It's Okay To Be Where You Are At, It's Not Okay To Stay There*

I remember growing up and attending Sunday School and hearing all the wonderful stories about the mighty men of God and thinking Wow, if only I could be like them.  These mighty men of faith we were taught about in Sunday School, they sure did leave us with such a high standard to live up to.........or did they?

I'll admit that I never really read my Bible, all of it....Old and New Testament.  Sure I read a book here and a book there, a chapter here and a chapter there, but I had never really sat down and read it cover to cover until about 5 or 6 years ago.  I started with the New Testament, because well, I knew that would be "easier" for me to read then all those "old" books.  And it was when I was reading those "old" books that I realized all those years in Sunday School I had been lied to. Stay with me, don't start yelling at me yet.

I had heard about Abraham and what a great man of faith he was, the father of many nations; Samson and his great strength;  Moses and the leading of the Jews out of Egypt and many, many more.  It wasn't until I started reading the Old Testament, really reading it, that I realized what flawed men they really were.  They weren't perfect and made a lot of mistakes, yet God still used them, called them and blessed them.

Abraham, the "Father of Faith", willing to sacrifice his own son, was scared and lied.....

Samson was arrogant, prideful and really not very smart.....

Moses stuttered, was timid and even dared to question God using him......

So, what is my point in this?  It's this NEVER think you are too much of sinner for God to love you, to call you, to bless you.  There was only one perfect man to ever walk this earth and God knows this.  He knows where you are, what you've done, what you've said and what you haven't said or done, but He still loves you.

We are ALL flawed human beings, but we should be striving daily to do what is right.  We may fail and fail badly, but tomorrow brings a new day and a new chance to try again.  It's not important how many times you fail, but that you keep trying.  It's okay to be where you are at, it's not okay to stay there!*

*Title credit goes to Bill Putnam

Traveling observations

Here some observations I had while traveling from Arizona to Wyoming:

1) Having to get to the airport 2 hrs before a flight even though you know security won't take you more than 10 minutes.....but you don't want to take the chance.

2) People having 12 carry-ons and getting away with it.....especially when you know there is NO WAY that one piece of luggage is going to fit on the plane.

3) The flight attendants that let them get away with it.

4) The people in boarding group 7 (out of 7) who think they can still board before their designated time.

5) The flight attendants that let them get away with it.

6) The people who as soon as the boarding starts are right there chomping at the bit to get on the plane, even though it's still another 20 minutes before they are going to call their group.

7) The people who put their luggage in the overhead bins at the front of the plane or as close to the front as the can find, even though the are sitting at the back of the plane.

8) The flight attendants that let them get away with it.

9) The people that stand as soon as the plane is docked even though they are at the back of the plane and the doors aren't even opened yet.

10) Those same people hurrying to baggage claim to stand and wait another 10 minutes for the baggage to arrive.

11) How people stake out their territory while waiting for their baggage.

What are some observations you have had while traveling?

What have I gotten myself into?!?!

So, I'm getting ready to go on vacation with the family to Wyoming.  We'll be staying in a small town called Pinedale.  It's a nice little town and I'm very much looking forward to going and just unplugging.....literally!  Now don't get me wrong, I'm still taking the laptop, iPad and Kindle for email, the teenager and reading, but I don't plan on being online much more than that.  Which hasn't happened in a long, long time!

Luckily with the Kindle I'll have plenty of books to read without the weight of all those books.......if you don't have a Kindle or some device similar I ask you, why not!  LOL.....anyway.........so I thought what else could I bring to do that would be relaxing, yet not require electricity.....and this is what I decided on:

Cross Stitch!  Am I nuts?!?!  I haven't cross stitched in years, but I saw someone else doing it last week and thought, gee I should start doing that again.  So I ordered these thinking, they are small things, so shouldn't be too difficult.....one problem, I've never cross stitched on a blank canvas before, it always had a pattern printed on it, so I ASSUMED that all were like that.....silly me!  Neither of these have the patterns printed on them, so, yes,  I panicked  after I opened them.  But after watching a couple of videos on Youtube, I think I can do this!  May not be as restful as I had wanted but I do think I'll still like doing it.    I did however order a couple more WITH the patterns stamped on them....at least I hope so!  We'll just have to see how far I get.  Stay tuned! LOL

Why is it?

Why is it with over 3 billion people in the world you can still feel like the only person in the world?

Why is it the people drive down the road with their blinker on when they have no intention of making a turn?

Why is it we know we shouldn't eat that candy bar so we get two?

Why is it we complain about our circumstances, but do nothing to try and change them?

Why is it we can put a man on the moon but we can't get decent cell service?

Why is it we keep making the same choices and expecting a different outcome?

Why is it that ice cold water tastes better than room temperature water?

Why is it with a wonderful marriage, great kids and everything you could possibly want yet still feel like you are missing something?

Why is it that commercials for anti-aging commercials use women that aren't old?

Why is it that with all this modern technology we still use paper to wipe our behinds?

Why is it that blondes are the "butt" of all the jokes, yet they are ones having all the fun?

Why is it that I no idea why I started this? 

What's your "Why is it?"

It's so much easier to put on!

I'm always full of good intentions.  I intend to start eating healthier. I intend to start riding my stationary bike.  I intend to eat less sweets.  I intend to do more exercising.  But intentions can only get you so far.  There needs to be actions with the intentions and that is where I have been struggling.

Three years ago I lost 50 pounds with just watching what I ate and walking 4-5 days a week for an hour/hour and a half.  It didn't happen overnight, it took the whole year.  Then my thyroid started to fail and I gained back 8 pounds in a month.  I upped my exercise routine, was still watching what I ate, yet I continued to gain.....so frustrating, so I gave up.  It took two years to get the medicine to the correct dosage and by then I had fallen into a lazy routine, gaining back a total of 20-25 pounds.   All that hard work sabotaged by my own body!

And now it's summertime, bathing suit season........time to get those pounds and the additional "hibernation" fat off.  The only problem is it's not as easy to take off as it is to put on and if you haven't already started, it's probably too late.   It's just doesn't seem fair that the mini snickers bar I ate will take me two weeks to work off.  So instead of not eating the snickers, I have two.  Instead of getting on my stationary bike, I'm sitting on my couch.  It's so hard to get back into the routine.  Once I get back into it, it's easy to stay there, but just step off that path for a day or two and it gets lost in the muck.

So how do we get back on the path, find the path again?   Well, we just have to take it one day at a time and look at the small achievements we've made and build on those.  Instead of two snickers, only have one.  Instead of sitting on the couch all night long, get up on commercials and just walk around, do squats, walk in place, do jumping jacks, do situps....do SOMETHING!!!  So, that is what I'm doing.  Instead of sitting while playing Halo with my boys(yes, I play....no, I'm not any good!) I get up between matches and jog on my mini trampoline or jumprope.  Instead of sitting and watching tv all night long, I get up on the commercials and move around.  I know I won't be a size 2 anytime soon, heck I won't be a size 8 anytime soon, but I won't put the rest of those 50 pounds back on and it's something!

So put down that snickers bar and get moving!

Seriously did not think this through!

Back in December we got a new car.  It was time, the other one was 10+ years and getting to the point of needing work done to keep it running and because of certain circumstances at the time we had money to get a new one.  So we looked and looked for a couple of months, but waited until the end of the year to purchase to try and get the best price possible.

Seeing as how we spend alot of time in Arizona I had said I didn't want leather interior, specifically black leather interior.  Really I didn't want black interior of ANY kind....and my own personal preference of no red car either.  The only other requirement we HAD to have was AWD for our trips back and forth between Colorado and Arizona and of course for driving in the Colorado winters.  We had narrowed the list to a Subaru Outback and a Mazda CX-9 after test drives with the Kia Sorrento coming in a distant 3rd.  I only test drove the Kia for my husband, I really wanted either the Subaru or the Mazda.  All three cars drove well and we liked them all.

Finally, we decided on the Subaru Outback, it seemed the most reasonable and practical of a car and we thought, heck we could get it fully loaded for about the same price as a base or just above base model of the Mazda....WRONG!!!  We could not believe how expensive the Subaru was turning out to be AND they didn't even have what we wanted in stock, we'd have to wait at least a month to get it!  So, we called the Mazda dealership to find out what kind of deals they had going on and that we were ready to buy NOW....never heard back from them.  (sidenote: we had been driving around all day already and this Mazda dealership was another 1/2 hr away, we did not want to drive all the way there and not walk or drive away without a new car).

After waiting about 15mins we decided we were tired and had had enough so we drove back to the Kia dealership, told them the price we wanted out the door and BAM we had a new car...fully loaded, minus the sun/moonroof.......and the new year model.  Now I went through all that whole story to get to this part.....Well, it's NOT a red car...it's a dark cherry, so it's more purplish/maroon.......BUT, and this is a BIG but, it has black leather interior!   The only reason I considered this was because the driver side has a cooling seat function.  We've tried it out a couple times it's like sitting in wet clothes almost.  It's hard to describe, but this past December-April it has been a WONDERFUL feature.  Which brings me to real topic of this blog!

Now that the temperatures are reaching the 100's....I don't care how good of a seat chiller you got....black leather is HOT and if you don't have seat covers yet (like me) you will burn your legs if you are wearing shorts! Go ahead, ask me how I know! LOL  Needless to say, seat covers will be on my wishlist this year for my birthday and/or Christmas.....I just hope I can survive that long!  In the meantime, there will be a towel left in my car on the driver's seat at all times.

That's my baby!  I really do love everything about the Kia Sorrento....except the black leather seats.  Now when I'm in Colorado, that won't matter.  Oh I also have seat warmers for the winter months and that IS nice!!

Death, a beautiful way to explain it

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave 

the examination room and said, 

'Doctor, I am afraid to die.

Tell me what lies on the other side..' 

Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know..' 

'You don't know? You're, a Christian man, 

and don't know what's on the other side?' 

The doctor was holding the handle of the door; 

On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, 

And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room 

And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness. 

Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 

'Did you notice my dog? 

He's never been in this room before. 

He didn't know what was inside.. 

He knew nothing except that his master was here, 

And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. 

I know little of what is on the other side of death,

But I do know one thing... 

I know my Master is there and that is enough.'

I got this in an email this morning and thought it was to beautiful not to share.  I hope it touches you as much as it touched me, makes you smile as big as it made me smile, and gets you excited for what's on the other side of the door.    

Most people think of Psalm 23 as a funeral verse, but take the time to read it, digest it.  It's a wonderful picture of promise for the living.

Psalm 23(NIV) 

The LORD is my shepherd I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters,

He refreshes my soul.  He guides me along the right paths for His names sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; 

Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, 

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

As a Christian, I know I don't have to fear death and look forward to spending eternity with my Father, who is just as excited to see me and as I am to see Him.  Be blessed.