Life's Image

When it comes to child rearing, we learn by trial and error. After all, when I gave birth to my baby girl she didn’t come with instructions! Lol We hope and pray that what we learned growing up, we can instill it in our own children; being a positive influence in her life can be a struggle in this sin filled world. Alexis, 15 years old, pulls me aside and asks to speak privately. (My husband and I have been Therapeutic Foster Parents since 2008.) She proceeds to share a story regarding a fellow classmate in her high school. She and one of her close friends have befriended him months ago. He is teased and ridiculed daily. Alexis consistently shared with me how she feels she has a connection with him and that her heart just goes out to him. On this particular day, a group of friends were on their lunch hour and wanted to play hacky sack. You guessed right, they didn’t want this boy to be a part of it. So they began teasing him and began playing without him. Alexis and her ...

Ten years ago, April 16th, 2012, God blessed us with our loving and compassionate lil’ man. Everywhere he goes and whomever he is with, he brings much warmth and a ray of sunshine with his sense of humor and out of the blue compliments. We are so proud of the Lil’ Man he is becoming! This year, like most other years, we decided to celebrate his party in our home. It saves money and time. We are fortunate that we have enough room to accommodate our family and friends. The day started out sweet. Alec woke up super excited to be celebrating his birthday. Meanwhile, he’s off to school and I have much to accomplish before our guests arrive. I baked his cake the day before…(and OMGOODNESS! I nearly cried when I took the bottom layer of cake out of the pan after cooling…using a full sheet cake pan that belonged to my MIL, I always use cooking spray and apparentely on this particular pan I should have used shortening! Well for the second sheet, you know I used shortening! And Wall...

It seems as though it was just yesterday that we were sliding on our pillows down the staircase and landing into the closed door at 5am to wake up daddy only to hear him tell us to shut up and go back to bed! Or when we blamed Gremlin for breaking the living room window just so we wouldn’t get in trouble! Making whirlpools in our pool and jumping off the roof before mom and dad got home. Walking up to Burger King every chance we got, just because it was cool to be away from mama and daddy. Oh my goodness! Our favorite restaurant Gordos! Now old man Gordo is making yummy Mexican food in heaven. Losing our Mimi to those nasty coyotes. Our aunt Pat passing away, Grandma passing the night before my wedding. The births of each one of our precious babies. Falling in and out of love. Making life changing decisions, not knowing whether it was right or wrong. Crying, balling our eyes out because life just isn’t fair! Running and playing in the rain. You and Mama buying me the most am...

This is Rocky. He was born October 14, 2011. He is a tri colored Lhasa Apso. My husband had wanted to get a male Lhasa so that one, our female Lhasa Jezebel would have someone to play with when we are not home and two, so they could mate. This would help us make some extra money. When we first brought Rocky home, he was the most sweet, mild mannered, loving puppy. As he began to grow, his temperament changed…a lot. Potty training was awful! At one point we thought he finally grasped the idea of not just playing outside, but voiding out there as well. He would play outside and then come in to do his business! We tried so many different things. He truly thought everything was a game. As if that wasn’t enough, he began to chew on dirty underwear, trash from the bathrooms, our toes and even nip at our lips. It was oh so hard to even try to stay sad at him…I mean, just look at him!! He is Gorgeous!! And that helped for a while. Meanwhile my home was beginning to smell. My s...

Goal number 15 has been achieved on April 7, 2012! After much hunting for that perfect bunny for my son's birthday, I continue to be in awe of how this all went down. I am not a fan of craigs list, but kept my eye on it anyway. None of the pet stores carried dwarf size bunnies and most of them didn't even know if they were to receive any by the time I needed one. I gave craigs list one last look. I came across an ad that read, "Show Rabbit". First I thought, well I want a baby...but, I clicked the ad anyway. The price caught my eye as it was in my price range. The picture of this sweet "show rabbit" was gorgeous! The ad suggested that I text for more info. Again, that was kind of scary...so I'm texting for more information. lol! Asked all the necessary questions and set a time to meet the lil' girl bunny named, "Velvetine". I arrive at the bunny owners home. I walk in, and there is one my daughters' closest friends! I imme...

Being a stay at home mom, wife and Therapeutic foster parent is not a job, but a commitment to taking on and embracing this "career" for life. Though it has many blessings and rewards, if one is unable to recharge her batteries on a routine basis; put herself first by eating right, working out and feed herself spiritually, she will fail. She will be miserable and question her life frequently. She will be stressed and disassociate herself from much of what is good in her life. We all know the saying, "When Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" It is very true. But us mom's typically put everyone before herself, leaving her with an empty love tank. It is extremely hard to be at your best and be able to serve your family and others when us Mom's are not taking care of ourselves. That being said, I recently joined the YMCA. I have never taken an aerobics class nor a even thought of taking a Yoga class! So today I decided to take an uncomfortable...

1. My favorite scent is pumpkin spice. 2. I am easily grossed out by eating meat on a bone. 3. My ears are too small to wear iPod earplugs. 4. I had a miscarriage at 17 wks. 5. I enjoy bonfires in my backyard. 6. I gave my life to Christ at 17, but did not understand what that meant then. 7. If I could afford to move, I would move back to MN where seasons still exist. 8. I want to take my children to Wisconsin Dells, where my parents took me for family vacations. 9. I have my dream job; I am a stay at home mom & wife. 10. I created a website that has reunited my family all over the United States. 11. I used to pitch a softball at 62 mph. 12. I love to dance. 13. I sing “Lord I give you my heart” every time I’m experiencing joy. 14. I’m more of a girly girl than I admit. 15. I am the minivan mom I said I wasn’t. 16. I love to scrapbook, but don’t have the time to do it. 17. I have a deep longing to lead a women’s bible study in my home. 18. My favorite hobby is photography. 19. Seei...

Being that I grew up celebrating the Easter Bunny, decorating Eggs, filling baskets and enjoying all the junk food that came with the Easter, I too began raising my kids in the same manner. I accepted the Lord Jesus as my Personal Lord & Savior when I was 17. I recommitted my Life to Him again in my late 20’s and again in my 30’s. One would think by then I would have understood the real meaning of Good Friday and Easter. Silly as it sounds, it just didn’t click for me. Until this year. I believe I've grown much in my Faith since then. Last year I decided that we are NOT to celebrate the Bunny, eggs, candy etc…as it is of the world and I seriously thought that many in our church shared the same view. Until I visited my facebook page that evening, where I was bombarded by ALL the EASTER Bunny and eggs and baskets!! My kids were feeling slighted because all their friends and cousins continued celebrating Easter as we did all these years...I felt horrible for not buying anyt...

Have you ever entered church or prayer and all you could hear and think about was your to do list, the argument in the car on the way in to church, or is that you are just not present? Many times we miss the importance of being a good listener. This is one of my class rules that we go over each day…Be a Good Listener…a first time listener. …sure we can hear, we even have others believe we are listening, but are we? God is always here, always with us in the present and always listening to what we have to say…so why is it so hard to stay silent? There are many Christians who only count on God when they want something or when something goes wrong. Are you only willing to listen in a situation like this? Take your friends for instance…if they were to only call you when something was wrong, how would that make you feel? Are you going to want to continue to listen to just the bad? Just hearing the bad can put a strain on a relationship to where we aren’t listening anymore…we just want th...

And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while Mark 6:31 All too often we look at our calendars and there are no empty squares. We make plans and over book the majority of our days, making it nearly impossible to squeeze in the much needed rest. Doing God’s work is very important. We need to recognize just as Jesus did, that to do God’s work effectively we need times of rest so that we may be renewed. With our schedules it may not seem easy. But when you do make that commitment to just kick back, you are allowing God to refresh yourself for His upcoming plans and purpose for you. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Hebrews 4:10 Father we have so many people and things that demand so much of our time, it’s as if we are playing a game of tug-of-war at times. Father help us recognize the plans on our calendars that do not glorify you. May we find time to just kick back and be renew...

Happiness is temporary Joy is everlasting Happiness is found in instant gratification Joy is found through patience Happiness is finding out that, that the item you have been wanting is half off Joy is, wanting to buy that item for someone who needs it Happiness is, wanting more than what you need Joy is found in loving what you already have Happiness is the unnecessary desires in front of us Joy is when your desires are for the benefit of others Happiness is, allowing others to do your labor Joy is standing side by side working together