Friday's Wrap-Up

How I love Fridays!  

How I love blogging!  O.K., I admit, I border on being addicted to blogging ;)

But seriously blogging friends, it just doesn't get much better than this! 

Each day we share our lives; our very hearts with one another--and not just the pretty parts!  This blogging connection is authentic living in action! We tackle together on Tuesdays, we remain wordless on Wednesdays,  and break out in Thankfulness on Thursdays!  

Fridays are my wrap up day; a day to review my endless list of things that must get done and transfer the undone to next weeks list!  It's also a day to smile as I recall all that week taught me. 

I discovered this week that Allison Bottke's life-saving book, Setting Boundaries With Your Adult Children: Six Steps to Hope and Healing for Struggling Parents has been endorsed by Focus on the Family!  

Check out in the lower left hand corner....see the 

? "When you see this symbol, it means Focus on the Family RECOMMENDS this resource based on its message, quality, and alignment with Focus on the Family's philosophy and mission."    

WOO-HOO! Congratulations Allison!  

This week, I learned how to "Print Screen!"  How much fun is that!  And I thought "cut and paste" was fun??!!

This week I rediscovered mercy!  I LOVE when THAT happens! 

I spent the entire week LOVING my new job!  This gift, that God has dropped into my lap, just keeps blessing and blessing!  Isn't it amazing how God takes our pain and gives it purpose for His glory!?!?!

This week was another good week for our MIP.  It is nearly impossible to share the joy I feel as I watch our adult son feel proud of himself as he continues to live independently.  Many do not understand such joy over the ordinary: your adult child maintaining (and prioritizing) a full time job and feeling proud of newly discovered work ethic and commitment to himself.  Yes, these things are expected, they are usual and standard behaviors!  But when your beloved adult child has struggled for so many years to successfully find his place in HIS world...the ordinary becomes extraordinary!  May I also remind those who underestimate joy in the ordinary--of the extraordinary pain involved in setting your adult child free--to discover himself.  The level of pain is matched only by the level of joy you feel when he begins fighting as hard as you did....for his own life!  

This week was a tipping point week for the two SANITY Support Groups I facilitate.  Just four weeks ago, these two groups of 35 hurting parents met as virtual strangers, with little in common except their pain.  It is not easy being vulnerable with friends, imagine the courage required to trust strangers.  Each week we have discovered the unique benefits a Support Group offers and as Week Five unfolded, I began to see strength appear that many thought was impossible, hope previously elusive, and the courage to change--not their adult children, but themselves.  In our SANITY Support Groups, we have discovered the taste of freedom; freedom from guilt and regret.  Freedom because we have begun to understand that we are not responsible or our adult child's poor choices.  As one father stated, "We know we are still involved in a unhealthy relationship with our adult child, when we suffer the consequences of what they have sown."  A tipping point, indeed :) 

Please, if you know a parent in pain, or ARE a parent in pain, please let me know how I can help you start your own SANITY Support Group.  Starting a group is so easy-you'll wonder why you waited for so long.   The six steps to SANITY work!  

How was YOUR week?  

I'd love to hear from you....have a great Friday!

Blessings!