My Blog in 2010...



12/26/09 Snowfall in North Texas

 Good Morning!  It's a grand day in North Texas!!  It's chilly but isn't that what Winter brings?  If we're lucky we'll get a little snow this season.  When you don't experience something every day, when "it" happens it's always a special treat.  There is something special about looking up at the sky and feeling those fluffy flakes of snow on my face!!  For now, I am still raking up leaves falling from the trees!

I'd never really heard of what a blog actually does and is ... therefore, I entered this world of communication completely blind.  My purpose was to gift others with hope and determination in their pathway to wholeness.  In reviewing my blogs and the emails received, I realized that my blog was way more than just an internet highway.  Some years ago, the pastor of the church I was attending gave a sermon on leaving a legacy.  Time comes and goes yet unless something is written down, the memory stops.  In digging into my heritage, there were names but what about the names?  Who were they really as people...what did they care about?  Why were they the way they were and how did their lives enfold?  I've always been a curious person and I have always wanted to understand...  I want my family to really know me and what I am about.  I want to leave a legacy of truth!



Jane & Madison - Cheerleading Champion

 My blog has been a highway of communication between my daughter, Jane, and I.  Warts, bumps and all she has come to love me more than just as a mother ... she has come to love every part of me ... the dark parts and my walk to freedom.  It's opened many areas where we can talk, really talk.  She's an amazing person, a loving wife and an understanding mother and caring daughter.  When you look at us physically, we don't look much like one another.  Yet, when you look at our hearts, we are very much alike.  I love spending time with her ... she's so much fun to be around!  Yesterday, she and Madison were shopping and spending a special day together.  Oh, I would have loved to tag along ... they have so much wonderful energy!!



Tommy, Angie & Zachary

 Another relationship strengthened by my blog has been that of a mother and son.  For so many years, I was a single mom raising a boy ... I didn't know the first thing about boys and I am grateful for all the help I received!  We've always been close but my blog has brought the best out of him as well.  I hope that he will write in one of my blogs  because he, too, has an amazing story to tell.  I am so proud of the path he has taken with his life.



Brrrr...Baby it's cold outside!

 Many of my readers have wondered about my 5th marriage.  Was it like the others?  Is it like the others?  Maybe Michael will also write in one of my blogs as he has a story to tell as well.  I cannot speak for him.  I can say that he has been a God-send in so many areas of my life.  You see, my marriage to Michael was the beginning of the unraveling of the twisted parts of my life and it is in this marriage that both of us have found healing and acceptance.

Most of my close friends and family also know that I have another daughter, Jill - my first born.  Jill looks a lot like me  - for me, to see her is to look in the mirror at me 20 years younger.  Jill went to live with her father at the time of our divorce and, at a time when girls really need a mother, I wasn't there for her.  There was so much that I didn't know about what she experienced and how she viewed life.  There was a period of time in the early 1990's when she and her husband came back to Texas.  We were so close and life was joyously filled with love.  Now, we are estranged.  I understand the hows, whys, and how comes, but it is still a painful place in my life.  In order to reconcile relationships, there must be a lot of grace, forgiveness, and a rebuilding of trust.  For those of you reading my blogs that have strained relationships with children, you will understand my pain just as I understand yours.

As 2010 ends, I am so grateful for my faith; my friends; family; and, readers.  I am grateful for the opportunity to tell my story and to be of support to those who have chosen to walk with me.  I have discovered new family and love getting to know them.  Each has their own story and all have become men and women that I admire.  I come from good stock ...  overcomers who have taken adversity and who have become stronger.

It is Day 14 of my 40 days of 40 minutes of prayer ...Christ is my source and strength!  By myself I have been able to do nothing.  When Christ came alongside me and helped me in my areas of weakness, I gained strength.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."~~ Philippians 4:13

By focusing on these words and allowing them to settle in my heart and mind, I feel revived and refreshed.  Jesus is my strength and He will give you His strength every time you call upon Him in faith.

"Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."~~Philippians 4:6-8

Right now, I am not trying to make something happen.  I am simply seeking God's will and direction for every area of my life, depending upon His strength and not on my own. 

Signing off this morning ... It's dark and dreary with a few sprinkles of rain coming down.  Yet, all is right in my life.   How about yours?  Remember you are loved and prayed for ... YA YOU!