Project: Go RED!

Jennie Garth is in the first video talking about women and heart disease.  Loved the second video from Betty White! 

Tell all the women you love and even the ones you just "tolerate" about

Go Red for Women Day! ;-)

I know...if you're one of my Facebook friends or just one of my friends, and you're not a Red Raider, I'm sure you get annoyed during football season with GO RED RAIDERS!  Yes, I'm one of those that wears red every Friday (and lots during the week) to support my Red Raiders and to show school spirit.  This time, however, you don't have to be a Red Raider to participate, and I know all my Aggie, Longhorn, Bear, Buff, and Horned Frog friends look pretty in red. It won't hurt for long. :)

You just have to wear red on Friday, February 4, for Go Red for Women day.  This is a national day that the American Heart Association sets up to promote education in women about heart disease.  Heart Disease is currently the #1 Killer of Women in the United States.

You're probably thinking, "Whatever lady, I'm only 29." (Aren't we all!?!?)  This cause is very important to me because I have a very strong family history of this disease.  Heart disease goes straight up my family tree on my father's side.  Since I'm 29 (+7), this weighs heavy on me.  I'm still young, but my father had his first open-heart bypass surgery at 47, and the second at 55.  As fast as time is moving, that's not that far off for me.  I'm all about trying to look decent in a swimsuit, and a 12 inch incision down the middle of my chest really isn't what I'm going for.  All joking aside, my great-grandmother had open-heart surgery at 80, my grandfather twice, my grandmother has had stints and a pacemaker as well as high blood pressure, and then my father with two open-heart surgeries under his belt.  Since a nurse once told me that women get their heart disease from their father's side, I don't stand much of a chance. 

However, there is something I can do to try to prevent heart disease from catching up with me.  Of course, one of the main risk factors is your family history, which I can't do much about.  I can, however, watch what I eat, not smoke, exercise, maintain a healthy weight, learn the warning signs, and can see my doctor regularly to have my cholesterol and triglyceride levels checked.  I can even have a glass of wine at night to try to beat heart disease!

Please join me this week for Project #1:  calling your doctor to schedule an appointment to check your numbers and to get them under control if necessary.  That's my first project in the morning!  For Project #2--Visit GoRedforWomen.org.  There is so much information for you to learn about preventing heart disease.  You really don't want to learn you have heart disease as a heart attack happens.  Start as early as possible for the best prevention.  It's up to us to take care of ourselves so we'll be here to take care of our families.  We can even start with our children now to try to prevent heart disease. 

Who's with me???  Let's Go Red on Friday, Feb 4!

Life's Project

The thought of The Project has been on my mind for quite some time. I was recently challenged through an online sermon titled "Someday--Code word for Never". I've been going to start writing/blogging "someday", and since it's been over a year and a half since I first thought about Life's Project, today I'm starting my Someday...

My hubby and I have nearly lost count of all the houses we've remodeled (we think it's 4, but maybe just 3 and feels like 20). We're not flippers, and most definitely haven't been smart like some people who remodel first and move in later. We just move right on in and remodel alongside real life. You can imagine the messes we've created. My sweet grandmother has been known to say upon occasion, "Honey, what ARE you going to do with that? Are you going to cover that hole?" After nearly 14 years of marriage, gutting a kitchen the first 6 weeks of law school, re-tiling a bathroom along with new carpet, countertops, tile and windows, stripping wallpaper, stripping linoleum, painting, grouting, installing crown molding, landscaping, fence repair, installing cabinets, painting cabinets, etc., I think we can survive most anything...good thing is we're still laughing and haven't killed each other yet!:) No, there was no contractor, just two people with an idea to make something better. All turned out beautifully and were finally finished just in time for life to change, the houses to sell, and someone else to enjoy the fruits of our labors.

One afternoon in the midst of the last remodel, I was stripping the most heinous flowerdy (it can be a word);) wallpaper one could possibly have in the entry way to our home. The colors were green and rose, if I remember correctly. The previous lady was a DIY'er, too, but didn't have the skills to be. She had painted the bottom portion of the wall a strange shade of red with a yellow glaze on top. Got the picture of this hallway...in the entry to our home?!? She could have used a design team with those choices!;) As I stripped the first layer of wallpaper, I noticed there was a second, and under the second was bare sheetrock. As I kept taking down piece after piece of paper, and piece after piece of backing, I made quite a mess. Finally the project prep-work was completed, the mess was swept away, primer was painted on the bottom, the bare sheetrock was textured, and the hall was painted colors that were calming and pleasing to the eye to make a nice welcome area for friends we might be greeting there. I could FINALLY leave my front door open!:)

In the midst of this chaotic project, I started thinking how this wall and all it's layers and bad choices of design could be similar to our lives. God has such an amazing and wonderful plan for each of us, but we try to do life by ourselves, end up covering up our mistakes with more and more layers. We "fake it 'til we make it" instead of handing everything over to the One who knows the number of hair on our heads and tells us in Phillipians 1:6 "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." He knows what we need, he knows our weaknesses, but also knows our strengths. He can strip down the layers, clean up the messes, and make us whole and new again. Through Him, we can proudly open our doors and let our light shine.

God has a project for each of us. Maybe it's being a parent, a teacher, an attorney, a farmer, a doctor, a salesmen, and the list could go on. Are we open to it, though? Sometimes we just have to be still and open to let the work be done within us. What Project is waiting? Let it begin...