"Jamba, Jamba Juice"

For a few weeks now my family have enjoyed old home videos we found tucked away for several year now. It was videos of when my boys were 1 and 3 years old. How tiny were their voices that matched their little munchkin bodies. I enjoy watching the videos and remembering how little they were not so long ago, and stare at who they have become today. Long bodies, more mature faces staring in awe and laughing hysterically at themselves. It was like meeting a new person, only it was themselves. They were so intrigued with themselves. The words they said, the movements they made, it was all entertaining. What a joy it was to see their faces as they watched their younger selves.

It gets me thinking about cherishing every moment as it goes by so fast like putting away an old video, and sooner that you know it, you find it again and wonder where the time has gone. Finding these videos are a blessing. It is a reminder of what we have and what a special gift our children are.

31 Words of Wisdom

Earlier I mentioned that Eric and I are involved in our church's writing team. This is our second round in writing the e-devotionals, but this time the format is a little different. Eastlake is starting a new series 31: Unchanging Wisdom for Changing Times which focuses on the 31 chapters of Proverbs. Each member of the writing team got to choose two chapters to reflect and write on. And each day for 31 days, those who subscribe to the e-devotionals will have the opportunity to read, reflect, and react to all 31 chapters in Proverbs. As confusing as Proverbs can be, this has become a pleasant challenge for me. It forces me to consider a few things: Which is inpirational? How has it applied to my life? How will it be relatable for others? That's a lot to consider in just 200 words.

Well I should say after 2-3 hours of work, I hope those who read it will find it inspiring...

True Riches

My husband and I and a few friends took a leader course for a study we lead at church. We had a verse to memorize before coming to this class.

Luke 16:11 "Therefore if you are unfaithful with worldly wealth, who will trust true riches to you."

Although money is what comes to mind when we think of wordly wealth, it's just not all that. It could also mean our family, our relationships, our jobs. Are we being faithful with them as well? This puts things into perspective. Am I doing my best as a Christian to treat other kindly and be a good steward so I can prepare myself for the "true riches" in heaven? Knowing this verse, I can ask myself on a daily basis, am I being faithful with what God has provided me? What a great way to hold myself accountable and keep that close relationship with God.

Inner Purity

"What comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean'"~Matt15:6b
I think about my life and how much of a rule follower I am. But sometimes rules inhibit us to what we truly are called to do. Sometimes rules keep us from knowing the truth and acting on it. I find myself guilty of seeing things in black in white. Especially when it comes to my faith. You're either in or you're out. You either believe or don't believe. Although this may be true, I also tend to treat the person that way too. Jesus teaches of compassion for others, especially those who have not found Him yet. I need to remember to have compassion for others. Even with God front and center in my life, He wouldn't want me to shove everyone else in my life aside...

Family, Our Biggest Critic

Matthew 13:55-58 talks about Jesus coming back to his hometown to teach as he has in the other cities. But because he grew up in Nazareth, the townspeople knew his family and knew Jesus as a young boy. So believing in Jesus even as a prophet was difficult for them. They lacked faith and because of this they missed the experience of the Messiah, the One who was sent down to save us. These were his own family and friends. I found this interesting because as a new Christian, I face this with my own family members and friends who are nonChristian. They are the least to believe in what we say because they know "where we come from". And if they notice this change, we must be brainwashed. It's relieving to know Jesus has gone through the same thing too. My hopes is that our relationship with our families and friends change by our love and faith in Jesus Christ.

It's Never Too Late

This weekend our church held its baptisms after every service. I was volunteering when I saw this elderly man slowly walking up the stairs towards the changing room. His neighbor and dear friend escorted him up. I was briefly speaking to her about the man...she told me while rubbing tears off her eyes that he just decided to get baptized. He's 94 years old. He hadn't been going to church for 60 years and decided within this past year to attend Eastlake Church. She continued to tell me that he had a bad experience at their previous church, but since coming to Eastlake he's felt a sense of comfort. With each smile and greeting he received, a little of the "old" him chipped away, and I guess today the "new" him had the courage to stand up and announce his love for Christ and get baptized, at 94! What an awesome, awesome thing that was to witness today!

Writing Opportunity

This past week, my husband and I received an invitation to join our church's eDevotional ministry. Well, with acceptance of our writing sample, this would be a perfect opportunity to share what I love; God through writing. How cool is that? I am excited to be able to write and hopefully inspire others who are Christ followers and those who haven't found Him yet.

Non Fictional Blah

Okay, I've been festoring over writing a non-fictional piece and it's driving me nuts. It's funny how we have tons of non-fictional books at home that my boys have collected through interests in snakes, spiders, dinosaurs, planets, and on and on...you would think I would be inspired by them. Nope. Why is it so hard to write something that's true? Factual? Oh, it's because we have to back it up with research. Yuck! I give it up to authors who write in this genre. Although all the information is right there, it's not as easy as it seems. Siting resources is pretty tough and writing to make it your own is even harder. I think on my camping trip this weekend I'm going to bring my writing journal just in case I get inspired!

Left, Right, Wrong, Right

Today I found out my middle child needs glasses, and he's only 5. This was a Blessing in disguise...the reason for having his eye appointment in the first place was not for glasses. It was for a much more serious issue, so we thought. Thank God his left eye is all healthy. However, in that same visit, we discovered that it wasn't his left eye that was the concern, it was his right. Needless to say, he will be wearing glasses for the next two years...

If it wasn't for the concern of the left, we wouldn't have found out about the right. Hopefully we can correct it early enough so he won't have to wear glasses for life like myself. God can use situations and turn them into something good...today was a good example. Sometimes we can get so caught up in what's wrong and miss the whole point of finding the right in it.

GROW up

This weekend has been a very interesting weekend for me. We had our many family activities to do, our weekend service and managed to have a little mommy time for myself. Thinking about everything that's happened this week, I see how much God participates in my life. He's not just there while I'm sitting listening to the sermon at church, but He's everywhere medaling in the things I do. Today our pastor spoke about growing. Growing spiritually. He had us circle two words from a verse in the Bible "grow up". I thought about those two words today and thought how I really did grow up just looking back at these past couple of days. My reactions to certain situations back before being saved would look entirely different to my reactions today. Being asked by old friends about advertising for our church was also something that took me aback (this happened to me twice this weekend). I never realized that ad would get a reaction as it did. God works through people any way He can. And for me, I felt it was another way for me to grow...helping others find Christ. How awesome is that? It's nice to know sitting at church today, that I am a different person from two years ago. I am continuing to grow...and this weekend was a nice reminder of that!! Thank you Lord for continuing to work in my heart.

"Hello, Anyone there?"

Have you ever had that feeling that someone was following you, that you need to look over your shoulders every-now-and-then? I've had that feeling for several weeks now. But it was more like a whisper in my ear or a tap on my shoulder. I've been so preoccupied with life that I haven't had time to sit and do the important things that matter in my life....reviewing our spending plan, reorganizing stuff, finishing my assignment...which is a month overdue. It's so funny how my own needs get so shoved way back, that getting to them is much of a task.

As I open myself up to hearing the Lord speak to me, I hear His voice whisper in my ear about all the things I am neglecting that REALLY need to be taken care of. And what do I do? Look over my shoulder and keep on going. What's that all about? Why do I do things like that?

It's an awesome feeling to know what God wants me to do. But my problem is not knowing, it's doing. Is it my control? Could it be a lack of faith? Whatever it is, it's my struggle. I'm just glad He continues to speak to me even at times I fail to do it. I know I can lean on Him to keep my priorities straight.

The Awakening

Okay, so it's been a few months since my last post. I was even beginning to think if I should continue this blog. But then one morning driving back from dropping my kids at school, I heard the radio host read her blog out loud. "It was the day after Labor Day Weekend. The day of starting over. " Starting over? I thought to myself, then she began to mention how summer was a time for us to enjoy family with vacations and breaks, but Labor Day weekend marked the end of summer. And on the other end, the mark of new beginnings...so I thought hmmm. Maybe I should continue this blog. I took my summer break and now marks a new start. So to new beginnings....

Submit My Submissions

Submitting manuscripts to children's magazines sounds like such a thrill....well, it is, but not you're first one. I'm about to send one of my manuscripts to Spider magazine, but putting all the stuff together; getting the manuscript in the proper format, looking at their specific guidlines, SASE and typing up a cover letter, a cover letter, isn't as thrilling as it seems!!! I haven't even started it...no, I take it back, I have a blank page saved as "Superhero (Part of my story title) Cover letter - Spider". This cover letter is like a cover letter to a resume. It has to catch the editor's eyes even in the first few words he reads. So I need to do that....but I'm not quite sure how I can "sell" my story to them. So that is what is preventing me from sending it. A cover letter.

How can something as little as a cover letter prevent me from continuing on in my writing career? Keep me from possibly being published? I think I'm taking too much control. I need to submit and let things happen the way they were meant to be. Pray about it. Write the letter. Pray again and send it. I need to submit, and let God take it from here.

"Welcome to the Writer's Life!"

I've earned my first writer's disappointment today. I received my copy of the Children's Writer today. It was the issue announcing the winner and runner-ups for the poetry contest I had entered into a few months back. I ruffled the paper to the end of the issue where the announcement was located. I read down, down the list and then it ended. My name wasn't on it nor the title of my poem. Bummer! "Welcome to the writer's life." My initiation into the writer's world. It feels kindof cool. Like I'm in. I'm a writer who felt her first rejection. Well after some revisions, I will be sending the poem out this time to editors....this is a great learning experience for me. It teaches me to have tough skin and not give up. Step back, restrategize and go for it again!

Obedient & Disciplined

This morning I decided I'm going to make some changes in how I handle my day. These past few days have been very difficult for me in all areas of my life including my life as a writer. Life has gotten so busy, I have been pushing off or rushing my time with His Word. So today was the first day of getting up a little earlier than the children in order to have some "me time". Time for writing projects, writing assignments and time with Jesus. I opened up the Bible and decided to add a chapter from Proverbs and Psalms on top of my regular reading. In Proverbs 1-2 and Psalms 1, they speak of listening to God and obeying His instructions. Just what I needed to read....listening and obeying. A revelation, that's why I've had such a difficult time. I haven't been listening and obeying Him.
Well taking that into my writing, I know I have to be more disciplined in setting aside time to write and focus on what I need to do as a writer. I am listening Lord, thanks for the reminder!

Praying in Our Own Way

So everytime we sit down for a meal, our family gives praise and thanks for the food that is provided for us. My daughter, who is now 23 months old, now acknowledges prayer time by either pausing before she eats while someone leads the prayer or closing her hands together and bowing her head. This morning we had our prayer before breakfast. This time I decided to watch her as we prayed. As we all concluded with an "Amen"....she responded "Mermaid" (Amen in her talk) and proceeded to eat.

LOVED it!!!!

Writing from Our Past

I'm now on Assignment 3. This lesson focuses on detailed writing; showing instead of telling. We are to describe a place we remember from our childhood past. I had to think about a place...all I could think of is our "clubhouse" we built on the slope of the canyon we lived on. We didn't have anything special just a few little toys and hand carved steps to get in and out of our clubhouse which comprised of tree trunks and branches as walls and the treetops as our roof. Nothing special, but boy did we have a view. It overlooked the canyon below and the hills of houses in the background. Anyone passing by would've never known it was a clubhouse, but we did. We used our imagination. We were constantly "protecting" our ground. We assigned a watch guard and everything.

Thinking back made me reminisce on the good ol' care-free days of childhood. I need to remind myself of that when I think of my relationship with God. Think like a child. Jesus even refers to that in the NT. He tells us to approach learning about God like a child, open and taking things for what it is....I tend to over analyze a lot. Sometimes I need to take myself back into the past and embrace things with open arms and an open heart.

Writing from the Heart

I co-lead a group of junior high girls from our church every week. Last night was our last night of our study. The topic was on friendship; shallow or authentic. The girls had some interesting things to say. One of the girls had brought her notebook of poems that night. She had started a poem on her best friends, and finished it as we were having our discussion. She happily shared her poem with the group. It's amazing how the Lord can get into our hearts and into our hands. She wrote the most beautiful poem about her friends and how they helped her find the Lord. It was like taking a peak at her heart and seeing what was inside.

A Second Wind

I received a lot of materials from the ICL yesterday. And on the cover I read about setting an established writing work schedule. Something I have not yet gotten to. So it made me think I really do need to take my writing seriously and as a "job". So last night I sat on my bed organizing all my work. As I was doing that, I realized how much lighter I felt. I was ready to write again. So I stayed up catching up on some reading and reflecting on my manscripts. Okay, I'm ready to be serious. I am ready to be a writer. The funny thing is, my hubby gave me a really cool planner for Mother's Day...I guess I need to set some time to do some serious writing, seriously.

Words are so Powerful

I received a card from my brother for Mother's Day. I was amazed by the words I read from this card. Let me give you a little background on our relationship. We're total opposites. I say black, he says white kinda thing. Basically, if we weren't siblings, we wouldn't be hanging out. I know it's sad. But that's what makes this card so special to me. He wrote about how much he appreciated me as a sister and a parent to my kids. I was a great example for him in raising his own kids. Can I tell you how shocked and happy and emotional I was when I read this? I don't really share my feelings with my family especially when it comes to using words. This made my day. I texted him and wrote "Love you". Never done that before, but it felt good.