FRIDAY'S FAVORITE QUOTATION !

Friday's Favorite Quote for Friday, February 23 rd

'WHAT IS REAL?'

asked the Velveteen Rabbit one day.
'Does it mean having things
that buzz inside you
and a stick-out handle?'

'Real isn't how you are made,'
said the skin horse.

'It's a thing that happens to you.
It doesn't happen all at once.
You become.

It takes a long time.

Generally by the time
you become real
most of your hair has been loved off
and your eyes drop out
and you get loose in the joints
and very shabby.

But these things don't matter at all
because once you are real
you can't be ugly
except to people who don't understand.'


-The Velveteen Rabbit


On this special Friday may you find the freedom and confidence to be the real you, the you that God made and cherishes!

God Bless! Love, Linda

THURSDAY THIRTEEN : Re-Focusing On Thirteen Goals I Have For 2007

I love February, with my birthday and Valentines day. I love March. It is on the horizon with the promise of spring on March's heels. Yet while I love every day, every week and every month, time seems to slip away so quickly.

It's time to re-focus my goals for 2007. Where am I now? Where do I want to be? What am I learning?

Here's goal #1. I'll share the other twelve over the next few weeks. These come out of a program developed by Joyce Meyer.

Re-Focused goal #1: Break Away From Other People's Expectations and Focus on What God Expects from me:

I struggle at times with wanting to make everyone happy. I often pick up on unspoken expectations and feel sad when I disappoint someone or irritate them. I wish they could tell me what they really need, and we could reach a compromise.

What works best for me is when people can voice what they need . What works best for me is when people don't keep score. What works best for me is being around people who are affirmers, who truly love me for me. Those people light up my life! Those people boost my spirit and soul!

What works best is when I focus on what God expects and let go of criticism, real and imagined.

Silent criticism, judgements and score keeping can be joy robbers if you let them! When I am critical, judgemental or keeping score I rob myself of my own joy!

Once, at a Cannon Beach Retreat, the pastor said,

"Criticism is spiritual murder! It murders the soul of the person being criticized and the person doing the criticizing!"

I believe this to be true.

Now that I am sixty, I am learning (again) that I cannot be all things to all people-not at work, not at home, not in my family, and not to friends, students, and consulting clients. As much as I wish I could, I can't meet everyone's expectations.

I am learning (again) that I need to focus on what God wants and expects me to do!

My new and re-focused goal is to be true to the Lord and His expectations.
When I do this I will have a new sense of freedom, peace and love in my life!

My re-focused goal is to take criticism out of my own life. I don't want to internally or externally keep score of others!

May your life journey in 2007 also lead you to a new freedom as you re-direct your focus away from the expectations of others, away from keeping score, away from criticism. May we all move toward what God wants and expects from us!

God Bless! Love, Linda

Thought for the Day! ...Perseverence and Continuous Effort !

Winston Churchill once said,

"Continuous effort-not strength or intelligence- is the key to unlocking our potential."

I wonder if he was thinking about teachers at this point in the quarter?

The book reports are coming in, most students are exhausted, and one third of our faculty (including me) is sick with a bronchitis/flu bug!

If asked "how am I doing?"...my human self says "I'm just plugging"!

Yet a small voice inside me, heard between the hacking coughs, says ..."You are not alone. I am here through it all! I will help you find the strength for that continuous effort!!!"

This morning as I came to school, took all my medicine, and got ready for class...that small internal voice said "THANK GOODNESS FOR JESUS!!!"

So with HIS help, I will put forth a continuous effort, unlock my potential, and I will persevere through this "nasty bug."

God Bless! Have a great Tuesday full of continuous effort! Love, Linda

Friday's Favorite Quote!

FRIDAY'S FAVORITE QUOTE
for Friday, February 9th

"I can be changed by what happens to me

But I refuse to be reduced by it!"

-Maya Angelou



Now that I am sixty, I find that I look back and review the large and small events in my life. Many were life-changing. Some were beyond my control. However, how I let those events define my life IS in my control.I will learn all the lessons, and be grateful for them.However, I choose NOT to be reduced by anything that has happened to me!


Have a great Friday! God Bless! Love, Linda

I'M SIXTY!! Say It Loud...and Say It Proud!!!

February 5, 2007


"Live a good life

And in the end

It's not the years in the life,

It's the LIFE in the years!"


I feel so blessed to be alive and be sixty! I cherish my life...all of it. It all makes me who I am today!

This past weekend we had a wonderful birthday dinner celebration! I received a memory book that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I was marinated in love! I felt God's love down in my bone marrow! I felt the love of my family and friends!

And I arrived at school this morning to find my room, my door, and the hall already decorated with signs and well wishes!

The tears of gratitude just keep flowing!

God is good all the time! And all the time, God is good!

For most of my life I have had the tradition of sending my Mom flowers on my birthday! It was a way of saying thank you for having me...thank you for loving me...thank you for being there for me...thank you for adoring me!

Today, and every day, I miss being able to hug my Mom, call my Mom, and share with my Mom. But I talk to her anyway, knowing that her spirit is right here!

Someone told me Saturday night that they couldn't believe how much love I give to others. While I was born with a heart that overflowed with feelings and love...the answer to that is simple. I love others because God loves me! The love isn't just mine to give...it flows through me.

So today, on my 60th birthday, I thank the Lord for ALL of my life. I thank Him for all the joys, all the heartaches, all the growth and all the learnings!

I thank Him for my two amazing daughters Jessi and Amy, my wonderful husband Bert, my two sons Erik and Chris, Ryan, Roger, Theresa, and Nancy, the spouses of my wonderful children, my 12 grandkids Jacob, Emma, Zac, Kayla, Jenna (who will be born this June), Emmett, Emily, Rosie, Anderson, Mikaela, Quentin and Sienna...and my adopted grandkids Madison and Anna! I love you all to the moon and back!

I thank God for my special hand as it has taught me about differences and compassion. I wouldn't be me without my "lucky fin"!!!(as Kayla calls it from Finding Nemo)

I thank God for my 1st husband,Tim,his gift to my life of two daughters and the years we spent together. I thank God for my extended Seppa family...Grandma Elaine, Kris, Grandma Phyllis, Dave, Di, Bazz, Craig, Steve, Joanna, and all of their kids!

I thank God for all of my dear,dear friends especially Sharon, Eileen and Nancy, my soul sisters and Linny who has known me since I was 14 months old!

I thank God for my blessed job at SCC, every student I have had in 39 years of teaching! I have loved it all!

I thank God for all of my consulting clients, my friends from high school and college, my pastor, my church, my church choir...the list goes on and on!

If you are reading this, I thank God for YOU!

I thank God for every day I have been on the planet and every day left that I have here! May it all glorify Him!

Have a WONDERFUL February 5th!! I AM!!! God Bless! Love, Linda

FRIDAY'S FAVORITE QUOTATION !

Friday's Favorite Quote for Friday, February 2nd



Sorrow looks back

Worry looks around

Faith looks up!


On this Friday may your life be full of faith, leaving sorrow and worry behind!

God Bless! Love, Linda

THURSDAY THIRTEEN... for February 1, 2007

Thirteen Blessings In My Life Today!

1. I feel blessed to be alive!

2. I feel blessed to know in my deepest heart of hearts that God loves me!

3. I feel blessed to be married to my very best friend and the love of my life!

4. I feel blessed to really know my daughters as unique and precious adult young women and to see them be amazing moms!

5. I feel blessed that I grew up with a Mom and Dad who adored me!

6. I feel blessed that I have a career in teaching that I would do for free and that utilizes the gifts that God has given me!

7. I feel blessed as a consultant to be of service to organizations so they can grow and be more healthy!

8. I feel blessed to have a positive attitude, a passion for life, and an energy to go with that passion!

9. I feel blessed to have friends and relatives who love me just as I am, but also give me honest and realistic feedback!

10. I feel blessed that my ankle is healing and that I can walk ten blocks without stopping!

11. I feel blessed to have a church home where my spirit is nourished!

12. I feel blessed to have a good brain (so that learning is easy) and a big heart that feels life deeply.

And last, but certainly not least....

13. I feel SO blessed to be "Nana" to 11 1/2 beautiful grandchildren who enrich my life daily!

May today be a day where you too can count your blessings! God Bless! Love, Linda