Family

Family
Joy of my life!!

Monday, January 30, 2012

Confession- I am an addict.

Confession-  I am addicted to Diet Pepsi BIG time.  I have seriously been drinking a huge amount of pop daily since I was a young teenager.  Its like a way of life for me.  I drink it upon rising, I carry a fountain cup with me everywhere I go, I am known to carry cans of pop in my purse or coat pockets in case my cup runs dry and there is not fountain machines around.  I buy 2 liter bottles when we leave for a trip and just keep filling my glass as we head down the highway.  I probably purchase at least 3 sometimes 4 of the 44 oz fountains a day and on top of that I can demolish a case of pop at home in 3 to 4 days.  It is CRAZY bad.  So I have decided I am going to seriously try get break lose of this addiction.  
Today is my first day and I started my day with a 44 oz fountain pop and am currently ending my day with a 44 oz fountain pop.  I had no pop in between.  I know, I know, 88 ozs of pop is still a HUGE amount of pop, but for me its not.  The worst part is although I have still had about 1/3 of what I normally drink in a day, my head is not feeling the best.  I had some green tea today hoping that would replace some of the caffeine so I could avoid this headache, but I am realizing its probably the aspartame or lack of that is contributing to this headache I have going on right now.

So can I get this addiction of mine under control without any intervention? :)  I think I can, I gave up a 2 1/2 pack a day cigarette habit and gave all the glory to God.  NO patch, not hypnotist, but alot of prayer and the blessing of God's favor......so here I go down another road of seeing what I have in me and how much I will hand over to God and how much of it I will try to handle myself.  :)


           
                       

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Doorways/ Open? Revolving? or Shut?

One afternoon recently I was sitting at the kitchen table enjoying time with my friend Connie Cimaglia and 2 of my boys Daniel and Derek.  Connie often has a lot of wisdom to offer, a way of getting you to look at things from a different angle and a huge ability to make you laugh.  You could say table talk with Connie is very enjoyable.

Every since that last meeting with her, I have been pondering something she shared with us.  She told us how important it is to not push doors open that God has already closed or is trying to close.  That just really stuck with me.   I think the hard part is KNOWING if God is trying to shut the door but we have been coming back thru it so much that its turned into one of those revolving doors that just keeps spinning around.  We are just stuck in there and continue moving round and round.  Now were out, OH were back in, nope I guess were out, NOPE we are back in again.  Some of the situations in my life have been like this and its maddening.  Theres so many doors in my life that I have turned into those revolving doors and I cant tell the difference on if God is shutting it or opening it because I let my own wants for my life to turn those doors into revolving doors that are IMPOSSIBLE to shut.

So let me just be REAL here.  I think sometimes we are so busy looking for God to open doors for us, we are to stubborn to notice the ones hes closing.  We tend to hang onto things so tightly and don't want to allow those doors to close.  I realized just recently that those doors that we are keeping open despite what God is trying to do, are the very things that we allow to own us. 

I myself have let way to many things in my life own me. 
**Jobs or businesses that I should of let go of long before I did.
**Relationships that I didn't want to admit I had been the sole investor in and the other person was     really not as interested in the friendship or relationship  as I was. It makes it really hard when its a    family member, someone that logic tells you that you have to hang on to this and make it work.
**The desire to fit in and be accepted in different areas of my life.
**The need to be everything to everybody.
**Insecurities
**The need to be everything to my children that I longed for as a child. 
 This list could go on...

Let me say that none of these things are bad.  Its good to not give up easily on a job, a business or a relationship.  Its good to want to be the best you can be.  But its not good to let those things own you to the extent that you stop listening to the direction God wants you to go and you only listen to your own needs, pride and desires. 

I think if everything seems to be going against you in an area of life.  Its important to ask God for wisdom, to ask him to reveal to you clearly if this is a door he is wanting to shut in your life, then LISTEN...... then have the courage to allow those doors to shut if thats where God is taking you. 

I used to have such a hard time letting doors shut, it felt like I was giving up, like I was failing, I am learning now that it just means I am listening to what God is telling me and I am MOVING FORWARD!!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Thankful for Ms. Emily Knoke

Just had an amazingly blessed weekend with my boys and the 3 older ones girlfriends.  Sunday was capped off with church with all 4 of my boys (and the 3 beautiful girls I am blessed with knowing because my boys are dating them)  then lunch with Dan, Derek, Daniel and Emily, then home to hang out for the day before Daniel and Emily headed back to college.  The day was spent watching football, everyone taking turns getting a nap in and Emily and I deciding on a whim we'd try to make homemade sugar cookies with homemade frosting.  In the middle of cookie baking Daniel brought to my attention a blog he wrote about  his relationship with Emily.  (you can find the link to it on his facebook page and its well worth reading)  This blog reminded me of how thankful I am for Emily and I knew this was the place to share that, since I havent shared about her in a thankful post yet. 

I am so thankful for Ms Emily for many a reasons.   First of all she is a pure joy to be around and it is so obvious that she truly cares about people, ALL people.  She is one of those girls that you would just have to really try not to like and then you'd be lieing to yourself if you invented a reason not to.  :)  She truly doesnt have a spiteful bone in her body and she is the first to try to give anyone and everyone the benefit of the doubt.   I am so thankful for her gentle nature and her abilty to really care about people despite what the circumstances are. 

You might think "well someone like this is just a push over"  No not at all, shes got enough spunk to handle her own and keep the rest of us on her toes if she really wanted to.  She doesnt have her head in the clouds, she knows whats going on around her, she knows what people are capeable of, she just CHOOSES to give people the benefit of the doubt and the chance to show their better side.  Some peoople spend their time looking for whats wrong with other people and she spends her time focusing on all the things that are good in other people.  I am thankful for Emily and the way she can listen, be compassionate, understand how a person is feeling and love people thru things. 

I am thankful for the way Emily can end up on any end of the dinner table next to anyone, or seated next to anyone anywhere for that matter, and she makes that person feel important and shows she really enjoys talking to them.  She doesnt sit back and wait for people to talk to her first, to show her love first, to extend themselves to her first..... she is the first to strike up a conversation, to ask you about your day, ask you about your life and to truly listen and show interest in what you are sharing with her.  I remember at one of our first dinners out she was seated next to Derek and it crossed my mind that Emily would be visiting with Daniel and maybe we should have had Derek sit down closer to other members of the family so he'd have someone to visit with as well.  Didnt take but a few minutes before I realize that wasnt going to be an issue at all.  Emily and Derek visited thru most of the meal and she really showed interest and joy in talking to and getting to know her boyfriends, 14 year old brother.  Alot of young ladies her age may have been annoyed at the chatter of a 14 year old, but she really took advantage of the opportunity to get to know Derek.  I am so thankful that my son has brought home a young lady who cares about the entire family and not just whats going on with 'them'.  I am thankful for how she just jumped right in with the other women in the family.  No caddiness at all between the 3 older boys girlfriends, they are genuinely respectful and loving toward eachother and I am SO THANKFUL for that because I really adore all 3 of them so much and it would break my heart to have any awkwardness among them. 

There are so many things I am thankful for with Emily.  She is just a remarkable young woman who has so much to offer.  She is very free spirited and willing to try different things, consider different points of view and let people be exactly where they are at in life, without trying to change people.  I am very thankful that Daniel and  Miss Emily have become so fond of eachother, and she has come to be a part of our family.  I have enjoyed her so much and look forward to the added blessing of her being part of our lives..... not to mention we have the sugar cookie to perfect.  :)    I always say there are some people in life that you just know how easy it will be to know them within a short time of meeting them and she is one of those people to me.  Its just comfortable, she has never felt like a visitor to us, but just like someone who has come home.  I am so thankful that I have that type of relationship with someone who is OBVIOUSLY so important to my son.  :)