Harry Potter as grief counselor

OK, sounds like a crazy title for a blog post, hungh?  Well, working at a funeral home can really get you thinking about how to get yourself and others through the grief process.  

I've been working at Wheeler Funeral Home since December, and it has really been an adjustment for me.  Even though I mostly answer phones and do insurance paperwork, I do sometimes have the opportunity (and privilege) to talk with our family members.  By the way, we don't think of people who come to us in their time of grief as "customers" we think of them as "families" and in a sense, they do become part of our family.  

My heart really goes out to folks who are grieving.  I often wonder what I can do or say to make things a little lighter.  The other day I was sitting at my desk and thinking of what books deal with the grief process. Believe it or not, the Harry Potter books came to mind.  

The seven book series by J.K. Rowling is the story of a young boy named Harry who was orphaned as a baby, raised by an aunt and uncle, shipped off to school, and in the process becomes an amazing young man.  The school that he is sent to is no ordinary school though; it is a school that teaches magic.  Through all his adventures, Harry gets into trouble, learns hard lessons, experiences joy and pain, and in the process he is reaffirmed by this new friends and his new found talents.  

My favorite book in the series is the very first one, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  Longing to see his parents who died when he was a baby, Harry stumbles across a magic mirror.  Here are a few excerpts....

"He looked in the mirror again.  A woman standing right behind his reflection was smiling at him and waving.  He reached out a hand and felt the air behind him.  If she was really there, he'd touch her, their reflections were so close together, but he felt only air - she and the others existed only in the mirror." 

"She was a very pretty woman.  She had dark red hair and her eyes - her eyes are just like mine, Harry thought, edging a little closer to the glass."

..." 'Mum?' he whispered. 'Dad?' ...He had a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness.  How long he stood there, he didn't know.  The reflections did not fade and he looked and looked until a distant noise brought him back to his senses."

Later the Head Master, Dumbledore comes in to teach Harry what the mirror is about..." 'It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts....Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen....It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.' "

The series has many little nuggets of truth like that sprinkled throughout.  In one of the later books, Harry loses a close friend.  The author Rowling just has a special way of guiding us through Harry's journeys....the ups and downs.  

The first book is 309 pages, but it is easy to follow and is a quick read.  Please let me know if you check it out!  : )

Boston Lives On

My heart goes out to all those affected by the Boston Marathon bombings this past week.  Events like that make you question the goodness of man.  Even though there is evil in the world, there is also goodness and hope.  

Many people choose to watch the wall to wall tv news coverage of it all week long, but I was not one of them.  I myself am a runner, and I knew I had a road race coming up.  

Get discouraged by watching the news all week - no.

Get up early Saturday morning, lace up my running shoes, and go run a local road race - YES!

Remember Boston by doing something....volunteer to hand out water at a local road race, run in a road race, donate blood, give to a charity...the possibilities are limitless!  

Southern Comfort Food

Welcome to the first installment of Southern Comfort Food.  There are times when I'm not having such a good day, and it always cheers me up to suddenly remember that I have a bunch of Skittles stashed away in my desk drawer.  So, you can imagine how much it cheers my little heart to sit down to a nice hot, home-cooked meal after a long day!

One of my favorite meals when I was growing up was Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas.  Whenever it was my birthday or my brother's birthday, we would always ask mom to make it.  Of course the peas all ended up inside the mashed potatoes (how else are you going to get them on the fork?), and I always put ketchup on the meatloaf.  My friends call me the "Ketchup Kid," but that is a blog post for another day.  ; )

 via dinnerwithjulie.com

Another favorite of mine is homemade Chicken and Dumplings.  I always cheat and just pinch off pieces of canned biscuits, but they still turn out really good. 

   via eclecticrecipes.com

Is your mouth watering as much as mine is now?  He, he...I'm so bad!  Hope y'all enjoyed these.  You can click on the links below the pictures to get some great recipe ideas.  Talk to y'all soon!

 

The first time...

Hey there friends!  I hope everyone is doing well today.  : )  FYI - today's blog post might be a little weighty.

Losing a loved one and saying good-bye is such a challenging process to go through.  The closer you are to that special person the harder it is to move on, and I can imagine that losing a spouse can be especially hard. 

Some  of the "first-time" experiences can be really hard to get through, such as;

the first time you log onto your computer using your loved one's special password

the first time you go to write a check and see their name at the top

the first time you run into an old friend in town and have to explain why you are alone....

And the list goes on and on....

But, some other "first-time" experiences that you can choose to think about instead could be;

the first time you held your loved one's hand

the first time you talked on the phone for two hours

the first time you felt butterflies in your stomach when seeing them

the first time that you became certain of your true love

And this list can go on and on too!  Let's try to focus on some of the good "first-times" also.  Thanks for reading, and please feel free to leave me a comment too.  Take care!  

 

all things spring

Is there anything better than a nice stroll through Covington in the spring-time?  All the cherry blossoms, and daffodils just melt my heart!

Well, on a quest for the perfect spring pictures, here is what I've come up with...

Hope y'all enjoyed these, talk to you soon!

Local BBQ Happenings

Well, it's spring time in Georgia, so fire up the grill!  I guess anytime of the year is good for that though. 

Here are some of of the local events going on...

 

Maybe we'll see y'all there.  Take care, and talk to you soon.

Simple Quiche and Plastic Bag Asparagus

Well, if a title like that doesn't get your attention, I don't know what will.  He, he  ; )

It's a cold, rainy (how can it possibly be spring?) night in Georgia.  I thought it would be nice to cook something in the oven tonight.  Anytime I can heat up the house and my belly at the same time, then that is a good thing. 

For the quiche, I used a ready made pie crust which I baked in the oven alone for about five minutes while I browned some turkey burger.  Then, in a large bowl I combined 6 eggs, chopped chives, the cooked turkey burger, and an entire packet of shredded cheddar cheese.  You can use whatever type of cheese is your favorite.  So, the ingredients were:

Pie Crust
6 eggs
Turkey Burger
Chopped Chives
Cheddar Cheese

Then, I put the ingredients from the bowl into the pie crust and baked it on 375 for about 25 minutes. 

For the Plastic Bag Asparagus, I just used a regular grocery store plastic bag (with no holes), and added the asparagus, a generous amount of olive oil, and salt.  I shook it up and then put the asparagus in a glass dish and baked on 375 for about 15 or 20 minutes.

 

As always, let me know what you think.  I love getting comments!

Also, I'm going to be starting up a series called Southern Comfort Food. So, let me know if you have any suggestions for it.  Y'all take care, and I hope to hear from you soon!   

  

Happy Easter

Hey there friends!  I hope everyone is having a fabulous Easter weekend.  The weather has been pleasantly hanging around in the 60's to low 70's here in Georgia, and we are loving every minute of it.  

I haven't done much decorating this year, but I just wanted to show off our little Easter tree from last year...

 
Keep in mind, it is sort of hard to get a family photo with the three of us...our arms are only so long....he, he.  ; )  So, we usually just take turns taking pictures with the baby when we can catch up to him...

 

At the church Easter egg hunt, our baby just wanted to climb the stairs...so cute!

 

So, from our little family to yours, we hope you have a Happy Easter. 

Book Review: I Still Believe

Hey y'all!  This is a book that I read a few weeks ago, and I just wanted to do a quick review to share...

I Still Believe
Jeremy Camp with David Thomas
212 pages
2013

I listen to Contemporary Christian music pretty often, but until I read this book, I had no idea that Jeremy Camp had lost his wife to cancer.  

The book just sort of jumped out at me when I was walking around the Lifeway book store.  Who could say no to those baby-blue eyes?

 via tyndale.com

Jeremy takes you on his roller-coaster of emotions as he works hard for his dream of becoming a musician, along with following his heart to find his true love.  As I was reading the first part of the book, when he was foregoing his passion for football and practicing playing the guitar instead,  I just kept thinking he would get his "big-break."  It was funny that it didn't really work out that way.  It seemed to be more of an extremely slow process of hard work, sacrifice, and determination.

His hope of finding love also comes to fruition, but only for a short time. Even when he and Melissa got married, they both knew that she was very sick.  One of the Bible verses that they kept leaning on was, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  Jeremiah 29:13.  

Even though he endured so much pain, the legacy that Melissa left him helped Jeremy to keep going and to pen some of the most heart-felt and uplifting lyrics that you could ever come across.

Reading this book was not an easy journey, but certainly one that was worth my time.  I believe that even non-Christians can find some little nuggets of hope and comfort as they turn these pages.  Please let me know if you are able to check it out!  : )   

What Cancer Cannot Do

What Cancer Cannot Do

Cancer is so limited...
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the Spirit.

~Author Unknown

A good friend of mine showed me that poem the other day, and I just wanted to share it with y'all.  Have a great day.  : )

Change of pace...

Do you ever feel like you're just stuck in a day-to-day routine?  I feel that way sometimes.  However, this week really threw me for a loop!   I was on my way to drop my baby off at daycare on Monday morning, when he started getting really sick to his stomach.  As you can imagine, our normal day-to-day routine quickly got changed. 

The next two days involved a doctor's appointment, lots of carpet cleaner, and countless loads of laundry.  When this morning rolled around, I was very thankful that my husband was willing to stay home from work with the baby (he was feeling a lot better, so I didn't feel too guilty).    

I'm usually not a morning person, and I try to keep things as dark and quiet as possible while I'm getting ready in the morning.  But this morning, I acutally took the time to stop and enjoy the unique sounds of coffee brewing, and a little pitter patter of feet across the kitchen floor. 

All this really got me thinking about how our plans in life can change so abruptly.  Sometimes the changes are good, such as a new job, a new relationship, or an unexpected weekend getaway.  But other times, a sickness, a family fight, or even the loss of a loved one, can really make an ordinary day become extremely difficult. 

So, whatever you are going through this week, whether it be a good change or a not so good change, please be encouraged and know that you are not alone. 

CPS - 3

Hey there friends, I hope everyone is having a great Saturday.  : )

Today I got to take part in a very important and very unique Cancer Research Study.  It is called the CPS - 3.  It is a cancer prevention study by the American Cancer Society in which their goal is to one day be able to detect cancer with a simple blood test.  

What was required of me?  An online survey that I filled out this week, and about twenty minutes of my time this morning.  They had me fill out a questionnaire and they took a blood sample.  I was just amazed at how easy it was!  

Who can participate?  If you are between the ages of 30 to 60, and have never been diagnosed with cancer, then you can be part of the study.  If you want to check out their website, you can CLICK HERE.

As a follow up, I will need to complete a survey that they will mail to me every two or three years.  This will be on-going for about the next twenty years.  

A few questionnaires to fill out, and a small blood sample.  If that is all it takes to help save lives....sign me up!  

   

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Kim Edwards

2006

448 pages

This is quite a unique book. Those Amazon Book Reviews are addictive. I just love to read them, especially the bad one-star reviews. They can be so funny!

Then, I start reading the additional suggestions listed under, "Customers who bought this item also bought." That is how I came across this book.

Even the book's cover was intriguing!

As her debut novel, Kim Edwards didn't shy away from some weighty topics. This captivating story of boy and girl twins separated at birth is a real page-turner. Set in the 1960's, the new mom-to-be did not even know that she was pregnant with twins. In a sincere effort to protect his wife Norah, the husband David, who is also a medical doctor, doesn't ever want her to know that their baby girl was born with Down's Syndrome. Instead, Norah has to face a life-long grief of the "death" of their daughter. The nurse is quickly and quietly told to take the baby girl away to an institution.

The book then takes an uplifting turn in which the nurse, Caroline, decides to secretly keep the baby and raise her. Caroline's compassion and love for this new baby bundle in her arms is simply amazing! This is the part of the book that really stuck with me.

I have read a lot of other book reviews in which the book is described as slow-going and overly detailed. However, I did not look at it this way.

If you too, are intrigued by family history, mystery, and darkly hidden secrets (even in a fictious manner), then this is the book for you. Please let me know if you check it out! : )

Life Rules

I wrote something similar to this a while ago on my other blog, but I also wanted to post it here.  With all the "Live, Laugh, Love" signs everywhere, I wanted to write my own "Life Rules" list...

Open doors for people

Volunteer

Appreciate your family

Take naps

Give really good hugs

Bake cookies

Stop and ask directions

Go back for seconds

Turn up the volume

Look people in the eyes

Hope you enjoyed these.  Do you have any special "life rules" that you want to share?  If so, please feel free to leave a comment.  : )  Hope to talk to you soon!

Nature as my Nurturer

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."

~ John Muir

Isn't it nice to just go outside and take a walk, or sit in a rocking chair on the front porch? The outdoors have always been comforting to me. There have been many times at night when I am trying to wind down and relax, that I will just go outside and stand in the driveway and look up at the stars. Looking up into the vast expanse of sky makes me feel like my problems and hurts start to get a little smaller.

My baby, who is now two, would sometimes get so upset and worked up when he was an infant that I would just bundle him up and go walk around the driveway at ten o'clock at night. There was just something about being outside that would calm him down right away, and it was such a nice distraction. I'm sure my neighbors probably looked out their windows and thought....Been there, done that. Ha! : )

So, give it a try. The next time you feel overwhelmed, just try to get outside for a few minutes. I hope this will be a comfort to you.

Welcome

Thank you so much for stopping by Compassion Corner. I hope and pray that this blog can be a comfort to you. I'll be blogging about a wide range of things from favorite old Hymns to fun Crafting Projects, and I'll even throw in a few Book Reviews too. Sometimes it is just comforting to know that someone cares! : )

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There will be a moderated Comments section at the bottom of each post, so please let me know how you like the blog or if there are any topics you would like me to cover. Thank you again for stopping by!