Ancestry

Happy Sunday! I was expecting rain today, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with sunshine so far.  It was a lovely drive up to St. George’s this morning, for a baptism.  It’s the most people I have seen in attendance yet!

I was mulling over a bunch of topics for today and had pretty much settled on ‘Rain, rain, go away!’, but not only am I tired of seeing the rain, I’m tired of talking about it.  Working with folks in Alberta and Texas before I retired, weather in general was always the topic of conversation. And, I suppose that there is almost always something to talk about where the weather is concerned, but please, no more rain! We had several roads closed here in Cobourg due to the Thursday night heavy rain.  It’s the worst I have ever seen.

So, off to another topic.  Several weeks ago, I took the plunge and got the 23andMe kits for Cavan and I to send in our spit samples to discover our DNA etc.  Interestingly enough, both of our samples arrived and were registered as received by them on the same day, but Cavan had his results about three weeks before mine!  

I must confess that I was getting a little worried. I had disclosed that I was adopted, when I filled in my data, so it occurred to me that they might have found something that was, concerning, shall we say. Well, when I did get my results, there was nothing concerning at all.  It turns out that I’m 73% British and Irish 17.1% broadly northwestern European, a little Scandinavian and German as well, but also 0.1% North African.  Hm, interesting.

Cavan took our detailed DNA results and uploaded them into MyHeritage, which gives a nice little presentation about it. They define the North African part as actually being western Asian, including Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Israel.  Now, that’ really interesting.  Perhaps I’m a distant relative of Jesus! Wow. You never know, do you?

In addition to the DNA part, 23andMe also tells you about genetic risk factors, drug response and inherited conditions, as well as a whole bunch of other stuff.  Again, there was nothing earth shattering that showed up.  I have variants that show a higher risk of Alzheimer’s and Celiac.  That shouldn’t be a surprise.  I have memory issues already that I blame on the MS and have had difficulty with wheat for years.

Nothing else of real interest showed up.  I guess that’s a good thing.

As to the DNA stuff again, based on others that have submitted their spit samples, some second, third and fourth cousins have been found that I guess I could reach out to, if I wished to. Years ago, before I was diagnosed with MS, I put in a request through the Brant Children’s Aid to find relatives.  I did find a birth brother.  He also, had been given up for adoption and is a year younger than me.  I did meet him, but felt no real connection, so I guess that means that I am quite happy with the family that I have.

Life is interesting. You never know what you might dig up, if you start digging.  Some things, you are better off not knowing, I suspect.  I did know one woman who had been tested for MS, when she was in her 20s. She didn’t find out that she had it until she was in her 50s. Her doctor felt that she would be better off not knowing.  I know that there are people who would take that diagnosis and live life to the fullest and others who would take that diagnosis and crawl into bed and stay there, or worse, crawl into a bottle and live there.

What is the answer?  I guess it depends on the person.  I was a single mother with two very young kids when diagnosed with MS, so I always said I had not choice but to move forward, but there is always a choice and my choice has always been to do the best with the cards I have been dealt. I think that is the best thing to do.

What did I expect to find out from 23andMe? I think it was really just some answers for my kids, if they were wanting them and as it turns out, it’s all good!  May your choices in life lead you down the kind of path you can deal with.  God bless.

Essential Oils

Happy Saturday! It’s lovely and sunny out there today and we were getting ready for friends to come to a big rib roast, but alas, they cannot make it, so the ribs are going in the freezer for another day. Of course that means that I get to get some chores done, including my blogging!

I usually try to blog on Sunday, but I’m spending it with my girls.  It’s Father’s Day, but they don’t see their father, so we are going to a Salt Cave.  Perhaps blog material for next week? It will be a nice day together no matter what and the salt cave is a new and different thing to try out.

Today, I am blogging about essential oils.  I will confess that I am only just learning about them, but I think I am pretty much sold so far.  I was looking for something non-medical for various things.  Cavan has trouble sleeping and one of my daughters suffers from anxiety sometimes. I think it is nice if you can go the natural route, rather than the chemical route.

For Cavan’s sleeping, there are several alternatives.  I have a diffuser and I love the lavender in it myself and I’m even trying various combinations so that I don’t wake up with my usual allergy symptoms.  The diffuser doesn’t help Cavan because he uses a CPAP (Continuous positive airway pressure) machine. For those of you who don’t know, it is for people who stop breathing when they sleep.  I will probably blog on that in some detail at some point, but for the purposes of this topic, it is relevant because his nose is covered, so the effect of the diffuser cannot help him.

A friend of mine, who got me involved with the essential oils, pointed me to a site that sells an attachment for the hose of the CPAP machine, so that I can put a drop of the oil on an insert and we’ll see if that makes a difference.  I only just received the attachment, so we have yet to try it.  I’ll report on that after we have tried to find an oil that works for him.

Lavender is the most often used oil for relaxation, so we will try that first, but I am buying oils from doTERRA, so I have a few blends that might be helpful.  We’ll keep trying them until we find something that works, or find that none of them help.

What I did discover about the lavender, however, is that it is helpful with a burn.  I was helping Cavan drill holes in our brick wall to install a hose reel.  The drill bit gets VERY hot.  At one point, my arm was tired, so I lowered the drill enough for the bit to touch my leg (I was wearing shorts!) and I got quite a burn.  The lavender applied directly took the pain away.  After several days, it is still looking pretty nasty, so I applied some frankincense, so hopefully, I can avoid an infection.

For my daughters, I have purchased a starter kit for each of them (from doTERRA, with points!), and I also got them necklace diffusers, so we’ll see if they find it useful. I also got them each a different oil blend from doTERRA.  I chose Cheer for Alysse and Peace for Kaitlyn.  I couldn’t decide which to give to whom, but I let my cat smell both.  He really did not like the Cheer, so that settled it, because Kaitlyn also has a cat.  Alysse’s dog isn’t as likely to be as fussy.

So, this is the beginning really, of my essential oil journey. I will blog again, when I know some more about how they have helped (or not helped) us.  For now, I shall enjoy the new scents!  God bless!

Retirement?

Happy Sunday! We have a sunny day today, the fifth sunny day in a row. I believe. This spring, we haven’t seen that until now.  It’s wonderful!  A bit too warm for my liking, but then, we always have to have something to complain about with the weather, don’t we?

Now that ordination is over, I’m just trying to figure out where I’m at.  It has been such a busy few weeks, that I wonder where the rest comes, with retirement. But then, it all comes down to choices.  I wonder if I have taken on too much.  Not surprising, as I’ve done that many times over the years and had to back off a few things to make life manageable.  I seem to forget sometimes, that I have MS.  Mind you, it will remind me occasionally, if I am not paying attention!

The only real thing that I have committed to on a regular basis is the friendly visiting for Community Care Northumberland on Thursday afternoons.  I have two different places that I go for one hour visits, and I’m going to see if I can book them a bit closer together, so that I can fit in one more.

I have also really committed to visit with three residents at Extendicare, which I have scheduled for Wednesday afternoons.  These visits tend to be a bit shorter, and the two gentlemen that I visit are a bit of a challenge, so I am starting off with short visits and working my way up.  I have more trouble talking with the guys, than the woman, but I’m just looking at it as a challenge.

On top of that, I can be visiting palliatives through either organization, and I just had a time when I was spending time with a palliative for both and it was a challenge. I don’t know if that will happen often, I’ll see how it goes.  Both of those palliatives passed away, so I have none at the moment.

I’m trying to keep my mornings free to do my daily posting of Bible verses and quotes to Twitter and prayer to Facebook and just getting organized for the day.  Once a month, I do help out at the Anglican church service at Extendicare facility on a Thursday morning.

Throw into that mix appointments which. If they are in Cobourg, I try to keep to Friday morning, or early afternoon.  If the appointment is in Toronto, I keep Mondays and Tuesdays for that drive, which I combine with a visit with Viv and/or my kids, as well as any errand that has to be done in the city.  Friday morning is also the time for the recording of the Community Catholic Church Sunday service, which gives our Bishop time to edit and load up for 10:30 on Sunday. Speaking of Sundays, I like to get up to St. George’s for their morning service.

Saturdays are then left for chores; laundry, cleaning, gardening, all that stuff.

So, it seems to be all manageable unless I have several palliatives to visit.  The other challenge is when Cavan is in the city with the car.  He tries to avoid Thursdays, but sometimes that’s not possible.  I can walk to Extendicare (it takes me 15 minutes), but I do have to sit and rest my legs for a bit, when I get there.

This week, Cavan is in the city for three days, one of which is Thursday.  I can walk to Extendicare for the church service and I will visit my residents before and after that, so that I don’t have to walk there on Wednesday, as well. Then I have to figure out about the friendly visits.  I’ll check the bus schedule.  I think that it is doable, and it will be good to know if it can be done, for future reference.  I have taken the bus before, when I had something to do, when I didn’t have the car.

So, it appears that I’m not slowing down much, but I might have to revisit my schedule, as time goes by.

I hope that you are not overdoing it! Sometimes we need to let others step in!  God bless!

Ordination

Happy Monday! It’s a cloudy day and raining on and off here in the resort town of Cobourg, but yesterday was a beautiful sunny day at Elcho Church in Wellandport for ordination!  Pretty much everyone drove from rain, into our sunshine.  It was a wonderful service!

I am so thrilled to have become a priest.  I even used my priestly powers to bless a palliative this morning. It was nice to be able to provide comfort in that way.

I am also thrilled to say that my good friend Dawn and her mother drove all the way from Newmarket to see me be ordained.  It was so nice of them to come from so far away.

As I said, it was a beautiful day.  The windows and doors of the church were open to the lovely breeze. At one point, a bird flew into the church.  It just circled three times and went on his merry way.

There were four ordained as priests and seven ordained as deacons.  Our little church is continuing to grow and what a wonderful; group of people we are attracting. Everyone is so very loving, giving and supportive.  We each have our own little ministries, drawing on our own skills and God given talents.

Some of our members just stick to weddings and are just marvelous at it.  Some have chapels in their homes and do their work there.  My interest is in working with elderly and palliatives. I spent some time with a palliative just this morning.  It is a wonderful little elderly lady, who is losing her battle with cancer.  I did not know her before she was palliative, but I understand that she loved to laugh.

It is nice to find out about the people you have the honor of sitting with.  There was another lady I had spent some time with who passed just last week.  She graduated high school at the age of 83!  How determined she was to go back to school and finally graduate. There are so many stories with these folks and unfortunately, sometimes, they have receded too much into dementia to get the story and those are the times that are quite sad. I met one elderly lady at one of the facilities I have been in, who was looking for her mother. This lady said that she couldn’t manage without her mother and was sure that she was there, somewhere. Heartbreaking. There isn’t much you can do, but listen to what they can tell you.

I was telling the administrator at the Extendicare this morning that as I get to know the folks at the facility, it will be more challenging to watch them become palliative.  It is one thing to sit with someone that you don’t really know, waiting to be called home, I think, but time will tell. For some, I imagine, passing is a blessing, as I have always believed that quality of life is much better than quantity. I also imagine that it is easier to deal with a palliative who is elderly and led a long and happy life than to deal with a palliative who should have had a long and happy life ahead of them.

Dear me!  I didn’t want this blog to be a downer!  I was just remembering the ordination yesterday and still feeling that I am walking on air.  Full of the  Holy Spirit, that I get to share with everyone.  It is wonderful!

Well folks, I guess that’s it for today.  I have tidying up to get done and a book that won’t read itself!  God bless you all!