Christmas thoughts

I’ve thought about abandoning this blog.  I’ve been gone too long.  Who cares and who reads anyway?  But the thought of one person reading and taking away something keeps me going.  Just one person.  This will get personal and maybe even uncomfortable.  But I know without a doubt that I’m not the only one going through hard times.  And some may even say that my hard times aren’t even really hard.  But they’re mine and I’m owning them. 

Christmas time was so fun and full of life when I was young.  So many presents and meals and good times.  Until a few days before Christmas when I was 16 and my Grandaddy passed away unexpectedly.  I will never get over burying him the day after Christmas.  He was a rock in our family.  It took a long time to get over it.  And now that I have my own kids, I work SO, so hard to keep Christmas happy and to keep them from being disappointed.  But this year, Christmas is different again.  I wish I could explain more but it’s not my story to tell.  My own little family is fine but we are feeling the weight of loss and heartbreak right now.  And while we are hurting, I’m learning the lesson again of the danger of making Christmas so perfect and unattainable that nothing should break it.   But the fact of the matter is, I do try but it breaks. 

So what do I do with this?  I keep thinking of Jesus being born in the manger.  Surely Mary thought differently of where the King should be born.  I can only imagine how she probably tried to make everything perfect for him.  But she couldn’t. And neither can I.  All I can do is ask him into my broken manger.  Into my broken heart.  This big city is still not what we hoped and expected. But I ask him in anyway.  My body is broken with a thyroid disease that was painful and scary and still I have to ask him in to help me carry on when I’m so so tired and weak.  My kids make decisions that I wouldn’t and I ask him in.  Our broken mangers. 

Will you invite him in with me?  Our pastor uses the following words when asking for the Lord to come into your life (for the first time or just again): 

Sorry

Thank You

Please

Sorry for going my own way

Thank you for dying on the cross for me

Please come into my life. 

That’s all we have to do. 

He’s not unattainable and he’s not waiting for perfection. 

Smart Success Seminar Story

I had an incredible time at the Smart Success Seminar this past weekend.  I learned that your personal life and your business go hand in hand.  You cannot separate them and you don't really want to!  If you are looking to amp up your life and business please contact me so that we can chat about the seminar.  It would be my pleasure.

Do you have a word for this year? My word is ~BREATHE~. I am a jaw clincher, breath holder and it takes a huge toll on my body. I constantly have a stiff neck, jaw and shoulders because of this problem. I'm learning to make myself stop and take big deep breaths throughout the day. I'm doing it not only during my workouts but in everyday life as well.

What is your word?

We're back....

from our vacation to Colorado.  We took over 400 pictures and I still think I didn't take enough.  Until I get done going through them and editing them, I'll share with you with one of my favorites.

This is how I felt during most the trip.  Taking leaps of faith and not too gracefully I might add.  Who would have thought that a straight forward trip to Colorado would be filled with so many thrills?!  More to come and I'm glad to be back.

A fun busy week

Last Thursday I finally cashed in my gift certificate to a beginner's mosaics class out in The Heights.  I went totally out of my comfort zone and hung out and crafted with ladies (and one gent) I didn't know from all over this crazy big city.  I even experienced morning traffic here for the first time and to tell you truth I was thankful for the slower pace instead of cars whizzing past me.  

Here is my creation before the grout.  Imagine that, its all neutrals!  Ha.  

And after the grout.

The Mosaic studio was gorgeous and they were working on a huge mural piece right in the front room.  I hesitated again to take pictures because I wanted keep their artwork protected until finished.  

Look at that rainbow of colored tiles.

I liked The Heights so much that Hubby and I decided to go back the next day for date day (the one bonus of shift work).  We explored shops, antique stores, and of course, my favorite thing to do, walked and dreamed about  houses.  Here are some pictures of a few things that caught my eye while browsing around.

Sorry. These are all so blurry.  What is up with my Iphone?  But I want to remember them and I think they are totally DIY-able.  Not the crazy car though.

And the craftsman houses were killing me.  

It was actually quite difficult to tell the brand new houses apart from the original ones.

That night we went with our church to give away free ice cream to everyone at the Concert in a local  park.  My kids really enjoy seeing the looks on people's faces when they find out its actually free.  And the best part is telling those people that it is just a simple way of letting them know that God loves them.    We enjoyed listening to some Tejano music in celebration of Cinco de Mayo but the band ended up playing all sorts of music and the crowd loved it.  

Insert picture here:  I was too busy keeping up with where my kids were going to even think about taking pictures. 

On Saturday, J-man's soccer team won by a landslide and Roo went to a Cinco de Mayo birthday party.  The best part of that day?  The party wasn't finished when I went to pick her up so I gladly said yes to a margarita and then found the dishes all done when I got back.  (-:  Now that is love.  

My funkness

I've been in a funk.  I want this blog to be positive and uplifting but let's face it-some days I'm not.  I have a hundred ideas floating around in my head and I have no idea where to begin.   So I made myself sit down to write in hopes that some clarity will come to me!
Funk reason #1:
I was playing around with my banner one day and completely deleted the one that Cindy made for me so I needed something fast.  I quickly created one in Picasa and, even though I really didn't like it, I had to have something.

{too plain!}

It didn't really inspire me to write any new posts.  Hence the quietness on the blog. 

I like my new one better.  It's more me and I was ready for a change anyway.  

Funk reason #2: 

I've been slightly injured.  My legs, feet, and knees were aching so much.  Not fun when you are trying to finish up Insanity.  I attribute it to bad form during lunges and trying too hard to keep up with the superheroes on the screen.  Thank goodness last week was my recovery week.  I took full advantage and allowed myself to do lower impact workouts and walks.  I stretched a lot with bands and the roller and now I'm feeling tons better.  I'm on to the Max workouts in Insanity and I'm paying special attention to my form and modifying when I need to.  Seriously important so I don't take myself out of commission in these next few weeks. 

Funk reason #3: 

(I'm going to sound very pathetic over this one) 

Our favorite show, Chuck, is over!   Needless to say, there were tons of tears shed on my end.   We really loved that show.  It was the only show for four years that we really loved watching together.  And it didn't end perfect.  I wanted it all neatly wrapped up and tied with a bow.  Even though I didn't get that, I appreciated the ending.   It just has really messed with me.  It's like a book that gets under your skin and then you think about it for days.  I think I'll be ok though.  I'm anxiously awaiting So You Think You Can Dance to start up again.  That will help.  

Funk reason #4:

Comparison.  I have let it creep into all areas of my life.  It's stealing my joy and I want it back.  Putting my focus back to Jesus is the only way I know how to combat this.  (and limit my time looking at other blogs!)

Galatians 6:4

The Message (MSG)

 ^4-5Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

Thanks.  I'm glad I got all that written out.  I've made a to do list and am ready to tackle it.  Number one on my list was to write a blog post.  Done.  

Winding down

I don't have any Christmas pictures.  My camera settings were all off and most of them are blurry.  We just hung out and played inside yesterday because it was cold and rainy here.

We had a blessed Christmas.  The kids got some major gifts but the winners were perler beads that you can melt and the $10 dollar weather station (-:  I can't wait to go to my 4 hour beginners mosaic glass class.  Thanks honey!

Today begins the tear down.  And although I won't miss most of the decorations, I will miss this:

I saw this nativity every night after checking on the kids.  

I will miss the gentle reminder of the reason for the season.

I am so excited for this new year.  Are you?

California Dreamin'

We're back.  From the trip of our lives.  California/San Fransisco was everything I thought it would be and more.  Hubby and I grew up vacationing in very different ways.  Almost my whole family lived/lives in one city and I spent just about every weekend at my Grandparent's house.  I never left Texas except to cross the Mexico border a few times.  Hubby spent every summer in Colorado primitive camping in the middle of nowhere, fishing for their food and hiking the mountains.  It is quite the tradition.  In fact, his parents are there right now.  But hubby's work has been crazy and we couldn't plan the Colorado trip.  We were bummed that we couldn't carry on the tradition another summer.  But plans change and we decided quickly (we just got back 4 days before school starts!) to branch out and see some of our beautiful country.  But here's the thing.  We know how to camp, and fish, and wash dishes in a dish pan, and take showers in a tee/pee thing with a hot water bottle.  We don't know about hotels, plane tickets, eating out all of the time and rental cars.  Thank goodness we went for it!

Here are a few of my favorite shots:

First stop: In-N-Out burger.  

 A little windy but I like the  Golden Gate Bridge right next to us.

 Our condo.  Home sweet away from home.  

But I know that hubby will not miss that dinky grill and I won't miss seeing the coyote walking right by

 The fallen tree in Mariposa Grove with all of the Sequoias.

 LOOK!  Can you see the little people at the base?  Can you even imagine how big this thing is!?

  I wanted to stare at this house for hours.

We climbed up 600 granite stairs and more to see Vernal Falls and stand over Nevada Falls.  

The water from the falls would mist you as you hiked along side it.  It made for a beautiful rainbow too.  I think I may have hollered out loud a few times on this hike out of pure excitement.

  We could have stopped here but they kept going.  All the way to the top of that waterfall behind them.  

After Yosemite, it was back to the coast.  

We saw a lot of these:

And did a lot of this with Mr. Chad:

Alcatraz would have been a lovely place to be, I guess.

When we stopped and took a moments along the way, we realized that God had his hand on our trip to California from the beginning.  We knew it was hard getting lodging in Yosemite but the more people we met and talked to, we came to know that we must have booked our condo right after someone canceled.  No way we got it on the first call to the first number we chose!  And it had a kitchen so we could cook and prepare all of our meals while we were there.  We were worried that our rental wouldn't be big enough for groceries (to bring into Yosemite) and our luggage but we got upgraded to the Crown Vic.  It had plenty of room and leather seats that came in handy with a queasy stomach out of the park.  I'll spare you the details.  Our Garmin was the best $100 we have ever spent.  We drove around San Fransisco like we owned the place and watched it wind us around and around until we reached Yosemite Park. 

 I can't put Yosemite into words and I won't even try.  My pictures can maybe give a little glimpse of its majesty but I'm not counting on it.  I think my favorite part of the trip was seeing Bridalveil Falls for the first time and full out gasping.  Literally breathtaking. 

And my kids?  Please ask me how awesome they are.  We figured out that we hiked 25 miles in 4 days!  We had people stopping us and asking us in disbelief how old they are.  I'm pretty proud of them and us for going for it and taking it all in.  

Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me!