For Alisa

This cracked me up Al' so I'm posting it just for you.


New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less

and you thought your job was boring...

This is Japan for you: pay a guy to stand on a deserted street corner to guide people around wet cement. If ever I am tempted to think my job is boring, I will remember this. (Snapped while brushing my teeth. )

Silver lining

Today felt like the sun would never shine. But right around bedtime it did.
Children are treasures.

Somebody loves me

Somebody sent me these quotes today. Somebody loves me.

"The responsibility of carrying the torch is no light responsibility, and it's a responsibility that's been carried primarily by the first generation. The SGAs don't quite realize how heavy the responsibility of carrying the flame is, and I haven't just plopped the torch into their hands and said, "Here, carry this," because that would have been a crushing weight and more than they would have been able to bear. Instead, I have helped them to get strengthened -to get trained. I've put them through the fire, through the tests, through the purging, and I will continue to do so in order to strengthen them." ML# 3663

I realize that being fully persuaded and willing to stick it out is a huge part of carrying the weight. I think that’s one reason why the Lord has been allowing us to go through trials of loneliness, feeling unneeded, negativity etc... We have to decide that we are going to stick it out regardless of all this... None of these things move me type of stand.

When you're down,
I'm the one who pulls you up.
When you're crying, I'm by your side.
When your life is full of obstacles,
I'm there; I am your Guide.

And I know you feel there's much more
To this life than just what it seems.
There's that world you see when you're sleeping,
The place you go when you dream.

And I've got this one thing I'd like to offer you;
It's a love you've never seen.

It's gonna be okay, look Me in the eye,
You know that Somebody loves you, yeah.
It's gonna be okay, come on, don't you cry.
You know that, hey, I love you, yeah.

Come on, I'll lead you up to this next step.
Hold My hand, I'll show the way.
When we get to the top,
You'll be astonished
At the view that lies ahead.

‘Cause I've got this one thing I'd like to offer you;
It's a love you've never seen.

It's gonna be okay, look Me in the eye,
You know that, hey, I love you, yeah, yeah.
It's gonna be okay, come on, don't you cry.
You know that Somebody loves you, yeah, yeah.
It's gonna be okay, look Me in the eye,
You know that, hey, I love you.
It's gonna be okay, baby, now don't you cry.
Somebody loves you .

And I'm always with you,
Just say My Name & I'm there.
Your invisible Guide forever,
Here forever and ever, I'm right there.

It's gonna be okay, look Him in the eye,
You'll know that Jesus loves you, yeah.
It's gonna be okay, come on, don't you cry.
You know that, hey, He loves you.

You know I love you,
Somebody loves you.

(Invisible Guide)

work

For the past year I have been a manager in our center/home. I live with 27 people, soon to be 28, ages 0 -50+ years old. But that’s a whole other story that I don’t have time to go into right now. I will post about it later. Let it suffice to say that my life is very busy and I’ll admit, rather unusual.

So back to my thoughts on my journey. As a tall, gangly, and shy 13 yr old I preferred books to people, silence to talking, and doing things alone to being in crowds of people. When I was 13 an uncle and I went to visit an aunt, whom I had never met before. Although she had kids my age none were home at the time and as they had a whole afternoon of business to discuss I was very bored. This aunt, being sharp enough to notice the subtle signs of boredom in young teenagers promptly asked me “What sun sign are you?” she asked. I was taken back but told her. “Oh, then you’re great at organizing!” she told me, and then proceeded to ask me to sort through some boxes in the garage.

Did I do it? Yes, I sorted, wiped, labeled, scrubbed, stacked, and swept until it was spotless and sparkling. She was surprised and thankful, but not nearly as surprised as I. I could do something! I was good at organizing, and look; there were the shelves and empty boxes in the garage to prove it.

Ok, so skip forward to the present. I home school my kids, ages 1-5, but for the first 2 years of Miss 5’s life I had no idea what to do or how to do it. I was random and disorganized and the very thought of planning a regular schedule made me cringe.

2 years ago Dawn joined our center and became The Princesses main teacher, taking a big load off me and I was left with the “Physical Education” “Arts & Crafts” “Home economics” “Life skills” and all those things that don’t need much planning or thinking ahead.

Last year I was voted as Home Manager, (one who manages the center or home that full time members of TFI work and reside in) and I became less involved in my princesses teaching and more involved in managing. It’s been a great year, although a tough one. My Significant Other was gone for almost 4 months and I juggled the three princesses with the help of the fabulous people I live with, which is also another tale that I won’t go into today, but I do want to say that this time as a manager has taught me priceless life lessons, helped me face my fears in many areas, brought out my weak points, taught me to communicate with others, shown me that I can do difficult things, and brought me to a place where I am happy to give up managing and go back to full time teaching of my 3 munchkins, err, princesses.

Anyways, there you have it. The nominations are posted for all to see. The elections will be held tonight and so I do not have long to wait to see the path that my life will take.

To all the mothers I know... Happy Mothers Day!

BEING A MOTHER


Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby.... somebody doesn't know that once you're a Mother,
'normal' is history.
Somebody said you can't love the second child as much as you love the first....somebody doesn't have the two or more children.
Somebody said the hardest part of being a Mother is labor and delivery....somebody never watched her 'baby' get on the bus for the
first day of kindergarten..or on a plane headed for military 'boot camp.'
Somebody said a Mother can stop worrying after her child gets married....somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or
daughter-in-law to a Mother's heartstrings.
Somebody said a Mother's job is done when her last child leaves home....somebody never had grandchildren.

Somebody said your Mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her....somebody isn't a Mother.

This isn't just about being a Mother; it's about appreciating the people in your lives while you have them....no matter who that person is.

Watch your thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your Habits, they become character.
Watch your Character, for it becomes your Destiny

'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle'.

'As you mature, you realize it's better to find someone who's got your back than someone who turns your head.'

'There comes a time in your life when you realize who matters, who never did, and who always will. Don't worry about people from your past,
there's a reason they didn't make it to your future.'

Romans 8v28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.

LOL!

Never liked it in the first place... well, only if it's updated daily. :)

Steppin' out

I love dance! I suck at it but I love to watch good dancing and choreography.
Significant Other & I have been married for 6 years and we (I) wanted to do something together to relax, something that didn't involve our girls or work, as most of our recreational activities revolve around, well, work or kids. :-)
I also wanted to try something new, take on a challenge for the New Year, and several months ago a friend offered to teach us ballroom dancing, so once a week we clear the dinning room floor, put on our dancing shoes, and have fun!

We aren't able to dance every week for various reasons, but it's on our weekly calendar and I enjoy every minute of it. At times I feel like an idiot cos I forget the lesson (smacks forehead), spend the whole lesson on one step (did I mention rhythm is not my forte?), or forget the whole dance (eerk!). Yet our dance teacher (2nd from right) is very positive, I'm amazed at her patience and how she critiques us in a way that makes us feel good about ourselves and that we can learn and that I will get the steps down ...someday.

Although I doubt I will ever be able to dance the way I dream of, I am trying something new and to me that is what matters.

A while back I was watching some clips on YouTube of SYTYCD Australia and came across this guy, who I loved instantly. I kept track of him and was happy to see that he won this years competition. Good stuff!

On reading

Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love to read.
Mum taught me to read from an early age & from 2 years old I was reading the King James Version of the Bible. At age 11 I was reading the daily paper & anything else I could get my hands on. My friends began hiding books when I was due for a visit as I would spend all my time reading instead of interacting with them. At age 12 I read the unabridged version of "Les Miserables" in several hours.

I have learnt to control my passion for reading yet every day I make time to read Christian writings and the news. Today I listened to some of the wittings of Virginia Brandt which were written in the 1900's, but could have been written today as there is more information available than ever before, I was convicted.

Usually I mean to just read the news headlines, but one story leads to another and so often I end up spending way too long reading trivial articles that mean little in the overall scheme of life. This is a good reminder that as a disciple of Jesus, this world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through.

Meditation Moments 61: "HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP"

Some time ago I found myself one night paying a real price and sacrifice to sit up and hear through a late program. It was regarding one of our national crises, I think at that time it was in Africa.

I wanted to be well-informed, and more and more I found myself trying to keep up with as many phases of that situation in Africa, not realizing until this particular night that it was telling on me spiritually!

I was getting so entangled with the affairs of this world that it was taking the keen edge off my spiritual life! Though I wasn't doing anything worldly, except just trying to keep up with the news, to be well-informed so I could converse intelligently with other people.

But I found myself trying to keep up with so many phases of the mess this old world is in, and I couldn't do it without worrying and feeling almost in bitterness sometimes, and in some frustration because of the world condition! So it was on this particular night, of this late program, I just had it out with my soul.

I'm not saying anything against being well-informed! But with information that is needful and can be used for God's Glory, that's different! I want to be a good citizen and do all I can to help my country, but first of all, let's remember this passage, that our citizenship is in Heaven!

As the song says, "we're here on business for the King," and our real citizenship isn't here! You cannot be true to that Heavenly Citizenship and have so much time absorbed with the affairs of this world, even with the present world crises!

If we really believe our citizenship is in Heaven we'll not become so attached to this world, nor absorbed in every little news about each tragic condition! Because its fears drive us to tension, its troubles cause us loss of time and sleep, and time that we could spend in prayer.

...

Men are not facing up to eternal facts with moral issue like they did, they have no sense of values, their comparisons of values are forgotten today! I don't know just how to express it the way I long to, but eternal things call so earnestly today because the Lord is needing every soldier, and that soldier cannot entangle himself in the things of this world.

sheesh...

When I decided to make this blog I had so much to say. However, since making it I haven't had a thought to blog about.
I guess this would be a good time as any to say... this won't be updated daily, or weekly, nor even monthly. I can't say how often I'd update it, except that I will when I feel like it or when I have something note worth to say.

We're into the second round of The Winning Offensive meetings... 2b i to be precise, and that's not a spelling mistake. We are taking our time with them and will have 2bii next week. We only have one shot at this planning stage and want to do it well.

The content of this blog will be....Lets see what comes ay?