A New Year's Resolution: Showing Appreciation For Where I Am

Being appreciated is so important.

How do you show your loved ones you appreciate them and what they do? Or do you forget to?

I'm guilty of that.

So is my husband.

Sometimes its easy to have expectations for one another without showing a single bit of appreciation or even internal gratitude once that expectation has been met. I think this is very normal. The problem lies in never reflecting on when and how our expectations were met.

In the new year of 2013 and beyond, I've decided that I will do my best to be more conscious and present of the blessings around me. When I'm more present and conscious, the appreciation -- hopefully daily -- should flow much more easily than it does now.

Daily appreciation ---> warm words of kindness and thanks to GOD, my husband, family and friends and even friendly and helpful strangers. Not drawn out soliloquies, haha.

Each year, as I get older, the desire I have to be the woman that GOD created me to be deepens. As this desire deepens, I realize that having a heart of 'intentions' just doesn't cut it.

Its about doing. Its about action.

So where do I begin? I'm beginning with showing the gratitude and appreciation that I have for what's in front of me to TO those in front of me.

Lately, its been hard to show my appreciation to those in front of me when I don't connect it back to the gratitude I have [to GOD] inside of me. For others it can be an easy thing. It used to be an easy thing for me to do, but times of confusion throughout the years have proved the task of internal gratitude to be something that I've taken for granted.

Being consciously appreciative will also keep my attitudes to a minimum. {fake laugh with a side eye}

Watching the news reminds me to correct my attitude and 'pity parades' but being conscious of the blessings around me will lead me to the blessings that I want and have yet to encounter.

I guess this is my primary  New Year's resolution and sharing it for you to see will help keep me true to it.

Have a great time bringing in the New Year! I'm looking forward to seeing all of your New Year's Eve festivities!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Source: peace-love-run.tumblr.com via Deia on Pinterest

Source: quote-book.tumblr.com via Deia on Pinterest

Have a wonderful day being thankful for life's blessings and getting full on good food!

Take Time For You

Source: laurawinslowphotography.com via Deia on Pinterest

Do something you love today......or at least something you enjoy!

It could be reading a book that you've been meaning to read or watching a tv show in silence (no kids around) OR with your girls so that you have somebody to laugh with.

Try a new recipe you've always wanted to try or get your nails painted....especially if you never usually treat yourself to that.

Just do something [small] for yourself that you don't usually do for at LEAST an hour. I sure plan to.

I hope you enjoy today!

Happy Mother's Day

Source: pinner.in via Alvera on Pinterest

How Could I Forget? I Was Featured On The Love Journey!!!

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By Lockerz

I can't believe I forgot to tell you all about my guest feature The Love Journey!!!

I did an interview with Desiree Coleman, the creator of the site 3 weeks ago....a day before we went on our week long family 'vacation' to Atlanta. We were there visiting family and friends and ended up having a GREAT time. I have a few lazy pics to share next week.

Anyway, The Love Journey is a blog that Desiree, my sorority sister that I pledged under, started after she got married. It covers issues and situations regarding dating, marriage, and family life along with connecting those issues to Christian principles.

She was inspired to start her blog after going through a couple bad (she calls 'toxic') relationships that caused her to question her own methods of dating and develop a closer relationship with herself and God. Its a very inspirational site that is meant to help and encourage women (and men) to be happy as they are before getting into relationships. Since I have a few unhappily single friends, I know that this encouragement is appreciated and sometimes needed.

I know a couple of women who are successful in their career but kick themselves for not having a husband and at least 1 kid before 28. And then I'm odd one who has 2 kids and a husband before 29 and am kicking myself for it because I imagined myself having a career like them. Its funny how sometimes we (as women) do not find our own blessings and accomplishments as enough. That's why its good to encourage and remind each other of what we have sometimes.

I hope you visit her site, comment or share with others that would enjoy it.

Humor Me Friday

Just some things I saw on Pinterest, while perusing for [p]inspiration and happened to see a few things that made me chuckle or say, "What the....?

Nuff said.

Source: urbanoutfitters.com via Deia on Pinterest

What the fudge?? I couldn't do that BEFORE kids or when I was 8!

Source: ballettothepeople.com via Deia on Pinterest

This is a banana as a hot dog with peanut butter and jelly and a mango cut up as fries. My kid would KILL me if I tricked him like that, lmbo! I guess its creative though....?

Source: katheats.com via Deia on Pinterest

I could realllllly use those ideas. Too bad they weren't listed!

Source: simplelittlehome.com via Deia on Pinterest

Cute.

Source: suburbanpsychosis.blogspot.com via Deia on Pinterest

I hope you all have a lovely Friday!

Thankfulness Is A Developed Discipline."

We have so many things to be thankful for, but hearing a certain church sermon last weekend really put things into perspective. He said that "Thankfulness is a discipline to be developed." I thought "Wowwwww!" (in Flava Flav's voice)
He said we all come in (born) selfish, therefore its natural to be selfish and it takes practice and discipline to be 'thankful.' Selfish, obviously means wanting things that make us happy or that make us feel good/better. I thought, "Well, yeah....duh." As babies, we need to be taken care of. My 10-month old has a really hard time sharing and you'd think my 22-month old would have a harder time! Well....okay sometimes he does, but my youngest REALLY thinks everything is all his, our attention and all the toys! I mean literally, he doesn't want any toy except for the one in my oldest's hand. There are times when we need to be selfish but we can't forget to be thankful.




Our Thanks Changes Burdens Into Blessings

Anyway, he basically said that when we face adversity, we have to remember to be thankful for what we are learning from it. When we are thankful and profess it, our gift will come...but the gift comes after being thankful. How many times have you complained and said, "Ugh. Why me?" I know I have and the problem always resurfaces. Its hard to be thankful when we're feeling like crap and throwing pity parties. And I can be a GREAT party thrower. Its also funny when someone who doesn't know you or your problems says a message that seems to be talking directly to you. I love when that happens and I for one don't run from it!

Since our thanks changes our burdens into blessings, I plan to make a conscious effort in remembering this when my hard times and/or ill feelings creep into my mind. After all, life is about HOW we deal with what happens. Now, I have to remind myself of this around Christmas time, when dealing with family dramas.

I guess you could say this is gonna be apart of my New Year's resolution.

Red, White & Blue

via Pinterest

Do something nice for a veteran today. Whether you know one personally or see one out and about, buy his/her coffee, drink or meal. The last time the hubs and I traveled, we bought the guy's meal (he was in uniform). He was surprised and appreciative. Today and all weekend will be no different. It's the least we can do.

via Pinterest

This would touch anyone's heart to see. May God bless and give peace to the families of veteran and troops, especially those that lost their lives.

via

Found via Pinterest, but belongs to Sweet Something Design.

Veteran-ish

Pink was better than red in this case, but you get my drift!


God bless our veterans and our troops!

PROJECT PINK: Breast Cancer Awareness Month

In honor of Marilyn's Project Pink, I'm honoring a breast cancer survivor close to me.
My grandmother, who is currently 97 years old, has had issues with lumps for 20 years, but it was just 3-4 years ago when she had to undergo a mastectomy.
Yep, at 93 she had one of her breasts removed. The surgery was of course scary to all of our family and church members, but my faith was stronger than my fear! Truely.
My grandmother was scared though...and she has rarely shown fear and sadness in all my 29 years of living. :-)
We knew the odds of a patient at her age undergoing such a surgery and surviving with any recurring problems was slim.......but that is exactly what happened. All of her follow up visits as well as her recovery have been smooth sailing.
 Of course she still has some pain but that's nothing compared to cancer. Faith and prayer without worrying does wonders.
I still remember telling her after her surgery, while she was still in her hospital bed, that the next time we'd be going to a hospital will be because of me giving birth. That was my way of calming her nerves (though she got teary-eyed with worry, since her sister died of cancer 20+ years ago) and speaking into existence her being alive to see her great-grand children.
I'm VERY close to my grandma and so proud and lucky to have her!
Whenever I get the chance, I donate....but I'd like to find a "Run for Breast Cancer" in my area.


Do you know anyone effected by breast cancer? Share your story on Marilyn's page.

We Will Forever Remember....

.....the day that changed and took so many lives in America.

Blue lights coming from the World Trade Center fountains.

Happy Father's Day!!!!

"It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father."

~Pope John XXIII

 

 

 

Baseball Game No Go

Last night we were supposed to take the boys to the baseball game. Its been cloudy humid, and raining for the past two weeks. We got these tickets for free so we were excited to use them of course! Oh, and there was a threat of a thunderstorm and tornado watch, but we hadn't seen any signs of it, so we still head to the stadium.

When we get there it becomes extremely windy, almost to the point of pushing you in the direction the wind is blowing. Okay, well literally pushing me, but I'm pretty tiny. :-)  Anyway, it was still not TOO bad, so we keep walking in the direction of the stadium, after we've already paid and parked. At first, we take time to think about whether we should even get out of the car, then once we're out of the car, whether we should even walk to the stadium or not. I mean, the wind decided to pick up more and more with each passing minute. Finally, I say, "if we're gonna go, then lets just start walking and if not lets just get back in the car and leave." So, we take off walking with my hubs carrying our youngest boy on his chest in a carrier and the oldest boy on his shoulders. :-) He likes to be superdad!

So we make it into the stadium, away from the wind and we get to our seats. The hubs thought that the seats were under an awning, but they were actually the row that was covered under the awning. So, when we get to these middle level seats, the wind returns just a little bigger than before and we sat down for all of 5 minutes before we leave. As we decided to leave, a nice baseball fan took a picture for us, and security told us that she would be evacuating everyone with babies because of the strong winds. Well, that was all we needed to hear before we decided to walk alllllll the way back to the car. Of course my hubby, the guy was like, "Do you wanna wait it out? Its probably gonna pass in a little while." My answer, "Hell no!" I didn't want to be bumped in a crowd of [evacuated] people with our two babies. So, back to the car we went. This time when we got outside, the wind was a completely different animal and was stronger than we had ever experienced anywhere! Yeah, superdad went out of the window. He was trying to cover the youngest baby's face with his hand so he could catch his breath. My motherly instincts kicked in and I wrapped and tied his thin blanket around him, covering his head and then we took off.....but, why did I have the 28 lb. boy and my much taller and stronger hubby have the 16 lb. boy?!? The wind was sooooo strong that when got to the car it blew leaves, sticks and sand in our car! I just really liked how we worked together and listenend to each other....especially my hubby listening to me. Sometimes he likes to be sooo 'super' that he doesn't listen and just whips out his cape, but ends up taking the long way and not the shortcut.

We leave the stadium and head home taking the long way, on purpose ;-), and end up sitting in a gas station until the marble-sized hail passed. I fed both babies in the backseat, so they were content and none-the-wiser as to what was going on. We waited for 30 minutes before we headed home. At first, when we were walking in the parking lot, back to the car, I was disappointed in myself for not listening to my spirit tell me not to go to the stadium...but the more I thought about it while we were waiting it out at the gas station, I did listen to my spirit! Yayyyy! This is a quest that I continually try and work on. We were led to the stadium because the storm was actually at our house when we probably reached the stadium. We saw the tennis ball-sized hail, neighbors were showing on the news when we got home. Then, the spirit directed us away from the stadium, because as soon as we left and while we were at the gas station listening to the weather updates, the baseball game was delayed due to strong winds, large hail and possible tornadic activity! Thank God, we listened when he directed us! Thank God FOR directing us! When you have babies/kids, there is nothing more important than their happiness and safety, no matter the looming storm.

Like the author of "Eat Pray Love" Elizabeth Gilbert said in the first few chapters, "If you don't believe in God, believe in something."

I can't wait until tornado season is over.

In the Middle of Difficulty, Lies Opportunity

We all hate difficult situations. They put us in a more than uncomfortable emotional state and make us question ourselves. Questions like.....Am I right? Am I wrong? Am I strong enough to handle this? I've been in this situation waaaayyyyy more than I would've liked, with family, controlling in-laws and my former employer! Yikes! Typically, whenever we experience a hiccup or speed bump in the road, we're supposed to deal with it and move on.....but that's always easier said than done. When the other person or persons are uncompromising to help make the situation better, then what do you do next?

I was in this very situation for 3 years with my former job. I HATED working there! The work I was given was not challenging at all. When I asked for more challenging work, I was reassured to receive more, but there was never any follow-through. I worked for a small company in which there were only 3 female employees: me, a foreigner, and the boss's daughter. She and her dad were never nice to me, which is crazy since he is the boss and bosses should appear neutral to everyone. Anyway, I definitely feel like their treatment towards me was interconnected to the challenging projects, or lack thereof, that I was given day in and day out. Like I said, the company was very small, and now I know smaller companies don't always equal a wider variety of work and responsibilites, but can also equal more time for petty bs.

I wish that I would've listened to that inner voice I had, when I wanted to stand up for myself or when I wanted to quit and had another and much larger company trying to recruit me; but for some reason I thought that staying quiet and hopeful, while hanging in there, would give me more character and teach me how to navigate similar difficult situations. Uh....boy was I wrong! Another year and then another went by, and I just watched my career come to a long-standing, 3-yr halt! I prayed for another company to have an opening or get pregnant.....and a few weeks later, I found myself pregnant! My initial thoughts were "Thank you God!" followed by "sooo, I have to be here for another 9 months?!?" Needless to say....I am now a SAHM! :-)

The opportunities that I couldn't see, while in the middle of my difficult situation, were becoming a SAHM and realizing that the career I went to school for, is not the one that was actually destined for me. I never thought that I would want to be a SAHM, but now I am sooooo grateful that I am and have the opportunity to watch my boys go from babies to toddlers, develop their personalities and watch all of their big 'firsts.' During the time that I plan to be at home and raise my boys, I am going to be finding my true passions and then, switching over into doing something that I love. Right now, I am considering doing activity/program/fundraising planning for a non-profit organization. That way, I can give back while using my technical skills. My new career discoveries are still in the research and planning phase, but I'm definitely excited about the new opportunities! But I'll be at home with my precious little ones for a while longer. :-)

What, if any difficult situations have you had, that ended up working out surprisingly in your favor? How did you handle the difficult situation while you were in the middle of it?