Annual Enrollment

These two words strike fear and loathing into the hearts of individuals involved in the HR and employee benefits world. Why - you might ask. Then again - you might not. (People generally detest thinking about insurance in any shape form or fashion)

What is it? Well it's the time, each year, that most employee benefit plans make changes for the coming year. It's also the time when employees are offered the opportunity make changes to their personal coverages - think health insurance, dental insurance, disability, life, cancer insurance, etc. So most people who know me, know that I kind of go underground during the month of September preparing for the fourth quarter Annual Enrollment that my client goes through. I moan and groan about it a lot more than I should because a)it always means job security for me and b)I sorta like it! (don't tell). I am so busy - which suits me very well. I get to do a lot of process planning and implementation - this year more than any other thus far. And I get to problem solve - problems that I haven't had a hand in creating, that is. The remainder of the calendar year, I'm generally solving problems I help create!

My client is a large health care company which employees approx 4500 fulltime benefit eligible people throughout seven states. And we enroll each of them. I don't travel out to their locations during this time (I do travel to see them during the first half of the year). But I direct their enrollment, enrollers and workflow to our half dozen or so insurance carriers. It's crazy but very interesting.

What's that??? Snoring I hear - oh come - someone's got to do it. Seriously, do you really want to have to read each and every insurance form and booklet you're given from your HR department??? Yeah, didn't think so..

My Prayer for Today

You see I am an adult with self-diagnosed ADD. Do I really have it? Perhaps. Who knows? I am certain that if in the late 1960s and early 1970s Ritalin had been popular I would have been one drugged up little girl! I could not sit still! I cannot accurately recall how many recesses I missed and write-offs I was assigned just because I couldn't shut up or sit down. So as an adult, when my mind and my being is going in umpteen different directions at once, it just seems normal to me!

But as I try to deepen my Walk and spend more time in prayer with my Lord, being ADD really stinks! I hope God understands. As I sit here early on a quiet Saturday morning before I head to KY to spend the day with Mother, I want to start my day with a sweet conversation with God. So I thought I would "blog" it. Not to be boastful in prayer - the scriptures strictly warn against that and I don't care if anyone reads this. I'm trying it as a focusing tactic.

Lord, thank you for this day - it's going to be a good one. The air is crisp this morning as I let our doggies out in the backyard. I love autumn - it's one my favorite of your works. And while I'm at it - thank you for my sweet little dogs. They are strange - especially Gunther - what were you thinking with him? But they have both brought Ed and me a lot of joy. And I'm grateful. And thank you for my daughter and her husband and the sweet fellowship we've come to enjoy with them most Friday evenings of late. Heavenly Father, you've shown me that when my children are believers and live Christian lives, it is one of the richest blessings a parent can know. Thank you for my awesome mother who I plan to visit today. Help me enjoy this day with her and help me act in a fashion that ensures that she knows how much I love her! And I pray for a safe day of travel. Thank you for my sweet husband Lord. He will be staying here today to do yardwork and to prepare our house for the party that I scheduled here tomorrow. If he makes it through the day without getting aggravated with me, I will be most blessed! And finally Lord, I want to truly spend my day in your presence. Please help me be mindful of you and help me behave in Godly ways - that bring you glory. I love you. Amen.

Tuesday that was like Monday

I didn't work yesterday (from the office anyway) because I was sick. So today was my Monday. Busy Busy. I've just finished a gourmet supper of peanut butter and jelly on wheat with milk and am settling in to balance my checkbook, watch Dancing w/the Stars RESULTS show and finish up my Beth Moore homework.

So anyway, where did my name "Waddie" come from?

I have the cutest little great-nephew named Brant. He's now a very smart and sweet eight year old third grader. I've always really enjoyed all my neices and nephews - love spending time with them! But Brant holds a special little place in my heart - he was a real cuddler when he was little and Waddie loves to cuddle babies! Anyhoo, he couldn't say Aunt Laurie when he was around three. He tried and it came out as "Aunt Waddie". So there you have it.

Now while Waddie isn't the most glamorous nickname I could wish for I truly love it when I hear it because people who call me that love me. Even friends and co-workers call me that now but it's okay because it's always said in an endearing manner.

One of the most ridiculous yet funny things my children have done over the past years since I've acquired this nickname is when they've distorted the "waddie" name or modified to fit certain characteristics I possess or to reflect some of my more embarrassing moments. Like "Aunt Waddie poot and pitch" or Lawrence Wadsworth. Or when they come up with nicknames to mimic various lifestyle Barbie titles - comparable to Career Barbie or School Teacher Barbie or Beachtime Barbie. Think, Control Freak Waddie or Trivial Pursuit Waddie.

So now you know where Waddie comes from.

ps: apparently "waddie" isn't in the dictionary - spell checked this post and it went nuts!

So this is blogging??????

Okay - so I have no clue what I'm doing. I have threatened to write my thoughts in a tome to my children for years. I've felt compelled to journal - but never when I could actually take the time to write or even find a writing instrument! But I'm going to try to blog - at least for today.

I know people (younger than me) who have a blog - normal people, even. These are not people who are overly self-important or even terribly verbiose. But they are interesting and often inspiring to me. So perhaps, someday, someone, might find a value in a thought I have!

About me.

I am a 46 year old mother, wife, co-worker, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, friend and believer.

I've been married to Ed for nearly 28 years! Wow - in print - that simple fact about my life is amazing and at the same time a very real testament to the miracles that God has worked in my life. Ed is a wonderful husband and father who has never once waivered in his commitment to our family and to me - he is a true gentleman. I love him.

God allowed Ed and I to borrow three children from Him during our marriage and we've done our best to rear them and love them. They too are amazing and another testament to God's work in my life. They were the easiest children to raise and love. They love others and have a keen sense of right and wrong. Katie, Caroline and Clay each have tender hearts and know they are loved not only by their parents and their family but most of all by their Creator and in this I know that Ed and I accomplished the most important of all parental resonsibilities!

I work for a employee benefit consultant firm - have for almost ten years. I'm grateful for this job. All I can say right now about that - maybe more later.

I love my mother - like many women (I think) I've had a lifelong need for her approval. I don't wake each morning thinking of it but when I am successful at something, she's usually the first I want to tell. Yes, I always clean my house when she visits - but I'm not as neurotic about it as I used to be. And I must admit, when I do things wrong, I still hope she doesn't find out!

I have wonderful friends. Ed and I married so young and had children so early that while other people our age were doing the "young adult" things with their friends, we were rearing children. It has just been in the past few years that I've had the time to enjoy special friendships; I do and am grateful!

And I love children! And Dancing with the Stars and Christmas and I think ELF is the best movie ever made.

Next time, where "waddie" came from.................