A Map Through The Valley: 2025

A Person's A Person, No Matter "What"

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Image: book cover, "Horton Hears A Who!" by Dr. Seuss January 15, 2025

"Sanctity of Human Life Sunday" will be celebrated in many churches on January 19 this year. The event was a response to the Roe v. Wade decision January 22, 1973, which legalized abortion nation-wide in the United States. The Supreme Court decision was revisited and overturned June 24, 2022. However, the need to recognize that each individual is made in the image of God, and to to protect the most vulnerable, is still a challenge.

Theodore Geisel, AKA "Dr. Seuss," published the book, "Horton Hears A Who!" in 1954, well before Roe v. Wade. However, the theme of the story, "A person's a person, no matter how small," applies to the pro-life cause. In the book, Horton hears a small voice emanating from a dust speck. He believes that there are tiny people living there, worthy of protection. Others, who see and hear nothing, deride Horton and actually try to destroy the speck. But, Horton perseveres, stating, "A person's a person, no matter how small." In the end, he is able to show that the tiny "Who People" really do exist, and those who previously bullied him now join in protecting the tiny population.

Unborn babies are not the only ones who need advocacy. A woman who views her pregnancy as a crisis also needs help. A person's a person, no matter if we agree with them or not. A person's a person, even if they are not physically complete or strong. A person's a person, no matter if they have mental limitations, or their memory is fading, or they have mental illness. Being a caregiver for the whole person: heart, soul, mind, strength, is difficult. From time to time, we need reminders to recognize the Divine Image in each person, and encouragement to continue the caregiving journey. Our Father God esteems each person as precious, both the one in need, and the caregiver.

And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27

"And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31 NKJV

My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! Psalm 139: 15-17 NKJV

Resolution: Get Organized!

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

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Image: 10 Top Resolutions from Kenwoodnews.org

RESOLUTION: GET ORGANIZED! By Gail K. Kachnycz on 1 January 2025

Did you think about New Year Resolutions as 2025 began? "Get Organized" is one of the top ten resolutions. However, a vague notion rarely translates into action. The topic of this post is one that is often avoided: End-of-Life Planning. Our lives are busy, especially if we are caring for others. Writing a Will, documenting instructions for a Medical Proxy, or pre-planning a funeral are the last things we want to do. But, if we make time and invest the effort when we are not in a crisis situation, things will be easier "when the time comes."

My mother passed away unexpectedly due to injuries sustained in a car crash. I was both her Medical Proxy and her Executrix. She was just about to begin a vacation trip, so she had shown me her will and other important papers. However, the document I had was only a carbon copy of the will. The original was filed in New Jersey, and my mother had moved to Pennsylvania. To make matters worse, the law firm in New Jersey had closed. According to the courts in Philadelphia, my mother had died "intestate," that is, without a will. I could use the copy of the will as an indication of her wishes, but it took extra time and effort to divide the estate as she wanted, rather than just equal portions to each of her children as the court would have done. This illustrates the need to review and update the information on a regular basis. New Year Resolution time might be a good reminder.

I see three topics related to End-of-Life planning, but there may be more. One is being a Medical Proxy (which is different from Power of Attorney, POA). Another is preparing for a death and funeral on a practical level. Last is settling the estate. The legal term is probating the will. Today's post will give resources for organizing the estate (finances and property).

On April 10, 2024 Jean Kirkley was featured as the CEO/Facilitator of Boomers R Heroes. One of the resources on her website is the "Blue Suitcase Drill." Kathy & Charles Sutton share their story and give information on how to set up instructions for the family to follow. Here is the link:

Blue Suitcase Drill

A commercial product is Nokbox, that is, "Next Of Kin" Box. A filing system which lists every aspect of settling the estate is offered with various options: "Lite," "Fireproof Box," etc. I have not used this yet myself, but it includes information that I would not have thought of to address. This might be good if you know you are a procrastinator, or organization is not your strong suite.

https://www.thenokbox.com/

As always, I hope this is helpful.

Personal/Practical

Subscriber Update, Happy New Year!

Thursday, January 2, 2025

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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025 to subscribers and readers of A Map Through The Valley.

New posts will resume next week. However, I wanted to take the opportunity before then to get some housekeeping done and update the Subscriber list. Please take a look at the email that notified you of this blog post. You should see one of two logos at the end of the email.

If you see the logo from INTUIT with the cute little chimp in the cap, you are on my current subscriber list and do not need to do anything.

If you see the logo from "follow.it" that means you were one of the first subscribers when the blog went live in Fall 2023. Thanks for being an eager beaver and supporting me early on. However, I am no longer using "follow.it" for my subscriber contact list. I discovered that their service attached annoying adds to the email and blog post. Some of the adds were actually not in alignment with my mission statement. What should you do?

1. You should "unsubscribe" from the "follow.it" email service. In their disclaimer statement, there is a sentence, "To unsubscribe from the feed, click here." Click the link in your email to unsubscribe.

2. You will need to subscribe to the blog again. There are two ways to do this:

A. Go to the home page of the blog and subscribe using the current "subscribe" feature which is Intuit/Mailchimp.

B. Send me an email or use the Contact feature on the home page, include your email, and I will manually add you to the Intuit/Mailchimp Subscriber List.

As a newbie blogger, I got started on the wrong foot and needed to backtrack and start over. I apologize for any confusion. Thank you for your patience. Especially for those who need to change to the Mailchimp subscriber service, thank you for making that effort. We can all start the New Year together. Blessings! Gail K.

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