First I chose to run…
Then I chose to stand…
From there I chose to walk on…
I chose God over suicide…
I chose to have my children…
I chose to heal…
I chose to live…
I’ve no regrets!
Here, have some cookies…
Since they’re virtual, you can take the risk, as there aren’t any calories to regret!
Is it possible to overdose on too much exposure to adorable?
While I absolutely think it’s possible, I don’t think that the long lasting side effects are all that bad… feeling giddy and light headed, smiling til your cheeks hurt, and having a general desire to hug anyone within reach.
Can you believe Maisie’s over four months old now? Every time we see her, she just keeps getting cuter… and happier! I swear she is the happiest baby I’ve ever encountered. I can attest that her mother was NOT this happy all the time. In fact, my daughter was a very sick baby for the first several years of her young life.
But, as you can see from the above image, she got better. She had some hard knocks here and there, as a teenager, but my daughter is nothing, if not tenacious, when it comes to overcoming things.
I couldn’t be more proud of the woman she’s become, as well as being a fantastic mom!
So much will be changing for us, here in just about a month, as Maisie will be spending three days a week in our care. I’m thrilled, yet a little scared, also. It’s been over 30 years since I was caring for my baby girls. Things have changed dramatically since those days, when it comes to how babies are raised. Nearly all the baby stuff looks foreign to me, though I’m fairly certain I can still use a thermometer.
Thankfully, we have a small apartment, and there isn’t a lot of furniture and/or clutter, which I’m eternally grateful about. I’m never going to get any housework done, or anything else productive, for that matter. She is so cute, and I simply forget about everything else, the moment I pick her up.
How hard can it be, right?
We put a crib in our bedroom, and I’m decorating it to be as similar as possible to what she has at home. This way she’ll hopefully not be fearful of her surroundings, when she naps.
We still need to get a table and chairs for the kitchen area, so as to have a place for a little attachable high chair. She’s already trying foods, folks. Anytime a baby is born so big, I swear they start eating real food much earlier than normal. She loves bananas, squash, oatmeal, and her mamma is planning on offering her avocado next. We just make it with our little Ninja mixer. The plan is to make everything fresh, and with nothing added. I forgot how much work it takes being a mom. My daughter is going to be exhausted when she goes back to work.
Well, I’m just glad we can be helpful. My son-in-law’s mother will share childcare with us, so that our kids have a chance to be financially stable. Childcare these days is ridiculously overpriced. Honestly, I don’t know how anyone can actually afford to work, when they have to pay so much for babysitters, as well as all the other added costs of a growing family.
It’s about to become a whole different schedule for this Meemaw, but I don’t actually mind. Though I’ll not having as much free time available, once she arrives, it’s a fantastic trade-off. Maisie is far better than any video game, or Netflix series that I’ve already binge watched numerous times. I’ll have to adjust my writing schedule for when she’s napping, or playing with her Papa. If that doesn’t work then I’ll do it on the days she spends with her other Grandma. I might even switch to writing in the evenings, when it’s quiet.
In truth, I don’t think there’ll be anything productive going on when she arrives, which is as it should be…
The first thing that popped into my mind, when I read this prompt question, was the time I ate a piece of chocolate cake that the cat had peed on! I wish I were joking, but alas, there is nothing made up about that event.
What would I have done differently? I would have made the cat live outdoors much sooner than I did. The peeing on things had begun about a month prior. I’d been attempting to correct the cats behavior, rather than evicting her from the house… until that day!
Why on earth would this be the first thing I came up with, as I read the daily prompt?
As a general rule of thumb, I do not look on past decisions as something I would change. I stay away from the whole woulda shoulda coulda mindset, not only because it’s done and gone, but because our past makes us who we are now. Mess with one eensie weensie past decision and who knows what might be affected, here in the present.
So, for the most part, there isn’t a great list of things I would venture to safely change… aside for the cat and the cake… that I could un-remember!
Here, have a piece of cake… I’m sure it’ll be fine! This cutie wouldn’t dream of being naughty…
There was a time when I could say that I was the poster child for Anxiety! My nervousness was my very own survival mechanism of choice!
Not much of my life went the way I’d wanted, leaving me traumatized and wounded for many, many years. All of the life interuptuses I’ve endured, some from my own making, have landed me with two nervous roommates that never leave… IBS and Fibromyalgia.
While you may be wondering why I’ve allowed them to stay, to me, they are more like helpless children, needing constant care and supervision. In good conscience, I could no sooner evict these two, than I could my own children. By loving and tending my roommates, or scars if you will, God allows me to manage my own nervous anxieties, with grace, compassion and understanding.
Assigning a specific culprit to hold responsibility for making us nervous, seems rather silly. As WordPress is not leading a support group or therapy session, by asking everyone what makes them nervous, the only thing this prompt will successfully do is make everyone nervous about answering what makes them nervous.
Did they even look up the definition of the word, before they thought to ask the question? I did!
According to Google, which the world seems to think knows everything, the definition of nervous is this:
easily agitated or alarmed; tending to be anxious; highly strung.
“a sensitive, nervous person”
It seems rather ludicrous to ask a nervous person what makes them nervous! It quickly became apparent to me that the idea of being nervous is a mannerism, or a trait that has long since been established. Once I read the definition, I began thinking about how hard it would be to just randomly come up with an easy answer, over a cup of coffee in the morning.
If it were that easy for all us nervous folk to discover what makes us nervous, there would be millions of spare dollars floating around, that no longer need to be paid to the professionals who spend years learning how to become a therapist!
Just sayin…
Here, have a cookie…
They were supposed to look like pins and needles, but as the AI art generator reflects, it was much easier said than done! The closest it could come to what I wanted, was cookies stabbed by a decorative paperclip… go figure!
**This was one of the first few entries, back in the day, when I began my online literary journey. It’s pretty small, as well as, unformatted. I added some images, and did a bit of editing. Otherwise, the content hasn’t been changed. **
“Now this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He will hear us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petition that we have asked of Him.” 1 John 5:14,15
Having faith in God means trusting Him even though I cannot see or understand His ways or His plan for me. I have to believe He knows what He is doing and He wants only for my good.
I do not have an understanding of why our situation doesn’t seem to have an end in sight, but I have to trust Him even if I cannot see what lies ahead. What I do know is that I am responsible for my attitude and actions within my circumstances. How I handle the situation is what He sees and what others see.
When I say that I want to reflect Him, it means that even in the face of impossible situations I should not be filled with fear, anger, or frustration.
It means that I need to walk in peace, in faith, and in power that comes not from myself but from Him.
I need to continue to walk forward in confidence, knowing that if I am being obedient in my walk, He has heard me and will provide what I need, in His timing not mine. I need to really practice having patience and trust in Him.
The word faith is a noun, I realize. But, personally, I think it should be verb, a word of action and effort. Faith is not automatic, but rather, it is an active effort to go, to be, and to do everything in a manner that displays my trust in Him and my belief that He will do what His word promises He will do.
I am finding the confidence spoken about in scripture, and that confidence arrives in the form of faith.
What we ask for by faith, may not arrive immediately. In fact, it may take time, and might not even look like the answer we were expecting… but let’s hold confidently in faith, none the less.
Social media is like the fertile soil of a garden, just waiting to be planted.
Some may plant selfies, hoping to be viewed and shared. Others plant silly videos that bring laughter and likes. Still more plant how-to, self-help, and/or how-it’s-made videos for our viewing pleasure, with the hope of DIYing it, all the way to the bank.
While I’m not sure what I thought I wanted to do with my site ,when all this began, here on WordPress… I’m quite certain as to how I feel about it now.
I wish to plant things on social media, treating it like a garden. If the planting is fertile, then the harvest will be fruitful! By planting love, joy, peace, and goodness, then my hope is that there will be a bounty of fruit produced, come harvest time.
If one plants the right seeds, nourishes them with healing waters, well, who knows what kind of fruit will grow…
It’s Saturday morning, and the sun is shining brightly, here in the great Northwest.
Find your favorite project, your most enjoyable past time, or your favorite binge-worthy Netflix series… it’s Saturday, folks. I hope it’s sunny wherever you are, but either way, it’s still hopefully a play day.
Whether you’re working or playing, may you find joy in your day…
Hugs
All those years ago, in the heart of a desolate child, God reached down and plucked me from the clutches of the enemy… in every sense of the words!
Utterly lost and forgotten, until He sought me out!
It’s been quite a journey since…
Through anger, fear, and the nightmares that haunted me, I fought God for years. I refused to let go of the very things that were destroying me from the inside out… memories! Mine, theirs, the memories became baggage that only gained weight with the passage of time.
The good, the bad, and all that lay between… He never let go of this broken one, this forgotten child. After all the things I did to push God away from me, He still held on with such intensity, I could no longer deny Him!
Truly, I am walking this earth because of the grace and power of God, and God alone! Positive, oh yes… I’d say that encounter had a very positive effect on this child!
Want a cookie?
I’ve made a great many decisions in my life, some of which were good choices… and some, not so good.
While I could go into detail on many of them, it would take us far longer than a Friday morning to wade through it all. I am nearly 58 years old, so I’m bein fully serious about it taking us a good bit to work through my decision’s list!
The truth could be said for all of us, when it comes to how many decisions each of us make, on any given day. It’ll take much of our lives to discover the extent of good or bad that came from those choices. How then can I pick one choice above another?
Well, I know that choosing to have children definitely helped me learn and grow, but that’s naturally expected. It’s all a part of life. Marriage, children, jobs, homes, vacations, spending money, or saving it. The list of decisions goes on and on and on, so how in the world are we to decide which were the best and which were the worst of decisions?
Over time, it becomes rather clear as to which choices ended badly, and which ones were fruitful. Then it comes down to picking the best of the best decisions, but I’ve still got years and years of choices to sift through. That’s a lot of memories, if I’m being fully honest, here.
I don’t actually have to think that hard, as I knew my answer to the prompt, shortly after reading it. Without turning this into a full blown novel, I’ll briefly share what decision popped into my head after reading the prompt.
About four years ago, I made the decision to pursue God fully, pulling out all the stops. I’ve been a Christian since I was nineteen years old, but never truly pursued God as I should have done. Many mistakes were made along the way, some far more costly than others. Then I realized how desperately I needed God fully in my life. From that point, I opted to walk a different path for the rest of my earthly journey… the faithful kind of walk.
What am I talking about? I’ll explain.
This child of God chose to meet each and every day, standing in faith, on the word of God. Now I walk fully by faith… in all things. This means that I hold every thought, every action, and every motive, before scripture. It’s not always easy, and I’m far from perfect at it, but the choice in living this way has irrevocably changed me, and for the better, I think.
With each and every new day, I’m being drawn closer and closer to my Lord, and the home that He has prepared for me… and this walk has definitely helped me learn and grow.
Cookies?
Over the years of my life, I’ve learned that if I say never about a thing, I will most assuredly end up eating my words!
To be honest, there isn’t really anywhere that comes to my mind, as a place I would not want to visit. What if there were a valuable purpose in going somewhere, that I might only know about, once I get there?
My existence no longer revolves around any woulda, coulda, shoulda, sort of thinking. I walk forward in faith, looking up at all times. I don’t want to miss anything that God has planned for me on this journey!
Here, don’t forget to grab your cookie…
Journey With Me! 