Category: Thankfulness

Guardian Angels and Baptisms!

On By runnergirl02In Biblical Reflections, Thankfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today is the feast day of our Guardian Angels. Angel means messenger.

If you grew up Catholic then chances are you learned this prayer growing up:

“Angel of God, My Guardian dear, To Whom God’s love entrust me here, Ever this day be at my side, To light, to guard, to rule and guide. Amen. “

Most Catholic kids learn this prayer by first grade. I went to a Catholic elementary school so I think I learned it in Kindergarten. The first prayer I ever learned was the Our Father and my Mom taught it to me. I remember I was kind of goofing around and she said in no uncertain terms that we do not goof around when we pray. I understood in that moment with my Mom all those years ago, prayer was important. I don’t think she actually knows that.

Angels are all throughout the bible. In Genesis 3:24, God placed an Angel with a flaming sword to guard the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life. In Genesis 19, two Angels rescue Lot from Sodom. In Numbers 22:22-33 an Angel of the Lord blocks Balaam’s way. In the book of Judges the Angel of the Lord shows up and talks to Gideon and inspires him to battle to free Israel. In Daniel 6:22, “My God sent his angel and shut the lions mouth.” We meet Raphael in the book of Tobit, he helps Tobit’s son Tobiah on his quest to help his father. (If you aren’t Catholic you might not have this book in your bible, it got taken out after the reformation, it’s a good book, if you get a chance, you should definitely read it.) We meet Michael in Daniel, Jude and Revelation. We pray the St. Michaels prayer every Sunday before Mass.

“St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast out Satan and all evil spirits who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

We meet Gabriel in Daniel and later in Luke, he speaks to Mary and Zechariah. An angel rolls back the stone at the resurrection. There were angels in the tomb who told Mary Magdalene that Jesus was gone. (John 20:12) When Jesus ascends into heaven two angels ask the apostles what they are looking at in the sky. Acts1:11. There are many more examples but I think you get the idea. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church sections 325-349 cover angels. This is from section 336 “From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life. Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.” But don’t take my word or the word of the Catholic church, Jesus himself says there are angels and that he can summon them if he wants to, in Mathew 26:53. In Mathew 18:10 he says “see that you do not despise one of these little ones for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”

When I was 18 I was in a really bad roll over accident on the freeway. I hit a concrete barrier and flipped my car three times and it landed on its side. A truck driver from the opposite side of the freeway ran over and pulled me out of my wrecked car. I had one scratch. I should have died. Let me explain. Back in the 80’s there was no seat belt law and so when I learned to drive when I was 16, sometimes I wore my seatbelt and sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes to help my parents out I would take one of my siblings to school. The morning of the accident I took my little brother to school. We got in the car, a little Dodge Omni and I got ready to take off but before I put the car into gear I heard, “Debbie, put on your seatbelt.” It was odd but I listened and I put on my seatbelt. Twenty minutes later I was hanging by it on the side of the freeway. When the car first hit the barrier I thought a few things, first I thought, “Wow, so this is how it ends, so fast”, then I thought, “My Mom will be so sad,”, then I thought, ” I need to say the Our Father, if I make it to the part about forgiveness I’ll get to heaven,” then everything was black. I could feel glass and dirt hitting my face as I prayed and rolled. A lady pulled over and she was from my church and she hugged me and stayed with me and a man, I think a policemen, called my Mom at work and she came. If I didn’t put my seatbelt on I would have flown through the window of my car and I would have died or at least been severely injured. I was traveling at 65 miles an hour, just over the speed limit when it all happened. I went to work the next day and my co-worker found out that I was the one in the car she saw flipped over in the center divide of the freeway and she said, “I thought for sure whoever was in that car was dead.” I know God was with me for sure. I know the Holy Spirit told me to put on my seatbelt. I think my guardian angel covered me and held me in that car when I hit a cement barrier at 65 miles a hour, flipped three times and landed on the side, hanging from my seat belt. God sends his angels to guide and guard us. I was taught this from the time I was a little girl. I remember being afraid actually of sitting on mine somehow. Makes me laugh to think of that.

I’m sure many people have stories of angels. When my Dad died I could feel someone holding my hand during the Our Father and I thought it was my Dad, then I thought it was my Guardian Angel, later I decided it was Jesus, because he promised he was close to the broken-hearted. In the end, I don’t spend too much time wondering any more because whoever it is that holds my hand is either God or from God and I’m ok with that.

The beginning of our Creed goes like this, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible…” it continues on from there, the point being there’s a whole invisible world we can’t see and that world includes angels and my Dad. When Father John came out from the hospital after giving my Dad his last rites, he told me that my Dad was part of the invisible not the absent. When Jason’s Dad died, Jason told me it gave him comfort to repeat the end of our Creed, “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” I wonder at the things we can’t see and I’m glad God has sent each one of us our own angel to watch over us.

Another great thing that happened today is that one of my students got baptized yesterday! He attends a church called Foundation 365 and I wanted to go support him, but it didn’t work out. This morning, however, he was so excited and he gave me a hug because he knows I’m a Christian and I got to congratulate him and give him a card I had written for him. I got to see pictures of his baptism and was just so excited for him. I promised to pray for him so if you are reading this please pray for him too! Our youth have so much against them. I watch my own beautiful daughter struggle with thoughts that are not from God. Thoughts that tell her she is unworthy, un-liked, unloved, even though there is ample evidence that this is not true. I tell her we have to train our minds to trust in and hope in God’s words and its not easy so I’m glad my student will be able to recall his baptism when life gets difficult and remember whose he is. I hope he will continue to learn about all the love God has for him. I can only answer questions about God when the kids ask me directly. I’m glad he asked if I was a Christian and I’m happy he shared his baptism with me.

For today for Guardian Angels and Baptisms…I Give Thanks!

We ran only 2miles today but we managed to keep with our 30/30 and 1/30 run/walk intervals so that was good…doing better everyday!

KOR

This is the neighbors cat…he likes to join us on our runs…he’s really a tripping hazard but so cute!

Braces…

On By runnergirl02In Thankfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I haven’t written here in a long time and so many many things good, sad and bad have happened….

Today is a busy day. My daughter is getting her braces off! She is super excited. It’s been a long process exacerbated by this thing we call the Pandemic (bad thing, very bad) but today off they come.

After a little conversation about whether or not a small space between her bottom teeth matters, we determined it should be ok. I hope it will be. Actually, I’m a little concerned about whether or not we made the right choice. I wish Jason was here so he could share the blame if it was the wrong choice. Here’s where I would insert a crying laughing emoji if I knew how…

So here we are in May, 2021 and we seem to be at the tail end of a Pandemic that has upended everyone’s daily life. Those words aren’t even a good description of what this thing has done to most people. I don’t really want to write about the Pandemic. I don’t want to write about how we lost my Dad during it, how I cry and miss him everyday since he’s been gone, how I feel a huge responsibility for my Mom now and how I feel I’m failing most days. I don’t want to write about how the Pandemic messed up schools, made kids even more unsocial and more doubting of the wonderful people they were created to be. I don’t want to write about how it upended church, how with no science that made any sense my daughter was not allowed to attend her Grandpa’s funeral service because we could only have ten people in a church that normally fits 900, an arbitrary number set by the God-less state I live in. I started going to daily Mass when my dad first ended up in the hospital, it was outside, and I haven’t stopped since, it’s inside now. I would be an even bigger mess without Jesus. I don’t feel like writing about all the sleepless nights and restless days. I don’t want to write about the anxiety we had as we celebrated the holidays with a small subset of family because I needed things to feel a little bit normal as I mourned my beloved Daddy and missed him and wanted him to not be gone but to be here with us to celebrate so many good things. There were still good things and blessings happening during this Pandemic. We still celebrated with our family, Thanksgiving (outside), Christmas with testing and masks, and New Years all against the local health departments “orders”. If I had listened to the health department I would have missed a lot more than seven days with my dad. I would have missed his last Easter, birthday, Father’s Day, etc… If I had listened to our over-zealous divisive media I wouldn’t have seen my parents for months all for no good reason because none of us were sick. I don’t want to write about or argue about the governments over step and over reach into the lives of its citizens in the name of protecting us from that which is inevitable for every single soul. Last time I checked the mortality rate for a human was 100%. I don’t want to write about how we were kept from our Dad for the last seven days of his life because the hospital was worried we would either give him Covid or get Covid, that was until they needed a signature to make someone financially responsible for the autopsy bill, then they let me into the hospital and all the way up to the floor he was on to sign the paper but didn’t let me see him to say good-bye. I don’t want to write about how my Dad was so afraid of going to the hospital or to any doctor for that matter that I believe if they (the media) hadn’t terrified everyone he might have gone in to get care sooner. I don’t want to write about the fact that they tested my Dad three times for Covid, once after he had passed. They seemed to really want him to have it instead of the heart attack he died from while they were busy making sure he didn’t have Covid. I don’t want to write about how angry or sad I get when I think about how we lost my Dad.

Today I just want to write about my daughter because she is so happy to be getting her braces off. Such a simple normal thing to be happy about. I like that and I am grateful for that. My beautiful daughter is graduating from 8th grade in a couple of weeks. How did we get here? She is such a blessing. Even if I wasn’t her mom I would think she was a kind loving young lady with a good moral character and understanding of right and wrong. Does she like to clean her room? No, she’s not a saint…yet…and she’s pretty messy in general but in all the ways that matter, I see a soul always looking to God for guidance and trusting in His love for her and that makes me so very happy. I am praying daily that as she navigates these teen years she will continue to seek His face and know and understand her value and worth is found in Jesus. This little gal of ours continues to be a reminder to me of God’s endearing love for us and so for that I am also grateful…

So kind of a weird journal entry…it’s all I have for now as I really should be grading papers, well not papers but digital assignments and I’m trying to plan a fun taco party for my department, they were all so helpful and lovely when my Dad passed away I want to do something for them…I can hear my daughter in the other room…the braces are off, can’t wait to see her beautiful smile!!

So today for the removal of braces, God’s enduring love…and tacos!! I Give Thanks!!

KOR

It’s My Birthday! PSAT

On By runnergirl02In ThankfulnessLeave a comment

Ha!  I almost never go around saying “It’s My Birthday!”  Today I did and it was for a silly reason.

I had to work!  I had to give the PSAT at school and in the past I have had kids behave poorly.  This year the PSAT landed on my birthday and so I told the kids, “Hey guys, we have the PSAT on Wednesday, so please behave because it’s my birthday!”  They actually did pretty well but I still ended up with a migraine by the end of it all.

My sweet husband took half the day to take me to see a favorite movie, Downton Abby.  he brought me my  favorite pumpkin colored roses and lily’s! We had a taco lunch with other teachers from my department to celebrate my birthday and birthdays past.  It was a fast lunch but nice to see them.  A good friend who called me to wish me a “Happy Birthday” came and joined us, it was so nice to see her.  She helped a lot!  My co-worker, who is also an old student of mine made some really cool science themed birthday cards for everyone, so talented.

I had many phone calls today from my parents, my sister and brother, friends and my Australian daughter and another student who I think of as a son.

It was a lovely day.

Someday’s I can get sad and overwhelmed.  I think I am a bit on the anxious-worried side.  The world moves to fast or the news stores are too sad or some politician or this or that person is loud and vexatious to my spirit.  Sometimes it feels like everyone is too busy to be bothered or to bother with me.

I forget that God is always there for me.  Always waiting for me to share my day with Him and waiting for me to listen to Him.  Of course, I know He is there but sometimes I can’t find him.  Days when I wake up before the sun and am lying in bed worried about this or that and wondering where He is and why He hasn’t answered yet.  On days when I wake up and look ahead too far to the future worried about an end that isn’t certain wondering why I can’t rest peacefully in Him and trust in His love.

I heard Him loud and clear today.  You are loved.  You are valuable.  I love You.  Happy Birthday.  I heard Him through my friends and family, through my beautiful husband and daughter.  Today I was less sad and less anxious and worried because I felt Him close by in a tangible and loving way and I am so very thankful for this beautiful blessing.  He always seems to know when I need Him, when I need to hear from Him.  I am so grateful to Him today.

Of course, I think He’s always there and I’m just not always so great at noticing, but today I noticed and I hope to spend the rest of my life, whatever is left,  serving Him however I can because I love Him.  I look forward to the day when I will be with Him forever.  I bet it will be a lot like today.

Every day won’t be like today, the sadness will come back but today is a good day and I will rejoice in Him for it.

Today for my heavenly Father who gave me my very life and for the gift of all the wonderful people He placed into my life…I Give Thanks!

KOR!

Here’s a favorite song…I hope you enjoy it and I hope you know Him!

I Can Only Imagine

U-turns

On By runnergirl02In running, Thankfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today is a track day for my daughter.  My husband and I walk the track while she runs it.  I hope it doesn’t rain.

The end of the school year is often a frustrating event for many reasons.  It’s also bittersweet and full of fun activities.

We are about three weeks out from this years “end”.  My daughter gets out next Wednesday actually, a whole two weeks before me.

The kids are kinda loopy.  They have taken their AP Exams and are ready to be done with school.  I could go on a rant about things that aren’t great but I won’t.  Instead I’ll share what I’m thankful for today.

A note from a student.  He is in my AP Chem class.  Sweet kid.  Smart.  Mostly kind.  Unfortunately, not motivated to be in my class at all.  He will likely end the class with a C, which he has earned but he should have earned a B or A.  He just would not work.  I could not get him to work to save my life or his. Today I got a note from him.  The AP Government class often has the seniors write notes to their teachers.  I got a note from him and it was a sweet note, not just because he said Thank You, but because in the note he was able to see that he had not been the greatest student in my class this year.  His Personhood… awesome, studenthood…not so awesome.  I really liked that he was able to explain that he knew he could be better and do better.  I really think that is an important attribute in kids, to be able to recognize their errors, reflect on them and correct them, without an adult pointing them out.

I spent an afternoon recently discussing Judas with my daughter.  She was sharing different theories people had about him.  She asked where I thought Judas had gone wrong.  I told her that I believed Judas’s biggest mistake was not being able to believe that Jesus could or would forgive him.  I told her that even more than taking money for ratting Jesus out, Judas’s grave error was in not understanding the mercy and grace Jesus offered him.  If Judas had asked for Jesus’s forgiveness as he hung dying on the cross I am convinced Jesus would have given it.  I told her I wanted her to remember that no matter what happens in her life, that if she somehow ends up on road she didn’t mean to travel that God always always always allows U-turns and that she should never ever forget that.  I think its important for us all to remember that Jesus loves us, died for us and will always forgive us.  He died for our sins, all the ones we have committed and all the ones we will commit.  They are cleansed in his blood. We should never be so arrogant as to think we are above His grace and mercies. We should never be so arrogant to believe that other people aren’t worthy of His grace and mercies.  They are offered equally to everyone.  The very best and the very worst of humanity.  That’s what makes God such a mystery. His love incomprehensible at times.

Anyway today for a God that allows U-turns, people who learn from their mistakes and become better people, for having more time to write lately, for track practice because it gives me some extra exercise…I Give Thanks!

KOR

Hills!

On By runnergirl02In running, Thankfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

My daughter joined a track club last month. She has been enjoying the workouts. So far I like her coach. She’s positive and encouraging. She encourages the parents to do the workouts too and so we did our first hill workout in about two years tonight. Hill repeats. Up the hill, down the hill, repeat. I think we were supposed to do it six times but we only managed five, which I felt good about. I was injured for a long time and I’ve actually been afraid to run hills because I was worried about my knee but the knee feels great and I feel great knowing I was able to push myself. We met some other parents tonight who also live in our town and so that was fun too!

I have always loved how encouraging and supportive the running community is. I wanted that atmosphere for our daughter. Running is more about personal goals, being the best you can be in practice and races. I LOVE Running! Tonight I remembered how much I really loved this sport and why:-)

To top it all off, it was a beautiful spring night. Green and flowers as far as the eye could see. Just more of, WOW, Everything is a gift from God moments. It was a great way to end a Monday.

Today for Running, Hills and Beautiful spring evenings…I Give Thanks!

KOR

Here’s a picture of the sunset at the park where we ran tonight!

Everything

On By runnergirl02In Biblical Reflections, Lent, Thankfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today at mass our pastor Father John gave his homily, if  I’m honest I don’t really remember most of the homily, probably because I thought it would be about the transfiguration, which was the Gospel today, but that wasn’t his focus.  I thought we’d get a homily about how we can all change.  Instead, as part of his homily, I heard, “Everything is a Gift from God.  Everything.”  That phrase caught my attention because just the other day I was listening to Alistar Begg, he’s a pastor whose sermons we listen to, almost daily.  He’s not Catholic, in fact, I’m pretty sure he thinks Catholicism is bunk but you know it’s fine by me, we all have our flaws, Ha!

Seriously, Alistar was giving a sermon this week where he was talking about just being grateful for waking up in the morning and looking out the window and seeing a blue sky.  It was the same message I heard today from Father John.

When bad things happen its hard to see things as gifts.  We had a sad accident happen this weekend.  As we were returning home from work Friday we drove into our garage like we always do but we didn’t see our neighbors cat.  Sadly, after all was said and done, it didn’t turn out well.  Laina and I cried ourselves to sleep.  I encouraged her to paint a picture of  him the next day so she could have a memory and we printed out a nice picture we had taken of him a few months earlier.  We wrote a card asking for forgiveness from our neighbor and took it over the next day.  The wife is very sweet and very forgiving.  I don’t know that I would be that forgiving but it wasn’t her cat.  It was the childhood cat of her husband, who we actually haven’t seen since Friday night so I’m not real sure he’s quite ready to forgive us and I can’t say I blame him.

I was so upset at one point I told my husband he had ruined our entire weekend.  Totally unfair and untrue.  I prayed that morning that our neighbors would forgive us and then I called my mom, who else would I call?  I cried and told her what happened and as moms often do she helped put it all in perspective for me and I felt better after I talked to her.  Funny how at 47 years old I still want to have my mom make it all ok.

Anyway, such a sad start to our weekend but when I heard Father John this morning it forced me to look at the weekend as a whole and realize that lots of good things happened too.  The weather was amazing, beautiful blue sky for miles, warm, not too hot.  I went to a bridal shower for my cousin.  Very happy for him.  I guess I went to the bridal shower of his fiance but I’ve considered her my cousin for a long time already, such as it is.  We had a fun St. Patrick’s Day breakfast with our family and friends.  We ate corned beef and cabbage or tri-tip and potatoes, if you preferred, with Irish Soda Bread and other yummy side dishes here and there.  We ended our weekend by taking a drive down Sky Harbor Road.  If you live in our valley then you know that one of the very best things is our foothills in the spring.  Absolutely incredible any spring but with so much rain this year it is a total feast for the eyes!  Sky Harbor Road winds around one of our local lakes and leads up to a hiking trail.  It was just spectacular, so beautiful, I didn’t want to leave.  The amazing thing is it is only like 25 minutes from our house, if that, I love where we live in CA.  We can be at any of a number of amazing places in less than an hour and if we want to see the ocean, its’ just a little over a two hour drive.  If we want to be in a big city we are less than 3 or 4 hours away, depending on if we go south or north.  We almost never want to be in a big city.  I don’t think I will ever get my daughter to go back to San Francisco, she was not impressed when we went in January.

I’m off track.  My point was behind all these wonderful things was an ache in my heart for the pain we caused our neighbor and it hasn’t gone away.  I’m old enough to know it will lessen over time but I’m also old enough to know it will never go away.  I hope they forgive us.  They are nice people and it would be nice to get to know them better.  It was a reminder that we should know them better, that whole Love Your Neighbors thing.   It was a reminder that things aren’t permanent and in the matter of less than a second, everything can be changed.

Everything is a gift from God.  Beautiful things are gifts from God and sad and painful things are gifts from God too.  They both are designed to remind us that we are His.  Forgiveness is His greatest gift.  We can’t earn that, we can only accept that we have it.  It’s called Grace.  We can’t force others to forgive us when we’ve wronged them.  We can only ask for it, the important part there is we need to ask.  The second most important part is to forgive ourselves. We are useless when we wallow in self-pity.  We can not “Glorify God by Our Life” when we wallow in self.

We are His creation and He calls out to us, sometimes the call is painful and heart crushing but sometimes, like this afternoon the call is beautiful and heart filling.

I’ve seen deep sadness and brokenness in my own life turned to joy immeasurable, you’d think I’d learned this lesson by now.  Obviously not.  God’s mercies are never ending and His faithfulness is always true.  Our names are carved into the palm of His hands, carved. I am overwhelmed by this truth.

What a crazy weekend.  Lows and highs.

For everything God sends to me good and bad…I Give Thanks!

KOR

Here’s a picture of our foothills.  They are amazing.

IMG_4785IMG_4786

SNOW!

On By runnergirl02In Thankfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I live in a valley. The most beautiful valley in the state, if you ask me. Unfortunately, you can’t always tell that I live in a valley. My valley is about an hour away from the front gate of Yosemite National Park as well as an hour away from the front gate of Sequoia National Park, well, maybe I should say my town not my valley. In any event, the mountains are flush with snow right now and the air is clean and so the views when I drive over to my school are breathtakingly beautiful! I mean I could stare at the wonder of the mountains and the snow for hours. The foothills are green and the mountains are snow capped, its the valley of my youth. I was so very thankful to God today for my views, almost 360, amazing!

My valley feeds the world. It is a beautiful place to live, even in the summer when it’s hot. I love it in every season but my favorite is probably right now just before spring and fall, whenever that happens because sometimes it doesn’t happen until December. We live hours away from a spectacular coast line and like I wrote an hour away from beautiful foothills, lakes and world class National Parks.

I love running here. It’s spectacularly beautiful most days. I love my drives to work. I love driving past the open green fields and the orchards. Much of the land has been owned by family farmers, sometimes for generations. It’s getting harder for them though, which concerns me. My town is a relatively conservative leaning town in a crazy liberal state. I enjoy my town. I know people at my church and in my community. I feel like I belong. I care about the people here, the kids here. Some days I am so happy as I drive through my valley I think my heart will burst, like today.

Today….for the spectacularly beautiful mountains that are surrounding my valley, they remind me of God’s ever lasting and ever surrounding love…I Give Thanks!

KOR

 

 

Smile at two random strangers…

On By runnergirl02In Hoilidailies, ThankfulnessLeave a comment

Well, I tried to smile at people I didn’t know, but I think I may have just scared them.  Between fighting off “something” and needing to grocery shop, mail all those Christmas cards I wrote up and needing to grade another stack of finals tonight, my smile may have looked a little more like a smile from this guy:

Image result for The Joker
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/Joker_%2528DC_Comics_character%2529.jpg&imgrefurl=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(character)&h=315&w=250&tbnid=tV3hRl5oDcsGuM:&q=The+Joker&tbnh=186&tbnw=147&usg=AI4_-kTGXvg8Yq6qNup2D75to8zYT6KhAw&vet=12ahUKEwiJxtDQ-5vfAhUH5awKHTyrCIoQ_B0wJHoECAUQBg..i&docid=1nuar6PECKnmuM&itg=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJxtDQ-5vfAhUH5awKHTyrCIoQ_B0wJHoECAUQBg

which, frankly, may have concerned some people…It was fun to note, however, how many strangers a person can come across in a day, especially when out and about.  I made an effort to smile at the lady at the post office who held the door open for me.  I smiled at the old lady who took a really really long time in the meat section of the market buying a pork shoulder, as I wanted one too, I had no choice.  I smiled at the people in the game store I went to today to shop for Christmas gifts for my husband and there are always students I encounter on a daily basis, who I don’t know, but who I always try to say Hi to and smile at.  

Hmm…many opportunities to brighten someones day with a simple upturn of the lips.  It’s somehow reassuring to have someone smile at you.  It makes you feel like everything, somehow, will be ok.  I think that’s why it’s even better when its a stranger.

So all in all I enjoyed this challenge and hope I didn’t scare anyone with my smile…

Today for getting my finals graded, for broccoli, its a super food and I’m hopeful it will lead to me getting rid of this “something”, for guitar lessons, my recital is tomorrow, and for Smiles…I Give Thanks!

KOR

I’ll leave you with this song by “the” legend…

Donate unwanted used books to charity…

On By runnergirl02In Books, Thankfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I did this about three weeks ago when we did a major consolidation and room clean up so sadly I don’t have any more to donate. We donated several boxes of books. I love books! I have many books on my bookshelf that I haven’t even read, but I hope one day I will. Maybe, when I finally decide that this will never be reality I will donate those as well. There are just too many books in the world and at the same time not enough. I say this because I have two books I’m working on off and on and in reality are no where near completion. I have two friends who have recently released their own novels and I admire their persistence and willingness to share stories they love with others.

The first is a story called Always Darkest by Jessica and Keith Flaherty. It’s a cool story about a demon and the daughter of an arch-angel falling in love. I really enjoy well thought out characters and character development in a story and you find that here. It was a good read and the next one should be released soon, I think. Here’s a link to buy the book, which I think is totally worth it: https://www.amazon.com/Darkest-Arbitratus-Trilogy-Jessica-Flaherty/dp/1681604469 and here’s a link to her blog http://demonsrunlit.com.

The second is a story called The Caves of Corihor by JD Shiner. Admittedly I haven’t read much past the first chapter. The premise is the Ca drought has been brought about by terrorist somehow. Like I said I haven’t read it but I find it an interesting idea. I need to read this one soon because part II comes out this summer! Here’s a Amazon link to that book but remember I haven’t finished this one so I’m not sure…https://www.amazon.com/Caves-Corihor-J-Shiner-ebook/dp/B01LHWEAGE/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544494894&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=the+caves+of+corihor

I have two stories of my own that I’ve been working on for awhile. One is about a runner trying to make a come back and the other is about a dragon named Olivia. Sadly, I haven’t had any time to write on them lately and I’m thinking I really need to lay out a plot line. I tend to write free flow, whatever pops into my head and I’m finding that’s just not a very efficient way to actually finish anything.

My husband has a series he’s working on with an idea I find intriguing. As it’s his series I won’t divulge too much but I find the idea really fascinating and he is a great writer, despite what he thinks.

I LOVE books! I enjoy writing as well. In another life I might have majored in English or at least devoted more time to writing but so far my path hasn’t quite gone that route. I think I could spend more time writing if I was more intentional. It seems one life lesson I have learned this year is intentionality and it just occurred to me that may well end up being my One Word for 2019.

Living life with intention. We are working on a family mission statement because we believe our family needs to be intentional about how we live the One earthly life we have.

Today for a nice lunch with Jason, unsweetened black iced tea from Starbucks, dried figs (I love them), music! (Listening to all the recital pieces at my daughter’s piano school, beautiful!), and last but not least for books…I Give Thanks!

KOR