30-Day Challenge!

The past two weeks for me have been far from boring. Not that I consider my life typically boring, but there has definitely been some excitement (good and bad) in the past few weeks. It seems like I've hardly stopped long enough to catch my breath. So I'm sure you're wondering what all the fuss is about.

Last week, I spent 4 out of the 5 work days in a doctor's office - and not for me or Baby Knies. Mom and Dad both went to their GP last Monday - still the same doctor and with appointments about 30 minutes apart. Luckily, although my parents are divorced and have been for some years now, they still get along quite well - it makes the waiting room a little more pleasant! Mom had a cold and Dad had an eye infection. Tuesday, Dad was sent to the Opthamologist because his eye condition seemed pretty serious. Basically he was diagnosed with Herpes Simplex Keratitis - sounds incredibly gross, and it kind of is. They believe he has Herpes in his eye -not the STD, but the cold sore type. He was having a lot of trouble seeing out of it. Wednesday, I took Mom to get her CT Scan of the thoracic region of her spine, since she has been having a lot of back trouble. Then finally, Friday, Dad went back to the Opthamologist for a follow up. So basically nothing that seemed too crazy happened last week, but it was not a worry-free week.

Then this week, it seemed like I was going to be in the same routine. Dad had another follow up with the Opthamologist, where he found out that he has some scarring of the cornea from the herpes virus, which is causing the blindness/blurriness and it may be permanent! Not good news at all! Then on Wednesday, I went with Mom to her appointment with the Neruosurgeon. Bad news there too. Mom's vertebra is crushed in her thoracic region and she has to have surgery on April 28th. Now, the good news about Mom is that her problem is fixable, and she will be in the best hands in Knoxville! Her surgeon refers patients to Adam's Physical Therapy clinic so he knows the doctors and their nurses, knows their work, and knows she will be fine! This is actually the same group of doctors that did both of Dad's back surgeries years ago, so we have complete faith in them. I'm sure by now we have provided some new cars, boats, or house payments with all the business we are giving them from my family! I'm beginning to think that Baby Knies needs to be a Neurosurgeon!

Last night, I called Adam at work after finding out the news about Mom and told him that I didn't feel like cooking dinner and wanted to just go out to eat and to get some fresh air. I needed to breathe! When we got home, I decided to catch up on my daily devotional , since I had missed the last few days of reading. I read the story of the mustard seed and some in Matthew and some in a couple of different books of the Bible. It felt comforting to read some passages that seemed to fall right into place with what was going on with my life and my family. However, it never ceases to amaze me that God puts certain people and certain texts in my path to help guide me along the way. Little did I know that the mustard seed would crop up again today.

Today we found out that one of Adam's close friends could have a serious disorder, and his mother-in-law mentioned Matthew 17:20 - all you have to have is faith the size of a mustard seed to move a mountain! We were devastated by the news but took comfort in the fact that God is definitely working in mysterious ways!

So now onto what the title of this blog is all about! Also, yesterday, while waiting for Adam to come home, I came across a friend of a friend's blog, entitled One Month to Live. I was immediately intriged and decided to check it out. The blog was about a book by the same title. It is a Christian inspirational book about the fact that if we were given thirty days to live, how would our prespective change about how we use our time each day, and how to stop living for "someday" and to start making today matter! The purpose is after thirty days, you see how your life has changed, so each day brings a new challenge. There are a few homework assignments, and one of today's assignments was to tell someone you are reading this book and to mark their calendar for thirty days from now. So, put a big red circle around May 15th!
Again, as corny as it may sound, I think God put this friend of a friend's blog in my path. After all the news I've received in the past week, I know life is not to be taken for granted. That rings true even more because I'm carrying and developing a little life within me right now!

I have to admit that I do consider myself a religious person. I do pray and I do read and study the Bible (although not as much as I'd like), and I do attend church (also, not as much as I'd like). With that being said, I'm tattling on myself because Adam and I have not attended a church very regularly since we got married, I think partly because he is Catholic and I am Presbyterian. Not that we have disagreements about each other's denominations, but we are both so used to what we grew up with that I don't think either one of us feels completely at home in the other one's church. And that makes it all too easy to hit the snooze button on Sunday morning and catch a few extra winks instead of going to church. Saturday night I asked Adam which church he wanted to go to for Easter. He said it didn't matter to him, but he didn't want to be one of those people who JUST goes to church on Christmas and Easter. I totally agreed with him, but said that there is no better day to start going back to church on a regular basis than Easter! We want to raise Baby Knies in a church, no matter if it's Catholic or Presbyterian, so there is no time like the present; no better day than today!

I think everyone could benefit from the 30-Day Challenge. Go pick up the book One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life by Kerry and Chris Shook, then let me know what day to mark my calendar for you!