When life gives you lemons…

As you can tell from the title it’s been a tough week. I’ve been battling a cold or sinus or crud, whatever you want to call it. Since it’s tax season I’ve been working a lot of hours through the fog.

Of course as it usually goes, life goes on even when you’re sick. My son started football training for tryouts in May. My husband and I have always supported him in whatever he wanted to do. He played baseball for about five years and always wanted to play football. He’s on the 4-H Shotgun team and does really good with that. He loves anything outdoors. Football scares me due to the injuries that can occur, but I know I have to let him do things.

Well as you know I’m a Children’s Minister. Last night I’d prepared for the kids to watch a Bible DVD cartoon since I wasn’t feeling well. Since the teacher of the preschoolers didn’t show up I had all the children. Well as I tried to turn the projector on I soon realized something was wrong. I spent a few frustrating minutes trying to get the projector to connect to the laptop, but to no avail. I then moved the children to one of the rooms that has a large screen television and dvd player.

As I watched the children sit and watch the film I realized how lucky I am. I’m given such a wonderful chance to make a difference in the lives of these children. I smiled to myself and thanked God for the opportunity I’ve been given.

That’s the attitude I decided to adopt with my son on the football thing. He was so excited and I don’t want to dampen his fun by being overprotective. I’ll just be watchful 🙂

So when life gives you lemons, smile and enjoy every sour bite.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Staying busy…

Well it’s Wednesday. The work week is half over. Since I’m an Accountant, this is the start of my busy season. With the Fiscal Cliff issue somewhat resolved the IRS has finally released a date that we can start filing some returns. Remember I said some, not all. That could mean a lot of things like angry clients, moody preparers and lots and lots of fun 🙂

As for me, I love this season. I love to be busy. Especially this year with adding published author into the mix. It’s been a real busy ride so far. What with publishing 6 books in 2012 and marketing said 6 books, but I’m not complaining. I met some awesome people along the way. People I would never have met had it not been for my writing. By the way that means you guys 🙂

Someone asked me the other day had being a published author changed me. I laughed hysterically and then said “NO”. Now if I was a bestselling author on the New York Best sellers list, maybe, but probably not then either. I’m just me, a down to earth, country girl, who loves what I do whether it be writing, accounting or ministering to children.

Now that’s the fun one. Have you ever ministered to children? Or even taught children? It’s is so rewarding and stressful at the same time. The rewarding times are watching their faces light up when they get what you’re saying, or in my case when they bring the Savior into their heart. Those smiling faces on Sunday and Wednesday can cheer you up or make you suspicious. Sometimes I can feel really under the weather and just their smiles can have a healing effect. The stressful times can be too much sugar (Yeah I’ve made that mistake, learned lesson), snotty noses, bad manners, and lack of discipline. But if you love working with children the plus far outweighs the minus.

So hope all of you are well in the middle of this week and finding happiness in all you do. Just try to be positive and make even the most tedious task fun. It really makes a difference. 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless you.

The Night Before the Night Before Christmas…

It was the Night Before the Night Before Christmas and all through the house everyone was stressed. The Christmas tree was almost bare of needles and the Angel on top was leaning. Dad was rared back relaxing and mom was busy cleaning. The air was filled with the smells of baking. Presents were piled all under the tree, while the kids giggled and smiled with glee. In a little over 24 hours Old St. Nick would be making a visit. It was almost too much to bare.

Well, it’s been a couple of days since my last post, but I’ve been busy catching up with Christmas errands. I’ve finally finished with shopping and wrapping. Was going to finish with the baking tonight, but forgot to buy extra eggs at the store, so I guess tomorrow will find me baking and cooking.

Friday night was our traditional get together with my two step children and step grandson. We do this every year. It’s a time of lots of sweets, hot chocolate and Christmas movies. I always make a loaf of homemade bread that I time to come out of the oven at just the right moment. It was a lot of fun. Our son always enjoys this time with his step siblings and nephew.

Hope all is well with everyone as they gear up for Christmas Eve!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!

Oatmeal, coffee and romance…

As I eat my apple cinnamon oatmeal and savor my second cup of coffee I muse over my newest manuscript. Writers block, well not really writers block, more like writers laziness has took over. I think it stems from way too much on my plate.

I did something yesterday that I really hate to do. I went shopping. It’s Christmas time and it was inevitable that I would have to hit the mall. I ordered as much as I could online, but I had to break down and jump into the frying pan of shopping. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate to shop, don’t know why, but I do. Of course my mom went with me as she loves to shop. We were stuck in traffic at a dead stop for over thirty minutes. That made the experience even happier. By the time we got to the outlet mall I was just a little stressed.

But while my mom stood in line in the store, I took my packages out to the sidewalk to sit and people watch. As a writer I get a lot of good ideas by people watching. I watched this elderly couple get out of their car and he helped with her coat. You could see the immense love shining in his eyes. They were so adorable as they walked to the sidewalk and started walking hand in hand. They would look at one another and smile, with eyes twinkling. It made things seem a little better.

It got me to thinking about romance and how you keep it alive through the years. You can love someone with all your heart, but not have romance. It happens everyday. But as I watched this elderly couple, i was in awe of the romance that just seeped out of them. It was obvious to anyone that just watched them that romance just dominated them. It inspired me to get busy writing. I was humbled too by the thought that even at their age they could keep the spark alive.

So as always, keep the romance alive. If you don’t have romance in your life, it’s not too late. Cook your sweetie a romantic dinner, light some candles, and sit in the candlelight talking. Don’t talk about the finances or the problems of the day. Just talk about each other. Make it special. You won’t regret it. Maybe send him a little note on his phone, but do make sure that he is the only one looking at the text. (Been there and it was so awkward explaining it to my son who read the text for his dad that was driving. Needless to say, he now waits til he gets where he’s going to read his texts. 🙂 )

As always, good writing and heightened romance. May God Bless you!

Why is all I can say?

My heart is heavy as I write this post. The news of the tragedy in Connecticut is devastating. Why would someone walk into a school and kill innocent children? Those children had done nothing to that gunman. They were just going about their day with Christmas on their minds and innocence in their heart.

When I picked my son up at school today the first thing he said was “Mama why?” How do you explain to your child the reasons behind someone insane? How do you explain the senseless murder of children? I put my hand on his and told him that unfortunately in this world there are really bad people. He said their school was on lock down today. It made me feel good that his school was being proactive even as far away as we are. At least knowing his school is taking measures to keep them safe makes me feel somewhat good, but those parents in Conn. sent their children to school this morning thinking they were safe too.

As we go about our lives this weekend, take a moment to say a prayer for the children and adults who lost their lives. Also say a prayer for the parents who have to bury their children before Christmas. I can’t even imagine to understand how they must feel tonight. I grieve for them and pray that one day maybe they can come to grips, but I doubt they ever will. I don’t think I could. The anger is so real in my heart and I’m not the type of person that gets angry easy, but when you mess with children it angers me.

Please hug your children and thank God they’re safe. I know that’s what I did.

May God Bless you and your family!

Do you believe?

Sorry that I haven’t posted anything for a couple of days, but the bug that’s going around struck me down on Tuesday and knocked me out of the living for a couple of days. Two shots later (OUCH!) and two meds I’m on the mend.

My blog today is the magic of believing. You may be saying to yourself, believing in what? Well here’s what I’m talking about. During Christmas I’m transformed into a big kid. Well I’m always a big kid, but during Christmas my inner kid comes alive.

Do you believe in Santa? Well, I do. Or at least the spirit of Santa. I mean St. Nick was a real man that lived a long time ago, but his legacy lives on today. I’m talking about the legacy of giving. It’s sad that most people only have the giving spirit at this time of year, but it’s true. As for me, I gaze at my tree all decorated in red and gold balls, snowmen, my sons handmade ornaments and snowflakes, oh, yeah, and don’t forget the angel on top, it makes my heart a little giddy. I smile and the spirit of the season washes over me. I close my eyes and remember the feeling of knowing Santa would come soon and it always made everything alright. I love to watch the magic of Christmas shine in a child’s eyes as they look at decorations or talk to Santa. It’s awesome. The magic is that they don’t have to see Santa put the presents under the tree to believe he put them there.

As with Jesus. As you know if you’ve seen my profile, I’m a children’s minister and I take that responsibility seriously. I often have to explain to the children that even if you can’t see something it doesn’t mean it’s not real. As with Santa, they can sit on his lap (Well the one the mall hired) and it’s makes it more real. With Jesus they feel it. Sometimes they just look at me, but when the Spirit hits them, they usually come up to me and say, now I know what you meant. It warms my heart when I see that look come over them. When they start to truly believe. The way a child believes is so surreal. They haven’t had all the worldly wrongs touch them and shade their eyes. They believe with all their hearts, which is what you should do.

Now on the love. So many people say love doesn’t exist. They say it’s just temporary lust or the need for someone to spend time with. Not! True love does exist. It’s not something you can see as a physical thing. It’s the look in a persons eyes and the feeling in your heart. That’s one reason I love to write about romance and love. It’s one of those feelings that can totally take you to another realm of feeling. Love can also take you to your lowest point in your life. I know some of you are shaking you head and saying is she for real. Well, open your heart and let love in. That’s the problem today, people don’t slow down and just let it take over. Sometimes they overlook love for practicality. I mean people, you only live once and you should experience the phenomenal feeling of true love. It’s awesome and magical.

Well, that’s just a few things that I believe in. I believe in the magic that can be inspired inside the heart. Just open up and let your guard down. You might be surprised at what happens.

As always, good writing and May God bless and keep you!

Christmas in the eyes of a child!

I did something yesterday I didn’t really want to do. I let my mom talk me into going to a couple of home improvement stores. At least half of Georgia was not at those stores. We were looking for a new Christmas tree for her.

As we walked through the Christmas decoration a small boy came running up to the counter and grabbed a stuffed Rudolph that was bigger than him. His eyes lit up with joy and he started singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I couldn’t help but smile. Before that I wasn’t in the smiling mood.

The little boy had so much joy in his heart that Christmas was near, you couldn’t help but get the Christmas spirit. He went from one decoration to the other smiling and eyes twinkling. When he got to the section with items for Christmas villages I thought he would literally explode his smile got so large. There was Santa’s toy shop with dancing elves, a pond with moving ice skaters, a Church with ringing bells, a windmill with a spinning mill, and a carnival carousel turning with bright blinking lights.

It was something to watch. I remember when I was that way. It was a wonderful time. I have to admit I still have those feelings in my heart at Christmas time. My son is 13 and he still loves Christmas time. He has mentioned putting up the tree several times in the last two days. My husband is not a fan. If it was left up to him we would put the tree up two days before Christmas. Bah Humbug… That’s what I tell him.

So, get into the spirit of Christmas and think as a child with innocence and wonder. It will make your Christmas a lot more enjoyable.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you.

Just a Christmas reminder, my Christmas novel is coming out this week. Finally!!!

Children in need for Christmas…

Children in need for Christmas….

Children in need for Christmas…

This post is about something near and dear to my heart. Children. Our Church adopts a needy family every year for Christmas. We all donate gifts and money to make sure the family has a nice Christmas. Even food is donated for their Christmas meal.

Well, I called yesterday to the local Family and Children service and spoke with the wonderful lady that helps us make this possible every year. She informed me that this year the biggest need was for foster children. She said a record number of children have gone into foster care this year. My heart heaved a sigh and tears pricked at my eyes.

She went on to ask how many we could help. I was sorry to say only three since we are a small Church. We always try to do our best to do more, but we have our limits. She was more that excited that we were taking three small children. She sent me their ages, first names and wish lists. As I read the wish lists I started to cry. They were so simple and sweet. It broke my heart to know these precious children would be without family for Christmas.

So my wish is to help these three have a wonderful Christmas so they won’t lose the spirit of Christmas. Christmas is so special in the eyes of children. I remember the feeling of going to bed on Christmas Eve and knowing when I woke presents would cover the floor. I was lucky. It breaks my heart to know so many children around the world will go to sleep on Christmas Eve hoping they at least have something to wake up to. Presents are not what Christmas is all about, but to a child it is.

So if you get a chance, please help someone in need for Christmas.

As always good writing and May God bless you.

Week of Thanks…

It’s Thanksgiving week if you haven’t looked at your calendar. This year has flown by. I was sitting in Church yesterday which is an oddity for me because normally I’m downstairs with the children. It was a special Thanksgiving service, so I brought the older children upstairs for the sermon.

The band started singing a song called “Thank You”. It really hit me that as a whole we are not thankful enough for what we have. I was humbled at the thought. So many of us, me included, are so busy that we don’t take time to be thankful for what we take for granted. Here is my list of things I’m thankful for.

1: First and foremost I’m thankful for a forgiving Savior, because I need forgiveness.

2: My wonderful family. I am biased, but I have the most special family. I have a great husband who supports me in all I do and a wonderful son who helps me with anything I need and he’s a great kid.

3: My business. I own a accounting business and it is right beside my house. How many can just walk out the door and be at work in 30 seconds.

4: My writing. I am thankful for the fact that I can publish my writing and people will buy it. It has been a wild ride.

5: Definitely my friends. I have some great friends and that includes my blog friends, my twitter friends and as I call them my cyber friends. I treasure the conversations we have.

Take some time this week to be thankful for what you have. As always, good writing and May God bless you.