Author: Christy Bechtel

Even though I wasn’t able to do my volunteering at PRA this time I wanted to share a really cool story that I would definitely classify as a God thing. It’s not very often that we get to see the full circle effect of our prayers or intentions when we pray over general things. I didn’t do an HOP leave at all last year because of COVID, so the last time I was at PRA was in 2019. That year I blogged about volunteering there and this is a excerpt from what I wrote:

“I did my volunteer work at PRA again this year and every time I do this I leave blessed. I’ve blogged before about the mindless tasks they have for me to do there that seem so minimal but when I really stop to think about it, every single thing I touch there, whether putting together literature folders, replenishing the teddy bears in the patient rooms, making gift baggies for the new moms….is something that I’m doing to help bless a precious new life and their parents. This time I decided to pray over each bear I put away, each diaper I restocked in the closet, each tiny baby sock I put in the gift bags. Such a blessing to know that I’m able to speak life over those things that will be going home with those babies. I always leave there feeling like I’ve done something productive for the Kingdom and that’s a great feeling.”

Fast forward to May of 2020; the mother of my now grand baby found out she was pregnant. She had a friend take her to PRA to confirm pregnancy and was given a literature folder and a teddy bear to bring home after she was told about her choices and the support they would give her there. Let that sink in. The chances of those items she brought home being very items that I previously prayed over is nothing short of God’s miracle. I would never have thought as I was praying over those things in 2019 I would be potentially praying for my very own grandchild. Just thinking about it and typing it out gives me chills all over again. PRA is a blessing to so many but now they have been a direct blessing to my family and I will forever be grateful for the work they do and look forward to continuing to volunteer with them every chance I get.

This mini sabbatical was exactly what I needed to regroup, recharge and get me through the rest of the year. I’m so thankful to work for a company that values their employees enough to invest this kind of benefit to them.

Yesterday, was my birthday. It was a great day and we celebrated at Red Robin where I gobbled up my free birthday burger. I spent a lot of time reflecting on my life yesterday and decided to jot down my life’s blessings just to keep me grounded and focused on the big picture. If you are friends with me on Facebook you’ve probably already seen this but since part of our sabbatical is for a time of reflecting and focus I wanted to post here as well.

42nd Birthday Blessings in my Life

1. My God who is ever so merciful and forgiving of all my shortcomings. Who blesses me beyond measure every single day.
2. My amazing husband who treats me like a princess every day no matter what. I didn’t know the true meaning of being loved until he loved me.
3. My Hannah Rose. My beautiful, talented first born. I didn’t start living until I had her. She gave me purpose and has taught me how to be a mom and love a human unconditionally.
4. My Hailey Brianne. The most focused and driven young lady I’ve ever know. She is caring and loving and gracious.
5. My Hayden Vincent. He has shown me how to open my mind and let go of my own plans for this life. He is more gifted and talented than I could have ever hoped for.
6. My two angel babies. It doesn’t matter how many years pass, I will always long for the day I finally get to met them in heaven. Knowing I have that opportunity is such a blessing.
7. My parents. Through all my ups and downs, good choices and horrible decisions, they have loved me no matter what. I’m so blessed to still have them in my life.
8. My brother. Although we are far apart I know that he will always have my back and be there for me when I need him.
9. My grandparents. Even though they are all now gone from earth I will never forget all the great memories of how they loved me so well.
10. My last 10 days with my grandpa. It was traumatic and heartbreaking but was also my most favorite time with him. The blessing of showing him how much I loved him by caring for him is something I will always cherish.
11. My family by marriage. They have claimed me and my kids and never missed a beat. It’s a blessing to be part of the Bechtel family.
12. My former family by marriage. Even though my mother in law has passed, she was such a tremendous blessing to me for 20 years. She loved me as her own and was truly my second mother. I will forever be blessed from the things I learned from her. Mostly her graciousness and tremendous faith.
13. My former family by marriage, again. I’ve never felt abandoned or uncared for from my former father in law and I know I can always count on him if I’m ever in need. I’m blessed that he is still apart of my life.
14. My ex husband. Yep, I’m going there. I choose to find good in all situations. Without him there would be no 3,4,5 & 6 and I could never deny or regret those blessings. We have been through hell and back and I’m thankful that we have learned to be the best we know how to be for our children.
15. My friends. They are an eclectic group of people that I’m blessed to have in my life. Sometimes I’m still amazed at how faithful God is to have placed them all in my life at different times when I needed them the most.
16. My job. I work for an incredible company with leadership that cares for and loves their people.
17. My coworkers. They are all unique and bless my life in different ways.
18. My health. I’m blessed to be alive and well.
19. My dogs. They bless me with joy and love me no matter what.
20. My house. I’m blessed with far more than I deserve.
21. My Finances. We don’t struggle with money and have been continually blessed year after year.
22. My freedom. I’m so blessed to live in this country.
23. My humor. I have used it in all situations and it has gotten me through some tough times. I’m blessed to have this attribute in my personality.
24. My independence. I spent more than half my life codependent and lost. I’m blessed that through all my life experiences I have learned to be independent.
25. My heart. It’s ever evolving and I’m blessed at its ability to love through the hurt and rejoice through the pain.

Monday, the 14th I was due to start my service project at PRA. Unfortunately, right about the time our truck broke down, I started having stomach issues and they didn’t get any better by the next day. I’m pretty sure I brought back a parasite or something bad from Mexico. So, I delayed my service project and started the next day. I have chosen to volunteer at Pregnancy Resources of Abilene for a few years and I really enjoy every aspect of it. The people there are awesome and I like being a small part of something so much bigger than myself. The simplest task is part of the big picture in saving a child’s life. Every card stapled in every folder that’s given to an expectant mom is an opportunity to minister to her to choose life. On Wednesday my daughter Hailey was able to come volunteer with me. I’m thankful for that time to spend with her.

I’m a little farther behind on my blogging than I intended so I’ll try to recap as best as possible. On August 6th my husband and I left for our 7 day anniversary cruise. We left out of Galveston and ported in Honduras, Costa Maya, and Cozumel. The first two days were great. We were at sea and enjoyed the ship and loved the group of people at our dining table. To me, that’s one of the most fun parts of cruising. Our table consisted of 4 couples and we all hit it off on the first night and became instant friends. On days 3-5 our ship hit a tropical depression with ten foot waves and horrible rocking. It caused me to be super sea sick and get very little sleep. We almost didn’t get to port in Costa Maya because of the swells but it cleared up enough for us to port. That was my favorite of the three destinations so I’m glad it worked out. We completed the cruise on August 13th and were excited to make it off the boat and to our truck by 8:30 am. We were excited to get home to the kids and sleep in our new bed. Unfortunately, our truck broke down in Waco and we were literally stranded for over 5 hours. It was horrible! Apparently, mechanic shops are not open on Sundays in Waco. After trying a few things with no resolve we finally called family to come pick us up and we left the truck in Waco. The next day my husband went back with a friend and a trailer to haul it back to Abilene. Not the most awesome ending to a vacation but it could have been a lot worse so I’m thankful we made it home and nobody had a heat stroke, which was a serious concern.

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Day one…
My original plan was to sleep in. Unfortunately my body had a different idea because at 6 am my eyes looked like this 😳 and then my face promptly looked like this 😩. The good news about this is that I felt fully rested. Two days before my sabbatical started we bought a new bed. I’ve not had a new bed in over 20 years and my husband and I have both been waking up in pain for awhile so it was time. The new bed is amazing and I’m so thankful I got it before my sabbatical. It will definitely help in the “rest” category.

I spent the day shopping with my mom and middle daughter, Hailey. We had lunch and survived the ridiculous humidity and heat of the day. I finished off my day with a workout at the DIG wellness center. For those that don’t know, my Husband and I have lost a combined weight of 90lbs since March 1st of this year. We still have a ways to go but we have been utilizing the gym at work about 5 times a week and it has really been a blessing in our progress. Being able to go up there 24/7 is really incredible and I’m super thankful for that privilege.

Overall,  day one felt like a Saturday. I’m ok with that! 😄

I will be with DIG for 10 years in December (2016). In those 10 years I have been through horrendous things in my personal life that would normally include loss of employment due to instability. But, because Kris has laid seed, watered, nurtured and loved his employees, they have also learned to do that with their coworkers. Instead of being considered damaged goods, I was not only loved and cared for with grace, I was allowed to continue to grow into the successful career I have now. Sometimes people think that Christians pretend to have it all together. Like we are a club of snobby, wanna be perfect people. What I wish everybody could experience is what I have learned by working for this company. Christians are broken people. Christians do not have it all together… But by the grace of God, we are loved. And other Christians will lift you up and extend grace in your darkest hours. Most importantly, because I have been extended that grace, I am able to go out into the world and extend grace and love to others that are hurting and broken. I don’t believe God wants us to stay inside our own four walls of His mercy and grace but to go out and be His helpers of people in the world. Having the opportunity to do that through the generosity of DIG is one of the biggest blessings I’ve ever received. I have struggled my whole life trying to figure out my purpose. Many people wander their whole lives never feeling they have made a difference. But, if you’ve ever had the feeling of joy when you helped somebody in need, I believe you have found your purpose. Just the simplest thing can make a world of difference to somebody else. If you don’t know what to do or who to help I prompt you to listen to your heart. That little voice inside your head that says, pay for their meal, open that door, go pray with that person…. If you think “where did that thought come from?” That’s your purpose. That’s God. Something that may be so small to you, may be the biggest blessing to somebody else. And in that blessing you are serving your purpose. To be a helper of people. To be Gods hands and feet.

For my helpers of people week I chose Pregnancy Resources of Abilene again.  I can’t really say enough about what a great organization this is. I was able to deliver the check from our bake sale, (that I volunteered my husband to make a cake for and raised $45 I might add).  It’s a blessing to be able to be a part of such a great place.  In addition to my helpers of people week, I spent my vacation going to Vegas and selling and buying a house while moving in the hottest weather imaginable. All said and done it was a fast and labor intensive 2 weeks.  I’m glad to be back.

I have done a few different things for my Helpers of People week in the past including volunteering at the mission, meals on wheels and renewing relationships with family members.  This year I wanted to do something that I knew nothing about.  I know that our company supports PRA, Pregnancy Resources of Abilene, but I knew absolutely nothing about it.  My perception was that it was probably just the opposite of Planned Parenthood and that was a good thing.  So I sent an email to Kris Ritter and asked if I could volunteer and see what they were all about.  The first thing I noticed when I got there was how friendly everybody was.  It seemed like everybody truly loved their job and what they were doing there.  I was given a quick tour and run through and then given a project of making information folders.  To most people this would be considered grunt work…..  I loved it.  It’s mindless work that needs to get done and in my effort in doing so I was able to pay attention to what was going on around me.  When I started to realize what this information can do to help save lives of children I had a moment of clarity.  It doesn’t matter how small the job, every folder I touched and put together was an opportunity for me to help somebody choose life.  That’s a huge deal and I was so thankful to be a part of that.  Throughout the week I continued to make folders, helped with mail outs for donations, pulled charts and whatever else they needed. I can’t even count how many times I was told thank you for my work.  I was also privileged to be a silent witness for two sonograms.  It’s been 14 years since I have had that experience.  It was so cool to get to see somebody witness the life inside of them for the first time.  Hearing the heartbeat…..such a miracle. When my time came to an end, I was pleasantly surprised that they had a little gift waiting for me to show their appreciation for my help.  That was a first.  It felt really good to be appreciated so much.  I will definitely be going back to volunteer there again and I’m so thankful that I work for a place that gives me the opportunity to do so.

This year I chose Love and Care Ministries for my volunteer project. I went into this with an open mind hoping to bless other people and learn something new about myself. I called Mick and set up my week and he was very nice and ready to put me to work. The first half of the week I worked in the clothing area sorting through the hundreds of bags of clothes donated and hanging them up to prepare them for the store. I have to say I was less than impressed with what some people choose to donate. I’m almost positive one of the bags I opened up was somebodies dirty laundry that had been sitting in a swampy basement for years. Quite disgusting. If anything this makes me want to shout out a PSA to everybody that has or will in the future donate clothing and such. DON’T DONATE YOUR GARBAGE!! Seriously….. It may be no big deal for you to throw some old, crappy, unwanted stuff in a garbage bag and consider it a donation but remember there are actual humans that have to sort through your nasty stuff that you so generously threw out. Be considerate! If you are wanting to help your community do it in a manner that you would want to accept it if it was given to you. End Rant. After a couple days in the clothing area I asked to move somewhere else. When you volunteer at places like this sometimes the other people in there “volunteering” along side you are actually the homeless themselves or people serving community service who don’t really want to be there. Some of the content of the conversations took on a vulgar tone and even I began to get offended which takes a lot. Mick was very understanding and moved me to the food pantry for the rest of the week. At the food pantry I met Don. He’s an older man that is retired and has been volunteering there for the last 3 years. He was a really great man and it was cool to see how he interacted with the homeless people. At the food pantry you actually get one on one face time with the homeless. Some of them are in and out with no appreciation for what they are getting. Some of them are very kind, sweet and appreciative of the tiny food kit they are given. Some are lonely and talk your ear off. Overall, I really enjoyed the food pantry and would love to go back to help sometime. I was impressed by how well the whole system is ran and how willing these people are to give so much of themselves to help other people, whether they are down on their luck or chose that lifestyle.

After my week of service I enjoyed my week of vacation that was full of school shopping, my birthday, my (almost) father in law cutting off two fingers with a table saw, lots of snocone eating and a bbq and s’mores celebration of our last day of summer. I’m glad to be back at work and my kids to be back at school. Thanks Kris and the board for another great opportunity.

My last two weeks have been fast and furious. I started out with my vacation the first week. I was lucky enough to get to go to Vegas for the first time. We left on Sunday the 11th and got back on Tuesday the 14th. It was a lot of fun and a lot of walking. By the time we got back my feet were swollen up the size of an elephants booty. The rest of the vacation week consisted of my birthday, getting engaged (I will spare you all the mushy details), and getting the kids partially ready for school.

My sabbatical week:
I decided to use my sabbatical this year for renewing of a relationship. I have always had a strained relationship with my father and after his recent diagnoses of a brain tumor I felt like there was no better time to try to spend some time with him and reconnect at any level I could.  Lisa and I joke a lot about how we both have this National Lampoons mentality when it comes to things like vacations and special events in our lives.  There’s this grandiose idea in your head of how you want things to go and it’s a huge let down when things start lacking in your expectations.  Knowing this, I tried to not have many expectations of how things would go.  My dad has been to see specialists in Albuquerque and they said the tumor is too large to operate on so he has been taking a medicine that is suppose to shrink it.  Unfortunately, that medicine makes him feel sick.  He has lost his appetite and just feels like he’s in a haze all the time.  I spent some time with him just hanging out at my house for awhile and then we took my two younger kids to the zoo one day and had a great time.  My dad is so great with my kids.  Sometimes it makes me sad that he wasn’t that way with me when I was a kid but I’m thankful that he is with the grand kids.

With my dads recent diagnoses my mom decided she wanted to take a family vacation while we could because things like this make you realize how short our time here together can be.  So on Thursday my parents,  my 3 kids and I packed up for a fun vacation to the Great Wolf Lodge and then some school shopping at the Grapevine Mills Mall.  There was one situation that happened while we were there that made me step back and see my dad in a different light.  We were sitting at the outside pool and he said something to Hannah about something that she is very self conscious about.  She got a little upset and started to cry.  He, not knowing that he had said anything wrong, discovered that she was upset and after we walked away, he started to cry.  He was so hurt that he had hurt her feelings.  I know to most people that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but if you knew my dad you would understand.  It made him more real to me.  It made him more human.  I’ve spent a lot of time being bitter and hurt by my relationship with my dad and at that moment it made me understand….. He’s just  like me.  Human… not perfect…. flawed and he hurts too.  My National Lampoons mentality would have wanted this week to end with me and my dad having the best relationship in the world and being that close father and daughter I had always hoped for.  My reality is, I accept that it may never be the way I dreamed it would but I’m so thankful my heart was softened this week to who he is and that I was able to spend real time with him.

The week ended with my parents staying in Grapevine and extra night because he was too sick to travel and I came home with the kids and did what all people do the day before school starts….. We went to Walmart!  God Bless.

I can not put into words how thankful I am that Kris gives his employees the opportunity to have this time.  Thank you so much!