It's the Little Things ...

Lately life has had its way with me in the form of "challenges".

My fiance was badly hurt at a concert (which he loves concerts, so this was quite a "blow").  He came home rather bloody and VERY swollen; one eye completely swollen shut.  We had a 12:30am ER visit and didn't get home until 3:30am.  Verdict according to the hospital - shattered left cheek, broken bones behind the eye, fractured the bridge of his nose and a broken right cheekbone.  Thankfully no concussion, but surgery seemed certain.  Here's the "cherry on top", it was his birthday.  Four days later we went to a specialist where they re-took some x-rays and discovered that all that was fractured was his left cheek by his eye and he'd heal all on his own in 3-4 weeks.  No surgery would be required.  Three weeks have now passed, bills have arrived and his healing is doing very well; nearly done.  The bills even came in over a grand less than what we were expecting and overall we're feeling quite blessed.

It's the little things ...

My grandparents travel a lot around the western side of the country as they're snowbirds.  Each at the young age of 73, they drive from Oregon to Arizona and sometimes to Kansas, Colorado, Nevada and California.  They're on the road a lot.  Despite all their traveling, they have made it to each of their destinations unscathed (for the most part) and safe.  I am so glad God watches over them and continues to answer my prayers of keeping them safe.

It's the little things ...

I work at a wonderful place filled with wonderful people but sometimes some of our "clients" get their feathers ruffled a little more than usual.  I got the brunt of one of these "ruffelings" yesterday and will admit, I was literally shaking after the event.  I couldn't remember the last time I was "attacked" in that way and it really threw me.  After calming down and speaking with a trusted individual, I went back to my desk and back to work.  Shortly thereafter I had a lady bring me a thank you card (which was the sweetest thing I had read in a long time), another gave me a poinsettia, and three others sent their "good wishes" and "Merry Christmas's".  Then about an hour after that, another co-worker told me that a wonderful, God-fearing woman volunteered herself to be my mentor.  A HUGE blessing and answered prayer.

It's the little things ...

Christmas is right around the corner and presents are starting to show up under our tree.  My fiance, God love him, gets very excited about the gift aspect and constantly is asking me, "What'd you get me?"  Myself, being raised very traditionally when it comes to Christmas, never budge when he asks these questions.  However, last night after I got home after one of my 12-hour days, he says, "I need you to open one of your gifts ... it's ornaments."  -- can I just interject here for a moment?  When you're 28-years old and have the heart of a child, I can say that I honestly look forward to the surprises that lie waiting to be discovered under the Christmas tree.  Sadly this year ... I know what I'm getting because everyone told me.  Seriously kills the surprise, let me tell ya.  -- Anyways -- I open this gift and sure enough, it's ten little Totoro themed ornaments.  Oh, I squealed with glee and immediately sent pictures to those who knew who he was and were aware of my obsession.

It's the little things ...

My best friend works with special needs adults and she sent me a text the other day saying, "[client] just buttered his own roll...

... it's the little things."

In life, we get hit - hard sometimes, but there are a mountain of cliches stating how we need to get up, dust ourselves off and keep going.  But "keep going" and going well, I feel, tend to get separated.  Sure, we get up and keep going, but we're hunched over, sulking and flinching at every creak in the floor.  We tend to find and focus on the negatives which result in us being overly defensive, not looking at situations with alternative perspectives, being selfish because we feel we're the only ones who'll take care of ourselves, along with many other negative points.

When I was speaking with this "trusted individual", she kept saying, "We..." when I would say, "I'll work on it."  We HAVE to remember that we are not in this life alone.  Sure it feels like it sometimes but if you really, really look ... take the blinders of depression and frustration and hurt off and really look - you'll see an onslaught of supporters compiled of your friends, family and co-workers standing all around you.

Remember ... it's in the little things that we are able to locate the positives in this life.

Are You Proud of Being You?

Do you like you?

There are a lot of songs out there about "self love"/loving yourself for who you are.

P!nk's "Perfect"   Colbie Caillat's "Try"  and here's a list of others.

Women (and men) alike are getting more and more aware of the fact that in order to be happier on this Earth we need to love ourselves for who we are right here and  now.  The other day I was talking with a friend that I have always thought was  gorgeous and honestly have always been a jealous of. She told me that she hated going out where there are a lot of people because she was afraid that they would judge her.  This comment floored me.  I seriously couldn't find a single thing wrong with her AT ALL and still am dumbfounded that she felt she contained anything that could be judged.  Then I thought "I wonder if others think that of me?  Am I too hard on myself?"  Answer -- probably.  No, defiantly!

This morning during my devotions I read the verse 1 John 4:19 which says, "We love because he first loved us."  We love ourselves because our creator loved us first.  He created us!  Why wouldn't he?  He made us the way we are today, right now... for...a...REASON!  I cannot tell you how often I've forgotten that myself.

In this devotion the author created 10 things to remember when you start down the path of self-defeat:

1. Be Content with what you have
2. STOP comparing
3. Count your blessings (my addition: And Thank God for them)
4. Quit personalizing every comment
5. Maintain a servant spirit (my addition: be grateful to help others around you.  You have that ability when they do not.  Also, God calls us to be servants for him.  "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people" - Ephesians 6:7)
6. Do the unexpected for a loved one
7. Keep a heart of gratitude
8. Don't be negative (I seriously struggle with this one)
9. Respect yourself 
10. Take God at his Word!

"He puts stock in [our] character rather than [how we play] charades" - Author Unknown (because I left my book behind). :)

So remember that loving yourself will not come easy like snapping your fingers or twitching your nose.   But never give up on yourself either.  If you're not proud of who you are ... learn to.  You are not your mistakes - You're your new best success story ... now live it!

 

(google search).

"When I grow up..."

“When I grow up I’m going to be a …”

How many of you, when you were just little tikes (or littles as I like to call them), knew what you wanted to do with your life?    For those of you that did know what you wanted to do that young… I say, “You lucky duck.” 

When I was little, I didn’t have dreams of growing up to be a ballerina, or a cop/doctor/fireman, etc.  I went and created my own job where I would get to travel around the world, creating illustrations of what I saw to dawn the pages of the children’s books I would be writing and taking pictures of everything.  (Honestly, that still sounds kind of fun).  This job was dreamed up by a child who knew what she enjoyed doing and thus combined them all into one dream job. 

Fast-forward to present … I have five years of college experience under my belt having attacked three completely different majors and have absolutely no degrees to show for it.  As a result, I’ve been hosting receptionist positions for the better part of ten years or more. 

As you may have figured out, I enjoy art.  I’ve been doodling/drawing/painting since I was old enough to hold a marker.  My mom tells the tale of how I was drawing details in ears when I was just 3-years-old.   As life progressed, I developed a very curious nature and focused it a lot on the human mind and how it works.  “Why do people do the things they do?”  “Why do they react this way?”  Then a few years back I worked for a company where they had me assist the graphic designer/marketing director and I thought, “Wow!  I would LOVE this job!”  That’s where my love of marketing started and one I’ve squelched ever since.

Fear always held me back with thoughts of how I might fail but after my boyfriend, mother, grandparents, friends and other family (and even some co-workers) all said I should go back to school … I happily announce that I have started to ball rolling on doing just that. I am in the very beginning stages of applying to our local community college to obtain degrees in both graphic design and business marketing.  To say that I’m nervous would be an understatement but my mom reminded me that this time around I’ll be learning something that I actually care about and that classes will be less daunting, dreadful but will in turn be something I‘d look forward to. 

So remember that when you have a dream in your heart, don’t let your mind talk you out of it.  Going back to school will allow me to obtain a job where I potentially get to do something I love and have the choice of being able to stay at home with my future family and still continue working.  But prayers are always welcome as I take yet another swing at the college life! 

Life's 4x4's to the Face

Life lessons happen.  Sometimes they're a bit more obvious then others but when they come, most likely you notice...and I noticed mine yesterday while playing a game with my best friend.

There's this amazing strategy game that I grew up playing called Eurorails.  To win the game you have to connect your track to 7 out of the 8 major cities on the board and be the first to have 250 million in your bank.  You obtain this goal by "building track", which is done by drawing lines between the dots on the board with a crayon.  (See, told you it was awesome) ;)  Anyways, I was playing this game and was very focused on picking up my loads from certain destinations and dropping them off at the designated drop city, strategically planning my routes.

This is the game

So as my best friend and I are playing, I'm thinking about where I should connect my track next for the least amount of money for the biggest pay off when I hear her say, "I've connected my 7 cities".  At the risk of sounding over dramatic, my mind went blank for a moment.  My slew of strategies I had running through my mind came to a screeching halt as I realized ... I forgot the whole point of the game!

I tend to do that with life.  Most times people are being told not to focus so much on the future but more in the now; me ... I focus on the now, get comfortable, and then God reminds me there's a future.  It tails off of a comment one of the pastors I work for said the other day in our staff meeting (I'm paraphrasing here), "You're going to run with more passion, purpose if you have something you're running to [a goal]."  I realized I don't have a goal.  I'm horrible at goals.  I have ideas of things I would like ... get married, have a family, be healthy, be comfortable financially, get out of debt ... the basic American dream; but as for a set goal of the ever daunting "What do you want to do with your life" I turn into an immediate "deer in the headlights".  

Thankfully I am reminded of a pipe dream I've had since I was 16 years old of becoming a missionary.  As that is a rather broad term, I have narrowed it down to who I wanted to minister to and where.  But now I am running into the issue of life ... bills have to be paid by the job I have to keep.  In the next five years I plan to be married, have children, buy a house ... and so the more I think of when God might finally give me the green light, I feel I'll be blowing out 70 candles on my birthday cake.  The "now" goals are still quite a mystery to me...something I'll be praying more on for sure. :)