Happy Birthday Friend Series: Happy birthday Traci!

Twelve years ago, our family joined a new church with a tiny group of young families. Conner joined the AWANA program that same year and one of his leaders was another mom named Traci. She really loved working with the kids and brought her three young boys to the same program as well. The next year, Traci became leader of Conner's program and set out to help him learn. The year before, Conner had not finished his book which was very sad for him.

Traci learned that Conner could listen to a CD to memorize his verses and gave him one. Not only did he finish his book that year, he did extra credit as well! Traci believed in finding Conner's learning style and working with it. She was truly one of his first champions in life.

We soon became phone pals, Traci was a stay at home working mom and we became friends through our long phone chats. Life had been tough for her, we had both faced battles with family leaving us and letting us down. She had a lot of walls to climb but God gave me an open door through the walls and she slowly but surely let me in and let me be her friend.

Rarely in life do I look up to people, we're all on the same level playing field in my book. I do however admire Traci's faith. She has a humble and honest faith, she sets up no pretenses and doesn't pretend to be perfect. Through the years, she has come to me, asking for prayer, showing me her downfalls, taught me many lessons about a true faith with humility, grace, honesty and dignity.

Traci used to be one of my biggest homeschooling skeptics, we had many debates about homeschooling during our phone calls. Then one day, Traci pulled her boys out of school and graduated two sons through homeschooling. She is a true champion for homeschooling now and has actually taught me many things!

She has lived a mother's worst fear, having your child diagnosed with an incurable disease. She has been a caretaking mother to her son Josh for many years. She has taught me many things about motherhood, living in the face of adversity and carrying on.

During the years Marty was ill, she was a huge supporter. Her perspective came from a place many don't understand or get because she has lived it in her own home. I truly couldn't have made it through without our many phone calls.

She won't like this blog because I have said too many nice things for her liking. She never pretends to be perfect, holier than thou, or anything other than someone trying to live their faith with flaws and all. She is real with real struggles and imperfections. Truth is, that is why I admire her.

Happy birthday Traci, I miss our phone chats or dropping by your house to chat. Though miles apart, we are still dear friends even though we may not talk as often. Wishing you a very happy birthday filled with many blessings!

Finding Purpose in the Pain Devotional and Giveaway

A while back, my friend Stacy from Finding Purpose in the Pain told us she would be writing an e-book devotional about her experience with chronic pain. I was inspired that she would take on such a huge task an idea that I've been toying with for a while now.

This week, her devotional has released on Amazon in e-book format. You can follow this link and buy it there, it is a great deal at only $3.99

I've known Stacy since March of 2003, we met in a prayer forum online. She was fresh out of college, I was a young mother of two. We bonded over our shared faith and grew into friends, eventually leading bible studies on that site for women around the world. 

During this time, I learned of Stacy's debilitating struggle with Fibromyalgia, it was hard to fathom this young twenty something girl, struggling with severe and chronic pain. We prayed together so many times for her to be healed. Her pain only got worse and worse as time went on.

In the opening of her book, she shares a candid moment that took my breath away. Her pain had grown to the point she was anguished. In the last year, she has gone off all of her medications and has been doing really well with essential oils. It has been amazing to see prayers answered and Stacy thriving.

This devotional helps anyone whose ever been in a tough place whether it be with pain or trials. She brings the focus back to God and his word. It is a great devotional for any one actually, whether you're struggling or not.

Stacy has agreed to give away a copy to one reader of Just Jules. Simply leave your name in the comments and I will use a random picker based on the number of comments.

Unexpected Perspective and Answered Prayers

Perspective is a beautiful thing especially when they come in the form of answered prayers. Today has been a big day in the world of Just Jules. It started out quite normal until I checked my Twitter then email before heading to my day job.

For the last few months I've been writing guest posts on Finding Purpose in the Pain for my good friend Stacy. Today my post; which I wrote last month was about our upcoming move and how I was scared about setting a date and making a jump. You can read my post here, since writing this post I've been working very hard on my thought process and realizing it will all be okay.

Some of you don't know but I have slowly been starting my own business on the side. I've been asked many times to help friends start blogs, make Facebook pages and for Twitter advice. I've done this as  kindness for others until now. Before I was offered the job in Knoxville doing the same thing, I was wondering how I could turn this into a job? Along with running the social media for Fig and Company in Knoxville; I am starting my own social media consulting company. Here is my new website for my business: http://julesmpgsocialmedia.blogspot.com/

Today, I awoke to a email saying that one of my blogs was featured on the Daily Buzz Mom's website. I wrote a post a long time ago about our Christmas stocking exchange and they featured it today in their top nine. You can read that post here.

I was going to share most of this later but since all three go together so well, I decided today was the day to share the news. For 2013, the goals have been set high, I am dreaming big and taking a leap of faith. Fear, worry, scare tactics of others and naysaying won't stop me. Either I will fall or I will soar, all signs point to soaring. The journey will be well chronicled and you can follow along as I take the steps into the future. I have all the faith in the world that I will succeed.

It All Lines Up

As I was sitting around being lazy on my day off today, I was wondering what I would blog about today. I have a outline of sorts for the month but it isn't firm. I knew sometime this month that I wanted to blog about this story that happened surrounding Marty's transplant. It's a long story that eventually all adds up. It even involves other families and friends. Truly amazing to see how beautiful a tapestry this story is and how it was all weaved together.

I was wanting to post this on the date it all started. This afternoon as I was wondering what to blog about and  I decided to just blog about it today instead. I went digging knowing it happened during November of 2010 and what I found brought me to tears. God always knows better than myself. The story started two years ago this very day, I know it isn't coincidence it came to mind.

The story started with a phone call from our friend Danielle in Georgia on November 12,2010. It was 7 a.m. on a quiet Friday morning, we were in bed and I jumped when the phone rang so early. My friend Danielle was breathless, talking a mile a minute. She had been waiting hours to call us, she had this overwhelming feeling that a phone call would come in 48-72 hours and she need to call us and tell us that. I believed her, she rarely calls and she was beyond herself.

We thought "the call was coming" and waited on pins and needles for a couple of days. I wrote about it on my blog but didn't tell too many people. We just waited and prayed.

72 hours later at 7 p.m. our friend Michelle from church called me bawling. She was so teary that she could barely get the words out. She said she had been praying that night and God told her "everything is ready for Marty's transplant and it is soon" The thing is Michelle doesn't own a computer or go online, she had no clue about the phone call 72 hours earlier. When I told her, she was bawling even more. I remember standing outside in the cold on the phone with her that night. The sky was crisp and clear but the night was very dark.

Our life was very, very dark at the time and we didn't know how things were going to end. We had a hope that God would heal Marty but we didn't know how or when? I remember one day, things were so bleak that Marty, the kids and I laid in our bed and cried, we just were so weary.

On December 15th, two of my dear friends Janeen and Viviana both strongly felt a decision had been made. They didn't know what but felt like a decision had been made and that Marty was going to get the call soon, very soon.

Two days later December 17th, Marty and I were doing dialysis in our bedroom and Elizabeth came knocking on our door asking to come in. She never did this and we yelled out "come in". She came in the door, pale, shaking and visibly shaken. This was abnormal behavior for her and we were scared. She said "Momma and Daddy, I was sitting playing my Nintendo DS in the kitchen and God told me "your Dad is going to get his transplant in one month" I heard it Mommy, I really did"

We were shocked, we immediately believed her, comforted her and prayed with her. If ever someone would hear from God, that is the response you would expect. Shock and awe.  We told nobody but my parents and prayed really hard.

Two days later December 20th, Stanford called to tell us Marty was the backup candidate for a transplant. He had someone ahead of him but be prepared in case. We called everyone excitedly including our planned childcare people. Nothing we had lined up was ready and our dog ran away for two hours in the pouring rain. We deep down knew it wasn't his turn and one day later that was confirmed. The did say he was next on the list. We prayed that it wouldn't be during the holidays for the donor family and for the kids.

January 11th, 2011 almost a month to the day later THE CALL came and our lives were changed. We thought the story was so amazing as it was but God wasn't done yet. Sadly, part of the story is that my dear friend Janeen's ( the one above on December 15th) husband Bucky died the next day from lung cancer. We had both been dealing with sick husband's and praying for miracles. Marty and Bucky were already connected by sharing a birthday and now our lives were even more connected by the dates.

It wouldn't be until one year later, the story became even more deep. On the day of the one year anniversary sadly our friend Viviana lost a baby while we were up at Stanford. It was deeply sad and connected the dates even more.

 We had written to the donor's family on the anniversary and his mother called me out of the blue one month later. During our conversation, this story came up. What happened next still gives me the chills.

We always sensed our donor was a male. Even that night on the phone with Michelle, she was talking about a him. We always referred to our donor as a him and that night on the phone his mom confirmed it.

When I got to the part about December 15th, his mom stopped me. She told me that on December 5, 2010 her and Jerry had a conversation. He told her if anything ever happened that he wanted to donate his organs and be a organ donor. A decision had been made indeed.

When I told her about Elizabeth, she stopped me. That happened the day before Jerry's 18th birthday, he turned 18 the very next day on the 18th. She was sobbing, it was very hard for both of us to see how this drew our family together. Jerry died on the 30th anniversary of my Grandfather's death January 10, 2011. The dates just kept connecting us. She was amazed by the story and I just couldn't believe how it all came together and  everything came true.

When I went to call Janeen and tell her this amazing thing about the dates, I got the news her beloved mother had passed away that morning. Once again connecting our two families indelibly. Just another thread in this amazing story.

It just makes sense it would come to mind to write it all down forever today. I just smiled and shook my head when the date popped up at the top of the post. I sat here crying typing it all out and feel privileged this happened to us.

 Some of you may not believe and that is okay, I know those of us this happened to believe none of this was coincidence and that our lives all inter connected for a reason. I hope this story blesses you, brings you a smile and shows you that "all things work together for good" even though sometimes we don't
see the bigger picture. In the end, it all lined up.

Elizabeth's prayer was answered

Celebrating with Danielle in Georgia

Janeen and I seeing each other for the first time in person

"When Are You Moving?"

This is something we hear almost everyday. We usually hear it most on Sunday's at church along with " Oh, we thought you just moved and didn't say goodbye" because I've been busy working lately. Like I would ever do that. The answer is "We hope by January, but we aren't sure" the hold out is Marty needs a job for us to move. He is actively searching and looking for a job in his career field while I pack the house up. Our house is full of boxes and I try to pack something up every week. A new pastor at our church moved from Colorado into our neighborhood and his wife generously gave me all of their boxes. That is another funny story in itself, a blog for next week. Yesterday we got a bit of good news that might allow for a plan B for the move. We are praying this might pan out and work towards our goal of getting to Tennessee by January. We are praying about it and trusting God's leading for us. Once again, we are in the waiting room. Waiting for change but still in life here which is winding down. It's been so clear our time here is over yet we don't want to leave the people here. People here don't want us to leave. One thing I do ask is can we stop with the negative comments or trying to talk us out of moving? It makes things harder and is truly upsetting. I would support any of you moving even if I didn't like it. I have done this with many friends before and would appreciate the same support. We have to go and try this, we have to live with no regrets and we would regret never trying. We may fail and want to come back. Life is too short to not try. We still have a lot of people to see and spend time with before we go.I am trying to do that while working nearly full time. I went back to work at my husband's request to help fund our move. It has been very helpful for me to work but everyone hates it. Of course, I will still be working in Knoxville and the future. Part of this move is for me to build my career and I will share more about that later. I hope this clears up some of the questions. As soon as we know something, you know that I will share it. We just really don't know much right now except that we are indeed moving.

What is a Good Friend? Guest blog by Darci

Last Summer I was introduced to Darci. I met her through Ronda, who is one of my cycling fan buddies. I added Darci on Twitter thinking she was a cycling fan also. She actually isn't! It is one of those things that a simple "mistake" is really not coincidence at all. I know Darci and I were meant to be friends. I adore her outlook on life and enjoy reading her blog. Be sure to add her blog to your reading list. You can visit her at Busy but Precious Moments. I read this post on her blog and had to post it here, its a subject that has been on my heart all week.


Good Friends....


What is a good friend?  In church yesterday, we heard the 3 traits that are traits of being a good friend.  The 3 traits aren't anything unexpected, or shocking.....but they did make me think.

1. A GOOD friend encourages us. 

Now, let's think about this.  Who do you encourage?  Does that SAME person encourage you?  I have 557 friends on Facebook.  Other than if I have a motivational status that impacts someone, I know I am not encouraging 557 of my friends on a daily basis, or a weekly basis, or monthly basis for that matter.  I do know that I try to encourage my friends, but I don't encourage ALL of them.  However, I started thinking about those that encourage me.  This is an important thing.  It is GREAT that I might encourage some, but who is encouraging me?  I've realized that friends I have gotten upset with or, stopped encouraging is probably a result of the fact I don't feel they encourage me.  Now, please don't think I am asking for encouragement.  I'm not.  I'm just understanding that it is important for it to be a 2 way street.  I also realize that I have probably lost GOOD friends, ones that were encouraging me, when I didn't encourage them.  For that, I am sorry.

2. A GOOD friend keeps us on the right path. 

This one is kind of interesting.  I believe it means to keep us going and doing what is right.  I also think it means helping us to be ourselves.  I have some friends who I can truly be myself around and I LOVE being with those people.  I have other friends, that when I am around them I find myself trying to be who they (as I feel) want me to be, and usually those times aren't as fun.  Now, that is silly.  I am who I am...and that should be enough for a GOOD friend.  I think this one is tough for kids in school.  Here is where we have to learn that it is okay to be ourselves and not act like others. 

3. A GOOD friend complements us.  (Notice, it's not compliments...though that is always nice.)

A good friend helps us see our strengths and weaknesses.  They are there through the good and bad.  They are there when we need them, whether it be to just listen, or to just talk.  They are willing to support us and tell us the truth when it needs to be heard.  They remind us of our priorities and yet remind us of our free-spiritedness.

Friendship is tough.  You have to be there for the GOOD and the BAD days.  It's funny, there are some friends that I would NEVER tell I had a bad day.....why is that?  We all have them....the truth is I don't think they will really care, so, it is easier to just pretend that my life is great. 

I am thankful for all of my friends, but I am especially grateful for my GOOD friends.  My encouragers, my friends who help me to be me and inspire me to have fun and live life to the fullest, my friends who complement me and help to make my life better. 

I hope you are this type of friend to others and that you have friends that are this for you



I loved this scene from Steel Magnolias...."Here, hit this!!!"

Have a WONDERFUL Monday!  :)

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday and that leads to Thankful Thursday. I have so many blessings to count and never quite know where to begin. Maybe one giant Thankful Thursday today. More like a stream of consciousness.

I am thankful for my hard working husband who works long hours and sacrifices for me to stay home and homeschool the kids.

Thankful for my two great kids who have big hearts and are very well behaved.

Thankful for my Dad getting better and on the path to wellness

Thankful my Mom has had good health the past few years.

Thankful for my Aunts and Uncles who are always there for me

Thankful for my cousins who have always been more than just cousins. Thankful we have wonderful memories of growing up together and are still close as adults.

Thankful for my wonderful friends who are always there in my time of need and beyond. People who go above and beyond for me.

Thankful for the family who gave the ultimate gift of love to a stranger. Who in their time of need thought of someone else and gave a gift they may never realize the impact of.

Thankful those who encourage me spiritually and help me grow in my faith.

Thankful to have wants and not needs. ( I borrowed that one from someone on Facebook, thought it was great)

Thankful for my faithful blog readers. Thanks for encouraging me to write and have a hobby, you make writing fun and exciting. It has been a wonderful year for the blog and I am really grateful to those who have been helping me take it to the next level.

Thankful Thursday

I have so much to be thankful for and I think this will be a permanent blog feature after NaBloPoMo goes away.

This week, I am most thankful that I could come care for my Dad. I am thankful that Marty is well enough for me to leave him. This is the first time in five years that I have been away from him. So glad he is doing well and I am so grateful that God healed him.

Also, thankful that he works hard enough for me to stay home and be free to come and go at a moments notice. Homeschooling gives me the freedom to travel and school on the go, so I am thankful that we have stuck with homeschooling through thick and thin.

Really thankful to get good news today about my Dad's health. He is on the road to recovery and the prognosis is good. Glad things are still manageable and not much worse. It's been good to help him get back on track and get some things done with him this week. We have enjoyed our time together.

Most of all, I am thankful for my faith in Jesus Christ which gives me the strength to face tough challenges in life. My faith has kept me afloat and centered during trying times. Truly with Christ all things are possible.