Free Therapy Anyone?

This month, we are introducing our new bloggers not only with their posts, but with a video!

Meet Marianna:

By Marianna Boyce

What is a blog?  Before March, 2018, I really didn’t know.  My very unique definition is as follows:

Blog (noun) – A public forum shared on the Internet where people can release pent-up frustration about living with daily chronic pain.  In sharing with others, feelings and emotions can be placed on the outside of oneself instead of bottling them up on the inside.

I had been suffering from intense pain related to an “undifferentiated inflammatory arthritis,” best classified as Rheumatoid Arthritis.  Writing would be the release I needed to bring me back from the alternate universe I had been living.  In a nutshell, blogging would be my free therapy. 

My name is Marianna Boyce and I’m sure you’ve already guessed that I deal with daily chronic pain.

I am 50 years old and recently celebrated my 31st wedding anniversary with my remarkable husband Gerry.

My daughter Tiffany is 38 and she is married to Bill.  They have three girls. Our two older grandchildren are adopted. Abby will soon be 13 and her sister Emma is 11.  Avery is 5 and she was a fantastic surprise!  That’s a whole story in itself!

If you do the math, you will figure out quickly that Tiffany is my bonus daughter.  Although I did not give birth to her, I consider her my daughter and will refer to her as such in future posts.  We have been through a lot together.  There was a reason for it all.

Our son Cody is 30.  He is a middle school teacher in Lexington School District One.

Parenting is one of the most difficult, yet most rewarding jobs a woman can have!  With Tiffany and Cody both “grown and gone,” our reward is now seeing them thrive and pursue their chosen careers. We’ve been blessed with two driven and goal-oriented children.

Another great reward is being “GiGi” to our three grandchildren.  I was effortlessly navigating my new season of life…until the unimaginable happened!

I vividly recall the moment my unusual journey began.  The onset of my mysterious symptoms would instantly change my life.  I would be tested in dramatic fashion.  Some days I would pass the test, but many days I would fail miserably.

Coping with prolonged, intense pain brings forth a wide range of emotions.  I experienced many victories and defeats along the way.  I will offer you a glance inside my little corner of the world, past and present.  I promise you this blog will not be all gloom and doom.  Although our lives are very different, I’m sure you deal with similar emotions on a daily basis.

I am thrilled to be a voice for Lexington Medical Center’s Every Woman Blog!  I sincerely look forward to sharing my unique story with you!  Your comments and feedback are always appreciated.

No one has a perfect life, but life itself…It is a gift.  God gives me breath, therefore I breathe, therefore I live!  I will live life to the fullest!

Welcoming our new bloggers!

From the Every Woman Blog editorial team

This summer, we launched an exciting contest asking women around the Midlands to send us a message describing why they would make a great addition to our team of bloggers at the Every Woman Blog. We received an overwhelming amount of entries with incredible women reaching out and sharing their voices. Today, we’re pleased to announce we’ve selected eight winners from the talented pool of applicants to join our team!

Lisa Baker, Marianna Boyce, Eliza Boulware, Tina Cameron, June Greenlaw, Kate Morrow, Janet Prince and Rhonda Woods will be featured as bloggers at Every Woman Blog. They join our existing bloggers including Shannon Boatwright, Rachel Sircy, Katie Austin, Jeanne Reynolds and Stacy Thompson.

 

Lisa Baker is a surgical technologist who lives in Newberry County. Recently, both of her parents were diagnosed with dementia. Like many women, she is learning how to navigate the world of aging parents and will share her story of caring for them through this journey.

 

 

Marianna Boyce knows what it’s like to live with a chronic illness. After many doctor visits and tests, the Lexington woman was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Writing has helped her cope with the pain of the disease. Now, she wants to share her story in the hopes of helping others.

 

 

Eliza Boulware is a mom and grandmother from Ridgeway. As a breast cancer and open heart surgery survivor, she serves as a minister helping others through challenges and inspiring them with the power of faith.

 

 

 

Tina Cameron is a cancer nurse at Lexington Medical Center who recently went back to school to pursue an advanced degree. She is also a volunteer at the Riverbanks Zoo. Tina is constantly on the go – juggling school and her job all while being a single mother. She works through all of it with a dose of laughter and gratitude.

 

June Greenlaw works at the University of South Carolina. A Midlands native, she has six children, four of which have served in the military and two are currently students at USC.

 

 

 

 

Kate Morrow is a wife and mom from Columbia. After struggling with infertility, she and her husband welcomed twins last year – three months premature. They’re a March of Dimes Ambassador family, and Kate looks forward to sharing their story with others.

 

 

Janet Prince is a West Columbia native who lives there with her husband and two daughters. Janet is a 15-year breast cancer survivor, and now serves as the Chairman of the Ovarian Cancer Coalition of Central South Carolina.

 

 

 

Rhonda Woods is a chef who has competed on The Food Network and teaches culinary classes at Pelion High School. This work allows her to share her passion for cooking with others and she looks forward to sharing some of her favorite recipes.  Rhonda will also share about her experience losing her husband after an 18-month battle with metastic melanoma.

 

 

Each of these women brings something unique to our community, and we can’t wait to see our new contributors begin to share their stories. Finding support and inspiration is a key to women’s health and well-being. Keep an eye out for these new voices on the blog!

Calling all Midlands Women!

At Every Woman Blog we aim to unite and inspire the community of women within the Midlands, and now you have the opportunity to be a part of it. This month, we are looking to add talented new bloggers to contribute to this community. This competition is open to women of all ages in the Midlands and comes with a $250 cash prize for each blogger selected! 

Entering the contest is simple:

1. Visit http://www.facebook.com/LexingtonMedical.
2. Send a message or video about why you would be a great blogger to represent and inspire women in the Midlands

Use your message or video to let your personality shine! The five women with the most persuasive, funny, touching or engaging submissions are the ones who will be selected to become featured bloggers. This is an opportunity to join an exceptional group of women who share a passion for connecting with and inspiring those around them.

So, what exactly would you be a part of?

The award-winning Every Woman Blog has been active for more than seven years, with over 327,000 views of the posts by local female bloggers (that could be you!). The featured bloggers write at least one blog post per month.

Wondering what you would possibly blog about?

Anything and everything. 

There’s really no end to the type of things you can blog about! Past and current bloggers have posted about healthy recipes, travel, relationships, health issues, personal anecdotes and staying fit – the list goes on and on. Every blogger brings their own unique voice and stories to the blog, sharing anything they feel the women of the Midlands can benefit from. If you need some inspiration, the featured bloggers also get the chance to meet in person at “blogger reunions”, where they can share ideas and brainstorm topics.

Head on over to Lexington Medical Center’s Facebook page and tell us why you would make a great blogger!

 

A Ministry for Fatherless Daughters

By Chaunte McClure

Admittedly, I am a pro at ‘crastinating and no, I’m not proud of it. I often say procrastinating is my strongest weakness, but hey, I eventually get around to doing what I set out to achieve.

Back in 2015, in the post Why I Wasn’t Aborted, I shared with you that I was interested in starting a blog to reach out to fatherless girls and women. It’s a desire that I’ve had for several years because of my personal story of being a fatherless daughter. I really didn’t have the time to devote to it while I was trying to complete seminary.

Now that I’ve accomplished that mission, I am pleased to finally inform you that in January I launched my personal blog, Say That, Girl!, to finally speak out about fatherlessness. There I share some of the most intimate moments of my life to help fatherless daughters begin to uncover their pain, release their shame, embrace forgiveness and learn to love (their fathers and themselves).

So far, the response has been great and women are contacting me to say thank you and to share how they relate to my posts.

Fatherless daughters come in all shapes, sizes, and colors and from various socioeconomic backgrounds. The common denominator among us is that we lack a relationship with our biological father because he is either absent, unattached or unavailable.

One purpose of the blog is to help us recognize the impact fatherlessness has on our lives so that the effects don’t become lifelong issues.

This is the beginning of a movement for me that will develop into other avenues for ministry and as a fatherless daughter advocate, I will follow God’s lead to spread the message and bring awareness to an epidemic (fatherlessness) that has swept this country.

Feel free to follow me on the Say That, Girl! blog, my latest ministry venture.

Are you a fatherless daughter? If so, what makes you a fatherless daughter?

The Top 10 Sports Movies

By: Stacy Thompson

Three of my favorite things: I love sports…and I love movies…and I love lists, so what better way to celebrate all three than with my list of favorite sports movies!

1. Seabiscuit – A little horse with a big jockey wins hearts and races. The book by Laura Hillenbrand was riveting, and the movie more than delivered.
2. Bull Durham – Really just a good-ole rom-com with the backdrop of a minor league baseball team. The stellar cast, including Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Kevin Costner, deliver quotable lines galore. “Throw it at the bull.”
3. Rocky – The ultimate underdog story set in an underdog town in the most brutal of sports. The original can’t be beat.
4. Jerry Maguire – More about the sports agent than the sports, but a solid and entertaining story nonetheless.
5. A League of Their Own – “There’s no crying in baseball.” Seriously, is there a better quote in any sports movie???
6. Hoosiers – Again, a classic underdog movie with a predictable ending that still manages not to disappoint.
7. Rudy – I cry each and every time Rudy sits on the bench reading his letter of acceptance to his dream school…and then cry again when his teammates have his back…and then cry again when his dad walks in the stadium…and then cry again he gets on the field.
8. Chariots of Fire – Of course the song is running through your head right now (pun intended) but the movie itself is a classic.
9. The Blind Side – Some of the plot may be a bit overdone, but the genuine heart of this movie will leave you feeling good. Period.
10. Miracle – I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watch this move. The political climate surrounding the 1980 Olympic Games was intense enough – add to it a team of USA amateurs going up against the Goliath Soviet Union team and the tension multiplies. Even though you know the ending, hearing “Do You Believe in Miracles” is sure to make the goosebumps pop!!

What are your favorite sports movies?

Getting Back to My Roots

By: Mary Pat Baldauf

No, I’m not doing one of those DNA “Who Am I” things that I keep seeing on TV. I have a cousin who does a lot of family tree researching, and that’s enough for me. Instead, I’m working on getting back to my hair color roots. I’m in the process of growing out the color and going back to my natural color – whatever THAT is.

I started coloring my hair as a teenager, starting with an innocent summer experiment with “Sun In.” It turned my dark brown hair a brassy orangey blonde. Next was my first professional “color correction,” and from there, I was hooked. I’ve been coloring my hair so long I don’t really remember the actual natural color.

After the aneurysm rupture, I said that if I’d had my head shaved for surgery, I would’ve started over with my hair color. I meant it, even though I continued to have it colored when I returned. I often admire and become a little jealous of friends who’ve bucked the temptation to color and sport their gray as it grows in. I also have a good role model; my mother has beautiful white hair (even though it took her some 40 years to flaunt it.)

After nearly 10 years with the same stylist – I’ll spare the drama – it was recently time to find a new one. Thankfully, I was able to get a quick appointment with my friend, Erin, who I’ve wanted to try for a while now. (I don’t know about you, but when I’m ready for a cut, I’m ready, and I don’t like to have to wait more than a few days.) Sometime during the haircut, I started telling Erin about my silver hair coming in, and before I left, we were talking strategies to go gray gracefully.

Because I’d already been a while without a cut and color, I had a good head start, no pun intended. And Erin went a little shorter than usual to give it another boost. To take the edge off the color and soften the contrast between the light and darker shades, she recommended that a glaze for my next appointment, which I made before leaving. After what seems like forever and a day, the appointment is next week, and I can hardly wait.

Right now, I still have quite a bit of blonde, so I’ve gotten no comments on the color. I’m waiting, though, and I’m sure as folks start seeing the gray, I’ll get plenty of feedback. Since I really want to do this, I’d like to think it won’t bother me. But society is so focused on youth and beauty, that I know not all of the comments will be positive. I’m determined to stick it out, though. (One caveat. If I get there and hate it, I won’t hesitate to have it colored again.)

Attached is a selfie after my cut with Erin. You can obviously see the darker roots, but the gray isn’t really showing yet. I’ll be taking pics throughout the process, and look forward to sharing one with more gray soon.  For now, I’m curious. Do you color your hair? Would you (or have you) decide to go gray? Any words of wisdom as I undertake this project?

Why Are You in the Picture?

By: Chaunte McClure

 

With the convenience of having cameras built into cell phones, the world has become obsessed with taking photos. We take pictures of our food, plants, bare feet, shoes and my, oh my do we take photos of ourselves. Yes, the selfie has taken over social media timelines and feeds, but the ‘usie’ isn’t far behind. Of course, we have to snap a photo of our family and friends when we’re just hanging out; it’s all in fun and in the name of capturing memories.

I was warming up my pose and smile for a group photo recently when I was asked, “Chaunte, why are you in the picture?” For a couple of seconds, I second-guessed my position in front of the camera, knowing that I was invited to say cheese along with my friend and her friends.

Fast forward a few days, I thought about the question again during my commute to work. Why are you in the picture?

It’s a relevant question that we can ask ourselves regarding (the proverbial picture of) our conversations, settings, relationships, careers and other facets of life.

I’m sure you’ve asked yourself the question before but perhaps formed it differently. Instead, you’ve asked:

What is my purpose? Why did God call me to do this? Why do I have this job when my career goals are totally different? Why did I meet him or her? Why am I going through this? Why was I born? What am I to learn from this situation?

Each of these questions, I believe, is another way of asking: Why am I in the picture?

Truth is, we should exclude ourselves from some “pictures”, but we tend to try to fit in someone else’s shot, even if it means photobombing.

When you find yourself in toxic relationships, the honest, well-thought-out answer to the above question, should urge you to walk away from that which is not good for you.

On the other hand, a reflection of your journey as you recall a time when you’ve asked yourself some form of that question, your response may help you appreciate where you are in life right now and have a better understanding of how God has ordered your steps. That’s my story because now I can see how my past two jobs prepared me for my current job.

At times, we are in the picture for a divine purpose – to provide encouragement, bring peace, make connections, share love, take a stand, be a witness, and the list can go on and on.

Other times, we are in the picture for our selfish reasons. We force ourselves to stay in the picture although God is ready to crop us out and place us in a different setting with our past in the background. Are you ready to change places?

Take some time to think about why you’re in the picture. You might discover that you should be where you are, but you’re not fulfilling your purpose. You might realize that it’s time to do more or it’s time to move on. It’s helpful to understand why you’re in the picture.

Killer Confidence

By: Shannon Boatwright

I was thrilled to come across this poignant article on Glamour.com about confidence. The article features an excerpt from Mindy Kaling’s new book, Why Not Me?. She brings up some very valid points that I think every woman should be reminded of.

People tend to question Mindy’s confidence, and she offers some insight into her experience and why she believes confidence should be earned.

Mindy shares that she was a nervous wreck when she first started out as a writer on the hit show The Office. She had zero confidence, with nervous ticks and all. She said, “Years later I realized that the way I had felt during those first few years was correct. I didn’t deserve to be confident yet. I happen to believe that no one inherently deserves anything, except basic human rights….”

“Confidence is just entitlement,” Mindy says. She goes on to explain that entitlement has gotten a bad rap, always used in a negative way or used to describe a reality TV star. She says, “But entitlement in and of itself isn’t so bad. Entitlement is simply the belief that you deserve something. Which is great. The hard part is, you better make sure you deserve it.”

Mindy explains that hard work and confidence go hand and hand. Basically, in the professional world, you have no right to be confident if you haven’t put in the workload to deserve it! She brings up some points here that are worth paying attention to and thinking about.

The word “workaholic” has gotten a bad rap, too. But I can say, without a doubt, that I’ve never met or heard of any incredibly successful person that was not a hard worker. How can someone become truly successful without working really hard for their success? Kids these days need to understand this concept. We have to earn our success, which in turn means that we earn our confidence! We build it as we work hard to achieve that success.

Mindy goes on to say that as women, we need to be a little bit brave (I say be very brave!) and we have to NOT hate ourselves. Imagine that….Yep, it helps to actually like yourself!  I love what she says about fear: “People do not get scared when you’re failing. They get scared when you try to do something, especially when it looks like you’re succeeding.”

So to add to Miss Kaling’s fabulous points, I think we need to remember to believe in ourselves. We need to use, build and strengthen our talents so that we can grasp onto that well-deserved entitlement gained from hard work and perseverance. Being secure in your own self worth and abilities will bring on confidence and allow you to shine.

I plan to check out Mindy’s book, and I definitely plan to work hard and contribute to my confidence! Because I don’t want just a normal level of confidence, I want killer confidence! 🙂 How about you?

Cloth Diapers

It is Sunday again so that means that it is laundry day. Doing laundry on the weekends is not novel to most families. It is a time for many mothers to catch up and do load after load after load in between the other tasks of grocery shopping, cleaning, and spending time together as a family. In between my loads of work clothes, toddler clothes, and casual clothes, though, I have another type of laundry going on.

Diaper laundry. A lot of people are surprised when they find out I cloth diaper. Some older people, somewhat familiar with the idea from generations past, ask if I have a diaper service. Hm. We can hardly get delivery pizza out in Gilbert, SC let alone diaper pick up and drop off.

I decided to cloth diaper my son when I was pregnant. It took a lot of convincing on the part of my husband to get him on board. Why would we do something so gross when disposable diapers are readily available? How could we dare wash bodily fluids in the same washing machine as our clothes? Are we really going to invest $300 in a stash of cloth diapers when we could just put some diapers on our registry and go from there?

So why was I so insistent on cloth diapering? First – it isn’t that crazy of a thing. Many of our parents and certainly our grandparents did it. Second – cloth diapers have come a long way. They aren’t the “plastic pants” of generations past.

Over the span of 2.5 years of diapering, these diapers are estimated to save us $1800-$2200 with an initial investment of only a few hundred dollars. They can be reused for subsequent children as well.

They are better for the environment. It has been estimated that it takes 250 years for a disposable diaper to decompose!

They are adorable.

Some people try to mention that I’m wasting water by rinsing and then washing the diapers. All they have to do is look into how much water is used in the making of disposables.

About washing them in my washing machine – if any parent thinks they’ll never be washing vomit or poop clothes in their washing machine at home they are sadly mistaken! And while we’re talking about poop clothes – in 16 months all of our “blow out” diapers have been disposable we’ve been using while traveling. We love how dependable our cloth diapers are.

Having this cloth diaper chore probably adds 45 minutes to my week of “stuff to do.” The rewards are worth it, though. I feel good about doing another thing to help the environment, I’m never rushing to the store because we’re out of diapers, I’m not spending any money on diapers, and I can do less laundry on days where we let the diaper be our “pants” because they are so cute!

If you are interested in cloth diapers, don’t be intimidated. They are easier than one would think! Here are some resources:

http://theartofsimple.net/cloth-diapering/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64os5I4_Z9Q

There’s Something to That

By: Chaunte McClure

While attending a housewarming a few years ago, I sat with two other young ladies and somehow we started talking about having kids. One of the young ladies who wanted a child asked me if I had children. When I said no, she asked if I wanted any. I think I shook my head and then she said, “there’s something to that.”

Well, little did I know, there really was something to that. In March, I was skimming through “Battlefield of the Mind” and meditating on some of the scriptures Joyce Meyer references in preparation for a series of life classes I co-facilitated that month. I read the book a year or so prior for our Sunday school class, but interestingly enough, God revealed something different to me about myself during my study time. In the book, Meyer wrote that Satan begins to deceive us when we are young, “waging war on the battlefield” of our minds.

God reminded me of a time when I said that I didn’t want children because I didn’t want them to grow up without a father like I did. I was probably a pre-teen or teen when that seed was planted in mind and out of it grew branches of distrust, insecurity and bitterness. As a child I began to believe that my children’s father would be absent, so to prevent abandonment or absenteeism, I decided (as a child!) that I wouldn’t have children. So the young lady at the housewarming was right, because there was something to me not wanting to have children.

I’m glad God revealed that stronghold so I could one, see how manipulative Satan can be and two, change the way I was thinking. My only regret … I wish I realized this sooner.

What kind of thoughts or past experiences are holding you captive? Ask God to help you discover them.

More ‘baby talk’ to come in my next post.