And Just Like That, a Stroke

My life has been quite busy trying to stay on top of my medical issues, getting medical supplies and keeping my doctors and other medical personnel informed on everything going on. With the craziness of everything, it can be easy to get tangled up in the demands of the world. It seems whoever has the most urgent need gains my attention.

Recently, my perspective changed. A single communication alerted my family that a family member suffered a stroke. The person made it to the hospital and is alive. But unfortunately, there has been a lot of complications which have arisen. The situation will need delicate care and lots of prayer.

As I sit in my bed, exhausted from trying to keep up with the world, I ponder how much of my time I am wasting. I have dramatically cut back on the amount of time I have been online, but still, I feel as though I spend too much of my time not being productive.

So with that, I think I will spend even less time online in the coming weeks. It will be a welcomed hiatus from the noise of social media. It will give me time to spend with my family and appreciate how fragile this life is. It will give me time to pray and petition God for a full and complete recovery for my family member.

The Sound of Silence

For several years, we have had an increase in the number of telemarketer calls we receive on our landline phone. However, recently, the number of calls we get has been astronomical. The phone rings up to six times an hour! Sometimes, one telemarketer will hang up and then a few moments later, another telemarketer will call!

I could not tolerate this. I was at my breaking point. The endless phone calls were driving me crazy. I checked with the national call registry. Yes, our phone has been on the do not call list for the last 15 years. But it does not seem to matter. The telemarketers are calling from overseas. The penalties for violating the do not call registry cannot be enforced on international companies.

I read online up about blocking telemarketer calls. I discovered we could block most telemarketers by blocking the area code it shows on our caller ID. Almost all the calls come from one area code. However, there was a problem. We get real calls from that area code. If we blocked all numbers with that area code, we would be blocking real phone calls.

Thankfully, our telephone company has a special feature in which all phone calls with that specific area code can be intercepted before it rings our phone. The person calling is given a random three digit code and told to enter it. If the code is entered correctly, our phone then rings. If the wrong code is entered, the phone call will not go through.

Since setting this up last week, we have only had TWO telemarketer calls; the telemarketers were calling from a different area code which is not blocked. I am so relieved! It is so nice to not have our phone ring all day long.

Today, I am once again enjoying the sound of silence. Ah, silence. What a beautiful sound!