A Window Into My Good Life...

Interview With a Six Year-Old

Today, I got to do an exclusive interview with a very important person - My daughter!

Q. When are you the happiest in your life?
A. "When I'm at the park."

Q. When are you the most proud of yourself?
A. "When I win a prize at the Boys & Girls Club."

Q. What do you wish we had more ability or time to do together?
A. "More time together to go to the museum of art."

Q. What is one the you don't like about me?
A. (Giggling) "I can't believe you just asked me that!"

Q. OK, let me change that - What is one thing you would change about me?
A. "(That) You would have a pretty robe in the morning."

Q. What is something your mom always says to you?
A. "I love you!"

Q. What makes you happy?
A. "Staying with my family, and making jokes."

Q. What makes you sad?
A. "Friends being mean to me, and (when) they don't let me do what they're doing in fun activities."

Q. How old is your mom?
A. "Uh, you know how old you are!"

Q. What is your favorite thing to do?
A. "(To) color and read."

Q. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A. "The President!" (I thought she wanted to be a judge?)

Q. What are you really good at?
A. "Um... ah... thinking... sports, knowing things; telling people what they're going to do, and what they're thinking."

Q. What are you not very good at?
A. "Not very good at making signs."

Q. What is your favorite food?
A. "Brownies!"

Q. If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
A. "I would be Dora, because Dora teaches kids Spanish."

Q. How are you and your mom the same?
A. "(We're) both girls."

Q. How are you and your mom different?
A. "We don't have the same hair and eyes."

Q. How do you know your mom loves you?
A. "Because she says so."

Q. Where is your favorite place to go?
A. "To the museum."

Q. What is your favorite cereal?
A. "Cocoa Pebbles." (That used to be MY favorite, too!)

Q. What is your favorite vegetable?
A. "Broccoli and carrots."

Q. What is your favorite drink?
A. "Chocolate milk."

Q. What is your favorite toy?
A. "Gabriella doll, and Troy doll." (From High School Musical)

Q. What is your favorite TV Show?
A. "Kids cartoons, Wipe Out and Superstars."

Q. What is your favorite game?
A. "The basketball game on the Internet, and checkers."

Q. What is your favorite book?
A. "The soft sheep one - where you feel it how soft it is."

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
A. "The Olive Garden."

Q. What is your favorite holiday?
A. "Christmas!"

Q. What is your favorite animal?
A. "An elephant."

Q. If you could change your name, what would you pick?
A. "Gabriella."

Q. What do you love about your mom?
A. "Uh... that she cares about who she is, and doesn't act act like somebody else, and she just 'bes' herself."

Q. What do you love about your dad?
A. "That he loves me."

Q. Where would you like to go on vacation?
A. "The North Pole."

Q. What are some of your wishes for this year?
A. "I wish I had all the toys that are High School Musical."

Things We Learn From Our Children

A 4 year-old’s voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

A 6 year-old can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36 year old man says they can only do it in the movies.

A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

A good sense of humor will get you through most problems in life (unfortunately, mostly in retrospect).

A king size water bed holds enough water to fill a 2000 square foot house 4 inches deep.

A magnifying glass can start a fire even on an overcast day.

Always look in the oven before you turn it on.

Baseballs make marks on ceilings.

Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

Children in the backseat cause accidents, accidents in the backseat cause children.

Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing pound puppy underwear and a Superman cape.

If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

If you use a water bed as home plate while wearing baseball shoes it does not leak -- it explodes.

Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your kids.

It is strong enough however to spread paint on all four walls of a 20 by 20 foot room.

Legos will pass through the digestive tract of a four year old.

Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.

Plastic toys do not like ovens.

Play Dough and Microwave should never be used in the same sentence.

Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

Quiet does not necessarily mean don't worry.

Super glue is forever.

The fire department in Dallas has at least a 5-minute response time.

The first anger of Christmas morning: Batteries not included.

The glass in windows (even double pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy. It will however make cats dizzy.

There is no such thing as childproofing your house.

VCR's do not eject sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.

When using the ceiling fan as a bat you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit.

When you hear the toilet flush and the words Uh-oh, it's already too late.

You probably do not want to know what that odor is.

You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on.

The Methodist White Lie Cake

Have you ever told a white lie? You are going to love this, especially all of the ladies who bake for church events:

Alice Grayson was to bake a cake for the Methodist Church Ladies' Group in Tuscaloosa, but forgot to do it until the last minute. She remembered it the morning of the bake sale and after rummaging through cabinets, found an angel food cake mix & quickly made it while drying her hair, dressing, and helping her son pack up for Scout camp.

When she took the cake from the oven, the center had dropped flat and the cake was horribly disfigured and she exclaimed, "Oh dear, there is not time to bake another cake!" This cake was important to Alice because she did so want to fit in at her new church, and in her new community of friends. So, being inventive, she looked around the house for something to build up the centre of the cake. She found it in the bathroom - a roll of toilet paper. She plunked it in and then covered it with icing. Not only did the finished product look beautiful, it looked perfect. And, before she left the house to drop the cake by the church and head for work, Alice woke her daughter and gave her some money and specific instructions to be at the bake sale the moment it opened at 9:30 and to buy the cake and bring it home.

When the daughter arrived at the sale, she found the attractive, perfect cake had already been sold. Amanda grabbed her cell phone & called her mom. Alice was horrified-she was beside herself! Everyone would know! What would they think? She would be ostracized, talked about, ridiculed! All night, Alice lay awake in bed thinking about people pointing fingers at her and talking about her behind her back.

The next day, Alice promised herself she would try not to think about the cake and would attend the fancy luncheon/bridal shower at the home of a fellow church member and try to have a good time. She did not really want to attend because the hostess was a snob who more than once had looked down her nose at the fact that Alice was a single parent and not from the founding families of Tuscaloosa, but having already RSVP'd , she couldn't think of a believable excuse to stay home. The meal was elegant, the company was definitely upper crust old south and to Alice 's horror, the cake in question was presented for dessert!

Alice felt the blood drain from her body when she saw the cake! She started out of her chair to tell the hostess all about it, but before she could get to her feet, the Mayor's wife said, "what a beautiful cake!" Alice , still stunned, sat back in her chair when she heard the hostess (who was a prominent church member) say, "Thank you, I baked it myself."

Alice smiled and thought to herself, "God is Good."

(No, I didn't write this. I don't know where this story came from, but I thought it was too funny not to share!)

Does Anybody Hear?

Take four and a half minutes to sit back and watch the video below.

Afterward, think about your feelings. How does this make you feel, after watching this? Have you ever felt this way? Have you ever known someone else who may have felt this way?

Maybe you know someone who is going through this kind of pain RIGHT NOW, but they don't show it on the outside. Maybe they are right there, in front of you, crying out for love. Only you can't hear them, because they are crying on the inside. And they are hiding the fact that they are hurting.

If someone tapped on your shoulder and said, "Please help me - I'm hurt" Or fell down on their knees in front of you and screamed, "PLEASE! IT HURTS!" would you pretend that you didn't hear, slowly turn your back and walk away? No, of course not.

But, most hurting people are not going to tell you that they are struggling and in pain. Not if they think that nobody really cares. You have to look past the mask they wear. Really make an effort.

Still, if you're too busy with your own problems... well, I guess nobody can blame you there. Right? I mean, a person can only do so much, one person can't fix the world - can they?

Well, now wait a minute. Do you recall the parable of the Good Samaritan? How everybody wanted to just walk past the man who was robbed, beaten and left for dead on the side of the road? Everyone, EXCEPT the Samaritan, that is.

The Samaritan was the only person who noticed the badly injured man, went right to his side, and took it upon himself to help this other person, who was far too hurt to help himself. He didn't care about how this inconvenienced him. He didn't care that this person was not one of his own kind. He took him, tended to his wounds, put him on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and looked after him. But it didn't end there. The next day, he gave the innkeeper two silver coins, telling the innkeeper, "Look after him, and when I get back, I will reimburse you for any extra expenses you may have."

Now, isn't that how Christ teaches us to love each other? How can the hurting man on the side of the road be much different than the person who is hurting on the inside?

Take a look around you. Do you see them now? Take a closer look...

Does Anybody Hear Her lyrics
Songwriters: Hall, John Mark;

She is running
A hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction
She is trying but the canyon's ever widening
In the depths of her cold heart
So she sets out on another misadventure just to find
She's another two years older
And she's three more steps behind

Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today?
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?

She is yearning for shelter and affection
That she never found at home
She is searching for a hero to ride in
To ride in and save the day
And in walks her prince charming
And he knows just what to say
Momentary lapse of reason
And she gives herself away

Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today?
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?

If judgment looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can't see past her scarlet letter
And we've never even met her

If judgment looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can't see past her scarlet letter
And we've never even met her
Never even met her, never even met her

Does anybody hear her? Does anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today?
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me

Does anybody hear her? Does anybody see?
Does anybody even know she's going down today?
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Does anybody see?

He is running a hundred miles an hour
In the wrong direction

If We Are the Body

In reading through some blogs today, I came across one in particular that struck a chord with me. Someone has decided that in order to be an effective Christian and bring others to Christ, one must use the "tough love" approach, and quit worrying about hurting people's feelings and how you come across. One must approach a sinner, and not gloss over the biblical truth, but rather be firm and whack that sinner over the head with the nearest King James version. (OK, I made that last part up.)

Now, for the record, I have absolutely no problem sharing the Gospel. Christians are called to share the Gospel and make disciples of all nations. However...

There is an effective way to do it, and a not-so effective way to do it. Your chances of winning someone over to Christ are pretty slim if you are too busy condemning and persecuting them for their sins. Do you think you are doing them a bit of good by ramming that Bible down their throat?

Instead, think about Jesus. Think about how He must have made Matthew feel at very that moment when Matthew KNEW he wanted to follow Jesus. And all the other disciples. Jesus didn't act Pharisaical. He didn't need to.

Allow me to get personal for a minute. I am a divorced, single mother. Yes, I know divorce is a sin. And believe me, that is certainly by far NOT the only sin I am guilty of. And I am also aware that I am not the ONLY one who has ever sinned. We all have.

And yet, there have been times when I have come to church, that I have felt the heavy stares of judgment. More often than not, I have felt uncomfortable, like I don't fit in. I can't count the number of times where I have walked in alone, and walked out alone after service was over, and not one person said anything to me. Am I not supposed to be there? Am I wearing the wrong clothes? Or maybe it's because I didn't bring my bible with me? Or maybe because I do not have a husband to accompany me... was I supposed to have one of those? I don't know if it's all in my head. It could be. But the point is, I still FEEL that way.

Has anyone ever felt like an outcast in church? I know I am not alone. Maybe it's time for a change. Maybe it's time for one great, big group hug! Everybody - GROUP HUG!!

Now, didn't that make you feel better?



If We Are The Body lyrics
Songwriters: Hall, Mark;

It's crowded in a worship today
As she slips in
Trying to fade into the faces
The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way? There is a way?

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances tell him that his chances
Are better out on the road

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way?

But Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way?

If we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way? As Jesus is the way

A Helping Hand and a Good Pair of Ears

I admit it - I've been "hiding out" since my lay off. I'm sure many of you are wondering what has been going on lately, since I have been absent from posting here, as well as commenting on other people's blogs.

Well, it's been challenging, to sum it up to one word. A little melancholic, I have been trying not to get sucked into a pity-party for one, and trying not to dump on my friends and family. I try to be outwardly positive with people I talk to, and if I write anything about myself on my blog, I don't like for it to be depressing.

A very sweet friend suggested that I should pour my feelings into my blog, regardless. Write about everything I am feeling, the highs and the lows, because it just might help someone else who is in the same situation. Very good advice. He's right. (Thanks, Kevin!)

I hate to admit it, but being laid off from a company that I've been with for eight years has felt very much like a divorce. It's affected me more than I was willing to admit. Financially, it has kicked the feet out from under me. Emotionally, it has temporarily left me dazed, and as silly as this sounds, wondering if there was in some way that I was partially at fault.

You know, when a person looses their job, they can easily get lost in a sea of self-doubt. Which can immobilize them from reaching out to others, and turning their situation around. A strong network of friends and loved ones is SO critical at this juncture in our lives. I am not the type of person who asks for help. If I didn't have any one who cared enough to check in on me, I'd be a goner.

Well, I am happy to report that I have recently been working. Still in the real estate world, however, on the escrow side. With all the foreclosures in the Phoenix area, we have been very busy. And keeping busy is just what I need right now. Consider me blessed!

If you know someone who has recently lost their job, please check in on them whenever you can. Keep in touch. It's a hard, lonely place to be in. You know, most often a "helping hand" is really just a good pair of ears.

My Heart Breaks

Please keep this family in your prayers.

I have been following their story for a while now. Just a few short weeks ago, things were looking up. It seemed like their baby girl, who had been born prematurely, was going to finally get to come home. After all, the first ten months of her life had been spent in the hospital, undergoing seven major surgeries and 248 procedures. The smallest baby to ever have open heart surgery.

Tomorrow, a recently taped episode of "The Doctors" will air on television, sharing their story. (See the preview here.)

Today, I got this message via Facebook; "With a very heavy heart, I wanted to let all of you know that Kayleigh died last night. Please keep the Freeman family in your thoughts and prayers. God bless you all. Thank you for loving, supporting and praying for sweet Kayleigh."

I can't even begin to imagine what they are faced with this very moment, and will be faced with on the road ahead. Please, please pray for them.

Selling Yourself as a Commodity to Land that Job

It can be said that selling yourself to land your next job is much like selling a commodity.

As opposed to a recent college grad, I have eight years of hands-on business to business sales experience to help me do this. My sales experience may not be recent experience, since I've had a non-selling job for the past eight years. Still, much of it is like riding a bike. You can't unlearn cold-calling and canvassing. You can't forget things like doing your homework on your prospect, and knowing to pitch the right products/services to your prospect. And one doesn't forget that there WILL be rejection - you can't take it personally. (Even it if is your "person" so to speak, that you're selling.)

The job market may just be the most competitive it's ever been in my lifetime. Sending out resumes to companies via snail-mail, facsimile, or even on-line is practically a futile effort. These companies are receiving hundreds of resumes for every job posted. Nobody is reading resumes anymore - they are scanned. It's survival of the fittest out there now, with thousands of applicants all vying for the same jobs. And the companies doing the hiring not only know this - they are using this to their advantage.

In order for me to stand out from the crowd, I'll need to develop a marketing strategy. I will need to devise an approach to give me an advantage over the competition. I will need to brand myself. I'll need to be memorable.

I am seriously considering setting up a professional blog, like this one, along with a video resume. Recruiters and hiring managers will have access to these links found on my social media websites. I am going to have some business cards made. I will have these with me where ever I go. I will give them to everyone I meet; at networking events, job fairs, on interviews, you name it.

What are some other things that a person can do that can give him/her an edge over the competition? Maybe it's bringing the hiring manager breakfast every day, until he agrees to hire you... or sending a singing telegram?

I'd be interested to hear what kinds of things you've heard about other people doing, or that you've personally tried to get your foot in the door. What was the outcome?

God Must Really Love Me!

"God Must Really Love Me".

Tonight I watched a really heartwarming show on Dateline called "You Might Be Rich!" It showed some very deserving real-life people, who have been faced with various struggles, finding out that they have some money coming their way.

I would much rather see these kind of uplifting stories about people being blessed, than the doom and gloom we so often read (or watch) in the news these days.

But being blessed isn't necessarily about money. Most of us can find other evidence in our lives as to how we have been blessed by God.

Craig Morgan posted this video to give everyone an opportunity to share the reasons that they feel they have been blessed.

Upload a video to your YouTube Channel.

Then POST AS A VIDEO RESPONSE TO THIS VIDEO.

Please allow a couple of days for your video to show up in the video response section.

(If you don't feel like sharing, check out the video anyway. It has a pretty powerful message.)