In the meantime, let me catch you up on my life to date.
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Talk about a wake up call. I have never experienced any problems relating to my gall bladder in the past - and while this scenario is most unusual (so claims the surgeon), it does happen. I am SO grateful that we have health insurance!! If this had happened this time last year, when we were not covered, the $16,800 hospital bill would have totally devastated us. There is definitely a need for a revamped health care system!
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And so I find myself half way through the first semester of this year wondering what my next step should be? Should I cut back my schedule? Should I retire all together? Should I (fill in the blank)? No definitive answers have surfaced, but I am determined to make the most of each passing day.
To that end I have decided to invest more time and passion in my photography. I participated in Scott Kelby's International Photo Walk last weekend - and while the weather did not cooperate and I did not meet too many local photography enthusiasts, I did have fun being a part of a large-scale event. I even posted a few shots on a Flickr website, something that I would have never been brave enough to do prior to October 1st (pictures on this blog post are from that photo shoot).
I have also decided to participate in NaNoWriMo again this year. I will finally try to write the novel that has been rolling around in my brain for the past three years. I still do not have a major conflict, but I do have a protagonist, antagonist, love interest, and setting. I still have ten days to work on the conflict.
I have also taken my "greeting card" ministry more seriously. I am finally starting to feel the cobwebs dissipate from the right side of my brain and the creative ideas seem to come a bit more easily now. I am thrilled to finally use some of the craft supplies I have stored for years and to add names to my ever growing list of card recipients. It is a wonderful outlet for me, and I am grateful that the Lord showed me how to use a hobby as a ministry.
And finally....I am starting to read again. It has been nearly two years since I have had an interest in fiction. I have read numerous books on photography and several self-help books over the past year and a half, but fiction has not appealed to me at all. Over the weekend, however, I have decided that I want to write a cozy mystery for NaNoWriMo 2013 and I am SO excited! I have gathered all the cozies that have been sitting on my shelf and have put them in a research basket. I plan to start reading them soon - and hope to read several more over the course of the next twelve months. I may even write a book review .....
So the wake up call has been heard --- and my desire to live a full and productive life has been taken to a new level. I am not sure what the next few months will hold, but I do promise that I will remain true to myself - to follow the Lord's leading in my life - and to continue to have fun. For life is to short not to do so.