Childhood Bedroom

Time to get back to something a bit more fun, instead of focusing on what is happening in the world today.

So today's legacy post is about your childhood bedroom growing up. I'm sure it is a fond memory that you can easily take yourself back to by closing your eyes. I grew up in Huntington Beach til I was about 6 years old. While I don't remember much about my bedroom, I do remember that the beach was so close, we could walk to it or ride our bikes. My parents decide on moving closer inland to purchase a new home with a lot more space. This is the childhood bedroom I remember.

We lived on 3122 South Sycamore Street in Santa Ana, California. Funny how you can remember stuff like that, including my phone number as well. I'm sure you can too. We moved into this 4 bedroom house, and I had the only room in the front. It was a single story house in the middle of a suburban new neighborhood. It was one of the bigger rooms aside from the master bedroom, so the view I had at the time, allowed me to see into the front yard. Since our house was new the cypress trees my dad had planted didn't obstruct the view at the time. They later provided some shade and privacy, but they would also later block most of my view from the inside.
I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It would later also help me to mask my escape to hang out with friends and boyfriends and no one could see me leave.

My bed was a canopy bed with beautiful pink and white sheets. I had a large dresser and a regular sliding door closet where I could keep my clothes, books and of course all my Barbies and Breyer horses. I remember jumping on that bed and swinging around those posts on the bed until one day, one of them snapped off. Not something you want to explain to your parents especially to your dad. My younger brother Mike shared the room next to mine but his view was only the side of the house. His door was adjacent to the bathroom we both had to share.

My door had a small wall directly in front of it, which is where my closet began. It also allowed a young child to brace themself against the wall and the door and make a climb to the ceiling. It was easy going up but almost impossible trying to jump down without killing yourself in the process. This was before televisions were allowed in bedrooms, so my only form of entertainment was a small cassette player and would later evolve into a small boom box that would sit on top of my dresser. I don't recall having side tables, just a bed and dresser and a big oversize bean bag were the only pieces of furniture in my room. The bed was placed in the middle of the room with my dresser facing it. This gave me so area to play in with my Barbies or to sit in a bean bag and read a book.

I used to sleep with my windows open at night, before things like security proved to be an issue, and one of the things my mom told me, was how cold my room got when she had to come wake me up for school in the morning. In the Summer, I would add a fan to that window to bring the cooler temperatures in since our family didn't run the air conditioning in the Summer. I don't remember it being that hot because the beach was about 20 minutes away.

I loved that bedroom and had lots of stuffed animals on my bed. I guess most kids did growing up. For me it was a much simpler time and we had to use our imaginations to keep busy since cartoons were limited to two different times during the day, mornings and the afternoon, just after school. We didn't have video games, but we did have board games. Most of our fun was hanging out with our friends all day and into the night. Looking back now, my mom didn't know where I was half the time. I would turn up just after the street lights would come on, if I wasn't home already.

I'm curious, what did your childhood bedroom look like and what was the view out your window?

Christmas Card Exchange Requested

It's Christmas time again! My favorite time of the year. I live for this each and every year that rolls around because it means for me, not only the Savior's birth which we celebrate, but it genuinely seems that most people are a little more kind than they usually are. More giving perhaps. More willing to be charitable and pass along a kindness or two.

Just the other day, my brother Mike and I talked about our Christmas growing up. Great memories even though we lived with my mom, who divorced was working two jobs just to make ends meet, so we didn't get a chance to see her that much. But we lived for the day we knew she wouldn't be home for a while so we could climb up to the rafters and get all the Christmas boxes down and begin decorating as a surprise for her.

We would use EVERYTHING we found in the bins. We added colored garland to each of the beams in our house and some sparkly snowflakes hung on fishing line or even left over glass bulbs that didn't find a home on the tree between the swags. It was never decorated the same twice. We would turn on Johnny Mathis' Christmas album and get to work. It took us all day working together, singing beloved Christmas carols. If we had time we would climb up on the roof and add our traditional Santa and two lighted reindeer along with the traditional glass bulbs. None of these icicle lights or LED's but the old stand by's you had to screw into the sockets. They were great cause when one burned out, you simply replaced that bulb.

It was such a joy to see the surprise on my mom's face when she got home and was immediately filled with the Christmas Spirit and a whole lot of love from her kids. I miss that. Traditions are important. They need to be passed along to our kids who may or may not pass them along to their own kids.

One of the traditions I see disappearing are Christmas cards. The old fashioned kind you wrote in. Not pre-printed ones, but ones you went to pick out and added your own Christmas wishes for whomever you were sending it to. Now a days, you get photo Christmas cards, with pre-printed messages on them or the Christmas letter telling you what someone's family accomplished all year. Those are great because things are so busy these days, but I miss Christmas cards. The old-fashioned kind that fill your mailbox with something other than bills or advertisements.

I love pulling out some of the one's I have kept over the years because they still mean something like Christmas decorations. They hold memories I want to hold on to. So today, I sit and write out Christmas cards because I want the person I am sending them to, to open them, smile and know that I cared enough to send them a bit of Christmas Spirit. Do you still send Christmas cards? This is one Christmas tradition, I hope never dies out.

If you want to join in a Christmas card exchange with me, I'd love to send you one if you'll send one back. Email me at Stevenkat27@gmail.com and lets exchange addresses and get them in the mail. Perhaps I share them on my blog but know this, they will all be treasured in my heart.

Gift of Love

It's been a true blessing to have time to spend with my family and even my extended in-law family who I refuse to acknowledge as in-laws. To me, they are my family as well.

I had the rare opportunity to spend Christmas with my Dad, Randy whom I hadn't spoken with for more than 17+ years. I have to say it's my fault because nothing kept us apart except our respective refusal to communicate with one another. On my end, I was afraid that the things my dad could say to me, to upset or hurt me, would always be there even though now that I am 50. That fear kept me from my Dad.

No more.

This was our first Christmas reunion, and despite the fact that all of my immediate family couldn't be there, it was enough for me to simply keep my promise and agree to spend it with my Dad.

I have watched, read and witnessed so many others watch their relationships with their own fathers slide into eternity, either through death, broken relationships or like me, simply neglect, I knew I didn't want it to continue. I had to make the first move.

And I am so glad I did.

God is the master of restoration. If you think for one moment there isn't anything He can't restore, I would challenge you to give Him a shot. You just might be surprised. Then again, you might be a whole lot like me, and fear that it might just work and you just might be happy for whatever amount of time the good Lord has given you both time to be together.

Watching my husband's father Bill, who seems to be a master at close calls, gave me much needed insight into the value of being with family.

All those childish arguments, hurtful words spoken in the heat of anger, runaway emotions that simply got the best of us, are the things keeping us apart. Time to lay those at the cross and allow God to handle the burden of carrying those things around.

In fact, the enemy would like nothing more than to keep you apart from your family. Especially apart from the family of God. Wouldn't you love nothing more than to wreck those plans?

I guess things really hit home for us when Steve's mom, Vera mentioned that she hoped this would not be her husband's last Christmas. It was important for all of us to simply be together. It's funny how some people will relinquish such control to others to keep them from experiencing the joy of being together with family and allow resentment to continue, rather than simply letting go and moving forward to the happiness and love that family can provide.

Nothing made Vera and Bill more happier this year than to see the entire Smith family together at Christmas. Nothing in my heart could ever remember a more fitting moment than watching it all come together like a Hallmark movie and being a part of it, not merely observing it. The memories created in those priceless family photographs is worth more than any amount of money we could ever hope to see.

In fact, the same could be said of my family Christmas. I loved more than gifts or cards, the memories I gained simply by watching my own children interact with their grandparents. Sharing intimate conversations they will carry with them forever. There is such wisdom and connection when families come together over dinner and I personally can't wait to spend time with them again, especially when we have no excuse why we can't get together because we all live within 5 hours of one another.

As for the gift I was super surprised to get from my Dad, well here it is.

That's right, my Dad who is super amazing got me a Turkey Fryer so next year, the hassle of trying to get the turkey done in time for dinner will NOT prove to be an challenge and will free up more oven space for other things. I especially can't wait to try a seafood clambake in this baby either. I'll make sure to send you pictures when we do!

Childhood Christmas Memories

They say that music soothes the savage beast, but sometimes I believe that music can do so much more. It can move you to tears, it can take you back to someplace in your past where you can instantly remember that song and the memory it is tied to. Memories are like that. Perhaps that is why memory related illnesses are the most difficult to bear as well as the loss when a loved one moves from this life to their eternal home.

It's those memories we take with us.

We treasure them and keep them tucked away in our hearts when a song can bring them back to life and give us a brief look back in time. 

I am constantly looking for songs to add to my Pandora play list for Christmas. There are songs I love and ones that make me cringe. Ones I have to instantly delete, thumbs down (which means they won't come back as a song choice) or unlike them.

For me, my music taste is always evolving.

Constantly changing.

And the older I get, the more I find myself listening to songs my parents did. They take me back to my childhood and a time when I can spend a little time looking back at my past with fondness and love.

Johnny Mathis does it every time.

Perhaps it was my mom's favorite, but to this day, I can't listen to one of his Christmas songs and not go back to my old childhood home and remember Christmas with my brother Mike. Listening to the songs, decorating our house and tree for my mom who worked two jobs. Taking out our Hot Wheels and playing for days while the music played in the background.It was back before the invention of cassettes, DVD's and streaming music. Back when you listened to records. Old 33's that offering the crackle as the needle found its way along the groove on my mom's stereo console.

Those were the days when tinsel, the real stuff, was hung on the trees like glistening icicles.There was a proper way of putting those on and you had to do it one at a time. This made it look amazing if you did it right and gave the illusion of real icicles on the tree.

I remember growing impatient with that tedious process and would throw handfuls in a glob on the tree. I didn't realize that my mom could see them and had to go back and restring those.

I remember Bubble Lights. We never had enough to decorate the tree so there was this strand my mom would bring out and add to the tree. It was like a misfit, but we never seems to notice. We just loved watching the bubbling liquid inside.

I remember all my mom's old vintage blown glass ornaments. The ones we would be oh so careful in removing them from their cardboard box to make sure we didn't break them. I loved looking at the beautiful colors, the glitter that got all over your hands, and finding just the perfect place for these odd-shaped but colorful beauties. In love them so much now, my family is always looking for them in antique stores to take me back to my childhood by finding them on my own tree.

I remember thick strands of colored garland that we would drape in huge swags around the tree. We had blue, green, red and gold.

I remember my brother and I, secretly decorating this giant wood beam that ran the length of our living room and entry way in these giant swags and then adding just the right colored glass bulb to complete the look. I also remember how many of them broke when the swag fell off the nail we thought we secured in that beam. I don't think Mom ever noticed how some never found there way back into the box.

By far, my all time favorite memory were the old fashioned glass bulb lights that went on the outside of our home. We couldn't wait to get to work, untangling them *think Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation* and then stapling them to the eaves under the roof. Then painstakingly screwing in the glass bulbs one by one, ensuring that you NEVER put the same color side by side. Unfortunately by the time you got through a handful of the bulb boxes, you always ran out of the ones you needed and it messed up your color design.

See I was a bit OCD even back then.

You had to wait til it got dark to see which ones didn't work, and then had to go through the process of screwing and re-screwing new bulbs in. This was before the invention of the light sets that when one bulb burned out the rest stay lit.

In fact is is hard to find those anymore. I love it when I see old decorated homes that still use these. If I could find them, these babies would be back up on my house again.

It never failed too, when we found ones that were burned out, we couldn't wait to take them out into the street, throw them high up in the air and wait for them to explode when they landed. Silly, I know but we loved to listen to that sound.

One of my all time favorites was Ribbon Candy. I am thrilled to see that it is making a comeback now that vintage is coming back again. I loved seeing these in all kinds of shapes, colors and flavors. It was a rare find it you had one that wasn't broken. I found some like it and gave it to my kids last year.

Oh music and memories!!!

What are some of your childhood favorites? What takes you back to your childhood Christmas? I'd love to hear and thanks for stopping by and sharing mine.

Why Making Memories is So Important

Shopping on Black Friday, yes as crazy as the thought seems, it is on my Bucket List. Not that I haven't experienced it before, but I wanted to add it to this year's Bucket List to see if I can find a way to put a positive spin on the day.

Yes, there is bound to be pushing, shoving, grabbing, fighting, chaos and drama while people simply set out to find the best deals for their hard earned money. But what if in the midst of all this is a way to impact people in a positive way. To show the true meaning of Christmas in spite of all that most people shy away from. From fighting for that coveted parking space in a packed shopping lot, to standing in endless lines, that seem to go on forever. What if in the midst of all this is the greatest adventure, the ability to show kindness, love and the true meaning of Christmas to the world.

What if instead of bickering over that parking spot, you let someone else have it? What if instead of complaining why they won't open another checkstand while in line, you find time to share a smile and a kind word? What if instead of rolling your eyes, while your waitress takes too long on bringing your order, you leave your comments inside your head, and thank her for doing her job as best as she can and leave a generous tip?

What if life that day was simply about enjoying making other people's day just a bit better?

All I know is when I look back on trying to remember what I got for Christmas last year, I honestly can't recall a thing I got. You know why?

Because it isn't about stuff, it's about making memories and spending time with people. I can tell you I remember waiting to decorate the tree because it was important for my oldest daughter Caitlyn and her boyfriend to be there to help. It was about looking through the ornaments we have collected over the years with the kids and remembering a time when something was important to them. Caitlyn's soccer ornaments remind us of how hard she worked to play soccer in Rhode Island and how she learned not to be afraid of the ball hitting her in the face. I look at the Sesame Street ornaments, and remember how fond Kailee, my youngest was at watching these shows on Television during her childhood or looking at her gaming ornament and remembering how much she loves to play computer games.

Each of these memories are what I truly treasure. It's why material things don't really matter. Oh sure, if you got a new car or something large it might spark a memory. But I lay you odds it's the traditions you create with your kids, the events you take part in, that will last forever. From taking your kids to see the Christmas lights and finishing it off with ice cream sundaes, or helping the homeless out with coats and a meal, to making Christmas cookies with your family. These are what matters the most.

I would encourage you to have your family write a letter outlining their favorite memories they remember from Christmas' past to share with one another each year. If you're like my family, you will begin to realize how much all those memories really means instead of all those presents they have opened during the years. Try creating some new ones this year.

Just like the movie, It's A Wonderful Life, even George Bailey realizes by the end of the movie, it isn't about stuff, it's about his family and friends that truly matter the most.

Surving Loneliness

How often, do we pass by a need, a life that could be changed with the smallest bit of effort? And it's not that we don't care but that we're driving so fast, all we see are the fence posts flashing by on the side of the highway?

Maybe the first step in changing the world is in slowing down and looking through the fences. ~ Lisa Wingate (Firefly Island)

The beginning of 2013 has been a whole lot about changes. Changes I think at least for my family we didn't think we'd ever see. 

When most people buy a home, they think of being part of the American dream. Part of the bigger picture. They think of it as being an investment in their futures. Never in their wildest dreams while making the decision to buy would they ever think that something might happen to take that dream away like ripping out a piece of your soul. 

At the closing of 2012, we found ourselves joining the many others, that were losing their homes thanks to bad predatory lending practices, federal bailouts that didn't unfortunately involve our mortgage company and watched, despite all our best intentions, our home slip into foreclosure. We made necessary arrangements and found a wonderful house to rent while we watching our credit slip into the black abyss. 

Here it is, at the end of February and despite our mortgage companies threats to sell our house at auction, it remains in our name. The auction has been postponed for yet another month. This is the 5th such postponement and no letter or explanation explaining why. Still I find myself wondering what lucky family we eventually buy our wonderful home. Will they finally make all the improvements we always wanted to make, or will it simply sit vacant like so many others in the area. Will someone break in and wreck havoc seeking to sell off whatever they can, or will it house someone who is looking for a place to sleep? 

Who knows? But I do find myself occassionally stopping by to visit. Much like an old friend. A distant memory perhaps of better times? Times spent sharing love, laughter, joy and even sorrow within the walls we knew as our first home. So many happy times of simply knowing that despite what was happening in the world, that this small piece of property was ours! A home! Our home to do whatever we wanted, paint the walls crazy colors, add new lighting fixtures or even perhaps create a back yard haven for hummingbirds, butterflies and myself on so many sunny days. Smelling the roses my husband, friends and family all planted over the years. I'll miss that in the spring. The blooming of virtually ever color rose, the sweet fragrances of my pink perfume delights filling the house whenever you opened the windows. The bees busy gathering pollen from my overgrown lavender that filled the corner of the backyard by the faded wood fence. The wonderful pink and white blossoms from the apple tree that shaded our favorite kitty Tosh's grave that passed away last year on my birthday. 

So many star filled nights sitting in lawn chairs on the front lawn watching in anticipation of the Perseid Meteor shower in August or simply enjoying a wonderful bar-b-Que with friends. The summer rain storms that would fill the picture windows with the falling of rain, beautiful big thunderheads like balls of giant popcorn across the desert sky. Even the snow that filled our backyard one year with the most snow we ever saw and enabled us to build a 6 foot snow man in our front yard alongside his snow dog. 

I'll miss my house. I'll miss it with the many loving memories that all those years tucked behind the walls will bring us. I know in time the move will be easier to handle, but until we move far enough away, I'll still drive by and remember those wonderful years and all the memories a simple house brought to my heart.

Christmas Traditions

I always find myself pulled back to my childhood during Christmas. Even though most of the ones I can remember are ones when my parents had divorced, I know my mom did what she could through working two jobs to make our Christmas the very best it could be. We didn't have the latest and greatest things like our friends did who lived on the same street, but I do remember we spent those days leading up to Christmas with a sense of excitement that is missing today.

I don't recall making tons of cookies in the kitchen with my mom, probably due in part to working so hard to provide a Christmas for my brother and myself, yet I do recall the way we used to get excited to pull all our decorations down from the rafters and begin to decorate the house for my mom. I remember the days of real tinsel and not the stuff they try and pass off as tinsel now a days. I remember those colored strands of garland that we would try to drape in OCD like loops around our tree. I also remember the ornaments before the days of Hallmark, the blown glass kind, in all kinds of brilliant colors and shapes; the ones we would want to pass up later on but now as an adult, I'd wish we'd kept. I now search antique stores looking for those to add to my tree. There is something to be said for those old Christmas traditions.

I remember the outside lights on our house were the ones with the multi-colored bulbs you had to screw in after you put up the light strands. They also made loud pops when you tossed them into the street after launching them high into the air. I remember sitting back on the couch in the evening before the days of DVD and Blue Ray players or even VCR's and having to wait for your beloved Christmas classics to come on; A Charlie Brown Christmas, Ruldolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and especially The Year Without A Santa Claus. If you missed it the night and time it was shown, you missed it for the year. So we waited with anticipation for those nights.

I remember those beloved Christmas records too, Bing Crosby's White Christmas or even Elvis Presley, belting out Blue Christmas. All was right in the world. I remember spending hours with the Sears Christmas Wish Book catalog that used to come out just before Christmas and looking all day long at putting together just the perfect Christmas list for my parents. I remember moonlight sales at Woolworth's much like the Black Friday sales now, but without all the madness and pushing and shoving. Even the deals you used to get at stores like Mervyn's before they closed that offered you free gifts with purchase so you could really make your money go further. Now you're lucky to get Free Shipping from your online retailers.

Then the anticipation of waiting all night long for Santa to come along and bring our presents. It was honestly so hard to sleep those nights, waiting with baited breath to see if that noise you just heard was Santa out by the fireplace. Of course, there were those nights when my brother, Mike and I would quietly sneak into our living room to see if Santa had come yet only to be disappointed to still see empty stockings and no presents under the tree yet. We had to force ourselves back to sleep and hope we hadn't messed anything up yet.

Morning were the best in that we would race into our mom's room to wake her up while it was still dark out proclaiming that "Santa had come!!!" We would sit inpatiently by the tree trying to read the names of the packages under the tree to see who had the biggest or more elaborately decorated package. The best part was when presents were too big to wrap and instead were adorned with bows, like bikes!!! Christmas breakfast and dinner were the best in addition to playing with our toys or even trying on new clothes or racing outside to play with our friends. Some memories are just too good to ever forget!

That's why when I am decorating my tree or listening to Christmas music on the radio, a smile will cross my face. I'm remembering a fond memory from long ago and it takes me back to my childhood or even a time when that child-like quality of Christmas magic still exists. It's a time when troubles truly do seem so far away and goodness and mercy prevail, and once more all is right in the world.

Priceless Memories

I just finished reading the most amazing book this year, called A Marriage Carol. If you want to know what it's about, click here. What I took away from this book was it dealt with a marriage more than just on the rocks, this house was losing its foundation and was ready to fall into the ocean. Not mine but the marriage that is discussed in the book.

The couple was spending their 20th Anniversary heading to their divorce lawyer's office to sign the paperwork to split their assets and divide the custody of their children. 20 years of marriage. Wow! I could say that I commend a couple for making it that long. We all know that our marriages will have their ups and downs, their seasons of drought and at times where one or both of those probably considers what it might be like if we hadn't married that person. Most of the times, they remain as internal dialogue, never surfacing and remaining just what they were thoughts.

Yet in this story is a promise of hope, the promise that if one of them is willing to fight for their marriage it just might be saved. See in the story, there isn't another man or woman contending for the affections of the spouse, its just that have grown apart. The husband is spending more time trying to make it up the rungs of the corporate ladder and the wife is spending her time working on raising a family and dealing with the kids. Now they barely have two words to say to one another, and find spending time doing what they love no longer involves the two of them.

What both of them need is a reminder. A reminder of where they met, what attracted them to one another, what made them fall in love and enter the commitment of marriage. They needed a trip to the past. Have you taken the time to venture into the past of your marriage. To spend time remembering what it was like the first time you laid eyes on your husband or wife. What it felt like the first time they told you that they loved you, your first date. All the "first" times. See none of that has changed with our spouses. Just more time has elapsed to create more memories, more firsts. Our first fight, our first child, our first grandchild even, our first graduations. You get the idea.

Which leads us to where we are today, in our Christmas present. Time has moved forward, and we have been married now for quite some time. Long after the proverbial honeymoon period has died, and experience at being married is now a time of being settled, comfortable even. Yet we need that magic back of what those "first times" were like. Perhaps it involves nothing more than spending an evening reminiscing of those first memories. That's what we did last night. We spent time sharing our favorite memories, our first kiss, our first real vacation, our first time as parents...well you get the idea. As we both shared some of our favorite memories, you can feel the embers in those fires inside both of us, begin to become fanned and the fire rekindled. We just have to remember not to let the fire die out. We have to find ways to fan the flame of love in our hearts. We have to be willing to fight for our love, for our marriage, for our family.

We entered this world with nothing and we will leave this world in the same manner. We can take nothing with us. Not our homes, our vacations, our children, our money or even our status. It's all on loan from God. ALL OF IT! Nothing belongs to us, so it often amazes me why we cling so tightly to those things that are on loan to us from God. Yes, it hurts to lose things especially children and our family. Yet we need a reminder to give God thanks every single day for those things that receive daily. Need the ultimate reminder?

I got this as a status on one of my Facebook friends, what if you woke up today and the only things you had were the things you thanked God for yesterday? How many of you would literally have nothing to show for that today? I know I would have nothing yesterday morning. So why wait? Why wait for something to happen? Why not start today and thank God for every little thing that you have in your life today. Not just today, but every day. I think the attitude is contagious. To have an attitude of gratitude, not just praying for wants and needs but for thanks as well.

The one thing we do leave this life with is our memories. We will remember our family and friends as we enter into Heaven. That is the only thing plus our salvation we take into Heaven. Looking back at my personal memories with my husband, I realize I have so many happy times that make me smile just to revisit those. It's time we spend our time creating more to savor and enjoy in the years to come. Those memories are priceless and one that no one can take from us, not even death. How will you chose to spend your time? Making priceless memories or filled with a life of regrets?

I hope like me, you'll spend it praying about things your thankful for and living a life of beautiful blessings and memories! I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. You are all a big huge blessing in my life. You're not just blogging buddies or Facebook friends, but real life connections that unite us all! Wishing you and yours a very Blessed Thanksgiving.

Is The Fear of Your Past Holding You Back?

"The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind." - Isaiah 65:17

I watched a TV program recently called The Dog Whisperer. On the show, a dog trainer named Cesar Millan deals with all sorts of behavioral problems in dogs.

In one episode, Cesar went to help Ernesto, a smart, successful businessman in his forties. Ernesto had four children, all of who loved dogs and wanted one as a pet. Yet Ernesto was utterly paralyzed by a fear of dogs. He, too, had once been like his children and loved dogs. Growing up in Mexico, most dogs Ernesto knew played independently in the streets, and he had no fear of them.

One day Ernesto and a group of friends were being silly and teasing one of the dogs and it snapped! It turned on the group of children and started chasing them. Ernesto ran behind his friends toward his mother's house. The others all tumbled in and shut the door on him. He was left standing on the porch, and the last thing he remembered was the angry, snarling, vicious dog jumping for his throat. He woke up in the emergency room, and though he recovered from his horrific injuries, he was left deeply traumatized by the attack. By the time the Dog Whisperer came along thirty years later, a deep fear of dogs gripped Ernesto every day of his life. If he saw a dog or heard a distant bark, he relived the horror of that moment on the porch. Every day he feared a dog would attack him and lunge for his throat. His past utterly paralyzed his future. The intuitive and gifted dog trainer, Cesar Millan spoke to Ernesto with a gentle authority.

"My friend," Cesar said, "what is holding you is the memory, but the incident is gone. You are allowing that memory to live on with you every single day. We have to break the power of the memory and allow you to live in the freedom. It is over!"

Cesar took Ernesto to a rehabilitation center for wayward dogs. He opened the door to the dog's exercise area, and there before Ernesto were around fifty dogs.

Ernesto was terrified, but again Cesar spoke with gentle authority and brought truth that freed this poor wounded man from his thirty year prison.

"The dog that attacked you is dead," Cesar said. "You are not going to be attacked." In other words, forget the past and live in the present.

In that moment, Ernesto faced his fear and became a free man, completely transformed and released, and he went and petted the dogs and walked alongside them without fear.

Many of us are like Ernesto. Memories of past events, traumas, and mistakes live on in our minds and affect how we react to our circumstances today. It may not be a fear of dogs; it may be something more horrific - but a memory can hold you captive, influencing your thinking and the decisions you make.

I want to encourage you in the midst of whatever painful memories may hold you or rob you: God is calling you to look up and see the rainbow. It may seem insensitive or frustrating to think outside of or above your pain, but that rainbow is an incredible reminder for you that God is good, a new day is coming, eventually the rain will stop, and beauty and promise will reign over your life!

Joys of Summer

I woke up like I have every morning this week and today just wasn't happening for me. Pain has come once again to become my best friend. For those of you that don't know, I fell rollerskating on Saturday, cracked my tailbone and have spent the time since recuperating in bed, doctor's and hubby's strict orders.

I was told if I stayed in bed for the next 4 to 7 days off my tailbone, which means no sitting, I could probably be up and around again in that time frame. I was hoping today might be that day, but alas, my body has different plans.

So Kat at Art's Chili was nice enough to keep me busy this morning with being tagged as part of a summer memory post. I was also tagged by Mich at her blog Mich as well, so now my work is doubled. :) All in good fun. You are suppose to list 5 things you are going to miss about the summer. If you have made your way over to her blog, you will see the competition I am up against. So here goes..... what I will miss about summer:




Caitlyn, my oldest, taking my camera everywhere and taking silly pictures like this to keep her MySpace page updated. Silly girl!






Laughter.....






Fresh grown hand picked strawberries from the garden, our first time!






Caitlyn turned 16 on the 24 of July!...






vacation at River Ranch in Arizona...






visiting museums and being a kid again...






pools, water tubes and water fights...






reading....






Knott's Berry Farm.....






rollerskating....






rollercoasters....(yes that is me in the navy sweartshirt with a big white O on it!)






fishing.....






Disneyland and water rides....






summer romance....






games of Twister...






Samm singing crazy songs...






reading all the Twilight series books...






water slides...






mountain thunderstorms...






swimming at the lake...






blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, peaches, roadside produce stands....






unexpected road trips...






Moo sleeping in the sink cause its so much cooler...






blue skies and clouds...there can never be too many clouds....






Cait's night out to dinner with friends...





hubby being home...






Sea World...






swimming...






Lavender Roses...






Apple Blossoms...






Unexpected desert thunderstorms...






Beautiful sunsets...





Steven's Birthday on July 27th...





Cheesecake...





Sunrises...




Hanging out with your best friend...




Sleeping In...




Begin driving lessons with your teen...




Rainbows...




Learning how to fight like one of the boys...




Keeping your teen where you know they are at all times...




Riding waves...




Water fights at the beach...




Waves...



Building sand castles...



Hanging out with Super Heroes...




Being your own Super Hero...




Playing Dress Up...





Thinking about all the things you will do next summer!


I want to thank you for hanging in there with me, while you strolled through memory lane with me and my family. We have always had the most enjoyable days not only just through the summers, but everyday. I want to thank Kat, at Art's Chili for giving me this to do. It has not only brightened my day but made me realize just how much we have all done and how amazing the journey has been. It also reminds me I need to take many more pictures this year.

So now I pass the torch on to the following people and say, "Tag, your it!:

1. Annette at Lemonade Skies

2. Loren at The Magoo's News

3. Dawn at Dawn's Cottage Corner

4. Rebekah at Diagonally Parked in a Parallel Universe.

5. Tiffany at Tea with Tiffany.

You don't have to be so elaborate with your joys of summer and what you will miss the most, but be creative. Let's see what you have. Make it fun and who knows what you will find inside your creative minds!