Archive for category Football
Here we go…
Posted by crusaderjennblog in Bible, Faith in the Midst of Illness, family, Football, fun, Grace, health, Inspiration, invisible disease, Jesus, lifestyle, Living with Living with Multiple Sclerosis, Living with MS, Maintaining Faith, MS Fight Club, prayer, Relapsing Remitting MS, Stress and MS, toddlers, Uncategorized on November 14, 2021
This happens every year. This year I think the inauguration of Autumn baking thoughts happened when our daughter and I were watching B carve Halloween Pumpkins for our little family. But dancing skeletons evolved into dancing sugarplums. Or perhaps it was watching Charlie Brown’s great pumpkin that evolved into musings of pumpkin bread Christmas.
I love the distraction of post-Halloween plans. I mean I put up a few decorations for Halloween, and I think some decor is fun for the Holiday, but I see some people do an overload of focusing on evil and finding that humorous. For example, each year the neighbor behind us picks some dark theme and decorates accordingly. This neighbor is technically not on our street. But the upstairs master bedroom has a deck/patio that can view our backyard. Some years ago, with the rere-lease of It, for Halloween, the neighbor hung a massive decorative sheet from his upstairs bedroom patio so everyone at the end of our street, or anyone who dared take a detour down our street would have a clear leave nothing to the imagination view of Pennywise and all his bloody-faced glory, having no regard for little ones who might be traumatized by seeing a glimpse.
Unfortunately, when another neighbor asked them to take it down and to keep in mind those little and innocent trick-or-treater’s eyes who should be protected from seeing that, the neighbor saw himself as a self-appointed messenger doing everyone a favor and said, “Mind your own business, besides kids will see it eventually.” Lord, have mercy! We had the displeasure of seeing that nightmare one Halloween, but thankfully on the flip side, those same neighbors have not used their back deck since then to hang anything.
Now, I am not trying to portay myself as an innocent. I read Stephen King as a teenager and an early twenty-something, but my time reading dark literature was satisfied after I finished It. My late Granny took all five of the grandkids (I am the oldest) to the circus every year as youngsters when Ringling Brothers were in town, so I grew up liking clowns. However, the novel about Pennywise changed my appreciation of clowns and they ceased being fun. That novel really changed my simplistic view because apparently, clowns are not always happy.
Who can explain the nonsensical ramblings of a Jenn? Certainly not I. And that may or may not have any correlation to anything, When all of a sudden, my little brain thinks snowmen, more specifically, giggling about Olaf’s sweet ignorance of being a happy snowman in summer. And then there’s the fragrance of cinnamon inspired goodies like baking gingersnaps, pumpkin bread or snickerdoodles! Yum! Maybe it was because we had a short ‘bout of cooler temperatures, that reminded me of winter, though I’m about three weeks early… which then inspired me to think snowflakes again and cause me to bake because why wouldn’t I associate gingersnaps with autumn? They go together. Then winter solstice and just a few days later Christmas? Or maybe it was when my 2-year-old handed me a book to read her – the story about how that green thief who stole Christmas.
Praise God for all these distractions with my surgery coming up so there’s zero opportunity to fixate on worrying when I know God’s in control.
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One year ago…
Posted by crusaderjennblog in adoption, Babies, Bible, debateable, Faith, Faith in the Midst of Illness, family, Football, fun, Grace, health, Inspiration, invisible disease, Jesus, life, lifestyle, Living with Living with Multiple Sclerosis, Living with MS, Living with Multiple Sclerosis, Maintaining Faith, marriage, Marriage Encouragement, MS, MS Fight Club, Multiple Sclerosis, Nervous System, Neurological Conditions, news, prayer, Relapsing Remitting, Relapsing Remitting MS, Stress and MS, toddlers, trends to consider, Uncategorized, Women with MS on November 7, 2021
My PCP diagnosed me with anemia. A few months later, I received the hypercalcaemia diagnosis from my endocrinologist, quickly followed by an Osteoporosis diagnosis and put on a drug that might cause me to lose a tooth or two. I want to be off that drug ASAP. Despite all the cumulative crap I’ve been dealing with since ‘17, I finally have a sliver of good news to share.
My endocrinologist at my July appointment basically threw-up his hands and said he’s sending me to an ENT because my symptoms don’t match my numbers, but he believes there’s something indicitive of a tumor, although the thyroid and parathyroid ultrasounds and nuclear medicine tests revealed nothing. My downward spiral of symptoms going from a pretty healthy patient (minus the MS) to going straight down a toilet as my gait in just a few months became that of a 90-year-old trying to be purposeful with each labored step.
Last weekend at church, as I walked to my vehicle and I heard someone behind me and glanced back to see who it was. The older gentleman has always reminded me of my late grandfather and I stopped so he could catch-up to me. He said he had never seen me walk so slow. I laughed and asked if it was really that noticable. Then he went on to explain how he’d always seen me actively chasing the little ones all over and then said he was keeping me in prayer. I tend to be guarded about sharing anything specific, but last Sunday morning, I was confident that the Holy Spirit put it on my heart to share with a few people at church that I was scheduled for surgery December 15 for a pararthyroidectomy.
My endocrinologist did send me to an ENT, who after viewing all the pictures, labs and radiology reports, sent me to another ENT. Well that ENT sent me to his ENT, who is head of the ENT department at the university in town and his MA was able to schedule me for an appointment to see him a week later. I told B I was tempted to cancel the appointment because I was tired of wasting my time and being referred and referred to another doctor, and another doctor, etc. B asked me to keep the appointment and if I still walked away after the appointment feeling dislcouraged and like I wasted my time, then we would seek other treatment. Funny how I get so frustrated that I might have some extreme tendencies to for example, jump off cliffs because it just makes more sense to me to do something drastic , ya know) and then B has this level of discernment that can reel me in and produce peace with a few words.
Well that ENT, about 60 seconds into the appointment, said he had viewed and studied the pictures of my parathyroid and explained he believed at least one part, potentially two of the four-part parathyroid had tumors. I asked him how long he had specialized in ENT studies. 30 years. Only 30 years!! Then he said, “ I’ve seen this before, these symptoms and pictures . I’m confident if we do the 15 minute surgery to take out the parathyroid, that you should start feeling better almost immediately in the recovery room.” And with those few words, those tear ducts started filling up. You might remember that this girl does not cry…. her eyes sweat.
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Too big to not share
Posted by crusaderjennblog in adoption, Babies, Faith, Football, Grace, Inspiration, Jesus, life, lifestyle, Living with Living with Multiple Sclerosis, Living with MS, Living with Multiple Sclerosis, Maintaining Faith, marriage, Marriage Encouragement, MS Fight Club, Neurological Conditions, prayer, Relapsing Remitting MS, Uncategorized on November 2, 2016
With everything going on and my ever increasing #MSinducedmemoryproblems, I have to share this while I’m thinking about it or “POOF!” it’ll be gone and I’ll forget again because #MultipleSclerosis is playing hardball with my short-term memory retention these days. We’re at T minus 10 days until I start the #Lemtrada round one treatment.
Monday morning last week, B #husband #love texted me shortly after he got to work to say that he had some big #news and would share when he got home, but I was busy with the #baby #love and then getting #cleaning stuff done around the house #clean #addict and then POOF, my husband’s text was forgotten! That thought was gone and I didn’t think twice about it. I had dinner ready and Baby was fed when B came home, so he changed his clothes #relaxation and then we immediately said a dinner blessing. He was anxious to share whatever it was and I’d forgotten about the big news so I hesitated and put the burrito #dinner back on the plate. At his job, B’s an #art #mentor for mentally handicapped students and a student’s mom had called first thing that morning to let the staff know her son would be home sick that day, but as long as B answered the phone, Mary said she had something to share with him. She shared with B that a few days before, #God had placed on her heart to fast and #pray for me, but she didn’t know why.
Now, my #health is generally not a topic of conversation for either of us with strangers, especially for B at work, where unless I’m experiencing a symptom like vertigo that has required him to be home to care for Baby, other than a few people, no one really knows the rough issues with my #relapsingremittingms that rarely require him to be home, thankfully. B said that at one point, he had shared with Mary, who is also a #Believer, my testimony of walking again #miracle after being in a wheelchair for years. You must remember I do not cry, but my eyes occasionally sweat, mostly from allergies #denial. B then shared that a few days after fasting and praying for me, God told Mary I was going to be #healed. Initiate single eye-sweating program. I felt very #blessed that a person I met only once, might feel a burden to fast and pray for me, but I said nothing, then he repeated, “Jenn, Mary said God told her you’re going to be healed soon.” Level-up. Initiate inadvertent dual eye-sweating sequence…
So, in no way did I believe I could deserve something so big since I already received such a significant blessing years ago allowing me to walk again #amazing. It’s like I think my blessing bowl can be filled only once in a life-time. It’s definitely a process to consistently stop negative thoughts and immediately redirect and recognize those thoughts are inspired by the enemy telling me, “You don’t deserve ___.” I must stop such thoughts many times each day. My husband is fantastic to gently remind me that #Godismerciful and doesn’t use a pay-for-play method of forgiveness or blessing.
What?!? But I already was healed from having to depend on a wheelchair 11 years ago! #miracle Oh no-those sweat-glands in my eyes failed in a big way and my eyes began sweating profusely. I was confused how I was deserving of such a magnificent #blessing. I have a performance-based blessing mentality so I’m actively working to clean-out many years of negative internal-dialogue. I am still working toward recognizing performance based blessing in no way resembles my merciful and loving Savior. #nonsensestopshere I must be conscientious to make sure I do not repeat those methods with our foster #babyblessing, who my husband and I very much hope to #adopt.
I always use speaker-phone so my hands are free to do other mindless tasks like fold laundry while I “chat.” Unfortunately though, while my phone was on speaker a few months ago, B overheard everything loud and clear so there was no misinterpretation of conversation lecture verbiage about consequences I’m apparently still suffering, making B get a sour taste of that performance-based affection. “Now I know why you operate with a pay-for-play mentality. I’m so sorry, Sweetheart – I might get it now.” Things might have the ability to stick and set the tone for one’s dysfunctional internal dialogue for years, but it really is changing. #praiseGod #Jesussaves
I’m excited because as this Lemtrada treatment situation has unfolded over the past few months with God opening doors for my grant application to be immediately approved for funding the treatment, my faith steadily increasing and doubt finally gone and being at peace that although risky, Lemtrada is in fact the vehicle through which God will deliver healing as Lemtrada is the only treatment able to heal previous MS damage. #peacethatpassesallunderstanding This is exactly where God is guiding me and with healing, I believe He’s also preparing me for great things. Lord, I’m ready now. #amen
And of course, GO HAWKS!
Jenn
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What I learned from football…
Posted by crusaderjennblog in family, Football on February 3, 2015
…is that nearly everyone is a coach [Monday Morning Quarterbacks, you know who you are]. This is my final take-away from watching the entire season of games. Last Sunday’s Super Bowl ended my first complete NFL season of watching, following and learning. I’m obviously far from being an expert like you, but are not most of us who lack the history of EVER being an NFL coach? I posted to Facebook immediately following the Hawks loss to New England, something short – ‘Great game Hawks and Congrats Patriots,’ but couldn’t believe the feed posted relating to the Hawk’s losing the big game that demanded immediate termination of Pete Carroll. Those same individuals (guilty of Monday Morning quarterbacking) generously gave away what other play shoulda (should have) happened that coulda (could have) and woulda (would have) guaranteed a repeat of the Hawks winning another championship game last Sunday. [Apparently, I am surrounded by seers and clairvoyants.] Do you Monday Morning quarterbacks really think Coach Carroll failed to consider ALL the play options? It would seem a great many of you non-coaching experts like to coach from the sidelines of the social network. And since you are clearly clairvoyant, have some confidence in your abilities to foresee outcomes while also having the cojones to put your ability to use publicly so you can gain some credibility and so we can avoid the shoulda, coulda, woulda conversations in the future. Capisce? I’m just another fan (not a Monday morning or any other day of the week quarterback), who suggests that perhaps your lack of confidence in your own team assessments is more of an indication that you’re symptomatic for possibly being passive aggressive since you’re a heckler style of coach, rather than taking your team management and play concerns directly to the coach personally…
So should I suggest, “Shame on Mr. Carroll for failing to consider ALL the social network suggestions?” No, but then, I also really doubt that Pete Carroll suffers from any level of short-shortsightedness or he wouldn’t be allowed to continue coaching. Right? In several articles, Coach Carroll took full responsibility for making the call on what final play the Seahawks attempted. “I made the decision,” Carroll said. “I said, ‘Throw the ball,’ and we went with the play that we thought would give us a chance to get in the end zone. We had great match ups for the call that we made, and it didn’t work out. They made a better play than we did.” (O’Connor, ESPN, 2015) And Pete Carroll has the experience and credibility required as a paid coach to make that determination of which play to execute and when. The play didn’t win the game and that was disappointing, but the majority of us were NOT on the field next to him to offer our not-so-news-worthy insight and therefore, failed to see the ENTIRE picture of what lead to Coach Carroll’s determination.
I noticed that In addition to you Monday morning quarterbacks, apparently all you wannabe coaches are really coaches masquerading in a number of day-jobs, like entrepreneurs or working for ‘the man.’ Who would have thought that there are so many of these professionals who are really coaches in-disguise? But even more surprising was that some of these individuals have the time to successfully do so many jobs – your paid position, your football analysis position and then also act as an unpaid wannabe coach – in addition to having families. Wow! Y’all are setting the bar pretty high for simpletons like me who just want to be entertained watching a fantastic team who wants to win a game, but then I’m really just another fan who believes that those who are in the actual position of Coach – like Pete Carroll – he probably has the required qualifications to…well…Coach. So I propose instead of coaching from the sidelines like a heckler, confront the Hawk’s GM John Schneider and prove that you’re more qualified than the team’s current coach because your coaching expertise is clearly under-utilized as your wannabe coaching from a social network’s sidelines might indicate. Best of luck obtaining the position and I’ll look for your name on next season’s roster. Go Hawks!
If your ability as a clairvoyant suggested the majority of this was going to be sarcastic, congratulation for reading the obvious.
Do you also find Monday morning quarterbacks annoying? Please explain.
~Jenn
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Last weekend the Seahawks Won because of me
Posted by crusaderjennblog in Faith, Football on January 25, 2015
I’m not so self-important to really think that I had anything to do with the Hawk’s win against the Packers last Sunday, but I do think God did allow them to win for me. The last few years my faith has been inconsistent and consistently wavering. At some point, I somehow started believing that blessings from God were performance-based. I know that my assessment of performance-based blessing is entirely false and thank God! I’m thankful He doesn’t work like that because if that were true, there’s no possibility that I would ever or could ever be blessed. Then I have to remind myself that I never deserved to be healed, but God healed the status of MS so I could walk again and not require a wheelchair full-time. I also must keep reminding myself that God continues working in my life and I also never deserved any of these ongoing blessings. So when I was watching the game last Sunday and saw the Hawks on their way to a loss in the last quarter, I kept saying to myself that my God is a God of miracles as He’s shown me with my health that miracles clearly happen. I prayed for and asked God, while also believing in a miracle that the Seahawks could still win the game.
And they did. Despite the great point deficit. Congratulations, Seahawks and know I’m praying for another win against the Patriots next weekend! GO HAWKS! Regardless of whether God allowed the Seahawks to win for me or because of my tiny faith, God knew I needed a little encouragement and through that answer, God met me where I was in my wavering mustard seed faith. Although I’m near the US gambling capital where I could have put a penny on Seattle to win, I’m confident that I wasn’t the only non-betting person praying for the Hawks to come out on top. I also believe that God knew I desperately needed something to hold onto and for him to show me He’s still in control and that despite myself, He heard even my little prayer for an irrelevant football game outcome. Thank you, Lord – I needed that. I know that positive answer helped to confirm and re-energize my faith in an unseen God who WILL move us back to WA, but I must be patient in also having faith in his perfect timing. Thank you again, Lord Jesus!
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Happy New Year, but don’t waste time with resolutions
Posted by crusaderjennblog in family, Football, Inspiration, Jesus, life, lifestyle, marriage on January 1, 2015
As we kick-off 2015, many will make their annual list of resolutions that they will only achieve success in breaking. So, congratulations. For some, creating a resolution list is personal, familial, or it might be a communal, societal expectation that gives the resolver warm-fuzzies for consideration of the resolution. For some that’s where it ends, but for others, they will hit the ground running and maintain their resolutions(s). Why? Because the resolute are committed to and intentional about being successful whether it’s for themselves or their family. Why does the calendar have anything to do with making positive changes in one’s life? Because for now it allows people to keep doing whatever they’re doing. The term now is too much of a commitment for those who really don’t desire change. What if people just make up their minds to begin making changes NOW instead of making the excuse to start making changes tomorrow, next week, next month or next year? Why not start now? A calendar has nothing to do with anything and if it’s important, I’ll borrow the old Nike slogan and suggest, JUST DO IT.
Here is my list of things that I would like to see some become intentional about in 2015:
Learn the proper spelling of homonyms and learn to use proper punctuation before posting statuses and comments on social networks or blogs.
Stop posting relationship grievances on social networks and instead of depending on social network ‘friends‘ to provide advice, get professional help.
Stop saying,amazeballs, YOLO, I know right? and like before every like word in your like repertoire and get a word of the day calendar because a limited vocabulary is a clear sign of ignorance.
Protests – Nothing changes because of protests and riots are the stupid, drunk uncle of protests. Both of these behaviors are a pathetic excuse to make bad decisions.
Everyone is a winner is a problem because it is a false assessment. Why? Take a step back and observe cause and effect. Because groups and schools awarded the population (MILLENIALS) with silly awards, many now perceive they’re entitled to things like cars and jobs, despite being unqualified. Stop awarding silly ribbons and trophies. Imagine if all Olympic participants were entitled to receive awards – there would be no incentive to improve their skill.
Selfie-sticks are real. I see these on the Las Vegas Strip. Selfies are already narcissistic and now there is a device to encourage more of them. I’m fairly certain this product is Satan’s handy work…
Being offended – Anymore, it seems that people are very easily offended by everything. Just stop! If you don’t like it then don’t support it and move-on because not everything is personal or about you.
I like New Year’s because for us that means we celebrated another anniversary yesterday and a new year is always refreshing. I don’t make New Year’s resolutions because I don’t need a particular day to motivate better choices.
What words or trends are annoying for you?
Back to watching football and Happy New Year!
~Jenn
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Football is not a mathematical equation
Posted by crusaderjennblog in Football, life, marriage on December 31, 2014
Since August and having had my very own fantasy football team this year, I’ve been committed to learning football (finally) for the 2014-2015 season, although I’m confident that it will take more than a single season to get me to where I’m not consistently interrupting a game to ask questions about why this or that is or is not a penalty. My husband will attest to the fact that for nearly two decades, I’ve been unimpressed by the sport and thought little of bothering to learn. I knew a few basics, but because of my left-brainness those basics never computed to my sense of logic, so understandably, I disregarded the whole idea of adding any football knowledge to the mix. For starters, in football, there is a quarterback, a halfback and a fullback. But there is no three-quarters back position. I would like to understand why there is this position deficit. Then, there is the tight end position. The logical counterpart position would suggest that there is also a player who is the loose end, but there is no such position. What I have learned for certain is that this learning process is irrelevant because the only thing that ultimately matters is whether a team wins. I must make sense of get-over the senseless mathematics of football positions.
As a Washingtonian, my logical allegiance is to support the Seattle Seahawks and this year from afar obviously, I have gotten to know Coach Pete Carroll and how the team conducts themselves. Russell Wilson is my favorite, but I’m also a big fan of other players like Marshawn Lynch Beast Mode and his 79 yard touchdown in the recent game against Arizona. Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Doug Baldwin, Kam Chancellor and Luke Willson are additional players with whom I’m becoming more knowledgeable. Win or loss, I will support them. I refuse to be one of those fans who doles-out support conditionally. The above is my first method of showing support for the Seattle Seahawks, with a rear-window decal on my rig. This is my rig and not my husband’s. Besides, he supports Oakland. Thank you, Sweetheart for patiently guiding me through my first NFL season. GO HAWKS!
~Jenn
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