6 + 1 = 7

We were given an opportunity this past weekend, and it was a doozy. Isn't it amazing how the good Lord gives you all kinds of chances to feel Joy? It is just a matter of what perspective you look at it. Our opportunity came in the form of a child in black. Black clothes, black hair, black fingernail polish, black eye makeup (which you would only notice if the hair is slightly moved away from his good looking face) He is now part of the Magnuson clan for a bit. He has been in the lives of our boys for as long as we can remember...his big brown eyes used to greet me at the front door several times a week, but in the past year the visits were much less. He has a
"flair" - let's just put it that way. I am all about individuality, but some guidance is what we hope to offer. We are opening our home with the hope of giving him some support, some perspective and some security. Perhaps he will take a new direction. His choice. So our lives have been sprinkled with some diversity to say the least, but our family is happy to have it. That's what livin' is all about. My hope is that this 13 year old boy realizes that life does not have to consist of drama and being the victim. He has a choice now to take what is being offered and find some way to turn things around. It is going to take some sacrifice, but he is smart...he'll figure it out!

'My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,' the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky. 'Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.'

Paulo Coelho

If your reading this........

Say a prayer...a prayer for his family - he was young. He left too soon. Cancer.

Lance helped us. He was smart, determined, & motivated. He was kind, intriguing, and quiet. We liked him...a lot. We are grateful for his part in Unity. He passed away this week - I told him how smart I thought he was, but I never told him Thank you. I hope he knows how much I appreciate the part he took in making our dreams come true.

sym·pa·thy;
1 a: an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other

Tagged - 7 random & weird facts

I was tagged by Lori! http://www.sentimentalmomentsintime.blogspot.com/

1. When I put on my boots, consistently one pant leg goes to the proper place around the bottom of my boot - yet the other is always scrunched up at the top of the boot. Several people call this to my attention, and I simply don't see the need to fix it! Originality is good, right?

2. I love the smell of rubber stamps cooking in the vulcanizer just as much as I love the smell of fresh laundry! How weird is that? Perhaps because if we cook enough rubber stamps I can HIRE someone to do my laundry!

3. I WANT my children to travel across the country after they graduate and THEN decide what to do with the rest of their lives. College is important, I know! Don't email me! I hope they go to college, but I want them to dream BIG and know why they are there when they go!

4. I would love to be an advice columnist - but after the statement I have made in #3 I don't know that any level headed person would ask my advice!

5. I WILL NOT be told what to do, HOW to do it, or what to think. Let me figure it out and then let me ask questions. I think this makes me a bit of a free spirit. (My poor mother...although I am pretty sure she loves me dearly regardless)

6. I don't like wind. Ticks me off. It blows in my ears and I can't hear anything, nothing stays in place and if it is blowing in just the right direction every one's belongings on the entire block ends up in MY BACK YARD!

7. My lip twitches when I do public speaking. I am like Elvis Presley reincarnated on stage with that twitchy lip. The right corner...it is uncontrollable!

I am now supposed to tag 7 people - therefore I am picking on my DT, artist, and talented friend. Once you get my tag, do as I have done - pick 7 people to tag yourself and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they are UP!

I will now tag:

Brooke Lien - www.brookelien.blogspot.com/
A.J. Otto - www.thewillowgarden.blogspot.com/
Amy Bass - www.littlefishdesigns.blogspot.com/
Karen McLaughlin - www.karenmclaughlin.blogspot.com/
Jen Erickson - www.shut-up-its-true.blogspot.com/
Christi Snow - http://www.alteredambitions.blogspot.com/
Robyn Weatherspoon - http://herebygrace.typepad.com/here_by_grace/

Smooth Sailing...My Hope for You.

I read this quote - by Abraham Hicks, and pondered it:

If you are ending up where you want to be, what difference does it make whether you went fast or slow? Or what difference does it make whether it was painful before it got really good?

Isn't that the point of free will? You get to choose.

We do get to choose, that is SO GREAT! Life does not have to be full of heart wrenching tradgedies to learn what we are meant to learn while spending time on this earth. This life is "termed" as a gift from God - live in abundance, live in joy, live with gratitude and LIFE is what it was meant to be.

You have choices. They can lead you onto rough road till by messing up so much you finally see the light OR you can choose to sail the smooth waters and only have the wind blow enough to keep you on course. Smooth sailing is what I wish for you. Small mistakes along the way to keep you on the smooth path. Learn fast, Love life, and Enjoy the ride.

A few of my favorites, today:

"The person who sends out positive thoughts, activates the world around him positively and draws back to him positive results."

Norman Vincent Peale

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles....but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly."

Budda

"Your true passion should feel like breathing;it's that natural"

My Friend: Oprah Winfrey

Off to breath! Loving Life!

These small hours....

Listen to this song:

"Let it go, Let it roll right off your shoulder - Don't you know, the hardest part is over. Let it in, let your clarity define you - In the end, we will only just remember how it feels. Our lives are made - in these small hours, these little wonders, these twists & turns of fate, time falls away, but these small hours, these small hours still remain...."

Without going into a ton of detail, my day yesterday was filled with moments, small hours, twists and turns that changed my emotions from moment to moment." Life - it never seizes to amaze me.


A run down of my day: business plans and discussions(feelings of hope) - new fun opportunities for Unity Stamp Company (feelings of excitement) - life altering news(feelings of sadness) - birthday parties (feelings of appreciation) - news from a DT member that she has new opportunities (feelings of happiness - yea Jen!) - black belt test for my olderst (feelings of nervousness) - early evening dinner (feelings of contement) - state tournament home town game with 1 point lead(feelings of excitement) - MORE news from another DT member of publication (more happiness - yea A.J.!) watching a Disney movie with my littlest ( again, contentment) teenager breaking curfew (utter TERROR) teenager arriving home safe and sound (relief and ANGER!) heart to heart with my boy (exhausting combination of every emotion I had already experienced ALL DAY tossed into one!)

I sure was tired when my head hit the pillow late last night! Goodbye FRIDAY! Loved you for all those "twists and turns of fate" just like this beautiful song teaches us - however - I am ready for a new set of small hours!

Snow on Easter....Proof.

do you see this snow? - poor little easter bunny....

schools out for spring break?

spring break? is that some sort of joke?

i was going to stay home today and work....

ARE YOU KIDDING?

due to the weather change, my boys are like super bouncy balls in an empty gym that hit the floor with the force of a jet.

going to unity, see ya ....bye, bye! be home later...much later.

in all reality...

the boys like me here so they don't have to hear their mama plead with them to play uno.

if you are somewhere that actually has tulips please bid one hello from me.

love this...

True religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess.

-- Louis Nizer