosis.

NF is a genetic disorder that causes tumors to form on nerve tissues. I didn't start to develop these tumors until adolescence. Some people develop them earlier in life, others may never have the tumors. The tumors can show up anywhere on your nervous system (which includes the brain, spinal cord and nerves). Most of the time these tumors are benign but sometimes they can become malignant. I mainly have them on my stomach, chest and back. Some people have only a few, others may be covered by them. I am very self-conscious about mine. 


I was diagnosed at birth with the NF. The doctors knew I had it because I at least 6 of the the cafe au lait spots (birth marks that look like coffee spills). I first noticed Josiah cafe au lait spots when he was 4 months old and he was diagnosed shortly after he turned 1. NF1 always shows up during childhood (before the age of 10). It is hereditary, but only if one of the parents have it and than it is a 50% chance. Although someone may get it from a spontaneous mutation. Smiles is the only one out my 3 here on earth children that have it. 

What causes it?The NF1 gene is located on Chromosome 17. That gene normally produces a protein called neurofibromin that helps regulate cell growth. With NF the mutated gene caused a loss of that protein which allows the cells to grow uncontrolled.

Neurofibromatosis is more than just tumors and physical features. It can cause (along with some other issues):

• Neurological problems. Learning and thinking difficulties are the most common neurological problem. Some of the uncommon complications include epilepsy and buildup of excess fluid in the brain.
• Concerns with appearance. Visible signs of neurofibromatosis — such as extensive cafe au lait spots, numerous neurofibromas in the facial area or large neurofibromas — can cause anxiety and emotional distress, even if they're not medically serious.
• Skeletal problems. Some children have abnormally formed bones, which can result in bowing of legs and fractures that sometimes don't heal. NF1 can cause curvature of the spine (scoliosis) that may need bracing or surgery. NF1 is also associated with decreased bone mineral density, which increases your risk of weak bones (osteoporosis).
• Vision problems. Occasionally in children, an optic glioma can develop, affecting vision.

This is why Josiah will be getting a MRI soon. His specialist wants to proactive so that if he develops an optic glioma we can get it treated right away.

• Cancer. An estimated 3 to 5 percent of people with NF1 develop cancerous tumors. These usually arise from neurofibromas under the skin or from plexiform neurofibromas. People with NF1 also have a higher risk of other forms of cancer, such as breast cancer, leukemia, brain tumors and some types of soft tissue cancer.

My mom had breast cancer, My younger brother (who has NF1) was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when he was 11. I had a very rare form of skin cancer called Microcystic Adnexal Carcinoma
Now I am not sure if any of our cancers were necessary linked to NF but everyone in my immediate family who has NF with the exception of Josiah, has had some kind of cancer.

We decided to have Smiles seen at Cincinnati Children's Hospital because they have a research clinic just for NF. We love Columbus Children's hospital and our children has received excellent care there for various surgeries. (including Smile's kidney surgeries). So even though Columbus is closer we wanted to go to a hospital with the newest research. They also are willing to follow me, which is great! I have not been seen for my NF since I was a child and had regular MRI's.