365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 99

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” DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.”

We sat around eating brunch this morning. Actually it was left over home-made soup from last night. We were discussing what Easter means to each of us. My youngest had posted on FB that Easter is lame because they have commercialized it  and now they make it all about the Easter Bunny and candy. My second daughter pointed out that Easter is different things to different people. She said for herself, it’s about her risen Lord and Savior. The rest of the family said today is a day of remembrance ; never forgetting what was done for us at the cross. My husband even said that it’s about never forgetting to pick up your cross daily not just on Easter.

I grew up Catholic and so Easter would bring the people out of the wood work on Easter Sunday. Every family would show up to church in brand new clothes and I remember wondering what all the big fuss was about since I had to go to mass every Sunday come rain or shine. The creepiest part of the whole week leading to Easter was on Good Friday , when we went to a Good Friday service and we had to kiss the feet of Jesus on a crucifix that was passed around by a priest.

Just now my husband came home and brought me some flowers to plant in a planter in my backyard. My youngest daughter and I just planted them and it struck me: Easter to me is about living life to the fullest. Jesus dying on the cross so I could live forever…there had to be a death so that I could have a life.  There had to be a sacrifice of an innocent life so that we who are guilty, can be absolved of our wrong doing. So for me Easter is about LIFE! Tonight we will have communion here at home with our family. Jesus said,” Do this in remembrance of Me.” He didn’t hype it up. He had a small, intimate meal with his closest friends and followers. Easter to me also is about remembering the intimacy of a love so deep and powerful that was given to me without reservation. Do this in remembrance of Me,” Love, Live and Celebrate in remembrance of HIM!

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 98

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John 8:1-11

But Yeshua  (Jesus) went to the Mount of Olives at daybreak,He appeared again in the Temple Court where all the people gathered around Him and He sat down to teach them. The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim (Pharisees) brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the center of the group. They said to Him.” Rabbi, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now, in our Torah, Moshe ( Moses) commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?” They said this to trap Him so that they might have ground for bringing charges against Him; but Yeshua bent down and began writing in the dust with  His finger. When they kept questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them,” The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then He bent down and wrote on the dust again. On hearing this, they began to leave, one by one, the older ones first until He was left alone, with the woman still there. Standing up, Yeshua said to her,” Where are they now? Has no one condemned you?” She said, ” No one, sir.” Yeshua said,” Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don’t sin anymore.”

-The Complete Jewish Bible– David H. Stern

I love this Bible story because Jesus showed us true compassion so that we may do the same with others. Enjoy your  week end!!

 

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 97

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PROTECT THEM AT ALL COSTS!

CAREFUL! Young eyes are watching. We must be so careful with the young souls of our children. I am deeply grieved lately at how kids are losing their innocence at younger ages these days. No matter how hard we try to protect them, and I emphasize protect and NOT overly shelter, there is a difference; they still get exposed to age inappropriate things before their time. My youngest girl asked me the other day to tell her what a certain sexual reference meant. I let her see the shock in my face because I remember her older siblings hadn’t heard of that at her age. So she told me that she had over heard one of her older sister’s friends telling them about her sexual escapaes with her boyfriend. I was very upset.  So I had my daughter call her friend and tell her to please refrain from sharing her stories with her when she comes over; my daughter admitted to me that frankly, she was tired of hearing about it too. Folks, our kids will grow up it’s a fact of life. But when my 11 year old tells me she didn’t want to know about certain things yet, well I had to act.

Our children are being bombarded daily with adult material that is too much for their young brains and tender souls to deal with. I thank God I’m able to home school mine so  I can keep the onslaught at bay, at least for a little longer than the kids that have to face it everyday in regular school. I wonder what the people of a few generations back would think of all of this that kids have to deal with everyday?

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 96

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The proverb says to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. The hardest aspect of parenting is knowing that even though you did your very best to pour good things into your children, that they are free moral agents and at times they will choose the wrong way.

When my kids were all younger I changed our eating habits by introducing the blood type diet; a way of eating that is blood type specific in order for your body to assimilate the nutrients it needs. I saw how right away we all felt better  and healthier. I didn’t ban junk food though because to ban anything creates rebellion so I still allow for all of us to junk out when we crave it that way we satisfy the craving. A few years back, my oldest daughter was consuming a lot of ice cream. She was getting a nice shape and was starting to notice her body changing from that of a girl to a young woman. That summer she was flabbergasted when the ice cream she was eating began showing up in her belly as unwanted flab.

Astounded, she marched up to me demanding to know why she would get such an unsightly thing on her body. Nature  is the best teacher. I asked her what she’d been indulging in lately and right away she hung her head and admitted the ice cream was the culprit. She swore to never go there again and she hasn’t since. That is one example of how I believe God deals with us. He doesn’t ban anything from us, He lets us make choices.

A long time ago I read a book about The Proverbs in the Bible and it blew me away when the author explained that the proverbs are principles to live by and they aren’t set in stone laws that guarantee that your child will be perfect. As I pondered that I understood in that instant that my kids are human like me and they will make mistakes just like I do. When you train up your children in the way of the Lord it creates a safe passage for them into adulthood. When you don’t train them up, you set them up to fail…it’s inevitable. Whether you train them or not they’ll still make mistakes, but if they have the right foundation, they’ll have something to return to, a place to anchor themselves to so they can handle life and its storms.

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I wanted to share this post because it helped me and I know it’ll help some one else out!

stephiekaye's avatarBeyond Christian Platitudes

 Okay, so I have been thinking. I know shocking right? This journey of mine has brought clarity to some areas while grey to others. And this day I thought hard about relationships. It hit deep and I was struck with the conflict and tears that it brought….I will share some of the clarity and some of the grey reminding you this is my journey and you may think and feel differently.

The past two years I have been sifting through relationships of the present and relationships of the past and identifying which were real or life giving and which ones were simply not relational at all…manipulative maybe, codependent maybe…but not loving. I am not downing all my friends and family, not at all. I am just sorting out what is based on truth and love and what is based on selfishness and worldliness. My resources are minimal and I am…

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365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 95

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Today started out quite disappointing but along the way I managed to pull myself up by my bootstraps…with a little help of course!  First I was disappointed about something I was really looking forward to doing soon but it’s on hold for now. Then later on in the day I found out some disappointing news. I had enough of it and I decided to take a long nap. Then my daughter invites me out for a late lunch early dinner which I guess you could call it “brinner” 🙂

Sometimes God wants to bless you through your kids and I say let them! Don’t be proud, humble yourself and receive their blessing, they’re just trying to give back a little of what you gave them.

Walking home from the Mexican restaurant we ate at, my daughter asks me,” What is honorable these days mom?” I want to share a list of things I believe are honorable and if you come up with some of your own, good for you!

WHAT IS HONORABLE:

1. Working your problems out with a difficult spouse so your children can see that there are adults who care enough to work things out. This also shows them marriage is no picnic at times.

2. Honoring your dreams by pursuing them.

3. Telling the truth even if you risk losing someone.

4.Telling your kids the truth instead of always acting like everything is fine and trying to protect them. Your kids see right through you anyways and they know you’re only protecting yourself. Also, no one was ever hurt from knowing too much truth; it’s the lies that do the most damage.

5. Telling some one you love them even if they don’t reciprocate it.

6. Being able to love that person who hurt and traumatized you.

7. Forgiving yourself fully.

8. Embracing yourself with all of your quirks.

9. Not running away from life.

10. After a relationship dies, still having hope that you will find love again.

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 94

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It’s Tuesday and I say we all need something to smile about these days. I hate hearing the news lately so I’ve shut the  idiot box off.  If I need to know about anything important I know I’ll hear about it on Facebook or someone I know will tell me. My husband is usually good for that; he’ll come home from work and tell me the latest news headline he heard while eating his lunch. In this age of information at our fingertips it’s hard not to keep informed, whether you like it or not.

So I challenge you today to focus on the GOOD that is happening and part of doing that is on purpose tuning out all the negative voices that try to drown out the good ones. Life goes on  in spite of high gas prices, high prices for everything in fact. Life goes on in an election year. Life goes on and bad news reports can do nothing to stop the marching of time. Take life and enjoy each day because  I ask you,  can anyone of us add a single day to our lives  by worrying? And isn’t it true that MOST of the stuff we waste our time fretting over never really happen?

Today’s picture took me several tries to shoot it the way I wanted it. The wind was blowing hard that day and I wanted to capture our flag waving in the wind to remind us all that though the winds of adversity are upon us we WILL come out of this because we are a people who’ve never quit no matter how hard things have gotten now and in the past. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 93

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Expect the Unexpected from Me!

One of my daughters just turned 16 this week-end and to celebrate her day we had a costume party. I am one who doesn’t like to be put in a box. Weeks before her party we were brain storming for costume ideas. Eventually everybody decided on theirs and I still hadn’t quite decided who to dress up as. Then one night my son suggested I dress up as Slash since I already have hair like his. I laughed out loud at the outlandish suggestion and then I said to myself, ‘Why not??’ So that’s what I did and I had a blast. Saturday as I got ready for the party I was glad to have the chance to not wear any make up , wear my hair in its natural state-I didn’t use any of the hair products I normally do to relax hair as curly as mine and look as unattractive as possible. THAT, was so freeing and I dare say I enjoyed hiding behind the big hair and dark sunglasses. I also went as far as wearing fake tattoos only to find out that you really don’t need to get real ones when fake ones don’t come off too easily 🙂

So this week I dare you to do something so totally unexpected that you catch yourself by surprise..try it, it’s liberating!

 

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 92

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I love photographing kids because they are fresh and unpretentious. I took this shot of my youngest while we walked around Rodeo Drive. I was people watching and I oticed so many people trying to be cool.  I asked my daughter to pose in front of one of the most recognised addresses in the world and she wasn’t even phased; to her it was just another chance to look cute and make a memory. To others, Rodeo Drive is a status symbol. To me, Rodeo Drive is just another place to take cool photos.  Happy April Fool’s Day 😀

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 91

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ROOSTER

Along time ago I was going through a rough time and I had a great friend from Texas. Rooster was his name and he had a bigger than life personality. I wondered a lot back in those day when my ship was going to come in. Rooster was a man who had lived live fully and now at the twilight of his life, he was doing his best to love people right where they were. One afternoon I visited him at his RV which was parked across the street from mine. He was having a tough time breathing because the Santa Ana winds were blowing the desert sand everywhere and this was messing with his very bad lungs. “Rooster,”  I asked,” when is my ship going to come in?” He paused, letting my question sink in for a few minutes then he starts laughing. I looked at him laughing with him not sure why but he had a contagious laugh so I couldn’t help it, Then he said,” Well darlin’ I’ve had several come in during my life time only they all ship wrecked later on.” That set us both off and we couldn’t stop laughing for several minutes. Then he stood up, his over 6 ft frame filled the 30 ft. trailer he called his home on wheels. He pulled me to him and gave me a big bear hug. I never had gotten hugged from my father so I closed my eyes and imagined that if my own papi was still with me, I’m sure that’s what it would feel like. I dedicate this post to my dear friend Rufus Maxwell AKA ROOSTER. I know you’re in heaven my dear friend and we miss your cock-a-doodle-doos you used to do every morning from your trailer. That seems like a whole other life time ago. Happy Saturday blog world 🙂