Mourning into Dancing: Life lessons from David

I’ve been studying the life of David by reading the book, “A Heart Like His” by Beth Moore. This morning, I came to the part where Uzzah died because he touched the art of the LORD to steady it. God never wanted the ark to be transferred with a cart pulled by livestock, but carried by priests.

David met God with anger and fear. After he learned that Obed-Edom’s household was being blessed because they were housing the ark of the LORD, he had it transported to Jerusalem the way God had once commanded so many years ago. Every six steps that the priests took, sacrifices were made.

What a change of heart! We must allow God to remove our sackcloth of mourning before we can be clothed with joy. “I’m not sure we will ever be fully released to ‘dance’ before the Lord until we’ve learned to wail,” Moore says in the book. “You’ll never know the experience of being clothed with joy until you’ve allowed Him to remove your sackcloth.”

Here, I look at my own life. When I was diagnosed with MS at 13, I was a little angry. Well, I was in denial ‘cuz I didn’t like it. But I knew God had a purpose for it and I feared Him. When I was in college, God removed my sackcloth of mourning. I got involved with Cru on my campus, and I met and made friends there like I hadn’t had friends of the like before. In Cru, I joyfully fell in love with Christ like I hadn’t up to that point. I may have gone a little overboard, putting a Cru conference before my extended family (and now that I can’t meet with my extended family every year, I question wat I was thinking), but after college, I came to a place where I could celebrate and worship God all the time! I may not experience God like I did in 2011, but I experience Him more all the time! I may not feel God pumping in my veins like I did, because He is always pumping through all of me!

David brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD back to Jerusalem, rejoicing and dancing with all his might before the Lord. I may not be able to dance like David did, but I can praise like Anna does. I have a pen and a paper. I computer to type this up, and a blog to share my praises with you, the reader. David had a name for God in every area he needed Him. I will do likewise.

God, you are my Provider, my Strength, my Savior, and my God. You are my Fortress and Help in every situation. Glory to you, oh Lord my God!

Blessings,

Anna E. Meyer

The First Week of Classes Complete: Update on Life of the Meyers

Books, books, books. I love reading. I love writing. I love having them on my bookshelf, even if I haven’t had TIME to read them yet. I finished writing my query today, and after I finish a synopsis, I shall start sending in my query and proposal (each agent calls for a different type of submission). Everything has been working out (again). I have had trouble with motivation and with writing just the right words in the past, but it has come together. Maybe it is because Dr. Wile E. Coyote has found his own niche for studying and has been at the library most of the weekend. Goodness, if this keeps up, I could have another three novels written before we get to clinicals! I have a list of things that I want to write but I have to take it one at a time. As I am working on the query and synopsis of my completed novel, I feel a push to begin the sequel. I have been learning so much about writing styles and writing in general from resources that I have been diving into! Also, I have found this whole new genre of books out there that fit mine completely: Christian urban-fiction. I’ve been reading reviews on Goodreads and going to websites and I just want to read all these books now, too! But of course, I don’t have time. I’ve discovered that this genre has been growing a lot since the late 80s, but I didn’t even know that until after I finished my book. And I’m just so excited about it, that I want to talk about it with people, but of course, they have not read it yet, because I am not yet published. *sigh* I’ll get there. (smiley face)

And THAT leads me to the totally awesome job I have at Sound House Music: teaching music lessons to students who are paying me for lessons and are excited because they WANT to learn. In public schools, you get those students that are just going through the motions because band is an “easy A” or their parents want them to play in band. I haven’t figured out how the music lessons and writing exactly will work hand-in-hand, but I have such a passion for both of them that is just erupting from my soul right now. I currently have 3 students, but another wants to get started when school starts up for him (public schools have already started here in Kentucky! Is that early or what?). And when word gets out that I can give lessons in more than just drums and piano, I will hopefully have even MORE students! I am so excited. I may have talked about all this here before, but I don’t care, because I’m just excited. Kind of like I’m excited to start sending my query in. I KNOW I’m going to get a lot of rejection before I will get a book published, and I KNOW that I beat myself up about music stuff too often. Which is great that God has been giving me such encouragement lately! – next paragraph –

I have talked about the friends that Doug and I have been making here, even before school started. Well, us and some friends I’ve mentioned here before, who I’ll call the “Bang!ers” because Bang! is the only game that is played when these particular people gather and play a game, met for a prayer night the Friday before classes started for our students. We first went around sharing prayer requests, and I shared how I didn’t feel “good enough” for my job at times. Among so much more prayer, that lie and those self-esteem issues were attacked. And I have been feeling the prayers. Much more, I can feel when those lies creep in and I throw them away, because God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). He has also given us authority over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19), so we can command it away. And this week, the small group I am in began going through Ephesians. We read Ephesians 1 for this weekend, and in our discussion Sunday morning, we talked all about our identity and how Paul tells us over and over of the many spiritual blessings we have received in Christ (it’s every spiritual blessing, actually!). The Lord has been attacking lies before The Student, as well, so we’ve been able to encourage each other. I am continually amazed by God’s incomparable love and blessings, his grace and his peace, and his constancy through EVERYTHING.

How is Dr. Coyote doing after this first week of classes? Well, he was at the library for hours at a time this weekend. It has been a roller coaster. Some days, it’s like, “Uuuuuugh,” and other days , it’s like, “This is the best ever!” Apparently, life of a med student. He has already been changing his study strategies until he found something that helps him study a lot better than his undergrad studying technique. His studying is like a roller coaster, as well. Sometimes, it’s like, “I was just plowin’ through!” and other times, it’s like, “I had to push to get it done.” Doug received his iPad keyboard today in the mail, and is currently geeking out about it. Maybe after supper, he’ll be done geeking out about the iPad, and be ready to geek out about anatomy? 😉

 

Adapting to this Kentucky resident/med schooler/spouse life! 🙂

 

Anna (AKA the native Minnesotan/music teacher/writer and science is like, whaaa?)

God is SO Stinkin’ Faithful

He knows me too well. I mean, I married the man, but I didn’t know how quick he’d notice things. Then again, Dr. Wile E. Coyote (my HUSBAND for almost three weeks now!) is very observant. Only when he wants to be observant, I guess. Considerate. That’s a good word. So, we’re almost done unpacking. He even grouped what’s left to go through: my stuff in a corner, his stuff is pretty much gone through, these over there, those over here, etc. So I knew that he’d be going to a men’s bible study on Thursday night. I came up with all these ideas in my head: D is going to be so happily surprised! ‘Cuz we’re newlyweds, and we like surprising each other. I’ve even been cooking! Before Dr. Coyote walked out the door, however, he told me: “As soon as you’re done hanging this up, I want you to sit down. I cleared a spot for you in the office, with a computer and your chair. I don’t want you unpacking your stuff or doing dishes or anything. Just sit down and rest.” UGH! How did he KNOW that I was going to do that? He continued: “I notice you’re having trouble today, and I think it’s because you’ve been on your feet and doing things for most of the day. So just go in and WRITE.” Okay. So, it took my mother a while to see when things are happening. But that’s because when I was diagnosed, we all were learning about this MS. But seriously. It hasn’t even been three weeks, and my husband notices when I’m having troubles with this symptom or that?

Then it kind of just came to me. I’m ALWAYS on the go. At least until I crash and am way too tired to do anything. I guess when I met this awesome man who wanted to marry me, MS and all, I didn’t know how much of a help he’d be. In the guest blog post he wrote, “Dating Someone with MS,” he mentioned that sometimes God may use him. HE HAS. Goodness. The other day, we were reading some of my old journals where I kind of gushed about The Med Student, and then in the journals, I’d pray for the guy I was crushing on, because I wanted the best for him. And I still do. There actually came a point (this was in the two years of not knowing how he felt), where I prayed that he’d meet someone he needed; someone that would be good for him, who loved him as he deserved. Little did I know at the time that it would be me. Anyway, looking at those prayers I wrote out for D in my journals, I can see now how they have been answered. And I’ve been surrendering the MS to God and asking for help. So what does God do? Decide that I should get married to the man who will notice my left foot slapping or my knee not bending or extra trips to the bathroom because of bladder issues. Dang it, God! You are SO faithful! And sovereign and perfect and the most creative author of life EVER! Seriously.

Today, I read Proverbs 13. Verse 12 reads, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” And then verse 19, “A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but fools detest turning from evil.” A longing fulfilled? I thought of D’s and my story. And God’s just been so FAITHFUL and ENCOURAGING. I see “a longing fulfilled” as “a prayer answered.” It is the presence of God, when prayers are being said from across the nation for a person or throughout the world for an issue. When prayers are being said as I’m writing them in my journal, God is there. Sometimes he tells me “not now,” even though I can’t always hear that very clearly. (It took Dr. Wile E. Coyote to tell me that he was interested in me to realize that God had been saying “not now” to a few of my earlier prayers.) Sometimes he tells me “no,” by circumstances or a changing of my still-stubborn mind. But in the last…year, especially, he has been answering “yes” so much. At last. Things are falling into place. I have a job lined up (and apparently it’s pretty hard to find a job here…unless God orchestrates the perfect job for you and you didn’t realize it until you met with your future boss and he tells you what’s up…), Dr. Coyote and I have a beautiful place to live (with AWESOME landlords), four parents who know that D and I are starting out paying for med school and are so very helpful (I love you, all our parents!), D is connecting with med students the month before school starts, and we found a church home and have been making friends through it since the very first day we were in Pikeville, Kentucky. It makes me sigh in contentment. See? Even though I may have been…irritated when I started writing, it only took seeing God and all he’s been doing to let me relax.

I am kind of scared about when The Student starts med school. I have been told that my support will be huge, but how? I have never been the wife of a med student before. I have a job lined up, but there are so many dang unknowns. There are so many unknowns when it comes to Dr. Coyote, as well. He has never been a med student before. He doesn’t know what it’ll be like! But in the meantime, we are enjoying our time together. We are making this place our home, and getting to know the community. With my name change, I’ll be getting a Kentucky ID, for goodness sake! But I KNOW, that no matter what, God’s presence is with me. He is my longing fulfilled. And I trust him with the unknowns. I trust him to be a good wife, and a favorite music teacher. I trust him to be a published author. I TRUST.

How are we doing, you ask? Well. What is the best part about being married? Not being nine hours away and seeing my honey every day. How are our thank yous coming? ….you’ll get them. Don’t worry! 😉

 

Keepin’ it real,

Anna E. Meyer

Grace, Getting Married, and Gearing Up :)

Two weeks. HEY EVERYONE, I’M GETTING MARRIED IN TWO WEEKS! Less than that now. 🙂 I am doing physical therapy (last one will be the Wednesday before), I will get my new AFO brace the Tuesday before, and I just have a lot of feels right now. I went to my cousin Trish’s wedding on Saturday, and I started losing it at her reception. Totally not the place to start crying. I don’t even notice stress anymore, and I push it to the side. But it’s messing with me, and I don’t like it. Oh, no. I’m not stressed about the wedding or anything. I’m actually quite excited for that. Everything is falling into place, and it will be the best day I can’t even imagine. It’s other things. You know, leaving everyone and everything here. Saying good-bye to my roommates last week, when I have no idea when I’ll see them again. Packing when I don’t really have any idea what I’ll be needing for work. Starting a new adventure of many unknowns. Being able to see Dr. Wile E. Coyote more than once a month because of a nine-hour difference, but every DAY because we’ll be married! The inevitable culture shock that moving to Kentucky from the northern Midwest of the South Dakota-Minnesota-Wisconsin region.

I’m also kind of worried that at first, the pre-doc and I will drive each other nuts. In our premarital counseling, we spoke of examples of this: Say I put the spatulas in one drawer, but Doug thinks they should go in a different drawer and we fight about it. We’re not really fighting about where the spatulas go, but grieving the loss of our childhoods. Now, this is only a hypothetical example. This has been bothering me quite a bit lately, as I see some of Dr. WEC’s quirks and view them in a negative light. I even see some of my quirks and worry about how D will perceive them. But there is this ridiculous word that God has been leading me to, and I can’t really give Dr. Wile E. Coyote any grief. This word is GRACE.

This morning at church, we talked about the parable where the landowner goes into the village to get workers for his vineyard more than once in a day. Some workers were hired at noon, 3pm, and 5pm, even, when the rest of the workday started at 6am and finished at 6pm. The end of the day comes, and the landowner pays those who came last to work first, and those who got there in the morning last. And he gave them the exact same pay. There are other parables in the Bible that make us feel good and rejoice. Like the prodigal son, who returns home after some bad choices but is welcomed home and his return celebrated. Woo! The Good Samaritan who helps the injured man on the side of the road. Woo! But the employer who pays all of his workers the exact same thing, whether they worked 12 hours or 1? That goes against a lot of things. But that is the crazy, ridiculous grace that we so often hear about. It doesn’t matter how long we’ve been running the race—someone could have found the race path yesterday and reach the finish line tomorrow. God wants to welcome us all into his kingdom. In the parable, the owner speaks to the grumbling 12 hour workers: “I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?” (Matthew 20:14b-15a).  Yep, God wants to give us all the same gift of eternal life.  Are you okay with that?

Talking with Dig-Doug this afternoon, he spoke about how on top of things we are. We totally have a plan, and God has been helping us throughout. He added, “We have each other through it all. And even bigger than that, we have the Lord.”

So, in answer to questions I have been hearing: Yes, I am excited to get married. Even though we have a few little things left to do, I am totally ready. Dr. Wile E. Coyote and I will be starting the adventure that will start in this chapter of our lives. The words “I do” will mark a beginning, and I am so excited.

Love to you all!

Anna

HOPE

Hope: noun (first definition) the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best

I took a quiz on Facebook today that told me in five simple questions what my happy word is, and it gave me HOPE. Normally, I take those Facebook quizzes for funsies and just laugh at the result. But I liked the description on this one: “You refuse to give up on anyone, including yourself. You see the best in others. You think happiness should be shared. You spread your message of optimism as much as possible. You will keep believing when everyone else has stopped. You think good will always prevail in the end. You believe if we trusted each other more, the world would be a better place. All we need is a little hope.”

I downloaded “e-sword” (basically, a really neat tool for studying the Bible in-depth, even though at first it looks like an old, ’90s computer program or something), and in the KJV, I looked up “hope” and got 130 matches. It’s interesting that modern translations substitute other words like “wait” or something. But the Hebrew dictionary entry for “hope” is this: “tiqvâh tik-vaw’ From qâvâh; literally a cord (as an attachment ); figuratively expectancy: – expectation ([-ted]), hope, live, thing that I long for.”

The word hope gives joy and expectancy. In the trinity, who is continually at work here in ways we can’t see; in the physical return of Christ. In each other. I do believe in sharing happiness with others. Smiles are contagious, you know. I can’t be in the doldrums longer than I want to because of my optimism (even before I was on anti-depressants and cried a lot and freaked….I still smiled, which is kind of weird when I think about it now). Hope is the word that was on those red rubber bracelets before the National MS Society decided that orange was a better color for their logo. Hope for a cure of MS and a better tomorrow. I have dreams and hopes for myself and for the way things will be. I hope to become an author (now with the name “Anna E. Meyer” instead of Olson, as I formerly wrote of often…smiley face). I hope to teach others of the subjects that I love—of music and playing it; of Christ and the many things I’ve learned and want to pass on; of simply living a hope-filled and a Christ-filled life. Because Christ is hope. He is my hope and the reason for my continued smile. It is he whom I trust, and my Minnesota-roots that have taught me to trust others, as well.

There is always a reason for hope. Even when life feels down or bad things happen, God is there. There is a silver lining. Hopes of mine have already become realities: my hope of a husband who loves me for me (well, that’s a month away still, but he loves me for me even now); my hope of writing for an audience (thanks to this blog and readers like you for my start), and my hope of a future, even with this blasted MS. I graduated college in 4 ½ years. I’m currently living in an apartment with three other roommates whom I love like sisters. And I’m getting married in a month! God is good.

Smiling,

Anna

What are your hopes? Have you seen hopes become realities?

I’M GETTING MARRIED! *SQUEAAAAAAAL*

Hello everyone!  I haven’t blogged in a very long time and I apologize.  I seriously was going to do one about Christmas cards closer to Christmas, but I hit “save draft” and was having technical difficulties uploading pics.  Excuses, excuses.  In the news: I’M ENGAGED!  If you want to know the story, it’s really long and I’m sorry, but I’m not telling it today.  Dr. Wile E. Coyote planned out this whole big long day, and it was wonderful.  That was New Year’s Eve (at like, 2pm, because that’s when he could get into the building where we had summer project, aka, where we met).  Since then, I’ve been a “giggly mess” according to Doc WEC, and I’ve begun wedding planning and talking to friends, telling them the story, etc, etc.  I was on Skype for 5 hours today!  (One of those calls being to the pre-doc.  I pretty much love talking with him all the time.  And that was only for like, two hours.)

I said yes before he was even done talking. Not that I have a patience problem or anything. 🙂

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about my relationship with D and how fast and how far we’ve come in the last, eh, five months.  I now zoom in on Genesis 24 and talk about D and my relationship at the same time:

Back in July, D told me that he was interested in pursuing me.  In Genesis 24, we see a servant who is sent by Abraham to find a wife for Isaac, and this was quite the task.  The woman was to say something specific, and then the servant was to bring the woman back to the foreign land where Abraham lived with his wife and son.  So the servant goes.  He finds her, this woman for Isaac.  And then he tells her to come with him.  Her family is all like “Ehhh….” but she’s like, “I will go” (v58b).  So she goes with Abraham’s servant and BOOM!  Wife for Isaac.  Backing up to the first sentence of this paragraph: Dr. Wile E. Coyote tells me he’s interested in pursuing me.  There’s a condition, that he’s going to go to a med school that’s way out of state.  First thing I told him?  “I’ll go anywhere.”  In a sum up (because I don’t remember exactly what I said), I told him what Ruth told Naomi in Ruth 1:16: “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.”  I told him that I can teach anywhere, and if God has another job for me, I’ll do that wherever God brings me.  And God was working in our relationship like crazy.  My friend Marissa calls us “like, 1200 kinds of adorable.”

Now, we’re planning a wedding for the month before he starts med school.  And it will be hard.  A new place, and the only person I’ll know is Dr. Coyote.  It’ll be a different culture, too, and I’ll be totally starting over.  I mean, now is def the time to make such a drastic move.  A couple months back, I was reading Deuteronomy and God told me to go ahead and go to Kentucky (this was before D had officially accepted the offer).  Deuteronomy 31:6: “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified because of (x), for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.”  (X could equal anything you want.  For me, this was a lot of fear of the unknown.)  Isn’t God great?  D and I talk about scripture and pray together, and it is great.  That’s what first made us notice each other.  [Insert silly lovesick puppy smiley face here.]

I sent this picture to my family/friends to tell them this happened (not that they weren’t expecting to hear something sometime soon, I guess)

Anyhoo, the next few months seem to be busy ones, but I’m excited.  They’ll be good.  And I’m getting MARRIED to my best friend!  That’s the most exciting part.  Is there a most exciting part?  Well, that’s probably it.  There’ll be lotsa other good stuff, too.  I have no idea what job I’ll have in KY or where exactly we’ll be living.  But as Abraham tells his worried servant in Genesis 24:7, God is totally at work here.  Wanna bet?  Everything will be fine, because “God will send his angel before you.”  His way will come to pass.  And so far, I like his way much better than mine.

In his grace,

the soon-to-be Mrs. Wile E. Coyote *squeal*

Did I just have mud rubbed in my eyes?

It’s crazy how you don’t notice things God is doing sometimes, and then suddenly, it’s like your eyes have been opened and you see him everywhere.  Like how I had a pretty great last week at the elementary school, and I received hugs from students as they were leaving the room as I stood there for the last time with their class.  Today, I drove around a lot, and it rained tons.  But on my last drive home, I saw two different rainbows.  Beautiful.  And those cloud formations were just lovely.  There’s also something about a combine in a field that makes me smile.  And last weekend, I got to go and see Dr. Wile E. Coyote in person (we met halfway in the middle, which happens to be the town he went to college in, so he knows it well), and we went on dates and spent time together and read the word together.  It was great.  Or noticing that South Dakota, where I live, doesn’t have the gas tax that Minnesota has?  (It’s ridiculous.)  Getting to spend time with Youngest Sister and hang out with Sarah and have discipleship with my girls and find such enjoyment playing music!  Music is a whole ‘nother beauty in itself that I could go on and on about.  But I have in the past.  I went out for lunch with the ‘rents, and my mom was joking that she would call Doc WEC’s workplace and ensure that he had November 29^th off so he could come for thanksgiving.  Seriously, if anyone knows how to get one off work, let me know.  Thanksgiving is also my birthday.  Just sayin.

Looking around, I see the many blessings that have been in my life.  My family, the opportunity I’ve had to go to school and become a teacher, my friends.  Dr. Wile E. Coyote is a blessing, and we point each other to Jesus so much.  The fact that my family lives so close to me for a time?  The fact that the pre-doc was accepted to med school already?  So many things.  And while I ask for more and expect the LORD to continue to do wondrous things, I can only say thank you and praise him for what he has done so far.  I look back on my life in its entirety and see how far he’s brought me.  I submitted my book proposal last week.  I ask for prayers for that.  And for the future and all that encompasses it.  I trust God with it, and I am super happy that someone is standing next to me, holding my hand and walking and trusting with me the One who holds all things together.

Smiling especially thankfully,

Anna

A little psalm with hymn lines of truth and praises

Written last Monday.  My head and my soul were singing praises to God all weekend long!  I finished it today. 🙂

 

Then sings my soul, my savior, God, to thee: How great thou art!  How great thou art!

It is well with my soul, for your grace is so amazing.

And so comes the praise from the depths of me: How great thou art!

Oh, how sweet is the sound of your wonders and ways!

Your love is awesome—I will sing of it forever!

How great you are, oh Lord my God.

Your very person is worthy of praise.

Therefore, my soul sings, “Holy! Holy! Holy is the Lord God Almighty!”

Your praises sing my soul always.

 

In the mountains or the valleys, I look to you and call your name.

You hear me.  You answer me.

Sometimes I can’t go through things in this life myself,

And so I ask.  And you help me.

Far too little I turn to seek you, but your hand moves even when I’m not looking for it.

You, oh God, are worthy.

Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord, to thee.

Then sings my soul, my Savior, God, to the: How great thou art!  How GREAT thou art!

 

What happens when you write on a “Jesus High.”

I wrote this “poem” of sorts on Monday, when I was waiting for a friend to have a fabulous after-summer-catch-up.  Lifelight was this weekend, and it was so great!  I saw God moving, and church was awesome, too.  Goodness.  Yay God!

 

So much going on in my head.

So much to process, so much said.

I am amazed at the answers received of prayer.

So many issues God takes out of my hair.

I’ve been realizing the extent of why I’m me—

Why I write, and why I’m encouraging.

It all comes from God – these things I love.

They are used for him—he from above.

Before it happened, Jesus thanked God for the miracle.

Thanking God after is easy – it’s lyrical.

But what if we had faith to expect?

What if pre-praise became a prayer subject?

Isn’t praising God something we do, anyway?

Why the heck do we reserve it for occasions, not every day?

I thank God for things he’ll do that are of him,

Wanting and expecting his will isn’t a sin.

That I’ll have a job?  That friends and family will be saved?

He wants that, too – salvation is his fave.

What about the people I interacted with at Lifelight?

Some of them aren’t sure about God, but lots of ‘em with him are tight.

Nothing happens without reason, this I know.

Everything in life somehow helps us grow.

I’ve been learning a lot about praise.

I’ve also been seeing God continually amaze.

I want to see a dramatic miracle first-hand.

But everything’s a miracle so grand.

The fact that God works things for good when only bad they seem?

The fact that we’ll receive salvation because he redeemed?

We are so not deserving of anything but to die.

I must confess that these last few days, I’ve been on a “Jesus high.”

 

Anna

 

Wee! God is Great!

I feel like I should write a post today.  I dunno, I’m just giddy, I guess.  Does anyone else say “Wee!” when they’re super excited, or is that just me?  So many things have been pretty awesome lately.  Codename “Dr. Wile E. Coyote” and I became Facebook official yesterday.  We met on Summer Project in Milwaukee, like, two years ago.  Not that we’ve spent much time in the same place since then.  Unless you count Skype?  No, I didn’t think so.  But, some of our friends from Project those few years ago weren’t at all surprised.  Is it weird when everyone else catches something, but it takes the actual people a while to figure it out?  Anyway, moving on.  This post is not just about Dr. Wile E.  J  At the beginning of the summer, I prayed for a friend.  Well, it’s the end of the summer, but I totally found one.  She’s going to PT school, and this morning over breakfast told me all about what part of the brain affected what, and she tried things and watched me walk and stuff like a physical therapist does.  She asked me if she could do tests on me, because studying on a live person is way better than flashcards.  So, she’s gonna work on rehab stuff with me, strengthening and walking right again.  I’m pretty excited.  I like hearing about what other people know a lot about and are interested in.  I asked my friend Marissa last year about WWI, and her being a history nerd completely, was super excited that I was actually interested and genuinely wanted to know.  Kind of like Sarah this morning.  She told me to stop her if I didn’t want to hear that stuff, but I was really excited.  She told me where she thought some of my lesions might be and why.  When I was first diagnosed, I didn’t care about these things whatsoever.  A teenager who didn’t care where the heck the lesions were, just that they were there?  I find talk about the complexity of the human body very interesting.  And bam, Dr. Wile E. isn’t a doctor, yet, but he’s applying to med schools, and warned me that I’d hear a lot about what he’s learning when he does start school.  I’m not a science person, but I do find it interesting.  I’m a music and writing-type person.  The fine arts are my specialty.  Everything else?  Well, that’s why we’re all so different.

I’m also super excited, because on Monday, I’m going to be going over my story with Jody, and she’ll be done copy-editing.  Dr. Wile E. says he wants to be done going through it around then, too.  Wee!  My cousins are back from being camp counselors at Christikan (I may have spelled that wrong), and I got to help my aunt Sally set up her first-grade classroom yesterday.  Reading through some psalms just makes me excited about Jesus, too.  He has done so many great things, from Abraham to Moses, and now for us, it’s so amazing.  He is perfect and just and righteous.  David’s psalms of praise reflect the praises of my heart.  I write psalms, too, but not very many are so wonderfully worded.  Just READING the Word instead of writing is like a hug from God, and it’s all I need.  I write as a form of praise to him, also, but no words nor songs nor works can ever thank him enough for all he is and does.  He’s just great.  Wee!

Anna