.....Change.....

Try not to run from it
...ignore it
...fear it
...miss the valuable lessons tucked away in it
...get angry with it
...get stressed out about it
Keep in mind that it comes to grow your character
and prepare you for GREATER!
Try to embrace it
...learn the lessons buried deep within it
...prepare your children for it
...find the humor in it
...be at peace with it
...love and be kind to yourself in the midst of it
...be courageous and walk in it
...realize it was designed with you in mind
...Trust God to see you thru it

                                              ............CHANGE..........

Evolve (It'sTime 2 Go 2 the Next Level)

It's been a bit since I put fingers to keys, so I thought with this topic bouncing around in my head why not share.  This past weekend I enjoyed a Sunday out with some great young people and during our Sunday adventure a message was shared which deposited this in my spirit: When it is Your Time 2 go to the Next Level, you should be different than you were before.  Zipping in and out of daily life, setting goals, dreaming new dreams, and striving forever striving to go to greater heights we can easily get off track of where in the world we truly need to be heading in order to feel the most joy and peace.  We may begin to believe that our joy and peace will be found once we get this or achieve that and in deed this and/or that may contribute to them but they more often than not will not be the epitome of walking in our Divine Purpose (which it isn't normally where we will experience the most joy and peace).  We tend to have many obligations, people who depend on us, things we feel we MUST DO or the world will absolutely cease to go round (LOL..I am not the only one who has felt this way..be honest).  We somehow function this way for years, not realizing that the solution is many times challenging yet simple; Evolve, evolve, evolve!!! Give yourself not only permission but a charge to Evolve to the Next Level of your journey.  Stop holding yourself back by playing the same old film about your life up to this point in your head, over and over again.  You can either be your BIGGEST FAN or your most intense foe, it is up to you.  You can be your own cheering section, by being teachable and being willing to learn things that up to now you may have been hesitant or downright scared to learn.  As for me, I am learning my way around the kitchen (for those who know me..no smart comments or loud laughter and thanks in advance) and learning to ask for help when I need it which has been hard for me.  In this part of my journey it is amazing how God brings help from some of the most unexpected places and how the blessings flow abundantly on us when we step outside of our comfort zone and trust evolving will most DEFINATELY take us outside of our comfort zone so get ready.  That being said, we are not really living an abundant life if we are always comfy (sorry but it's true).  As we move out of our zones and start to blaze new paths, we will find we are evolving and becoming what we were destined to be.  The Awesomeness of this is that since no man is an island and in reality we really do all impact one another in some small way.  We all need each other to be fully who we are supposed to be, full of love, full of forgiveness, walking in our Divine Purpose, being teachable and being cheerful givers.  When we begin to truly live this way, we will look different, talk different, many times dress different, worship and praise different!!!

 So again let us rise up and  Evolve (It is indeed Time 2 Go 2 the Next Level)!!                      

Want Change? Invest Time in your Children

I have come to believe that society has fooled many women, and some men, into believing that the true measure of success is how big your house is, how new your car is and how many vacations you take each year. Sure people expect you to get married and have your 2.5 children but no one really expects you to actually raise them yourself. The conventional school of thought is to find the best child care available and as soon as you give birth you must shrink back down your pre-baby size and get back in the work force. While I have no problem with women working outside of the home I do have a problem with a society that requires it of its women.

I am the proud mother of a one year old and I love her to pieces. It took a few failed pregnancies, the loss of a Fallopian tube and 3 months of bed rest  before she graced us with her presence. Like any modern American woman I found the best daycare I could find for her and when she was 11 weeks old we put her in daycare. It wasn't as hard for me to leave her there for 40 hours a week because I had convinced myself that this is the way it had to be. However every week I began to resent going to work while these other people had the chance to mold my daughters mind and personality.

As she got older she became smarter and had learned some sign language and other great things but she also was picking up some habits that I didn't care for like having full on lay on the ground tantrums and, because a child had bitten her a few times, she started biting. Now I'm sure these are things that most children experience but I know that these were learned behaviors instead of just personality quarks inherent to her because one day she wasn't doing these things and after I observed another student exhibiting these behaviors a few days later so was my sweetie.

Well as fate would have it I was laid off from my job of nearly ten years with a lovely severance package and now I was going to be a work from home mom (I also have a home based business). The idea was liberating. Now I could instill all of the values that I wanted my child to have and have a chance to be the type of wife I never had the time to be before (dinner on the table, clean house, laundry done, etc.). Well those first few weeks I fell into a bit of a depression and I couldn't figure out why. Then one day it hit me. I had been working for someone else for over half of my life and I had lost my sense of purpose without a job. Sure raising my daughter full time is a great purpose but did I really know what I was doing? Was I really qualified to teach her numbers and shapes? Would she get the socialization that she would need to continue to be ahead of the curve mentally?

Once I realized that these things were just lies that women have been told for many years I shook off that fear and took on the challenge of making sure that my daughter would not only thrive but enjoy our time together every day. I created a routine for her, established and enforced a nap time daily, starting next month we will be taking a mommy and me dance class and going to free library story time and a drop in play time at our local community center. She is learning shapes, numbers and letters and loves to dance and sing. I am so blessed to have a husband who supports me and to have my home based business that gives me the adult interaction that I need to still feel like I'm a part of society.

While I know that not every woman can or wants to be a full time parent I think that it is important that we start to redefine what parenting looks like and make our children a priority again. I fully believe that a large part of the reason we have so many issues with young people today is because there are too many other things that are being held in higher esteem then our children. If we want our children to thrive then we must find a way to make them more of a priority then we have been. Otherwise things will never change.