Queenies Little Kingdom

Bad weather couldn’t squelch our fun. Rain blanketed us the whole time we were there. No biggie’

We started with lunch at Ed Debevics. The home of insulting servers and awesome diner food.

The Aragon was the venue for Ellie Goulding. Gates & Ally loved her show and managed to stay relatively dry thanks to dad’s limo drop-off service.

The view from our hotel room. The Hotel Felix was trendy yet tiny. Our corner room was awesome for ogling down two city streets.

Car ride to concert.

Good thing I had these along. Walking in the rain was much more bearable.

Dinner for hubby and me at Jordanos. Delicious calamari & deep dish pizza. Oh Chicago….you feed me!! So well!

Lunch at Tavern on Rush. Sitting in the window turned icy cold….fast.

By the time we were on our way out of the city…..the rain turned to snow and the temps fell to freezing cold!

So long Chicago!! What a great city!

I'm blogging from the road.  My hubby & I are on an adventure with our girls.  We're heading to Chicago for a few days.  The girls have tickets to see Ellie Goulding.  She's a famous British female performer and this is her closest concert in America.  It's part of their Christmas.  According to them (back before Santa came), this concert/trip….was/is ALL THEY WANTED!!

Who can say no?  They know every song the girl sings and love her classy British style.

I think it's safe to say that I've traveled through the world's thickest fog.  On our way north, tonight….the fog was solid in front of our car.  It's a good thing we had a stopping point.  We're staying the night in Remington at the Hageman's.  We made it here just in time.  My eyes were bugging out of my head trying to see what I couldn't see through the dense fog.

Thank you, Hageman's!  We love your apartment/barn!  Not only is it beautiful…..it's also a fun place to park it for the night with some fun kids along!

Did I mention Brandon?  He lives in Chicago and snagged a ride back with us.  Poor guy.  He's been sneezing his head off and feeling miserable all day AND still managed to put up with all the Galloway girl bossing around.  Trust me….they're bossy!  (like their dad!)

It's time to put on pj's and relax.  Once we get up tomorrow and hit the road it will be non-stop go and after the Monday that I've had, I need some recup time.  I think the Florida jet-lag has finally hit me.  I couldn't get the lead out all day.  I even sat in chewing gum and had a kid argue with me in the lunch line after he cut in line.

Good times.

Or maybe I should say…..goodbye troubles, hello fun road trip!  Look out Chicago, here we come!

I feel like my journey has been a long one.  Before I even left the airport in Indy…..I had to plug in and charge up.

Once I arrived in Ft. Myers, my favorite cousin picked me up and took me to her house.  This is Delilah, she became my new best friend.

I've always been around guns.  Growing up my family hunted just about everything we ate and then I married a policeman who had guns.

I wasn't expecting to walk into a construction site at my mother's house.  But….I did.  A toilet replacement turned into a bathroom floor and more.  It's almost complete…

After the massive heart attack….I tried to sleep here in the ICU waiting room.  Worst night ever.  Don't do it.

But the morning came and God blessed me with this view.  It was surreal after all I had experienced.

I have no makeup on and I don't even mind you knowing it.  I felt joy.  Real joy that only comes from Christ.  And….a nice lady at the Estee Lauder counter had moisturized my skin and filled my heart.  Remember?

My constant view in ICU.

A better position to see my patient in….once she was released from ICU and put in a regular room.

Walking in the cool sand on my trip to see the sunset.  I was trying to refuel my heart tank and it worked.  I just wished my hubby was with me.

Dinner.  Alone.  At least it was good, right?

No joke, this gal was at least 93.  I stopped to eat a salad at Sweet Tomatoes and this is what I had to look at while slurping down my clam chowder.  Geez, mamaw!  Skippy the short shorts.

My morning trips consist of a long prairie to cross.  I often follow something with a trailer behind it.  Oranges are being picked here and today….this is who I followed for 50 miles.  Awesome!  They even passed a pickup truck pulling a trailer.  BOTH SEMIS!

My hubby sent me a message that it is 8 degrees at our house in Indiana.  I had to tease my family and send them this—>

Beautiful and 70 degrees here.

And last….my patient who wants to bust out of here.  She told the nurse if something didn't happen soon, she was walking out.

See….what I see.

It's amazing to me how the word I've chosen for myself this year is popping up at every opportunity in my life.

I'm going to just fall face down and admit……it's all God doing it!  I am so good at running.  I bob & weave whatever gets in my path that I wish to avoid.  I recognize my need for constant reminders and obviously, so does the Lord.

G R A C E

I need it and I certainly need to give it away!  This week has been the grace test of all grace tests.  Every little inconvenience pushed me to the edge and trust me, there have been many.  Repeatedly, I caught myself grumbling and feeling anything but  G R A C E .   Darn it flesh!

On my way to the hospital (it's over an hour drive each way) I caught a sermon on the radio.  The topic?  Grace!  Oh the irony, right?  Instead of clicking the station away, I stuck with it and listened as the Lord gently reminded me just how important it is to live with grace.  

The challenges of caring for someone teetering back & forth with multiple health issues can be daunting.  Mix that with an abusive past and a cantankerous personality and it's even worse than daunting!  Again, I cling to my own undeserved blanket of grace and beg God to wipe my complaining heart clean so I can get back to giving what is needed most.

None of us our worthy.

"I have decided to stick with love.  Hate is too great a burden to bear."  Martin Luther King Jr.

Gracious God

Your love for me is a constant reminder that BECAUSE OF YOU I am saved by grace.  You offer it freely and give me the same opportunity everyday.  Thank you.  Help me live a life of grace & love and show me (no matter how painful) when I fall short.

Amen

I've been missing for good reason.  My mother had lung surgery one week ago today.  The plan was for me to wait to fly down south until she was released from the hospital.   When I arrived on Wednesday, she was still in the hospital and experiencing horrible pain.  On my way back into see her on Thursday morning, the doctor called to say she had a heart attack and was in surgery.

I was just down the street from the hospital at that point.  Which is a good thing when you get news like that.  I was able to be there in the cardiac emergency waiting room while she was undergoing lifesaving surgery.  The doctor took her time explaining to me just how dire the situation was and I felt relieved when she told me the part about her coding twice and how they brought her back to life both times.

Hello, reality!  I'm right here….listening!

The rest of the day was a total blur.  I was sent to this waiting room and then to that waiting room.  Then I was allowed to go into ICU with her and help her until she reached a point of medicated delerium.  I didn't feel comfortable driving all the way back to her house while she was teetering on the edge in every way….so I parked my homeless self in the ICU waiting room for the night.

I'll now be referring to that night as the night I almost checked myself into the hospital thanks to a deadly hormone headache that wouldn't let up.  I tried everything to find relief and at 2:15am I was still awake begging for some sort of mercy.  Finally, the Lord must have taken pity upon me and just zipped my eyeballs closed because the next thing I remember is waking up around 7:00am to slamming doors.  Ahh, home sweet waiting room!

And to the call of mother nature….whom has no mercy!  Even if you're living in a waiting room with your suitcase and almost dead cellphone battery.  But, my headache was gone.  Silver linings, y'all!  I consider it all joy…

I found a bathroom that I could take a sink bath in and brushed my teeth and hair.  I even changed clothes (the weather took a major change here — 40 degrees and windy).  So, I drove down to the beach, found a towel to sit on and GOT MY PRAISE ON!!  Because let me tell you…..if anyone had reason to praise God this morning, it was me!  Here's just a few reasons why I felt thankful->

1- He saved my mother from death.  Not once, but twice!

2- I was able to be there WHEN SHE NEEDED ME MOST!

3- My brother was able to be there, soon after.

4- Friends & family were TOTALLY LIFTING me up to God and His grace throughout the entire awful day.

5- I met a lady who ministered to me in the Estee Lauder dept. at Dillards.  She was sent directly by God.  She stopped me, sat me down, cleaned off my makeup and covered my face with love & moisturizer then she filled my soul with love and encouragement when I felt like a lost soul wandering around a strange town.  She hugged me when I left.

6- My kids kept sending me love & encouragement all day.

7- I was safe.

8- I was able to feel genuine peace.

God is working in so many ways….