MY NAUGHTY SELF

I slowly pulled my 5'3" petite frame out of bed this morning after a night of journeying between exotic dreams and skipping to my loo multiple times for lack of a better term to fit the occasion.

Frightened by the image that faced me in the mirror, I pressed on to prepare for the day disappointed that I had slept in so late when I had multiple things to get done today before the heat of day would encourage procrastination. 
I did not have to wait for daylight this morning to take in my self imposed regular 20 minute morning walking paces in my back yard but I was arguing with myself and talking back that maybe, I could just skip this day.  Thinking better of it, I pulled myself together, gritted my teeth, and knew if I skipped today, how much easier it would be to just keep skipping.

Everything appeared to irritate me and I was losing my joy like air out of a balloon.  I wanted to crawl back into bed and throw the blankets over my head.  Problem was, I had already taken off the covers and sheets to be laundered.  The washing machine worked perfectly, for the first load.  The dryer was working.
I snipped and snapped trying to gain control of my mind and actions setting myself to "Just do the next thing."  Even if it meant sending the next load for another extra spin/dry. The washer having issues of its own.
My naughty self wanted to take over.  I fought some more.  In short, I was having a bad attitude and I was appearing to enjoy it.  I am irked by things I used to do.   With shame, I had put God at the bottom of my to do list.
Some days are just like Alexander's, Horrible, Terrible Day, the classic, I used to read to my children when they were young.

"In this contemporary classic, veteran children's author Viorst introduces us to Alexander, a kid with an unruly crop of hair, who gets out of bed to face a day that seems to grow increasingly worse with each passing minute.

Indeed, on the very first page, Alexander wakes to hair full of gum, trips on his skateboard, and drops a sweater in a sink full of water.

At breakfast, his brothers are having a far better day — having found prizes in their breakfast cereal — which makes Alexander feel worse.

School offers him no respite from his horrible day: he gets reprimanded by a teacher, he gets demoted to third best friend, and at lunch, finds himself dessertless. Could the day get worse?

After school, the dentist discovers a cavity, the elevator door closes on his foot, and at the shoe store, he has to buy plain white shoes (while both brothers get shoes with stripes!). Later, he gets lima beans for dinner and there's kissing on TV. Alexander can't wait for this day to end."  ~unknown review
 All though, my days are not quite as drastic as that, there have been many days, I just can't wait for the day to end and then when it comes, I can't wait for the night to end.
 Life is so strange.

 

 

A MORNING WITHOUT COFFEE

“Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” – Sylvia Plath

For lack of anything profound to blog about, good afternoon, my readers.  How are you this fine warm day?
They tell me writers block is just an excuse.  Sometimes I find myself staring at the monitor and key board hoping for inspiration.  In some ways blogging is a scary thing.  What will people think of me?  But, hey, what's the worst that can happen?
Another month, another week, another day, another hour in this broken world and body.  Evidence of a broken world is all around me. 
This morning, the inevitable, another doctor visit.

  Yes, I took my journal with me this time but the time went by so rapidly, I thought maybe I had been to In-N-Out which ironically is down the street from the doctors office, or through the car wash.

The adult blood pressure cuff was you might say wouldn't work so the nurse used the child cuff.  So just saying, amusing myself, is that why my B/P was lower?

  Or was it because I denied myself the usual morning cup of Joe. 
Shh, don't tell the doctor but your B/P increases the measurement by 5 to 10 after drinking coffee. You know, they get kind of excited when your B/P is high.

I was not considering the stimulating controversy of whether to quit drinking it or not.  In the age of Starbucks, the dispute and tempest in the coffee pot could be grounds for serious debate. 
 But when it comes to every day brewed coffee, I think McDonald's is just as good, and actually prefer the lighter taste. 

I can't stand coffee from Starbucks and prefer not to drink Church coffee.
Now, don't get me wrong not all church coffee is mediocre.  The coffee shops or nooks have stepped it up a bit.
You've got to understand that I grew up in an era of no fancy coffee.  My father drank his black.  My mother drank hers with sugar.  Dad was a kind of farm coffee person.  The coffee had a little bit of grit in the bottom.  The kind that makes your hair stand up on end.

  The only creamer available was adding a little bit of the detested powered milk that all of us detested.  But you got to understand, we lived in the boonies where even the children drank coffee.  Coffee was used to dip our bolillos.  
In spite of the international fame of Mexican sweet bread, which we loved, the bolillo, a close relative to the french baguette, was a popular plain white hard crusty bread with a soft but sometimes hard interior.

 Coffee is one of Mexico's lucrative exports.

Coffee berry fruit

  Small farmers and their families relied on the crop for their economic survival in those days.
I recall many romps through coffee groves, snacking on the berry like fruit they produced, spitting out the coffee bean. 

Coffee Beans drying in the sun.  Dad in background

Yes, I believe, writers block is an excuse as I began this blog, it just seemed to evolve as my fingers on the keys went faster and faster.  I am so grateful for those typing classes in high school even though I got chewed out for chewing gum during class.
 


 

SORRY...FORGIVE ME:Advice from Grandma Frogger

Good morning my little Froglets, Froggers, and Frogsters.

Grandma Frogger here. 

You may have already learned some of these things in Church or Sunday School or from the Bible.  Maybe your mom and dad have already had a chat like this with you.  But even grandmas need to be reminded of these things.

  My chat today is about the consequences of choosing not to forgive.  I want you to be aware of the damage that unforgiveness can do.

You do not have to wait for an apology or a sorry before you forgive.  Forgiveness is what helps me and you to let go of the wrong that has been done to you and me.

Forgiveness is mine/your responsibility. 

Matthew 6:14-15

 "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

Why? Because I have and you have already been forgiven by God and the Bible tells me, tells you in Matthew 6:14 that we should forgive others.

Forgiving does not mean I'll feel better right away about what happened.  It is a choice you make to move on. 

  Think of a cut on your skin – forgiveness covers like a band aide and protects you while your body heals.

Not forgiving others is not healthy.

"Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

Colossians 3:13 | NIV |

  It can leave us feeling really bad on the inside, and cause us not to trust other people.  Over time, not forgiving can be like picking a scab.  Keep your hurt covered with forgiveness and your heart will stay good.

Forgiveness is not…keeping score-not forgetting it happened-not fair

• Keeping score: When we throw away the bad thing that happened, it means we don’t remind the person again that they did it. It means we start over.
• Forgetting: Even though we’ve thrown out the bad thing that happened, we don’t have to forget it happened. If someone who hurt us before tries to hurt us again, we can protect ourselves. You should always tell an adult you trust when anyone hurts you–no matter what.
•  
• A feeling: Forgiveness is something we give even when we still hurt by what happened. Our feelings may still hurt for a time.  Talk to Jesus and ask him to help heal your hearts.
•  
• 
• Fair: It’s not fair that a person who hurt us gets a second chance, but love isn’t based on fairness. It’s based on the love of God who loves us without condition. This is what I would tell your parents when they were young,  this is the love your great grandpa, my father showed, “Nothing you could ever do will make me love you less.” It’s true with our relationship with God, and it can be true with our relationship with others.  Nothing you do as my grandchildren will make me love you less either.

Knowing something about the consequences of choosing not to forgive  will help you in life.
  It damages our relationship with our offender, but also with God.
Not forgiving directly affects our relationship with God. As we hold on to anger and hurt, those heavy emotions make it difficult for us to feel the Holy Spirit’s nudges or hear God’s voice in our lives.

 Add to that the fact that bitterness can take a toll on your physical body as well as your emotional state. 
Not forgiving others is bad. 
Not forgiving not only destroys relationship, it destroys the people who don’t forgive. It is not only destructive of relationships, it is self-destructive.
 The Bible makes it very, very clear that where there is a lack of forgiveness, there will develop bitterness
 (Bitterness is like a bad taste in your mouth) and out of bitterness come hatred and with hatred comes anger and the end of hatred and anger and bitterness is the pursuit of vengeance. 
 Ephesians 4:31.
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”

Now let’s look at Hebrews 12:15, “looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness spring up to trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”

 You might have roots of bitterness in your heart. When people hurt us, seeds are planted.
 If we let these bad seeds grow, it becomes a root of bitterness.
 A root is tough to remove, much tougher than a seed. It is better to remove a seed than to remove a root.
 Sometimes, you want to pay someone back by punishing them. 
Revenge is never satisfied, it's never enough.  Consequently people live with the bitterness and it is deeper and deeper as they live with it longer. 
So my dear grand kids, these are things I would like you to remember as you grow up so that your love for God will grow big. Don't wait til your a parent or a grandparent to forgive.  It will suck the joy out of your life.

AFTER ALL:
 What does God do with your sin?
He throws it behind his back,
drowns it in the sea,
treads it underfoot,
blots it out,
forgets it,
removes it,
covers it,
takes it away,
cancels it,
washes it,
and forgives it.

And if God can do and will do all of this forgiving in the present because of one thing he did in the past for us, then we should be willing to do some forgiving too.
THIS IS WHAT IS TOTALLY AWESOME ABOUT OUR God!
Love,
Grandma 
GOD'S LOVE LETTER TO YOU click here

THE GREAT WAIT

Going to the doctor can be a somewhat irksome, nerve wracking experience for me.

  It can be an intimidating, draining experience, considering the long wait periods and barrage of information.
As it appears, the more miles in life, the more health annoyances.
An unfortunate event forced me to visit Urgent Care twice in one month after not being able to schedule with either of my two doctors.
Now don't get me wrong as I am not venting or complaining but found it strange to be in a predicament beyond my control and told that my advancement in age is highly related to other ailments.
Just being grateful for the service they provide and alleviate some of the intense pain I had endured in my right ear this past month.
  The unfortunate thing is that neither Urgent Care yielded the proper diagnoses.
 And that is how I finally found myself in this waiting room, with a third doctor and a subsequent follow-up visit.
  This is the staging area where the medical process begins and what happens in the waiting room.  If you are lucky, you get to choose your seat, your seated on a thinly padded chair that sinks in the middle where everyone before you has sat.
Long waits invariably are not avoidable.  Not only is waiting tedious, but sitting in a room surrounded by a full spectrum of emotion, ranging from numbing boredom to anxiety amongst silent strangers is not my idea of a party.  The room is devoid of any interesting reading material as the usual vintage issues of magazines have long since disappeared.
 Occasionally there are moments of eccentricities when something totally unexpected happens.

The receptionist, bothered by our appearance of boredom came out to turn on the TV, surfing the Netflix collection of movies, settling on Disney's Tinker Bell and The Legend of the Never Beast an animated film about domesticating a fearsome cat creature.  The TV is mounted on the wall opposite.
  She disappeared again behind the counter.  Unbelievable!  There were no children in the room and average age was 50 or over, this was the otolaryngologists or ENT for short (ear, nose, and throat) doctors office.
And, we all know that the cell phone audio is not as quiet as you think as you sit three feet away and hear more than you care to even when they prefer you not using them in the reception area at all.
My partner next to me dozes off as a lady several seats down whips out her journal and quietly begins to write.  Now why did I not bring mine.

  When it comes time to write my thoughts that pop into my head, documenting my time and observations, what an ideal place to jot those observations or random thoughts.  Yes, there will be other opportunities.

Let's face it, doctors visits take up a lot of time and it is not fun sitting in congested waiting rooms.  I wonder what part of the word "appointment" do they not get.  They expect you to be on time or early, appointment time comes and goes and of course I'm still waiting.  They should offer free WiFi if the wait is more than 20 minutes.
Time goes by, I approach the receptionist  asking what happened to my appointment.  She glances at her monitor and gives an excuse.  After some time, I again approach the receptionist and ask what the status is.  She replies, "Your next". 

Thirty minutes later I am ushered into another smaller "waiting" room, to wait.  Victory at last maybe.  Well, not quite.  The nurse leaves you and you end up staring at the posters on the opposite wall after telling you, the doctor will be with you "shortly".  You think, your almost there.  A few minutes later the doctor steps in, after five minutes, you are sent on your way.

VAMPIRE DAZE

Monday mornings adventure:

Still grieving over the loss of my blood.  Yea, right!  My adventure to a blood draw proved to be a little humorous.

After stepping into an empty, mundane process, of a tiny moving room, called an elevator, at an unearthly, for me hour, with a grumbling, complaining stomach, it deposited me on the third floor of a medical building.
  I had just been musing on the fact, if there had ever been elevator behavior research.  I had been anticipating one of those elevator surprise parties where no one knows each other, however, It was an uneventful ride.  I was the only passenger.

I rounded the corner and faced a very long familiar deserted, carpeted hallway, a familiar ritual that seems much to frequent for comfort.
 I walked up to a door with a metal, locked standard box for specimen courier pick-ups with the lab logo, the hanging model.
I reached for the door handle and slowly opened the door.  It gave a slight creak.
I entered a large room filled with mostly empty chairs.  Yes!  I thought, this is a good day, after all it is Monday.  Being in a neighborhood, at the lab, after the sixteenth day of September, independence day for Mexico has it’s advantages.
There were about five us.  You sign in, hand in your lab request, they ask for your insurance card, and the first question they ask is your birth date and by the time you have followed that ritual, everyone knows how old you are and you know all theirs. As soon as I sat down, a woman followed the same routine route  as I, followed the same instructions, entered into the same room as I.
 What set her apart from the others was not because of her age which was two years younger than I, but her body was rocking her ink.  The last thing you expect to see, is a grandma sporting tattoos on an unusually cool morning.
Well, if that wasn’t enough, her unusually tight leggings with an unusual pattern appeared to be stuffed with pencil thin legs and running shoes on her feet.
  I watched her fill a couple of inches of water into an empty gallon size plastic bottle from the water cooler in the corner.
I sat there somewhat amused, when a perky lady emerged after her blood draw, walked past me, sporting her cotton ball with red Coban tape, giving me the biggest cheshire grin ever, then disappeared out the door into her world.
My turn came.  The lab technician asked how my day was going?  Really?  It was only 7:45 am.  I answered her as politely as I could that it was to early to be out and about.  She nodded, gave me a smile and continued silently.  She finished and just like that, I walked out sporting my own cotton ball and red Coban.
My husband’s and my tradition is cause for celebration on such occasions, a  breakfast date at Denny’s.
He always refers to these as a “the  vampire” day.
  I ride, he drops me off, I call, he picks me up (parking is not validated and we are to cheap to pay for such a short amount of time), we then go out for breakfast.

As I was sharing my few moments of fame at the lab with him, he blurts out that famous quote from Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem, The Raven, “Quoth the raven, nevermore.”  We have a brief chat and a good laugh because these vampire moments have become more frequent, will continue to quoth evermore.
The classic poem, “The Raven”, has never been so fitting of this mornings adventure.  Earlier in route, a raven or a crow, I observed had just flitted to sit a top the telephone pole as it appeared we were hitting mostly red lights in route.
I have never appreciated Poe’s poetry and his words, often repeated memory, emphasizing the continuous loss of his beloved, his continuous grieving of someone without hope is never ending.
There’s always another blood draw around the corner, an endless cycle of reminders of our mortality.
  Eternity is a long time to be wrong.

JOY IS AN INSIDE JOB

SMILE

I am happy to see you here on Cultivating Joy.  In a cluttered blogger sphere, I often get curious as to why my readers keep coming to visit.
Does it resonate a realness that keeps you coming back?
Do the images and words make you smile?  Is there depth?  Has it captured any of your feelings?  Is there encouragement?  What keeps you popping into my blog?

WILDLY PURSUING JOY

  You see, words are one of my greatest assets and joyful people say inspiring things.
Joy is very interesting because we all bring a different equation to joy.
  It is no surprise that I am obsessed with joy.  I would love to be more joyful.  So I thought it would be interesting to find ways to become even more joyful. 
Just to get one thing straight, some days I'm just hanging on hard to the joy rope.  Joy does not give up during seasons of storms.

Pearls of Grace

  Those days can be wildly varied but non-the-less they are seasons.
I have come through challenges of those seasons, not because I have a joy-gene tucked away somewhere that imparts it or some kind of super power.  I joy thrive because of God's grace.

Bask in the beauty of nature

  "Don't be dejected or sad, for, the joy of the Lord is my strength." Nehemiah 8

Does getting older strengthen joy or suck it out?  In a way yes, as I seek out situations that will encourage.  Perhaps I have learned to let go of loss and disappointment so often that the joy option is so inviting. Romans 12:12 beckons me to "Be joyful in hope..." to "Rejoice with those who rejoice." 12:15

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." 15:13

Spend Time With God

Does God love me?
Does He forgive or accept me?
Am I living in the spiritual reality of what is revealed in Scripture?  If my answer is "YES" then I SMILE, it's a side effect of JOY.
  Don't let idiots rob your JOY!
  Note Theodore Roosevelt's quote:  "Comparison is the thief of Joy."

One cannot give a general definition of joy due to the fact that seeing it from God's perspective, it cannot be compared with happiness.
Joy does not lie just in the beholden but the Creator.  So how do I describe what Joy is and what does it mean to me?  Many of my blog posts have been descriptions of what joy has meant to me through my experiences.  I have found that my life adventures have been a huge element of my expressions of joy.

Expressions of joy

  Many entries involve some interaction of joy experiences as well as my status updates of family and friends interaction on social media.
Going out with sister,
lady friends brings me joy while just enjoying each others company.  My family plays an intricate part in this joy and I feel truly blessed for supporting friends.  
However, all this aside it's not realistic to think we will gain joy if we don't cultivate it.

"You have to sniff out joy.  Keep your nose to the joy trail." ~Buffy Sainte-Marie 
Life is one surprise after another.  I never know when the next surprise will come and being able to meet it with joy.  Some time ago, I began to live my days with deeper attentiveness to the world around me.  It has become more colorful.  The moments of joy each day are becoming more frequent.

Enjoying a donut interlude at Grandparents Day

The joy that my little people give is beyond my fullest extent of joy.  This grandma is quite passionate about the magic of grandchildren.  I am so amazed at their intensity of exuberance and joy.
Yes, we should all be living with the anticipation of a joyful day.

I can have such a delirious feeling caught in moments of joy.  I love the act of reliving my joys when I am inspired and joyful about something, then why not share it?
  There's always a sense of satisfaction at sharing experiences because anything can happen. 

Cherish those magical years.

My grandchildren have proved that.  After all to write about something and to cherish the magic of a child is well, they spend their day in much joy. 

A Joy Jolt

I get jolts of excitement reviewing some of my adventures.  I am determined to think joyfully.

Don't let fools take your JOY

  Phil.3:1, "Rejoice in the Lord."
I Thes. 5:16, "Be joyful always."

I am not a big fan of Norman Vincent Peale but recently found this quote: "Think joy, talk joy, practice joy, share joy, saturate your mind with joy, and you will have the time of your life today, and every day all your life."

I am a follower of Jesus so this is cause for great joy.  GOD HAS SAVED ME!  HE HAS FORGIVEN ME!  HE SUSTAINS ME!  His status updates never grow old as long as you keep in the Word.
Many joys are free to all, the rich, the poor, the great and low, young or old.  Joy opens the eyes and alters perspective.
 Want more joy? 

Cultivate Joy

 CULTIVATE IT!

• Focus on each days events from God's perspective. 
• Surround yourself with joyful people.  Social time is highly valuable when it comes to cultivating joy.

  

  A Joyceful friend

• Spend time with friends who exhibit their love for God.
• Approach life's challenges and trials redemptively.
• Fill your mind with music that draws your heart nearer to God and his word.  (Is there such a thing as singers "high"?)
• Commit to joy, plan for it.
• Practice appreciating everything and everyone.

  

  Fellowship with my EWG ladies

• Smile, laugh more.
• Spend more time with joyful people 
• Spend time with God, focus on him.
• Get into the habit of showing gratitude.
• Poke your nose in to smell the roses.

  

  Identifying as a goof schoof

• Get a healthy dose of UV rays.  It will boost your joy.  Bask in that sunlight and breezes.  Joyfulness is maximized by being outside.
• Spend time in nature or at least pay attention to it or surround yourself with the potted plant kind if you have a green thumb, the experience will also maximize your joy, even if it is just one. 
• Exercise, it has a profound effect on joyfulness and our well being.
• Sleep more.  Yea, Yea, how can I say that at my age and stage?  Well, work with yourself.  "Joy comes in the morning."  Yea, right!  Get the picture?  You got to work at it, you got to cultivate it.

 

^{John 15:9} “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full

 Beware!  Joy will sneak up on you as you view your circumstances and friends as gifts from God.

Friends in deed

May your lives be filled with all the joys of each season.



Cultivate JOY!

WHAT TICKS ME OFF.

I am hoping nobody purposely attempts to tick me off while in my company after opening up about my tick offs.

  I am sure that there are many things that tick you off as that appears to be some of our human nature.
What's the burr in your saddle?   Exploring my annoyances has opened the door to understanding what is really important to me.
Besides the nails screeching on the proverbial chalk board, I find that those who have lost their child like love for life and lack of a sense of humor have denied themselves of that wonder.

Although I am an early riser, people who think it's okay to talk to me so early in the morning might receive a response of a dirty word, receive a nod or a grunt, or get a dirty look.  I detest someone who is a little to perky and energetic so early in the morning.  Why would one expect a response?

Individuals who I have to go on a roller coaster of thinking just to understand and turn the conversation into a debate not saying what they think or mean exasperates me as well as those who think they know but don't.

 Charles Dickens’ famous quote, 
“it was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
  I get exasperated by drama.  Why not deal with it and move on, that is others, as I have moved on.  I dislike emotional cliffs, hard feelings, and festering resentments and why do others think the worst of you, or others, before they really get to know you?
The Eeyore's of life, I find depressing.  The gloomy, melancholy, no matter what happens is totally in opposition to my cultivating joy. 

 People who only call when they need something, something, I may be guilty of, but non the less it does annoy me.
Individuals who want to do something that was done in the past because now all of a sudden, they believe it will magically work now.
People who cough and sneeze and don't cover is a cause, for sigh, and the roll of eyes.
Switching on a bright overhead light, sending me into a semi rude awaking as I am drifting off to sleep really grinds on my nerves as I angrily throw the covers over my head and silently utter sinful words.

  It's not like there are no other lamps to light the way for the night owls in life.  I have two in every room and night lights everywhere.
I've worked up a lather many a time in defending my beliefs.  My faith and beliefs are not up for debate.  I welcome challenges to evaluate my spiritual vital signs but get very annoyed at blatant misinterpretation or taking Scripture out of context to prove a point against me. Teaching focused on what God does FOR “me” and not what God requires OF “me” is, well, something to consider.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Rom.8:28

"... is the great encourager, the feel-good verse. Taking it by itself (which is a mistake), it seems to guarantee the prosperity of all who love God." 
The pattern for misused verses appears to focus on us.
The context of the entire Bible is about God, about the importance of following His word, of having a good relationship with Him.

There are two quotes that tick me off.
"Let go and let God." The Scripture never tells us to do that.  In fact there are so many instructions about what we are to do that it contradicts the idea that we do nothing, say nothing, and roll with the punches  of life.

"God told me..."  At that phrase, a silent alarm goes off, red flags may appear, I become very skeptical unless, it is followed by a verse in Scripture.
There are many other things that tick me off but in the manner of not sounding of complaining, I will end here.
  Thank you for walking through my annoyances with me.  What happened when I started to consider my "what ticks me off", I started to think about what delights me and my previous post.
Hot weather can leave now, anytime.

WHAT MAKES ME TICK

So, what makes me tick?
What is really important?
What do I want my life to be about?
What kind of relationships do I want to build?

WHAT MAKES YOU TICK?
What excites me may not be what excites you.  That is a good thing otherwise the world would be a very boring place.
So what really makes me tick?  I have never actually stopped to consider what drives me the most until thinking about some of the conversations that go on between me and my mind.  You may be one of many people who know me or not as to what goes on in my over-active mind.
Writing allows me to leave the mother, grandmother, wife, sister,  and care giver behind and give voice to the woman I think I know.
I will perhaps greet you with a joyful smile, a friendly hello or a hug, but the feeling of releasing something I have come to know, a piece of my written form gives me an immeasurable amount of joy.  I love the challenge of seeing my words develop into meaningful existence.  It's always fun to see my words take shape in print from long hand scribbles to keyboard.  Writing is my outlet when words are stacked within.
It's then that a tired mind makes me happy that I have completed one more post and released one more tick.  To see my goals to publish were realized just by clicking the "publish" and sending each blog post to be read by others is energizing.
There is not one day goes that I don't feel grateful for a world full of words and color.  The concept of being totally present and absorbed in the current moment drives me to photography.
Not in the sense of being professional but driven toward the candid.  There are moments to capture, memories to make which I do not want imprisoned only in my mind.  The feeling of euphoria in reliving those moments of places God has taken me to brings me alive.  Life has taken me in many unexpected turns and unexpected places and I do not want to forget them.

My grandchildren bring instant joy and smiles.  They seem to know when I need a hug.  The status to grandmother has magnified my love and given me great amount of joy.

I like to listen to good music, most genres.  I am not talented in that aspect but that lack makes me want to listen all the more.

I love


opportunities to hang out with friends, just being friends.  It's those moments you appreciate the beauty of people, I call friends.  I find being around my peers who challenge me in all areas of life, but more so in pursuit of spiritual growth invigorating.  It's that deep down that inspires and pushes me on.
God has done a lot of clean-up to keep me on the right path in my journey with him.

Sometimes, I  have had to let go of parts of history, my browsing history, erasing cached images etc.  There has been a lot of old data and error messages of life that harden the ability to experience joy.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"  II Cor.5:17
 
 
So, what is really important?
What do you want your life to be about?
What sort of person do you want to be?
What sort of relationships do you want to build?
What excites you the most?

I don't know what makes you tick but as we move into an ever increasingly hostile environment and hostile culture it may be best to evaluate what makes you tick and recalculate your existence.

#1 DEAR MR. SCOOOOF Grow Old With Me (Video)

Dear Mr. Scooooof,
I am your wife and you are my husband. I know I am not perfect and in those respects we are alike.
I wished for a husband. I got one.
I wanted a husband who could cook. It didn't happen. I got an all around handyman.
I wanted someone who would be my biggest fan. I got you.
We have supported each other through thick and thin.
Learning the ropes of marriage has been a life long process.
I wanted more memories. I got plenty of those, both good times and bad times as well.
I wanted to be a better woman and wife. Because of all we've been through, I am.
I wanted a family. You gave me one.
I wanted adventure. You have contributed amazing adventures. There is never enough words to describe all we have been through together.
Without you, I wouldn't be the person I am today.
Thank you for all the years and memories.
Mrs. Scooooof ~rjs

GROW OLD WITH ME LYRICS CLICK HERE