Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Happy Valentines Day ~






Today is Valentines Day..... it is one of my favorite days. Being a little girl at school, and getting to work on our Valentine baggie's the week prior to Valentine's Day was a real treat. I can remember decorating a paper bag and pasting cut-out hearts, glitter, embellishments and tokens of love. We would then tape this bag to the back of our chairs and on Valentines Day, walk around and drop our Valentines into the bags. We'd then feast on home made sugar cookies made with love and take our decorated paper bags from the back of our chairs, pulling out our Valentine's, blushing and giggling as we read each of them. That day would change the feeling at recess proceeding our Valentine's day party for a day or two. Chasing and hitting someone new.
I married my Husband on this day. It is our 21st anniversary! Our love has stood the test of time. I never could imagine loving him more than on the day I married him. Mmmm... but I do. As Singleton says... "love grows and grows!" Yes it does!
To my valentine~
As deep as
the deep blue sea,
As pure as
the pearls of the ocean,
So deep is
my love for you,
So pure is
my heart's devotion.

Friday, February 9, 2007

Rest and Relaxation ~

My Husband and I are taking advantage of this three day weekend and getting away for some much needed rest and relaxation!! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I love old songs and I am going to leave you with one.

I'm in the mood for love

I'm in the mood for love
Simply because you're near me
Funny, but when you're near me
I'm in the mood for love

Heaven is in your eyes
Bright as the stars we're under
Oh, is it any wonder
I'm in the mood for love?

Why stop to think of whether
This little dream might fade?
We'll put our hearts together
Now we are one, I'm not afraid

If there's a cloud above
If it should rain we'll let it
Oh but tonight, forget it
I'm in the mood for love

Monday, February 5, 2007

Babe Rainbows ~








My son gave this beautiful girl her engagement ring on this cliff. He is in the Air Force stationed in Nebraska, and she lived here in California. He was not able to give her the engagement ring until he came home for the Holiday. They were married on December 23 of this last year, just shy of two months.
I was asked to go with them when he gave her the ring. I felt so honored to witness and capture this magical moment. History in the making so to speak ....... I am smiling. I feel very blessed that Rob has found his special someone. I love her as if she was my very own. What a gift!!

*note: when I took the picture of them on the cliff, I could only see one rainbow. When we got home, I uploaded the pictures onto the computer. And to my amazement...... A double rainbow!!
**note: click on picture for a larger view!

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Paralyzed in Fear ~



While I was in a quaint little shop in a little ole mining town called Murphy's, I saw the words "Love like you'll Never get Hurt," engraved on this granite tile and I stopped in my tracks. I stood still. It made me think... love like you'll NEVER get hurt. Could you only imagine? The walls we build around our heart to protect us from getting hurt. No Walls? And then to feel so open to love fully. Just stop and think about that. I don't even know what that would feel like.

When I was pregnant with my son, I was rejected. HURT. I added a layer of bricks (protection) to a wall already up from previous hurts. When I married my husband, we became a blended family. Growing up in one, I knew what that was like. Again, HURT, and another layer to my wall.

Married, I had ideas of how I wanted our blended family to be; I wanted it different than that of the home I grew up in. I thought I had enough love to make it all better. However, I was young, and the boys let me know that I was not their mom. They needed their mom, they had their hurts, their own walls, at this young and tender age. So, sometimes no matter how I hard I tried, I did feel the rejection. Then... there are broken friendships. HURT. Another layer to the wall.... when does it end? I thought about all of the hurting people walking this earth. We all have hurts. I know now, that from this rejection, and this hurt, you learn valuable lessons and gain a bigger understanding. All in its good time.

When My husband had cancer... he had his tumor removed, and then opted not to have the next surgery. It was his choice. I had to respect that. In making this choice, he had to have aggressive check ups for 5 years. We have passed the 5 year mark, but still have to have check ups, just not aggressive. Living with never knowing when and if it was coming back and then there was his choice of living. I am talking about smoking, drinking and what he would eat. I felt as if I was living with a walking time bomb that was going to go off at any minute. We would argue about this. I could not get through to him what a gift this was and he had to make some changes.... he did not. He would try, but then go right back to his old habits. Something started happening to me. My love felt paralyzed in my fear that I was going to lose him, something so precious to me. I was talking to my friend Darlene, and I told her I could feel myself only get so close to him. And she asked me why? She pressed it out of me, not letting this one go. It all just started flowing out. The dam broke. There was no stopping it. I cried, she cried. We talked about this paralyzing fear and how I could not go on like this. I had to make a choice. To love him and all his bad habits or stay paralyzed in this marriage and not move forward, missing out on what this marriage could be. I know that ultimately, it is my husband's choice in the decisions he makes for himself in how he treats his body. It is my choice to not stay paralyzed in this fear and to love this man fully with all my heart, come what may. I talked to my husband about this of course. We cried together. He was grateful I shared this with him and said he would try harder, and he has. And I love him all the more for it.

I guess what my point is: do not be paralyzed in fear of getting hurt. God did not intend for us to live like this. We are going to get hurt. It is going to happen. It is a fact. But let's make the choice to love like we will never get hurt. Yes, it will leave us vulnerable. But what is the worst that can happen? We are already hurting our self by denying the possibility to love fully by staying behind the walls protecting our heart. To forgive would help us to move forward, out of this paralyzed state, to be free....TEAR down those WALLS!!

Let's just see what happens.

My Beautiful One ~




My beautiful One ~

My love calls to me,
"Arise, my darling,
come away my beautiful
one. For now the winter is
past;
The rain has ended and
gone away, the blossoms
appear on the countryside.
The time of singing has
come,
Arise, my darling, come
away my beautiful one."

Song of Songs 2:10-13

Friday, February 2, 2007

Time After Time ~



Time after Time ~

What good are words I say to you?
they can't convey to you what's in my heart
If you could hear instead
The things I left unsaid

Time after time, I tell myself that I'm
So lucky to be loving you
So lucky to be the one you run to see
In the evening, when the day is through

I only know what I know, the passing
years will show
You've kept my love so young, so new
And time after time, you'll hear me say that I'm
So lucky to be loving you


These little sweeties are a God send! They entered our lives at a time when all seemed bleak and gloomy. My Dad had just passed away and I fell into a deep depression. He lost his life to cancer at the young age of 59. My sister and I took care of him for over a year. Not only did caring for his illness affect the two of us, but also my husband and two kids still at home. I was away for most of that year. Something such as this, an illness, a death, a life crisis..changes you. It had changed me in so many ways... and I didn't feel the same way as I once did. I had to find my way back. Mackenzie, Sophia, and Semone helped to bring back awareness to the simple joys of life I had begun to overlook.


Thursday, February 1, 2007

Say "I Love You!"



Every one of us has little opportunities each day to intentionally weave love into somebody else's life. Maybe it's through a note in a school lunch box for your son or daughter. Maybe it's a short message scribbles in the dust on top of the dresser before you leave for work. It might be bouquet of flowers to thank someone for a kindness. What about a smile to your neighbor, a song over the phone, a prayer in someones behalf?

The point is, don't sit around waiting for the big knock-your-socks-off opportunity to say "I Love You." It's the "little things" that really make a difference in the lives of those you love. Mother Teresa once said, "We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. I do not agree with the big way of doing things."

I want to make that simple heart attitude and intentional giving of myself a part of the fabric of my daily living. How about you?

I don't want to live - I want to love first, and live incidentally."
Zelda Fitzgerald

taken from the book, boundless Love