Welcome to Fresh Mercy Every Morning

Category: At Home in Florida

Weather brings the announcement of new seasons, even here in Florida.

  • @ Home in Florida

    Hello from the land of perpetual summer! We have seasons, they just don’t swing wildly from one to the other. Our seasons are more subtle, often judged by sweat equity. LOL, but that’s the truth! Here at our house, we cheer when we get a freeze. It helps to kill a few pesky bugs; mosquito, flea, tick, and flies! And we haven’t had a freeze for a few years. Our winter months run an interesting cycle, it warms up to the point you need your shorts & t-shirts again, then it rains, then wham, it’s cold & shivering again. Then we slowly warm up, rain, shiver. Here in Florida, we don’t pack our summer clothes away, and our favorite sweater is always close by.

    Today’s weather, September 20, 2025, It’s 85°, 90 is the high/ 71 the low. Clear. North northwest wind around 5 to 10 mph.
    With gusts as high as 20 mph.
    Humidity 59%
    Dewpoint 69°

    How do you know it’s Fall in Florida? It’s easy, just an intimate little shift in the overnight lows. When they drop into the lower 70’s fall has arrived. The mornings are cooler, the afternoons still 🔥 hot! But that’s where the “I wore my sweater to school, but carried it home” came from. And I sure did that often enough.

    A recent article of encouragement, on leaning into God to allow Him to do the heavy lifting.

    The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. — Judges 7:20

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  • Recalibrating Life, what does it look like?

    Being an introvert, I can get too much people, activity, and busyness in my life. I am a wall flower, I wear that badge, even a homebody.

    In May of this year, we will celebrate 38 years of wedded wildness. And it has been a wild ride, racing from one activity to another. When our children were young, I was known to lament that I wanted the merry-go-round to stop so I could get off! I found myself feeling that way again a few weeks back. And so, I decided-to get off. We are all adults. Take care of yourself. Moms not available. I wish it was that simple.

    Nonetheless, I have been sneaking in quiet times for reflection. And so far, my recalibration has been going pretty well. I have learned I can stop this merry-go-round whenever I need to; I can take a pass on some activities, stay home alone, and be better for it.

    Starting with the mornings, try to slow down and breathe.

    And I have learned more about myself, like how much I like a schedule. And I want to keep the schedule, thank you just the same. I had to explain this to Mr. B. We had a fair exchange of information; I learned new things too.

    Maybe you are also feeling the need to step back and find yourself again. We non-ADHD-ers can be exhausted by the sheer force of energy exuding from our hyperactive loved one(s).

    Honor yourself! Don’t wait for someone else to notice you need a rest. Go ahead and trot your tired self off for a much-needed quiet time.

    It is vital to stay true to ourselves. We can only run so far in daily life on someone else’s music. At first, it’s a novelty and even fun. But then, the fun starts wearing off, and we start to flat-line because we aren’t getting what we need to live happily. Life is full of give and take. No one gets to have it all. We need to remind each other that it’s okay to pull back, take a break, take a nap!

    And it might be time to reassess how much of an activity has to be done today. How small can you break a task down? I mean how small can you make it and still know you accomplished something? For instance, I am cleaning out the fridge. This week I cleaned the inside of the fridge door, wiped the bottles, wiped the shelving, checked dates and tossed a 4-year-old bottle of lemon juice. How? How does this stuff get forgotten? Life, that’s how.

    Life happens at the speed of, well, life. There are real seasons of life when cleaning the fridge isn’t a high priority. Those seasons when cleaning the fridge means wiping up spills when they happen. Done. Over it. And we move on.

    Move in the season of life you are in. I promise you it will not always be like this. Our children grow up. Our bodies change. Our work life changes. Life rolls on. Everything changes. And we are doing really good if we can realize the season is changing and start working into that new way of living.

    I’m cheering you on. You do you. Me do me. And shine brightly in your world. Even as introverts we can shine brightly. I inherited a really nice smile from my mom, my grandmother, and so on. I’m happy to share it. That’s me shining brightly. I have a sister who has a really sweet laugh, it’s a joyful laugh, she shares it lavishly. That’s her shining brightly. You do you!

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  • Coming to the Last Hooray

    Don’t ask me how it happened. I was not in control. But life is often full to the brim. And that is where we find ourselves every fall. About Columbus Day we start celebrating every 3 to 4 weeks until St. Patrick Day. Remember 2024 when we had Easter jammed into March? My head was spinning. Too much, too, too much. By Good Sunday I was done. No more celebrating for me.

    Wait, I lost myself there, we’re celebrating birthday, holiday, birthday, holiday, birthday, birthday, holiday. You get now. So, every year I am hanging on for that last birthday, then I crash. Done. Breathe. Check for broken bones. Now we pick up and get ready for another run. I tell you; it never truly stops in this ADHD home of mine.

    I am 10 days away from the last birthday. Basically, I decided in early February, it was time for a recalibration of my life. Consequently, I am sneaking in little reminders that it’s time to stop, and rethink how I do everything. Do you, dear reader, every reach a point where enough is enough? And the only help is to step away and rethink it all?

    Well, that’s where I am right now. Here we are on the cusp of March, for me March is the week between Christmas and New Year. During this month I will work like a busy beaver to set up a better working system to help me track all. the. things! Lord willing, by April 1 I will have all systems go, in order, and working. Stay tuned for an update.

    Peaceful little lamb reminding me to breathe

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  • The Good and Bad of Labels We Use

    We should listen to ourselves and think about how the words we use make us feel.
    Case in point. “Year end.” I first started here this term maybe 10 years ago. At first, I strongly disliked it. I wanted to ignore it. Then I disliked it a little less and started reading about the ideas behind this term. I still didn’t like it. I still deleted more emails than I read, because of what they talked about year-end wise. Today, I still don’t like the term. It makes me feel we are going to dig a deep hole, chop the head off this beast of the current year and bury it deep. To be forgotten.

    My goodness, is your life really that bad? Can you glean no amount, no matter how small, of goodness out of your year? How about the fact that you woke up every morning of that year? How about the delicious coffee, tea, or milk you started each day with? How about that gratitude habit you worked on last month? No matter where we are in life, there is something good to glean. Glean it! Treasure it in your heart! Look for more of it in the new year! Begin a collection!

    This year I started remembering my own parents. They worked for themselves all but 4 years of my childhood. And they talked about closing a year out. Beginning mid-November, they would compile receipts and records to close out that year of business. Isn’t that a much gentler term? Close the year. It’s not going anywhere, It will be right back there in the bottom drawer. Handy to pull out and compare should the desire or need arise. So, this year let’s be kind to ourselves, gentler to our self-conscious. Let’s start checking in to learn how certain terms make us feel. When every label hits us in the throat, it becomes tiresome. Let’s scale back to gentler terms. In my home and business, I will be closing out 2024 with joy and beginning 2025 with peace.

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  • Are you waiting for a normal week?

    I’m picking up this word in podcasts & emails – Normal, as in a normal week when I can get it all done. Or a normal week when life slows down. Sorry! Say what?? I am far away from my school days, but we learned this is euphoria and it is not real life.

    So, have we labeled normal incorrectly? Let’s go back to the beginning and think again.

    Normal means

    (from the online webster dictionary):

    as an adjective – that’s a descriptive word – it means to conform to a standard (sounds scary), the usual, typical or expected

    as a noun – that’s a person, place or thing – it means the usual, average, or typical state of condition.

    But are you picking up a theme here? I am! Normal is what we expect to happen. It is the typical state of our week, the day in, day out of living. At any rate, our dream of a “perfect week” is often far from the normal week.

    For me, consequently, the perfect day or week would be a large absence of my ADHD family, they would appear in small, controlled amounts of time. They would behave perfectly with no outburst of any type. I would have large swaths of time in which to accomplish great endeavors of creativity in my chosen talent. This is not my life, it’s a dream, it’s not normal!

    For me the perfect day or week would be a large absence of my ADHD family, lol! Then it wouldn’t be my life!

    I love my normal life

    Undoubtedly, my normal week is being tossed from one activity, to the next; to the next; to the next; until I fall down from exhaustion. Quiet is a lost commodity in my normal days. Another key point, as a newlywed 21-year-old I was very happy with my normal, a quiet week filled with work, quiet evening activities, and sleep. To say the least, marrying a man with ADHD was eye opening. I fought hard to keep my “Normal”, much to my husband’s chagrin.

    It was a very hard fight to give up a little of my “Normal” for a little bit of his “Normal”. Additionally, being an introvert added to my misery. Then we had children. The first was a dream; slept all the time. And the second was fussy; always cold. And then the third one we lost; so, all the sadness. Finally, the fourth; was the baby in every sense of the word. In our busy, fast-moving world, I found myself, often without enough down time to process even a little of life as we knew it

    But through all the upheaval, excitement, learning and growing I began to piece together some anchors in my day. They were like islands of sanity, with space to breathe, and time to collect my thoughts. Early on it was lunch & naptime. Lunch provided the slowdown before naptime. Naptime was a part of our day for 20 years. After all, even my teenage children needed the break in their day, just as much as I did!

    Action!

    What does your normal look like? Are you good with it? Or do you need to tweak it?

    Take a long minute to think about what’s bugging you, what you can change, what you would love to do differently.

    Pray about it! Avail yourself of Jesus’ comfort and love. Ask Him to help and He will change your life.

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  • Happy Thanksgiving from Florida

    Hello Readers, it’s late November as I write. It’s cooling off in Florida! Our high today is 66 F degrees. One thing we know, if it gets chilly in Florida, the rest of the country as very likely cooled off too. Welcome to Fall! We have heard it will be a warm winter, yuck. But then we heard December is going to cool off. That’s the weather men for you. Here in our locale, we are at the tip of everyone’s weather radar. On a good day they have 75% accuracy in forecasting our weather. Right now, somebody’s radar is down, so accuracy is down to 45%. This is nothing new for my home county. I was born here. And grew up here. I learned to read the sky, just as my children did. The good news is that it looks like the 2024 Hurricane Season is going to close quietly! That is good news for the Southeast and the Northeast too! Remember to keep those still working to recover from the recent storms in your prayers.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

    2 favorite verses about thanksgiving

    2 Corinthians 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

    1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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