Lighten your load with help from othres.

Sometimes life gets hard, usually when we try to shoulder everything ourselves. Don't be a martyr, let others help you. Something I am trying hard to learn.


 (sorry it's so big) I need to make this my mantra for the summer!

I was once told that not allowing others to help you no matter how small of large the help will be, denies blessing those wanting to help could have. This alone has made a big difference in how I get things done. As I have often heard (but can't remember the exact saying) Many hands, lighten the load.

Jen

Appreciating something before it's gone

This morning Mike and I attended a funeral for the husband of a coworker of his. It was cold, blustery with the sun peaking out between the clouds. It was different from any funeral I have attended before. The deceased was Jewish and Russian. This meant that the majority of the service was either in Hebrew or Russian. The interesting part was that the language barrier didn't matter. There was a wife who was heartbroken at the loss of her husband and a young woman who was devastated that her daddy was gone. The man was loved, cherished and appreciated by many. They weren't financially wealthy but the love felt for this man and the feeling of loss left behind was palpable. I left the funeral with a renewed appreciation for my loved ones and for my religion. The funeral was simple and beautiful at the same time. I appreciated being able to be a part of a service that I didn't understand a single word but still felt the presence of love and appreciation and grief. It is interesting to me to watch something like this and know without a doubt the love and appreciation felt by so many without a single word understood. It was beautiful. It was sad. It was a blessing to be a part of.

Remember to appreciate those around you before they are gone and you can't.

The best policy...

Lying – noun: the telling of lies, or false statements; untruthfulness.

This has been the most annoying and irritating thing I have dealt with this last year. I am the mother of 3 adult children, I have, in the past, asked if someone drew on the wall and was told no. I asked again, stating that I knew someone was lying. Guess what, it took a few more times asking and I learned who did it. So, here is my thought. I get it, we all have lied in our past, maybe as a child, a teen, even as an adult. Man, it really gets under my skin when I have known someone lied to me and  that something was askew and then find out that there have been MANY MANY times that the truth would have been a better choice, even an easier choice. I have no use or desire to be around any adult who thinks that lying is their best option.

Let’s do this, when you choose to be dishonest it makes you an ugly and undesirable person. Oh, and about 90% of the time someone has lied to me I have known that I was being lied to! So, here is what I am getting at. You, and you know who you are, I knew you were lying and now I really don’t like you because of it. Try, just try being honest instead. Life is much easier when you aren’t trying to keep track of your lies.

New Year, New Effort!

So, I don't remember what prompted me to start this blog but I have recommitted myself to working on it at least once a month, which shouldn't be too hard since no one knows it's here. So, here goes!

The last year held some incredible highs and lows for our family this year. They go sort of as follows...Eliza got married and her and her awesome husband have moved to Rexburg, Idaho so he can finish his degree. I can't remember in what but I think it's something on the side of medical. They have been able to come home for holidays which is nice except for a hiccup over Thanksgiving in which her Bug met an untimely death. They know are driving a much better car for where they are. Grace and Zack have moved to Oregon, not loving it myself but they seem to like it. Grace gave birth to a prefect little girl a couple of weeks after Eliza's wedding in June. I must say that the tater tot is nearly perfect. They also were able to come home for the holidays but the Christmas trip was rough due to all kinds of things and I don't know if they will travel for a holiday again for a while. Then there is Catie. She had a awful, terrible very difficult summer. She was assaulted at work, was the victim of identity theft by a group of people which caused terrible issues at work for her, she had a very difficult summer semester at school and ended a somewhat difficult relationship. Basically her summer was bad all around! Then fall rolled around and she met this guy and Catie finished off her year getting engaged and we are all super happy for her and he is an awesome guy. As for Mike and I, Mike has done well balancing his diabetes and ran 1000 km this year, which is awesome! Me - well, my job ended during the summer and I plan to go back to work soon. I have continued with school and it's not easy but Im getting it done. So there is our highlights of last year.