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Encouragement

Encouragement

When You Die

In April Walter Bruening, the world’s oldest man, died at the age of 114. Having seen an entire century unfold he had a lot of wise advice to share. His last piece of advice is the hardest to swallow but the greatest in importance. From Walter: “We’re all going to die. Some people are scared of dying. Never be afraid to die. Because you’re born to die.” I am not even half of Walter’s age but this is a lesson I learned early. At the age of 17 I had a cardiac arrest. Since that time I have had a dozen surgeries, been electrically paddled on multiple occasions and had 3 pacemakers. My heart is electrically challenged! This makes life very unpredictable. When my heart is behaving I am normal, when it’s not, it is life threatening. The one thing that I have learned about life and death is this:

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Encouragement

Dream Big

So many kids and people take what they have for granted – health, talent, opportunities. And because they don’t see what they have they don’t challenge themselves to dream that big dream, formulate a vision for their lives that is intimidating to them but not impossible. Watch this and dream big, show it to your child and tell them to dream big.

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Encouragement

Hero

“Heroes can impact a person’s life greatly. My hero is my mom. I greatly admire her because she helps me in many ways. A hero doesn’t have to be someone famous. It can be an average person or even below average. It is just someone that you look up to and want to be like in some ways. My hero is my mom because she wants me to succeed and will push me in different ways to get me there and because being a mother is a very difficult task and I admire her for undertaking that task. My mom is always pushing me to do my best in everything. She wants me to do well in school, sports, and everything I do. She thinks that I have lots of potential for things even when I don’t think I can do something. She is very hard on me but in the end I will probably look back and be happy that she did push me. Being a mother is a tough job. My mom is always busy running errands, working, picking up kids from school, and the list goes on. While all this is happening the kids in our family …

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Encouragement

My Sister Is So Darn Smart

My sister started teaching full time this year which has really but a damper on our talk time. I used to be able to call her on my way to work. Now we can only talk after work and the kids definitely get in the way of that. So this week I was reduced to a Sunday call and she answered from her car speaker phone. What followed was not what I had desired (a family recap with her alone) but a conversation with “the car” full of charged up kids on an expedition. It seems they were en route to park #5. It was invite a friend and go park hopping day and she didn’t mean Disney Park hopping. Nope this was a high energy, blood pumping, family fitness expedition with the final destination being a hot dog roast at Park #6. It was fun, it was free and why didn’t I think of it? She is so smart my sister!

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Encouragement

My Up Hill Battle With a Down Hill Payoff

Two weeks from today. That’s all I have left. For 30 days now I have been in an up hill battle to get in shape for the opportunity to take my son skiing. The battle really began on February 3 when I had heart surgery – an ablation – to fix an electrical impulse in my heart that sends it to 220 whenever it feels like it. It was my second ablation and one of a dozen heart surgeries (I have a pacemaker). Without it no skiing. The ablation was actually the easy part when I compare it to the daily grind of pushing myself after a year of no exercise. I really don’t like exercising especially when I am under pressure. It’s just scary when your heart is so unpredictable. But I love my son and he asked me to take him. So two weeks is all I have.

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Encouragement

Damsel in Distress

Last week I saw a musical that is headed to Broadway in March. It is called Wonderland. The most comedic number in the play is called One Knight. Alice in Wonderland is a working mom. Her almost ex-husband, Jack, becomes her white knight and rescues her as a damsel in distress. Of course, Jack is more like a smooth operator with over-exaggerated boy band, *NSYNC moves. I don’t think it’s just me or Alice or Anita Renfroe (in the video below) who need to be rescued once in while. If you are a mom then there will be times when you are a damsel in distress!

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Encouragement

Clash of the Hormones

This may just be me and my crazy house but think about this – if a woman has children any time between the ages of 30 and 45 then she could have teenagers living at home when she is between the ages of 43 and 63. In other words, while your teenagers hormones are surging yours are waning. That makes for a very unstable household – a veritable clash of the hormones! If only the body used what hormones it needed and emitted the left overs. Then peri-menopausal moms could chase their teens around and catch what they needed. Household peace and balance would be restored – a happy ending, sigh! Back to reality. This is just me but here are the lessons I learned when the Clash of the Hormones hit my house. Lesson 1: If you now know that there is a potential for a clash you can head it off just by being aware. Know your body and be aware of how it affects your mood ie. if your family is telling you, you are moody, listen and take the time to analyze why. You may want to blame all your household strife on your moody 15 …

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Encouragement

The Heart of Parenting

The heart of parenting can be filled with pain. It can hurt deeper than anything I have ever experienced. When you have a little one (at any age) that is hurting or hearting as I call it, meaning their heart is hurting, it feels twice as painful to me as any personal hurt I have ever suffered. I guess this is what it means to love deeply. Your heart hurts more. I am convinced that there are invisible bonds that have attached my heart to theirs. Of course, the reverse is true also. The heart of parenting can be filled with joy. When I have a little one whose heart experiences joy, that joy is magnified 10 times for me. It is a bit of a roller coaster when different children experience different spectrums of the heart in one day. sigh. Go love your little ones…Happy Valentines Day.

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Encouragement

My Favorite Very Easy Valentine

You never know what day of the week Valentine’s will fall on. Often it is a school day. This recipe saves me no matter how busy the day because it only has 4 ingredients that are staples in my house. That means no preplanning on my part. All I need to do is make it the night before or get it in the oven before the kids get home from school. After a few years that yummy smell of flour, sugar and butter when they walk in the door will come to mean one thing to them – I love you! The other great thing about this recipe is its versatility. You can use a shortbread mold if you have one (easy to find them online for about $20) or use a pie plate or if your kids are into decorating make cut out cookies. Valentine Shortbread Recipe The Shortbread Mold Option: The Pie Plate Option: The Cookie Option:

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