A strategic process that has gone smoothly every other previous mammogram screening I’ve gone in for was almost disrupted. Fortunately, a back-up plan to the rescue did not preclude it from happening within the specific window that was best for me.
This is one of those appointments that I do not schedule out in advance due to not knowing exactly where my body will be in relationship to my menstrual cycle. It was a tender mercy that the imaging center accepted walk-in visits. And, where deodorants and lotions interfere with the testing and applying lotion is a necessity for my dry skin, being able to spontaneously decide the day of for when it was most optimal for me to shower and skip the lotion around my chest area and hold off on the deodorant till after the screening was a tender mercy.
Upon arriving at the imaging center for the routine annual health mammogram screening, while in the parking lot, it was a tender mercy I was impressed to contact my insurance company to confirm if the imaging center was still in-network this year as it had been last year even though their office location had recently changed. Initially, because the new address was not showing up when the insurance representative looked it up, the center was considered out-of-network. However, it was a tender mercy the insurance representative reached out to the imaging center and learned that they would be billing from their previous address until their new address was updated with the insurance company. Based on that, the insurance representative was able to confirm that the imaging center was still in-network and the visit and screening would be covered in-network.
Once inside the office, I was informed that the internet service had just gone down 20 minutes prior to my arrival and they would not be able to check me in. Oh no! Of all days, on the day and during the time most ideal for me when I was prepped and ready! The options I had was to wait until the service came back up whenever that may be or return home and wait until I got the call that it was back up again to return for the screening. I opted to wait.
Within a few minutes, it was a tender mercy the front desk staff member had an ingenious idea, a back-up plan to the rescue. I was asked if I had been to their office before or if I was there for the first time. Where I was a walk-in, it was assumed I was coming in for the first time. Upon my responding that I had been to their prior location a year ago, they contacted one of their other offices that was not impacted by the outage. Since my information was already in the computer system, they were able to check me in, complete the screening, and once the service was back up, they were able to upload my mammogram images to my information in the computer. It was a tender mercy that due to the employee’s back-up plan to the rescue I was able to get the screening done during the most ideal time for me.
When have you been prepped and ready for something that was almost put on hold and a back-up plan to the rescue did not preclude it from happening during your most optimal timeframe?
tendermercym❤️ments~jld
“How have you noticed Heavenly Father’s awareness and mindfulness of you today?”
*If you would like to receive an email when new posts are published which includes an audio version of the posts as well, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.
What do you know! After decades of having a fear of dogs and declining my kids request for one year after year, our family now has a puppy. How did that happen?
As a youth, I was nipped from behind by an angry unrestrained dog as I was walking home one day. After that occurrence, I’ve pretty much stayed clear of dogs and avoided petting them. Though I have enjoyed observing them from a distance, I have not wanted them close by me.
When our kids repeatedly asked for a dog each Christmas, I was giddy when I would come across a creative dog gift I could give them in place of a real dog. The most memorable gift was the “fur real dog” and an awesome dog book that was so relatable and spot on to the desires of our children and the concerns of mine. Another memorable gift came from our children to my husband and I, and it is one I use often. It is a cute dog print plush fabric they purchased and sewed around the edges and made it into a blanket.
Though fear was the primary reason for my not wanting to get a dog, over the years I would also share with my kids the secondary reasons for my not wanting a dog such as their odor, chewing at furniture and stair railings, cleaning up vomit, poop and urine in the house and vomit and poop outside in the yard, veterinary appointments, the expense of boarding while traveling, etc.
A couple of months ago, prior to visiting a loved one with a puppy, our children once again asked if we could get a puppy. I said that if I did well around the loved one’s puppy then I would be ok looking into our getting one when we got back home. What? How Did That Happen? How did I go from not wanting a dog to now being okay with one? I don’t know, other than the timing felt right.
Surprisingly, I did really well being around the puppy and I did not experience any fear at all. As such, upon our return home, my kids and husband began researching about different dogs. It was a tender mercy we all agreed on and liked the same kind of dog, a labradoodle.
Once we decided on the breed of dog, our children then made a list of all the labradoodle breeders within a 4 1/2 hour radius of us. It was a tender mercy that though most of the breeders on the list did not have any puppies available, the second breeder on the list referred us to one of their breeder friends, not on our list and located less than an hour from our place, who had one puppy pick available in their litter of seven after a recent buyer cancelled and the puppies were exactly what we were looking for in size, color, and generation of breed. As labradoodle puppies are in high demand in our area, the timing of our contacting the breeder was a tender mercy as they had not yet updated their website to indicate the availability status for the last puppy and we were able to secure placement for the last pick.
In my initial dialogue with the breeder, I expressed my fear of dogs as well as my excitement to have a puppy and that what was most important to me was that the puppy got along with every family member, especially me considering my longtime fear of dogs. Though there was no guarantee if the last puppy would be the best fit for our family, it was a tender mercy that all of the puppies in the litter were cute and based on that alone, we would have been pleased with any one of them, though their was one in particular we wanted the most. Fortunately, it was a tender mercy that the last puppy left was the very one we had wanted and the one the breeder felt would be a perfect fit for our family. And that she is. She is sweet, has a calm temperament, and interacts so good with each of us.
Upon bringing her home, it was a tender mercy that as she sat on a blanket in the car between our two youngest teenage children, throughout the two hour car ride that included a few stops along the way for my husband and I to purchase puppy supplies we did not want to get before we were sure we were bringing a puppy home, she did not have any accidents in the car or need to stop to go potty before we got home.
Caring for a puppy has been quite exhausting, particularly puppy potty training and maintaining a vigilant eye on her all throughout the day. It has been a huge tender mercy that around the clock she has had a family member able to care for her as everyone has been home full time from my husband working remotely and our children doing virtual learning due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic precautionary measures in place.
It has also been a tender mercy that an opportunity to facilitate an Emotional Resilience class has coincided with the timing of when we picked her up from the breeder as there have been many doozy of days while potty training her and not being able to get ahead of her messes for which I have been able to utilize, apply, and implement the skills and tools I am learning each week in the class to not give in to believing that I am not cut out to be a puppy owner.
Another tender mercy has been that I have not needed to take on the nerve-racking attempt to clip and file her sharp nails that grow out quickly as she files her front paw nails all on her own via our stone fireplace.
Additionally, within the first week and a half of having her home, she has visited the veterinary clinic twice, once for her initial puppy exam and the other time for an ear checkup when she started whimpering upon her ears being touched and I noticed redness on the cartilage side of one of her ears.
Due to the timing of both appointments, I took her by myself as no one else was available to go with me. Being alone with a dog would have before now made me extremely nervous and I would not have been able to do it, however, I was not afraid. How did that happen? How did I go from not wanting a dog near me to now having a dog in my lap and holding and stroking her fluffy hair? It was a tender mercy that as I visualized and imagined the joy of having a puppy, I was able to love on her and not panic or feel fear.
Also, being a first time dog owner and not knowing what I was doing or how to do certain things related to her care, it was a tender mercy the veterinary doctor offered to show me how to give her a tablet for ticks and fleas and to put medicine in her ear for a mild yeast infection. Watching the veterinary doctor do it was a tender mercy as I am a visual learner and seeing it done gave me a little more confidence that I could do it on my own.
When have you gone from absolutely never wanting to have something, for whatever reason, to overnight being completely ok with having it and wondering, “how did that happen?”
tendermercym❤️ments~jld
“How have you noticed Heavenly Father’s awareness and mindfulness of you today?”
*If you would like to receive an email when new posts are published which includes an audio version of the posts as well, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.
