CHRISTMAS IS IN THE HEART...

Hope you had yourself a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  

Enjoy what matters most in life.

• Husband, Wife, Children, Grandchildren, Girlfriends, Couple Friends
• relaxing and singing Christmas Carols
• Okay relaxing and listening to Christmas Carols.
• Snow, Sand, Sunshine
•  Christmas tree and Christmas spirit
•  Presents, Baking and Smiles
• Giving and Receiving
• Cutest Little Granddaughter EVER dancing around in her magical Ballet Slippers... she put them on and became a ballerina!
• Cars, Wonderpets, Lincoln logs, laughs, crys screams, little feet pitter pattering.... grandchildren all over our house.
• Calls from grandsons.... with the cutest little grandson voices and giggles. 

The ever present Love of Jesus!  He is calming and soothing. He lifts you up and doesn't ever let you down.  In the midst of anything, you can choose to be positive and just breathe, knowing that God has the reigns and he is guiding.  Make sure you are on the right sleigh.  He is my constant and my savior.  Who is he to you?

Just a post to say thank you to my Children whom I love more than I can even put into words.  Thank you for believing in us as parents and people. Thank you for our chats and fellowship spent.  Thank you for those beautiful grand-babies and all the love you allow us to bestow upon them.  They are truly our Joy in life.

Thank you to all of our friends for your constant friendship and support.  God never meant for us to be alone, that is why we have each other.

God Bless You and Have a Wonderful New Year.  May you always remember... The Spirit of Christmas....A savior was born in Bethlehem and can live in your heart!

Luke 2:10,11 "But the angel said to them. "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."


Is that not the coolest story in the entire world! 

I am okay are you okay

Where will you be in one year, two years 19 years?  You may have a new BFF!  You may have a new dog.  You may be alone, or have more children.  Are you planning your next year?  Be careful... God has a plan for you and he has had it for a very long time.  His plans are the best plans.  We just aren't always sure of what they are, when they will happen, how they will happen.  Okay I agree that is a bit... heavy.   Scary.  Uneasy.  But you know what, it is the truth.  Faith!  Leap and know, God has a plan and His plans are good.

Today.... is a very melancholy day.   Melancholy.... a deep, pensive... long lasting sadness.

Geez Louize, I know it doesn't lift ones spirits or anything, but it is what it is.  There are no words.   Can't explain.  Have you ever lost someone you deeply loved to death.  They were deeply connected to you in feelings, spirit, soul and blood.  Then the anniversary of that loss comes around.... year after year after year....

For me, I always say it is okay, I am okay.  The truth.  It isn't really okay, it is just okay and I am okay.

I miss my Mom.

Tomorrow is another day.

I am excited to see my Mom again, for now she is dancing and celebrating everyday with her Lord and Savior.  Now that is also okay.

Blessings dear friends who read my blog, and know....

Jesus Loves You!

Squeeze Tight and Let Go.....

Do you ever feel so humbled that God chose you to be the Mother of your children? Well I do, My children….They are so beautiful, so honest, so humble, so much more than I have ever been...and I am so proud of them. There are times when I can sit and have tears running down my cheeks just because I love them SO much.

Did you know, God knew those boys and those girls would need a Mom just like you? A mother who possibly thought the "impossible" and never asked (or tried not to ask) "How am I going to do this?"... You leap with faith and trust and just do it! You may not think so, but others have watched you in action, and you do.

I remember the first time I reached down to my youngest little guy’s hand, squeezed tight, and then let go. I remember doing that repeatedly in the different seasons of life with “big boy”, “little girl” and “little guy”. Otherwise known as “the kids”, for the rest of their life. Do you look back on raising your “kids” and see times you had to let go?

Smart choice to squeeze and let go and one that is so very hard to do. Even when you do let go, it does not mean it is easy, No...God never said things would be easy...it just means...you pray more, you trust God more, you are at Peace more and you have more Hope. It feels so much better than our human ways. This brings you much closer to God, which is His plan! You know the plans God has for your kids are great plans, plans to give hope and a great future while you help them go out and grasp today... the present.

The Present…..

I am so at Peace with the present of my “kids”. I love being a part of their lives as they are all grown up now and live as a Mother and Wife, a Father and a husband, and a son who has challenges…that challenge me still as a Mother. I love watching them grow and grow and grow.

I think... No, I know, God prepares us for life’s adventures and issues and joys and bumps and hardships that are already in the future and we have no idea at the time. If I had not learned to let go, things I would not have handled well in my life…

• 
  
  I would not handle letting go of my oldest son to his beautiful wife as well as I do. God knew that I could only be the “woman” in his life for a very short while, God had a beautiful and Spirit filled gal waiting backstage just for him, and I knew when it was time for me to exit.
  
  
  

• 
  
  I would not handle the miles between my daughter and I as well as I do. (well I do try) God knew she would be moving away, He also knew I needed to be a strong Mother for her and support her choices and her joys.
  
  
  

• 
  
  I would not handle letting go of my youngest guy… in ways I could have never imagined. They started on a hospital bed in ICU and fast-forwarded to a MRDD Group Living home. There are no words.
  
  
  

A blog post that my sweet daughter posted awhile back, encouraged me to blog. My comment from her post was a bit long…. I have edited some of my comment in this post and the end of this post is the end of my comment…that was sent to my sweet daughter…it goes like this:

Good Lessons learned my sweet daughter. I love how you think, you pray, you ask God to help you in the midst of anything, you believe and know He will, and then...You move on! So much like your Dad. You teach me so much sweet daughter. Good Qualities!

Have fun with all of the adventures your boys take you on. Know that you may have to come back to this "season", grab hold, squeeze tight, and let go again. Seems to be the way it is with raising children. Just as we raise our children, God continues to teach and "raise" us. I know God has squeezed tight and let go of me a million times.

Bless you My Sweet Daughter. I love your Heart

 and I love you!

My sweet daughters response was:

momma....I love you.

You should get a blog! ;)

So, Here I am!

thoughts on a sunday morning

In church this morning.... I had a great, feel good feeling... memory.

I grew up in a protestant church. I attended all of my youth church classes on Wednesday evenings (dropped off), learned the books of the Bible in order, by heart. The book I remember the most is Habakkuk... we were told to just think of "a back ache". I danced for the liturgical dancers (loved that),and I was in the choir. I didn't sing well, I was "alto". Okay, I admit, I skipped choir practice... only to experience a much more exciting time exploring our huge, beautiful, scary church. My church friends and I even know how to get up to the attic tower! It was on old stone church, right downtown Canton, Christ Presbyterian. I can't say I gave my heart to Jesus in that church, but I can say I knew He was there.

Getting ready for church was a challenge.... for my Dad. :) Three girls. Two of which DID NOT want to get up and go to church. We went though, even if we were going to be late. I thought if I stalled long enough we would stay home. We sat in the first few rows if we were on time, with my Aunt Eva and Uncle Warren Cogan. We sat in the balcony if we were late. Then I got to view all the hats down below. All the "older" ladies wore hats back then.

We sang though. We sang all the old fashioned traditional hymns. I knew the doxology by heart and loved singing it. It was different than today. They were not songs you heard on some Christian Radio Station. They were hymns you only knew the words,by opening the hymnal in the pew in front of you, and finding that page number.... then singing from the belly outloud... songs like...
"Great is thy Faithfulness"... and "Holy Holy Holy...Lord God Almighty..."
and beside me, My Dad. He always sang, I think he enjoyed the songs. He belted them out proud and clear. Not that he was a good singer, but he sang and I am happy for that memory.

Today in church. We sang "great is they faithfulness..." and beside me was an "older gentleman".... who was singing from his lungs... and enjoying every word and note.

It was a good feeling, it was a happy memory. Thanks Dad.

The Waitress... who made me think.

While having lunch with my hubby one afternoon, which by the way was yummy.  We both noticed our waitress was...

• to the point
  
• not excited
  
• very serious
  
• Although, polite!

  My hubby mentioned this and pointed it out to me.  I thought about it and looked around, she had many diners, and it is a small local joint.  I decided she was very "task oriented" in her head and on the serving floor at a very busy time of the day.   I explained further to my sweet hubby.  The waitress was

• nice
  
• knowledgable in the specials for our lunch time experience
  
• brought my coffee hot
  
• with lots of cream,just like I enjoy.

  However,

• she never smiled
  
• seemed ready to dash while in talk mode
  
• delivered everything we ordered in ample time
  
• although a bit on the edge

  After describing this waitress, it dawned on me.... I said to my hubby.... you know ... she is busy and "task oriented" right now, not "people oriented".  Like me...when I am getting ready for a feast at our home, which will include "people" later, but at the present moments of getting ready for our feast, it is all about tasks and attacking them... therefore I become VERY

• "task oriented". 
  
• Which could be called a bit bossy
  
• trying to control and dictate every move for every one
  
• which might be a little annoying :)

   So, as I pointed out, I am very "task oriented" before our feast, and when the first guest arrives, I become very "people oriented".  Hmmmm I can't help but wonder if I should stay "people oriented" while I am in task mode.  Knowing full well there are "people" with me while I am in "task mode".... thinking about a great quote

John Wesley was an incredible servant of God. His motto was:

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can"


• I may be more enjoyable to be around while I am doing tasks and serving people if I remember these great words. ;)

 

Do you wake up... do you spend moments in the day or trying to fall asleep, with thoughts.

Great thoughts that you want to share with the world or maybe just good friends. Thoughts that would be of help to someone, thoughts that you should never share with anyone! Thoughts of inspiration and thoughts of deep regret. Thoughts that rock your world and thoughts that bring you to your knees. You have a mental picture of a thought, you have an opinion that you feel counts. Thoughts that occur suddenly in the mind and you want to share, but you are alone. Your gonna write that thought down, and you move onto the laundry or the paperwork. You give careful consideration to these thoughts, and then they are gone. Can you remember them... Not! Pen, paper, laptop, keyboard.... I must start using more often. I am in "blog process".

I love life... and ALL it offers! 

I pray that God is the editor of my thoughts.

God Bless Your thoughts my dear friend. May they help you and not hinder you.