Frisco Christmas Lights - Wizards in Winter

Wow - does someone have a lot of time and money on their hands?!?! I must say, however, it does rock! :)

This explains a lot...

Your Mind is 64% Cluttered

Your mind is quite cluttered. And like most clutter, it's a bunch of crap you don't need. Try writing down your worst problems and fears. And then put them out of your mind for a while.

How Cluttered is Your Mind?

Christmas With a Capital C!!

Everyone should take a minute to watch this video and LISTEN to the words! This is one of my major pet peeves! I don't have a problem saying Happy Holidays now and again - I want everyone's holiday to be happy - but it IS Christmas! It seems to be okay to say Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa - whatever - but why do they make it taboo to say Merry Christmas?!? - that's WHAT IT IS!! I've been on this bandwagon for years now and I'm just thrilled that a cool band put my thoughts (okay - it was probably their thoughts, too!) to music!! Enjoy!

Koodos to the Jim Man!

Just wanted to put it in writing - MY HUSBAND ROCKS! As you know, the last couple of days have been a bit rough - did I say that already!?!?! : ) Anyway, at 3:00 this morning I needed to talk and my honey was so there for me even though he had a Bible Study with a bunch of teens at 6:30 am! He is my rock and I don't know what I would do without him. I just felt the need to let you all know how cool he is and how much I love him!


This is what my life is about...

CHRISTIAN WAYS TO REDUCE STRESS ...

I happened to open an e-mail from a friend this morning - she sent it several days ago, but I just now had time to read it. Wow - God knows what He's doing - had I opened it a few days ago I might have browsed it and trashed it. Today, I NEEDED it and I'm going to do my best to try and take some of this advice. I've broken almost all of these "rules" lately - no wonder my stress level is through the roof! Good stuff - hope it helps you, too! :)

An Angel says, "Never borrow from the future. If you worry about what may happen tomorrow and it doesn't happen, you have worried in vain. Even if it does happen, you have to worry twice."
1. Pray
2. Go to bed on time.
3. Get up on time so you can start the day unrushed.
4. Say No to projects that won't fit into your time schedule or that will compromise your mental health.
5. Delegate tasks to capable others.
6. Simplify and unclutter your life.
7. Less is more. (Although one is often not enough, two are often too many.)
8. Allow extra time to do things and to get to places.
9. Pace yourself. Spread out big changes and difficult projects over time; don't lump the hard things all together.
10. Take one day at a time.
11. Separate worries from concerns . If a situation is a concern, find out what God would have you do and let go of the anxiety . If you can't do anything about a situation, forget it.
12. Live within your budget; don't use credit cards for ordinary purchases.
13. Have backups; an extra car key in your wallet, an extra house key buried in the garden, extra stamps, etc.
14. K.M.S. (Keep Mouth Shut). This single piece of advice can prevent an enormous amount of trouble.
15. Do something for the Kid in You everyday.
16. Carry a Bible with you to read while waiting in line.
17. Get enough rest.
18. Eat right.
19 Get organized so everything has its place.
20. Listen to a tape while driving that can help improve your quality of life.
21. Write down thoughts and inspirations (hmm, keep a blog, maybe?!?!) :)
22. Every day, find time to be alone.
23. Having problems? Talk to God on the spot. Try to nip small problems in the bud. Don't wait until it's time to go to bed to try and pray.
24. Make friends with Godly people. (This one I got!!) :)
25. Keep a folder of favorite scriptures on hand.
26. Remember that the shortest bridge between despair and hope is often a good "Thank you Jesus."
27. Laugh. (Need more of this one...we need a girls night out!!) :)
28. Laugh some more!
29. Take your work seriously, but not yourself at all.
30. Develop a forgiving attitude (most people are doing the best they can).
31. Be kind to unkind people (they probably need it the most).
32. Sit on your ego.
33. Talk less; listen more.
34. Slow down.
35. Remind yourself that you are not the general manager of the universe. (Talking to me!!)
36. Every night before bed, think of one thing you're grateful for that you've never been grateful for before.

GOD HAS A WAY OF TURNING THINGS AROUND FOR YOU.
"If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)

LOVE!!

Okay - so I think there are only 2 of you who regularly read my blog and one of you wrote the blog I'm about to recommend, but in case there are more of you out there - check out my friend Nat's blog on LOVE! It made me decide that maybe my last 2 days wouldn't have been so crummy if I had a better attitude of outward love and less worry about my circumstances and day-to-day frustrations! Check it out...

Worse day...

Okay - so I only THOUGHT yesterday was a terrible day - today was worse! I hope this isn't a trend! I must say, however, that opening night tonight for the Wizard of Oz did a great job of raising my spirits! Something about seeing a bunch of young kids putting their talents to use in such an amazing way...cool! :)

Crummy Day...but ended well!

Oh my...if it could go wrong it pretty much did today. I told Jimmy that I kept looking up because I knew something was going to fall on me out of the sky! :) These kind of days are tough and really hard to be the nice, cheerful, Christian girl I'm supposed to be. I mean I yelled at my kids, I yelled at my dog, I probably yelled at my husband at some point (I only saw him for like 10 minutes today, so he might have gotten off easy!). I had to apologize to my girls and explain to them, yet again, how Mommy is so amazingly human and that while she knows she shouldn't yell at them or freak them out with her insanity, she sometimes just can't help herself! I hate when I do that - not the apologizing part, but the nasty part - I don't like that look it puts on my girls' faces or the tears it sometimes puts in their eyes. Breaks my heart just writing about it! So why oh why do I do it? Human, fallible, sinner, all that stuff God said we would be after Eden. Good thing we had Jesus on our side because without Him I would SOOOO be doomed! :)

Here are a few pics that did make me smile today...she's just so cute (and so are her friends!)! This play is going to ROCK - the costumes and sets are so bright and fun and the cast is brilliant! Fun stuff!

Because, because, because, because, BECAUSE...

Here are some shots of the cutest ballerina Munchkin EVER - and a couple of her Munchkin buddies! My oldest is participating in the local youth theatre production of the Wizard of Oz this weekend. She is one of the Lullabye League - the cute little Munchkins who welcome Dorothy to Munchkinland with their sweet little voices and tippy toes! She is such a creative little girl - loves anything to do with dance, singing, art, writing and acting. Notice that she has a wireless mic on in that close-up of her - this is her first time wearing a mic and she is THRILLED!

She told me last night that she has changed her mind about her future - she wants to be an ACTRESS!! Aaagghhh! I'm good with the actress thing, but it's I kind of hope it's the theatre kind and not the big movie kind. Even theatre is scary, but to imagine my sweet little girl dealing with the realities of Hollywood is more than I can fathom! The choices she would have to make and pressures to work outside of her moral code are just too scary to think about! It's so sad that this world has come to a place where someone with amazing talent (not just speaking of Cassie, though I do think her talent is amazing!) has to choose between their belief system and their love of acting (or singing or dancing, etc. , etc.)! I mean think about it - what was the last movie you saw that you would be okay with your daughter participating in?!?! It's hard isn't it? Even the "good" movies have stuff that just don't meet our Christian ideals. How have we come to this? I've thought about it often from the perspective of a viewer of movies, but only last night did I consider it from the perspective of a parent of an actor! Wow - I don't want to discourage her and I won't - besides we have a LONG way to go before she heads west - but it's something to think about because I believe she's got talent and if it's what she wants, she can do it! Scary!!

You know - I do have a really close friend whose son wants to go into missions using his movie making skills....maybe he'll need a great actress for his films. They probably won't get too rich or too famous going that route, but I'm betting they would change some lives and besides my little one didn't say she wanted to be famous - just an that she wants to be an actress (thank goodness!). :)

Letter from Hell...

Okay - this video is really intense, but I guarantee it will give you chills and make you think...

Halloween Rocks!!

Aren't they precious...one mermaid princess and one rockin' little witch. I don't understand why you would miss this fun - Jesus has to be smiling at the joy on those faces! :)

It's OKAY to be a PARENT!!

I decided to start my blog life with an article that I wrote for the newsletter I publish for the teen ministry at my church. While it specifically refers to parenting teens, I think it applies just the same to parenting kids of all ages!

I recently watched an interview with Bill Cosby about his philosophy on parenting and it was sadly enlightening! Our society has come so far in the wrong direction when it comes to parenting our children. Often parents are so concerned with being their children’s friends and being “liked” by their kids, that they forget one of God’s primary instructions to parents:

“A refusal to correct is a refusal to love; love your children by disciplining them.” Proverbs 13:24 (Message)

In the NIV version, Proverbs 13:24 says, ”He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.” You know the old adage… spare the rod, spoil the child! A lot of people fear that verse because it seems as though God is saying to beat your children. That’s why I love the Message version – it simply says “a refusal to correct”. That’s exactly what I think God means by sparing the rod – He means failing to correct your children when they are wrong; failing to hold them accountable to your rules; failing to check in behind them and KNOW what they are involved in; failing to know their friends and approving of those friends; failing to say NO when that’s what is required. A quote from Cosby’s new book, “Come on People! On the Path from Victims to Victors”, really says it all: “I'm talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was two? Where were you when he was twelve? Where were you when he was eighteen, and how come you don't know he had a pistol?"

As parents, we MUST discipline our children and we have to know everything that is happening in their lives. It’s okay to look at their MySpace pages or view the internet history on their computers. It’s okay to require them to introduce you to all of their friends before they are allowed to leave the house with them. It’s okay to support the teacher in punishing your child when your child is the one making the mistake. It’s okay to believe that your child might tell a lie to cover their hiney, because you know what….sometimes kids lie! It’s okay to go into their rooms without their permission, to look under their mattresses, under their beds, in their drawers. Cosby referred to it as a “shake down” referring to the prison term for clearing out an inmate’s cell and looking for contraband! An inmate is living in someone else’s place, under someone else’s authority, and so are your kids – they have no right to privacy in YOUR house! I’m not saying treat your kids like prisoners, but I am saying treat them like your children.

I haven’t parented a teenager yet, but I have loved a lot of them through my work as a church youth leader and I have been a teenager. I worry about the kids in today’s generation because so many don’t have parents like mine - parents who will love them, adore them, and, as such, will be tough on them as necessary. I hope that as you read this, you can look at yourself and say – I’m okay with being my teen’s parent even if it means they won’t want to be my friend for a few years! If you’re not that parent, then I hope you’ll consider what I have said here and think about changing things in your house. Your teenager may not like you for it, but your adult child will love you for it because they’ll make it to adulthood with a good, strong moral foundation!