Give Thanks To A Happy November

Hello and Happy November!!

I totally forgot to post in October, so let me give a recap of the month. 

Ro had her first HS band concert, and wow it was awesome! It really is amazing what those kids learned and accomplished in the 6 to 7 weeks of school. I am really looking forward to the next concert, these kids can play!

I finally heard back about my housing voucher, so I had my intake appointment then I had another appointment that was a brief class on how the vouchers work. Sooo exciting, thank you Jesus!! We have wanted to move out of our small apartment since we moved in. Originally it was just supposed to be temporary until we got settled into the town and established. Well that never really happened, one thing after another happened, and we essential became stuck. 

Not that we weren’t thankful for a roof over our heads and truly it could have been worse, but ultimately this 4plex we call home is not ideal by any means. It is barely affordable, has 2 bedrooms, allows pets, there is a yard, a small deck, a backdoor, and is centrally located, that’s about where the benefits end.  I will not rant at this time about what is wrong with our apartment and the old 4plex building. Let’s just say our apartment would not meet the basic safety and health standards that the housing inspectors look for, so it does not qualify for the housing voucher program, even if the owner would be willing to participate. The whole building would need some mass renovations first! 

Keep us in y0ur prayers and your fingers crossed because we are officially looking for a new home!

My van has officially died, so we are yet again without wheels. This means we are looking for a home that is centrally located, right in town. I won’t go into all the details of what we are looking for. The basics are a 2 bedroom home with a washer and dryer or hook-ups that are open to allow our cat. He is officially my emotional support animal and really he does help me through some of my worse days, so I really can’t bear to part with him.

Let’s see what else happened in October, oh yes Halloween! 

This year it was very low key and mellow. The weather turned out to be very nice for this time of year, so Ro dressed up and went with her friends to do some trick-or-treating around town. I dressed up a little just for fun and went over to a friend’s house to have a nice dinner and watch scary movies. We only got 1 movie in because it took us so long to decide what to watch but we had fun visiting. Since it was a school night Ro got back home by 8:30ish and I got home by 10pm. She was invited to come watch scary movies with us but opted to go home and “chill” instead, teens lol.

That sums up the busy month of October which turned out to be pretty busy and exciting!

So far November looks to be just as busy and exciting. We can’t wait for Thanksgiving, and of course the home hunting continues. As the holiday season gets closer there is much to do at church and of course getting ourselves ready to move. There is just so much to be thankful for this year! 

God is really amazing in how He can work things out especially when you go to Him with all of your cares. He really does help lift that weight off your shoulders. It does not mean things are easy or that you don’t have your own cross to bear; but you no longer have to bear it alone, and the feeling of peace, hope, and love that only God can give through adverse situations or moments is all we really need. He has given me joy unspeakable thru both the bad and good times and truly there are no words to describe what it is like to be that close to God. I am only human and have my moments that I fall and begin to wander off the path, but He is always right there waiting for me to turn my eyes back to Him. Thank you Jesus for everything you have and continue to do in my life, I need you so much and I am just so grateful for your love, peace, hope, mercy, and forgiveness. In Jesus name Amen!   

And thank you Reader for taking the time to read my post, until next time...

Keeping all of you in my prayers & God Bless!
~Ryan (RMM)

September Ends

Hello Again!

As September draws to a close the days are definitely getting colder. Frost welcomes us in the morning and last Friday we had a very crazy hail storm, not to mention I can’t seem to get warm throughout the day. Time to pull out the warm leggings to wear under everything before I freeze! In all, it really has been a long month.

The highlight of the month had to be my daughter having her first Homecoming. It was so much fun helping her pick out a dress and get ready for the dance. She looked absolutely amazing! One of her friends hosted a dinner for a group of us, the moms and daughters, so we could all help the girls before they left for the dance. Of course we had a photo shoot once they were all ready. I heard one of her friends whisper, “she looks like a goddess,” when we were taking photos; her dress was white and with her dark complexion it really stood out. Such a beautiful young lady, I was the proud mama that day!

The toughest part of the month was when public assistance was way behind on their renewal process which left us without medical or food benefits for the first half of the month, (talk about anxiety). As a result I ended up close to a month of being without my thyroid medicine, I felt like a sloth! The whole thing was a real headache, after calling and leaving messages I finally had to go down to see them which took two days. The first day was so packed that they were turning people away and this was before noon! So I went back the next day early in the morning and was able to get an appointment the same day and three hours later I found out the reason why there was no renewal was that they were still processing papers from July!  

The whole thing reminded me of the scene from Zootopia, the sloths working at the DMV, the irony; I can laugh about it now, but I was getting really stressed out for a while, lol. Another big thing happened is that I finally received my disability packet forms to fill out which had a two week time frame, I was able to get an extra two week extension and got them finished with a week to spare, (woohoo!). If you know me, you would know certain paperwork causes me a lot of anxiety, and yup this packet was one of those kinds, so I feel pretty accomplished that I finished it up before the deadline. Though I will admit I could not even start on the packet until I got the whole public assistances worked out, basic needs always come first. Though my anxiety and mood was touch and go at points, God is right there. I am so grateful and thankful to my Lord Jesus, I know He is always ready to help hold me up when I need it. In Jesus name Amen! 

Phew! I am glad this month is almost at a close. My next hurdles are housing and getting back into physical therapy. Oh and I am looking forward to Halloween! Really I think I am just a big kid at heart, who doesn’t like dressing up and getting free candy? I also enjoy a good scary movie, not the gross gory kind or the ones that leave you with a bad feeling in the spirit, but the kind that can give you a good jump scare  and maybe a small case of heebie jeebies that you can laugh about later. Does anyone have any good scary or suspenseful movie recommendations or even any good books?

Okay so on that note I will say goodbye, 

Take care & God Bless!

~Ryan (RMM)

***Here is a nice clip for you to enjoy and if you have not watch the full movie I highly recomend it!

Books On The Brain

Hello Everyone!

Wow it has been a couple of months since my last blog entry. July and August just zoomed on by along with the last remnants’ of summer. I hope everyone has enjoyed their summer! 

As the leaves and weather change I always get a nostalgic feeling. Normally autumn is my favorite season. I don’t mind the slightly cooler weather or a little bit of extra rain, I just love the colors and smells of autumn. Plus the seasonal holidays of autumn are just so much fun, Halloween has always been a favorite of mine, usually ending the season off with Thanksgiving. 

Well for the last five years I have learned that autumn is much shorter and colder in Alaska. Still is beautiful, just by the end of October and the very beginning of November is when we get our first snow, to me that is the start of the 6 months of winter. Which though winter has its own beauty, I am not looking forward to the long dark, cold days that it brings.

So far this autumn has been crazy wet; we have had a few days of torrential down pours that they had to issue a flood warning.  I hope that this is not an indication of what is to come. Though despite the unusual heavy rain, we still have some nice days. Yesterday for example, was just a perfect autumn day, it was sunny, crisp, and brilliant with colors; the trees are turning those vibrant colors of red, orange, and yellow, you can just smell autumn in the air.  It almost makes me want to run to the nearest pumpkin patch to grab that perfect pumpkin and carve up a jack-o-lantern for the front step, but that would just be inviting the moose to dinner. I will restrain myself and wait till it is much closer to Halloween, like a day or two before hand.  In the meantime I think I will just enjoy a nice hot cup of cider and snuggle into a chair with a blanket and a good book, along with a view out the window so I can still enjoy the wonderful colors, yet stay nice and warm. 

Speaking of books, I have been doing a lot of reading over the last few months. I finally broke down and added the overdrive app to my new phone. I will say, I’m lovin’ it! There are plenty of free books to find and I can get books from the library from the comfort of my home. It just is really convenient and I can now see why so many have moved to this format of reading. Though nothing can beat having an actual book in hand, there is just something comforting about holding a solid book, paper back or hard cover, in your hands to feel and smell the pages as you get lost in whatever world awaits you just below the cover. E-books just don’t do that, though you can still get lost in a good book, it just loses something in transition, don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for the convenience of the e-book, I just miss the traditional book when I can’t make it to the library in person. So if someone were to ask me, e-book or book, I would always have to answer book. Which one are you?

Maybe next time I will get into which e-books I have been reading. I do have some new authors to add to my list, as well as, some new book series I would like to finish. Perhaps I will get around to writing a review on the ones I really liked. In the meantime have you read anything good recently? If so, please feel free and leave a comment and let me know and I would also love to hear your opinions on e-books vs books, or which is your favorite season of the year? I think it would be fun to get some kind of discussion going on! 

Okay thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings and so until next time…

Happy Readings & God Bless!
~Ryan (RMM)