27 Jan 2026 Being a Light

January 28, 2026 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, history, Home, human rights, In the News, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello to you. It’s bedtime as I write to you, I hope there was good in your life today. My day was good. I forced myself to take an extra 1/2 mile walk in addition to the 1/4 mile with Link this morning. It was quite chilly but there was sunlight which was welcome!

As I lay here contemplating recent events near and far away I am determined to stay in the light. To be a light and rest in my hope of Jesus. No matter what is going on we know who won the battle against death and darkness. This world right now presents a great opportunity- the more the enemy leverages against us the more we can lean into Jesus.

I’m not going to let myself be brought down by fear mongers. I am trying more and more to be careful what I consume via social media. I’m not sticking my head in the sand and acting like everything is hunky dory either! We must not be afraid to speak up when that challenge is placed before us. I have this blog and I am using it to be my voice.

Dear Jesus I pray for this world that is so lost right now. May what we are facing in every facet of our lives be an opportunity to love you more and trust in the plans you have for us. Please be with all who are hurting and need you right now. Amen.

John 1:5New International Version

⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.

19 Jan 2026 World Affairs and Martin Luther King Day

January 20, 2026 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, history, Home, human rights, In the News, Leading Life by Example, Politics and Government, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs

Hello to you. Today has been good. It started by my waking up in time to get to the ladies coffee time at Grace House. It was good to see everyone and get caught up. I took the opportunity to share about my cousin Heidi and we prayed for her and also I asked that we pray for this country and world. Especially Minneapolis and Iran. Also I am very concerned about what Trump is doing with Greenland and our European allies! What he wants isn’t what most Americans want. I feel like he’s acting like a spoiled child! We want affordable housing, food and healthcare! Every day I live in regret for having anything to do with this administration. I let myself be influenced and that won’t be happening come midterms!

Today was Martin Luther King Day – hopefully not our last! My grandparents would be so sad to see what is going on in our country. Both of them fought for civil rights. Here are some of his most famous quotes:

On Love & Hate

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

On Justice & Injustice

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“The time is always right to do what is right.”
“A right delayed is a right denied.”

On Courage & Action

“Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.”
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

On Dreams & Reality

“I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.”
“You can kill the dreamer, but you can’t kill the dream.”

On Service & Humanity

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'”
“We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.”

18 Jan 2026 Calming Storms and Just Believe

January 19, 2026 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Food, Home, Spirituality and Religion

Hello to you. How are you? It’s Sunday evening as I write to you. Today was good and despite my physical issues I got through it. The day started with church. We were in Matthew 8:23-27:

Matthew 8:23-27New International Version

Jesus Calms the Storm

²³Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. ²⁴Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

²⁶He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

²⁷The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

I went and got groceries afterwards and got a little sticker shock – I’m paying about twice what I normally do! Then I went over to my Aunt and Uncles house for dinner. We had yummy spaghetti, salad and garlic toast. I played a game with my Aunt and won. It was tricky! We had lemon cake I picked up for dessert. It was good. Then we watched a good movie on Angel Flix called The Lamp Just Believe:

Just Believe” refers to the faith-based movie The Lamp (2011), where a grieving couple receives an old oil lamp from a mysterious messenger (Louis Gossett Jr.) and learns to find hope and rebuild their lives by focusing on love and belief, realizing the “magic” comes from within and through connection, not just wishing, despite the lamp’s mystical appearance.

1 Jan 2026 Snow

January 1, 2026 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Health, history, Home, Nature, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs

Hello to you. Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe we are in a new year already. The past couple of days I have been having trouble with the pooling sensation in my ears. It makes me feel anxious. Writing helps take my mind off of it.

I was brainstorming with my friend what I should write about today. She suggested memories of when I was growing up in South Dakota. I had mentioned to her about us getting so much snow we tunneled through to our neighbors house! I can remember having snacks with Marie and Wayne to pass the time. We use to get so much snow my parents couldn’t get to work which was rare. The snow was thick and crunchy when you walked on it. I learned how to drive on snow – Datsun 210 with stick shift!

The other place I have got snowed in was base housing at Peterson AFB Colorado. There was so much snow it blocked the door to the house. It went from the roof to the ground! The other places I lived – Germany, Delaware, Texas and now Idaho have all gotten snow several times. We never got snow in Florida. I don’t mind snow except driving in it!

Dear Jesus I ask for your continued care for our family members and friends right now. Please send your healing love to us. I ask for your wisdom to guide leaders at all levels of government. Please help the people of Washington State and the Philippines with their recovery from natural disasters. Thank you for hearing our prayers.

13 Dec 2025 Hug and King of Kings

December 14, 2025 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Home, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Movies, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello to you. I’m home from spending some quality time with my Aunt and Uncle. I really was feeling like I needed some company today! I went over earlier in the day before it gets dark. I got the one thing I really needed and that was a hug from my Aunt and Uncle! Living alone I don’t get physical contact with humans very often. It’s such a simple thing but means the world to me! I am so grateful to have them in my life.

A really well done telling of the life of Jesus

https://youtu.be/HDhet3EVRac?si=1-JzSsyJOTnlt5dT – trailer of Angel Studios King of Kings

We watched King of Kings: An animated Christian film from Angel Studios, based on Charles Dickens’ The Life of Our Lord, telling Jesus’ story from the perspective of a young boy and his father. We all thought it was really well done.

My Aunt made spaghetti for dinner and it was really good. She even got me to eat and like cucumbers in my salad! She is one of the few people in my life that can get me to try and like things I normally don’t eat on my own!

1 Timothy 6:13-15New International Version

¹³In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you¹⁴to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

7 Dec 2025 What Pain Does

December 7, 2025December 7, 2025 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Home, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello to you on this cloudy Sunday afternoon. I’m just back from church and breakfast at the Sunrise. I should have gotten groceries but decided to put it off. I really dread grocery shopping!

Today we had a guest speaker named Toby Slough. He is an author of the book Not Yet and a children’s book Toby the Goby. When they post his sermon I’ll share it.

He spent time in Mark 6:30-42:

Mark 6:30-42New International Version

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

³²So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. ³³But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. ³⁴When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

³⁵By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. ³⁶Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages^[a]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

³⁸“How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

³⁹Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴²They all ate and were satisfied,

The message from his speaking that resonated with my current journey was about how pain is not the problem. It’s what pain does to us – it makes us a narcissist- everything becomes about us. The two things I have going on sometimes keeps me trapped inside myself. Just where the enemy wants me! The other message today that spoke to me was about focusing on what we have not what we lack. Pastor Jason has put a goal before the church of raising $30,000 for the charities we support. I have not been tithing for quite some time but am thinking I need to be more generous. I need to stop worrying about not having enough money. I will pray about this issue.

5 Dec 2025 New Throne

December 5, 2025December 6, 2025 by saymber, posted in Home, Spirituality and Religion, Writing and blogging

Hello to you. It’s wet and rainy as I write to you. I’m not complaining as we need the water. My handyman Roscor just left after installing my new toilet aka throne as it’s jokingly called. It took him longer than he planned because the first toilet he got from Home Depot was damaged. In times before now the trip back to the store would have taken like 15 minutes instead it took him like 30 minutes! Traffic has gotten so bad in our area. All these people who came here for a better quality of life have essentially ruined what was good about living here. Where you go there you are!

Key Scriptures on Change & Transformation

2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”.
Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will”.
Ephesians 4:22-24: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”.
Colossians 3:10: “and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator”.
2 Corinthians 4:16: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day”.

3 Dec 2025 Handyman

December 4, 2025 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Home, Leading Life by Example, Spirituality and Religion, Writing and blogging

Hello to you. It’s a full moon night here as I write to you. I hope this finds you well. It’s almost bedtime for me but not quite yet!

Today my handyman Roscoe came and did some yard work for me and as always he went above and beyond. He even trimmed back some trees that were growing into my yard without my even having to ask. Roscoe is so nice and is really good at what he does. When he shares his latest jobs on Facebook I am always impressed by the diversity of the projects and hit that like button. On Friday he’s going to replace my toilet and by the way he explained things it should be easy for him. I am so grateful to have found Roscoe – he’s a real renaissance man!

https://www.facebook.com/share/1LgWT8aq1H/?mibextid=wwXIfr – link to Roscoe’s Facebook page

Dear Jesus I give you praise tonight for Roscoe and the work he did for me today. I thank you for guiding me to him. I give you praise that I have the means to hire someone like Roscoe to help me take care of my home. I pray for my family, friends and pets on the other side of the veil, I miss them everyday. I give you thanks for my family, friends and Link that share this life with me here in the land of the living. I pray for those who are lost and need you now more than ever. As always I pray for all animals to have lives free from cruelty and neglect. Amen.

2 Dec 2025 Pushing On

December 3, 2025 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Health, history, Home, human rights, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello there, how are you as you visit me here? Today was long and kind of lonely but we have pushed through it. To be honest I have been missing having someone to come home to me. Link has me to look forward to coming home. I think of him as home as he rises up on his back legs and frantically taps at the front door waiting for me to come in. I miss my ex everyday but I know that ship has sailed. We were communicating a little bit but if I don’t initiate the communication there is nothing from him. He has moved on and I always hope he’s happier now.

The rest of this post is me reflecting on where I’ve been and where I hope to go:

I miss having a husband but don’t like what you have to go through to get one these days. I tried Tinder and that was a cluster you know what. I ended up with someone who wasn’t good for me and wanted more from me than I could give at the time. I just wasn’t attracted to him and that made him nuts. My taste is what I had in my ex and I totally blew it with my manic episodes! He just got fed up with the person I became when I was in untreated mania.

I always said that if I couldn’t make it work with Kyle I wasn’t going to make it with anyone. He wasn’t a perfect husband but pretty darn wonderful and I blew it. Some say he shouldn’t have divorced me but they don’t understand the spiral that happens with mania. When we were first together he knew I had mental health issues but I was being treated and was on meds that kept the mania at bay. When mania happened the last couple of times I was really doing things that hurt and or upset him. We were breaking things. He got physical with me a couple of times out of extreme frustration and it was after that he went to stay with his parents. When he could see I wasn’t going to get the help I needed he decided a divorce was the only answer. I didn’t take that decision very well! I felt so lost and alone. My everyday was like living in a haunted house. Memories of Kyle were everywhere I went from the house to the neighborhood. I wasn’t plugged in to Jesus yet but thankfully had people who were to talk to. I thank God for my Idaho family who were there for me – praying for me. They are the reason I am where I am today! Jesus used each of them to help me escape the nightmare I was in.

It took me awhile, even after I was out of Texas, to fully recover from the nightmare I was living. My Aunt Ruth and Uncle John handled me with tender care the 6 months I lived with them. I didn’t want to shower with the door shut. I didn’t want to eat meals at the table. I didn’t want to watch television. I walked constantly to combat my anxiety. I had nightmares. I saw versions of Kyle everywhere I went. Everything was a trigger to my thinking of Kyle. We had been married 12 years and I was married 16 years in my first marriage. I had grief and remorse over my first marriage too! Kyle and I committed adultery and I really felt bad about that as did Kyle. I just unraveled after he left me and felt this pulling sensation in the back of my body all the time. It was like the enemy had a hold on me and didn’t want to let go.

It’s been over 5 years now that I’ve been here in Idaho. I am much better than I was. It’s been about 2 years since I decided to accept Jesus as my savior. I finally made the choice that God had been patiently waiting for me to make. With this choice and my saying yes some doors have opened. I have gotten more involved with my church and that has made me some friends. I even got baptized which I didn’t think I would do. Now if he would only heal me from what’s going on in my head and lower back I could be of more use – a better vessel for the Holy Spirit. These conditions have prevented me from volunteering as much as I could be.

The other thing missing is a companion to share the rest of my life with. I have kind of resigned myself to my ending up being alone the rest of my life but I don’t know Gods plans for me about this. If I do fall in love again I want him to share in my love of Jesus and of course Link must approve of whoever he ends up being!

Thank you for reading!

Dear Jesus I pray for this world as fallen as it is that more of the lost will find their way to you. I pray for the poor, sick, mentally and physically in decline. I pray for all leaders in positions of power and influence that your will be done through their words and deeds. I pray for an end to all animal cruelty. I pray for an end to all wars that there would be peace. I pray for all children especially those being abused and or neglected. I pray for the children suffering in war ravaged parts of the world. Thank you. Amen.

27 Nov 2025 Giving Thanks

November 28, 2025 by saymber, posted in Food, history, Home, Movies, Spirituality and Religion

Hello to you. I am writing to you after a wonderful day with family for Thanksgiving. I joined my cousin and his wife at her Mom and Stepdads place in beautiful hilly Emmett ID. My cousin Tony came and picked me up and we had a nice drive. Tawna put together a wonderful meal and I got to finally meet her parents for the first time since I’ve lived here. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, sweet potatoes rolls with butter and broccoli. I also got to meet their two dogs Dolly and Nora and they are definitely her mom’s fur babies! There was also a dove who had recently lost her mate. I felt bad for her. Tawna’s Mom is so sweet! She loved getting hugs from all of us. She’s a great hugger! I felt so welcome and like I already knew her before we met. Everywhere in the house were Bibles and Bible verses. One sign she had in the kitchen I liked was “Jesus is my healer”

Tawna had us each say what we were grateful for which I really liked. You can tell how much Alice and her husband Al love Jesus. She has a lot of scripture committed to memory. After we let our stomachs settle a bit, cleaned up and looked at some old pictures there was lemon merengue and pumpkin pie with a cup of coffee for dessert. Yummy! What a wonderful day!

Something really sweet happened while we were cleaning up. I heard whistling and thought it was Tawna as she whistles a-lot when she is in the kitchen but no it was her Mom Alice! Alice said whistling helps with whatever she’s doing go much easier. I loved seeing where my sweet friend Tawna gets her sweet nature and unwavering faith from.

https://youtu.be/FdbIPTSx520?si=2caiHQqGaahOTVIb – Ten Commandments free with ads

Last night I watched The Ten Commandments starring Charleton Heston free with ads on YouTube. I can remember watching it when I was in grade school. After I saw it I have a memory of imagining myself to be Moses when I was doing road guard duty. The winds were violently blowing me around and I can remember stretching out my arms and trying to command the winds to stop! I didn’t have a staff and don’t remember if I was successful or not!