Worthless? I think not.

I hear dysfunctional families are a dime a dozen, so I'm sure there will be a lot of you who can relate to my emotional struggle and triumph from a "bad childhood". It took me a LONG time to realize that I am loved, needed, wanted and a downright enjoyable person to be around. Four very special people were instrumental in showing me my self-worth.

When I was in Junior High & High School, I was either on the Dance squad or Cheerleading squad and even Student Council every year. Sure, it was the "in" crowd and most would be thrilled with that - but I wasn't. I never felt like I truly fit in... like I wasn't "good enough".

My parents both came from dysfunctional families, so I guess it's safe to say it was the blind leading the blind as far as parenting skills go... To say there was a lack of love, attention and affirmation is an understatement. It was hell....truly and honestly.

I came out of it confused, bitter, angry and an emotional wreck. There were things I needed from my parents that I didn't get....mainly love and attention...and to know that I was "good enough". I don't know why my parents didn't recognize the dysfunction and choose to break the cycle.... I guess change is just too painful for some. But for me, staying the same was much more painful than change.

The best healing balm for my broken heart has been my four precious children. They have shown me each and every day of their lives how much they love me, need me, want me, and even enjoy my company and conversation - no matter what! It's the unconditional love and fellowship I was craving from my parents, but didn't get. Now it's a win-win love for my own little ones. I enjoy their company, love, attention and respect as much as they enjoy mine.

They healed my heart, and have shown me how I am good enough. Actually, they say I'm the BEST Mommy in the WHOLE World. They may be biast though :-)

No FICO Needed Investing

Can you prosper in this country without a credit score or FICO number?

Yes! If you learn the secret from the inventor of the NO FICO investing system.

This Thursday night (May 25th), Thomas Kish will interview Omar Bey and show you how to invest in real estate, obtain business credit and even buy the car of your dreams with NO FICO or personal credit needed.

Omar's ten-year in-depth study of the traditional credit system gave him the vision and insight to create the most powerful credit-building system I have ever seen.

But this is NOT a credit repair system!

It's a system that allows credit-challenged individuals to reap the benefits that "A" credit individuals enjoy while simultaneously rebuilding their credit for the future for a lifetime of great credit.

Don't miss this Thursday night call if any of these apply to you -

1. You don't have any credit history.
2. You do not want to use your good credit to invest in real estate.
3. You have terrible credit. Even if your credit score is 400. Omar can show you the way to buy with NO FICO.

What is it that Omar does to help his clients all over the country?

You will find out on this LIVE call.

When -
Thursday May 25th
6:15 pm Pacific / 8:15 Central / 9:15 Eastern

How -
Live Dial In # (641) 985-0900
Participant Code: 7364627# (Seminar)#

Replay of Last Week's Training Call is Available HERE.

Larry LaPrise died....

With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed...

Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote "The Hokey Pokey" died peacefully at the age of 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin.

They put his left leg in, and then the trouble started.

Shut up. You know it's funny.

One Step Ahead

Take one little step forward. Don't worry about whether it's perfect, or what other people will think, or why you didn't do it sooner. Just take one little step. And notice how good, how right it feels.

Take that one little step forward, and then take another. Suddenly, momentum is on your side. Yes, new and difficult challenges will surely arise, now that you're moving forward. As you climb higher, the terrain will likely become steeper and more rugged.

Yet, whatever you're able to reach, you're also able to handle. With each step forward, you build the strength and the confidence to take the step.

Right now is the time to take that next little step forward, without hesitation, with no worriws or complaints or regrets. And you'll quickly be so very thankful that you did.

Picassa is really neat & FREE!

Picassa is a really neat, FREE program from Google. You can make cool Collages like this one. Just wanted to share that with ya :-)

 

Awww....

So we went to Harmony State Park yesterday, and since we don't have a lot of pictures of David & I, I asked Aerial to take a picture of us. It's a tad blurry - but hey, I think she did pretty good for being 9 yrs old.  

Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life...

We were made to having meaning. This is why people try dubious methods, like astrology or psychics, to discover it. When life has meaning, you can bear almost anything; without it, nothing is bearable.

A young man in his twenties wrote, "I feel like a failure becuase I'm struggling to become something, and I don't even know what it is. All I know how to do is get by. Someday, if I discover my purpose, I'll feel I'm beginning to live."

Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope. In the Bible many different people expressed this hopelessness. Isaiah complained, "I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing." Job said, "My life drags by - day after hopeless day" and "I give up; I am tired of living. Leave me alone. My life makes no sense." The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.

Hope is as essential to your life as air and water. You need hope to cope. Hope comes from having a purpose. If you have felt hopeless (as I have often struggled with hoeplessness), hold on! Wonderful changes are going to happen in your life as you begin to live it on purpose. God says, "I know what I am planning for you...'I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.'" You may feel you are facing an impossible situation, but the Bible says, "God is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of - infinitely behond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes."

Knowing your purpose simplifies your life. It defines what you do and what you don't do. Your purpose becomes the standard you use to evaluate which activities are essential and which aren't. (So no, I won't join your home based business - it's just doesn't fit into my purpose. Please stop calling me now.) You simply ask, "Does this activity help me fulfill one of God's purposes for my life?"

Without a clear purpose you have no foundation on which you base decisions, allocate your time, and use your resources. You will tend to make choices based on circumstances, pressures, and your mood at that moment. People who don't know their purpose try to do too much - and that causes stress, fatigue and conflict.

Without a clear purpose, you will keep changing directions, jobs, relationships, churches or other externals - hoping each change will settle the confusion or fill the emptiness in your heart. You think, Maybe this time it will be different, but it doesn't solve your real problem - a lack of focus and purpose.

Got Purpose?

Being raised in quite a hypocriticle home, I was VERY confused when it came to Christianity. To be honest, I still am - and it's a struggle to sort through the half truth's and just plain nonsense I learned growing up. The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren has been helping me A LOT. I wanted to share some of what helped me here recently.

What Drives Your Life?

I observed that the basic motive for success is the driving force of envy and jealousy!
(Ecclesiastes 4:4)

The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder - a waif, a nothing, a no man.
Thomas Carlyle

Everyone's life is driven by something.
Most dictionaries define the verb drive as "to guide, to control, or to direct." Whether you are driving a car, a nail, or a golf ball, you are guiding, controlling, and directing it at that moment. What is the driving force in your life?
Right now you may be driven by a problem, a pressure, or a deadline. You may be driven by a painful memory, a hauting fear, or an unconscious belief. There are hundreds of circumstances, values, and emotions that can drive your life. Here are five of the most common ones:

Guilt, Resentment, Fear, Materialism and Approval.

(I'm only including those I struggled with. You can get the book to find out more about the others.)

Many people are driven by resentment and anger. They hold on to hurts and never get over them. Instead of releasing their pain through forgiveness, they rehearse it over and over in their minds. Some resentment driven people "clam up" and internalize their anger, while others "blow up" and explode it onto others. Both responses are unhealthy and unhelpful.
Resentment always hurts you more than it does the person you resent. While your offender has probably forgotten the offense and gone on with life, you continue to stew in your pain, perpetuating the past.
Listen: Those who have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold on to the pain through resentment. Your past is past! Nothing will change it. You are only hurting yourself with your bitterness. For your own sake, learn from it, and then let it go. The Bible says, "To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, sensless thing to do."

Many people are driven by fear. Their fears may be a result of a traumatic experience, unrealistic expectations, growing up in a high-control home, or even genetic predisposition. Regardless of the cause, fear-driven people often miss great opportunities because they're afraid to venture out. Instead they play it save, avoiding risks and trying to maintain the status quo.
Fear is a self-imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be. You must move against it with the weapons of faith and love. The Bible says, "Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life - fear of death, fear of judgment - is one not yet fully formed in love."

Many people are driven by the need for approval. They allow the expectations of parents or spouses or children or teachers or friends to control their lives. Many adults are still trying to earn the approval of unpleasable parents. Others are driven by peer pressure, always worried by what others might think. Unfortunately, those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it.
I don't know all the keys to success, but one key to failure is to try to please everyone. Being controlled by the opinions of others is a guranteed way to miss God's pruposes for your life. Jesus said "No one can serve two masters."

There are other forces that can drive your life but all lead to the same dead end: unused potential, unnecessary stress, and an unfulfilled life.
This forty-five day journey will show you how to live a purpose-driven life - a life guided, controlled, and directed by God's purposes. Nothing matters more than knowing God's purposes for your life, and nothing can compensate for not knowing them - not success, wealth, fame, or pleasure. Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason. Without a purpose, life is trivial, petty, and pointless.

If you decide to go out and get the book, let me know - I'd like to go through this journey with you :-)

My little brother, and his son.

This is my little brother, Jonathon, and his son Cayden. This is the first time he held is son. Doesn't he look like a natural? So adorable!

Skype is FREE!!! (Free PC to Phone calls!)

Skype has just announced FREE Pc to Phone calling!! This is awesome!! Read about it HERE. (Thanks for sharing this Josh.)

Adventures Of A Homeschooling Entreprenuer

I wanted to share an EXCELLENT homeshchooling website with everyone. A fellow wahm.com message board member and experienced (15 + yrs) homeschooler created this site. It's awesome!!

VIEW THE WEBSITE HERE

Boundaries

I'm reading a good book called Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend. I have always been confused about that whole submission thing I learned in church. I was delighted to learn more about it today while reading this book.

Whenever we talk about a wife setting boundaries, someone asks about the biblical idea of submission. What follows is not a full tretise on submission, but some general issues you should keep in mind.
First, both husbands and wives are supposed to practice submission, not just wives. "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." (Eph. 5:21). Submission to one another is always the free choice of one party to another. Wives choose to submit to their husbands, and husbands choose to submit to their wives.
Christ's relationship with the church is a picture of how a husband and wife should relate. "Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should sumbit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (Eph. 5:24-27).
Whenever submission issues are raised, the first question that needs to be asked is, What is the nature of the marital relationship? Is the husband's relationship with his wife similar to Christ's relationship with the church? Does she have free choice, or is she a slave "under the law"? Many marital problems arise when a husband tries to keep his wife "under the law", and she feels all the emotions the Bible promises the law will bring; wrath, guilt, insecurity, and alienation (Rom. 4:15; James 2:10; Gal 5:4).

I just wanted to share this with others who may have been struggling with the same issues I struggled with understanding the whole submission thing. I do hope this helps someone else :=)

I had a wonderful Mother's Day :-)

Today has been a wonderful day. I woke to Aerial SO excited to give me her hand made Mother's Day gift. It was a special picture book she made with my favorite family pictures. It was so precious!!

She also stayed up late with Dad and the kids and made me a chocolate cake (my favorite kind). They did a GREAT job making it.

Then, for dinner we had Chineese. Perfect day!!

Maddison is feeling a lot better today, although her and Elijah have had the tummy flu for the last few days and David thinks he may be coming down with it. We're hoping not.

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day too :-)

GREAT Mother's Day Laugh!!!

This is HILARIOUS!!! It'll be a GREAT laugh for Mother's Day.

It's Almost Mother's Day..... Us Mommies Get To Be

Loving My New Job!!!!

TOTALLY loving my new job!! I just got trained on inbound calls and I am doing them tonight. It's a good change of pace from outbound, and once I complete this training it will allow me to do both at the same time which makes the job even more interesting :-)

BabyToBee.com will be hiring again on May 22nd, for those who are interested in applying. It's a GREAT job!!

Adventures Of A Homeschooling Entreprenuer

I just found the coolest website! (Well, besides wahm.com) Okay, it's www.GenuineJobs.com. They have an extensive list of current work-at-home jobs you can search and has all the info. you need to apply for the job - FREE. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER pay to work-from-home!!! If you have to pay, it's most likely a scam. Well, I do have a good friend who does Willow and she makes money with them (pretty good money I might add) but they do have various fees and such. That's the big turn off for me - but it works for her. Just be very cautious - there are a lot of scams out there!

The www.GenuineJobs.com also has a Work-At-Home Blog. It's VERY cool. I really like this guy and his writing style. He does an excellent job on his blog, so check it out :-)

Loving My Job!

Tonight was my second night on the phone with BabyToBee.com. I love the job! It's a lot of fun, and there is never a dull moment which makes the time pass quickly.

It's fun to be a mom and relate to all the new or expecting parents and get paid to do it. I'm blessed to have such a cool job :-)

My Big Brother is a genius!!

My brother, Josh, is an absolute genius! He fixed my computer through remote assistance on MSN and got it configured properly so the BabyToBee software works GREAT. (Thanks again Josh).

Murphy's Law, Anyone??

Tonight was my first night with Baby To Bee. I logged on and tried to take the first call, but I was having a technical problem. I was instructed to uninstall a program and see if that would work. That didn't work :(

Then I was told to hard wire to the modem, which will probably work - but as I'm about to get my registration # from tech support, my ISP's server goes down.... I have VOIP, so that left me without a home phone OR internet service.

I am blogging here in my van in the parking lot of my library.... I have been rescheduled to start with Baby To Bee tomorrow. I HOPE and PRAY my ISP is up and running by then, and I get this software problem resolved.

I got the job :-)

WOO HOO - I got the call today to do the software check and got a start date!! I'll be on the phones tomorrow!!

I'm SOOO excited :-)