Good morning all! It's a beautiful morning, the sun is shining and the birds are enjoying the wealth of food they find in my backyard! Ok, here's my blog for today. I am writing a book of "rants" and here's an entry that I really like! Hope you enjoy!

This rant is one of my favorite subjects: Faith, hope and never losing sight of the dream. What dream, you may ask? Your dream. Whatever dream it may be. This world has lost sight of the things unseen and the power they create when believed in. Belief being the food for faith and hope. You must believe in them for growth to take place.

This is not simply my pipe dream. I know from my own life, this is truth. At some undefinable point in my life, things took an awful turn for the worse. For the many years that followed, all the struggles, the heartbreaks, the let downs and so much more, I slowly descended into disbelief and sorrow. I have fought tragedy and depression as being my way of life, with the belief that if I gave in, I would lose myself and consequently lose my life. I am not, nor will I ever be complacent enough to accept those things as an acceptable way of life. This is NOT an option.

So, I prayed alot, cried alot and still, somewhere I found that my faith and my hope had not been lost, just buried. I hung on, I made a choice, one that saved my life, one that anyone can make.

I love you all!

Hello everyone! We had a wonderful Easter Sunday with lots of family and friends. The babies had so much fun and we all enjoyed our day! My topic today is about not being afraid to ask for help. Seems lots of people these days think they can handle everything alone. They have too much pride or they believe people will think bad of them if they ask. Asking for help takes a good amount of strength and taking the help and acting on it takes even more. That's what we're supposed to do for one another. Asking for help should never be misconstrued as a weakness. No one is above asking for help. The key to asking for help is to not ask for someone to do it for you, but to ask for encouragement while you do the task at hand. See how the sun's peeking over the storm clouds? That's what we can accomplish with help. The wind is blowing the clouds aside so the sun can do it's thing! With the help of the wind, the sun can get on with it's goal to light up the earth and feed it with it's lovely rays! Maybe not the greatest analogy but I think you see the comparison! Short blog today, but I love you all!

Practical Application

To make a real difference in the world, one must have the courage to speak from his heart. To sit by and consume yourself in anger is allowing the world's problems to win. No need for over the top actions, actions that will come back to haunt, only to have no fear in speaking the truth and standing for what is right. We must change our minds from idly sitting by while the world gets worse to changing our lives by helping others, having tolerance and becoming the smile the world needs so desperately. It is up to us. If we possess the desire to see changes, we must possess the desire to do our part to precipitate the desired change. We must no longer be satisfied being sheep and following the fashionable trend of the day. We must become more aware of one another, to clean up our act and to lead by example. The delicate balance of change and how to change is a matter of the will to change. The will must be to overpower the desire to sink in the muck and mire and to use the will to empower our own ability to evoke positive change. The choice is ours to make. If every American took four hours a week to do an activity that will positively touch another life, before too long, small but significant results would start to be seen and felt. Perhaps it would happen as a domino affect, maybe it would start slow, then crescendo to an unprecedented pitch. Maybe rather than flying an airplane into a building, a more constructive solution would form in the minds of the angry. It can only start at the beginning. It can only happen when we band together as humans and make a commitment to ourselves and one another to believe we have the power and the right to make necessary changes in our lives. We must cast fear aside and realize the beauty we all possess, to tap into the hidden goodness we all have within us. Then will we be able to speak with a sincere heart, to act with a sincere motive and to live with pure intentions to ourselves and our fellow humans. What a glorious thing to see the majority of people loving and helping one another to endure the harsh realities that are part of all our lives. Life would be so much easier if we refused to give in to the assumption that we cannot make a difference. Differences within us and differences within the world are necessary to grow and learn and become tolerant to things we may not understand, but should accept anyway. Change your mind and change your life!

A Lil' Bit of History

Hi everyone! I'll bet you're wondering what this picture is all about? This was taken in the small town of Nashville Georgia. This is where my father grew up. On this property in the pic was the house and farm I remember when we went to visit my grandmother in the summer. It was a simple, wooden house, nothing fancy at all. They were tobacco farmers. There were a few cows, some pigs and chickens and roosters. On this property my brother and I had some of the best times ever! My great uncle had a Vespa motor scooter and we would drive that scooter all around the dirt roads in the area. I used to gather eggs for my granny from the nests that were in various places all around. I was around 10 or 11 when a newer, nicer house was built down the road from here and that house still stands. The old house, the barn, the chicken coop, the small corn silo and everything else here was destroyed by a huge fire and several years later, anything that was left was wiped out by a tornado. Now, it looks as if nothing was ever there. When others see this land, they see a field of weeds and dirt. When I see this land, I see memories. How many more places that look like just a blank field once held wonderful family gatherings and lots of love and laughter for others? History can be wiped out from the visual eye, but what's left are memories that hold happiness for others. So, the next time you glance over and see a vast expanse of field, remember there may be lots of great memories for others. Use your imagination and picture what might have been at one time! Hope you all have a beautiful day!

I Have Something To Say

Something needs to be said. I have a big mouth and I'm not afraid to use it. I have learned to use it more wisely than I did when I was younger, however, something needs to be said. I watched the Tiger Woods apology Friday. I'm not at all concerned how sincere he was, for his well being, I hope he was. I'm not concerned about how long it took him, he had to evaluate what he had done. I'm not even concerned about what he did in the first place, that's between him,his wife and God. Not my issue. What concerns me is the reaction it got. Are we so concerned with what a celebrity has to say about his personal life? IT'S HIS LIFE!!! We, as fellow human beings should have more compassion towards someone who's hurting and those that were hurt by the actions. I have no idea what kind of person he REALLY is, it's not my place to know that. What I do know is he, like all of us, has his issues in life. I say this as a Christian, but it applies to every human being. No matter what religious belief system one has, unconditional love is almost always a truth. I have listened to the media blast him after his apology, I have heard what the public reaction is. Are you serious? "He wasn't sincere enough", "He read his speech", "He took too long to say something". Are you serious? Let me ask a question. How did the public react to the man who flew his plane into a building in Austin? How does the public react to the horrible things taking place all over the world? Does any of that make as big a splash as someone who is a celebrity? Our focus and the things we take to heart and want to make an issue of have become a charade! What about the hurting people, what about the homeless children, what about the hurting relationships and the walls being built that stop unconditional love to flow through? Why is that not the focus of us all? Why do we waste precious time complaining about what Tiger Woods did or did not do? Ultimately, does it really matter to us? No, it absolutely does not. What matters is our reaction towards a hurting individual who just happens to be in the public eye. It is not our business to judge, it is our business to love him unconditionally. It is not our business to put conditions on his actions, it is our business to love him unconditionally. How much better would our world and our personal walk through life be if we spent more time loving each other unconditionally, rather than blasting others for their transgressions? Are any one of us beyond reproach in our personal lives? No, we are not. And if any one of you say you are, I love you unconditionally. I will not agree, but I will love you in my disagreement with you. I may not feel the need to hang with you, but I still will love you unconditionally. I have seen some terrible things transpire in my life, as well as others. I have been angry, hurt, tired, exhausted from the constant battle, but the one thing I have learned as a result of all those things is it is my call and duty to love each and every one unconditionally. I have made the choice to love others, even if I absolutely do not agree with their actions or their words. It is not our place to judge others, it is not our place or our call in this life to condemn another for their transgressions. It is our place to reach out as a compassionate human being to hurting, fellow humans. Even if it's a prayer, or a kind word or a kind thought. You do not have to love the transgression, but we do have to love the transgressor with unconditional love. Sometimes we are wrong in our assessment of another's troubles. It happens as we are human beings, given free will. But is our choice to make in how we deal with everything that life hurls at us. I have 4 wonderful sons and a wonderful "adopted" daughter. I may not agree with everything they say or do, but I love them all with every ounce of my being. I don't like walls, I don't like to be separated from their love. I have learned to accept them all, where they are, without blame or condemnation. It's been hard on some accounts, it's been a downright spiritual battle at times, but my ultimate choice, no matter what I said in anger or hurt, is to love them where they are. It's my duty and choice to make that choice. I suggest before we blast each other for our mistakes, our transgressions and our bad choices, we stop and take a good, long look at ourselves and make the choice to love unconditionally, no matter what. "A house divided against itself shall fall." We must make an effort to stop the divisions and make truth that we are all linked together as humans. I love you all!