Birthdays

 

It was son3’s birthday on July 24th… He turned 10…

It was son1’s birthday on July 25th… He turned 24…

Singing Happy Birthday to each other…

Happy Journaling…

God Wants You To Know

 

On this day, God wants you to know

... that peace will come when you let the presence of God settle into your heart. If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations. If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities. If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbors. If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace in the home. If there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that you only need to Ask. God is waiting for your Asking, waiting to reach out to you.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that happiness has nothing to do with pleasure. You feel pleasure when you want something and you get it. Or when you don't want something and you remove it. Pleasure is always relative. Happiness is absolute. Happiness is the understanding and acceptance of life as it is in this very moment as completely perfect, because every creation of God is perfect. The degree to which you do not accept life in all of the Divine forms is the degree to which you suffer.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that you have so many gifts! - use them. God has given you so many gifts to sow love and to give hope, to shine light and to spread joy. Abundant gifts. Use them. Give to yourself and give to others. There is an endless spring where they come from.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that your pilgrimage to God is your pilgrimage to yourself. It's never too late to start, and it's never too soon to take one more step on your pilgrimage.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that every little part of you is magical. Yes, even the parts that hurt, even the ones that are feeling disease right now. It's alright to love what is in pain. More than alright, that's exactly where your love is needed the most. So why not touch that part that hurts and smile at it, at yourself through it, and whisper: ''I love you.''

On this day, God wants you to know

... that understanding comes from love. You might believe that you need to understand another to love them. The truth is you need to love them to understand them.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that to find out who you are becoming find stories that move your heart. Just like a seed has an image of the tree in it, so does your heart have an image of who you are becoming. Look for stories in movies and books that resonate in your heart, and you will find glimpses of your possible futures. What is your favorite story?

On this day, God wants you to know

... that a successful relationship requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. Always with the same person, but deeper and deeper every time. Each time on a whole new level you together open in love and discover the truth of your beloved anew. There is no limit to the beauty of your beloved. If you think you've reached the end, stop generalizing.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. You have to agree that you are less and that someone else is more to feel inferior. If you don't agree, you can not possibly feel inferior. You might know something less, or you might be able to do something less, but you ARE unique and hence simply incomparable. Do not buy into being reduced to an object of comparison.

Happy Journaling…

Engagement Announcement

Son1 and girlfriend got engaged over the weekend…

They went camping with her family and friends…

So son1 came armed with an engagement ring…

He had planned to propose to her four wheeling in the jeep to the top of a summit over looking Shaver Lake…

She didn’t want to go four wheeling so she stayed behind at the campsite…

Before dinner the younger couples all went for a walk and came across a bridge…

Son1 seized the opportunity…

Only one other person in the group knew he was going to propose so they were able to take pictures…

Girlfriend has no idea…

Son1 had the ring on his finger and whispered in her ear his proposal…

Girlfriend crying…

Wiping away the tears…

Happy Couple…

Pictures in the backyard from when they came home on Sunday… after they went over to friend’s to BBQ and have a bit of engagement celebration…

Pretty…

Congratulations…

Happy Journaling…

July Sixteenth

Today was a nice quiet Saturday… I have the weekend off and I am trying to relax and enjoy it… I have been a bit grumpy this week… Ok a lot grumpy if you count Wednesday when I lost it and went off on poor hubby… don’t you just love mood swings… I would say it’s just being a woman… but then son2 has them too… so gotta love those hormones of life…

Today I was up early with a bit of a headache so had some quiet time on the laptop playing frontierville… hubby was up next and made breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns, corn beef hash and English muffins… the boys were up for breakfast and then I did a bit of online ordering for hubby and my vitamins and birthday shopping for son1 and son3… their bdays are July 25 and July 24… hubby and I then showered and got dressed and went on about a five mile walk… we walked to the new neighborhood park they built that has a loop trail behind it… the trees are all brand new so no shade on the trail for a few years yet… but it was nice to be able to just be together and talk without the boys interrupting… the boys stayed home to watch My Little Pony… supposed to be all the rage among girls and boys at the moment… all new cartoons though not the ones from when we were kids… Now I’m making dinner and we have Battle Los Angeles to watch tonight…

 

Only three and a half more weeks til school starts… the boys have done nothing but watch tv and play video games… son2 did read two books; Eragon, Eldest and is now on the third book in the series; Brisingr… Son3 has picked out books to read but that is as far as he has got… I’m reading The Ignored by Bentley Little… Not as freaky as some of his books but still out there… they did color too for a few days with son1… I’ll have to post their pictures…

Son1 is off camping this weekend with girlfriend and her family… AND he is going to propose, tonight I think… he picked out her engagement ring at Roger’s Jewelers… he had also bought her promise ring there too so they have a deal that if you bring back the last ring they will use it toward the down payment on the next ring… so he got over $300 credit toward the engagement ring… the hard part was getting the promise ring from her without her suspecting… so the jeweler said to tell her that it was time for her annual cleaning and maintenance… she handed it over Thursday night without a thought… now we are just hoping that she isn’t disappointed in the promise ring being gone for sentimental reasons… son1 went to the jeweler on Friday morning to pick up the engagement ring and have it sized… and then met girlfriend for camping Friday night with story being that he can’t pick up the promise ring til Saturday morning and they would be camping… they are camping at Dinky Creek and has plans of taking her up to the fire look out where you could see Shaver Lake and the surrounding valley and proposing… I’m sure she will say YES as she gave him a picture recently of the rings she likes as they had planned on getting engaged once they had been together two years…

Time to eat dinner………

Dinner was good… Turkey burgers, au gratin potatoes, macaroni, chicken strips and other leftovers… I didn’t much care for the Battle Los Angeles so I checked out the pinning at Pinterest… Then we had sherbet or ice cream… I had Arbor Mist in my Sherbet and watched a couple episodes of Angel… Now it’s almost 11pm and time for bed…

Tomorrow hubby and I will be going to Target, Dollar Store and Harbor Freights for toilet paper, cat food, laundry soap and more birthday shopping…

On this day, God wants you to know

... that you can't rid the world of sorrow, but you can choose to live in joy. Sorrow is with us not because we are bad at stopping it, but simply because it's part of being human. What matters is not whether good or bad things happen - both will, but your relationship to them. Just think back over the last 24 hours, - what had you taken hard that you could have taken lightly?

On this day, God wants you to know

... that it is the day of deep peace for you. Deep peace of the running wave to you. Deep peace of the quiet earth to you. Deep peace of the flowing air to you. Deep peace of the shining star to you.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that when people tell you nice things, stop shrugging them off as if they are nothing. The sincere compliments you receive are your jewels, - collect them in your heart, - they highlight the beauty of your being and empower you during challenging times. Never say 'oh, it's nothing' or shrug your shoulders when you hear a sincere compliment. Pause, breathe it in, and really feel its m

On this day, God wants you to know

... that you cannot let this day pass without telling the people you love that you love them. Do not take for granted the people closest to your heart. Nothing is permanent, celebrate them now.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that when what you are doing is not working, do something else. Anything else. You'll only get the same results if you do what you have always done.

Happy Journaling…

July Eleventh

Pictures are still from when we went to Monterey in June but on the Pacific Grove side…

I was up at 4am this morning and at our store by 5:30am to pick everyone up… we got to the Merced store and we were working by 6:45am… the time went way fast and I don’t feel we helped much as they were still counting when we left just after 1pm and they still have tomorrow to finish counting… we were back at our store by 2:30pm and I was home before 3pm… I am so tired… I will be in bed on time tonight… and then back at work tomorrow… we're putting out the women’s winter boots tomorrow…

Hubby had an uneventful day at work today… found a large business section that will take him all week to pass out coupons and business cards… plus tomorrow he has to work on a business card project for a client from home on our computer…

Son2 and son3 have lounged all day… and did one chore each since I have been home… son3 is now in the shower after much protest… I can’t remember when he took a shower last and going in the pool with chlorine doesn’t count…

Son1 was home and then out again to run errands… he’ll be off camping with girlfriend’s family this weekend…

I am making chicken and pasta with marinara sauce for dinner…. and garlic bread… with more episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Dinosaurs and Angel…

On this day, God wants you to know

... that sleep and rest are all part of the divine order. Don't make your waking life and responsibilities so important that you neglect the very real benefits of sleep, rest, and dreaming. The night is your time of restoration. It is essential. God made both day and night for a reason.

Happy Journaling…

July Tenth

I’m so tired… I can’t keep staying up til midnight every night… just cause the boys are on vacation and they stay up every night, they can sleep in the next morning… I have to get up at 4am tomorrow, to get to work and pick everyone up to go to Merced to help them with inventory…

It was a fast but long weekend… I did get some things done at work and we were a bit busier today than yesterday… I was manager on duty a bit of each day which makes for a lot of running around…

Son1 was off at girlfriend’s yesterday and again today, swimming and bbqing and just relaxing…

Son2 spent the night with his friends last night, just hanging out and playing video games…

Son3 has been swimming in his pool and playing video games…

We’ve been watching season 3 of How I Met Your Mother, season 2 of Dinosaurs, and season 4 of Angel…

My house is still a mess… laundry needs to be put away… kitchen needs cleaning, counters and floor too… bathrooms need cleaning… paper piles piling up again…

Son2 got 3 Red-Clawed Crabs from PetSmart yesterday… He had set the tank up a couple of weeks ago and was just waiting for hubby to take him… I thought getting two kittens was the answer to him having a pet… But now we have crabs too… They hide so I haven’t been able to get any pictures of them…

The kittens are getting rambunctious, must be bed time… They sleep all day long except for first thing in the morning and at night when we are heading to bed…

I’m nervous about driving tomorrow… why did I volunteer… oh yea I have the biggest car for everyone to fit… I wrote down the directions to get there, it’s pretty easy and the others have been there before… just would have been easier to just be a passenger..

The boys are bickering… only five weeks of summer vacation left… 10 year old brothers are very annoying to seventeen year old brothers…

Time to get everyone settled to their rooms… Me too…

On this day, God wants you to know

... that you are unique and precious. When you try to value yourself for being the best in something, you are bound to fail. Even Olympic champions are the best only for a few years. You are precious to God not because there is no one better than you, but because you are a unique creation of mind, body and spirit, - there is no one like you, - and that is exactly what makes you so indescribably precious.

On this day, God wants you to know

... that you are exactly where you are meant to be. Trust in God that everything is exactly the way it is supposed to be. Just as a child has to pass through a tiny channel on its way from the womb into life, so are you on your way to God.

Happy Journaling…