2020 has thrown a lot at all of us this year. These past two months (May and June) have been especially rough on my body. My goals, plans, hopes, ministry, and life feels like it is in the wrong hands, EDS’s hands. Now I know that God is always in control (I wouldn’t be typing to you right now if He wasn’t), but even in His faithfulness – life feels extra hard right now.

These past two months have been a whirlwind. I have had more dislocations than I can count that have led me to being on bedrest and unable to work with a clear mind. I have spent 2/3 of the last 2 months recovering in bed. I have been working to unlearn unintentional, yet biased, stereotypes with the hope to aid the church and our community in racial reconciliation and equity (stay tuned for an awesome upcoming episode on Chronically Cultivating on this topic soon!) For many quarantine is seemingly “over,” as someone who is immunocompromised my house is still in quarantine. I have specific guidelines that Jared and I have to follow to be allowed to continue to receive treatment and go in clinic; therefore until we are told otherwise, life will continue this way for us. In these times, I am so grateful we repurposed the sunroom and deck so that friends and family can still “come over” while staying cautiously apart! This month we celebrated my birthday on June 1st and Jared and I celebrated 7 years together as a couple. He took me out for my birthday as a total surprise and asked me to be his future wife.. and girlfriend for now (we were 16!) It was the best yes I ever made!

So what has happened with my goals? In short, not nearly as much as I had hoped, but good things still grew because God is still good. A lot of my priorities had to change last minute, but I made some advancement in learning ASL, in May we concluded the spring Spoonie Study with full hearts, Jared and I have been goal planning together (which is awesome), and the garden is starting to BLOOM!

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When I put together my June tending list, I didn’t know another 4 dislocations would be coming that same week, and more dislocations as the month continued. I was trying to make up for all of May’s blank bars, and I planned for what I knew my body’s “normal” was– was being a very important word there. Well the biggest lesson learned this month was that I am going to be finding a new normal (but we will dive deeper into that when we get to the summer refresh!)

So let’s talk about June, what is happening, what hasn’t happened, and what probably won’t happen.

Don’t know what powersheets are? Check out how I use them here!

Monthly Goals:

• Quiet Time with Jared- Read through Mark + Luke: This was our first goal that we both goal planned together. We are making slow progress, but even if we don’t finish slow growth is still growth.
• SS x CC Taking Root Launch: I can’t wait to tell you about this!
• Test New Products: Also can’t wait to tell you about this!!
• Mentorship Meetings
• Powersheets Prep for July + Summer Refresh
• Start one book: yeah I don’t see this happening as I still haven’t finished Rhythms of Rest
• Celebrate 24!
• Practice ASL: Mainly working on using the alphabet fluently

Weekly Goals:

• Love Jared Well: spend intentional time together without our phones
• Platform Check In: I transformed the life giving-home wildcard page into a life-giving platform check-in so that I stay on top of all the things Living the Chronic Illness Life entails such as instagram devotionals, the Spoonie Study, the Chronically Cultivating Podcast, and Blog Posts! This has not been happening, but I hope to be able to be more active as I adjust to where my body is at now.
• Spend Time in the Sunshine: If I can be out of bed (even if it’s for just a half an hour) I want to spend at least 3 days in the sunshine each week!
• FaceTime One Friend: My close friends thankfully don’t mind bed head or my loopy-ness (y’all are the real MVP’s)
• Savor the Garden: I want to enjoy and appreciate all of the growth and blooms! I have been mainly enjoying them over FaceTime via my lovely gardner-in-training but mainly waterer, Jared!
• Church: Our church broadcast’s both their services online through live streaming (and all of the services are also kept on youtube so you can watch them at anytime), to check out Grace Chapel’s online ministry click here We are so grateful for this ministry as I am not always well enough to physically go to church. We prefer the 11:00 contemporary worship service
• All the Things: med cart inventory, organizing pills, joint corrections, self care, etc.

Daily Goals:

• Check in: I was hoping to check in on social media in some way and check my powersheets daily, but this is not the season for that.
• Water Flowers: Gotta take care of these sprouts!
• Bible Reading: I am still continuing to read the Bible in a two year canonical (front to back) plan but will probably be more than two years as I have basically missed two months, and that’s okay.
• WTW: I am going through Cultivate Worship currently and almost done!
• Prayer: working to pray persistently and boldly! I am not getting out of bed to start the day without spending time in prayer each morning. Rather than going through my whole list every morning I have split it into 6 sections to do one each day M-Sa

Well, that’s my update friends. Life does not look at all like I thought it would, but that’s okay. Slow growth is still growth. How is your tending list going?

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Cassie Nolin is a married spoonie who lives the chronic illness life with EDS + Co. (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and it’s comorbid conditions.) She challenges others to choose grace over guilt in goal setting, and is in ministry part time serving the online community through The Spoonie Study. She loves planting, hand lettering, and sharing the hope she has found in Jesus. Her blog, Living the Chronic Illness Life, is in the top 100 chronic illness blogs and her podcast, Chronically Cultivating, is produced by Speaking to the Heart Network. Cassie encourages women to live authentic and intentional lives through their diagnosis’ not in spite of them. You can learn more about her at www.livingthechronicillnesslife.com

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