"Choose Joy"

By: Sara Frankl from her blog @ www.glitzengirl.blogspot.com (from October 10, 2010)

And then she asked the question that so many of you email and ask me:

“How do you manage to stay so positive? So happy? Don’t you ever just get really mad?”

I suppose the cop out answer, while true, is that I just don’t have the energy to be mad. Seriously. It takes so much effort and energy to wallow. And it’s not any fun. I live 99.8% of my time alone, and if anger was all I had to live with I would lose my mind.

I think, for me, it has been about learning to want what He wants for me more than what I want for myself.It's a tall order and I don't say that flippantly. But my joy has truly come from Him finding His joy in me rather than me finding my joy in what I desire. It doesn't mean I don't long for different, it just means I find peace in fulfilling rather than understanding. In the knowledge that this life isn’t about me, it’s about Him.

The thing I try to remind myself of, as I am without all the things that I wish I had to make me happy, is that my biggest need is Him. More than I need to be outside in the fresh air, more than I need to move without pain, more than I even need Dad... I need His will to be done in my life whether it is comfortable or not. There is not one thing that feels comfortable about my world right now, but I need Him more than I need to change my circumstances.

It's still brutally hard. I have to remind myself of these facts every day. It doesn’t always come easily.

But it doesn’t make the truth any less true.

And the truth is that I can choose the joy.

So I do.

Me: Shelley - I want what Sara talks about above. I want to Choose Joy! I need Jesus more than anything! 

May you be blessed by Sara Frankl and may her words challenge you in your faith. 

Common Sense a lost gift in many peoples lives...

My friend recently emailed this little obituary to me about Common Sense. I thought it was worth re-posting here on my blog. Let's try to re-gift the gift of Common Sense to others. Let's pray that it will spread like fire in this present generation of our children and our future children's children. Somehow so many parents have pulled away from instilling in their children while raising them.

An Obituary printed in the London Times.....Absolutely Brilliant !!! 

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense , who has been with us for many years. 

No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. 

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: 

- Knowing when to come in out of the rain; 

- Why the early bird gets the worm; 

- Life isn't always fair; 

- and maybe it was my fault. 

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. 

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. 

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. 

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. 

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. 

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. 

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason. 

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; 

I Know My Rights 

I Want It Now 

Someone Else Is To Blame 

I'm A Victim 

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

Happy Birthday Leanne...

Happy Birthday Leanne

I had so much fun celebrating your 40th Birthday with you! Of lifes' special moments this is one of the days that I especially wished I lived closer. Birthdays are meant to be celebrated and I would love to be there this weekend to have fun with you. 

May your weekend be a time of reflecting of all the great things God has done. May He continue to bless you with the desires and dreams of your heart. 

Have a Happy Birthday my friend!

Married to my Best Friend for 28 years!

Two kids crazy about each other! Me "18" and Larry "19" here in this engagement picture. 

On our wedding day Larry and I were so excited to begin our lives together. Larry turned "20" about two weeks before we were married. Neither one of us had a dependable car to go on a honeymoon with and we were too young to rent a car. So our dear friend who had a very nice new Honda Accord graciously lent it to us so we could go up the coast. 

God really has blessed me with the desires of my heart as it talks about in Psalm 37:4. I claimed this verse long before Larry and I were married. Over and over again along this 28 year adventure God has continued to bless me with my desires. I am thankful to be married to my best friend.

My husband is the "rock" in our family. He keeps everything running smoothly in our home. He is a man of wisdom who loves the Lord with all of his heart! He is slow to speak. (I am not, lol!) He is an amazing Dad to our two sons Chase and Landon.

I look forward to many more years with Larry in our adventure together!

I love him more than life itself!

September 10, 1983

A lovely day...

Some days it's nice when everything else stops and we can take the time to join in someone else's celebration. Last year in August our niece Tabitha got married in Washington state. We traveled up for the wedding and met up with our in-laws on August 21st, 2010. 

Little did I know that this would be the last time I would see my mother-n-law Norma in a "happy state" of mind and no significant illness that I was aware of. She was so excited to be at her grand-daughter's wedding.  You could see the joy on her face.

This summer a about a year later we got a call that Norma was not doing to well. Her health had taken a drastic turn for the worse. She was needing medical attention and needed someone to look after her 24/7. We had the blessing of getting to be down in Southern California about the time all of this was taking place so we were able to spend some time with her. We were able to hold conversations with her and we were able to hug her and tell that we loved her on Friday, the 29th of July. We had told her we would be back to visit. By Sunday when we returned Norma's condition had changed even more since the two days prior. It was so hard to see how fast her condition was changing for the worse. 

This week my husband traveled down south to see his Mom. This was very hard for him as he knew this may be the last time he sees her. He had some much needed time and conversations with his brothers.While Larry was gone I have had the last few days to ponder my relationship with her over the past 28+ years. I was thinking about how many of her gifts to me have been things that she has made, sewed, embroidered, crocheted etc. At the time she gave them to me I was thankful for them but I don't think I really appreciated them like I do now. I now realize that they were made with love. 

Sometimes I allowed our differences to get in the way. She was not an easy person to understand. She was not an easy person to please. Often times I could not meet her expectations of how she wanted things to go. I would sometimes allow this to cloud my motives and my thinking. I wish I would have accepted our differences and put more effort into loving her anyways. 

This I do know about my mother-n-law: She loves her family. She loves her sons' and her grand-kids. She loves nothing more than time with them and having pictures of them. My husband Larry is her 3rd born son.

She is now getting ready to meet her Father in heaven. Her time here on earth will soon come to an end. I pray that she will be greeted with the Father's loving arms and we will meet up with her again someday. 

A room of my own...I have waited a long time for this.

Just the beginning...

Being the Mom of two sons has been a wonderful thing! They are now 18 and 20. My niece recently got married and moved out into her and her hubby's place. I can now think about creating a place of my own. A peaceful and quiet space. A place where I can think and process many of the oh so daily stuff. I didn't realize how much I needed this. 

I feel like a little girl! Nothing really matches exactly (which I love)! I have blended a little of this and a little of that. Most of the things have been second-hand finds, home-made gifts received through the years etc. 

A few things here are waiting to find their home on the wall. 

I found this lovely desk on Craigslist...(exactly what I was imagining), maple chair discover at the Goodwill store, just needed a quick face lift with a can of Ivory spray paint and I found the perfect quilted rose printed chair pad on my recent visit to Ross.

A view from the closet side of the room...

Hand-stitched throw pillows, embroidered pillow cases (by my mother-n-law Norma) are just a few of the things on the bed along with my dear Yorkie "Starbuck" who has already managed to find a comfy place to take a nap. 

I am thankful for the simple things that bring joy in the daily...

Be watching for more updates on the room soon!