I’m going to need to take another break from blogging for health reasons. I hope all of you are well, and I look forward to writing more later!
If you like, you can read the Christmas story (based on a true story) I posted last year: http://www.blackhillspicturebooks.com/2013/12/13/a-christmas-story/
Christa Upton Black Hills Picture Books PO Box 293 Custer, SD 57730
I am very, very, very thankful.
Christa Upton Black Hills Picture Books PO Box 293 Custer, SD 57730
With difficulties in life or hurt from other people often comes anger. This is normal, natural, and “needed.”
Technically anger probably isn’t “needed,” but acknowledgment of it is. I’m not sure it is humanly possible to face severe troubles without anger, and denying or suppressing anger causes problems.
However, staying in a place of anger also causes problems.
Some things to try regarding moving away from anger:
1. “Have it out” with God. Tell Him how you feel; He can handle it (good advice from a mentor years ago).
2. Realize none of us deserve anything. Why should we think we “don’t deserve” to suffer? Are we that holy? Like it or not, no one “owes” us anything.
3. However, life really IS unfair sometime. So read the Psalms, especially Psalm 37 and 73. (Great comfort to me there.)
4. Express your anger in safe ways, with “safe” people that you trust.
5. In situations regarding evil human behavior, focus on forgiveness. Does forgiveness say the hurtful action was okay? NO. Forgiveness says, “I give up my right to hurt you even though you hurt me.”
6. Remember that you are not perfect, thus you have hurt others and need their forgiveness and of course God’s forgiveness.
7. Think of others who inspire you to courage: Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Corrie Ten Boom, Nathan Hale, and Nick Vujicic come to my mind right away.
8. Above all, ask God to help you. He can even help you want to give up your anger if you are struggling with that first step.
Let go of anger; reap peace and joy for yourself.
Have you experienced benefit from letting go of anger?
Christa Upton Black Hills Picture Books PO Box 293 Custer, SD 57730
So, if you have perused my blog, you can see that I write a lot about suffering, grief, and other unpopular subjects.
Why? Because I know suffering can be a lonely place, and I don’t want others to walk that road alone.
I also don’t want people to think I am writing speculation or philosophy or theology disconnected to real life.
What follows is not boasting (except to boast that the Lord has brought me and is bringing me through all this). (And just want to assure you that I’m doing fine by the grace of God and the help of family/friends.)
What qualifies me to discuss suffering? Among other things:
As long as this list is (and it’s not everything I’ve suffered of course :)), I’m sure I could come up with a longer list of blessings!!!
But anyway, now you know that I’ve lived some suffering. I hope that my experiences and thoughts can help others who are suffering, knowing that I have been through some difficult things, too.
Christa Upton Black Hills Picture Books PO Box 293 Custer, SD 57730
So “brain fog” can be described many ways. One way this affects people is that often, people have trouble finishing sentences.
My own brain fog has gone from “feeling fuzzy,” to distressingly unable to communicate my thoughts, to downright funny. I was once emailing a friend, and seriously, no joke, this is what I wrote and sent at the end of one email. I didn’t notice until she wrote back and I saw what I had written:
“FUNNY that I can have brain fog and rambling thoughts at the same time—in ”
Oh, my! Talk about brain fog! It’s bad when talking verbally, but when writing an email, and I don’t even finish my sentence, and IN a sentence talking about brain fog…. Yikes.
However, brain fog can be a great excuse for all kinds of things: bad grammar, forgetting to take out the trash, forgetting your BFF’s birthday, forgetting to eat….
Speaking of eating, they say that when you have food sensitivities, eating foods you are sensitive to can increase brain fog. And dealing with food sensitivities can be a royal pain. So can having numerous and multiple symptoms from either food or MCS or whatever.
Having multiple symptoms sometimes feels like being attacked on several fronts. It’s hard dealing with that and trying to survive well.
When surviving well, I think one key is rest. I sometimes don’t rest enough, and sometimes I pay for it! But another key can be….
Wait a second. What were we talking about?
Christa Upton Black Hills Picture Books PO Box 293 Custer, SD 57730
Sit down at a table in America, and what is the first thing many people do? Reach for the salt! Professional chefs say that food must be seasoned with salt. Processed food companies and fast food producers add a lot of salt to their foods so that people will like it better.
What does all this mean? People like salt!
People like light, too. Cozy candlelight, flickering fireplace light, warm sunshine streaming in the window—people are drawn to these like bees to flowers. (Or like moths to your porch light!)
Photographers use light to create phenomenal photos. Artists use light and perspective of light to form masterpieces. Human beings now even use sunlight to power electricity and cook food!
When I thought about what I wanted to emphasize with our children as they grow, many things came to mind. The most important were these:
People spend lifetimes learning how to do these things. What could I focus on?
How would I focus on (1)? For me, that one was “easy.” It is “easy” to love God when He has loved us first and when we find out more and more what He is like. Therefore, I focus my efforts on teaching our children what God is like. How?
How about (2)? This Scripture came to mind:
“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
Earlier in the chapter it talks about salt as well. What do salt and light have in common? People like them!
Good works (including acting in the manner of I Corinthians 13 and Matthew 5:1-16) are certainly something people like! And the good works of a Christian will point to the Founder of those good works—God.
What do I want most for my kids?
I want them to love the Lord their God with all their hearts, minds, and souls.
And I want them to love their neighbors.
One way of doing both is to obey God and be the type of people that other people like and are drawn to—by being light and salt.
PS Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends, and see you all next week!
Christa Upton Black Hills Picture Books PO Box 293 Custer, SD 57730
In case you can’t tell, I love children!
I love writing children’s books. I enjoy making up activities and puzzles for them.
I love featuring their work. (See our Kids’ Corner, which includes stories, recipes, crafts etc. not only for children but BY children. In my own books, I have SO enjoyed using my children’s ideas, photos, artwork, and even writing/plot edits!)
Especially with special needs in our family, I have researched, prayed, and thought many, many hours about how to love children. When childhood grief (over their own disabilities or whatever) enters the picture, stakes get higher.
Even if you do not have children yourself, many of you probably have neighbor children, children at church, or children in other places you work or volunteer that could use your love. These same principles apply.
So, here is some of what I have learned. 12 ways to love children are:
I can’t tell you exactly what I learned from where, but I must credit the people who have taught me much:
Dr. James Dobson
Hearing his voice takes me back to the days when our oldest was 2! Find Dr. Dobson’s website and fantastic books here: http://drjamesdobson.org/
Josh McDowell
One of my favorite books of his is The Disconnected Generation. Phenomenal.
Find his wonderful website here: http://www.josh.org/
Love Languages, by Gary Chapman, is full of wisdom. Also, find Love Languages for Children here: http://www.5lovelanguages.com/resources/books/
The Bible
God, through prayer and crying out to Him
One more thing—I must also finish with grace. God’s grace. His grace that helps when we mess up, make mistakes, act selfishly, etc. And if you try #12, you will find that children are often very forgiving, too.
Christa Upton Black Hills Picture Books PO Box 293 Custer, SD 57730
The Disappearing Snacks is finally complete!
Who’s sneaking in into the church and stealing food? And why? The Johnson cousins and their friends tackle a new mystery, one that has the church custodian, youth pastor, and everyone alike stumped.
What surprise will they find at the end of their search, and who gets the prize for finding the thief?
The Disappearing Snacks is Christa’s second book for kids who like mysteries and warm stories of friendship.
Ideal for a bedtime read-aloud or an addition to your home-school reading program, this chapter book comes with comprehension and discussion questions and answer key. Over a dozen color photographs as “illustrations” add to the fun.
I had such fun writing this one. Several parts are based on true stories. 🙂
A wonderful editor also took a look and gave me some fantastic edits—I’m so thankful for that!!
I’m also very excited about some gorgeous photos that friends and family contributed! It’s fun to find/create photos to fit the story.
And I decided to start a new tradition–“a cake in every book.” 🙂 My brother-in-law (Steve Miller) is very talented at creating amazing artwork on cakes. I thought it would be fun for each mystery I write to have a photo of one of his cool cakes in it.
This book will be available for free November 26-30.
Speaking of mysteries, I think I am going to concentrate now on my picture books rather than mysteries for a while. So it might be a long time before the 3rd mystery in the series (The Silly Sheep) comes out. But please pray that I follow the Lord’s priorities!
View/purchase The Disappearing Snacks here: The Disappearing Snacks
Thanks to all of you who prayed or supported during the making of this book!!
Christa Upton Black Hills Picture Books PO Box 293 Custer, SD 57730
Today I would like to share a gift God gave me about 15 years ago.
Our son Nathan was a tiny baby. I had tried and tried nursing (believe me, I do not give up easily), but he was in too much pain to nurse well. But, he ended up being allergic to ALL formulas, so I pumped my milk for him. At one point, I was literally pumping 50 or more hours a week. (Can anyone say, “Moo”?)
We were feeding him many, many times a day, practically having to coax him to eat every single ounce (but he still wasn’t growing well).
He vomited every day, usually multiple times a day.
He cried so much the first 4 months; he was miserable (and so were we).
Around 5 months, we were finally at a better place when I adjusted my diet (no gassy veggies, dairy, soy, corn, wheat, sugar, tomatoes, etc.) and he was finally getting only my milk (with my severely adjusted diet)—no formula.
He was actually happy for long periods of time for the first time in his life!
But the doctors were still very concerned about his lack of growth. However, the GI specialist in St. Louis at that time told us he had no idea what was wrong with our son.
Then we tried rice cereal with him for two weeks, and it was a NIGHTMARE. He cried the whole two weeks. He drank less and less and less pumped milk (not good, because it has a lot of calories). I had to begin freezing it because I had so much left over.
At the end of the rice cereal trial, he didn’t sleep much for days. It was truly awful (and I’m not even sure why, though I have my guesses).
Of course we took him off the rice cereal. Within a week or so, he was happy again and sleeping better.
But he still wasn’t growing enough.
Finally, after several visits with the GI specialist, the doctor told us that we—Nathan’s parents—were paranoid about food, and that’s why Nathan wasn’t growing.
I. was. devastated.
A depression settled on me unlike anything I’d ever before or even since experienced.
I’d get our little son down for a nap, sit down & start thinking, then start crying. But then I couldn’t stop crying.
I told Steve it was like a “transparent” black curtain would come down over my eyes and “color” everything in my life black.
This happened at least once a day, and it scared me. (Years later, people told me this was clinical depression.)
About two weeks later, we visited a Pentecostal or similar church. We sat in the back with our little guy, never having been there before, didn’t know anyone, etc.
They opened with some songs, a few praise choruses. The music slowly died down and the sanctuary was silent for a minute.
Then the pianist said into her microphone, “The Lord is reaching through the black curtain to dry your tears.”
I was shocked.
I knew it wasn’t coincidence that I had described the feeling to Steve as a black curtain. I KNEW that was God speaking to me through her. It still brings amazement to me and grateful tears to my eyes.
And from that day forward, that “curtain” never descended over my eyes again.
P.S. About 9 months later, after moving to Indiana, we found out at Riley Children’s Hospital that Nathan’s problem was dysmotility—food not moving through the system fast enough.
With such a tiny body, babies with dysmotility like this are not able to eat enough calories.
Nathan was on a medication for a while, and we received some great help from the doctor and a nutritionist.
Without doing an actual x-ray to see, Nathan appears to have completely grown out of this.
Christa Upton Black Hills Picture Books PO Box 293 Custer, SD 57730
These are just four random truths that have become more rooted in my life through difficult experiences. Pain isn’t fun, but it sure helps us grow, doesn’t it?
1. What God thinks is far more important than what people think.
Do people control the universe? (Some wish they did! LOL) Can people save our souls? Are people infallible? Are people always loving?
The rhetorical answer to these questions (no) means that what God thinks of us matters far more than what people think of us.
2. I can live without some things I thought I needed. In fact, I can see how I am better off without some things.
3. True friends are more important than “many” friends. True friends are priceless.
4. A home is not about a building; a home is about love.
What lessons have you learned through pain?
Christa Upton Black Hills Picture Books PO Box 293 Custer, SD 57730
