A thankful Thanksgiving...

I was reading my friend Kellies’ blog this morning and she was telling the story of how she purposefully parked far away from the store she needed to shop in yesterday, in order to get some extra exercise. The walk though caused her son to complain a little about how far they had to walk. That led Kellie into a nice little life lesson with her kids about how thankful they should be that they have the working legs to do the walking.

Haven’t we all—even as adults—caught ourselves ka-vetching about something silly? I think we all get wrapped up in our own drama sometimes that we forget how good we have it. We could all be more thankful for the things we do have. Even the little things. Even when bad things happen, be thankful—‘cause they could be worse, couldn’t they?
Have you ever made a little list of the things you are grateful for? Can you list 5? 10? A fellow-blogger of mine came up with a list of 75! I LOVE THAT!

Can I make this point even bigger for you? This morning I got a phone call from a Dad who wanted the number to Toys for Tots because he needs to register his kids to receive toys this Christmas. I don’t know this man, but my heart just swelled with love for him and his family. Thank you, Sir, for doing what you are doing for your family. I know it takes a lot to reach out for help and today you and yours are included in my list of prayers. And if you don’t find what you need at Toys for Tots, I’ll find you help elsewhere. What an awesome father you are. He also made me thankful for organizations like Toys for Tots to be there for some very needy and deserving folks.

This Thanksgiving….be thankful. For everything---even the small stuff. Even when times are tight, and this year they are very tight. But still, there are soooooo many things in our lives and our world to be thankful for. Make your list and keep adding to it! I hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks
to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5: 19-20

Stepping out of my comfort zone....

I got an email from a lady I call Gran’ma Lou. Her name is actually Louise, but she prefers Lou. She congratulated me on being baptized and wanted to know how my ‘new life’ was going…..

You see, I’ve always been a believer, but never was really a serious Christian. My weight loss of 140 lbs started on January 1, 2007 with a prayer—the first time I prayed for the strength to actually lose the weight---and it worked. As everyday passed and every pound came off, I gave thanks and the more I gave thanks, the more I felt my heart changing. It was during this same time that I found a wonderful church that introduced me to a Bible I could actually read and understand. And it soooo spoke to me. Becoming a Christian has been a major transformation. And it's usually one that starts on the inside. I believe God started with my outsides first and along the way, the insides changed too. He does use some creative and unique ways to get into your life. And through my weight loss was how He got into mine.

I took being baptized very seriously. Making the full-on commitment to Christ has meant a lot of changes for me—I mean A LOT! I have stepped out of my comfort zone more than once over the past year and a half which is tough for me. To give complete control of your life and every aspect of it over to God, for someone who’s somewhat of a control freak, is tough. But for every change I have made, for every decision I’ve asked guidance on and for every prayer I’ve prayed, good has come from it, so I know I’m on the right track. I love my new life. I feel happiness and contentment like I’ve never felt before. I’m being led down paths I myself would have never thought of traveling and I’m doing new, good things. I’m meeting some amazing people along the way who are teaching me things and opening my heart to new experiences. My only regret in life now, is that this didn’t happen sooner. But as I have learned—it’s all in the timing and His timing is perfect.

I was baptized by Pastor Harry, the one who introduced me to Christ, in the Pacific Ocean, at sunset. HELLO! What could be more perfect? Only the fact that my husband got baptized with me……

Do you need Jesus in your life? Click here.....

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the
calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient,
bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity
of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism..... Ephesians 4: 1-5

Sisterhood of the Shrinking Pants...it's all in how you look at it!

I have a friend--I'll call her Shellie--who emailed me to say she had lost 10 lbs in her first week of starting her weight loss adventure. YAY! Last week she wrote that in week 2 she “only lost 2.4 lbs”. I get that after a 10 lb week, that 2 ½ doesn’t seem like a lot, but that is actually a very healthy loss after the huge loss in week 1. But when it is YOU standing on that scale having worked your hardest allllll week long and saying “dang it, I only lost 1 lb”, those numbers sometimes don’t add up as fast as you want!

Here’s a trick for you and I shared this with ‘Shellie’. This was something I did during those weeks where I had lower losses than I wanted. I told ‘Shellie’ to go to her refrigerator and pull out 10 sticks of butter and hold them in her hands. That is 2 ½ lbs. (1 stick=1/4 lb) All of a sudden, before your eyes, you see how much 2 ½ lbs really is. So for that week when you ‘only lose 1lb’, and are kinda bummin’ about it, go right to the fridge and pull out 4 sticks of butter and realize that that is how much fat you lost off your body…..1 lb all of a sudden looks like the big amount that it really is!

Wanna hear some mind boggling math?? I lost a total of 140 lbs…..that’s 540 sticks of butter! THAT’S a lot of buttah! See? It’s all in how you look at it sometimes…….who knew butter would be such an eye opener!!! ; )

(I’m still on jury duty for the next couple of days according to the judge)

Jury downtime....and wayward youth

I'm in the midst of jury duty for a pretty lengthy case. It probably won't wrap up until Thanksgiving week. My jury service is going very well. Again, I’ll say that I can’t say anything about the trial itself. But that said, yesterday during the trial, I was hit with this kinda sad feeling for some of our youth these days. They can get so twisted around in what is supposedly important in life. When the lack of attention and direction they receive at home causes them to seek attention and validation elsewhere---and not the good kind---it usually does not end well. Then there are the cases where the parents do everything right and their kids still veer off track.....I certainly lived an angelic teen life compared to most these days and I get it, that there is the need at that age to break out and discover yourself and forge your own path. But, man oh man, where that path leads too sometimes just breaks my heart. I look at my 10 yr old daughter, knowing that her day is coming where she will start hangin’ with her friends more than she does me. I hope against all hope and pray my strongest prayer that I am giving her the foundation and the good common sense to make the right choices as she starts to take flight. And I hope the bad choices she makes (and she will) will only be minor things. My heart breaks for those kids who don’t realize that they have true and brilliant potential.

With that said…….give your baby an extra hug today, tell him/her you love them and cherish them numerous times a day. Make sure they know that they are the light of your life……and give them your attention. Let them show off for you. Because if you, as their Mom and Dad don’t, they’ll find someone else who will…and that may not be a good thing.

I hope you have a great weekend!

A Prayer For My Daughter

Dear God let me be strong enough to protect her with my every breath,
And please watch over her and keep her safe when I can not.
My dear daughter, my prayer is that the amazing, unique and awe-inspiring glow that lights you from within
Will continue to shine brightly and warm the hearts of your friends and family;
That you will greet each new sunrise with eagerness to meet the new day,
And that you sleep each night with peace of mind and spirit.
I pray that as you make your place in this world,
You continue to value honesty, integrity and loyalty above superficial relationships;
I pray that as you confront the often harsh realities that come with maturity
You can still appreciate the daily miracles that make each day a gift;
And that when you face life's challenges and obstacles,
Your faith in yourself and in God will see you through and give you comfort.
I pray that you find someone who will love you without reservation,
Who will stand beside you, empower you and defend you with every fiber of his being;
And that you one day experience the fierce joy that fills your soul when you have a child of your own,
So that you can finally understand how our pride in you will never waver, and our love for you can never end.
I pray that God will always keep you in His sight and in His care,
And that Daddy and I may always stand by your side.

(found on Quoteland.com and altered, respectfully, ever so slightly!)

I'm a juror....and other revelations

I’ve been on jury duty since Monday. Today was the third day of jury interviews. They were down to the last 40 or so people and I thought for sure I would not even get called to be interviewed before the full panel was picked. My name was called with 7 others. During the interview process, I figured, for sure, that since I work in the media, that I would be immediately bounced from the pool. The judge asked for a sidebar with the attorneys---SURELY they would come back and say I was gone. Nope. They dismissed 7 others and kept me! I’m officially on the jury of what I understand will be a long trial…. About 2-3 weeks.

Here’s what I did learn over the past 3 days during jury selection. Everybody has a story. There were some interview questions asked of all us jurors that caused us to have to share some very personal stuff that happened in our lives to make sure we were a good fit for this particular trial. Ohhhhhh, the stories I heard. There were some people who had so much traumatic stuff happen in their lives, that it made me realize how sheltered or how boring my little life has been. And I thank God for that! Ya know, God only gives us as much as we can handle and nothing more, but WOW, some people in this world have shouldered a lot! And in comparison, I have shouldered very little. But I guess it’s all relative. Maybe some of the stuff I've dealt with has been just as tough as their stuff. You never know…..

It made me realize, that as we cross paths with people in this world, you just never know what is and has gone on in their lives. Have you ever met someone, walked away and thought “what a cranky-pants” or "she's just so sad all the time" or "what's HIS deal?"……maybe you just don’t know their story. That old saying “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover” rang soooooo true for me over these past 3 days. It's a good lesson to be reminded of that we should be careful how we 'see' people and judge people when we first meet them. And that 'happy go lucky' person has a story, too. But they've turned the page. The story is still there.....they're just in a new chapter. And isn't that the challenge for all of us to keep turning the pages and create new chapters in our lives. Exciting chapters, tragic chapters, happy, sad, boring chapters.......they are all there! Just keep creating new ones.....

Jury duty continues for me tomorrow…

Law and Order...

I have been serving jury duty since Monday. Well, not duty yet. I thought when I reported Monday, I would get assigned a simple civil case that would be done in an afternoon and I’d be back at work Tuesday. Not so! I was put into a pool of over 100 potential jurors for a criminal trial that, once the jury is in place, could last a couple of weeks. It’s a big case and that’s all I can say to you right now, as per the judge. For the past 2 days, I have sat in a big courtroom and observed the jury selection process. Now, this is my first time being called for jury duty. After all the years I’ve been a registered voter, I’ve never been summoned! And my first time, could be a biggie! How exciting!! Now, most everyone I know asked “Why didn’t you get out of it?” First of all, I don’t have one of the ‘legal’ excuses that gets you out of jury duty, and I wasn’t gonna lie. Second of all, I was soooooo dang curious about the whole process and how it happens. Third of all—I kinda felt an obligation as a registered voter and as an American to go do another one of my privileges of living in this country! Do you know how many people would die…..well, actually DO die…..to have this ability? To actually get a day in court much less a verdict from a fair and impartial jury is unheard of in most countries around this globe. Pretty heady experience if you ask me! I’m also very lucky to work for a company that will continue to pay me while I do my jury time, too!! Thanks to them for that…..

So as of right now, most of the original 110 have been excused from the jury booth for one reason or another. Something in their past or they know someone or maybe they just didn’t have the right reaction to something that was asked. All those things and more come into play when the prosecutor and the defense attorney’s are both trying to find “The Perfect 12” (plus 8 alternates). I’m in a very small group of possible jurors now, so I’m thinking my day in ‘the box’ will be tomorrow. If I’m back on the air Thursday or Friday, you’ll know I got bounced too. If I do make it---COOL and what great stories (after the verdict) I’ll have for the show!! If not---what a great experience this has been……it's been like my own personal version of Law & Order!!!

The day after....

(Paraphrased from Christian author Margaret Feinbergs blog....but so, so, so true.)

' "Are You a November 4th or a November 5th American?

As the date grows closer, I am finding the tone of the election continues to turn darker and more unsavory. One of the biggest issues with politicians turning nasty (on both sides) is that it gives permission to everyone else to do the same--our neighbors, our co-workers, our fellow church members. It brings out the worst in all of us.

Yes, the election is growing closer, but I can't help but ask the question:

Are you a November 4th or a November 5th American?

Are you more concerned with who wins on November 4th or how you can be a part of rebuilding and healing our nation on November 5th and the years to come?

I'm all for voting, please don't get me wrong, but it's going to take all of us--together--to turn our nation around." '

How true. This election year has worn me out. I am sooooo tired of hearing the nastiness and name-calling---I am just exhausted by it all! But let's try to remember that whether your candidate(s) wins or not---you are an American first. And it is your responsibility--as an American--to then support those people that were voted in on voting day! We are lucky to have the democratic system that we have. To be able to vote for who we want--freely. But afterward--we need to equally show some grace and dignity and acceptance for those who won and act like the great nation that we are! I hope we do......

NOW GO VOTE!!!!!!