Our New Live-it!

OK, so we're taking a sabbatical in a week, we are going on a fast, changing our habits, changing our eating, beginning our Life-changing Live-it.

But first, let me tell you all about our "medical challenges" with this program!  David is a triple-kidney transplant and the doctors have a really hard time "approving" anything that is NOT Traditional! Alternative medicine, methodologies, etc., are not exactly "approved" by the Insurance Companies.

The insurance companies are dictating how we:

• Live our life
• Manage our bodies
• Heal our ailments
• Whether or not you can have a natural treatment or try a natural product rather than a drug...
• Whether or not they will pay if you have dialysis out of your home state...

That's a true story... In 1997, David was on dialysis (had been for 5 years) and had to have dialysis three days a week (MWF) for three hours each time. David's mom died (on his birthday), and we had to travel from Phoenix to Las Cruces, NM for his Mom's funeral. We had a major insurance plan at the time and when we requested pre-authorization to have them pay for David's dialysis, after much deliberation and discussion and appealing, the insurance REFUSED to pay for his dialysis. The reason was that because he was leaving his home state, the trip was considered "recreational" and we had to pay the amount that insurance would normally cover in our home state.

RECREATIONAL? REALLY?  Obviously, the "person in charge, sitting behind a desk" at the insurance company had NO idea what dialysis is and what a person goes through when they endure this life-saving treatment. David had to go to dialysis twice while we were in Las Cruces for his mom's funeral. Las Cruces doesn't have any dialysis centers, so we had to drive one hour to El Paso, TX, get David on dialysis for 3 hours, and drive back to Las Cruces for another hour. That trip took so much out of David. I wish the CEOs of the MAJOR insurance companies could experience dialysis just ONCE - they would certainly change their definition of "recreational" treatment!!

For more information about dialysis and kidney disease and treatment check out the Davita website:

http://www.davita.com/kidney-disease/dialysis/the-basics

More of our medical "challenges" tomorrow...

sb

Leap of Faith

I had a friend send me a quote yesterday... It was profound and one I have experienced in my own life on many occasions...

I want to share it with you today:

“The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I want to be... because of all I may become I will close my eyes and leap!”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

Twenty-five plus years ago, I was in a very scary position. I was recently divorced with no viable way to support myself and children. I decided to return to school (I had gone through the equivalent of four years of college many years before, but had nothing more than a secretarial certificate).

I always wanted to be a writer but didn't have the vehicle to get there. I had finished my associate degree but had to move to another city to finish my bachelor's degree in journalism.

Two weeks before I moved, I had a job lined up but still had no place to live in the college town.

Then I got the call... 

The newspaper that I was supposed to work for had folded... NO JOB!  PANIC set in and I didn't know what to do.  I prayed... a LOT.

A week before I was supposed to move, I had no place to live...

Then I got the call!  

Family housing at the university had opened up and I had a furnished two-bedroom apartment waiting for me!

Still no job.... 

I totally took that LEAP of FAITH and moved to the little college town in northern Arizona. As scary as it was, God was always there for me... I was able to get a work-study position, write some articles for the local Chamber of Commerce, work in a thrift store, house sit, even cook for a very prominent family for a short while.

Had I not taken that Leap of Faith, I wouldn't have my degree in journalism today and I wouldn't be the same person... I would never have met my future husband, and I and my children wouldn't have learned the valuable lessons in frugality that we did. To this day, my two girls (now grown) are the most amazing shoppers on the planet!

Each day is a step of faith... we have to make that LEAP into our own future, our own reality.

Go make it a LEAP Day!!!

Susie

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I am about to begin a new chapter in my life and it is vital that I make some life-changing decisions.

Have you ever said that to yourself?  Or thought it?  

If your life isn't "heading" in the right direction, or isn't resulting in what you "think" it should... You have a responsibility to DO something about it!

Sometimes, that ONE thing that you do can be really simple, really easy.

I remember years ago, when I was going through a really tough time in my life, I just couldn't seem to get out of bed. I was going through counseling and couldn't seem to do anything more than cry.  As I lay on my bed sobbing, I heard a voice in my head say, "Get up and go clean off the table."  Seriously?

The thought kept coming to me and finally I got up and cleaned off the kitchen table.  That simple action made a powerful impact in my life! I was so empowered by the fact that I could actually get up and CLEAN off the table, that I began to heal, and take control of my own destiny again.

The voice? 

I learned pretty quickly, it was God talking to me - He cares so much about His creation that even the simplest concern in your life is important to Him. It took me quite a while to "hear" His voice, but since that day, have heard it many many times.

If you are down and out... get UP and go do ONE thing today and thank God that He cares for you!

Matthew 6:26

Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you more valuable than they are? (NET)

Make it a Great Day!

Susie