Stay In The Day

Celebrating 30 years together!

2012-01-24T02:56:00.000-05:00

A Quote by Madeleine L'Engle

"Family.... We love, trust, get hurt, sometimes outraged, and we love and trust anyhow because that's the best way to let our love grow."

On July 4th of this calendar year my Beloved and I will be celebrating our 30th Anniversary. What began as a dream come true for me...at one point 20 years later became a nightmare. Then through much of what Madeleine's quote mentions, our love grew.

By the Grace of God our marriage not only survived the terrible hurts and outrage of betrayal, but now thrives! It thrives because we both fought to change ourselves and we both fought to find answers...and when we couldn't find or understand the answers we received, we learned how to forgive. I didn't say we learned how to forget...but we did learn how to forgive. The forgetting happens down the road when we least expect it. That's the Gift God gives us,I believe, as a reward for hanging in there...for doing everything as a couple to make right our wrongs to one another.

Even though the picture in this post is of a couple that was married twice as long as we've been; it makes me think of what our hands will look like in 30 more years. The age worn and defining lines in their clasped hands speak silently of dedication, forgiveness, commitment, and undying love. True love really does stand the test of time...

I had the honor of taking this photo on a day where I walked into a home of a couple where I delivered a traveling tea party. I met Elouise at my Writers club, she being 83 at the time and one of the founding members of the club in the early 70's. I've posted about this couple before a few years back, Barney & Elouise. Barney passed away 11 months after this photo was taken. Framed, it sat at the funeral home and comforted everyone who walked by it. It comforted Elouise the most, the Beloved wife left behind.

Not only is this year our 30th Wedding Anniversary - but last week was our 10th Anniversary of when my Beloved Husband returned home. Where betrayal was revealed, and the real work of our marriage began. The anniversary passed last week and I didn't even realize it. That, in and of itself, is a miracle; as I thought I'd never ever forget the call from him that came in that day that said "we" were over. He in New York at Ground Zero, and myself standing in our kitchen in NC. What an amazing transformation God has done since that day.

With my need back then being so fierce to find some type of blue print to know whether I'd ever feel safe again, trust again, or love him fully again...I had no assurance; no guarantee. Quite frankly, I lived in fear for a very long time.

I thought I was someone that had a deep faith in God. The near demise of our marriage showed me how shallow my "trust" in God was. I wrestled back and forth with faith versus trust... To this day I know it was my deep faith in God that assured me that we'd make it. But the "trust" part just seemed totally separate. It confused me. I wrestled more...and I learned a blue print was never to be. Walking one day at a time through our storm built my trust more, and increased my faith.

Our day to day journey of recovery would bring us to this place we now reside in. No, it's not a physical place. It's more of a spiritual and emotional place where we have repaved a loving and trusting relationship that we built from the ashes of the first 20 years together. Many people were used along the way to speak into our lives, into our hearts. Pastors, counselors, caring friends, and authors of awesome books that taught us so much about fighting for our love and explained so much of what had happened to us along the way. I can now sigh a breath of relief...laugh, and trust again. I, no..."We", can now say we made it to the other side of the mountain. Not by our own strength, but from the Strength that we gained from our Heavenly Father.

In a few months we'll take an early Anniversary vacation to a lovely cobble street town where we'll stroll down the streets hand in hand, just like the photograph of Barney and Elouise. Our clasped hands with their defining lines will speak silently of dedication, forgiveness, commitment, and undying love. True love really does stand the test of time..

True love never rusts...

~CC Catherine, Continuing my best still... to Stay in The Day

Sometimes Surprises are GOOD and sometimes they're GREAT!

2011-10-05T19:39:00.006-04:00

Sometimes Surprises Just Happen...and they are GOOD, and sometimes they're even GREAT!
The past two days have been great because one of the couples that were instrumental in our marital restoration in the early days dropped by for an overnight stay for two nights.

It's hard to believe that in January we will celebrate 10 years since we began this journey.
Check out "Live Side by Side" on Facebook. Dan & Nori Chesney, our dear friends and former Pastors that were visiting, now offer international marriage seminars and this is one way you can follow their ministry and maybe even get some good nuggets for yourself or a friend. Their home base is in England, and their hearts are to continue the fight for the restoration and healing for marriages all across the world.

10 years ago Dan & Nori reserved a Bed & Breakfast for us to spend an entire weekend away when my husband first returned home. They knew how critical it was for us to be alone and BE just with each other. Even if it meant us sleeping the entire two days we were away, which we pretty much did just from the mental and emotional exhaustion..they knew we needed this time together. That time was so important to us and certainly helped us to regain our footing to return home to begin the rebuilding process.

I was reminded of how far we've come as we sat with them last evening revisiting those first days...and also reminded of how GOD totally lit the path for us to find our way again. We were just obedient to follow His light...and we both learned so much about each other in the process; and a lot about ourselves at the same time. We learned about God's Grace, His Mercy, and His Forgiveness...
It's because of HIM (Our Heavenly Father) that our marriage continues to not only survive, but THRIVE. Yet He used people like Dan & Nori to help direct us in those early days.

We both Thank You Dan & Nori!
We Love You!

Staying In The Day...
~Catherine & her Beloved ~J

Seeing me in Her!

2010-09-23T12:23:00.009-04:00

Last week I learned that a precious young girl that is dear to my heart is walking through marital discord. Even though the journey she's on is totally different than what my own was nearly 9 years ago, the heartbreak is just as deep and real! She reminds me of what I looked like back then!
I learned never to diminish another’s depth of pain by comparing the wounds that have been inflicted on us, it’s just not fair. "Pain is Pain", regardless of what all the different situations might be!

I remember a friend telling me about a book called Unintended Journey years ago after my situation erupted. I never got to purchase or read the book, but the title never left me. No mate, no matter how young or old, ever intends to walk down the aisle so that years later they find themselves in a broken state and on this journey. We just wake up one day and it's as if someone has packed our bags without our knowledge, put them in our hands, and with a shove forward...off we are sent into this unknown place of disclosure ~ learning the authentic mate we married, instead of staying in the dream we thought we were in of a normal, or even what some would deem as a "perfect marriage"!

Today I'm reminded that my nine year anniversary is nearly here, and with good Godly counseling for both my husband and myself...the journey has come to a good place of healing, restoration, and renewal! We didn't get here overnight, but the time it took and the things we did in getting here...were all worthwhile! We still have one another, and we're authentically still doing the things we need to do to keep healthy emotionally and relationally. Our children still have the two parents they love "together" working hard to stay in recovery and healing and not turning back.

To be fair to all those mates that did "everything" they could, yet seen their relationships or marriages still fail... my heart goes out to you! Hold your head high if you did all you could to save the relationship! "I did the best I could with what I had", many of you might say. Trust me, I believe you! I have friends from a support group that I was a part of years ago. Some of their journeys with their marriages are still suffering, someone in the partnership is still stuck... thinking they'll always be like this, they can't change they say. Change is a choice, not something that comes natural to us. If you're in this category, find your hope in the fact that God knows how hard you tried, and move forward in your life.

The great thing about God is He gives us a second chance…and many times a third and fourth in life. I like who I’ve become today! I may not like the reality of how I came into my “fullness”, so to speak! ~ Sometimes in life there will be questions we’ll never have answered…the whys can be endless. It’s when I stopped asking “Why” in my own broken marriage, and started asking “What” about me that I felt like I was on the right track…and little by little God led me to the path that worked for me to learn more about “Who” I am and change what I could, ME!

For my young friend, and all those that are in the “midst” of working hard to save their marriages or relationships ~ my Hat’s off to you! You’ll learn more about yourself than you have your entire life!

Staying in the Day, Sweeping my Own Side of the Street!
~CC Catherine

Being Silent amidst the Busyness ~ Is a Lost Art...

2010-06-24T18:28:00.003-04:00

Photography by ~CC

In the year of 1993 I bought myself a journal.

The inscription I wrote in the front goes like this:

" A Gift from me to me ~ to learn how to be silent amidst the times of my busyness...to learn to be obedient when I hear Him calling to my heart"

Hmm...I love finding things I've written in past years like this~ It makes me realize that 17 years later I'm still working on doing my best to be silent amidst the busyness and being obedient when I hear Him calling to my heart! Life sometimes is like that, isn't it? Growth doesn't always happen overnight, but it's a "life long process". I certainly haven't arrived, but it's nice to know that I'm still working at improving my game!

Sighing a fresh breath of relief today, because I've Stayed In The Day!

How about you?

The Victorian style home that I've shown in the picture above was taken in a lovely little college town in Davidson, NC. There was something magnificent about the architecture of it. I love photographing old homes. They provoke me to think about the people that inhabited them over the years and the thousands of conversations that had to have taken place over it's lifetime ~ I'm guessing many times their prayers could have been the same as mine back in 1993.

Be a Blessing to someone today!

~CC

Thirsting...

2010-04-29T10:14:00.003-04:00

(Photo courtesy of Julie @ http://juliology.blogspot.com)
Psalm 42: 1
As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for you, O God.
New American Standard Bible

I still recall the day when my Dad was in surgery, I walked into the chapel and when I read the open Bible on the pulpit, the above verse is what I read.

Immediately the Lord brought this calm over me, I had been very weary and thirsting for His power and strength to get through the day.

In that moment, I felt like I had drank water...and he nourished my soul and gave our family the victory we were praying for.

A Scripture to me is like a Vitamin......only it nourishes my spiritual body, as well as my physical body. A Scripture a day definitely quenches my thirst!

Hugs ~ While Staying in the Day!
~CC

Sometimes the tears seem easier to fall when a heart is weary over things we cannot change

2010-03-29T23:36:00.004-04:00

"Photo by Juli"

Today I was reminded that some days are really tough to walk through. Sometimes the tears seem easier to fall when a heart is weary over things we cannot change, the day sometimes seem too difficult to bear.
So, I chose to put on a worship and praise CD and was reminded of the Hope I have in "Jesus". I ran to words of encouragement in His Word and was reminded I don't have to walk this journey alone.
I searched for Hope, Encouragement, and Peace...and found some of each... Thank you Heavenly Father!

Even though my journey in marital recovery is going very well, the rest of life and family still has a way of tapping into my temptation of "loving too much". Today I prayed I would stay faithful in sweeping my own side of the street so those I love have the freedom to live their own lives and make their own choices. Even when some of those choices bring painful results, I still have to sweep my own side of the street and allow them to sweep theirs...and I can love them in a much healthier way by doing so.

1 Thessalonians 5:16 - Be joyful always ...pray at all times...be thankful in all circumstances.

Staying in the Day the best I can with "HIS" strength & guidance!
~CC

If we believe in HIM, even though we die, we shall LIVE!

2009-11-16T00:41:00.004-05:00

Dedicated to a friend, Carolyn Miller, who lost her fight with a lung illness in September, 2009. When my sister Becky and myself traveled to PA to attend the funeral, we happened by this trail nearby the restaurant we gathered at later. This bridge we were about to cross is over 200 + years old...

When I reached the middle of the bridge, on the left...this is what was stuck between some of the rocks crevices. I was amazed, because I knew eventually the wind or rain would come by and blow it out of the way. But, for the instance we traveled over that bridge, it was especially there for us to view. Double click on the pic so you can read the precious gift of words on this poignant day.
This was the opposite side of the paper, it was obviously a spiritual tract to lead someone to Christ. Carolyn was a devout Catholic, and attending her funeral opened the door for me to understand just how much her faith had meant to her all of her life. To me, it seemed fitting that on the day she'd be buried that there was this tract offering someone else hope, faith, and a future for the taking...
Nearby only feet away was this attached flat on a stone...a promise that told me that even though Carolyn died, she lives. What a PROMISE to hold onto, isn't it?
I miss Carolyn, and I know my sister Becky does...as she was her very best friend for the past 11 years as her neighbor and confident. They shared lunches together, shopping together, and would laugh together remembering the first time we ever went to a craft show together, "SALE, SALE, SALE"...that's how Carolyn remembered me after that day.

Well, I'll remember this bridge every time I think of Carolyn...and I'll remember that "one" person that left the tract behind made a difference to me that day of her funeral. I sometimes wonder if anyone else walked that bridge and found it...maybe they didn't know the Lord like Carolyn and I did. Only "He" and Carolyn know....

We miss you Carolyn....

~Doing my best to "Stay in the Day......~CC

Legacy Rings Through...As I laugh, I hear her voice

2009-08-26T10:00:00.006-04:00

Today I am reminded of how much our legacy rings through into our daily lives.
This photo is of my Mother, Myra, and myself early last spring while taking her to enjoy her 75th birthday in Memphis, TN. We were there to enjoy something she loved most of her life, Elvis and his memory~

The trip there with my two sisters and mother were so much fun. And, while there, it was if Elvis had never died...and his legacy is very much alive there.

I see the same with my Mother and I the older I get. When I laugh, I hear her voice supernaturally as if it were her; when I reach out to help someone in need, I feel I'm walking in the shoes my mother has walked all her life in helping others; when I love on my grandchildren, she's with me as I repeat the songs she used to sing to me~I love you a bushel and peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck; and when I cook a meal for my family...her presence is with me when I remind myself that she says to never boil eggs more than 8 minutes or it will make the outside of the yolk turn green. Her legacy is alive through me....even while she's still with me~ And I'm so blessed!

I'm sure you have your own legacy you are continuing with those that are most precious to you...and I pray as you enjoy these moments of reflection that you will know that God in his infinite wisdom allows us to pass our good deeds on in life by mentoring our little ones while they are impressionable. As I continue to love spending time with the elderly, God reminds me that I learned it from my mother when she took me to visit the elderly with her when I was around 10-12 years old. She helped them make crafts...I was scared of them back then, but my mothers love to them made me feel safe and OK to love on them. Today I cherish spending time with the elderly and listening to their life stories....I am so blessed by their energy and recall of the most precious times of their life.

I pray you will be encouraged to pass your own legacy on.
"Stay in the Day" as you embrace what gifts you are giving to those you love in the way you are mentoring them~

Our actions today will produce results tomorrow in others~
Pray that you'll be a blessing to all that are around you!

Until then...
"The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength" ~ Nehemiah 8:10 NIV
~CC

Ever feel like you've been planted in a MIXED pot with?

2009-08-07T14:39:00.004-04:00

Photography by ~CC

Some days I feel like I'm planted in a mixed potted plant too!
How about you?

It's times like these that I need help getting out of that pot!
It looks like Abbie, my Sheltie, could use some help too! :)

Have a blessed Day while you do your best to STAY IN IT and allow God to help you get out of that mixed pot you might be in!

Proverbs 15:1 - A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Be blessed,
~CC

Some Days Life Can Be Scary...

2009-06-17T00:02:00.002-04:00

Some Days Life Can Be Scary...

But when we come to the realization that all things are God Filtered...
it somehow lifts the fear and puts us right back where we belong,
In His Hands...

Praying you are doing better today at Staying In The Day!
~CC

My Christian Blogs ~ A Super New Find! Check It Out!

2009-04-30T22:55:00.006-04:00

Photography by ~CC

I love finding good Christian blogs to read.

Today I learned from a fellow Christian Blogger that there is a gentleman that is doing a great job of compiling as many good Christian blogs as he can in one place so that you can go see which ones you'd like to visit! Kind of like a "STOP & SHOP for a Christian BLOG" type of thing! ;)

He even has them listed in categories!

It's really cool! Go check him out!

I've now contacted him to have my Stay In The Day blog listed there as well!

My Christian Blogs

Holding His Hand Tightly As He Leads...

2009-04-30T07:16:00.011-04:00

Tulips have a way of waiting for the perfect moment to reveal their true beauty, our lives sometimes are the very same way... God's timing is always perfect with everything he's created!

Who Was I?

Today I'm reminded of how much "My Story" of the past has bled into different chapters of "My Story" in the present. Those too familiar words have rung in my ear as I've journeyed, "Let Go and Let God".

I would find myself giving the wheel to God, and before I knew it, it was as if my life was heading for a sharp curve. The fear foundation that I was raised in would begin to bubble up within like a rising thermometer...and before I realized it, I'd ripped the wheel out of God's hands and taken it back into my own.

The Pieces all Link Together, One Way Or Another...
Everything from our past molds us into the individuals we become today, both good and bad. Larry Crabb's book, "Shattered Dreams" says it best. He writes that shattered dreams are never random, they are always a piece in a larger puzzle, a chapter in a larger story. He moves on to write that the Holy Spirit uses the pain of shattered dreams to help us discover our desire for God., to help us begin dreaming the highest dream. He continues on in his book to share that it's our shattered dreams that have the power to change our lives for good, Forever." Reading his book would prove to be part of my process of breaking some of the barriers that needed broken down so God could do what He needed to do within my heart for the rebuilding of my marriage to begin.

Along Life's Way...I'm Getting it!

I have learned throughout the walk of our Marital Restoration that God uses "everything" to help us "GET IT". In the past seven years of walking in Marital Restoration and healing He has taught me more and more about myself, about the deepest fears that I would never acknowledge existed. He's taught me about "My Trust Issues" with Him. He's revealed to me all the hundreds of questions in my heart that I never allowed myself to voice aloud...and he showed me the depth of the anger I'd never allowed to surface my entire life. Did these things have anything to do with my marriage if their origin didn't have anything to do with it? Yes, inadvertently...I'm positive they did; regardless of whether the questions, fears, trust issues, or anger had anything to do with me or my husband's relationship directly or not. The "Dance" of marriage we observe and learn along the way becomes "Our Dance" as a couple. It's up to us then to make sure the steps we're dancing together need corrected by "The Professional", God, or not... Good Christian Marital counseling by trained individuals is critical for healing in a marriage. They were definitely part of His Blueprint for our healing and restoration.

Don't Sugar Coat It!

With all that I've learned these past years, I'd like to say that I have forever given the wheel to Father God, never to rip it out of his hands again. I'll be honest and transparent instead here and not sugar coat it..."it's a process" that I'm getting better at each time I'm allowed to walk through a period of crisis in my life. I owe God much, I owe Him everything. Throughout my life I've tried to save myself at every sharp curve and did a horrible job of it. I did the best that I could with the knowledge I had at the time. Within the past seven years God has used my life experiences in my marriage to get at the deeper core of all the roots that were robbing me of the full joy and peace that I could have if I just gave Him the wheel of my life, my heart. I learned that it's in my heart that I needed to give in, it's in my heart that I needed to "Let Go and Let Him be God"~

Where I'm At Today

Today I am using the "tools" that He has guided me to so I can continue to learn more about who I am and why I have done the things I have over the periods of my life to survive. What helped me survive my abuse as a child no longer work to survive my life crises as an adult. It's when I began to learn why I did the things I did that I could begin to change the things I could about myself, and that was only something I could do with His guidance and support every step of the way.

The Gift

Ultimately...my Marriage Crisis was a gift to me. I couldn't have made that statement on January 16, 2002...or December 25, 2005, etc... If the gift were packaged in the most beautiful gift wrap and tied up with the fanciest bow, I'm positive I would have never opened it if you'd told me what me, my husband, and my family would need to walk through to come to the place we are today. Trust is something I've learned along the way...and just like a real marriage, God is teaching me new ways to love him, new ways to trust him, and new ways to "Let Go and Let Him" control every area of my life, every crevice of my heart...

My Only Guarantee in Life

God is my only guarantee in life. Isaiah 42:16 "I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them". When my Beloved first came home, this was the first scripture we put on a card and taped to our wall...we memorized it and would say it over and over and over. I realized that what I thought I wanted in the early stages of my journey was a "Blueprint" of weeks, months, and years ahead of me ~ The haunting question early on was, "What would we look like as a couple, family, would we make it?" And if we did, what would that look like? Instead "He", The Lord, wanted to lead me by holding my hand one moment and day at a time. Not only has that taught me how to trust Him more, but it's also how I've learned to trust my Beloved again...

No matter what our journey, He is here with us to "Stay In The Day" forever, regardless if we get the Blueprint we wanted or not! Just hold His hand and let him lead...you!

xoxo ~CC

God's Still Working On Me, One Piece At A Time...

2009-04-17T10:39:00.004-04:00

Yes, God is still working on me, one piece at a time; just like this lovely art of stained glass that my husband was making for his Aunt.
And just like this art, there are some pieces that are so tiny to work on, that it takes longer in the process to get it worked out just right.

Like this gift, in the end of my process where I get it worked out...I'll be just as beautiful and at peace with myself, just as this lovely stained glass dove.

This Gift of Love to his Aunt has been completed now, but God is still working on me~

The answer for us all is in God's Word. Have you allowed the Word of God to examine the attitudes and opinions in your life? It's true that the very things that can hold us captive in our lives are the attitudes and opinions that we've been raised in that "can" follow us into our marriages and adult lives.

Have a heart to heart with God today and ask Him to reveal to you supernaturally what it is that He wants to do in your life today, and each day!

Staying In The Day...along with you, one day at a time,
~CC

2009-04-02T15:10:00.003-04:00

Things don't always look like they really are, even in L*O*V*E

Sometimes throughout my journey in my marital restoration, it was easy to feel disconnected. I continued to stay focused on reading encouraging books for couples who worked hard and had success in going the distance. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it! I joined The Barnabas Center and learned how I could find "Dignity" for myself, despite what had happened in my marriage.
In the end...well, not the "end"...but once we'd reached what I call "My Renewal in Trusting", I started feeling connected again. My marriage felt beautiful again, just like this crocheted sachet that I made recently for a special friend.

During the process of crocheting the sachet, I didn't want to work at it. So was the process of my journey in my marital recovery; but just like the finished sachet, my dedication to stick it out and finish what I'd started helped me to find beauty again in trusting my Beloved!

"My Renewal in Trusting" is much more beautiful than even this sachet! ;)

Staying In The Day... ~CC
Psalm 30:5 "Weeping may endure for a night, but JOY cometh in the Morning"

Hopeful Friday...I am my Beloved's

2009-03-13T00:59:00.006-04:00

Thanks to Cielo for sharing the Scripture tag above for Hopeful Friday!

Be sure to visit all the others that will be sharing encouragement and hope this Friday through linking to her site by clicking on the Scripture Tag above!

The above scripture has a powerful deep meaning to my life in many ways. One way is because when my husband returned home seven years ago and we began our journey of marital restoration he started calling me his Beloved., and I called him that in turn... and still do to this day! God can restore marriages, heal broken hearts, and give promise to our continued journey together one day at a time...

This pic is one I took of a monument statue of a cross on the premises of Elvis Presley at Graceland Estate in Memphis in 2008. At the time I took the photo, I had no idea there was a robin in the pic till I zoomed in on the cross thinking of cropping it. I immediately felt inwardly that I needed to do something creative with the pic., and I created what you see above.

Isn't it just like the Lord......to give us an interesting way to look at things in unique ways when He catches our eye with nature just when we least suspect it?

I am in awe of all Creation because the Creator has captured my heart!

~Staying In The Day...

~CC

Quiet Reflection...Words That Inspire

2009-03-06T12:35:00.003-05:00

"Where there is no time for quiet, there is no time for the soul to grow"

Anonymous

Staying In The Day...~CC

Old Love Never Rusts...

2009-03-02T01:14:00.003-05:00

Excerpt from a book called "By The Fireside" by Charles Wagner

Book written in early 1900's

"We are too familiar with these unions where love, dying early, sleeps forgotten in a hidden corner of the memory, like the wedding-dress and orange blossoms in some remote chest. We end by believing that it must be so, that it is the law of life.

Let us lift our hearts to something more lasting, to a more tenacious love, not ending with the roses but faithful, deep-rooted and abiding, a love that braves the tempest and fears no frosts.

It is not at all like a pretty child, full of caprice and half rebellious; it is a rough and ready comrade, not indifferent to fine weather, but known for what it is, and proven in dark days.

It knows how to suffer, to pardon and to endure.

It does not hang upon a ray of sunshine or the colour of a lock.

It has no age, or rather, like good wine, age mellows it.

As the delicious German proverb has it--"Alte Liebe rostet nicht," old love never rusts."

This post is dedicated to Elouise & Barney, the couple whom these hands belong to.

They celebrated 67 years of marriage just this February!

~Staying In The Day

~CC

Words That Inspire....

2009-02-22T23:58:00.004-05:00

I Samuel 16:7

"Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the Heart"

I'm Hangin On Hopeful Friday with ~Cielo...

2009-02-12T22:14:00.006-05:00

Today is Hopeful Friday, hosted by Cielo at "House in the Roses". Please be sure you drop by Cielo's to see every ones Hopeful Friday share after you've visited a while!

"The one who walks through a countryside sees much more than the one who runs."

~Anonymous

I love that verse! It really reminds me to take heart to stop, be present, and savor the moment I'm in...regardless if it's a huge moment or not... Listening to the wind outside my window right now is a "big" thing...if I just listen...

Today my Hopeful Friday post is about a dream I share with my husband...

The teacup is one from my collection. I purchased it on one of my travels to New Zealand about 10 years ago. It holds many precious memories, and it inspires me to believe that with "Hope", all things are possible! This outdoor rustic picnic area is a unique place of rest in a very old garden...it's part of our dream...
The dream of Hope extends further in the garden...and an outdoor fireplace is preparing to warm the unknown guests that should bask in her presence...

And the Hopes and Dreams of a large old historic home(like this one) where we can devote our lives to enriching others in Marriage Restoration begins to build, and build, and build....

Little by little the foundation is coming along in our hearts...in our minds...and it's all a matter of time before we see what God does to provide what we envision ourselves doing some day.

Someday, our Hope is to have a safe place for couples to come to when their marriage is in crisis. It won't be a home that will provide counseling, and it won't be a home that will provide quick answers. It will be a haven of peace where a couple can come and learn how to breathe again...and where we can just "Love on them" at a time in their lives that they need it most. It will be a home where my husband & I will share our own journey of where and what God has rescued us from... It will be a place of rest for them, for however short of time they have. It will be a place where they'll be encouraged, to learn that couples can grow beyond tragedy, beyond infidelity, and beyond addictions...and that they can come out on the other side a more fulfilled person, despite how they got there. Our Hope is to send them back home with a "Blueprint" of things to do in preparation for the long road to recovery. Our Hope is for them to see that with hard work and commitment, there marriages can survive, and even better...can flourish!

My Hopeful Friday share is a reminder for us all, that in time, "All things are Possible"

Don't forget to drop on over to Cielo's to join in visiting all others Hopeful Fridays!

~CC,
Staying In The Day

Lights Illuminate Even The Darkest Soul...

2009-02-09T09:34:00.004-05:00

I love this little Rooster lamp that I found recently on one of my Antiquing Road Trips.

There is much depth in light......without it, we can often feel we've lost our way. With it, we realize we can see the path a little bit at a time; depending on how bright the light is.

Isn't that just like life?

My prayer is that I will always see His Light...to follow the right path of life I'm intended to journey on, no matter how difficult or how easy it may be.

Proverbs 3: 5&6

Have a blessed day, and do your best to "STAY IN IT"~

~CC

Lil Doggies Have A Way of Reminding Me When To Be Grateful!

2009-02-03T23:21:00.004-05:00

Some how a Dog's day is always great! These aren't my lil doggies, I actually took this picture in Memphis, TN in The Hard Rock Cafe Gift Shop where a lady was making a purchase. They were in her cloth purse together; yes together. They were just hangin out being cool and happy.

They're both little dachshunds, even though the one on the left seemed to remind me more of another breed...but, nonetheless...they were happy! I don't think I've ever saw a sad doggie...

I know I have so much to be thankful for......why can't I be happy like these lil doggies everyday, 24/7 like they are... All I can do is remind myself often to take life one day at a time... and enjoy each moment; as we never know when it can be taken from us, or who can be taken from us.

Thanks lil doggies for reminding me of this when I came across your lovely faces in my pics today! ;)

Staying in the Day thinking about choosing to be grateful more often! ~CC

The Path to Heaven, Does it Look Like This?

2009-01-22T21:37:00.005-05:00

After viewing my Hopeful Friday Post, please click on the logo above to visit Cielo at The House In The Roses to visit others that are writing Hopeful Thoughts.

This is a captivating view that makes one stop and meditate on where it leads... I couldn't help feel that it was the path to heaven the day I snapped this photo. With no home in sight, it only left the destination to my imagination... I've returned to capture Spring, Summer, and Fall...I'm waiting for the winter ice to create a glittering angelic appearance so I can do my best to capture it in it's essence. Once done, I want to get it professionally matted and call it Four Seasons of Heaven...

Four Seasons of Heaven... hmm

I remember having a dream many years back. In the dream I thought I was living out Psalm 23, the fields were so lush and green... I felt serene and safe in the dream, the same way I feel everytime I stand at the gate and see this view.

My grandmother used to describe Heaven as a Family Reunion...and it's how she focused on meeting death. She lived to be 92 and when she passed on to Heaven, we did our best to "Celebrate her life" instead of mourn her passing. I still have tears stream down my cheeks some late evenings when I can't fall asleep in bed because I miss her so much. But, I'm comforted to know she's experiencing the Four Seasons of Heaven in the presence of the Lord, and all those at her family reunion!

As for the path awaiting my next visit to capture the ice, we have an unspoken date. When the ice comes, she will whisper my name and I'll go running to inhale one last beautiful season so I can complete the Four Seasons of Heaven! I will enjoy seeing this hung in my home, and each time I walk by, I'll envision my Grandma celebrating in her new home, Heaven...and my Hope to someday have her hand outstretched to mine as I come home to join her!

I love you Grandma!

This "Hopeful Friday" post is dedicated to you!

Staying In The Day and still lovin you ... ~CC

Eager for Sweetheart Day! A great B&B to visit!

2009-01-21T07:50:00.000-05:00

Last year my Beloved surprised me for Sweethearts Day and made reservations at a great B&B in nearby Washington, GA. The flowers below weren't part of the deal...I had better, my Beloved by my side! Tulips are both my daughter and my favorite flower, so I thought I'd post it in honor of the upcoming special couples day, and because they're just too pretty to not share.
This is Holly Court Inn...I've attached a link to the pic, so if you'd like to click on it, it should take you there for a more personal tour of this lovely estate once you're done viewing my other pics below of our room.

This is the first thing you see when you enter the room, and the owners, Phil and Maggie have restored this home to a spectacular level of quality. The fireplace is gas, and it was so nice since it was still cool outside in February last year when we visited. I love the colors of yellow/blue, anyone that has been on my blogs know they are some of my favorites! The chandy lured us in, and the rest is below...

These side chairs sit to the left of the fireplace and there is a window to the left of both chairs that you can see the large property where the garden is. Even though the garden wasn't in bloom when we were there, I still loved walking through it to imagine how lovely it must get.

This was our King Size bed with fine linens, the finest I've ever experienced in a B&B. Phil & Maggie visited many B&B's all over Europe before they went into this business. They both wanted the "perfect" B&B, and they've got it! This room had all the spectacular touches, and we enjoyed it so much. Each morning a tray with hot beverages was outside our door by whatever time we requested it.

This is a lovely closeup of the mirror above the fireplace so you can see the way the chandy is viewed. If you click on the mirror, you should be able to see the details better. So gorgeous!

This was our lovely bathroom, the pic does not do it justice, that's why you'll want to go out to the site by clicking on the house above. This was royal treatment from start to finish with our own stark white robes to wear while there. The entire bath was restored with all new plumbing and bathroom fixtures.

The pics I miss sharing right now are those of the parlor where we dined for dinner one evening for two hours all by our romantic lonesome. Maggie is the chef, Phil the server...it was so wonderful! The breakfasts were spectacular, and so nice at the huge dining room table where we sat each morning. You must do yourself a favor for 2009, go to Phil & Maggie's in Washington, GA...if not for anything else, just to experience the peace and enjoyment of this magnificent historical estate.

The restoration of this home reminds me of what God has done for my marriage over the past seven years. Phil told us about all the work that went into making this B&B the beauty that it is today. It wasn't an overnight project, and it definitely cost them a bundle (my perception) =), and marital recovery works the same way. But, just like the B&B at Phil and Maggie's made it through the transition, it's gorgeous now, just like our road to recovery and healing in our marriage!

Seven Years...God's Grace IS Awesome!

2009-01-19T00:36:00.000-05:00

Happy Anniversary to Us! It's a bit after midnight, the day after January 18, our seven year anniversary of the day we had our miracle! The miracle was that I got my husband back, and I never knew I'd lost him...but I had. The Story, way too long to explain... but if you want to hear more, start by reading my Blog Archives from September of 2007.

Pic of my Beloved holding our new Granddaughter Cate on 12/18

This blog actually started as a result of our journey...I wanted to encourage other women to move on in their lives with dignity, regardless if their marriages weathered the storm or not. I wanted to offer a place where they could find someone that maybe was a little bit further in her journey of marital recovery so they could see that it's possible time "can" heal broken hearts.

It seemed I was meeting so many women with torn relationships, separated or divorced...it seemed easier to send them to this blog to hear my own story...and I could do what I try to do more in my life now...focus on the "now" and Stay In The Day with them...encourage them! My story is an important part of my life, it made me realize how precious my Beloved is...and how quickly I nearly lost him. It made me realize that he wasn't the only one that needed to change, I learned I did too. I feel blessed that our family survived the war...but it wasn't easy.

My husband dedicated himself to much counseling, I followed......we worked hard, and still do to learn all we can about each other. We never stopped loving each other, yet our life was nearly stolen from us. I feel we experienced a miracle.....everyday I feel like this. None of this would have been possible if it were not for the Grace God gave us......and the constant helper that He is to us. I always wanted a blueprint of what our recovery would look like in the early years.....I now understand "God" just wanted me to lean on Him, trust Him, one day at a time... I'm getting better at that every day!

I'm trusting my husband again...and I'm trusting that even though there are no guarantees in life with the exception of the Lord never leaving me, we'll grow old together rocking away; just like we always said we would. Happy Anniversary to us! On July 4th we will celebrate 27 years of marriage, by God's Grace...

On a calendar that sits on my husbands desk that is in front of me now, it reads the following for 1/18: "A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them" (taken from Ecclesiastes 3) This seemed so fitting for our anniversary bible verse. We now laugh, we now dance, we now gather stones...

Staying In The Day with you... ~CC

~Focus on Today - Today is where you are, Stay In It and Fall Backwards...

2009-01-17T15:00:00.000-05:00

Treat Yourself With Dignity - Eat Healthy!

Butter Bib Lettuce, Red Cabbage, Mango, Oven Roasted Walnuts, Blueberries,

Drizzle w/ Rasberry Vinigrette Salad Dressing Salad

Last evening my husband had an "A'ha" moment. He was bringing me a cup of hot tea. As he walked into the family room, he was reminded of a tracing of my hand print I had made for him over 6 years ago. Around the outside of the handprint I'd copied an old poem I had written for him when we fell in love over 27 years ago. As he recalled this memory, he had a sweet smile on his face. I reminded him, lovingly, "That's the poem I sent to you six years ago when you weren't well, right before your call to me the following week". The call I was referring to was when he told me he would not be coming home, and that he was in a relationship with another woman.

He had totally misplaced in his memory why and when I'd given that to him. He only knew how much it had meant to him. Consequences of poor choices always have a way of creeping back into our memory. For me, that handprint and poem were a good memory. I felt God had inspired me to draw my handprint and copy that old poem around it, mail it next day air with a 13 page letter to remind him of my love and committment to him. At the time I thought he was nearing a nervous breakdown, but I had not a clue as to what was causing it. The memory for him when I shared why I had gave it to him brought sadness. Sadness on reflecting who he had become, and the pain that his sin had brought to me, our children, and himself.

We have rare flashbacks of those painful days, weeks, months, and early years when he came back to us. Fortunately for both of us, the counseling and support groups we joined in those early days of recovery continue to help us stay on the right track!

We focus on the things we can change, not on the things we cannot; "the past".
We live each day to the fullest and pray for God to guide us in each of our steps.
We do our best to allow one another to sweep their own side of the street, we're still working on this one. This equates to not trying to control each other.
We continue to strive for growth individually, both spiritually and emotionally.
We realize that it's important to have accountability partners of the same sex, each of us. Marriage is work, regardless whether we are men and women of faith or not. By sharing our struggles with a "safe" friend that can pray with and for us, this helps us to stay on the right track.
I leave you today with some food for thought:
Never keep a secret to yourself of thoughts you're entertaining regarding an "emotional" connection to someone you know or have just met. Emotional connections are considered an emotional affair. When we are frustrated about where our marriage is, or what our marriage is not, it's very easy to fall into a trap of admiring someones kindness to you. This is definitely a baby step toward an affair beginning. Purchase the book, Torn Assunder, by Dave Carder if you relate to what I'm explaining here. Become Aware so you can "Beware" of what could ensnare you in this vulnerable time.
Be appreciative that you are surviving one day at a time! Don't borrow what tomorrow holds, stay in today. Pray, read the word, (write it if you feel you are not remembering what you are reading, I did this) eat healthy, walk or exercise.
Find a good marriage counselor & support group. We chose Christian counselors that were able to both speak to our spiritual and emotional needs. They were great!
If you have children, get them into counseling; we did not do this. That was an oversight that we struggle sometimes to forgive ourselves for not doing. Sometimes we are so engrained in our own grief that we think that if our marriage makes it, that's all our children need. Children can be damaged in deep ways. They need to express their own emotions of the pain they are experiencing as they see their parents struggle to keep their marriage in tact. And they need to express them to a professional that can help them sort out their feelings to cope in a healthy way.
Treat yourself with Dignity! Dignity for me was no longer trying to find out "who" she was. No more searching the web to find a phone number to call and dump my frustration and emotions out on her. No more trying to ask questions about how he had felt toward her. Dignity for me was to begin to hold my head high, and be good to myself. When I felt like I was being sucked back to that "victim" mentality, I had to purposefully choose the higher road.
I pray you will choose the higher road too! Maybe you are just at the beginning of your journey, maybe you're like me and are years down the road in the recovery of your marriage. Maybe you are walking alone, and life is uncertain either way. Trust God! As painful as all your days can be at times, HE will bring you through them, one by one. I hung on to, and still do, my favorite bible verse, Proverbs 3: 5&6: 5. Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. 6. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.
Staying In The Day along with you, ~CC
PS: This post was originally written for an earlier post. I'm reposting again for the recipe I refer to on my other blog this week: http://catherinesteacups.blogspot.com/ I also wanted to say that tomorrow, 1/18/09, will be seven years since the phone call I refer to in the post. Early in my situation I wondered if I would ever get to a place of peace again in my marriage. I longed for a blueprint that would tell me when, and if, I'd ever regain it. I'm blessed to say that "today" I am experiencing that peace. Each day gets better...and I give God all the glory for bringing us "through" what was meant to destroy us! ~CC

You, My Dear, Are a Fingerprint of God!

2009-01-13T08:19:00.000-05:00

Many things in life inspire me. My loved ones, my friends, the smiles that I see when I go out amongst people I don't even know, all things French, decorating, collecting teacups, photography...but nothing inspires me like the words of this Steven Curtis Chapman song that he wrote for his daughter when she was growing up through an awkward phase of her younger years when she didn't like what she saw in the mirror. Enjoy as you scroll down and realize that "You" are a Fingerprint of God ~ and allow the words to give you JOY in the deepest part of your soul! It's only one month till Valentine's Day...may this little pic of Cate's hand taken on Sunday get you in the mood to "hand write" a love note or song to your significant other, family member, and friend.

I can see the tears filling your eyes

And I know where their coming from

They're comin from a heart that's broken in two

By what you don't see

The person in the Mirror

Doesn't look like the magazine

Oh but when I look at you it's clear to me that

I can see the fingerprints of God

When I look at you

I can see the fingerprints of God

And I know it's true

You're a Masterpiece

That all creation quietly applauds

And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

Never has there been and never again

Will there be another you

Fashioned by God's hand

And perfectly planned

To be just who you are

And what he's been creating

Since the first beat of your heart

Is a living beating priceless work of art and

Just look at you

You're a wonder in the making

Oh and God's not through no

In fact he's just getting started...

Next post to provide a wonderful Sweethearts Day surprise ` the most romantic and sentimental gift to express to that special person in your life your love in a cute and romantic way~ Till then...Staying In The Day with Cate~

Be`Be Funky Haute Pink Glasses...for the Conservative, Oh Yea....

2009-01-10T21:57:00.000-05:00

Well, I promised you earlier this morning that I'd run and get my new "out on a limb", stretching out of my conservativeness "Funky Haute Pink Eye Glasses"...here they are! Being that I've had a ball cap on my head all day with the pony tail hanging out the back, I certainly was not going to be the model. Soooo, I found some substitutes! First there is Allie, my granddaughter Toy Yorkie, she's first on the "preview", even though she was the last pic. I just had to give her top billing, she's just toooooo cute and so "hip" with em. She also struggles with being too conservative. (wink)

Ya see, when she seen the poodle to the left of her getting top attention, she had to get in on the act. So, weakling that I am, I caved in to let her tryem on.
Now, notice the shades of pink and red, too cool. Chic, Sassy....Funky, so "not" who I am... ha! But, when I put these specs on, I become an unlocked Conservative "funky wannabe"! I'm stretchin....stretchin....tryin! 8=)

Had to take a side shot so that you can see that when I wear the specs with my pony tail (chic and very french now, gotta have that french look), you can see the cool ears of the eyeglasses. Again, funky! 8=)

Last, but certainly not least, Santa! It's hard to try and find models for specs! I walked by him and thought........he can wearem~and he can, and looks quite hot too~ Well...I've told you "way more" than you wanted to know about my new glasses and my poor vision today, but it does a body good to blog about something silly every now and then. I guess you could say today was my Silly Saturday! And, this is Silly looking Santa! ha!

Staying In The Day with my new cool "Funky Haute Pink Be`Be Glasses" ~CC

A~Ha! Now That I've Got Your Attention....

2009-01-10T09:54:00.000-05:00

I still remember when my girlfriend warned me I'd need glasses when I turned 40!

Not I, no...not I~ That was about (?) years ago! But ya know what, I love wearing glasses! Actually, about a month ago, I just got a new pair. You know, the yearly visit? I have good benefits so I can get another pair and hardly pay a cent, seemed worthy to take advantage of it. No more conservative black frames for me. (Nothing personal Sarah Palin, I love yours!) SO...I told the young assistant that I wanted; no...needed something "out of my comfort zone". I wanted to STRETCH my personality. I stretched it alright, and I love em! They are a combination of hot red like pink..with a black stripe. I can't explain, so I'll have to take some good pics and share them with you later today. I'm tellin you, they're HOT! (tehehe)

I've been extremely conservative all my life in the way I dress, probably even in the way I decorate. Slowly but surely, I'm peeling out of my shell! It's going to be interesting to see who I grow up to be......and how I will look once I've totally arrived! Somehow I see me at 80 laying on the gurney in the hospital still planning on whether I need eye surgery to take up the fatty tissue on the top of my eye lids so I look younger. No, I've not had any surgery to "youth-anize" me! ha! I want to "Live" as if I were dieing, and surgery isn't part of that plan in my lifetime!

Just like the blurred vision (intentional) of the lovely pic I took of my oranges, I want to mature naturally. I want to embrace every wrinkle I earn! I want my grandchildren to see that it's wonderful to earn the "stripes" of life with dignity~ Gracefully growing up is so much easier at this age than when I was in my teens~ I'm sure I'd get some "nods" on that one.

Well, gotta run, gotta go get my glasses & take pics so you can see why I "went out on a limb" and bought them~ Remember, "Staying In The Day" doesn't have to look like this pic, all blurry and fuzzy. Get the glasses, and get a funky pair~ And, if you've always been the funky type...go conservative for a change, Sarah won't mind~ 8=) And if you don't need glasses, buy a pair anyway~ ha! No, I don't have stock in vision ware products! (wink, wink)

Staying In The Day with perfect vision, as long as I've got my funky Pink/Black glasses on... No, I don't need them for everything, just driving and watching a movie! ~CC

Plates, Teapots, Wall Color, ACTION...

2009-01-08T23:39:00.000-05:00

After reading this post, don't forget to click on the Hopeful Friday pic below to locate more Hopeful Friday words of inspiration!

Sometimes it's the most unusual combinations that create the most interesting twist to a room, would you agree? I located this arrangement on a Dining Room wall at a local Holiday Open House in a nearby subdivision. I couldn't help but think how stunning it all looked together on the wall, just as pretty as if it were on the table with a rich burgundy table covering underneath showcasing each piece. How many of us really think about showcasing our china on the wall? We tend to think of what it's specifically used for, and it looks great for what it's used for...serving and looking gorgeous!
Sometimes our lives have the same capability to create a twist with opportunities to showcase our own wall display. If we don't understand that our "talents" can be used in other ways, maybe even for a more beautiful purpose, we're really missing out on life. Take me for example, I'm in Banking. I work in HR Learning and on a day to day basis I work with creating project plans, coordinating fulfillment for classroom materials to arrive at just the right time, at the specific location, and for the appropriate facilitator to receive in order for the class to take place.

A few months back, I was a part of a Women's Leadership Team at my church that was responsible to plan and deliver a catered banquet to be held for 100 women in attendance. It wasn't until a few weeks before the banquet that I realized how much our team needed to stay on the same page, and the way to do that was for me to create a project plan which covered every person, every team, and each responsibility. The talents I've been given aren't just for my profession, even though it's what I do on a regular basis day to day, kind of like the lovely Porcelain Tea Set display seen served regularly on a table. Instead, the talent I contributed in creating the project plan for our Ladies Ministry Banquet helped me to see that I could be used in a more "Beautiful" fashion, like the arrangement on the wall in the photo. Uniquely, the theme of our banquet was entitled, "Beautiful".

May you search within your life and find what talent you may be hiding and only using for work...or home... Somewhere, someone, or some group could be blessed by the contribution you have to give. Where there is a niche, there's a way!

Staying In The Day while learning what other "Wall Displays" I may have hidden in my life... ~CC

Phil. 2:13 "God is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

Catherine's Tea Cups - Repeat after me, "BLOGGING IS CONTAGIOUS"

2009-01-07T21:45:00.000-05:00

Mariah, my little neighbhor girl, sharing tea with me!

Blogging is contagious, don't you agree? You "don't" want to know how many I am the owner of... Let's just say I have numerous email accounts, and you won't see them all under this profile! (wink, wink)

I figure I'll let a few out of the bag here and there...yea, here and there.

Like tonight!

http://catherinesteacups.blogspot.com/

Come visit me now and check it out! Mariah is featured on the posting dated for today! I'd love to hear your comments. Also, know that you can always locate this new blog under the right side bar of "Stay In The Day" under my favorite Blogs to visit~ It's called Catherine's Tea Cups...catchy title, don'tcha think? So, once you read my postings for this site, you can just slide ride on over to Catherine de th`e Cups, which is French for Catherine's Tea Cups!

Drink a Cuppa and "Stay In The Day" sipping away!

~CC

Step into my California Lilac Powder Room, A Touch Of Spring Year Round...

2009-01-07T20:39:00.000-05:00

Off my Formal Dining Room, you'll see the Powder Room to the left of the Cloak Closet. The photo below shows you the crown molding, as well as the lighter lavendar ceiling color I selected. Isn't this a nice contrast instead of the normal drab and dreary white ceiling many opt for. (I used to be part of the "many" not that long ago) Let's just say I'm learning to "stretch" m-y-s-e-l-f. 8-)

The California Lilac was the perfect choice for the Powder Room...as you can see the Light Cr`eme Brul`ee Creamy Yellow in the hallway as you enter the room.

Both on the hallway and inside the Powder Room you'll see two of my favorite prints from my Artist friend, Vonnie. The painting in the hallway with the deep purple matting is called "Italian Poppies", it's one of my favorites! The original oil painting hangs in her family room and it's absolutely breathtaking each time I'm in its presence.
Over the porcelain pedestal style vanity sink hangs this Antique Wood Mirror that I picked up in a VA Antique Shop many years ago. Each time we move, it makes it's way home to multiple rooms, as if it's making the rounds to find out which room really feels like home! Well, the California Lilac Powder Room is it's permanent home now! I'm toying with the notion of doing a Shabby Chic makeover, but not quite there yet.
Ahhh...another Vonnie Blowers print, this one is called Garden Meadow, the original is done in watercolors. When I originally purchased this, I didn't think the color of the mat went well with it, seemed too light. But when I realized that the color matched my Cr`eme Brul`ee paint in the Dining Room...it appeared to be the perfect color. Yep, it sure is! Hanging within the Powder Room, the contrast is absolutely spot on! It radiates the same softness of the external room, and continually makes one feel like Spring is in the air, even if while perched on the porcelain resting stool. While seated, the lovely verse below is slightly above eye level so one can read and ponder these words of wisdom...
Does it not make one feel like resting and meditating on the things we long to hear...quiet, music, peaceful thoughts? What a way to "Stay In The Day"...eh?

Years ago I would never have painted with color.....it took me hundreds of teency weency footsteps to make it to the California Lilac...but I'm soooooo glad I did! Go out on a limb....start with something small.....but do yourself a favor and bring "color" into your world! Thanks Kathleen for helping me to finalize my selection from the purple paint chips! As usual, you were right!

Staying In The Day and still loving my California Lilac Powder Room ~CC

Did You Know? Maternity Clothes and Christmas Decorations Have Something In Common...

2009-01-05T21:01:00.000-05:00

For Me, Maternity Clothes and Christmas Decorations have something in common, I never want to put them away... Grant you, I have "permanently" put my Maternity clothes away, some years ago. But, Christmas, nah...still struggling with that! 8=)

My daughter had Christmas torn down and put away in her home within a few days post the holiday. Not me...I'll be bathing in Christmas till at least January 31st, at least. And my girlfriend Kathleen......maybe till the end of February......at the earliest! Another thing we have in common! This room with the Eggplant and Yellow striped velvet chairs are in my Formal Living room - it has an open view into the Formal Dining Room with two large white pillar columns you'll see in a pic further down in this journal entry. The tree in this area is decorated with ornaments of Romance & Lace. At the top of the tree are two lovely angels that have porcelain heads and hands with a body of elegant organza flowing as their gowns. I have seven of these angels, the remaining five were perched on top of the hutch and base where the Romance and Lace theme continued. On this tree you'll find all types of ornaments, even a handmade ornament I made after returning from Hawaii with sand. (don't report me, please) I'd seen this in a craft magazine once; purchase a clear plastic ornament that snaps together, blue lace where the ornament snaps together, attach a gold strand and use as the hanger on the tree. Inside the ornament is not only the sand from Hawaii, but also a shell that I found on the beach with a purple center. I absolutely love putting that ornament on the tree yearly! Other ornaments have a teacup theme and have been gifts from friends over the years. The tree (all white lights) is sitting on what is called the "Floating Table" (a lesson learned from my girlfriend Kathleen) and this year was the first I'd ever showcased it like this. It definitely got some nice nods when the friends and family seen it!

Since Christmas will be hanging around my place a bit longer, more on my tree in the Breakfast/Kitchen area! The tree that is placed in the Breakfast area is decorated in ornaments with sentiment, and also the glass ornaments that belonged to my husbands grandmother in the early 40's and 50's. This tree has close to 200 ornaments on it, and they encompass the entire tree. The lights stay on from morning till nigh...and it's so special because it brings the warmth of my children in their younger years with all the kiddy ornaments they used to bring home from school. This tree has colored lights, as they are my husbands favorite!

Our dining room has an open forum to the formal living room. The tray ceiling is painted in "Eggplant" (a deep chocolate purple) and the walls in "Creme Brul`ee" (light and creamy yellow). I purchased the fabric in... "Eggplant", you got it! They were quite fun to make, I had to hand stitch them because of the delicacy of the fabric.....not fun, but well worth the end result. The antique chandelier was a gift to ourselves for our 25th wedding anniversary! My friend Kathleen & Prince Charming were visiting from PA and we were in an antique shop when she told me if we weren't going to buy it, she was. We bought it, and it became another new reason to buy more........we absolutely love the ambiance it gives our home. We're going to change the wood dining room set and the hutch and base in 2009 with a Shabby Chic distressed white. Some have tried to change our minds, but both my husband and I are taking the gamble and doing it! I'll share pics later when we get it done! Oh, and the other thing we're going to do in 2009, we're converting the table to a 7ft "ROUND" table! We want to create more of a conversational mood and feel that everyone sitting in a circular fashion will help us to achieve that mood much more nicely! I'll let you know how that works out!
"Can't you just see this set in Shabby Chic White, along with a ROUND table?" I can.......hmmm, NICE!

Ya know, our lives really aren't too much different than overhauling a Dining Room Set to become a new and improved Gorgeous Shabby Chic set. All it takes is some time, determination, and a "Never Give Up On It" attitude!

Staying In The Day with you while decorating and "NOT" putting my Christmas Decorations away, YET.....~CC

Sometimes It's Easy To Get Lost In The Midst Of Everything That's Going On....

2009-01-05T19:14:00.000-05:00

Point In Case: Allie, my Granddaughter Toy Yorkie, nestled in my new Christmas Gift from Kathleen, a luscious animal print throw.

It's hard to know where the throw ends and Allie begins...

A New Year can sometimes make one feel like that, somehow lost in the midst of things! I have found that starting off the New Year with determination to "avoid" the pitfalls of the norm help tremendously! The norm.....hmmm, what might that be? Oh, you might say it's the traditional set of New Years resolutions we set out to make and fail to achieve. Nah, been there and done that. Last year I tried something new and loved it! My husband and I both went away for a Valentine weekend at a B&B and worked hard to create our Mission Statements for the year. A Mission Statement is much different than a resolution because it requires you put things down on paper as to how you will actually achieve what it is that you are wanting to accomplish.

For example, I wanted to get in shape last year by exercising. I wrote this fabulous paragraph on how I would achieve my goal of getting in shape physically by walking and lifting weights. I have to laugh now when I look back and read it, since I never actually lifted weights the entire year. But, I also have to give myself credit, as I did achieve my goal of getting in shape instead by joining Curves and being committed to getting in shape by exercising 3-4x's weekly. Before the year closed out, I had achieved the goal I'd set, regardless of whether I lifted a weight or not. My ultimate goal (getting in shape) had been met by simply reading the Mission Statement over and over throughout the year as it hung on my wall. It drove me to accomplish my Mission.

I need to update my Mission Statement for this year, because I have new and exciting things I want to add to it. If you want some inspiration on what to read so you can create a Mission Statement for yourself this year, pick up Tommy Newberry's book called "Success IS Not an Accident". It's a very riveting book that creates excitement and motivation to grow as an individual. Whether you're single, married, or newly single again; personal development and growth is critical in living a happy, healthy, and fulfilled life. Tommy's book is a great way to start the New Year! A matter of fact, I'm going to read his book all over again, just to get the full impact of getting inspired for 2009!

Working to "Stay In The Day positively" with you this year! ~CC

Happy New Year...been kinda busy! How bout you?

2009-01-02T11:56:00.001-05:00

The "BEST GIFTS" under our Tree this year!

Tyler introducing his sister... Cate

December 18, 2008

This is our daughter Kim that recently delivered our very first Granddaughter:

Catherine Elizabeth (Cate)

8lbs. 11 oz weight

19 1/2 " length

I've missed spending time with you over the holidays, but this little namesake of mine took priority, as rightfully should have. Christmas has always been my most favorite time of the year, this year even more so. Cate was born on my mother's 76th birthday, and named after both grandmothers. So, she's already entered this earth and bathed in the legacy of three important women in her life.

I can't help but think about how significant it is to start the New Year off with a huge amount of "gratitude" this year. Faith, Family, & Friends are the fabric of life that will never unravel, as long as our Faith is rooted in the "right stuff"! This year, as every year, my family plants our Faith in the everlasting, one and only, J-E-S-U-S. He was, and will continue to be, the REASON for our "Christ" focused "Christ"mas every season! With the rest of the world removing the word Christmas from us in retail land, I feel even more compelled to remind myself and all that I come in contact with of the "true reason" of our CHRISTmas season!

Wishing you and yours a Belated Merry CHRISTmas and a very Happy New Year........and, oh yea, CATE & her brother Tyler "Were" the best GIFTs under our tree this year!

Looking forward to Staying In The Day in 2009 with you! ~CC

©Sweet Memories...Become Jewels To Cherish

2008-12-08T21:15:00.000-05:00

Eclectic Jewels Collectively Create Beauty...Just Like Sweet Memories

Precious Jewels Inspire Memories Of Past...

©Photography by ~CC

Yesterday I took my future daughter-in-law to a Christmas Open House at one of my favorite Antique Shops. Christmas music playing in the background; refreshments, punch, and even mulling spiced cider and chili were served. From the time we entered the shop, we felt elevated in to the Holiday Spirit! Walking from one vendors booth to another, it was as if going back in time. I told my son's fiancee that I felt like I was revisiting earlier days of my youth...and the things of old made me feel like I was having a visit with my Grandma.

As heavy as my heart had felt from having a house full of guests, I immediately felt a new sense of peace and ease in my day. My heart felt light and joy filled my soul. I was having a unique flash back to days when my Grandma took care of me.

Her name at birth was "Odessa Inez", her Daddy called her Dessie. My Grandfather decided when he married her that she should go by Inez, he thought it was a classy name. She lived till she was 92, passing away nearly five years ago come next February. I was privileged to know her for 46 years, and there was never a time I didn't cherish being in her presence.

In the antique shop I saw a silver Christmas tree. It was exactly like the one she started putting up in the late 60's. Then I began to see other items that I recalled her having in her home. The music of Nat King Cole played softly as I continued to be reminded of the precious Jewel I had, and still have, in my Grandma Inez. Whether in person, or in memory, being in her presence put a smile on my face and gave me peace in my heart.

Holidays can be a double edged sword to some when they've lost loved ones. Instead, I pray this holiday will serve to bring a precious Jewel back to your mind while preparing for this festive time of the year...and instead of sadness, I hope the memory will bring joy like mine did. I miss my Grandma fiercely...but I do have the hope of one day seeing her again in Heaven, I'm counting on it! She once told me that she was looking forward to her family reunion when it was her time to pass away... I will never forget her, and will also look forward to my own family reunion someday; when I can see her face to face.

If you visit any antique shops over this holiday, I encourage you to revisit earlier days you once enjoyed with a loved one too. What a gift from God to recapture a precious memory. What a gift to be transported from stress into peace just by enjoying a simple visit to a local shop and and being reminded of the love I have for my Grandma.

Staying In The Day with you...while remembering more"Sweet Memories" of old as I walk through this "Christ"mas season, ~CC

Detach, Detach, Detach.... Will I Ever Get This Right? I'm Working On It...

2008-12-05T19:25:00.001-05:00

When All Else Fails, Enjoy Reconnecting With God...

Work On Relaxing While Enjoying Your Favorite Scone & Cup of Tea

Chocolate Chip Banana Scone

Served with a drizzle of Vanilla Honey Curd and Devonshire Cream

Chocolate Chip Banana Scones: Ingredients:1 1/4 cup flour1/2 cup quick-cooking oats1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon cinnamon1/4 teaspoon baking soda1/4 teaspoon salt6 tablespoons cold butter1/2 cup mashed bananas1/3 cup buttermilk1 cup chocolate chips.Directions: In a mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter. Mix banana and buttermilk thoroughly. Add to the dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips. Mix until just moistened. Knead 12 times. Pat out into a 6" circle. Sprinkle with sugar. With a sharp knife, cut into 6 - 8 wedges. Place 1" apart on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 425F for 12 minutes or until golden.
This recipe is from CDKitchen and serves/makes 8

Today was one of those days that started out great! I enjoyed starting work, took an early lunch hour to enjoy a conversation with my friend Kathleen in PA...and then I received a call from one of my adult sons. He is experiencing life at it's worst; a recent broken engagement, dissatisfied with where he's at in the life decisions he's made in the past few years, not happy with where his job is taking him; need I say more?

While on the call, I did my best to listen to his frustrations and say all the right "Motherly" things to encourage him. I hung up the phone and felt like I had now been covered up with a blanket of hopelessness. I felt like his mood had now shifted to me! Drats, I hate it when that happens; can you relate? The remainder of the afternoon I knew exactly what my old nature was doing, getting stuck in something that I didn't need to own. Going back to my support group days, I soon recognized I was in the old pattern of attaching myself to the emotional turmoil that my son was experiencing. I reminded myself that I can love him from a distance without taking on his pain. The best way I can love both myself and him is to pray for him and his needs and then to...Detach...Let Go.... So, I practiced the following: I verbally repeat this to myself over and over...Detach, Detach, Detach... And, I say it in a way that assures me that it's ok to not take on this burden that isn't mine to take. My son will eventually get through this time. In order for him to mature; he needs to experience lessons learned, just like I have in my own life.

It may sound funny to you, but when you realize that you're beginning to obsess or get overly stressed over things you have no control over, detaching is the only thing you can do to be kind to yourself. So, today was one of those days that a scone and cup of tea were created for! There's nothing like "Detaching" with a favorite snack and hot drink - better yet, grab your favorite magazine or book and remind yourself how to do something for just you! That's my self prescribed advice for me today, you might as well enjoy it too!

Bon Appetite! Staying In The Day with you....~CC

Proverbs 3:5-6 (New Century Version) 5 Trust the Lord with all your heart, and don't depend on your own understanding. 6 Remember the Lord in all you do, and he will give you success.

©Letting Go Of The Things I Cannot Control...

2008-12-02T07:53:00.000-05:00

What Does Letting Go Look Like?

The Flame Of Letting Go...

©Photography by ~CC

I have learned the most challenging thing in life for me has been to release those I love into the "Trust of God's Hands" for the outcome in their lives. It's only through the support I received while attending a Christian Counseling Center that I realized how backward thinking that is. If I believe any worry I choose to entertain in any way helps my loved ones or myself; I have failed both of us greatly.

Instead, I have learned to work very hard at bending my old nature toward laying them rightfully where they belong, in the hands of our Beloved Savior. It's only when I Let Go of them and Let God take the drivers seat of my burden that I have been successful.

Each opportunity that's presented to me, I get to practice this over and over. One of these days, I'm gonna get it right. One of these days, my old nature will be totally bent to where it needs to be.....in allowing the Flame of my own will to "Let Go and Let God" in relation to all those I love.

My prayer today is that you are also working to let go of the things you were never meant to control. Worrying is not about loving, it's about not trusting our Heavenly Father. Just like He has rescued us, He will also rescue our loved ones! The Flame of Letting Go will get easier the more we exercise it...

Staying In The Day with you and continuing to choose to work to "Let Go"... ~CC

Friends, Tradition, and Tea For Every Day Of The Year!

2008-11-28T23:01:00.000-05:00

"A cup that is already full cannot have more added to it. In order to receive the further good to which we are entitled, we must give of that which we have" ~Quote by Margaret Becker

I became a Tea Cup Collector nearly 15 or more years ago. Inspired by a mentor of mine, Devi Titus, when I attended a Baby Shower she was hosting for a friend from church. On the dining room table was the largest selection of tea cups I'd ever seen in my entire life, and uniquely...none matched! And that's exactly what I loved about the display, we all got to pick the one that fancied us the most.

Shortly thereafter, I walked into a Hallmark store and purchased my very first fine porcelain tea cup "Made in England", which would be come the first of one hundred plus in my collection I now have today. The cup in this photo was given to me from one of my best friends of nearly 20 years, Kathleen Ellis. Kathleen also began a collection shortly after I started mine. I'd say she may be catching up to the number I have in my own and hers are encased in the most beautiful Vintage Distressed Hutches; they are breathtaking!

Many a great conversation has been enjoyed over the sipping of tea from the cups in my collection. Some between two old friends, and some between groups of women enjoying a tea party to get acquainted with new neighbors over the years. Each time I move, I host a "Get Acquainted Tea" to get to know some of the women in my neighborhood. They are always a hit, and the women fall in love with the variety of scones I make, fresh lemon curd, my mock devonshire cream, and last but not least, the tea! I've even made some tremendous new Tea Bud's when hosting my Get Acquainted Teas, like Lya! Lya and I met in September of 2007, and we've been enjoying a monthly tea ever since. We rotate homes each month and we both look forward to the time together, conversation, and tea. We don't overwhelm ourselves with the refreshments and settle for a bit of sweetness, but enjoy multiple cups of the tea of the day!

On occasion, I've been inspired to share one of the cups from my collection with others that God leads into my life. There is no rhyme or reason, and I totally wait for the nudge from Him to give one away. In some cases, I've given the very first tea cup to start their own collection. In other cases, it's because I have wanted the person to always remember our tea times together no matter where life will lead them. One cup was shared with a friend that now lives in England, who would have guessed one of my cups would now reside so far away? We still stay in touch to this day and we often refer to the days in our correspondence of which we enjoyed our tea time together and the friendship we enjoyed and continue to do so.

Whether you have started your own tea cup collection or not, consider doing so. It's much fun, and many of the cups I've obtained are from vintage shops, consignment boutiques, gifts from family and friends once they knew I collected cups, and even yard sales. Tea Cups really are like friends, you never quite know when you're going to find a new one! Now, you say you don't drink tea? Well, I didn't either till right before I started my collection. Start with a mild black tea and add sugar if needed. My girlfriend Kathleen also swayed me into drinking milk in my tea, which I now nearly cannot live without.

Staying In The Day today with something Light Hearted for the Holidays! Fa la la la la! Celebrating the Birth of Jesus, as He IS the Reason for this Season! ~CC

©Thanksgiving......and Sticktoitiveness....

2008-11-28T08:02:00.000-05:00

On the edge of where I took a seat...

©Photography by ~CC

There's been many times in my life that I didn't want to stick to something. There was the time when I was 10 and had been taking piano lessons for a year. When I was just beginning to get good and the practice required more of me utilizing my left hand, I quit. Then there was the time when I was a teenager and my school work required more of me to be among the A-Section (Academic) in my high school, I just did what came easy without much studying...and made great grades, but graduated among the B-Section (Business) peers instead of giving my best. Unfortunately I brought this same mentality into my 20's, 30's, and even my 40's. Finally, somewhere in my late 40's, I decided just getting by, wasn't enough. Phil: 3: 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

A few years back, I finally learned what Phil. 3: 13&14 meant. When my husband returned home nearly seven years ago, something inside wouldn't give up and move on like I would have in the past. There was this innate "Sticktoitiveness" that I couldn't explain. Somewhere inside of my heart I kept hearing whispers of words like, "It's going to be alright, don't give up". I spent much time in God's word back then, as each day was an overwhelming mountain for me and my husband in what became a huge walk in his recovery. Surprisingly to me, in my own recovery too. Then about two years ago, I took another role in my company. I had worked in the department for nearly five years at that time. Everyone felt I had the experience and knowledge of about all there was to know, I'd be a perfect fit with the new job. Well, needless to say, I felt very under qualified when I began the training and learned there were so many details I didn't know. All of a sudden, it was like I was 10 again, taking piano lessons and I wanted to quit. Something inside of me wouldn't let me. More little voices began to play in my head, "God wouldn't open a door for me if He hasn't equipped me, don't give up...don't give in, "Focus on Finishing Well". Fortunately, I listened to those voices in my head and I didn't give up. It took me five months to get to feeling "comfortable" again...but the long hard road was worth it.

The photo included in this blog posting is another photo taken on Veteran's Day in Tallulah Falls, GA. It was in the middle of a climb to get to the top of the mountain. It was the only place in the two mile hike that I thought I was going to have to give up. I turned around on the steps, sat down, and looked at this view. Something told me to take this picture...and now I know why. It's another example in my more recent years of where I put into practice, "Sticktoitiveness". I made it to the top of the mountain.......and if I hadn't, all the other lovely landscape of Fall Foliage would have been missed. I wouldn't have gotten to experience the Mountain Top experience with my husband and our buddy that was along. On Nov 11, ~CC accomplished another feat! Even though it may have been small in many's eyes, it was large in mine!

I like who I am today...who I've become anyways...because I'm a perfect example of how God changes someone through tragedy. I could have given up on my marriage in 2002, with God's help I didn't. I could have given up on the new role I took in my department two years ago, with God's help I didn't and I absolutely love what I do. And, on the first hike of my life I took in the gorgeous State Park of Tallulah Falls, GA, I didn't give up...and the reward was so awesome!

Whatever you're up against today, don't give up. "Sticktoitiveness" is quite rewarding, and it teaches us much about who we are, and who we've not yet become. Thankfully, God didn't give up on me...I'm sure He won't give up on you either!

Staying In The Day with you... ~CC

God's Design For Your Life...

2008-11-18T12:04:00.000-05:00

Becoming a Brilliant & Beautiful Part of God's Design for Your Life...

Photography by ~CC

God's design for our lives isn't always what we thought it would be. Just like the picture shown above, who would suppose that a used up large wine glass found in a Thrift Store that sold for $1, what someone deemed as a useless Antique Hand Blown Glass Perfume Bottle found in a Consignment Shop for $4, and jewelry rarely worn lying in my jewelry chest could make such a transformation into a stunning centerpiece I recently hosted a table for.

The event I recently helped my local church with was entitled "Beautiful". As one of the Table Hostesses, I tried to link the theme of what a woman's mind sometimes goes to when she hears the word "Beauty", and took that idea and incorporated it into my Table Scape Design. I love the way God uses the every day events in our lives to show us who HE is!

I was then inspired to bring them all together to create beauty, but also a unique twist of interest to my table. In my mind, I saw them collectively as a rare and individual set of mismatched gems that put together would provide my table a breathtaking centerpiece. In many ways, we ourselves represent the thrown away wine glass, left for gone perfume bottle, and yes., even the rarely visited jewelry. As women, we can sometimes feel that our purpose in life is futile, goes unnoticed, and rarely gets a visit to recognize the beauty we have within us. And sometimes we ourselves don't appreciate or comprehend the beauty God has endowed us with.

Today I encourage you to think about where you fit in to the "Beautiful" scheme of things. Whoever you are, whatever you are doing in life, you are valuable to our Creator.

Staying In The Day with you and meditating on how God takes the worst parts of us, cleans us through and through and creates a spectacular sparkling centerpiece, collectively! Ecclesiastes 3:11, "He has made "Everything" beautiful in it's time..." ~CC

© If We Only Focus On Death, We May Not See All The Beauty That Lies Before Us

2008-11-12T21:07:00.000-05:00

© Focusing Beyond Death...

© Photography by ~CC - Tallulah Falls, GA (please double click on the photograph so you can see an enlarged view to see the details of both Death and Beauty)

I had the privilege of enjoying Veteran's Day in the GA mountains with my husband and a friend yesterday. The location, Tallulah Falls, a vibrant State Park where we walked over two miles on a number of the trails, crossed over a bridge suspended over one of the falls and it was "breathtaking", to say the least. We walked so many steps that today I have found a new respect for what the calves in my legs felt like earlier this week.

This photo was one of the pics I snapped. I deliberately take photos that evoke deep thought, and this one was shouting out at me. Standing staunch and dark was death; the dead tree...and the vast array of beauty is seen surrounding it with the waterfalls and colorful foliage as it's back drop. This "freeze frame" reminded me of how easy it is for us to focus on the "death" in our lives at times, so much so that we miss the rest of the beauty that surrounds us. Whether it's the death of a dream, a friendship, a marriage, or a loved one; there is still much beauty that surrounds us; despite our deep loss. The key for us is to look for it, no matter how hard it might be.

Today my prayer is that you look for the beauty surrounding you. Maybe it's not a waterfall with fall leaves, instead maybe it's the smile of a baby sitting in front of you in church, or the sun setting on a cool winter evening as a wood burning stove is trailing in the distance. Regardless, there is beauty surrounding you; embrace it and use it as a stepping stone into tomorrow. Taking one day at a time, you can move forward.

Staying In The Day with you while choosing to focus on the beauty around me, ~CC

© Her Name is "Fall"...

2008-11-08T22:14:00.000-05:00

Listening to the one whispering my name, Her name is "Fall"

©Photography by ~CC

This week amidst the election, the craziness our world is in, and the woes of the economy; it was still a great week! I think it was Robert Schuller that said, "Tough times don't last, Tough people do!". I believe that tough people do last; but I've got to admit that the only reason I have is because of the GRACE of GOD! Maybe you could testify to that too.

My husband kicked off November last Saturday by treating me to a Surprise date in Clarksville, GA. He took me to my new most favorite tea house, The Baron York, owned by a lovely lady named Dea. What a great boost to the week! The drive is an hour long, but the mountains and the foliage made the trip seem like it was only ten minutes. Not only did we enjoy our time relaxing and dining at The Baron York listening to classical music and sipping tea, but we also visited the local antique and consignment shops. At the end of the day we took the drive back still in awe of all the colorful trees and I knew I had to somehow escape back out through the week to meet with them again. Their visits are always much too short; don't you agree?

If your weeks are like mine, my lunch hours from work often become lunch hours indoors. Something inside my head kept whispering..."grab your camera and come find me". I listened to my inner voice; grabbed my camera, keys, and shortly after found myself driving down the road looking for "The One". I had to find "Her", the one picturesque tree worthy of pulling off the side of the road, getting out of the car, and risking my life standing along side of the highway snapping away.

It felt great putting into practice what I blogged about last week. Instead of just "doing", I was experiencing "being". I was in the moment, and it felt gloriously right. Colorful fall leaves astound me; and as nature always does, increases my faith and love for my Heavenly Father. I wrote later that day in an email to a friend that God had some phenomenal colors on his paintbrush that day; referring to the tree photographed in this blog.

Then today I continued "being"...and hosted an intimate Birthday Tea in my home for a five year old little girl named Amari, her mother Nicki, and her seven year old brother Daniel. I greeted them at the door with hugs and sat them at their table. A vignette of porcelain dolls having their own tea party using my own childhood blue and white tea set was the centerpiece for the table. Seating each of them in their chair as if in a fine restaurant, I told them I'd be their hostess for the afternoon.

The menu included P&B Butterfly sandwiches, ( I learned about these from The Baron York tea house) Tuna Fish Salad Butterfly sandwiches, mini carrots, Gardetto's Snack Mix, a pot of freshly brewed English Breakfast tea for Mom and homemade Hot Cocoa for the children. For dessert I served them freshly baked Chocolate Chip Banana Scones, Devonshire Cream with Vanilla Honey Curd, and Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods. Of course I played a dual role as their private photographer so we could capture the moments of the day as a permanent memory for Amari.

My favorite part of the day was remaining in the kitchen in between pouring more tea or hot cocoa, or serving the courses. I heard the three of them quietly talking, laughing together, and enjoying their special time. They were making memories as a family, and I was helping to make this one special. I wouldn't have traded the moment of serving them today for anything else.

It was great this week to detach from the external things going on beyond my control. It was great to just Stay In The Day. By driving and taking all the fall colors in, it somehow helped to bring more beauty inside today when this special family entered my home. What could be more perfect but to have colorful fall leaves and two tea parties in one week? Ask my friend Lya, she would agree.......it's been a perfect week!

Falling more in love with "Fall" and Staying In The Day with you... ~CC

© Do we devote to "doing" versus how much time we give to "being"

2008-11-03T08:11:00.000-05:00

Miracles of Reconciliation

©Photography by ~CC

Miracles of reconciliation are not complete when they occur, the work has only just begun. With God in control of our lives, he makes the impossible a reality. I believe our failures are allowed for us each to realize how imperfect we are on our own. It is only through "Him" that we truly succeed in the things or people we touch in this life. We can choose to "do" anything, but what if "He" calls us just to "be"? And if so, what would that look like?

It's been months since I've journaled on this blog, I have missed it! I have thought of you often, have written in my mind time after time, but only today I stopped "doing" and am just "being" here with you. Maybe it's all the pain I've witnessed these past weeks from the people I love the most; my family and our friends.

A friends loss of both parents this year, burying her mother as recent as two weeks ago. This same friend is experiencing another chance at love and finds herself newly engaged, a blessing at such a time of deep loss and pain in her life. Another testimony to life after divorce.

Another friend not even forty has been diagnosed with Melanoma Cancer on his ear lobe. He and his wife are leaning on God, family and friends for support.

Another friend is one of my largest fans of this blog, is getting another chance with reconciliation in her marriage. She was faithful to pray and believe that he would come home after many months of separation and anguish, and he did. My peer at work has a saying, "God is off the chain". I think I know what she means when I witness the victory of reconciliation.

Another set of friends are at the financial crossroads of ruin and do not know where their next roof over their head will be. I remember our family being there ourselves years ago, we walk with these friends and encourage them by sharing our life story; God will make a way, some how, some way...and they continue the fight.

And then there is the young family that was torn apart last year at this time from marital affairs, that now finds themselves in the rebuilding phase of their marriage. During that painful time the husband felt his life was heading in another direction. The wife, pregnant with their third child, refused to allow her love to die for this husband. Months later, and with much prayer, this husband returned home. The picture on this journal entry are the hands of this family; wife, husband, sons, and baby daughter. A "Miracle" of reconciliation....and they are working together to "stay together" one day at a time.

I am encouraged by the new chapters we all face in our lives after we walk through such pain. A young woman's life restored in every way after losing it all. Today she finds herself years later happily married, healthy, has a devoted husband, son, and a daughter on the way soon.

This morning as I was reading a great book called "The Good Life", by Chuck Colson, I was literally frozen when I read the following: (paraphrased) Thinking about his autistic grandsons schedule made him examine his own priorities. It made him think about the time he devoted to "doing" things- a lot of it simply indulging in distraction - versus how much time he gave to "being". Don't we all fall into that catagory at times? I identified with that statement, and I don't like it.

My prayer today for all of us is that we stop "doing"...and that we just simply "be" who it is today that God wants us to be. To sit quietly in a chair and read or pray. To hear our friend in need, to hug and comfort our neighbor that sits quietly alone; longing to have someone visit him or her. Let us be, just be........who God has intended us to be without the "doing".

I am reminded of the victory and healing that God brought to my own family nearly seven years ago. By all standards, our marriage and family were doomed in the worlds eyes, but not in God's. His desire was for us to take one day at a time, do the best we could to Stay In the Day, and live out the Victory He had given us, despite our own failures.

My goal remains to live out Psalm 147:11. "The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love". Nehemiah 8:10, "The JOY of the Lord is your STRENGTH".

Stay In The Day........ Stop "doing" and just "be"! ~CC

~Rainbows~

2008-04-13T19:12:00.000-04:00

~Rainbows

I love the way a rainbow appears after a storm. It somehow has a way of making you forget about all the fear of "what could've been" just a few minutes earlier.

Wouldn't it be great if rainbows appeared after a crisis occurs in our lives? Just for a brief moment it would be a great reminder that life will once again become bright and colorful. In reality, rainbows just don't appear to give us that symbol of hope.

I recall something inside of me refusing to give up when my husband told me he wasn't coming home. God surrounded me with all the love and care from my church family and people that refused to believe that he wouldn't return. We prayed, prayed, and prayed some more. Within 48 hours, he was home again. After our storm, the rainbow did appear I guess...when he walked through that door. To me, that was my rainbow of hope for our tomorrows back then.

It may not have been all bright and colorful in the sky, but hope was felt just the same. Here we are six years later and still together and in love. What the enemy meant for evil, God worked out for good. We have both changed for the better. We both had much work to do, and we did it...and continue to do it.

Staying In The Day with a reminder that rainbows do come in all shapes and sizes...after a storm!

~CC

© A Lost Art, Living From The Heart

2008-04-12T11:29:00.000-04:00

© Photography by ~CC

~A Lost Art...The Pathway to Living From The Heart

Does distance make the heart grow fonder? I guess the answer to that depends on what we are distanced from. In my case with the absence of spending time this past month blogging, the answer is yes~ I've been away from blogging partly due to some writing assignments with N.E. Georgia Writers Club. So, I'm glad to be back! The writing assignments are done and submitted!

During my hiatus, I came across a small four inch spiraled notebook that I used in the early days of my journey in the restoration of my marriage and my life. It was nice to sit back and reconnect with who I was in those early days and understand how far I've come with the aid of a phenomenal God, tremendous support and guidance from qualified counselors, and the generosity of other women that have aided me in understanding that I've not walked this journey alone.

My purpose of the journal was to write daily in it before I began my day. Typically I would write before I even stepped foot out of bed. My challenge was to write and express who God was to me each day. I was also to explore and write about what God meant to me that specific day. I thought it might be interesting to share these with you. The things I wrote about is most likely where the threads of our tapestry in life are similar. We all are searching for more of God, and to learn the art of how to live more from the heart.

Journal Entry#1, July 27, 2002: Circumstances change, but God doesn't. Today He is waiting for me. He is patience to me today, so patient.

Journal Entry#2, July 28, 2002: Today God, my Heavenly Father is my only source for breath. He always has been I guess...Today I know it for sure.

Journal Entry#3, July 29, 2002: Today, my Heavenly Father is still my breath... I am no longer breathing, it is He who inhales and exhales; but it is still I who sighs. I don't want to sigh Father.

Journal Entry#4, October 26, 2002: Father God, Today you are my encourager - to get out of bed, to bathe, to think, to function. Where would I be without you?

Journal Entry#5, October 27, 2002: Lord God, Today you mean to me "My Tomorrow". I cannot think about anything but today, I can not~ You are my tomorrow, no matter what~ Life is not fair, but you are.

Journal Entry#6, October 29, 2002: Today God remains with me ---every moment of the day. I feel Him in me, around me, carrying me, I feel him everywhere. It's OK that I am tired. He will carry me; I don't have to do it on my own.

Journal Entry #7, November 3, 2002: Dear Lord, You have not changed ---ever! I only have lost my view from time to time. Today you are "Forever" to me! Forever, ~C

Today it rained here. The air always smells so great and fresh! It's always as if there is a sense of new beginnings to me after a rain. The sunshine comes out, the earth is inhaling the fresh air and the plants and trees around always appear greener. The rain has a great way of reminding us of what we can't live without.
Taking the time to read this journal again reminded me that God works the same way when we're faced with the struggles in our lives. He uses whatever He can in our lives to draw us closer to Him. The ultimate goal is for our hearts to be 100% connected to His~ How can we live from our hearts if we're not connected to Him, our source? I'm glad the journal entries refreshed my mind as to how my own journey of brokenness brought me closer to Him. The brokenness and tragedy was sometimes paralyzing to me. But in many ways, it was like the dreary rain over my life eventually brought forth greener pastures. Today, my life is much brighter. Today, I'm still searching to understand where God is leading me. More importantly, I'm working at living from the heart, it's truly ~HIS Art... Staying in the Day, ~C

© The Sun is Always Shining when I'm with You

2008-03-07T00:04:00.000-05:00

" Meaning of Daffodil "

Respect,

Regard,

Unrequited Love,

You're the Only One,

The Sun is Always Shining when I'm with You

I am a romantic soul! All it takes is for me to learn the meaning of a flower and it now becomes my favorite! Well, one of my favorites!

Daffodils and I have something in common. We both represent March. The Daffodil is the flower for March, and I was born in March.

Even though there are several meanings of Daffodil, I like the one that says, "The Sun Is Always Shining When I'm With You" the best!

I find throughout my life that the colors I love change, and for different reasons. I never used to like the color yellow. One day while driving down a familiar street, I was suddenly drawn to the landscape of a home I'd not ever really noticed. It was a daffodil lined pathway that led to the entrance of a home. The Daffodils were proudly postured as if there was this huge smiley face saying, "Stop here for a pleasant visit and a cup of tea with me, Please?".

Daffodils bring another cup of cheer! Each March we celebrate spring and help to raise monies for the Cancer Foundation by purchasing these smiling faces during the yearly Daffodil Day sales. Maybe that's another reason they are dear to me. My mother is a Cancer survivor of nearly 46 years. When I was a little girl my Mom used to sing a song to me called, "You are my Sunshine". I think from now on I'm going to envision the Daffodil when I hear that song.

I find myself drawn more to the color yellow...now I know why! Staying In The Day...and loving Daffodils and Yellow! ~CC

© Hope

2008-03-06T23:15:00.000-05:00

© Photography by ~CC

Hope

The "H.O.P.E" painted rock caught my eye as I walked by...

The color I could well do without

The sentiment screamed loudly, as if to shout

Standing there enamored, not knowing why

There's something about Hope

The Word -

The Thought -

She now sat like royalty, amongst the finest of friends

The earth as her foundation

serving as the canvas

The plants that delicately are decorated around

protect her like guards at a palace

Hope, many ask -

Can I borrow it?

Can I buy it?

Can I give it?

Can I do it?

Just Do It ~ Hope

To "Stay In The Day" and experience the beauty of catching sight of this little painted rock at a Garden Show somehow inexplicably made my day. I've always loved the name Hope. I guess because it's so uplifting and seems full of sunlight. Just hearing the word brings a smile to my face.

God intended for us to enjoy the everyday little things in life that most of the time we walk right by and miss because we are so deep in thought about the things in life that we can't do anything about. I want more moments in life like my eye catching "Hope" in the midst of the garden.

I am well rewarded when I "Stay In The Day". How about you? ~CC

© Joy, Do We Really Know Where To Find It And How To Keep It?

2008-02-24T15:09:00.000-05:00

I was reminded in a church sermon today that we cannot find "Joy" in people or things. The people we love and the material possessions we long after can never fill the void within us, the void that is longing for true "Joy". Quite some time ago I remember an acquaintance that was well versed in counseling telling me that without "Joy", a person cannot find lasting contentment in anything in their life. Everything will be temporal happiness, in their job, their significant other, or whatever material possessions they are seeking after. No person or thing can fulfill a human soul like "Joy".

So much of the time we can get frustrated by what we are not "getting" from people or life. There is something deep within all of us that desire real "Joy". It's just that most of us don't realize it's not something anyone or anything else can give us, with the exception of our Heavenly Father. The sermon was a great refresher for me to not confuse "Happiness" with "Joy". People that bring us happiness can sometimes disappoint us, hurt us, even leave us. If we count on those people or things for the happiness in our lives, what happens to us if we lose them, does that mean we lose our happiness and have nothing to live for? Many people feel that statement is true. Happiness comes and goes, but Joy can be forever.

If there would be one thing I wish I would've learned earlier in life, it is this principle: Joy has to come from within us, no human person or thing can provide it to us. For faith based individuals like myself, I believe the day that I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, I was filled up supernaturally with an eternal Joy. I liked the way my Pastor encouraged us all to set the default in our minds to "Joy" like we set the default on our computers to something we want it set to. He said, "This way when life's normal ups and downs come our way, we would be reminded that we still have "Joy", no matter what". His words reminded me that when all else around me was falling apart in my marriage, I still had Joy, and I know it was what kept me going. I know it was what helped me to keep one foot in front of the other, it was the "Joy" that resided deep within my soul...no matter how weary I was. It was the Joy that kept me focused on working hard to find out what I could do to learn more about how I could change so I could contribute more to the recovery of my marriage.

Like most people, I still need to be reminded of the difference between "Happiness" and "Joy". I still need to remember that just because something isn't going right at work or in one of my relationships that it means my world is falling apart. I still have my "Joy", and I will have it...forever. So, as the Pastor encouraged today, my default is set on JOY! Each time I turn on my computer, I'm going to visualize that too.

Remember, no person or thing can ever be your source of Joy, you are responsible for getting your own~ It's easy to lose sight of that... I shared with you that Joy filled my life when I accepted Jesus as my Savior. It's been His continual Joy living in my heart and spirit that has kept me through all the valley's and mountain top experiences of my life. It's also this same Joy that keeps me grounded and totally content, no matter what my circumstances in life are. My "only" guarantee in this life is that HE will continue to fill me with HIS Joy.

Psalm 16:11You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Staying In The Day with HIS Joy eternally... ~CC

~Wild About You... Meeting The Love Of My Life on Valentine's Day 27 Years Ago!

2008-02-15T08:20:00.000-05:00

© Photography by ~CC

© Wild About You...

I so badly wanted to journal on ~Valentine's Day, but with the hustle and bustle of my work day and then whisking a special candle lit Valentine Dinner up for my husband, I didn't have time.

It is refreshing to experience, see, and taste what recovery from a broken marriage looks and feels like. Sitting in our dining room as a couple last evening, my husband said "Grace" for our meal. As he was praying, tears came to my eyes as I was reflecting on the "amazing journey" that God has brought us through these past six years. My heart was extremely thankful to the Lord for being with us in those early days of rebuilding our marriage. He helped us to stay strong and determined to walk through all the "hard stuff" like counseling, consequences, and taught us both how to deal with memories that didn't want to go away.
In the brief moment my husband prayed those words, I realized what a BLESSING and MIRACLE we've witnessed first hand. The more we focus on our "Today" and less on our yesterdays, the faster we continue to heal. The less we worry about our tomorrow and stay in "Today"...the faster we heal. The more we continue to give God control of our marriage...the more our love is rekindled.
Letting go of the need to control is an art! The more I let go of it, the more beautiful the picture of me becomes! I bought my husband the "Wild About You" pillow to celebrate his 40th birthday. It is placed on our bed daily as I toss my pillows to and fro. I am still "Wild About Him"!
Psalm 36:7How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Staying In The Day with you...and continuing to Celebrate my Marriage! ~CC

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, A New Slant, Depending On Which Way You Lay Your Bricks...

2008-02-11T05:49:00.000-05:00

© The more I search for things that have meaning in life, the more energized I become when they begin seeking me out. Have you noticed that when you enlighten yourself by reading an article on a particular topic that inevitably you are keenly aware for weeks, if not months, each time the subject is brought up in conversation by others? I.E. In January I read an article on a news website regarding starting the year with less clutter in your home. The article went on to explain when our home is cluttered, our minds are cluttered. Purging items used infrequently, or not at all, was the answer to uncluttering both my home and mind and becoming better organized. Great! Just what I needed, a fresh start for the new year.

It took me less than five minutes to read the article, three minutes for me to process the information as a new found revelation, and two minutes to whisk through my home like a mad woman pulling this and that from closets, shelves, and cupboards to take to my new found favorite consignment shop, Emma's Attic, on Duncan Corner. In a total of 10 minutes, I had went from becoming "aware" of new information to "processing the idea recommended" and ultimately to "putting into action" what I now believed to be truth. The article won me over, and I bought into the concept! I'm not quite sure it even took me two full minutes for the processing to complete. When one is content with what is written as truth, it all begins to make sense! We trust it! "What do we have to lose?", we tell ourselves. Regardless, I was at least going to get payed for helping myself unclutter my brain and start the new year feeling much better about me and my home. I did it, and I did... get my first check, that is, from the consignment shop!

What does any of this have to do with respect? Hmmm...an easy question to answer. It has "everything" to do with respect. When we become "aware" of anything, we now have a choice to either " totally dismiss it" or consider "taking it in" to process a little bit more. Once we take it in and process, we either become an enthusiast of the concept or a cynic. Obviously, I became enthusiastic about uncluttering my brain and my home because I identified with what I had just read and immediately put it into action.

Last week I couldn't get "Respect" out of my thoughts. It's a "buzz" word... everybody uses it! Probably more than the word respect we hear the opposite, direspect. More than ever, we all desire to be treated respectfully. Respect goes a long way in helping to define who we are. Everyone both wants, and needs, to feel valued, appreciated, shown courtesy, and approved of; especially in the workplace!

The buzz word continued to swarm in my thoughts. I decided to forget my own definition of what it meant and went to my trusty online dictionary. It's easy to put our own slant on how we define a word. Even easier to totally misunderstand the "greater" meaning of a principal. To me, respect is a principle. When I researched "principle", I found it even more eye opening. Check it out with me... <conscience is the noun meaning 'a sense of right and wrong' while conscious is the adjective meaning 'aware of something, being awake'>. CLICK ~ The snapshot is becoming much more vivid!

Respect ~ a deeper dive: The Wickipedia describes it as such: Respect is an assumption of good faith and competence in another person or in the whole of oneself. Depth of integrity, trust, complementary moral values, and skill are necessary components. 2)Respect adds general reliability to social interactions. It enables people to work together in a complimentary fashion, instead of each person having to understand or even agree with each other every time. Respect is very important to communities because it helps people get along with other people.

Aha! It found me... the buzz word now has new life! "It enables people to work together in a complimentary fashion, instead of each person having to understand or even agree with each other every time. Respect is very important to communities because it helps people get along with other people." The "awareness" I was searching for now made it's entrance into my consciousness. Now it's up to me as to whether I will "take it in" and put it into my conscience so it now becomes 'a sense of right and wrong' to me.

I'm sure you've heard the clich`e that one must give respect in order to get respect. In an ideal world that would be nice if it were true, but we don't live in an ideal world. I can personally attest to the fact that one can work in an environment and be totally disrespected in varied ways by their manager, yet the appropriate expected behavior on the employee's part is to respect the manager regardless. That's a tough pill to swallow, but many people swallow it day in and day out. I guess we then decide if we will take the higher road. Giving respect is that higher road, whether warranted or not warranted. Will we live out our conscience of what we now believe respect to be, realizing we may not always have our ideas and suggestions accepted? Learning that respect can be about "not agreeing and not being understood...but be able to agree to disagree" and walk away with a mutual respect for one another just made R.E.S.P.E.C.T. bigger than life to me.

Respect to me is now so much more! I read the research, I processed it, and even though I didn't run through my home grabbing this and that to put in my friends consignment shop, instead I began to see where I could "pay it forward". Respect no longer to me is just about admiration or appreciation...it's so much more than that. I'm embracing it! I Got It! It's ok if I share my view or opinion and it's not agreed with by my manager, spouse, or friend. Not seeing it as rejection, disrespect, or that the person in question has little value or appreciation for us wil be growth. For me, I'm going to take the higher road and act on my new found conscience that it's "OK" to have disagreements in life and not feel disrespected. Even more OK for me to follow whatever it is that my manager requires of me, regardless whether I see it as the wrong direction to take. Many times the bigger lesson for us in life is to see if we are willing to give up what we "think or know" is right to take that other slant in the brick for what "is" right, R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Now, if I could just package this and sell it at Emma's Attic, I'd be rich! I'd rather be rich by you reading this article, processing it, and taking it in as your own. By you too understanding the full principle of respect and paying it forward; that will give me all the dividends I could dream of if you decide to invest in it! All my life I've thought of myself as a person who respects God, life, my husband, children, family, friends, and employers. I did, to the best of my ability with the limited knowledge that I had of "respect" at that time. Now I'm responsible for the "entire" lot! I've now been made aware of all that respect encompasses. I'm now interested in giving it, regardless if I get anything immediately back in return! Just saying that empowers me to know that I'm learning how to respect myself a little bit better!

Staying in the Day along with you and Paying It Forward... ~CC

Proverbs 3:4

Then you will be respected and will please both God and people.

© ~Fabrics of Friendship

2008-02-10T06:28:00.000-05:00

While sweeping over one of my favorite chairs

upholstered in mini stripes of deep purple velvet and butter cream hues yesterday, I was enamored by the fact that I selected this fabric because it reminded me of two dear purplesque friends. Have you ever selected fabric, a decorative pillow, or a teacup to add to your collection in a particular color or pattern because it reminds you of a precious friend? An epiphany came to mind as I swept that striped chair. Fabrics really represent friendships in a unique way. Not only because of the pattern or the color, but because of what the word itself defines.

Thus my search began on the word "Fabric". Lo and behold, the epiphany I had did have some context. I used my trusty thesaurus to locate words of similarity that relate to the word fabric. I found words such as: substance, transparency, softness, flexibility, and consistency. Fabrics of Friendship doesn't only sound great, it is great! Now I understood why I had one of those "Godincident" moments. An epiphany, I truely believe, is a "Godincident thought". To me they are one and the same, because any good thing is a gift from God, even epiphany's! James 1:17 (New International Version) 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Reflecting on that phrase "Fabrics of Friendship", I found myself going down mental paths of all the times my friends have lifted me up, rallied around me, cared beyond measure... This thought evoked the scripture in my memory of Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. I thought about how supportive my friends have been throughout my life. I am so blessed by the friends I've had for years, even decades! I guess God didn't think that was enough, so he gave me more. He gave me new friends when I experienced new situations in my life. Situations that no one else could possibly imagine, only someone walking in the same moccasins.

Sitting here now, I reflect on the friend I still feel safest while crying on her shoulder; the friend I love to brainstorm with; the friend I can sit and be 100% myself with ~ to be content in gazing through magazines, sharing ideas, or simply sitting on her patio watching a bird feed while neither of us say a word; and the friend I share the deepest spiritual conversations with that leaves us both floating like a feather afterwards ~ and many times we leave the conversation with a scripture as a gift to one another so we can post somewhere to remind us each of how we continue to journey on with hope for our futures. How blessed I am! I rest in knowing that each time I sit in my purple and butter cream striped velvet chair, it represents two amongst the great list of my friends.

I find the length of a friendship doesn't really quantify the depth of a friendship. What does is the vulnerability and honesty that one brings to the relationship. That's where the true and faithful "transparency" I so often talk about comes in. To have a friend where one is always trying to figure out "what" to say, or not to say; or a friend that you feel you are constantly in "competion" with, that's not a healthy friendship.

Then there are those friendships that just hit a bump of misunderstanding in the road. When determined, that type of friendship can go the distance, just simply because you know it's meant to be. I have one of those friendships, and I can say it will be one that will last forever. I realized that if we could marry for better or for worse, we could then certainly look at a friendship in a similar fashion and work through the bumps, instead of throwing in the towel because of hurt feelings. I can still remember when our friendship was rekindled. We sat in her living room as I shared with her how I had come to the conclusion that so many friendships end because they don't want to work through the tough stuff. I remember not being afraid of giving our friendship another chance. Instead, I was excited that we were allowing God to grow each of us in our friendship.

The friendship that knows no sense of time. It would be amiss of me to not mention the friendships that experience years of separation. Once reunited, it's as if time stood still. The love, the laughter, and the memories vivid...as if it were today. Like two teenage girls sitting together at a sleepover, they begin to unfold the layers of events that have transpired since each has last seen one another. Though each may wear a few new lines in their foreheads, time has stood still. Cherished memories are now brought back into light as the day spent together breathes new life into such a valued partnership!

Then there are the controlling friendships. The ones that are confining, debilitating, and exhausting. By now, you probably understand that those defining words do not describe a "friend". All of us have to reevaluate from time to time the people we choose to spend time with, the people we tend to migrate toward. If it's not the "Fabric of Friendship" that I have written about today, it may not truly be a friendship at all.

Be good to yourself today and do inventory of the type of friendships you have. Remember, Ralph Waldo Emerson stated it best when he said the following: "A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends". Even though you may not select the fabrics in your home to remind you of a friend, I'm sure you have your own unique way of keeping them near to you as well.

Enjoy this day, enjoy this moment, and reach out to a precious friend this week to let them know how much you care! Staying In The Day with you....~CC

© A Prism ~ A Medium That Misrepresents Whatever Is Seen Through It

2008-02-06T06:22:00.000-05:00

I am fascinated by life! Just like these "prisms" on my dining room chandelier serve as "a medium that misrepresents whatever is seen through it", how we view our life experiences we live on a daily basis "can be"misrepresented in the same way. Have you ever been accused of seeing a situation through rose colored glasses? Well, that's really where I'm going with this journal entry today. Another way that "prism" is defined a bit differently is "a medium that colors whatever is viewed through it".

For example, I've worked for the same corporation for nearly six years now. The first two years as a 40 hour a week "temporary" employee. Basically, I was a full-time employee with no benefits. I loved my job, the people I worked with, and worked for. On a quarterly basis there would be a "celebration" held in the office area and the majority of the team would congregate in a training room nearby.

Typically, the rule of thumb was that the temporary employees would stay behind and manage the phones while the permanent employees enjoyed the celebration. At one point after I transferred to a different team within the office, I was able to begin attending these celebrations. Even though still a temporary employee, I now began to feel like I was being included in everything, finally. This was a great sense of inclusion for me, I had arrived; or so I thought.

This particular day I was caught off guard when I was scrambling at my cube to get my belongings to get to the room quickly for another celebration, my manager returned to my desk and asked me if I'd signed on for phone duty yet. Shockingly, I looked up at him as if he had just slapped me in my face and said, "No, I didn't realize I wasn't invited to attend the celebration today". Needless to say, he apologized for the miscommunication that I was to now begin to stay back with the other temps and I begrudgingly took the number and immediately went through the motions of what management expected of me. The celebration lasted for an hour, but the emotions that were going on inside my heart and inside my mind felt like days transpired.

My cube mate returned to her desk and could tell I was not myself. When she asked me if I was ok, I replied to her by saying, "If I didn't need this job so bad, I would have walked out of here today". I preceded to then tell her how unappreciated I felt, along with all the other temporary employees that dealt with this type of treatment on a regular basis. I was always seen by my peers and managers as a positive team player, never rocking the boat with inappropriate comments or unhealthy attitudes; so this reply to my cube mate really concerned her. Being that she cared about me, she shared this information with the Administrative Asst., which then shared it with the top Manager of the office. You get the picture?

At the time I was dealing with this situation, another issue that occurred a week earlier was really the "medium that was coloring my view" of what had taken place that day. You see, a week earlier I had learned that a full-time position I had interviewed for in our office was offered to a young girl 20 years my junior instead of to me. I didn't get it... this same girl arrived to work tardy on a consistent basis, had less seniority in the office, and had not proven herself in the ways I had for two years. "How could they do this to me?", I kept asking myself.

Now, it was beginning to make sense to me. After I went home that day, I replayed the situation over and over again in my mind. Do you ever do that when life's challenges surprise you? Well, right before my boss had come to my cube to advise me that I was to stay behind and cover the phones, I had seen this young girl walk out of the door near me to attend the celebration. A-ha! It was now all becoming clear to me what was really at the bottom of my anxiety and frustration. Dealing with feelings of unacceptance, rejection, and not feeling appreciated, can in many ways represent the "mediums" or "prisms" in our lives. The deep emotions they tap into catch us off guard...and then cause us to miss the opportunity of what God wants us to learn through the situation He is allowing us to experience.

Immediately after this occured, my grandmother died. I took a short time of leave and traveled to her funeral. Upon my return to the office, a few days went by and the manager I reported to invited me to meet with him for a chat. He started out the chat with, "I really hate to bring this up"...but I have to address it since the comment you made reached upper management and they insisted I address it with you." At the same time he made this comment, my heart was sinking. I was asking myself, "What could I have possibly said, and to who, and why?" I never speak out of turn, I was thinking. Then as if I were speaking myself, I heard the infamous words repeated to me from my manager that I had said to my friend that day weeks ago.

All of a sudden, I felt two inches high. It's amazing how when you hear a comment you have said in the heat of the moment articulated by your manager, it sounds like someone is using a megaphone. And, it sounds so arrogant, so unacceptable, and so disrespectful. He wasn't mad at me, because he knew this was not typically how I responded to situations. He was right, it wasn't. Yet, for some reason that day, I did. I immediately apologized to him, and I sincerely meant it. I explained to him what I learned about myself the day I made that comment. I searched in my heart as to why I had felt so explosive about similar things I'd dealt with for two years as a temp. What I learned was my not getting the job I had interviewed for had created not only a sense of resentment toward my peer, but also tapped into my feelings of being rejected, unappreciated, and disrespected by the Management itself. I told him my explanation in no way excused my behavior nor the comment I had made aloud. I also told him I'd personally apologize to my other superiors, which I did at a later time.

What did I learn about this life experience? I learned that when something occurs that bothers me, it's not necessarily the "situation" or "comment" presenting itself to me that's really the issue. But that the issue is much deeper, and God is allowing the issue to arise so I can come to know more about myself, how I'm wired, and why I do the things that I do. At the time, this was the most humiliating experience of my entire career collectively. Yet, retrospectively, it became the catalyst to my becoming more "in tune" with who I am. It's when we become "aware" of who we are that we really begin to have more insight into situations that occur. It's an opportunity for growth, for us to understand God has given us a new classroom and a new teacher. And trust me, if we don't get what it is that God is trying to teach us in a particular situation, He's great at giving us another classroom and another teacher that will present nearly the exact same scenario. I've been there, I can attest to this 100%. I now find myself begging the Lord for spiritual discernment so I can learn what it is that He wants me to learn...the first time around!

Don't allow the situations or awkward relationships you are struggling with right now become the "prisms" in which you view whatever you are seeing. Instead, ask the Lord for His wisdom and His understanding so that you can also learn from your life experiences, as I continue to learn from mine. Ask Him to help you to step back, journal what it is that you are feeling, and take it to a deeper level to find out where the foundation of your own feelings of being rejected, disrespected, and unappreciated come from. The current situation or relationship is only a "tool" in which God is using to get to the heart of the deeper issue.

The earlier one embraces every opportunity that is presented to him or herself, the faster one becomes who it is that God has truly created them to be. I am so much more content with who I am today, because of the painful and difficult challenges God has allowed me to experience in my life. My prayer for you is that you take a deep breath and that you allow what I've shared today to sink in. My prayer is that you begin to embrace each opportunity as your own stepping stone..and that you don't allow the "prism" of the situation to color your view of what is really happening, but that you go deeper...

Psalm 139:23Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

"Staying In The Day" with you and doing my best to embrace each new opportunity of learning to know myself better through the daily challenges God allows me to walk through. In all of this... it is me that He is changing, and for that I am greatly appreciative of ~CC

© Rester Dans Le Jour ~ French Translation for "Staying In The Day"

2008-02-04T07:25:00.000-05:00

The Serenity Prayer, by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Although known most widely in its abbreviated form above, the entire prayer reads as follows:

Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen.
*************************************************

© "Staying In The Day" seems to be exactly what Reinhold Niebuhr meant when he composed the prayer on Serenity. I researched what other words are synomous with the word "Stay" and I found the following: remain, linger, abide, wait, sojourn, tarry. The definition of "Stay" is: To continue to be in a place or condition. To stop moving, halt.
Meditation! The things we "choose" to meditate on day and night determines whether we will "Stay In The Day" in peace, the way The Serenity Prayer describes; or whether we will be hijacked in our days where we begin to go down roads that lead us to anger or regrets of the past. We cannot control the actions or words of others; past, present, or future. But we can control the thoughts, actions, and words we say each day. Once spoken, words can never be taken back. Words spoken are powerful, whether kind or unkind. For some reason, the majority of us can replay an unkind word spoken to us 100 x's more in our mind than one kind word.
The Definition of Meditation: Meditation is a practice of concentrated focus upon a sound, object, visualization, the breath, movement, or attention itself in order to increase awareness of the present moment, reduce stress, promote relaxation, and enhance personal and spiritual growth.
The challenge I encourage us all in today is to be careful as to what we Meditate on. Remember, no matter what each day unfolds, it's still precious! The thoughts you allow yourself to meditate on will determine what type of day you have, and what it will include. There are things you can change about each situation you are in... Ask the Lord for guidance, trust Him, and He will direct your path! Proverbs 3 - 5: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6: in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Isaiah 40:31 Amplified Version: But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
Staying In The Day with You! Choosing carefully what I Meditate upon! ~CC

© Cherish Today...Stay In The Moment...Life is Precious

2008-02-01T09:04:00.000-05:00

Today's blog entry is dedicated to my two grandchildren that reside in heaven, one as recent as 1/31/2008. Though never cradled in my arms, neither the arms of their parents, they will forever be remembered in our hearts and our minds as our little precious Jewels that we will one day meet face to face in heaven. Until then........we will cherish today, stay in the moment, and appreciate life, because it is precious. My daughter, mother of one of these grandchildren, wrote this poem nearly 20 years ago when she was just 13. Amazing how when I read it now that it speaks to me of my Jewels in heaven, and that God is the one who holds them in his arms.

Poem: "I sit on my patio, early in the morning. Sunlight shines gently overlooking the Seine, across my face and falls on her. The blanket stirs gently and the tiny bundle moves. A small wimper and a rustling movement, two small eyes squint in the light. The Jewel I now hold yawns and stretches gently in my arms. Her frailness and beauty consume me like a candle flame consumes a dark room. A bird sings to nature's late waking, for the night before she greeted them. Kings have kingdoms and merchants their ships, but the richest in all the world is I who hold the Jewel."

This same daughter spoke yesterday of how much we need to appreciate each day, each moment with those we love. Her words pierced my soul, I knew what she meant. I identify with how easy it is to go through life and feel "caught up" by yesterday, or burdened by what may come tomorrow that we can easily miss the precious things in our "today". This morning I sat by my bedroom fireplace with my Grandma's antique lights on the mantel. As I prayed and enjoyed the moment alone with God, he reminded me that my Grandma was there in heaven to greet my precious Jewel yesterday. He reminded me that what my Grandma once told me is very true, "Heaven is like a family reunion, and I'll get to see all the people I love when I get to take my trip".

Cherish today, Stay In The Moment, Life is Precious...... I will love like there is no tomorrow, and I will appreciate each breath that I take. Make today count... ~CC

Psalm 39:7 7 "But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.

2008-01-12T10:54:00.000-05:00

In my "God Journal", I wrote the following entry today:

"Being transparent with people is difficult, but being transparent with God is more difficult. It's because HE knows what is in our hearts and minds even better than we do... All HE asks is that we speak it out loud to HIM, fess up! Even if we are angry, even if we are questioning, even if it makes us feel ugly... It is up to us to ask HIM to change our hearts, because we simply are incapable of doing that without the Power of HIS Holy Spirit living inside of us."

The photo I took in this blog entry contains multiple fragments of broken glass of all colors. I took this snapshot at the Atlanta Garden Show a few years back. The broken glass was used to line the Garden's walk way entrance. It captured my attention with all the sparkling colors. Not one piece of glass was clouded, each piece was clear, bright, and shiny. Together laying on the path, it was the prettiest and welcoming garden entrance I've ever seen. I'm sure there had to have been a few flaws in the pieces of glass. But, like any good marketing writer could say... "The flaws you may find contained within the glass particles are natural characteristics and should be viewed as a beautiful part of it's overall reflection of light."

Hmmm... As humans go, we see our flaws as shameful, unacceptable, and quite frankly..sometimes disgusting. And, sometimes they are all of that... Yet, God sees us and loves us unconditional. He loves every part of us, including the flaws. He asks us to come to HIM as we are...it's up to HIM to do the rest! It's up to HIM to take our flaws, that just may be part of the reason we come to HIM, and turn our situation around to reflect HIS beauty within us! Once HE does this, the flaw then remains as a reminder of HIS unconditional love and acceptance, and HIS transformation of us into whom HE ultimately created us to be! Looking at it this way, I guess a good marketing writer could then say, "The flaws you find within this person are natural characteristics and should be viewed as a beautiful part of their overall reflection of HIS transforming power and light!"

WOW... Doesn't that shed an entirely different light on being transparent? It is OK to be real with people. Even when someone asks you about your day and you are honest in answering, "I'm in a really tough place right now." If they say they're sorry to hear that and quickly walk away, you'll know they were just being polite. If they ask you how they can help or pray, you know they have a heart after God's. No matter what response you get when being transparent, don't let it stop you from being who you are! God loves REAL people! That doesn't give us the license to always be negative. With all things we need to be sure we are pouring our pain out to HIM first so HE can fill us back up with his goodness, love, mercy, grace, and POWER! All of those GODLY attributes are what put the spring back in our bounce.

I'm walking the same road you are...striving for more transparency in my life! Striving to accept just wanting to be REAL along with you!

Matthew 11:28
28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Staying In This Day while antiquing with my husband. ~CC

2007-12-31T17:21:00.000-05:00

© Photography by ~CC

Airplanes have a way of transporting us back and forth in life. From one place to another, we board that flight, we sit down, we close our eyes and find ourselves at our destination when the flight lands.

Memories have an uncanny way of doing the exact same thing, especially if pain is a part of the past we try so hard to forget. Whether you are walking in recovery regarding a relationship, or you're on the other side of the relationship ending, holidays still have a way of transporting us to another time in our lives., just as if we've boarded the plane and landed. The downside to that is that the destination the memories take us to are never emotionally healthy for us.

New Year's Eve is an especially difficult time for me, as it taps in to that "old pain" I've often talked about. Just like spiritual markers, the affects of an affair have memory markers that can easily be seen as a ghost haunting us years later. Those, "Do you remember what today is?" thoughts just continue to float in and out of your mind, no matter how driven we are to avoid them.

What choices do we have when the Memory Plane offers to take us on that ride? We have a choice to board the plane, or to say No Thanks! We have the choice instead to make new memories...we have a choice to not remain the "victim". We have the choice to explore what Dignity looks like for us, don't we?

If you're reading this tonight, on the eve of the New Year of 2008, my prayer is that you choose Dignity, and choose not to board the plane of the past.

YOU are worth choosing to live in TODAY...

Stay In The Day.... ~CC

Just Breathe....

2007-12-16T12:05:00.000-05:00

With the Holiday Season sweeping in, similar to the snow storm in the North East where I'm currently visiting, so are the magazines piling up in my mailbox trying to encourage everyone to do their last minute shopping with them. One thing that captivated my attention was a simple bracelet that had a simple message engraved on it. The bracelet says, "Just Breathe". I love the message of that bracelet, not only does it remind me of what I used to tell myself during the early days of the restoration of my marriage, but it still is applicable today.

So many times "the PRESENT" can still become overwhelming, if I allow it to! I've learned over the years that I have been a perfectionist all my life. Due to that fact, I make life much harder on myself sometimes than I need to. I'm learning to "let go" of many things. When one is in the early stages of recovering from anything, a message reminder to "Just Breathe" can help one to do just that. It can also be the beginning of showing you what is most relative to the moment.

"Time" has a way of making even the worst moment bearable. But when we are living in the moment of the crisis, it's critical to "Just Breathe". One breath at a time, one foot in front of the other, you will make it. You need to remind yourself that some how, some way, you "WILL" get through this! One of my favorite scriptures is Philippians 4:13 "I can do everything through him who gives me strength". "HIM" of course, is referring to Jesus Christ. That's exactly how I got beyond my circumstances, and continue to live my life, with HIM!

Remember, no matter what, "Just Breathe". Another favorite scripture of mine is Psalm 150:6, " Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the Lord."

Do something special for yourself today. Call a friend and express to them what their support means to you. Write a list of 100 things you want to accomplish in your lifetime. This can be a tremendous time for you to list the things you hope for, even when you may be in a crisis that seems hopeless. GOD will make a way. Stay strong, and Just Breathe!

Staying in the Day with Love! ~CC

"Poor Choices" will TAKE you further than you want to go, COST you more than you want to pay, and KEEP you longer than you want to stay.

2007-12-15T08:16:00.000-05:00

Anyone who's made a mistake of colossal proportion can tell you the "title" of this blog entry is more than accurate. The #1 statistic for the failure of marriages finds it's root in the financial condition of that couples life. Any financial mismanagement births a sense of failure, the sense of failure births stress, stress opens the door as to how we will "medicate" ourselves to alleviate that stress.

Typically when a relationship enters into this realm, each partner has a slightly different view of who owns the responsibility of the way their money is spent, or who made the choices that lead them down the path of the credit cards being maxed out, and all the other choices that making it from paycheck to paycheck no longer are enough. All of a sudden each mate finds themselves going down a road of choice to "escape". Thus, opens the door for addictive behaviors. Whether it's overeating, overspending, overworking yourself, or even being an addictive talker, you are making those choices to avoid dealing with the real issues in your life. Think about it, if overspending is an addiction, then there were issues in place in your life that started the desire to overspend in the first place, right?

From my research, one does not start out to just "have an affair". Choosing to have an affair occurs as a result of one not dealing with deeper root issues in their life. Just like an alcoholic nurses a bottle of whiskey to drown their sorrows, the same thing occurs when one instead steps outside the boundaries of marriage to select another person to drown their sorrows with. Do you remember the song from the 80's, "If loving you is wrong, I don't wanna be right"? Society has desensitized us so much that it becomes very easy to reason away "the why" of our decisions. But, the lyrics are never written about the consequences our choices cost us, do they?

Let's talk about that for a moment. A sense of failure can affect people in a variety of ways. To some, they see the failure as a stepping stone to success and they keep on keeping on, "Nothing is Gonna Stop Them". For others, the failure strikes a chord, something is wrong and they don't know how to change it. It just seems so much easier to throw away the "present" and start anew. If multiple affairs occur in a marriage, some studies link this with a type of "sexual addiction". It's what one grabs for, just like a bottle of whiskey, to ease the pain. Or, it's used to get lost in another world while they try to make sense out of this thing called "life". One thinks, it's just easier to start all over again. It's not that easy, the "root issues & baggage" then just get transferred into that new relationship.

Being a christian doesn't make one exempt from making poor choices. We struggle with all the same temptations those in the world do. I was naive most of my life thinking otherwise. Remember the slogan on the bumper sticker, "Christians aren't perfect, they're just Forgiven"? Now, I understand the truth of what that slogan represents. All my Christian life I thought we (my family) would be "exempt" from making "really" poor choices because we loved the Lord so much. What a misconception I had about life, about people, about my husband, my family. I expected perfection, and what I got was "reality".

Beth Moore wrote a book called, "When Godly people do Ungodly Things". But by the "Grace" of God, I might have went down a different path. I could have been the one that made the choices my husband made, but I wasn't. But, I "could" have been... This sheds an entirely different light on our perspective when we understand that choices people make aren't always made because of whether they love us or not. Sometimes it's alot deeper than that. The broken relationship itself will only be a symptom of a much larger issue that is deeper inside of the one running away.

I once wrote a poem called "The Revolving Door". Sometimes we just want to escape from our Life. All we want is a way out, just for a little while. Maybe even start a new one, just for a little while. When we're ready to come back, we will...it's just that depending on how long that takes, it might be too late. And yet, it might not be. I was determined it would not be too late for us. But then again, I'm the one that defines failure as a stepping stone to success, and in my case, it was.

My prayer is that whichever state you are in right now, that you will Stop, Look, and Listen. No matter what, GOD has a plan for your life! There are no "coincidences" in life, only "Godincidences". If your reading this blogspot for daily encouragement, that's a GODINCIDENT...it's part of the plan for your recovery. It's part of the plan for HIM to use anyone and anything to help you get to the next level of total healing. The ONLY one you can change in life is YOU. God wants us to be dependent on HIM alone, for EVERYTHING! Sometimes I believe He allows the situations in our lives purposefully so we come to realize that we cannot live this life "without" HIM! We cannot change the circumstances of our lives, but we can change how we will walk through them, we can change whatever it is within ourselves along the way that we are directed to.

Some gifts come in unrecognizable packages. And for some, can even come as a result of a spouses betrayal. That may sound harsh, but the reality is that if I became a better person as a result of walking through the painful process with my husband and continue to journey for health and success in this marriage, then I've become a better person as a result of it. I've learned to "embrace" my shattered dreams and asked GOD to reveal to me the greater dreams he's given me in the process. I've grown and understand so much more about the authentic me, about my husband, about my family, about emotional health and wholeness, about what love really looks like. To me, this has been a GIFT.

My prayer for you today is that you are Staying In The Day...that you are making the most of THE PRESENT day! Remember, don't look back, don't look forward, it's such a waste of your time to try and control something you have no control over. Do something today that will make a difference, do something today that will begin to give you a sense of HOPE. Your PAIN is real, EXPRESS it; but don't allow it to hold you captive permanently. Get plugged into a support group, preferably one that is facilitated by professionals, whether licensed or pastoral led. That would be the GREATEST gift to yourself this year for Christmas! Life is all about choices, will you make this one for yourself today?

Staying In The Day with you....~CC

Exactly What Does Living a Life of Transparency Look Like...

2007-12-03T14:14:00.000-05:00

Photo by ~CC
Clouds have a way of looking transparent at times, but somewhere hidden inside a thin film of that cloud is something dark... hidden... maybe a storm that no one knows the depth of...maybe a storm like ours. We can hide some of the darkness for a period of time. There will come a time when our tears must fall...you may be surprised at how the rain of those tears will move us forward in understanding our journey in a greater way than we ever imagined.

The quality of being see-through is what the dictionary defines the word "transparent" as. Over the past six years I've heard repeatedly of the necessity in living an "authentic and transparent" life. The word authentic is described in the dictionary as "not counterfeit", which would be synonymous with the meaning of "not fake".

I'm choosing to talk about this subject for a particular reason at this phase of my own journey. I want you to understand the need for discretion in revealing your personal story, and what exactly a "transparent" life looks like for you right now. Appropriate "Next Steps" are critical in our lives, whether personally or professionally. In order to reach a particular goal in our lives, following a blue print is always helpful. Carefully selected "Next Steps" can in some ways provide you a path to follow. Each situation is unique, because our lives all take on different facets. What may have worked best for me, may not necessarily work best for you.

At each fork in the road it's critical to pray and ask God for guidance. You may have decided to not expose your situation to "anyone" in your life. You may have opted to "go it alone" and keep your pain tucked inside because it's too difficult to let anyone know what happened to you, to your relationship, marriage... You may have decided to shout it from the rooftop as a result of the fact that the pain was too difficult to mask, everyone now knows. Or, you could have been like me, and decided to be selective on who you shared your story with. Like an onion unfolding over the years, I have become totally transparent with certain individuals when the Lord has opened up what I call the "Godincident" moments. These moments are times in which I clearly have seen God open the window for me to share my story, a little bit at a time.

When I first learned of my situation, the last thing I wanted to do was tell everyone. I just knew we'd work through whatever issues we needed to, and I strongly felt that the fewer people that knew, it would be for the better. The last thing we really needed at that time was people feeling sorry for me, for us. I was concerned that when I was dealing with anger they could possibly influence my decision to stay in the marriage and work through the hard stuff. Our decision was kept to a minimum of friends and family knowing. Neither of us told our mothers, nor most our siblings. A year or so down the road, my husband confessed his infidelity to his father. The select friends that we decided to tell became our prayer warriors to pray us through. Other than that, no one knew what we were walking through unless we told them.

One of the things I learned when I joined the support group a few years later that was so influential in my healing was the need to learn how to become an "authentic" person. All my life I worked so hard to "hold it all together", that I really didn't know how to live my life any other way. "Fake it till I make it" was even part of my motto in the sales world I was a part of. I learned in my group that to be authentic it sometimes means to let my guard down, to be vulnerable, and to be open and honest about the reality I'm living in. There was something that allowed me to feel "Freed" when I chose to share my story with this support group of women. Not only was it healing for me to do that, but my story also encouraged others that had walked the similar path I had been on. Compassion for another helps us to realize we are not alone...and that to me was huge, and still is!

When I started this blog, one of the first journal entries I made was on living a "transparent" life. As I wrote that entry and was reviewing prior to posting it, part of me felt it was a hypocritical statement since I still had not confided my story to my mother, or my other siblings. I so much wanted to at times, but yet I always held back. In some ways I think I was protecting my mother from the pain of knowing what I'd walked through, and in some ways I was still trying to protect the reputation of my husband. For whatever reason, I had not told. Please let me share at this point that I personally think that revealing one's story is not for everyone! Only if it's what you think is best for you, your spouse, and your situation. Never should you tell someone in order to rally your own defense team. If you do, you've most assuredly set your course to go down a path that could end in the dissolve of your marriage.

In my case, it's been nearly 6 years come January 16. Many of the deep wounds have healed, and we continue to move forward in our recovery. We both have done tons of counseling, soul searching with God, and have worked on growing our relationships personally to mature spiritually, as well as emotionally. My husband and I both feel our calling is to minister to women and men that are now walking a mile in the moccasins we wore at one time, and continue to wear in the ongoing recovery of our previously broken marriage. The moccasins of a marriage in turmoil, in shock, in disillusion...ready to either explode, die, or radically get saved. It's because of this reason, and this reason only, that I knew it was a matter of time before we'd begin to tell others.

Just about 4-5 weeks ago I shared my story with my sister for a specific reason. She had someone close to her needing encouragement for their marriage to hang in there, to fight with all their might; I directed her to have them visit this site. This past Saturday a simple conversation led me to confess my journey to my mother, and I cried like a baby at one point when I shared my story and path I've lived this past six years. For me, the tears were one of relief that I could finally be honest with my mom. For once I allowed myself the release to just be a daughter, and let my mom comfort me. I'd rarely made that type of choice throughout my adult years. I was always trying to protect my mom from worrying. I was always trying to play the part of the caretaker. Now, I'm working hard at changing all the old roads I used to go down, I'm choosing new paths.

No matter what discretion you've used in selecting to let others know of your story, please be cautious. Pray about who should and should not know. The people you tell can either help you or hinder you, regardless of whether you work to keep your marriage together, or to dissolve it. Godly counsel for your marriage is a must! Without some sort of solid counseling on both you and your husbands part, you will just be spinning your wheels to repair the situation. We couldn't personally afford to have us both in counseling at the same time, so we did one year for my husband first, then I went to a 4 day Intensive Counseling week at "His High Places". There is a link on this blog spot where you can access to His High Places directly if you are interested. I learned a wealth of information about myself in those short 4 days. Enough to hold me another year until God would lead me to "The Barnabas Center". Each step of my path those first few years were divinely appointed by the Lord, I truly believe that. Like that onion unfolding, a bit of pain was able to be revealed each time I'd take the "Next Step". Each fork in the road allowed me the privilege to "Let Go and Let God" more and more, more and more.

For me personally, my telling my mother this past weekend has helped me to once again become more transparent, to allow someone that is extremely close to me to see a bit more of who I really am. By my telling her a portion of my story, I've allowed her to come in to see more of me and learn who I've become these past six years, and who I am today as a result of that. We are all constantly evolving in our lives. Sometimes it is the pain from our life experiences that helps us to become the beautiful flowers we're intended to be in God's Garden of Life.

My prayer for you is that you always move with caution, and that you only reveal your story to others that are "safe" and that will be respectful of your particular situation. Let me also caution you on the "wealth of information", or lack thereof that you may share. Details and content are not necessary, and I would not recommend you share them with anyone unless you are involved in a safe and protected environment where confidentiality is enforced. The only place I recommend sharing those types of truths, if you feel necessary, are in the safety and confidential haven of a professional Support Group led by a licensed Counselor. In my group we signed agreements that we would not reveal any of our peers situations outside the group. We all respected the agreement.

Staying in the Day & Continually Moving Forward in My Journey "With You"! ~CC

"Thanksgiving"...So many things to be thankful for...how do I remain true to myself and what I'm feeling, but still remain thankful?

2007-11-23T08:23:00.000-05:00

When I hear the word "Thanksgiving", I automatically find myself migrating to thoughts of family, health, and the freedom we have in the United States. My husband & I experienced a lovely trip north by auto this past week where I captured this photo from the car. As we drove by this flag flying near a business, I grabbed my camera quickly and fortunately the moving snap turned out exactly as I'd hoped it would.

We are still experiencing the awesome visit with family and friends. The "present" has a way of revisiting earlier days when the laughter begins to seep from the walls of the room while the stories unfold. It was evident that we all just felt so happy listening to my husband and his childhood friends that he spent most of his childhood days with sharing the fond stories of days gone by. It's so awesome to visit a part of my husband's childhood by listening to the crowd tell their versions of the same stories he's often shared with me. Their excitement is just as deep as his has always been. These men become little boys again as they reach back in time to reconnect, laugh, and still love like brothers. Hugs and "I love you's" permeate the room as they leave the home. "Call me next year, we'll come again!" is the resounding comment as they exit the front door...and we hope and pray for another fond reunion such as this. This is "Thanksgiving".

The traditional phone greetings from our children that aren't with us, the well wishes that we will have a great Thanksgiving Day with our time here in CT. This is "Thanksgiving". We sit down to our Turkey Dinner that my mother-in-law and I have slaved over, this is "Thanksgiving". We ate till we couldn't eat any more, and I fell asleep at 7pm, this is "Thanksgiving". Well, it's what we "know" Thanksgiving to be, right? The smell of the turkey, the great stuffing, the desserts...it's what we have experienced and has become tradition for most of us.

Thanksgiving = To be thankful for something. To "Give" something back since we've been so blessed. "CC's" interpretation of what defines "Thanksgiving".

No matter what life has unfolded to us, we still have so much to be thankful for. I think the hardest thing for all of us... is how we struggle to "learn" to find a "healthy" balance of allowing ourselves to be true to our "emotions" in whatever we are going through in life. We need to allow ourselves the "privilege" of grieving our losses, whatever they may be. But, not allowing those losses to take us as captors and identify us for the rest of our lives. There is a favorite scripture my Great Grandmother loved that seems to fit what I'm trying to share...

Ecclesiastes 3: 1, 4 "There is a right time for everything...a time to cry, a time to laugh, a time to grieve, a time to dance."

Scripture gives us the "right" perspective. Life goes on...and we must search within ourselves and ask the Lord to "help" us to let go of the things that maybe we've held on too tightly that has kept us as captors of our past painful events; whether divorce, death, or betrayal. I remember when my Dad passed away that I felt if I ever laughed again, it would somehow dishonor him. How could I ever be "OK" with laughter again...my Dad had died. I felt the same way when my 27 year old brother was tragically killed 27 years ago. For much of my inner spirit, I held on to the pain, and I kept the darkness and sadness inside because I thought I "ought" to...in order to honor them. How interesting that we find ourselves over the years adapting to this type of "coping" skill, these "unwritten" codes that we live by.

I'm grateful that through much prayer, love, and counseling, I've been set "FREE" from these old coping mechanisms that I had lived most of my life with. And, because I'm now "aware" of how I'm wired, I can detect when I begin to regress and return to my "old" way of thinking. I have to remind myself of the scripture I shared in today's blog. There is time to cry, to laugh, to grieve, to dance...and to GIVE THANKS! May today we all find something to GIVE, even if just a smile to a stranger.

Staying in the Day...and remaining Thankful with YOU! ~CC

Loving Ourself and Others Well....

2007-11-11T15:44:00.000-05:00

Photography by ~CC "A Summer Day at the Biltmore Estate Gardens"

Just because we "love" someone, it doesn't mean that we love them well... that includes our self! About two years ago when I joined a women's support group at The Barnabas Center in Charlotte, NC., I learned that it's possible that the "way" we love is not necessarily a healthy way to love.

After learning this, I reflected on the way I'd loved people both past and present. I understood that I was included in the statistics of people who didn't know how to love well. Whether it was loving my parents, my siblings, past boyfriends, and eventually husband and children; all my life I loved poorly by loving too much. Basically, I was always motivated to do things to "keep" their love. I was always doing things I thought I "ought" to do. Most times I didn't consider how some of those things I chose to do would effect me in the long run. I never thought about my own self, at least I didn't think I was thinking about my own self. I just wanted to "keep" the person happy that I loved so they wouldn't leave me.

Falling "in love" as a young woman and marrying Prince Charming is a dream come true for many little girls. It was for me when I married my husband, Johnny. Many women marry the man they think will "complete" them, I did. It sounds so romantic too, doesn't it? "Loving One's Self Well" was already not clear to me. I learned much later in life that to have a healthy emotional love relationship with anyone, I had to bring myself into the relationship feeling "complete and happy" already. I needed to be complete in myself to give 100% of myself to any loving relationship.

Fast forward 20 years... No one can give us happiness and joy if we haven't already learned how to find it within ourselves, we find it within the foundation of our faith and in one's own character. A job can't fill that empty vacuum, and a man that we love can't fill it. It's up to us to search and find out who we are and why we do the things we do. Without knowing these things about ourselves as young women, we go into any relationship with a deficit. We go into the relationship with our cup half full looking for someone else to fill the other half and bring us the joy that we've long searched for.

Many of us have old scars from past pain that we stuff into parts of our heart, "thinking" we're moving forward in life. We're not going to allow ourselves to be affected by a past that binds us we say. So, we walk through life tying to use the coping skills we used as children, yet we aren't a child any longer. The things that used to help us cope are no longer working.

OK, who are we then? Just asking ourselves that question is the start of finding out. Then we are beginning to search out what it means to be an authentic woman, even when it means that we might have to face certain truths about ourselves. It's one thing to fool the ones around us, it's another to realize we've fooled our self the most throughout our life. That's exactly how I felt when I realized that the positive happy person that I constantly radiated to all those around me was not who I truly was inside.

"I will never grow up and allow my children to see me sad and crying, I never want them to see me like that. I don't ever want to make them sad." I had made this unspoken vow when I was a little girl. The reason was because my mother's nerves were often frayed due to having a challenging life with six children by the time she was 29 years old.

I was fourth in the lineup. By the time I was 9, the two older siblings had left the nest. All I wanted was to see my mom smile. I'd clean the house to put a smile on her face. I'd try to make dinner to try and put a smile on her face. I still remember the first time I made a pot roast. She was lying in bed resting and I'd walk back in the room and she'd tell me what to do next.

Early on I struggled to understand what loving well meant. I thought if I just loved harder, it would make my Mom happier. I took this same principle into my adult relationships, and then couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.

What does "Loving One's Self Well" look like? Really, in many ways for me, it was learning a few things about myself before I could really learn how to love myself well. When I became aware of who I really was as a person... and how I was wired, it explained why I did the things I did all my life. Once I became "aware" of all these things, that's when I began to see I had a choice in changing.

I had to come to grips with the fact that I've struggled in and out of depression much of my life. Most likely because of all the emotions I "thought" I had to stuff. Now I understand why being around people that were depressed were too horrible of an experience for me. It was too much like looking into a mirror and finding out what was truly hidden deep in my own heart. I had to stop running, I needed to learn "about" me, I needed to change what I could, and live with what I couldn't change.

The tragic choices my husband made six years ago brought me to my knees...I was coming full circle to find out the secret I had missed all my life. The Secret to Loving Myself Well, so I could love others well. Loving myself well starts with my being honest when I speak, even when that honesty might hurt the one I love. Do I wear my hair short because my husband likes it short, or because I like it short? If I love myself well, I wear it short because I like it short. If we are continually doing things so people will love us, it's not really an emotionally healthy love we are exhibiting. It's the fear of losing the love from that person is what causes us to do it. Fear some how is at the root of all dysfunction I've learned. The fear of losing the people we love.

Life today looks like this for me: I work daily to be an "authentic" person. I exercise being honest, even when it's difficult...and even when I'm in the mindset that I could hurt someone as a result of my honesty. I allow myself to tell my boss that this is what I can do, and this is what I can't do... when I know too much is being piled on my corporate plate. I am learning to care "about" the people I love, instead of caring "for" them. I am working at "letting go" and "letting God" in all aspects of my life. I'm journeying deeper into finding out what "Intimacy with God" really looks like for me. I'm working hard to "detach" myself when I begin to become obsessed over things I cannot change about the people I care about the most. They deserve their own life experiences just like I do. I am learning to listen to the leaves blowing across my path when I'm taking my walks in the day. I'm learning to stay in the "Present", again, and again, and again. I am learning to Love Myself Well!

And when I slip and fall....and again begin to start to love too much, I have great friends asking me if I'm still loving myself well. That's when I am reminded that this is a life long way of living. It takes time...and I can only get better with time to love myself well. It is when I love myself well that I have something to give, something to contribute to the ones that love me!

Staying In The Day! ~CC

A Blue Sky Is Like A Paris View To Me....

2007-10-28T18:38:00.000-04:00

Photography by ~CC

Something light to help you Stay in the Day! I took this photo during my spring trip to my Mother's in PA. My mother is a painter and I thought this would be a great picture to inspire her. There's something about the aqua blue sky as a backdrop for any picture, I love it!

Gazing at this photo reminds me of the great things I loved doing in my childhood. Growing up in the heart of the country and not having parks nearby gave me many reasons for finding the "simple" things in life for recreation. Picking up pine cones in a bag, making mud pies, and chasing lightening bugs and putting them in a glass jar seemed like a trip to Paris for me back then.

These things don't quite have the same affect on me today, but one thing that does is looking at a bright blue sky. Whether it's all blue or dawning an outfit of wispy white cotton clouds, it's my Paris view.

When life seems really heavy, no matter what the cause, the sight of the sky has a way of calming my soul. Today I wanted to share the calm with you!

"Staying in the Day" with a Paris view....

~CC

The Acorn....I Had No Idea How True This Would Become!

2007-10-20T08:21:00.000-04:00

Photography by ~CC

Around the month of May/June of the year 2000, my husband's job required him to travel extensively. This meant our family would only see him one to two weekends a month, and the extent of this travel was unknown. We imagined a minimum of one year at the time. Needless to say, our family was very emotional and sad about losing the daily Dad and Husband that we were accustomed to having since we were married. Dad felt the same way too, yet it seemed a necessity.

On the way home from the airport I stopped at my favorite restaurant to eat dinner. Shuffling through the gift shop later I found these wood-like acorns. I remember picking one of them up, and holding it at an angle...trying to remember what the acorn symbolized. I asked a lady in the shop, she said it represented strength. I quickly picked up five, one for each of our family members. I wasn't quite sure what for, but I would later return home to write the following verse:

"Our Family Oak Tree"

On the day that Daddy left for Arizona, I found these acorns. As soon as I saw them, I knew they were to symbolize something for our family. There is a saying, "From the strength of a tiny acorn, a mighty Oak tree grows".

I felt like I needed to buy one for each of us. Because from this tiny acorn size experience with Daddy being away for so long...our family will grow stronger like a mighty Oak tree!

I want all of us to carry this acorn in our pockets to remind us when it seems really hard...we can do this! Our strength comes from the Lord. And this little acorn is a reminder of that strength!

Someday soon...God will remind us of how He brought us through this time... It will be a pleasant reminder...not a sad one. We will remember how much love and support that we gave one another... It will prove to each of you children that a family rooted in God will never grow weary! And....with both Dad and Mom trusting firmly in HIM, It will prove to you why you need to believe and trust HIM more in your lives. And...why you want to make the same commitment to marry someone that believes as you do. It will show that suicide is never an option...and why when things seem hopeless, they are not. It will remind you that there is always hope for tomorrow...as long as your strength is rooted in HIM!
With God all things are possible...His word tells us that! This little acorn can mean many things to us. A sign of a stronger tomorrow...and a security knowing that things will get better! But, most importantly, it will remind you that our strength in each day we take in breath...it is a gift from The Lord! I'm excited to see how fast our oak tree of strength will grow...but especially excited to see how fast our tree will grow...and how soon Daddy will come home! We will have many blessings to share.
Always believe...And never let go of the Lord.... Your Momma

I relocated this verse shortly after my husband returned home an exhausted and broken man...full of regret and in a place emotionally that I'd never seen him in. A matter of fact, our entire family was in a place emotionally that none of us had ever been in.

While sitting there alone reading the words of this letter that I'd written to our three children nearly two years earlier, it was as if God was now reminding me of the very same things... "I would have a sign of a stronger tomorrow", "With God "all" things are possible", "Suicide is never an option", and "When things seem hopeless...they are not", and "There is "always" hope for tomorrow". After reading the entire letter again, I sat there barely able to speak. God had known even back then when I wrote this letter to our children that someday in the future he'd use that same letter and the same words he inspired me to write to them...to encourage me. How does one not know that God isn't real when something like that happens? To me, that was my encouragement to know that no matter what we would face as a family, we'd face it together. We were injured deeply, all of us. But, we weren't down for the count, we'd get back up on our feet, in time. And we did!

Today is a Beautiful Day! My husband, myself, our daughter and our sons are ordinary people trying to continue to find and live an extraordinary life. God gave us all a second chance. In many ways, it's like being afforded to live a life after a death occurs. Today I still come across this verse that I wrote. Each time I do, I am amazed at how true every one of those words have become to our lives.

Does this all mean that we have lived happily ever after? No... But, it does mean that we live in reality now. At one time, my entire family thought we had the "perfect" family. I thought I had the "perfect" husband, my children thought they had the "perfect" parents (in some ways) =) ......but, we were not perfect. We were each flawed... enough to make us realize our deep need for Christ in our lives. And it was this same need for Christ that gave us our hope that one day again we would all be OK! We are all OK, some days we are better than OK! And some days we aren't so great, pretty normal. Now, we live to learn more of what God wants of us. Who is it that He wants us to learn from next? Who is it that He wants us to care about and pray for? Life is all about choices. We only live this life once, my heart's desire is to not waste any more time making the wrong choices. Yet, the somber and merciful reality is that if I, or any of my family, do make a wrong choice...Christ will be right there to pick us up, brush us off, and lovingly and with much grace will be there to forgive us. Life isn't always about having second chances, it's sometimes about having a third, and a fourth, and so on...

Job 4:4Your words have comforted those who fell, and you have strengthened those who could not stand.

Staying in this most BEAUTIFUL Sunny Fall Day with you! ~CC

The "Uninvited" Gate of Hopelessness Opens, Please Don't Make Me Go Through It

2007-10-06T07:25:00.000-04:00

"Why is it that so many of the wisest people in our lives, those who become our teachers, who inspire us to appreciate life more completely, are people who have experienced personal tragedy?" Excerpt from Alexander Stoddard's book on Making Choices.

Pain entering one's life in any form or fashion causes one to want to open a gate to escape. That's exactly what I've wanted every time tragedy has hit my life. What exactly is it that we're trying to run away from? I think it's the reality of our existence at the moment. Whether your pain is coming from sitting in a room and hearing the diagnosis of your illness is Cancer, or if it's the fact that the Cancer has robbed you of a loved one; or maybe your pain is a result of a husband or significant other looking you coldly in the eye and saying they no longer love you...your reality at that exact moment is numbness and hopelessness.

Life isn't turning out the way you thought it was, but hold tight... God's got a plan... He knew that whatever has happened to you was going to happen. You may ask, "Why has He allowed this situation to happen"? Well, I asked that same question. Little did I know that He could take what my reality was, rescue me, teach me deep truths from people much wiser than myself, and He would grow me into a woman of dignity that I never dreamed possible. Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

When one is in pain, one of two things typically happen, we fight or flee. Sitting in my living room one early morning and hearing that delivered in a sermon from a Pastor on TV really settled into my spirit. That's "exactly" what I've wanted to do all my life when I felt uncomfortable in a job, or when the stress of life was too much. I didn't want to stay in the fire I felt if there was any way out...I wanted it. On January 16, 2002, I was in a fire when that call came in....I was in deep, deep, pain... All of a sudden, life seemed worth fighting for. My husband was worth fighting for. My family was worth fighting for. And, God walked me through the Gate of the "Unknown", the target we walked toward was called "PAIN". Each day that would unfold going forward was unknown terrain for me. I had no idea how a marriage of 20 years that I thought was the absolutely best thing in my life could possibly fall prey to infection, nonetheless my husband finding himself confused, lost, and cold in his heart.

Prayer changes "Everything" for us! Something happened on January 16, 2002 within my soul after that call was over. Numbness first, hopelessness second, weariness third, it kept getting worse... I immediately called a Pastor that has been a Spiritual Dad of ours, Pastor Larry Titus. sobbing profusely unfolded my reality of only a few minutes ago to him. I'll never forget what Dad Titus said to me, "Don't do anything, He's got to come home on his own. Pray the Holy Spirit convicts him of his actions, he must come home as a result of that conviction." Dad Titus then told me that he'd try to reach out to him, which he did. He phoned and left a message, Johnny did not take the call, but he did listen to the message.

Next, I reached out to my Pastors Dan and Nori Chesney to pray. I reached out to my Bible Study partners to pray. I reached out to my children, we cried and prayed. The first night after that call we literally had a full house of people and a time of prayer in our home. All sitting in a circle Pastor Dan spoke not only to me, but to our children that were 16, 18, and 26 at the time. He talked about the reality's of life and how the destruction of all families,, Christian or not, is #1 on the list for the one most of us know as "Satan". Now, he'd gotten permission to sift our family like wheat...and that's exactly what was happening.

HOPE comes in all shapes and sizes, some as gifts of money when the finances are not enough, sometimes in shapes of humans when one can't take another breath on their own. My gift of HOPE came in many ways those first two days. Because I'd reached out "only" to my closest circle of christian friends and church family, I knew my families reality would be kept confidential. You see, my dear friends just five years earlier had experienced a similar journey in their marriage. They told all their family, all the friends, etc... It was very hard for them to work on putting their marriage back together without the pressures of what everyone else thought. All I wanted was to have my husband back home, and I wanted us to learn what it was that God could teach us that would keep us and our family intact. I didn't need the outside influence of someone telling me I had every right to divorce my husband. I needed to focus...I needed to walk through this Gate with God, and not look back.

TODAY, I can tell you that God worked MIRACLES! Does that mean the miracle was that in an instant everything was fixed? No... Does that mean that I never felt any more pain once my husband returned? No... Does that mean that I felt safe once he came home. No.... What I can say "YES" to is that everything we walked through once he returned home was "WORTH EVERYTHING" to have us together and to have our family intact.

Ya know, I learned in my support group I joined years later that even if I would've moved on in my life without him, I just may have picked another man with the same issues and I'd be in instant replay all over again. Have you ever heard the phrase before, "If you don't learn what it is that God is trying to teach you, He'll give you a new classroom and a new teacher"? Well, you don't know how true that is...and I've met many women that this exact thing has happened to.

Staying in the Day on the onset of "betrayal" or "loss" of any kind seems impossible. The only way you can do that is to focus on what GOD wants to teach you as he "walks" with you through this pain. That's the thing I learned the most about those first two days after my husband called. I "felt" alone, but I knew I "wasn't" alone. My Lord was with me, He was carrying me, He was breathing for me...

One of the nights before my husband returned my daughter and I went in to the family room, layed face down on the floor... layed our hands on a handprint of his that we'd kept when he'd be traveling. It was the way we'd pray for him when he was gone. Well, this night, we layed on the floor face down. We anointed his hand print with oil, prayed our hearts out for his return, his safe delivery, his life. I remember at one point opening the front door and praying and believing that I would see him walk through that door... Within less than 24 hours I seen that vision for real. I call that a Miracle. Conviction in one's soul is brought on by the power of the Holy Spirit, just like Dad Titus said. And when my husband made the decision to come home, the coldness left his heart and soul, and the grief and sorrow of the reality of what he'd done had set in. So, in the front door came a man that I had not known before, a broken man, a lost man, a man that needed much healing and restoration. And, now there were two broken people, lost, and needing much healing and restoration.

Where ever you are today, my message to you is one of Hope. I too have walked a mile in your shoes. One that has been dealt "Pain" and "Loss" can use their testimonies to give HOPE that GOD still does miracles. I think the most important thing that I learned through my journey is that "I found Me". Sounds cliche, I know...but, it's so true. All my life I'd try to "fix" the people I loved. I would "hurt" when I saw them hurt... I would obsessively worry about things I had no control over. My painful journey with my husband caused me to reach out for help to get me and my marriage restored. I never understood that in the process I could find life to be lived in a more fulfilled and emotionally healthy way.

No matter whether your journey is one day, one week, one month, one year... Continue to surround yourself with "quality" friends, church family, and family that will support the path that God is leading you on. Whether it is to pray your marriage through a situation, or whether it's a decision that you have felt you are to move on... keep those closest to you that are strong, positive, and Godly influences. If you've not reached out to a Pastor yet, find one that you can relate to. You may not like what you hear, embrace it anyway. You may feel that all of this is unfair. It is, do it anyway. Only you can make the decision to stay and fight, or flee and leave it all behind. If you stay and fight, you just might win! I did!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life! Stay in it, use it wisely. Cry out to God and ask HIM for strength to get through the day. Cry out to God to have Him show you the way. Cry out to God and just "BE" with Him.

Staying in the Day with you...please reply with a comment if you'd like me to respond to what path you are now on! You are not alone!

~CC, also known as Cassandra to my Mom....

Hold On For Dear Life.....

2007-09-26T00:55:00.000-04:00

Psalm 91:14-16 "If you'll hold on to me for dear life," says God, "I'll get you out of any trouble. I'll give you the best of care if you'll only get to know and trust me. Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times; I'll rescue you, then throw you a party. I'll give you a long life, give you a long drink of salvation!"

As I read this scripture...I am reminded of these words, "TRUTH" shall set you free! There are many "Truths" in God's Word. Walking on any "Painful" journey sure does have a way of drawing us either closer to HIM, or further from HIM! I think that's where the "Better" or "Bitter" thing comes in to play. If we allow the "Pain" to be the catalyst to move us to a better place (Closer to HIM) than a bitter place, that's the action plan we must devise.

Photography by Carol on loan by Vonnie from her African Safari! Check out my link to her new Blog called Shikinah Art! Doesn't this photo remind you of two bitter birds?

Under the Links on this blog you will find one for Living Smart Resources. My Mentor of nearly 20 years, Devi Titus, has an audio CD I highly recommend. It's called, "From Bitter to Better". I think the first few years after our recovery began I bathed frequently in listening to both her and Dad Titus's teaching CD's. This one is specifically meant for what I'm talking about today.

Bitterness won't allow you to move forward in your recovery, it will only hold you captive. The pool of "bitterness" quicksand that will eventually swallow you up whole if you're not careful. Not only will it claim your life, but also the lives of those you love that are in close proximity.

Did I tell you that I never ever spoke ill of my husband to our children when he returned home? And I've not done so since either... My children at the time of his return were 17, 19, and 27. They told their father when he returned home that they'd forgive him the same way that he'd forgiven them all the times that they made poor choices. That is something I'll never forget. To him, our forgiveness was the beginning of his healing. The Grace we extended to him was something he'd not counted on. To be quite frank, it wasn't something we did in our own strength...I know it was a GOD thing! We knew in order for us to all heal, bitterness would never move us toward the prize we all wanted, TOTAL RESTORATION.

God being GOD knew and understood the levels of "poison" that we all stuffed here and there. Pain has a way of doing that, even sometimes when we've chosen to forgive. Little did I know that these pockets of bitterness were lying low inside of me. All of a sudden these outbursts would come from no where. I remember saying, "This isn't me". Well, guess what, it was me! That's when I knew I needed to find someone to help me understand at a deeper level how I could go from bitter to better....

If I'm thankful for one thing over the past six years, I'm thankful that my outward words to my children have never been demeaning or destructive to the person their Dad was and is to them. One of the other GOD things HE did for me. This is totally because GOD would not allow me to do this. They didn't need me adding anymore strife and division to their plate than they already had to deal with. I'm the adult.....I needed to work through my marital relationship with my husband, not my innocent adult children. They didn't need to hear about my pain, our pain. They had their own pain to deal with, and it was deep enough without my adding anymore to their baskets. We each in our own way have trudged up and down the mountains of emotions.

Today, my HOPE for you is that if Bitterness has gotten the best of you, you'll choose something BETTER.... Love yourself well by finding out how to LET GO and LET GOD teach you to leave the bitterness behind.

Until later.....Staying in the Day with you Always!
~CC

Be Good To Me, GOD---and now!

2007-09-18T19:48:00.000-04:00

Reading Scripture always has a way of calming my soul...

Psalm 57: 1-3 The MESSAGE Translation, Verses 1-3: "Be good to me, God--and now! I've run to you for dear life. I'm hiding out under your wings until the hurricane blows over. I call out to High God, the God who holds me together. He sends orders from heaven and saves me, he humiliates those who kick me around. God delivers generous love, he makes good on his word."

The past few days my heart has been heavy as to what to post next. It became evident when I was going through old email material that I kept during my earlier days of recovery. I remember so much wanting to know what the blueprint looked like for someone 6 months down the road, 1 year down the road. I just wanted an idea of whether I'd be happier, whether I'd still be in pain.

Everyones journey is different. Like our fingerprint is one of a kind, so is our own recovery. The choice of our path for finding help is really up to us. And if we don't pursue one, it's simple, you most likely won't recover, it(the pain) will always be hanging around like a friend that's overstayed their welcome. I think the interesting part of our recovery is what we decide to do about it. We have many options, it depends on what we choose to do. Whether one decides to stay in the marriage and work things through, or whether you decide to move on, there is still work for both parties to do. For some it may only take months, for some years, and for some, a lifetime. It just depends on how much you are letting go, and letting God!

There are many options for us: Professional Godly Counseling, Support Groups that specialize in Healing, your job may offer something like Life Works Counseling for free or at a discount, and Peer Accountability groups. Because finances can be one area in which a marriage in crisis is also affected by, you may feel you have no possibility for getting assistance. If you are in a church, speak to the Pastoral Board. Possibly there is some sort of support for a marital crisis such as yours. In our case, we did receive some assistance for the first few months for my husband to get help/intervention. That was a huge blessing to get us started. Later, we saved $ for my attending "His High Places", a ministry near Boone, NC, that specializes in Healing Painful Wounds. Again, a few years later I joined "The Barnabas Center" in Charlotte, NC. The Healing Path at Barnabas was to be a huge part of the "Blue Print" I had been searching for. Both "His High Places" and "The Barnabas Center" would prove to be the avenue to help me unpeel the layers of my pain, and to move me forward with hope! I was going to make it! No, I MADE IT!

Now, a peek at what my journey looked like the first day.

Rewind to 1/16/2002: I can remember the first night after I got my call and I was home all alone with our children. Not knowing what my tomorrows would hold for my marriage and my family, I sat on my living room sofa trying to do my best to read my Bible for encouragement. I could not read to save my life. But, what I found I could do was write the scriptures down on paper...so, that's what I did. As the pen met the paper and I began mechanically writing word after word something began to take place in my heart and my spirit... I began to experience comfort and hope that somehow, some way, we were going to be OK. I didn't know what that looked like, and I can't explain it, it was just a moment between me and the Lord! I'll never forget that moment.

A peek at me nine months later: Rewind to 9/3/2002: Nine months later I emailed this to a friend: "In all of this, I am on my own journey with God...with much to discuss with him. Frankly, sometimes I feel like I'm mad at him and I'm on a strike and not talking to him, yet I am...and then I'm not!!! Sound familiar? My husband is the only man in my entire life that was a healthy example of a Christlike man to me, and now.....I find out that many times that was not even true. He wanted it to be, but it wasn't....and that is confusing to me... Confusing as to why God didn't help him to escape sooner....There are many WHY's.......and the consequences of his actions are so hard.....so hard....and I want to get through them, it's just not so easy. The Why's will probably NEVER be answered....so, my favorite saying lately has been just "Stay In The Day....Stay In The Day...Stay In The Day!!! Don't look back at yesterday, and don't look at what will happen tomorrow, JUST STAY IN THE DAY.

S - aving

T - oday

A- ligning

Y- esterday

I- nto

N-ight

T- ransferring

H- eartache

E- arly

D- etermined

A- lways to stay in

Y- ahweh!!! (God)

Thought I'd have some fun with working on an acronym for Stay In The Day! Every day is a new day, every day we choose friend...and I know some days we will cry, and many we will smile, and still yet there will be days as if we are dying... But, hang in there, and know I care....and I am with you....and GOD IS WITH US....even when we're angry, sad, disillusioned, and feeling like we can't breathe anymore...WE WILL! WE WILL! WE ARE!!!" (end of email)

Rewind to 9/30/2002: Another email to a friend walking on the same path: "I Stayed In The Day for the MAJORITY of the weekend..... And, that is ALWAYS my best day when I can do that. NOT looking back." (end of email)

Now, for today, 9/18/2007: I continue to "choose" to love life! I love my husband despite the past choices he made! Isn't that what "unconditional" love is? Now, the choices he has continued to make since he returned home help me to find hope daily. He worked through counseling quite some time to find out what took him down the wrong path in making the poor choices he made. In the corporate world we call this "Lessons Learned". But guess what? I too had to find out what I needed to look at so I could move forward. Not only did I need to look at "my own stuff", I also needed to find out what "my own stuff" looked like. I found out... Will share some of that "stuff" in a future post.

Until then, Staying in the Day with you! It's a Daily choice for all of us! No matter what our Crisis! ~CC

I Am Struggling With Looking Back...

2007-09-14T06:09:00.000-04:00

She wrote, "I am struggling with looking back and I am sooooo hurt because each time I thought I could trust, I have found out that I couldn't, and now I really can't......I don't know how to stop." One of my dear friends I mentioned in an earlier post wrote that many years ago at the onset of her journey. I knew exactly what she meant, we shared those same threads of doubt....back then. Today we are in a "totally" different place.... Our marriages restored and we continue to put one foot in front of the other to work at this thing called ~Love. Because that's what it is, work!

If you're walking in that familiar place, and you don't know how to stop looking back, or you don't know how to trust anymore, you know exactly what my friend meant. "I am struggling with looking back"... That same overwhelming "cloud" is how "Stay In The Day" became a phrase that I heard the Lord whisper in my ear. "Stay in The Day" meant that if a thought entered my mind, it was up to me to shew it away. Concentrate on what I could, the day. I was to stay "present" in it, enjoy what I could in it, deal with my "stuff" in it, and just "be" in it. I was not to borrow anything from the past of which I could not control, and I wasn't to worry about my tomorrow, because tomorrow would take care of itself. Maybe that's what I feared the most, tomorrow would take care of itself, and I didn't know what that meant... Staying in The Day would prove to be the hardest thing I would be commissioned to learn.

Yet, step by step, moment by moment, I made it. It wasn't overnight, but I learned it. Now, just because I learned how to keep myself in the moment, didn't mean at times I still wasn't attacked in my thought life to take a journey back and forth at times. But, each time I did...I payed the price! I really came to understand the importance of staying in the "present" a few years down my path well! I wondered why I had waited so long to succeed in it. I've learned that when I do Stay In The Day...I'm giving myself and everyone around me the best gift, The PRESENT! I can do something with that! I can find something to cherish in each day, even if it's the butterfly on my flowering lantana...

Maybe your marriage wasn't restored, maybe you're at that "point of no return". You're on a different path, but the importance of your Staying in The Day is just as deeply needed. You are at a different crossroad, but you can make it! Don't stay trapped in a past that you cannot change, learn what you can from it, and stay PRESENT!

Job 11: 13-16 "Put your heart's right, reach out to God, then face the world again, firm and courageous. Then all of your troubles will fade from your memory, like floods that are past and remembered no more."

Staying in The Day Continuously with you....~CC

LIFE COMES TO A HALT...

2007-09-11T23:13:00.000-04:00

"If you have been walking with the Lord for some time and you suddenly feel as though your life has come to a halt, don't be alarmed. Most likely God is adjusting your way. Having God correct your course doesn't mean the one you are on is incorrect. But, it does mean that something needs to change to get you headed in the direction God wants to take you.

Let Him make the adjustment for you - Just be still...And, it doesn't matter how young or old you are -- As long as you are breathing, God will have new paths for you to take and exciting things for you to accomplish. TRUST HIM!" (Author Unknown)

~CC photographing a Dancing Pink Iris.

About the Snap: Note how the Iris has her one leg gracefully tucked up near her face? Art interpretation is always in the eye of the "Beholder". Just like we interpret what we see in this snapshot, God the Father interprets what HE sees in US! "Click"

Wow... I wish I could take credit for these words of "Powerful" encouragement. Someone sent it to me nearly 5 years to the day. During the early days of my journey, I shared it with a friend who found herself on the same pathway to recovery that I was on. It lifted her spirits as much as it did mine.

What "kind" thing have you done for yourself today? Most of the time, we find ourselves doing kind things for everyone around us and forget to take a special moment for us! Hmmm...What did I do kind for myself today? I wrote to two dear friends I haven't heard from in many long months. My only regret is that it was in "email" format and not "snail mail" format. There is something that takes place when you grab your cup of tea or coffee, curl up on a sofa with your pretty note cards or stationary and hand write a long letter to a loved one. I found a letter from my Grandma that was written in 1983 a few months back going through a box of memories. She passed away at 92 years of age a few years ago. Revisiting that letter brought her back to life for me in that very moment. That's why to me writing to two dear friends is a "kindness" to me. It's "making" the time to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time.

Now, you're next! Do something kind for yourself today! Share the kind thing you choose for yourself with us by leaving a comment on this posting today. Blogs aren't just for the blogger, they're for the reader as well! I'm praying for many readers to comment, I have a strong suspicion that God will open up much conversation amongst us to encourage one another as we journey on in Staying In The Day!

Philippians 2:13 For it is GOD who works in you to will and to act according to HIS good purpose.

Staying in the Day with you...~CC

A Hope Filled Moment

2007-09-10T08:56:00.000-04:00

Along the way, my journey brought me to meet a great couple, Roger and Heather Thrower. One of the things their ministry focuses on is resting in "Hope Filled Moments" amidst the pressures and reality of life. I purchased their "A Hope Filled Moment" CD about four years ago. What a way to stay encouraged to stay in the present and to listen for God size peaceful moments. This is something I knew God intended me to learn, and this CD helped me to begin to apply it to my life.

Not only does listening to the CD help you to Stay In The Day, it encourages you in your day. I've added this resource to my ~CC recommends section on the blog for audio and book resources. I've also added the link to their ministry to make it easier for you to visit their website. I've made it real easy, I called the link, "A Hope Filled Moment".

Please treat yourself today, go to their website and order yourself a copy of this CD. I promise you, it's contagious! Not only will you love it for yourself, you're going to reorder 10 more for those you come across in your life that need Hope Filled Moments too. What do I get out of it if you purchase the CD? I get a big satisfaction to know you are working hard at Staying In the Day too~ That's payment enough!

Staying in the Day.... ~CC

Inspirational Thoughts...

2007-09-09T22:09:00.000-04:00

Besides loving photography, I love to collect old books. I find it inspirational when reading ones thoughts that are over 100 years old. Could the author have ever imagined that something written in 1870 would be embraced by someone in the year 2007? As I turn the delicate pages of one of my favorite books, "Golden Thoughts on Mother, Home, and Heaven", the binding has finally lost it's will to live. The threads are barely holding some of the page placements. But still... My heart is touched each time I "Stay in the Day", embrace the moment of cuddling up and enjoying my visit with authors of old. The enjoyment of good poetry and literature is to me like having a tea party in my mother's Iris garden. Please enjoy a few excerpts of this 137+ year old book from some of the contributing writers:

Home Adornments: "A room without pictures is like a room without windows. Pictures are loop-holes of escape to the soul, leading to other scenes and spheres. Pictures are consolers of loneliness; they are books, they are histories and sermons, which we can read without the trouble of turning over the leaves." by Rev. Dr. Downing
Life's Rests: There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in it. In our whole life-melody the music is broken off here and there by "rests," and we foolishly think we have come to the end of the tune. God sends a time of forced leisure, sickness, disappointed plans, frustrated efforts, and makes a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voices must be silent, and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator. How does the musician read the rest? See him beat the time with unvarying count, and catch up the next note true and steady, as if no breaking place had come between. Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the tune, and not be dismayed at the "rests." by John Ruskin
Kind Words at Home: Speak kindly in the morning; it lightens the cares of the day, and makes the household and all other affairs move along more smoothly. Speak kindly at night, for it may be that before the dawn some loved one may finish his or her space of life, and it will be too late to ask forgiveness. Speak kindly at all times; it encourages the downcast, cheers the sorrowing, and very likely awakens the erring to earnest resolves to do better, with strength to keep them. Kind words are balm to the soul. They oil up the entire machinery of life, and keep it in good running order. ~Anonymous
Now, how much better can that get? What a way to end my day. I'm paraphrasing something my Spiritual Mentor often said from his pulpit, "Five years from now who we will have become like will be as a result of the books we read and the people we hang with." I totally believe that, and have witnessed that. My hope is that I always measure the things I put into my spirit by the books I read and the people I allow into my life. Discernment is a powerful thing. I end my day with a prayer that Father God will continue to direct me in the path He has chosen for me.

Staying in the Day, ~CC

New Pain on top of Old Unprocessed Pain

2007-09-09T15:14:00.000-04:00

I once was told by by someone wise that if one doesn't process pain when it occurs, it never goes away because it's never been expressed. It kind of just lingers there; and then we shove, stuff, or compartmentalize it. Thus, when something new occurs that brings us pain, that new pain taps into the old pain. If one is still not expressing the pain, the repetitive event in some ways is like a slow simmering volcano. Somewhere along life's path, it's going to erupt.

It's not that I never cried in my life as I was growing up, but I think I somehow created this coping mechanism of some sort. If I didn't tell anyone about the pain, or the things I was suffering from, maybe they'd just go away. That's odd...until I typed those words just now, I didn't know it was possible for a child to live in a state of denial. But that's exactly what I did as a child and young woman. I lived in denial of what my actual reality was. That's probably why I "chose" to be a positive cheery person too. I was always trying to make others laugh, because I didn't like to stay in sad places.

I think God allows us to keep this pace for just so long, and then... I rewind in my mind to the day I got that call from my husband. At the age of 46, this "new pain" was it. There was no more shoving, no more stuffing, there wasn't anywhere to put it. I was so full of unprocessed old pain. The time was now to start doing "something" with it, but I had no clue as to what. It's like I had all these packed bags, one on top of the other. I didn't even know where to begin. All I could see of course was the new pain. I remember feeling like God had me sprawled on an operating table, chest laid wide open. One by one, he asked for the tools as He proceeded to operate.

The surgery wasn't completed in a day though. I felt laid wide open for some time, and thought I'd never get all the bags of pain unpacked. I imagine now as I look back, I think my heart stopped more than a few times while I was on the operating table. Each time, Surgeon God, brought me back to life and continued to work.

Finances were extremely tight back then. We couldn't afford both of us attending counseling at that time, so I read as many books as I could to compensate. I had all the typical unanswered questions a spouse would naturally have. So, book by book, prayer by prayer, the surgery would continue. I remember wanting it to be over quickly. Life just doesn't work that way, darn it! Seeing my husband healing and experiencing health and wholeness again gave me comfort. His recovery and hard work and effort he was putting forth made me feel more safe.

I remember telling his counselor that I wanted a "Guarantee" that this would never happen again in our marriage. The counselor looked at me, and with a gentle soft voice told me that no one can give that guarantee. He said the only guarantee in my life would be that God would never hurt me, and He'd always be there for me.

All my life I was running away from processing pain. Now I was in a place that I was learning to process it every day. I remember wondering if life would ever move on. As much as I wanted it to move on, I knew at the same time God was doing "good stuff" in the surgery. As painful as it was, I was learning about my own things that I needed to take care of.

Then there were three... A month or so after our marriage took a turn, I got a call from two friends within weeks of one another. One was from a young married couple of about four years, another was from a couple that had been married for almost the same as us, 20. The exact same scenario was occurring in their lives. As unhappy as I was to hear about their own circumstances, somewhere I knew we were going to be an encouragement to each other. Each living virtually in different states from one another, but each struggling to figure out what in the world went wrong. How could this possibly be happening to us?

Those two friends have no idea how their walk with me helped me get through that first year. Whether it was a call, an email, or a note in the mail, they inspired me. They'd encourage me, I'd encourage them. If they were dealing with some tough stuff, or I was dealing with something, we'd call one another. Ephesians 5: 20 "Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father."

Today I remind myself of how far I've come, with the help and direction from the Lord. A road to any type of recovery is long. It's not like we have instant recovery like "instant rice". If one could invent and market it, I'm sure everyone would buy it.

Today I marvel at who my husband & I have become. We're "authentic" people. I allow myself to not be perfect, and it's OK. There is much freedom in allowing one to just---be--- He takes care of his own side of the fence, and I take care of my own side of the fence. That's a terminology I learned about when I attended "The Healing Path" at The Barnabas Center. The Healing Path is a wonderful support class for women who are sojourning on this type of path. Our jobs were to take care of what we could, "ourselves".

Till later...Stay In the Day ~CC

Love...

2007-09-07T12:50:00.000-04:00

Love, A Desire...A Passion...

What is it? I know, I think I know,

I was wrong, I don't know at all.

I tell myself, you know love...you knew love...

It's gone, It left,

Like the sun setting in the evening,

It's gone forever, But where has it gone?

I can't see love anymore, It has now left my burdened soul.

But wait, Is love that I see? Yes, it is. It's really love.

But the love of a friend is what I "need",

Not the love of the World, The sin it feeds my mind, The false that blinds my eyes, It's not love,

But nothing at all.

Five years ago I began on a journey I never intended to travel. A journey that would create a need within my soul to learn how to just simply, "Stay in the Day". Through a series of life events, my marriage and my family came to a screeching halt in January, 2002. Life as we knew it would never ever be the same. And, like Humpty Dumpty, I wasn't sure if we could ever be put back together again.

Sound familiar? Maybe you, or someone you know, have walked through something that has hit you square in the chest, knocked the wind out of your sails, and in the blink of an eye your life is in a zone you never intended to find yourself in. We all share threads of a tapestry in our life stories, yet unique. We sometimes find ourselves feeling all alone, we have no blueprint to follow to get back what we just feel we've lost... or to know which road to follow going forward.

The Death of any Dream of what we "thought" we had can be an isolating and paralyzing reality for any individual. Whether it comes as a result of an "Unexpected Illness", "Death of a loved one", "Betrayal in a Marriage, friendship, etc...", "Incarceration of a loved one", or "Loss of a job where the commitment has been over and above what has been expected", the outcome still equates to something dieing.

Life has turned the page, and what do you now do to cope? You find yourself being forced to watch a part in a movie that makes you want to run out the back door. You get to the exit door and they won't let you out. They simply escort you back to your seat, and insist you continue to stay and watch the movie. The movie is your life and the people you love are in it with you. The movie picks back up at the Death of your Dream, whatever that may be.

Well, for myself, I learned that even a "Miss Pollyanna" can eventually come to a fork in the road where she must learn to Let Go, and Let God. Let go of what? "Everything" All control is lost, all the positive statements, motivational hype, and coping skills I'd used all my life were drawing a blank. January 16, 2002, was my Movie, the "Death of my Dream". The nature of survival was to just learn how to "Stay in the Day" so I could get to the next one. And to the next one, and to the next one.

I tried searching everywhere for the "Blueprint" that would help me with my recovery plan. I couldn't find it. The words God whispered in my ear were "Stay in the Day". Don't worry about what's behind you, don't fret about what is ahead of you, just focus on "Staying in the Day". Seemed simple enough, as in those days I felt mentally all over the place. "Stay in the Day" would become the phrase I would remind myself of when I tried living in the past, or borrowing something from the future that I could not control.

I found my "Blueprint" one year into my journey. I'll be sharing much of that with you as we walk together. The Death of my Dream, unfaithfulness in my marriage, was a reality for me. But in the midst of that, I found an entirely new one. Unlike Humpty Dumpty, my marriage and family were all put back together again, but it wasn't overnight. We're not the same people in the movie anymore, any of us. I found we weren't the perfect family I thought we were either. I learned there is no perfect marriage or family. That helped me so much! The expectations for any of us trying to be the best at everything can be overwhelming.

All the true life characters in the threads of my tapestry are still growing, still searching, and still trying our best to "Stay in the Day". Trying to focus on what one can change, instead of focusing on what we can't go back and change. A real "authentic" life has both joy and sadness. Without sadness or loss, one would not ever truly understand the depth of joy. An unexpected turn in one's path on any "Unintended Journey" doesn't have to be walked alone. As the days unfold, your own "Blueprint" will be made known to you, just like mine was to me. In the meantime, Stay in the Day.

Proverbs 3: 5 & 6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

~Cassandra, to my Mom, & ~CC to my Barnabas Center friends...

Stay In The Day

Celebrating 30 years together!

Sometimes Surprises are GOOD and sometimes they're GREAT!

Seeing me in Her!

Being Silent amidst the Busyness ~ Is a Lost Art...

Thirsting...

Sometimes the tears seem easier to fall when a heart is weary over things we cannot change

If we believe in HIM, even though we die, we shall LIVE!

Legacy Rings Through...As I laugh, I hear her voice

Ever feel like you've been planted in a MIXED pot with?

Some Days Life Can Be Scary...

My Christian Blogs ~ A Super New Find! Check It Out!

Holding His Hand Tightly As He Leads...

God's Still Working On Me, One Piece At A Time...

Hopeful Friday...I am my Beloved's

Quiet Reflection...Words That Inspire

Old Love Never Rusts...

Words That Inspire....

I'm Hangin On Hopeful Friday with ~Cielo...

Lights Illuminate Even The Darkest Soul...

Lil Doggies Have A Way of Reminding Me When To Be Grateful!

The Path to Heaven, Does it Look Like This?

Eager for Sweetheart Day! A great B&B to visit!

Seven Years...God's Grace IS Awesome!

~Focus on Today - Today is where you are, Stay In It and Fall Backwards...

You, My Dear, Are a Fingerprint of God!

Be`Be Funky Haute Pink Glasses...for the Conservative, Oh Yea....

A~Ha! Now That I've Got Your Attention....

Plates, Teapots, Wall Color, ACTION...

Catherine's Tea Cups - Repeat after me, "BLOGGING IS CONTAGIOUS"

Step into my California Lilac Powder Room, A Touch Of Spring Year Round...

Did You Know? Maternity Clothes and Christmas Decorations Have Something In Common...

Sometimes It's Easy To Get Lost In The Midst Of Everything That's Going On....

Happy New Year...been kinda busy! How bout you?

©Sweet Memories...Become Jewels To Cherish

Detach, Detach, Detach.... Will I Ever Get This Right? I'm Working On It...

©Letting Go Of The Things I Cannot Control...

Friends, Tradition, and Tea For Every Day Of The Year!

©Thanksgiving......and Sticktoitiveness....

God's Design For Your Life...

© If We Only Focus On Death, We May Not See All The Beauty That Lies Before Us

© Her Name is "Fall"...

© Do we devote to "doing" versus how much time we give to "being"

~Rainbows~

© A Lost Art, Living From The Heart

© The Sun is Always Shining when I'm with You

© Hope

© Joy, Do We Really Know Where To Find It And How To Keep It?

~Wild About You... Meeting The Love Of My Life on Valentine's Day 27 Years Ago!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, A New Slant, Depending On Which Way You Lay Your Bricks...

© ~Fabrics of Friendship

© A Prism ~ A Medium That Misrepresents Whatever Is Seen Through It

© Rester Dans Le Jour ~ French Translation for "Staying In The Day"

© Cherish Today...Stay In The Moment...Life is Precious

© Being Transparent With People Is Hard --- But Transparency With God Is Harder

© Staying in the Day, Staying in the Year...Holidays have a way of holding us in bondage, if we let them!

Just Breathe....

"Poor Choices" will TAKE you further than you want to go, COST you more than you want to pay, and KEEP you longer than you want to stay.

Exactly What Does Living a Life of Transparency Look Like...

"Thanksgiving"...So many things to be thankful for...how do I remain true to myself and what I'm feeling, but still remain thankful?

Loving Ourself and Others Well....

A Blue Sky Is Like A Paris View To Me....

The Acorn....I Had No Idea How True This Would Become!

The "Uninvited" Gate of Hopelessness Opens, Please Don't Make Me Go Through It

Hold On For Dear Life.....

Be Good To Me, GOD---and now!

I Am Struggling With Looking Back...

LIFE COMES TO A HALT...

A Hope Filled Moment

Inspirational Thoughts...

New Pain on top of Old Unprocessed Pain

Love...