I have always loved to go on outings, adventures or travels!

As a child, it didn’t matter if we were going to the bank or the hardware store, I was always ready to grab my coat and go. I remember clearly one summer day when my Uncle Larry was heading to the Auto parts store. I begged to go with him and in his quiet gentle way he agreed to take me.

We drove in his old station wagon and when we arrived at the store, he asked me to wait in the car. Then he firmly told me not to play with the buttons on the radio. He got out and went into the store.

My eyes moved directly to the radio. “Don’t touch the buttons” echoed in my head, but my fingers could not resist.  Uncle Larry would never know would he? Slowly, I reached out and pushed one of the shiny silver buttons. Nothing happened. I looked around and couldn’t see my Uncle Larry.  Another push and another and then I put my hands back into my lap.

Uncle Larry returned to the car a few minutes later. He started the car and then looked at me and said “You touched the radio didn’t you.”

Right then my heart sank.  I loved my Uncle Larry and I didn’t ever want to displease him. I was sure he would never know. But he did. I hung my head and nodded yes, sure that I was going to receive a scolding from an angry Uncle.

It was quiet for a moment, and then my Uncle Larry said something I never expected.  With sadness in his voice, he said “Ok Melanie, but please don’t touch the radio next time.”

I couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t angry, just sad that I had disobeyed him! He offered me forgiveness and a second chance! Instantly, I was determined never to let him down again.

My Uncle Larry gave me a glimpse of my Heavenly Father that day.

God has given me many instructions and guidelines to follow but too often I slip and ignore His guidance. It’s natural to expect Him to be angry and bring condemnation and judgement. But we are assured that when we slip and blow it, all we need to do is be honest about it with Him and we are lovingly forgiven and accepted.

Some people fear that this view of God may tempt us to sin more because we know we can be forgiven for it. This isn’t true in my life. Just as I felt with my Uncle Larry, God’s loving forgiveness leads me to a stronger desire not to let Him down again.  His faithful love urges me to try to be more faithful to him.

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our failures to him, he is faithful and just, and forgives us and cleanses us from all wrong choices.

1 John 1:8-9

Is it hard for you to accept God’s guidelines?

Is it hard to admit if you’ve failed?

How does forgiveness impact you?

I have never been a very political person! Yes I care very much about being a good citizen, voting, and democracy. But, I have always shied away from people who played “behind the scenes” games or were manipulators or even liars. The older I get, the more I view “politics” as a huge game, which I don’t understand.

But now, instead of standing on the outside, I find myself pushed into the middle of the game, with my health being a pawn in this game, with no obvious rules, but very severe consequences.

What am I talking about?

Well, there are several things on my list, but I’m just going to share one big one that you can be  praying about for me. I, and many other’s with dyautonomia (the disfunction of the part of the central nervous system that controls all automatic functions of your body) and being thrown into this political “game” as the FDA withdraws a very important medication.

This medication, ProAmatine (also known as midodrine) is the only medication on the market that raises blood pressure. It does so my causing the blood vessels to constrict, thus allowing more blood, and with it, more oxygen back up to the brain – a function a normal autonomic system does for every human being.

Many of my friends can not even stand up without midodrine! The lack of blood pressure and oxygen to the brain causes them to pass out as soon as they stand up.

For me, it has been a medication I used when I needed the strength for a long period of sitting upright with my feet down (like when flying somewhere) or when I hope to have some increased standing time (like when I go to church or other outings).

If you look back a couple weeks at my blog, you’ll see that I have recently developed the symptoms of adult onset of asthma. This is most likely due to my long term use of beta blockers, which also help this situation, by lowering the racing heart rate I get when standing. (POTS)

My first thought was that I might have to switch over to using midodrine every day – and then came the news… the FDA is pulling it from production at the end of Sept.

Is it unsafe? NO! Have their been issues with side effects? NO! Is there any problem at with this medication? Only one…. the fact that there are not enough people in the world with autonomic dysfunction and POTS to make it profitable to do the final studies to jump through the final FDA hoop to keep it on the market.

“OK”… you say… “That’s really too bad for all the patients who need it, but it makes financial sense.” And I suppose it does and wouldn’t be a “game” if FDA was following through on all medications like this. But they are saving face by picking on one of many medications whose manufacturers have never jumped through the final hoop!!

So.. without a beta blocker or midodrine – After standing for 10 minutes or less, my blood pressure has dropped as low as 79/54. And I have never passed out.

Imagine those who will not be able to lift their head from the bed without passing out! Now try saying “That’s really to bad for all the patients who need it but…” It begins to stick in your throat.

I wish it would stick in the throat of the FDA.

If you’d like to visit my friend Rachel at her blog “One Day At A Time” and Emily at her blog “Dancing Lights Studio Notes” where she has 2 posts: “Goodbye Magic Midodrine?” and “How to help Step 1: Contact FDA”, you can read more about how this is going to impact them!

Please pray for me, that I will not become embittered or disheartened. Pray that God would provide a way to deal with these symptoms and give my new doctor guidance.

And pray for all of those, who are even worse off than I am – who need this medication even worse than I do!

Tonight, I opened my Bible, and this verse tumbled out… written on an index card:

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Psalm 34:18

For Christmas last year, my daughter Marie came up with some very unique gifts for each of us. She planned out special outings for each of us to spend time with her! Ellen was taken to Seattle to see PNB’s “Sleeping Beauty”, she had unique activities for both her brother and father, and for me, she planned an outing to The Oregon Garden!

I’ve never been to The Oregon Garden. It’s still in development, but I’d heard great things from my friends who also love the outdoors and gardening. So I was very excited.

For over a month now, we have been trying to take our trip. Over and over again, my health got in the way. This past week, I was so determined to make it, that I even had to pass up the opportunity to go to the beach over the weekend!

But outings are not only hard to plan, they are hard to do. This one day outing, basically took 2 weeks… one week in resting and refusing anything that would require me to “recover” at all! It worked, and with the help of some very important medication, I was able to go!

Marie drove, and we had lunch together and a nice walk through the many gardens that make up The Oregeon Garden. No… we didn’t see it all, but I did walk, thanks to my medications.

Now, it will take me a week to recover. But that’s OK… I planned that into the “outing plans”. And here I am, only 3 days out and even posting a short blog!

I put together a little video I though you might enjoy that shows just a few of the many pictures I took.

I must add, that, even as I write this with great joy in my heart over this outing with my daughter, my heart is heavy because there has been unexpected and unhappy news in connection with the medication that allowed me to go on this outing. I am preparing my next blog and I hope you’ll come and read my next post. I will need some emotional support as I share with a heavy heart.

But… now… back to the happy! What a gorgeous day we had… enjoy this fun video!!!

(all pictures and rights reserved (c) Melanie Pruitt)

I “met” TeaFlection through my job as a tea reviewer at TeaViews. I was very happy when they asked me to do a review of their tea here on my blog!

First, I want to tell you that I was not paid for this review and I am sharing my complete and honest opinion!

They let me choose which tea I would like to review, so I chose to try their Irish Breakfast tea. As soon as I received my 1/2lb bag (and a complimentary tea ball infuser) I couldn’t wait to brew my regular morning pot of tea. (we’re in a short hot spell or I would have brewed a pot of afternoon tea as soon as it arrived)

I’ve really enjoyed browsing TeaFlection‘s website. It’s easy to navigate and there’s a nice variety of teas to choose from including Green teas, White teas, several Oolong teas and a unique variety of herbal tisanes!

TeaFlections seems to focus less on creating their own unique blends of tea, and more on bringing quality tea to online customers. Their prices are amazingly reasonable for the quality of tea they deliver.

Their motto is “Tea without compromise” and for those who are just being introduced to loose leaf tea, they also include a tea ball infuser like the one I received – perfect for brewing a single cup of tea!

I must say, am thrilled with my choice of TeaFlections Irish Breakfast tea. I chose it  based on it’s description:

“Irish Breakfast Tea produces a rich, liquoring cup that is full-bodied, brisk, and malty. Blended from black teas such as Assam teasand Sri Lankan teas, a cup of Irish Breakfast tea becomes stronger the longer it brews.”

This descriptions was right on! And I must add that TeaFlections does a great job, not only in defining their tea, but in telling a little bit about that particular tea and some of the possible health benefits too!

I always look for full-bodied black teas. I love any tea from Sri Lanka and I love Assam so this sounded like the tea for me. The real problem is, that the quality of the beverage still depends on the quality of the tea leaves.

When I opened my package of tea, it smelled so fresh! It was in a tightly sealed bag which, after opening, has a zip lock closure so that I can lock out air, keeping the tea fresh. The leaves are not full leaves, but definitely are not fannings (the leftover dust that most tea bags use). I was pleased with the variety of colors, from golden tips to darker leaves. This led me to expect a good blend.

As I always do, I started with cold fresh water in my tea kettle, and while that heated on the stove, I filled my teapot with hot water to warm it.

I used my “perfect cup of tea” measuring spoon, which is basically a teaspoon. I used two heaping and about 3/4 of a third spoonful. I also used my basket infuser. It fits into the opening of my teapot and is large enough to give the tea leaves room to expand.

Once the water has just come to a boil (don’t let it boil on – the loss of oxygen messes with the quality of your brewed tea), I quickly emptied the pot, put the basket with tea in it and poured the water over the leaves until the pot was full. Then I set the lid on and put a tea cozy over the pot to keep it hot.

I brewed TeaFlection’s Irish Breakfast for 6 min. 5 min is commonly known as the brewing time for black tea, and if you go over 7 min, many black teas begin to get bitter. I chose 6 min because I like a strong cup of tea in the morning, but I wanted to be sure not to ruin the flavor for this review. 6 min turned out to be perfect and I used that timing again for my second pot!

At 6 min I removed my tea infuser basket and sat back and enjoyed one of the best pots of black tea I’ve had! I just love this blend! It’s just slightly malty, very very smooth, and takes milk very nicely!

Additionally, I found that it makes a great iced tea as well! I had some warm tea left in my second pot, so I filled a cup with ice, and poured it over the ice. The tea took on a more astringent flavor when iced, but was very refreshing!

I encourage you to visit TeaFlection‘s website and browse around. You’ll find some great tea options and their customer service is outstanding. I know there are several more teas I have my heart set on trying!

AND… don’t miss out on the possibility of winning some free tea! If you click here you can enter their weekly Haiku contest (or look on the left hand side of the tea pages, you’ll see a link to the Haiku contest) The entry page explains everything. It’s easy to submit a haiku and you may just find yourself with a lovely bag of tea from TeaFlection too!

You can find TeaFlection on Facebook Here

You can follow TeaFlection on Twitter Here

**NOTE: I did not receive any payment for this review. I was only sent the Irish Tea Blend to sample and everything I have expressed here are my honest opinions!

Happy Tea Tuesday!