So far it’s been a blast…

Today is my birthday. 36 wonderful years I celebrate today, but the parties started on July 4th. My mother went into labor on July 4th, so I think it’s appropriate that we start celebrating then with fireworks as she probably felt them then too!

My parents had us over for a great night of home-made Japanese cuisine, and a truck load of fireworks to shoot off afterwards. It was my son’s first time to take an active role in lighting the small fountains or sparklers, as in years past…he’d been too afraid. I think the big ones that my dad would light, that lit the entire night’s sky, still scared him though. This is not him in the pic (up above) by the way…for fireworks like these, he’d either be wrapped around me on our blanket…or running off screaming, “run for your lives!” I think after a while he got the hang of it.

My sister and husband go every July to a huge fireworks stand, where my sister happens to know the owner. They get a professional set up for a friends and family discount. My birthdays are always quite impressive when we have a 4th that overlaps a weekend. My son has always thought that we shoot fireworks for mommy’s birthday. This is the first year he gets that our country’s independence has something to do with it.

My mom is so pretty. Thought I’d just throw that in there.

Last night we had a party at my house and had about 15 people over to play our new Wii. We partied like it was 2099 pot luck style. My husband and I cleaned house from 9 am to 6 pm non stop to make sure every little detail was taken care of. With the exception of my kitchen being half painted,half stripped of wall paper…I think it was beautiful. I had to point out the before and ‘almost’ after in my kitchen, so people wouldn’t wonder why it was half way done. I can’t wait to have it completely finished so I can start on my next project!  See the 4 layers of wallpaper  that I’m in agony stripping chunk by chunk.  The purple paint on the wall below is the paint that I’m re-doing in it’s place.  It will have a whole new feel to it .

Today my son sang me the sweetest version of Happy Birthday, that brought tears to my eyes. Just to have him in my life, and get a huge hug while being told I’m the prettiest birthday girl…is such a gift. Afterwards we left to teach children’s church. I saw many parents I’ve not been around in a while. It was good to catch up with people I enjoy being around. That in itself is a huge blessing. And of course my son was handing my business card out to some of them, which I always appreciate. Tonight I have dinner with my in-laws and can’t wait to have the rest of my birthday weekend extravaganza!

I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday weekend!

Faithful Fridays Contest week 1

Life is full of surprises where you least expect them. Even in the midst of choas or when you feel your life is in the toilet, something beautiful can pop up. If you’re a first time reader today, welcome. For those that are here every Friday, you know I am a full believer in finding my blessings through all of life’s ups and downs and while doing so, giving God the glory.

*I felt this pic above was a great symbol to use today and to start my gratitude journal off with. Yes, that’s my old toilet sitting ghetto style in my yard. Although the plumber, put it in our front yard by the trash can for all to drive by and see in in it’s glory, my husband soon moved it behind our privacy fence.

As I wait for big junk day to arrive, I get to walk by it and see how nasty it’s getting from all the grimy rain and how it smells as the heat warms up all those little bacterial germs. I smile knowing I have a brand new toilet inside my bathroom.

And what’s the huge blessing in that? It was free. My parents were kind enough to rescue me from this old one that had been in the house since it was built in the 80’s. So although a new toilet may not be a blessing to some, it sure is to me especially since I haven’t had to pay for it.

The rest of my blessings this week huge and small?

*We got a letter in the mail from VW, which was not a late notice, but a letter stating we’d paid off his car. Hallelujah! That’s a small chunk that doesn’t go to the creditor but back into our bank account.

*We got a letter from his school loan company stating we’d paid off one of his loans, and not instead of 245 a month…we owe 180 a month. We’ll still pay our 270 a month I’ve been sending off to keep paying it down. What a huge blessing to get two letters in one week saying that we’re making progress against our debt.

*We paid off a third bill, and in October a fourth will be paid off. There’s light at the end of the tunnel. Praise God for his encouragement to get out of debt. It’s making huge difference in our lives.

*I came home this week to an early Birthday gift, which was one that was designed for the whole family: A Wii. My husband has been working extra jobs to save up for it, and couldn’t wait till my Birthday, Sunday, to give it to me. He wanted to play it so badly himself. And what a blessing it’s been to have fun together with it. We’ve limited our son’s time on it, as we do any media resource and so far so good there too.

*My 15 year old lab, Hershey, is still okay. He’s getting weaker hips and both eyes are cloudy, but he’s happy and healthy so far.

*My last day of work at my j-o-b of three years was Monday, and I’ve had so much peace. Although taking a leap of faith on a new supplemental sales position and starting my own photography business is risky, I know God will hold me up in my efforts.

*I have 3 birthday parties this weekend, and it’s a huge blessing to know how much I’m loved by my family and friends. I got a really sweet card in the mail from my grandmother, who just turned 88, that made me cry. You can see her picture over in my flicker widgets to the right. We’re growing closer and trust me that’s a huge blessing in itself. We’ve not always been so.

*I received some used lighting equipment that will be enough to set me up professionally for $500, and the previous owner said I could pay him off monthly if I needed. What a huge blessing! Now I can go to people’s home, set up a studio environment with backdrops and lights, and take pictures of them in a comfortable environment with no overhead.

*Last but certainly not least, today is JULY 4TH! YAYYYYY! I am so thankful for our country and it’s founding fathers taking the lead in giving us the freedoms we celebrate today.

I hope if you’re reading this you consider taking my blessings challenge. At the end of August, I will announce a winner based not only on their participation, but how many pingbacks and traffic they provide to my page. I want to read your weekly journeys, and in the same token I want you to encourage your readers to start counting their blessings.

The prize/payoff? Your life will change! But also when my book gets released, late fall, I will autograph it and ship it to the winner.

Tomorrow’s Contest

Those that read me know I always try to count my blessings through thick and thin. I feel it ’s not only a good philosophy to have..whether you’re a Christian or not. For me, I know it’s essential to give God the glory for all that’s good in my life. I know this is life changing and I want to pass this gift on to you, who will take on the challenge.

Tomorrow starts a 6 week contest. Use the Count Your Blessings button in your Friday posts, and put a link in your post to my site obviously….but most importantly …. every Friday COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS in a BIG way. From the small insignificant ones (although I am a believer of all blessings being big and significant) to the large in your face ones!

You will be amazed at how many things you see that are good in your life…it will change your outlook!

What’s the prize? Well the obvious one…your own piece of peace each day in recognizing how many good things are in your life…but I’m also going to throw in a copy of my book, autographed. When it releases this fall, I will sign it and send it to you.

So tomorrow please start your Friday blogging gratitude journal, your Faithful Friday blog, your Count your Blessings posts….whatever you want to call it—just link it to me and let me see how many people you track to my site.

I will track this contest two ways:

A) You have to have blogged EVERY FRIDAY.

B) You must have the highest amounts of hits to my site.

So get after it peeps!

Code for WordPress:

<a href=”http://blessed1.wordpress.com/”><img border=”5″ alt=”Photobucket” src=”http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c10/wornoutwoman/blessingsbutton.jpg”><img /></a></a>

Code for Blogger:

<a href=”http://blessed1.wordpress.com/”> <img border=”0″ view&current=”blessingsbutton.jpg” = alt=”Photobucket” src=”http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c10/wornoutwoman/blessingsbutton.jpg” target=”_blank”/><img http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c10/wornoutwoman/?action/></a>

Top Searches for Today

baby kaleb	11
adult onset allergies	2
daily blessing spanish	2
“sex in spanish”	2
movie “and that is never wrong”	1
i just painted my wall!	1
tom selleck desperate housewifes	1
spanish phrases to say before sex	1
daily blessings pictures	1
something to make you smile

Joe’s the man

My daddy blogger friend, Joe, at Joeprah, is giving away a Sony Cyber-shot camera on his blog at this very moment. Please go see him to register and try to win it!

Except know that I want it really really badly!!!
You can click on his button to the side of my blog. It’s real easy to find. It’s the one that promotes ‘Professor Toddler‘. Good luck!

Woke up

After these all night and morning,

we woke up to a few surprises.
Surprise # 1:

but I chose to focus on Surprise # 2:

Then I called the cops…
This is what I get for living near Hud housing with kids that are out for the summer, roaming neighborhoods looking for trouble.

Our neighborhood gets vandalized weekly and the police are so understaffed that they can’t do anything. So my husband and I have decided to get a infrared camera to post under the eaves of our home, to catch the little buggars who feel they can egg our cars, write bad words or obscene gestures on our driveways, race down our streets/through our yards, and bash and uproot our mailboxes. Maybe then the police can do something.

Faithful Friday

Today is a me day. I’m tired after a month’s worth of a lot of crazy stuff going on, and after a full week I’m ready for a me day.

Blessings from the week have been abundant:

*My contract came back in the mail, with my publisher’s signature…so it’s official!

*I ordered a book from them to see the quality of their product, and I’m very pleased with what I see….great graphics on the cover, nice heavy paper, and a very well put together book. I know even more that my upcoming book is in good hands.

*My Gladiola’s (purples and pinks) are blooming all over my garden. I’ve been waiting for almost 2 months for the flowers to sprout out from the leaves. Yay!

*My son’s temper tantrums have settled down some this week. This is a huge blessing in my world.

*My husband’s health is back to normal thank the Lord.

*My Grandmother turns 88 TODAY. She came in town this week and we had a great party with her.

*I’ve got such a wonderful new boss at a new job I took to supplement me in my efforts, while starting up my photography business. He’s a kind and generous person who really cares about every person in his office. What a concept to walk the walk in this area. While most bosses say they do…my new boss proves he does daily. I’ve been very blessed.

Please keep in mind that my contest for Faithful Friday’s starts this coming FRIDAY. I’ve successfully figured out the code to post the button above to your blogs on wordpress.  Use this code:

<a href=”http://blessed1.wordpress.com/”><img border=”5″ alt=”Photobucket” src=”http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c10/wornoutwoman/blessingsbutton.jpg”><img /></a></a>

Happy Friday and remember to give thanks to God for all things great and small when you’re blessed.

Child Prostitution Ring Brought Down

I have to say a big PRAISE GOD for this weeks big story in the news. You can go to Yahoo for their updated story on an entire ring of Child Traffickers that were caught and prosecuted.

Nothing makes me more ill than the thought of someone being so vile, as to turn an innocent child into a sex pawn for their own gain. What kind of person wants not just to hurt another person, but to ruin the moral fiber down to their core? What kind of monster would break a child? It makes my skin crawl to know that there are those out their profiting off of this type of activity.

The Justice Department’s sting focused on the following cities: Atlanta; Boston; Dallas; Detroit; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomery County, Md.; Oakland, Calif.; Phoenix; Reno, Nev.; Sacramento, Calif.; Tampa; Toledo, Ohio and Washington. Now I hope they broaden their scope and continue on with their persecution of these vile human beings and rescue more children, who’ve either run away or been thrown out by their families. No child, no matter what problems they’ve caused or dealt with, deserves this.

I read in People Magazine today at the salon about Elizabeth Smart and was so happy to read she has a happy ending. Most kids don’t have a moderately semi happy ending, and she’s in the minority. She’s now trying to help those in her shoes, those abductees that are brought back home trying to find some normalcy in life. Thank the Lord for her miraculous survival skills and will to press forward.

In reading this I ask you for two things: Pray for the runaways and throw away children and teens in America and abroad…because some are shipped to other countries. And pray for the F.B.I and any government organization in their efforts to infiltrate these types of cells.

One of my good friends here in OKC, is traveling to Cambodia in July on a rescue mission for children sold and trapped into sex slavery. Please pray for her traveling mercies, and the children she comes in contact with. Pray for her safety even though she assures me she’s only dealing with the children, who are already rescued and need to be cared for.

She’s involved in the operation that will care take these children to help them learn what true Christian unconditional love is - an innocent, clean, releasing love that isn’t anyway dirty…sexual….or evil. She’s basically going to be deprogramming these children, who are forced into the sex trade as early as infants, to show them a motherly love vs. sexual abuse.

—What a mission she’s going on. I’m going to ask her to be a guest blogger when she gets back from her mission trip on Reality Chicks.

—My heart breaks for all of today’s lost children!

I also have to give kudos to Our Crooked Tree for giving me a link to a non profit org that works to save these children. Please go check them out.

Faithful Friday contest

Sorry guys–I’m a little late…2 days late to post my blessings for last week.

So many awesome things have been happening that I almost feel guilty posting so many hoorrah’s. Then I look back to the last 3 years of my life, where there was plenty of the opposite in my life and I remember that I still found ways to count my blessings. (beating myself up) I should not take anything away from what God is doing in my life at the moment, as He’s always so good…but now at this time in life…is stearing me toward so many wonderful things. Humble and thankful is what I should feel…not guilt.

Although on top of a mountain now, I’ve seen my share of valleys and they sure will come again. Valleys are where we really learn to trust Him and His love for us. For without those valleys…the mountains would not be quite as sweet. And sweetness is what I have for the moment…praise God and all His glory.

I know first hand how life changing it can be to focus on your blessings in the midst of the lows in life. I’ve seen plenty of lows, and to simply survive I had to cast my eyes and heart on Jesus to make it through to the other side. To see what you’re blessed with DAILY is one of the most important lessons, and to thank God for those being included with it.

I’m going to start a contest for the summer, or for 6 weeks of it anyway. I’m going to challenge ALL of you to start posting on Fridays and link back to me, so that I know you’re participating. Each week, count everything you’ve been blessed with from large to small…even if you’ve got to really search for something….post it!!! And don’t stop there, I want you to encourage you to invite your friends/readers to do this to, and ask them to link back to me. I will keep track of how many links come from your pages.

The contest will be measured by how many links you provide, and how many Fridays you, yourself, participate in. I want to read about your weeks and your blessings. I want to see how God is changing your outlook in life. I want to know what blessings you find, even if it’s a simple one…sometimes those are the best!

This contest will start July 4th, a day a celebration here in the U.S., and it will end August 8th. I will post on Friday, the 4th, what the grand prize will be, but the obvious gift will be what you give yourself by utilizing this contest for your own outlook.

I look forward to reading all about your blessings! Yay!

<a href=”http://blessed1.wordpress.com/”> <img border=”0″ view&current=”blessingsbutton.jpg” = alt=”Photobucket” src=”http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c10/wornoutwoman/blessingsbutton.jpg” target=”_blank”/><img http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c10/wornoutwoman/?action/></a>

This code should work for most bloggins sites, like blogger, buy may not for wordpress. If it doesn’t work for wordpress…let me know & I’ll try to get another code for ya.

Soooo today

So today I accomplished some things that made me smile.

• I sent of my publishing contracts to my new publishing house, and was so tickled.
• I set a couple appointments for my part time sales job.
• I ran some overdue errands.
• And…I just felt at peace with all the change happening in my life.

I know right now my future is not certain, but God’s future for me is. I love that old song that states:

Because He lives I can face tomorrow……Because He lives, all fear is gone…..Because I know…I know … He holds the future….and life is worth the living just because He lives.

Right now my financial status is uncertain but one thing is certain–God is holding me up right where I am and leading me. I feel Him as if He were in the same room with me, and today I’m so grateful just to be right here in the now…uncertainties and all!