Take Off

April 18th, 2016

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I fell asleep last night thinking about my son landing safely in Bogata Columbia.  For the first time in my mom life one of my kids was far far away exploring life in a brand new exciting way in a completely different country.  If I wanted to I could allow my mind to jump into a giant pit of worrying.  But, that’s just crazy!  He’s a grown up man with a little life experience and a smart mind….

Plus, he’s there with friends and native Columbian family.  That gives me great comfort.  What if he decided to just jet off on his own?  Perhaps my feelings would be different.

Today he’s traveling on to Cartagena to grow up and become a man that makes big boy decisions away from his mom & dad.  So, this is how it goes — you rock them all hours of the day & night and they grow up and vacation in other countries.

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Can I blame him?

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Oh no.  No I can’t!

Note to self :  Stop procrastinating!   Get that passport and hit the road!

10 Sure Things I’ve Found to be True

April 13th, 2016

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1. What I avoid – is what I need to confront the most.

I’m determined to change this terrible habit. I have all sorts of intentions regarding all kinds of “important” issues yet I run from actually tackling any of them.

Lame.

2. Every person believes their opinion is the correct opinion.

Yep, it’s true. Some of us are actually even right. Wow. When you find yourself in a situation that involves opinions – it’s always a good rule to find a way to lovingly agree to disagree. No one person is correct, all the time.

Fight your battles lovingly.

3. Having a healthy sense of humor is good for your health.

Life is funny. It’s also sad, frustrating, wicked, horrible & even ironic at times. I’ve found that if I don’t take everything so personally or dwell on the negative, I can find a way to laugh about a lot of life’s curve balls.

Smiling a lot goes hand in hand with laughter.

4. New experiences teach me to be a life-long learner.

I pray for God to open my eyes, ears and heart to new things every day. I don’t want to be stuck in the rut of only knowing a little bit about this world. Teach me, show me and make me wiser than I was yesterday.

Know-it-all people are annoying.

5. Living with regret cripples your future.

No one escapes this life without making a few mistakes. Allowing them to destroy us goes directly against what God sent his son to do, redeem us. I believe what God’s word says about being made new. I’m not my dumb mistakes – I can move on and do better.

Jesus knew I’d need help.

6. I’m responsible for me.

What is it about our ability to push our choices, actions and words onto other people? What I say, I have to be willing to own. What I do, I have to be willing to take responsibility for. What I choose, I have to make sure is right for me and remember I don’t have to force anyone else to choose that for their life because it’s what I chose for mine.

Keep yours to yourself.

7. Everyone has a story.

Mine is practically an open book. I try to imagine that other’s have experienced tragedies, loss, abuse and more when I catch myself making a frowny-face at their behavior or attitude. Not everyone has been treated with love & affection or kindness & acceptance.

Remember that when you want to argue with someone different than you.

8. Kids will imitate you in every way.

I read a post recently about a teenager out of control. I know this is going to sound “judgy” but adolescent kids don’t just suddenly decide to be jackholes. Signs of misbehavior had to have been there, somewhere along the way. Raising good kids to be amazing adults starts with us being ON OUR FREAKING GAME every day in front of our kids. That’s why they say parents never get a day off. What they see in us they will ultimately repeat.

Call it SCARED STRAIGHT PARENTING!

9. God isn’t waiting for you to mess up.

He isn’t that kind of God, in spite of what the world wants you to believe. He loves you (even when you fail). He loves you (even when you’re depressed). He loves you (even when you are horrible). He loves you (even when you don’t love Him). He loves you. He wants you to live knowing nothing you do can stop His love for you.

This is reason enough to love Him back.

10. My worse day is better than some people’s best day.

It’s ugly outside of my comfy little life. My problems are pretty pathetic when you hold them up beside a child sold into sex slavery or a woman whose had to witness the murder of her husband & children and then be raped by the killers. How can I ever believe that my troubles are so big? I hope to never be so naive that I think I’ve got it rough.

Being satisfied is becoming a thing of the past.

What is it that you for sure know? Does it spar you on to put life into a manageable perspective? The truth is, we could all have it much worse.

Squelching the Spirit

April 12th, 2016

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Being a people-pleaser can be rough. Those of us who lean on the side of making everyone around us happy carry a huge load of worry. We worry if what we say or do hurts or helps the people in our life and because we can’t help ourselves… we worry for worrying about it.

For weeks, I’ve let my blog sit silent.

I walked away.

Didn’t even log on or look at it.

I might have even told myself (inside my own head) that I was done with blogging. Never touching WordPress again.

And, I may be still.

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I love writing and I get excited when I hear from readers that something I wrote down moved them or hit the spot regarding an issue in their own life. It reminds me just how simple life really is and how closely connected we all are in some weird way.

I struggle. You struggle. I lose. You lose. I celebrate. You celebrate. I laugh. You laugh. I fall down. You fall down.

We are all human.

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What if you could just be you? Say whatever it is you wanted to say?

Would you do it?

Your life and mine has the power to influence those around us. Do we live it filtering every thought or idea?

As a Christian, I’ve almost trained myself to be JUST SO.

Just so, nice.

Just so, proper.

Just so, Jesus-y.

Just so, self-less.

Just so, righteous.

And by doing so, so? I’ve let my ME be someone very guarded and sensitive. I’ve allowed what other’s think or say about what I write to be a guardrail of sorts to hold me in place.

I hate it.

Maybe it’s because of the way I grew up. Always being pushed around and told how to feel, think and be. My opinion didn’t count, so I zipped it.

It’s like squelching the spirit. Or beating down real feelings. Sort of like being squished into a mold that doesn’t fit.

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What can I say to inspire others (and MYSELF) to keep forging on when little discouragements come along?

Get up! Keep going! You’ve got this! Don’t listen to them!

BE YOU! EVERYONE ELSE IS ALREADY TAKEN!

God,
Help me to remember that I answer to You and not anyone else. Let my words be pleasing to you. Use me to love, encourage and bless others… Help me to speak truth TO MYSELF and to those who read what I write.
Amen

Texas Through My Lense

April 8th, 2016

When in Texas….

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It’s important to soak up as much fun as I possibly can.

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Like ride the streets of my favorite hood (the ranch).

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Party with my soul sister friend and twin, Ms J!

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Create beautiful stuff together. All of it from the property.

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Relax in the sunshine with my sweetboy and his best girl.

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Hit the town for dinner with friends.

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Eat a little. Or a lot.

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Tease Ms Lizzy.

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Ride more roads.

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Run into buddies out on the farm.

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Peek back as you drive the farm and see the beauty of the lodge.

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Wonder how anyone could ever live without “country”.

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Take your best girlfriends to Dallas for a little shopping.

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Dine at the fanciest dinner parties with the cutest little boyfriends. This dude is my whipped cream loving honeybun.

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Watch my guys fly the drone around and NOT CRASH IT!!

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Relax some more.

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Stop drop and change up hair colors. 49 opens up all sorts of bravery. I’m over worrying about hair, I like change.

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The results.

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Wake up to beautiful Texas sunrises with coffee by the lake.

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Sunbathe. Boo boo girl is nursing a wound. Notice her medical wrap? Yea, she believes the end is near.

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Horse around a little.

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Catch a glimpse of history in a REAL LIVE STORE. The south hasn’t completely lost its mind over history.

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And of course…..take Ms Lizzy to the beauty parlor for a fancy hair-do!

Texas has it all. Maybe that’s why I hog it up as much as I do while I visit.

God bless Texas.

Jumpin’ Fences

April 7th, 2016

Every once in a while I get myself into hot water. It’s a way of life for me, really. I do things without thinking them all the way through. I mean, I try to think with a rational head but my heart….that’s what gets me into trouble.

Usually.

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See, I was driving by this pasture and I spotted THAT BABY! There ensued my determination to take his picture. I vowed in my best Scarlett O’Hara voice to come back (after dinner) and snap away with my camera forever freezing in time my vision of his preciousness.

But….

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He was originally behind a bunch of trees. I could only see a smidgen of two of the horses. So, I had the great idea of jumping that gate (yea, the one he’s standing beside) and walking a little closer to get my shot. Easy peasy.

So, boots on…snakes be aware! Over the gate, 10-12 steps into the pasture and I hear it — kathump! kathump! kathump! Then, I see it — nostrils flairing, full-on gallop (imagine the Kentucky Derby full blast running!) STRAIGHT AT ME!! Full speed ahead baby!

I should mention, I wasn’t alone. I had a cohort. She naively followed me into this deal. Thanks, Jodee! However, neither of us are 20 something gals. We’re “older” models and even though we had gone to Zumba earlier in the day NOTHING could’ve prepared us for the speed running we would need to do to escape Mr. Baby Daddy from trampling right over top of us.

I don’t think cursing is necessary to make a point here on the blog but in this situation —> We had to HAUL @$$ to get back over that gate the two of us so gingerly had just climbed over to trespass for a horse picture.

We may have hit one ring of the gate on the way back over but that’s debatable. We JUMPED FROM THE TOP back to the ground as Mr. Baby Daddy breathed his heavy galloping horse breath down my back. He may have even nudged me on over. I don’t know, it was all adrenaline and screams at that point.

We hit the ground, Jodee’s cellphone fell on the other side of the gate and we were zinging from the fear. Like, two old chicks who haven’t ever had to run for their lives kind of fear. It was real, y’all.

Now, it’s none of our business really but if the folks who own these gorgeous horses have a surveillance camera or dear cam set up here on their property. It’s very likely that you will see this whole scene soon on a Youtube video near you.

Good Ness Sakes!

All is good though because I got a few shots before my camera died and because the Lord knows I like to take shenanigans to the very nth degree, my cellphone died as well. Totally dead. So, these photo’s are gold. The only ones I could snap before I lost juice.

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He’s a real ladies man because both these beautiful girls are his baby Mama’s. Ms. Browny is full to popping with a baby of her own. I assume HE is responsible. Since they both stuck pretty close to him.

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Look, I don’t judge horse lovelifestyles. To each his own.

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He may have swayed me into his world too. Clearly, I’m crushing on him in this photo. He’s quite persuasive.

IT WAS WORTH IT ALL!!

The Greatest – I LOVE YOU

March 25th, 2016

Here on earth, the only place I’ve ever known….the words “I love you” contain a significant meaning. Not everyone uses them, some never hear them and other’s sling them around like confetti. For me, I’ve been lavished with love and I’ve heard those 3 special words a million times over and yet no “I love you” means nearly as much as the one given to me through the sacrifice of my King, Jesus Christ.

In my fear, Jesus’ death reminds me that this world is not my home and I have nothing to be afraid of today or ever. I will live in heaven with Him because of what He did for me on the cross.

In my filthiness, Jesus’ death assures me that I am clean, redeemed, forgiven and loved. Nothing I’ve ever done or could do can take away what His blood spilled for my sin accomplished.

In my shame, Jesus’ death empowers me to get back up from whatever dirty blackness I try to hide behind and live victoriously in HIS GOODNESS AND FORGIVENESS.

In my weakness, Jesus’ death gives me strength to look my enemy in the eye because I’m not alone, I don’t have to fight any giants and HE IS BIGGER THAN ANY OBSTACLE I can dream up.

In my brokenness, Jesus’ death puts me back together whole. Not only whole but even better than I ever was because His power is unlike any other.

In my selfishness, Jesus’ death reminds me that I don’t have to envy or feel jealous of anyone or anything that this world has to offer. My life is overflowing with love, mercy, grace, blessings and more because He sees to it and knows exactly what I need and deserve. Every single day.

In my wickedness, Jesus’ death opens my heart to see goodness that doesn’t come naturally to me and boosts my spirit to be one that is blameless and pure. Even when my flesh cries out to be horrible and unkind, Jesus gives me perspective to be more like Him.

The greatest I LOVE YOU ever spoken was painstakingly breathed out when Jesus Christ, the Son of God….beaten, humiliated and rejected by His very people died on the Cross for you & for me.

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It’s Friday….but Sunday’s coming. Do you know HIM?