Louder Than the Voices

I first posted this back in January but forgot to link it to Facebook. So, I am reposting today. To the whole 4 people who read it the first time, sorry, you have a repeat today. ALSO, I am extremely humbled by the response to my post last week. over 1300 people read it. I hope it helped someone, or changed a situation. My normal weekly readership is less than 200 so I am in utter shock, but again, just praying it might have changed things for someone. To those of you who shared it, thank you.  My blog doesn't make me any money or anything like that. I just do it is a service to my Lord and Savior. (orig post 1-20-18)   Good morning everyone! Happy Saturday! My full intentions this morning was to post a little poem I learned about last week at our conference. God said, no. So, I am what I feel like is pressed for time, but have to expound on this a little. So, I am sitting in Houston last week, at the close of one of the best conferences I have been ...

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a little boy who had a mommy and daddy who loved him very much. He lived in a house with both his mommy and his daddy. When he started kindergarten, he went home and asked why mommy and daddy lived in the same house. This was one of the first things that he was made fun of for.  When he was about in third grade, and his mommy and daddy would take him places, he would go home and ask why kids would make fun of him for doing things with his parents- THIRD GRADE. He was not a big kid, and not very tall. by 5th grade, he became a punching bag for another boy on the bus ride home. His mom's first advice was to pray for the little boy that was hitting him. After being bruised up too many times, and the bus driver not seeing it happen-- (and consequently saying it didn't happen when the mom called the school) the mom says, "just once, hit him back". That may not have been the best advice to give, but she did. That ended u...

Two weeks ago today, I was off on an adventure with three of my best friends. We call ourselves the LIHEAP sisters ( thanks to Christine Westerlund for naming us). I say all the time, that I truly do feel things happen for certain reasons. Kathy and I were driving to Geneva, to meet the other two. It was time for a break, so we were in search of someplace to stop. Our choices were McDonalds or the truckstop. I have been doing a morning green juice since the day after Christmas and this day, I had ran out of time. I asked if we could stop at the truck stop because there was more of a chance of finding at least a bottled green juice. You never know what you will find at a truck stop. We walked in the door and there was a spinner of books, Christian books. We both stopped immediately. One particular book caught my eye (though I ended up buying several). But this book, What if God Wrote Your Bucket List was seriously screaming, "you NEED me!". The full title has "52 thin...

Once again, I really had every intention of not doing a blog this morning, I have a long overdue date with the LIHEAP sisters and am leaving my house at 5:15, yet here I sit. For me, this has been an eventful week. I can say I have gotten a lot done, but there is still much to do. One of my best friends, Dani, called me Tuesday morning, I love it when she calls. She lives 11 miles from work but it takes her almost (and sometimes over) an hour to get there, yes, Chicago. Once in a while, she calls me while she is on that trek, and it just makes my whole day better. I had to laugh when I told her I may have bit off more than I could chew for right now, and she laughs in mocking disbelieve, "You??? You have NEVER done that before!!!", So those who have only known me close to 20 years, this isn't a new thing. Dani is one of those that knows things may not have always been on the timeline I intended, but that I always accomplish what I set out to do. Wednesday evening, I g...

Good morning everyone! Happy Saturday! My full intentions this morning was to post a little poem I learned about last week at our conference. God said, no. So, I am what I feel like is pressed for time, but have to expound on this a little. So, I am sitting in Houston last week, at the close of one of the best conferences I have been to in a long time, sitting with 4 of the best people I know, and thinking to myself, "Life is Good". The last speaker of the conference was very motivational, and he shared this with us. It was spring, but it was summer I wanted, the warm days, and the great outdoors. It was summer, but it was fall I wanted, the colorful leaves, and the cool, dry air. It was autumn, but it was winter I wanted, the beautiful snow, and the joy of the holiday season. I was a child, but it was adulthood I wanted, the freedom, and the respect. I was twenty, but it was thirty I wanted, to be mature, and sophisticated. I was middle-aged, but i...

Once again, getting a bit of a late start to the blog, but so worth it. The cold moved my kid home for the week, so this morning started with having coffee and visiting with him. I know he is so ready to go back "home", but I am so thankful that I got a week of him being "home" with me. This has been one crazy, emotional week. It is one of those that felt like it took forever to get through and at the same time, there was not enough time in the day to get everything done. A lot of our management team is leaving for a conference in Houston on Monday morning, so I basically wanted to have all of this week's work done, plus next week's before I leave. Yes, I am going to work today. It would be there when I get back, but I am one that feels better knowing it is done. And, of course, there is always my mom's thing of "if the plane goes down", at least I have given the next person a little head start instead of all the things left undone. Som...

Good Last Saturday morning of the year!      I cannot believe how fast time has went, and after almost an hour of looking back at the past year, I can't believe how much stuff was packed into it. And I guess my biggest thing is looking back at my post from a year ago; I cannot imagine the changes that happened- Good and bad. In January, we hosted Donna Beegle, she is probably one of my favorite motivational speakers for low-income families. She lived it, and overcame it. She was a product of generational poverty. When you work in my field, you learn there is generational poverty, and situational poverty. Generational is a lot harder to overcome, but Dr. Beegle is living proof and inspiration that it can be done. In February, I did my Family and Community Development Recertification. We spent most of the days studying goal- setting. I came home with the tools to set SMART goals ( talked about more in this blog post: Got Goals? it is a good time of year to review thi...