A typical day in the life of Kim Reitz goes something like this.  I wake up from a good nights sleep ready to start the day. I wake up to the sound of my alarm clock that is powered by eletricity.  Then I take a breath of cool air in my air conditioned home.  I walk to the front door, unlock it and unset the alarm to let my dogs out.  I read my daily devotion.  Then I usually walk to the kitchen and open my cooled fridge and fix my lunch for the day. Then I walk to the bathroom and turn on the hot water to take my daily shower.   I dry my hair and finish getting ready for my job as a nurse.  I get in my car to drive  for 20 minutes  When I usually get to work I grab a cup of hot coffee.  Then I began to work.  I work my  twelve hours, maybe 13 if you count lunch.  I get back in my nice air conditioned car and drive home.  If Tim is off dinner is fixed because we have a fridge to keep our food in.  Last to settle down I take another bath and put my pjs on before I crawl in my nice comfy bed.

I am sharing this to make a point.  Today when I came home from the grocery store in this 102 degree weater and the electricity was off.  I just expected it to be on.  One of the many things that I take for granted on a daily basis.  As my daughter is in South Africa on a mission trip I think of all the things I am blessed with.  First I take for granted the air I breath.  As I attended a friends husbands funeral the other day I am reminded that we are not promised tommorrow.  So we should treat every day like it is our last.   I also take for granted that I have a home in a free country where I can worship my God.  I also take for granted  that I can turn on the hot water in my bathroom and take a shower every day.  As this moment  my daughter is in a country where a clean bath is rare.  It is usually taken in a place where they wash their clothes and get their drinking water.  The women of the house walk for hours to get some water to do their household chores.  When the women of the United States can walk a few feet away and  turn on the faucet and get fresh water.  Like I said these women walk for miles.  I can get in my car and drive to where I need to go.   Last as I settle down tonight  I will go to bed in the safety of my home under the security of an alarm in my comfy bed after I have eaten a nice dinner. Again there are many people in this world who will go to bed hungry and  sleep  on nothing but the floor of wherever they live. 

So tommorrow as you start your day. Think of those who are less fortunate than youselves and thank God for all that he provides.  WE  ARE SO BLESSED

When sheets talk

Spring cleaning has not been a priority to me this year.  I have been so busy putting out little fires with money or time.  This entire school year has been centered around two beautiful girl who are preparing for their next step in life.  One graduating eighth grade and the other graduating high school.  It is sad to say but my house cleaning has not been on the top of my list of things to do.  I have managed to keep up with the daily cleaning but not with the things that are hidden.  Such as clutter closets, drawers and cabinets.  So with the girls out today because cleaning the house with kids at home is like washing your car in the rain.  The first task at hand would be the LINEN CLOSET.  As I opened it I pulled all the sheets out and the games I started to think.You see it is a combo closet:the bottom of the closet is full of games and the top is all my sheets and blanket.  So I started to fold them one by one and the memories started to flood my brain.  You see  I have saved all the sheets from when my girls were babies. First it was the baby blanket my oldest had. It had red in it and some told me she would become a angry child.  I think it made her smart.  It reminded me of  her colicky nights and her crying.  She eventually became a fat sweet baby.  Karlie's baby blanket reminded when I decorated her room knowing what she was and keeping it from Tim  That was so much fun.  Then there were the next set of school age blankets and sheets.  First Taylor went from a blue plaid  room with teddy bears to  a golden yellow room with horses.  She loves horses and hated the day we sold them.  There were the many sheets that accompanied them to summer camps year after year.  Boy there were so many good memories  at camp.  I remember sending Taylor to camp in Alabama and Karlie and I driving to Tennessee to go on vacation by ourselves.  I was so proud of myself for making that trip without Tim.  The sheets reminded of the many tents made on rainy days  and hot summer days. Then there are the sheets that now decorate their beds.  Taylor's remind of my friends who decorated her room while we were on vacation.  They did such a great job.  The sheet will always bring back the memories of the many sleep overs for the past years.  Waking up and seeing bodies everywhere.  Sometimes there was a surprise body that was not there when I went to bed.  They remind me of all of Taylor's good friends who have spent the night and became my adopted daughters.  Then there were the sheets of a special teenager who came to live with us for a year.  As I put the last sheet up and straightened up all the games I closed the closet and smiled.  Who knew Sheets could talk.

Sweet Goodbyes

This is a year of goodbyes.  I said goodbye to a job that I had for a  20 years, goodbye to people who I thought were my friends,.  goodbye to my exchange student who lived with me and now goodbye to  a school that has been in my life for the past 14 years.  I have always said that it takes a community to raise a child.  Believe me if it had not been for my church family, my father and mother n law, and a lot of christian teachers my children would not be on the path they are on.  Oh yeah and the big one GOD.  Cant leave him out because he is the main one because he put all these people in my daughters lives. This year my youngest will graduate from Harvest Christian Academy.  Over the years my children have fantastic influences that will remain with them the rest of their lives.  There have been many times my senior has referenced to something one of her previous teachers has said.  They have taught them to be strong in their beliefs during a difficult times.  You see when we had to decide where to send our children to school  it was important to me that they would be with people who believed what they were being taught at home.  I found it at Harvest.  Teachers are with are children more than we are at times.  I am so glad that they were their moms when I had to work.  Thank you and goodbye to all the great women that taught my daughters. They will be truly missed.

The Cricket

Just imagine a classroom full of kids going about their everyday business. All of a sudden there appears a small creature of Gods making , yes, a cricket. So the discussion persues among the class how to get it out. Some of the girls said "im not touching it, it is gross." The boys try to stomp it to death. Some of them try to shoo it out of the classroom with their foot or a broom. Finally others just simply ignore it and avoid it. But there is a young lady who steps up to the plate. Now this girl is the kind of girl who is a tender hearted and loving. So this young girl walks up to the cricket and gentle picks it up and cups it in her hands. She proceeds to walk out the door and places the cricket in the grass to be free. Everyone looked at her in amazement. Some of them thought she was crazy and others asked her why didnt she just kill it.

The young girl said "doesnt eveything derserve a chance?"

This story made me place everything into perspective. Everyday in life we come into contact with creatures of Gods making. They come into our lives at work, during errands, and at church. So how do we treat them. Do we ignore them, do they disgust us because they are different than us or do we wish they would go away to be with their own kind. Yes we are all guilty of this one time or another in our life of this. But eveyone derserves a "chance." You might be totally surprised when you get to know them and how much you can learn from them. I work at a job where you have to get very personal with a family really fast because you are only with them for such a brief time. So I try to find out as much about them as fast as I can. I learn something new each day. Some of the most bizzare people in the world have the most interesting stories to tell. Who knows God might have put that person in my life for a reason, so shame on me if I mss an opportunity. My friends think I am crazy. One friend told me "I would talk to anyone." Last year at a worship conference my friends would ask me who I met today. Of course I always met someone new. So I challenged them to talk to someone out of their box too. So they did and they were able to help a woman connect with someone she wanted to say thank you too but has no idea how to do it.So who knows you might learn something new or you might be able to help someone

So many words

As you read in my previous blog I had picked a word for the year. Last years word came to life in more than one way. So I have been contemplating the new one for this year. AND, would I really be ready for it after last year.? So my word this year is self-control. It came to me last night in the strangest way. Tim had pulled the garbage from the can and set it aside in the kitchen. Before he went to bed I heard him say "Son I'm going to move this so you won't be tempted." Of course we don't have a son so he was referring to our beloved dog Bengi. Now Bengi has no self control. He amazes me how he knows something is wrong but he does it anyway. How do I know he knows it is wrong? Well, when he is in the process of wrong doing and we happen to walk in on him he bolts for the other room and hides. He knows he cant hide from us but he tries. We as people do the same thing. We think God cant see us but he does. He sees all of our imperfections. So that is why I am choosing self-control to be my word. There are so many areas in my life that need a little bit more rope tightening on them. So I hope to gain self-control in my insecurities and my moods(which is hard to do when you are my age). So let the journey begin with my buddy: SELF-CONTROL.

One Word

I can remember at the beginning of 2011, K-love issued a challenge to its listeners to pick a word for the year. Mine was faithful. Oh and how I really learned the true definition of this word in 2011. My goal with this word was to become more faithful in everything that I committed to this year.. So the year began and so did my challenge. God had my word in his mind too unbeknown to me. To teach me the true meaning he took me on a road that I never expected to travel. A road that led me to tears, heartbreak and true friendship. First he broke my spirit by letting me experience betrayal and deceit. Something I had never experienced before in my life. He waited for me to cry out to him not to people. He was faithful because he was there. He then watched my heartbreak. Again he was faithful and was there again when I needed him. Last he taught how my true friends were faithful and were there for me when I needed them. I have to say I now know who my true friends are. They were the ones who listened to me day after day when my needed someone to talk too. Then I was determined to be faithful in my commitments no matter what I was going through even though there were many times I wanted to throw in the towel. I was determined to faithful and follow them through. So I can say that now I know why that word came to me right away and stuck to me. This is year has been filled with many ups and downs,but it will be a year that is forever engraved in my heart. Thank you God for being faithful and teaching me that you will always and forever be faithful no matter what I am going through. I wonder what word that God will define for me this year. Whatever it is I am so ready. Bring it on.

Henry

I woke up this morning early because my cell phone did not automatically fall back. So I decided to take advantage of the time and go for a 3 mile walk. Usually, I walk by myself but my new puppy who is not so small set at the edge of the drive waiting for me to ask him to come along. I called "come on Henry and he came running with delight." He had never been down this road and was curious to all the new smells and sights. He would stop and smell all kinds of things including things I would have prefered him not to smell. He would see me keep on walking and quickly he would run to catch up. He never let me get to far from his sight. If he lagged behind to far I would call and he would quickly come running. He was so funny to watch because it seemed as if he was privileged to be with me. He walked very proudly next to me at times. We as chrsitians are privileged to have God invite us to walk with him on a daily basis. We get sidetracked by the things that satan dangles in front of us but God always calls us the get back on the track. My goal this week is to keep my on God and not let him get to far ahead of me where I would be so lost.