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

Broken Pieces- Cracked Pots

Some days, and even some weeks, we are aware of how flawed we are. It's almost as if
the glaring weaknesses are in bold print. They are hard to escape and harder yet to rectify.

As I approach sixty, one of the things I've learned is this-
God loves me just as I am, but He loves me too much to leave me like that!

Yesterday I was impatient with a student. True, his behavior wasn't kind or charming. His sarcasm was biting to everyone around him. While I love teaching...this wasn't one of the fun moments.

Truth be told, I was tired. I had been up since 3am in the morning. The student's last sarcastic comment brought an impatient response from me. I've felt that from the start of the quarter he has been testing me, but that's not the issue. Few folks would have thought my response rude or uncalled for. However, I knew the inner emotions that were disguised by my remark...and they weren't pretty.

I can not bear unkindness in others. I hate it even more in myself. I felt like an old clay pot with a crack going down the side...flawed. I know there is a lesson in this moment of truth for me.

I truly believe that God works through jars of clay or "cracked pots." This means that we are all flawed. So when people look at us, and see amazing things happening, they know it must be God at work because it certainly could not be us.

So today, I'll work to forgive myself and I'll apologize to him.

He may not have any idea why I am doing that. My remark probably wouldn't register in his book of unkind comments. But it didn't feel right to me. And I know it didn't feel right to the Lord! Ah..you gotta love being human!

God Bless! Love, Linda

FRIDAY'S FAVORITE QUOTATION !

Friday's Favorite quote for Friday, January 26th


Don't tell God
How big the storm is.

Tell the storm
How big God is!



I remember my Mom using the expression "When it rains, it pours!" Sometimes, since we lived in Seattle, she meant that statement literally. We had LOTS of rain.

Other times she meant that sometimes life has a way of coming at you with multiple challenges, and you will feel you are being pelted with heavy rain.

It has been just that kind of week.

So many people I love and care about are facing new challenges. Andy, Kim, Dale, Grandma Phyllis. And today Erik, my son, has surgery in Seattle. None of the challenges are small. There are some tough mountains to climb.

Not long ago Amy gave me a CD with some Christian songs that have brought me comfort during this storm, this downpour.

On one of them the chorus says,

"So come on home
His arms are open wide.
His name is Jesus.
He understands.

He is the answer
You are looking for.
So come home running
Just as you are!"

Every morning this week I have listened to these songs, cried myself down Thor and into the parking lot at school, and worked on saying in my prayers...please God, help my friends. Please God bring relief. Please God bring complete healing to their bodies and their spirits. Please God be there with all those who love them. Please God bring them comfort.

While I can make food and visit, I can also pray.

So today, I will remember that His arms are open wide. He is the answer I am looking for. I can come home running, just as I am. Today I will yell at the top of my voice.."LOOK STORM.. LOOK HOW BIG GOD IS!!!!"

God Bless! Love, Linda

FRIDAY'S FAVORITE QUOTATION !

Friday's Favorite Quote for Friday, January 19th

that which
masquerades
as a trial
to my spirit
today

will
dreass as
the teacher
of my
life
tomorrow.


-mary ann radmacher


As I approach 60, more and more I realize that some of my greatest personal learnings have come from great challenges...losing my parents, having one hand, going through a divorce, health issues. They ALL have, in the short run, been difficult. In the long run, they have taught me a great deal about faith, hope, tenacity, and courage!

May your "trials of today" allow for new and profound learnings!

God Bless! Love, Linda

THURSDAY THIRTEEN : SELF- TRANSFORMATION 101

For the past few weeks I have been struck by the power of mindfulness. I have worked at being INTENTIONAL about my goals, even the ones I DON'T want to work on or I struggle with prioritizing!

Every day I am doing so many things that I want to do and find joy in doing. What I have added to that list is doing at least two things EACH day that I DON'T want to do. Many of these are on-going concerns and issues.

So...today's Thursday Thirteen List is made up of areas where I commit to being mindful and intentional. I am making progress in each area,and I will continue to make progress:

1) As a college teacher I see 90 students each day and have countless papers to grade. So far this quarter,I have returned EVERY assignment the day after it was turned in. I have also included detailed comments on each one to let the students know I read what they wrote. While this is exhausting on one hand, not having a "pile" of ungraded papers relieves my mind of stress. Also, seeing the joy in students' eyes as they get papers back promptly motivates me to continue with this practice. I'll continue being mindful and doing this all quarter long!

2) I am eating oatmeal every morning. Yuk! I have heard all my life that a "good" breakfast is so important. I have read that oatmeal helps to lower cholesterol. So I will continue to eat oatmeal whether I like it or not!

3) I have been walking 10 blocks three times a week. I have also been getting to school early to walk. And then I fell. I am getting back on the horse and walking again!

4) I hate to bill my consulting clients. I wish I could just give my services without charging them, but that isn't practical or possible. I will take a day in the first week of each month to do my billing so it isn't hanging over my head. So far so good for 2007!

5) Can I state the obvious...I need to lose weight and KEEP it off. I need to schedule going to Weight Watchers just like I schedule going to physical therapy for 4 hours each week. While I have lost 13 lbs and kept it off...I have LOTS to go! So,
now, in my 60th year, it is the time to MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!!!

6) I am deep cleaning one room each weekend! I feel happy and relieved to be doing this! So far...both sun rooms and the living room!

7) I can NEVER have enough time and contact with my fabulous grandchildren! I love seeing the ones who live in Spokane and feel a deep missing with those who live out of town. I just got postcards to send my out of town grandkids, and I will email to keep in touch.

8) I will take a nap whenever I can, and I WON'T feel guilty about doing so!

9) I will be intentional about growing my faith in new and exciting ways!! I am getting up earlier for prayer time, reading the Bible, and getting to church on Sunday!!

10) "Worry isn't prayer!" I hear that regularly from Amy! I inherited my Mom's worry gene and find as I get older that I worry more. I will "let go and let God!" It's time, when things come up that I am concerned about, to turn them over to the Lord!

11) I want to appreciate EVERY minute that I have with my sweetheart, Bert! I want to say and do things so he will know that I adore him!

12) I want to clean my car so Emma and Jacob don't have to say.."Nana, this is a MESS!!!" By the end of next weekend it will be spotless!

13) I want to celebrate EVERY blessing in my life! I want to be aware of all the little things that are gifts from God! I want to be GRATEFUL and not take anything for granted!

Onward and upward on these goals! May you feel blessed as you do some of those things you DON'T want to do too! God Bless! Love, Linda

FRIDAY'S FAVORITE QUOTATION !

Friday's Favorite Quote for Friday, January 12th


The jump
is so frightening
between
where i am and
where i want to be...

because of all
i may become
i will close my eyes
and leap!


Today I want to take the risk to become all God meant me to be, in EVERY area of my life!

God Bless and Happy Friday! Love, Linda

SELF-TRANSFORMATION LESSON.... ON FRIENDSHIPS

Thoughts on Friendships-

As a young girl I remember singing the rhyme-

"Make new friends

But keep the old

One is silver

And the other..gold"

As I approach my 60th birthday, I have been paging through old photo albums, looking at worn snapshots of friends in grade school, high school, college and beyond. I am struck by how many of those dear people, who mattered so much, have faded into the past, their whereabouts unknown.

My oldest fried is Linda Wise, otherwise known as "Linny". We have been friends since we were 14 months old. She turns sixty in a few weeks, and my birthday follows shortly after. We have been friends for almost sixty years, have traveled together, shared the loss of all of our parents (who were dear friends), and know each other's history and "story".

I have friends like Sharon Hartnett, who lives in Seattle, that I talk to almost weekly and travel to Cannon Beach with each year for a spiritual retreat! We laugh ourselves silly, the kind of laughing that makes you pee in your pants and saves your soul. She is someone I can always count on. She prays for me, and I pray for her.

Other friends like Eileen Thompson and Nancy Gossett are also spiritual soul sisters. We have been through so much..major illnesses, children's ups and downs, our aging process. We have laughed and cried. I can call and ask them to pray, and I know they will lovingly follow through. Our friendship times are cherished as we squeeze them in between work and busy schedules.

I am blessed to say that my daughter Amy and my daughter Jessi are my friends. I am their Mom, but as adult women we share our lives and our hearts.

I can count on Amy to love me just as I am, but challenge me to be more than I thought I could be. She is one of the "truth tellers" in my life, and the day she became a Christian was one of the best days of my life. We share our love of the Lord, our love for our families, and can talk for hours about personal growth and family. She is the most unselfish person I know and someone who is one of my role models for courage and change!

Jessi is my friend, and we share a love of teaching, family, traditions, and each other. She challenges me to get healthy and stretch what I think I can do athletically. She'll get me just the right book to read, a pedometer to measure my steps, or a sentimental card that brings me to tears. Her abilities, self-determination and self-discipline blow me away. She and I have a friendship that has grown in leaps and bounds in the past several years.

Jessi and Amy know, in their deepest hearts, that I will love them forever, like them for always, and for as long as I'm living and beyond, my babies they'll be!

Bert, the love of my life, is my best friend. I love him to the moon and back. He loves me as I am and even thinks I'm cute. He believes in me, prays for me, and knows my heart through and through.

I have friends at school and friends at church. Female friends and male friends. Old friends and new friends. But somehow..there is never enough time to catch up with all of them. Some are silver, and they all are gold!

As I get older, I have the strong desire to hold on to the important friendships in my life... to give more time to them, more love to them, more patience to them, and more forgiveness to them. I want to remember their birthdays, their anniversaries, the days that mark the loss of a loved one. I want to connect and reconnect. I want to share the stories that make us laugh, make us cry, and make us who we are!

My Mom was a great role model for deeply caring about friends. She remembered their anniversaries, even after their beloved spouses had died. She called them just to say hello or check in on an illness. She sent cards, letters, and love.

I want part of my self-transformation to include more lunches with friends, more "spa dates", more spoiling my friends so they will never doubt how much I love and adore them. I want more real moments where we let down our guard and bare our true souls. I want more honest moments where we give each other the tough and loving feedback that challenges each of us to be our best selves....I want more moments, period!

When they are gone...and I am gone...I want no regrets!

God Bless! Love, Linda

FRIDAY'S FAVORITE QUOTATION!

Friday's Favorite Quote for Friday, January 5, 2007

Well-behaved women
Seldom make history!


Today is a landmark day for all women, no matter their political party. For the first time in 200 years, there is a female Speaker of the House of Representatives.
This is the highest office ANY woman has ever held in the US. Nancy Pelosi has made history!

I come from a very politically active family, I double majored in Communications and Political Science, and I am active in politics. My Grandma was a Democrat, my parents staunch Republicans (I trick-or-treated with Julie and Trisha Nixon when I was little), and I am an active Independent, voting for the person I feel will best do the job! Women only got the right to vote in 1920, and SO many women paved the way to this historic moment. I only wish my Mom was alive to see this. She always said..."Someday they'll figure out that smart women can effectively run ANYTHING!"

While I still believe that having good manners and being tactful is an important skill to develop, there are times when women need to be outrageous, step outside the box, and exercise all of the spunk, courage, love, joy and passion that God created in them.

Both my Mom and Grandma had great manners, but they also had moments of stepping up to the plate that were perceived by some as not being "well behaved." My Mom, in her fifties, helped to rid the University of Washington apartment area of drug dealers. She took pictures of the offending parties, orchestrated a petition, spoke with the police, and had a phone removed where drug buys took place. When she saw a problem or an injustice, she took action... she did something...she spoke up..even when others thought it "wasn't ladylike." My Mom and Grandma, just like all of the STRONG women who came before them, made history. They are my role models for having a voice!

So, to all of you who read this, find a moment to step outside your box, put "well behaved on the shelf. and test out your own unique courage! As I approach sixty, I've learned that when you do this, you'll find a new inner strength and a core value of authenticity!

God Bless! Love, Linda

SELF-TRANSFORMATION 101

Tennessee Williams once said, "Openings come quickly, sometimes, like blue space in running clouds. A complete overcast, then a blaze of light..."

New Years for me is like a blaze of light. It's a fresh start, a new beginning, and a chance to grow, change, and transform. It's an opportunity to be mindful and intentional about the "openings" in my life!

On New Years Eve, Bert and I have a tradition that sets the tone for the year to come. We sit down and share our reflections of the previous year. We talk from our hearts about our high moments, low moments, challenges, fears, and proud moments of the previous year. This conversation is a time for reflection about what has gone before, what we want to have happen in the present, and our dreams for the future.

This time of sharing is so valuable as it cements some of the important "learning moments" and gives us energy and momentum as we approach the year ahead. It's what we call an "updated postcard" about where we are with ourselves and each other.

This year, as I approach my 60th birthday on February 5th, I have set up a list of goals for 2007 that involve a transformation inside and out. Some of these goals are areas where I want to celebrate my continued progress and use of the gifts that God has given to me. Other goals involve areas that have nagged at my soul and NOW is the time to work on them.

So, I invite you to stay tuned, comment, and share your thoughts about this new part of my human journey. I'm calling it Self-Transformation-101! Perhaps some of my learnings and struggles mirror your own.There will be more to follow. I am anticipating break throughs, AH HAH moments. I look forward to discovering more of who I am and who I want to be!

Happy New Year! May God bless you with His love and grace! Linda

FRIDAY'S FAVORITE QUOTATION!

Friday's Favorite Quote for Friday, December 29th -the last Friday in 2006!

As the New Year approaches, and we think about change and personal transformation, this favorite quotation from Maya Angelou comes to mind:


We delight in the beauty of the butterfly,
but rarely admit the changes it has gone through
to achieve that beauty!


May your journey to personal change be one that challenges you to be your BEST self!
God Bless! Love, Linda

WALKING, WALKING, and WALKING SOME MORE!!

Recovery from an injury is a slow process!

If you are impatient, this may seem like an eternity as progress comes in inches, not in feet or yards.

I am working SO hard at recovering my full strength and mobility after shattering my ankle.

Six months ago I was newly in a cast, and I often still had to use crutches.

The cast came off in mid October, and I started intense physical therapy.

We have five flights of stairs in our home and going up and down them multiple times a day was agonizingly painful and dangerous, as my footing was unsure.

There were times when I read about the athletic accomplishments of others that I felt side-lined and almost ashamed that there was so little I could do.

BOTTOM LINE: I DIDN't GIVE UP! Hard work, guts, and determination pays off- in recovering from injuries and in every other area of life!

I may have other illnesses or injuries down the road, but with hard work I can give it a shot at coming back at full strength!

Giving up is not an option I can live with!

Today I can walk ten blocks at a time without stopping and keep up a pretty healthy pace as I walk at the mall twice a week!

I just got back from doing TEN blocks in the freezing cold (and I do mean ffff..rrr...eeee...zzz..ing... cc..ooo...l...d), and I am THRILLED and GRATEFUL to be walking, walking, walking!!!!

VACATION FROLICS!!!!!

I am SO thrilled to have a break and be on vacation!

The first part of this "winter retreat" was filled with Christmas delights! I LOVE Christmas because it is filled with family fun and traditions and reminders of my faith and joy in the birth of Jesus! I LOVE Christmas because it's a reminder of what can happen when you view the magic and majesty of life through the wonder of a child's eyes! A few of the best 2006 Christmas moments for me include:

Going to Anna Seppa's Christmas choral concert- the beauty of those angelic voices and the majestic Church setting still remain in my memory.

Trying to find "just the right gift" for my loved ones.

Going to Zac and Kayla's Baptism on December 10th at Crossover Church! What an important and life-changing moment for these two special grandchildren. Looking over and seeing the tears streaming down Ryan and Amy's faces really touched my heart! Being there with family and three sets of grandparents and all of their parents there was such a perfect Christmas moment!

Getting dressed up in Christmas glitter, going out to Azteca for lunch and then to the NUTCRACKER BALLET with Jessi and Emma! I anticipated this event all year long, got the tickets in September, and LOVED every moment of doing this with my daughter and her daughter! Seeing Emma watch the magic of this ballet will stay with me forever!

Taking hours and hours to decorate our tree with an "old-fashioned" Christmas theme.
Our tree is decked out with old photos of my parents, celebrating Christmas in Hawaii, and family photographs, past and present! The day before Christmas eve I even put roses (with water tubes) in the branches!

Drawing my own Christmas card, spending hours in pen and ink and watercolor pursuits, with the final drawing showing Santa by a Christmas tree "checking his list! The list had the names of my grandchildren on it! Then it was glitter time!!! Each card was individually "re-colored" (after being color copied by Kinkos) and GLITTERED!! Kayla, my grandaughter, helped me with that! What a hoot!! Too much work you say? Not work at all for me! I get lost in drawing and doing art, and it revives my spirit! Put on Nat King Cole or Bing Crosby..I am as happy as a clam at high tide!!

Having lunch with Amy and Jacob and then heading to do some shopping! Seeing Jacob hop up on Santa's lap was amazing and a memory I will store in my heart!

Going to Ryan's 6th grade class at Riverside and doing an "art" Christmas project with his kids! We got wooden ornaments at JOANNS (one of my favorite craft stores :))
and Kayla and I had a blast in Ryan's class as the students made ornaments for their parents! He is an AMAZING teacher! What fun!

Celebrating Christmas at Clinkerdaggers with my dear friend Sharon Hartnett! The decorations there are wonderful and put me in a Christmas mood!

Having time by the fire drinking coffee with Bert as we laughed and remembered Christmas moments when the boys (Chris 45 and Erik 42) and girls (Jessi 29 and Amy 27) were little!

Going out for Thai food with my grandson Zac is a fun tradition we enjoy! It's a one-on-one time to catch up!

Seeing Charlotte's Web with Amy, Kayla and Jacob was so much fun!! That story holds SO many lessons!

Going to Jacob's Christmas program at Montessori and seeing him as a reindeer singing his songs..it warmed my heart! How fun to hear him say to his teacher "My WHOLE family is coming to my program"!!

Talking to Emma about Santa's upcoming visit and seeing the wonder in her eyes as she told me about what she had asked Santa for...well it just doesn't get better than that!

Drinking coffee at Starbucks with Jessi as we shared our lives. Seeing Emma sleep peacefully in Jessi's lap brought back so many of those memories for me when I did that with Jessi!

Having Christmas dinner (with turkey and trimmings) for the Farrell family at our home! What a fun family time and seeing the presents opened and enjoyed was WONDERFUL!

Christmas morning and breakfast with Jessi, Rog, and Emma was amazing, and it was so fun to hear Emma recount that Santa had stopped at the house the night before and knew her name!!!

Listening to Christmas music, watching White Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street, and reading my Bible to recount the real Christmas story! All of these helped me to have a "Christmas Heart!"

The "magic moments" of Christmas go on and on, every one of them a moment to cherish!

SO WHAT ARE MY "LIFE LESSONS" ABOUT CHRISTMAS AS I APPROACH 60?

It's easy to get caught up in the pressure, stress and "I'm SO busy" state of mind that can turn Christmas from a JOY into a series of obligations. My learning has been to only do that which is meaningful to ME at Christmas time!! Throw away the imaginary "timetables"..send your cards or letters early or late or not at all. Take time for cherishing the real spiritual reasons for this season! Go and sing Christmas carols to your neighbors all by yourself, if no one else wants to go! Set aside your "adult mentality" and role model your excitement about this special time of year from the children around you!

What if you knew this was your last Christmas? How would you cherish it then?

May the wonder of this Christmas stay with you throughout 2007 and may you anticipate
all the miraculous blessings God has in store for you in 2007! Love, HUGS and God Bless! Linda

WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME!

I remember as a small girl singing the "Christmas Song". It went like this:

C- is for the Christ child, born on Christmas day

H- for herald angels in the night

R- means our redeemer

I- means Israel

S- is for the star that shone so bright

T- is for three wise men, they who traveled far

M- is for the manger where He lay

A- is for all He stands for

S- means shepards came

And that's why there's a Christmas Day!!!


As I approach sixty, the true meaning of Christmas for me is still found in these
profound but simple lines! I hope you and your families had a very blessed Christmas! God Bless! Love, Linda

FRIDAY'S FAVORITE QUOTATION!

Friday's Favorite Quote for Friday, December 22nd

December 22nd has a special meaning in my life. It is my parents' wedding anniversary! They were married Decembember 22, 1941 and were married 50 years, before my Dad passed away.

They loved each other, and they loved me!

Today's "Friday's Favorite Quote" is something I heard from my parents every night of my life...until I left for college. Even in college and beyond, and in the worst moments, they would look at me and say these words. Today's favorite quote is for you Mom and Dad...


Mommy and Daddy

Will ALWAYS love you

No matter what!



I miss them every day, and especially at Christmas time! They taught me about unconditional love, and I will always love them ... no matter what! One of my "life lessons" as I approach sixty is fully appreciating the love my parents had for me, their absolute devotion, and how God blessed me by allowing them to be my Mom and Dad.