One thing I really appreciate when I visit a site is the ability to define the site’s purpose without having to do a bunch of searching. The beauty of blogs is you can chance upon an article or link to an article that is just plain interesting to you. That’s well and good but for me this blog has another purpose beyond sharing my thoughts in posts and connecting with others who do the same.

This blog is serving as my master control program (sorry but my 3 year old LOVES the movie TRON and this phrase is burned into my brain.) My goal is to get all my sharing stuff on this site - primarily all my many files of creations for various aspects of my life. I have found incredible interest from women who share my interests, beliefs and hobbies to see what things I’ve done. So I began sharing files of things I’d done in a few specific areas on other websites and was blown away at the instant response and continued traffic even though I’ve done nothing to update or keep the sites current. But the PHP Nuke programs I used for the sites are problematic and keep giving me (and mostly my husband) major headaches. Besides that I can’t keep up with updates in all these different areas. So I decided to streamline everything and make more efficient use of my time online by using a blog.

I’m creating pages for the various content and files and I’m blogging almost daily. The pages are for backing up my many files as well as sharing them and the blogging is just something I enjoy. Interestingly enough, being able to put in text what my blog’s point is didn’t happen until just a few days ago. I was working on an article to share some insights I’d gained the night before that related to my thoughts over the weekend. The result was the realization that it was the real point of my blog: Making life a masterpiece. It sums up everything this blog is about from daily shares to past creations and projects. So that’s what this is all about, just in case you were curious or wondering what you were doing here. ;o)

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Looking back, it seems Murphy always had a hand in some of the best things coming out just after I’d past the window of opportunity to acquire them.  I remember as a little girl being so bummed that some of the best dolls came out when I was “too old” to play with them anymore, bell bottoms were out of style by the time I was a teen (okay that’s not such a bad thing), windows was introduced to computers and classrooms just after I could have taken a class in high school, and the best support groups I’ve found online have come after I’ve been through the primary reason for their existence!  LOL  Today I have to share one that I wish had been around when I was a new and first time mom: RookieMoms.com.  I related to so much of what the authors explained as their reason for coming up with the site, at least with my first child and I really think they’re sharing some meaningful things for moms of little ones.  If you or someone you know could use some fun and helpful things to do with wee ones this site is something you should check out.

I love that in today’s world technology allows us to reach out and connect with so many people who can relate to us because of some experience or trait.  Some of my closest friends are ones I made online!  I’ve only been blogging for a few days now but I was amazed to see the stats pull up visitors from outside the U.S.  That was really cool to me and I hope to see it continue.  Who knows, maybe one of these days I’ll be as smart as my husband (of course by then he’ll be smarter so I’ll still be behind!)  I guess I’ll just have to keep getting up all the “stuff” I’ve done on this site to compensate. ;o)

His perspective:

We don’t get much rain in Arizona (duh!), but when it does finally rain, we get really good rain. That was Monday evening.

We were at Target buying soccer equipment and pickles when our first real monsoon storm rolled in. I was just about to slide my Visa into the card reader when the lights went off throughout the store. The clerk rolled his eyes and calmly let us know that the backup power would get the POS system back online in a few moments. Fortunately for us, he was right. In the meantime there was an eerie darkness throughout the store and a few cries from kids who weren’t sure about the darkness and alarms.

Driving back home we experienced a storm that I can only compare to a tropical storm. I’ll check with Rob later and see what it’s really like. When we arrived home, the power was out. It was immediately obvious as my garage door refused to open no matter how many times I clicked the clicker. We went through the front door.

In my childhood, when the power went out, I could count on the fact that as soon as we actually located the candles and the matches during a power outage, the power would immediately come back on. It’s a little known law of Murphy that as soon as you’re prepared for the outage, it will be over. So, with that in mind, I took my time locating what I could to help light the house. My wife eventually found everything. Surprisingly the power refused to return even after lighting the candles. I mentioned that to my wife as we sat down to tuna fish sandwiches and fruit cups.

Two hours later (give or take) everything came back on. In the meantime I had to answer questions from my daughter about what it was like in the olden times when I grew up and didn’t have video games, DVDs and computers – even when there was power. I wouldn’t last much longer than a day without power now. For my kids it would be less than that.

Her perspective (true to form with women needing to have the last word):

We live in amazing times.  It seems every convenience, with exception to the transporter and food replicator, are available to us.  However, about 99% of these conveniences are contingent upon electricity.  I can’t imagine life without electricity.  But fate was determined to force a quick look last night when our power went out due to an amazing monsoon storm.  At first my husband felt no need to do anything as in his experience as soon as you found the candles the power came back on.  I was a little less optimistic knowing we have only been in our home for three months and there are still a lot of things that I don’t know the location of.  I knew I hadn’t bought new matches since our move and didn’t know where a single flashlight was.  He was less concerned calling to my memory that I had purchased some lighters for the grill our first week and knew there was a flashlight in the tool kit in the garage.  Great ideas the both of them, except I didn’t know where those lighters got put and you couldn’t see anything in the garage without a flashlight.

Thank heaven for little girls with good memories and trust a female to save the day.  My daughter knew exactly where the toy flashlight was.  It was right exactly where she said it was, on the dresser in my closet.  Wow.  I’d give anything for a fraction of her memory.  It worked just well enough to see something in the garage.  I knew we had one my folks gave me for Christmas a few years ago and it was a big one.  Instead I found the tiny AA battery one which was dead, but I knew where new batteries were.  Incidentally, this flashlight was the one that saved the day as the one in the tool kit that my husband was banking on had a charge that lasted about 2 minutes – and that was with both batteries, and I never located the big one - proof that bigger isn’t always better.  So the flashlight security was a bust, but the reminder that I’d bought lighters proved helpful.  I had such pride as I lit the candle votive in the upstairs hallway remembering the day I hung it with the painting telling myself what a great place that would be for a candle if we ever needed one.  That’s one for me.  Dealing with the loud fire alarms was one for him so I guess we’re even.

Climbing in our bed with our kids by candle light and watching the lightening was a fun time, but I’m glad we don’t have to do it every night.  I’m especially glad that I can wake up to a hot shower, not to mention bacon that cooks in the microwave in just a few minutes.  Thank you Benjamin Franklin! 

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Two recent events have caused me contemplate the concept of times and timing.  The first was losing power last night to a monsoon storm that was truly incredible!  (The details will be coming in another post of his and her perspectives.)  After getting some candles lit we sat in the living room with our kids trying to help them grasp life before electricity.  I couldn’t help but think about all those moms of yesteryear who experienced life daily without most every convenience I enjoy.  Simpler doesn’t equate to easier.

This process got me on a roll thinking about the timing of my own life and how grateful I am that I was born in this time and not in generations past.  Don’t get me wrong, I have a huge fascination with history and the way things were in their prime, but I’d rather see it on a sight-seeing vacation where I could just bounce through the various times and places.  The thoughts of life without a flushing toilet, shower, sanitary supplies and washing machines make my stomach churn.

Then I got to thinking about how much of our lives function on power and electricity.  I told my husband what a crazy thought it would be to imagine life if the power never came back on.  He simply replied he couldn’t even go there because his whole life revolved around it.  It’s true - the world as we know it would be a completely different place instantly without electricity.  It would still exist but everything would change.

The second thing that got me thinking about times and timing was a post I read this morning on Kammie’s blog.  When I read her comments on waiting for the right time for things I couldn’t help but reflect on my own experiences.  In the book I’m working on about my journey to motherhood I share something I learned about myself and perhaps women in general.  That is that we are master planners.  Most of the time we don’t even realize that we’re doing it or that we’ve done it.  It’s in our nature.  So we come up with what I call “little calendars” for our lives.  We get a plan when we are a youth about when we’ll marry, what he’ll be like, how many kids we’ll have - even what we’ll name them, where we’ll live, etc., etc., etc.  Of course at the time it’s all just girl talk with other girls our just in our own heads.  But what’s happening is we’re creating our own timelines for our expectations.  And the downside of this is creating a prison cell for ourselves when our expectations aren’t met.  It is so easy to get wrapped up in all the things we don’t have or that are going wrong.  We feed the problem.

I speak from experience.  I got married to the right man at the age I had calendared in my head.  So I didn’t realize for a while that there were any problems with my calendar or life expectations.  But motherhood was just beyond my reach and control.  More here than I can share in one post, but suffice it to say the master lesson was learning that my timeline is not always the same as the Lord’s.  It was a journey to self discovery that taught me a lot.  The more you try to force the two to line up the more frustration and agony you create for yourself.  It isn’t until you recognize the problem and that you are feeding it that you can shift your navigation and energies.  When you begin to feed the opportunities life takes on a whole new view.  You recognize that your prison is self made and therefore you can release yourself by choice.

Women of yesteryear were likely much more like we are today than we realize.  Times have changed true, but timing education is universal and timeless.  I have a deep and sincere gratitude for my ancestors who’s contributions and sacrifices have given me everything I enjoy today.  Hopefully I’ll be able to do the same things for future generations by applying the same traits of contribution and sacrifice in my own life.  Maybe, just maybe someone somewhere today will read this and get something out of the truth that comes about timing.  Maybe they’ll start a path to peace and fulfillment because they’ll step back and evaluate their own “calendars” and make adjustments to get and keep them on the path of happiness.  Or maybe they’ll just continue on this path with a little more fuel in their soul to win the race. ;o)  Whatever your circumstance here’s to starving the problems and feeding the opportunities using the tools of times and timing to succeed.

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In my last post I talked about learning to color masterpieces in our lives when our favorite color isn’t available.  You have to learn to mix and match and above all you have to keep painting.  I guess this is part two to this concept.

Last night as I was settling into bed I read a wonderful article about the abundant life.  It was given by Joseph B. Wirthlin in April of this year.  I sought it out surfing through the many inspiring article titles because I was searching for some uplifting content about reaching my full potential - a thought that’s been heavy on my mind this weekend.  His closing paragraph summed it all up quite perfectly:

“As illustrated in the story of an old, discarded horse that had within him the soul of a champion, there is within each of us a divine spark of greatness. Who knows of what we are capable if we only try? The abundant life is within our reach if only we will drink deeply of living water, fill our hearts with love, and create of our lives a masterpiece.”

I feel kind of like that old gray gelding in the story he related.  I think there’s a champion inside and I want very much to make my life a masterpiece.  I’ve been contemplating the things I want to do.  I’m still 34, (at least for a few more months!) my youngest child will be starting preschool next week 5 days a week for 3.5 hours and I’ll be entering a new season of my life.  I’ve been thinking about what I’ll do with this season and getting that age old itch to really dig into something meaningful.

I’m realizing how blessed I really am and have been in my life.  I’ve been good at most everything I’ve tried but never the best at any one thing because I never pursued just one thing.  It’s something I’ve always envied in other people - that ability to hone in on what you’re really good at and becoming exceptional at it.  I wondered where I’d be if I’d studied dance in Chicago or drama in New York.  I always felt more like an above average hodgepodge of many things.  I’ve dabbled in so many things and found success each time but felt kind of like a talent nomad.  Today I’m looking at this differently.  I’m recognizing the gift of many talents and my need to keep on acquiring and building.  I believe the Lord gives us talents to develop and share not hide and horde.  Who knows what I might accomplish if I were to really try?

So I sat down and wrote a list.  *Deep breath* And now I’m going to commit myself to some of it by sharing it here.  First, I want to go back to school and finish some degrees.  Ultimately, I think I want to get a degree in law.  And I’m excited about that!  Funny as all I could think about when I finished the first couple rounds was never having to go back.  Second, I’ve also thought a great deal about a life in politics.  This one scares me for the corruption that exists but at the same time it draws me because I think we need more leaders with moral centers and strong convictions based in the principles of good, old fashioned integrity.  I love American history and never tire learning of our incredible forefathers.  I’ve been reading the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and stand in awe at the simplicity of the power of one who is honest and determined to make a masterpiece out of their life.  These are my heroes and my mentors.  Both of these areas would expand my circle of influence to make a difference for the better in the world.

I have a few other things that I’ll keep for another post.  But this is my start.  I will fuel myself with past success.  I will draw strength from my most incredible masterpiece so far of motherhood and wife while doing all I can to keep adding to it.  I really think that balance is the key.  My kids are keeping me young and balanced by taking time to play, re-discover the world around me and inspire me to be all I can be.  My faith and spiritual center will give me wings to soar.  So look out clouds, I’m coming up for a visit.

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Well, today my husband sent me a link to another emom blogger.  I think he’s just trying to prove his point that there is a niche to be found for stay at home moms out there sharing what they know.  But hats off to Wendy Piersall who is sharing her knowledge and finding amazing success. 

It never ceases to amaze me how much can be done when you’re willing to move your feet.  It’s easy to sit on your backside and think about all the ways you want to change the world for the better.  It’s quite another to get up and do something - anything. 

My journey to motherhood taught me a lot.  Who knows, I may even get around to finishing that book one day.  But suffice it to say that the best lessons can come in the most unexpected ways.  One of the best ways to share this is with the help of a story I read years ago about a five year old girl who is asked by her new Kindergarten teacher during a placement meeting to pick out her favorite color crayon and write her name.  She freezes and does nothing.  On the way home her mother asks her why she didn’t write her name because she knows how.  She simply replied “There wasn’t a pink crayon in the box.”  Trust the child to teach us life’s greatest lessons. 

Yes, many times I found my favorite color crayon wasn’t in the box.  I too have wanted to quit because of it.  But I have also learned that if you keep coloring the masterpiece can be amazing.  Unexpected maybe, but still amazing.  I didn’t give birth to my kids, but I am a mom.  My picture is different from others, it has many more hues and deeper colors.  But the best thing is looking back and seeing how much I’ve done because I didn’t have a pink crayon when I wanted one.  Today I own a website dedicated to helping adoptive families find success adopting and support through the process.  It’s been going strong for over 7 years and many families have had successful adoptions as a result of matches made through their HopeToAdopt.com profiles.  I’ve given thousands of hours as a volunteer and done a lot of things that have positively impacted the world of adoption.  I wouldn’t have done any of it without the experience of being an adoptive parent.  What began as one of my biggest challenges in life became one of the most rewarding experience I couldn’t have imagined. 

So here’s to life without pink crayons and people willing to step up to the plate and do something.

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Ever have those moments when you wish you had a camera?  Well if you’d been witnessing me with my kids this morning you’d have wished you did.  It must have been a real entertainment sight.

Scooters aren’t new, but they sure got a boost in the recent years.  The closest thing I had to a scooter as a kid was my old metal roller skates that strapped onto my shoes.

This morning we decided to walk to school - well the kids wanted to ride their scooters so I agreed.  When we got to school I took my daughter’s scooter back home.  My son thought this was wonderful to have mommy riding (or trying) a scooter too.  He challenged me to a race which of course I think I’m capable even though I’ve never actually been on a scooter before.  I don’t know which was funnier - watching me try to keep any sense of balance or me laughing hysterically while doing it because I’m all over the place.  Either way it had to be great entertainment.

It’s funny that I don’t feel any older, but clearly not only have times changed but they’ve also changed me because I find that doing most of the things I did as a kid are quite challenging these days.  Just last night my daughter challenged me to do the monkey bars.  I used to be quite adept at this so figured I’d give it another go.  Aside from nearly pulling my arm from its socket, I quickly realized that this is a task fit for a 30lb body or at least one that is in much better shape than mine.  On the upside my kids think they’re mom’s pretty funny so at least I’ve got that.

Forget the popcorn, pass the Kleenex! Generally I know when I’m emotional, or at least when I feel a good cry coming on. As I sit to type this I can’t remember when my last one was but it’s been at least two years ago. At any rate, I just had an emotional clarifying experience and I’m a mess! It wasn’t by anything that happened. It was from watching a movie. The culprit? Eight Below.

Now I chose not to go see this in the theatre. Mostly out of convenience because I did mention wanting to see it a few times while it was out. But after this afternoon I am SO glad I didn’t see it in the theatre. If you like animals at all, tend to feel a heart string tug at a good or touching part of a movie or book or tend to cry in sad or happy movies in general you’ll want to watch this one solo in the comfort of your home with your Kleenex box handy. I can’t believe how much I cried through what felt like the entire movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I didn’t have to think about anything. I did hold my breath a few times and jumped once or twice as well. But what an amazing emotional impact. The bonus is it cleared out the emotional storage that I didn’t even realize I had stocked up! So if you can’t remember when you had a really good cry and feel the urge to do some house cleaning this is your ticket. You may not have cried when Old Yeller died but these dogs will take you for an emotional ride. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Today marks the renewal of a goal I set and began work on a few years ago. It’s to get all my files digitalized and backed up on a place other than my home computer. I’m trying not to picture the elephant task that it is so as to avoid getting squashed. I hope to spend just a few minutes every day adding to it once I get the structure in place. Today was the first step as I began creating pages for the content.

I am computer crazy. I’m always designing stuff on my computer whether it’s for a class, leadership position, invitations for friends or family - whatever, the point is I love desktop publishing and creating. So I have thousands of files and I’ve found some areas where people actually like seeing what I’ve done to use in their own circles or at least spark some creativity for their own ideas. In the past I tried PHP Nuke sites (SharingWithYW, HollysCorner) to upload and share these files. But administration has been more complicated and hackers are prone to these sites which really stinks. The beauty of the blog is the ability it gives me to begin streamlining all these projects and sites more efficiently while remaining current. I don’t have to give up keeping up with daily projects just to get caught up on old back burner projects. This keeps me happy about my progress and succeeding. It also gives me the ability to keep all those other spheres connected to my current life instead of collecting dust which is good given that my Sharing site still generates hundreds of visitors each day. I’m excited about the transition and will be really happy when my baby is out of its cocoon and flying. Maybe then I’ll feel like I’ve found that organized state I’ve been searching for most of my life. Or maybe I’ll just end up chasing my butterfly. Either way life will be full and busy and that’s a good thing.

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Do you ever have those days where you just can’t find the motivation to get a darn thing done? Today was that day for me. It came on the heels of my daughter’s sick day - the day when I got virtually nothing done. The best part of the day was the bubble bath before bed.

I’ve been thinking all day about tools to tackle this. What I learned surprised me. I’m not sure I can pin point exactly when the demotivation hit. I got up fine, got dressed and ready and even had time to get the dishes done before taking my daughter to school. Maybe that was the catalyst. When I got home the thing that was bugging me the most was already done and this allowed me the freedom to feel I could slack off - which seemed to roll over into the lack of motivation that followed.

I played a few mindless computer games after checking e-mails, even took an online quiz about whether or not I was a slacker mom. The results were in my favor telling me I’m a smarty pants mom. I’m not sure what that means exactly. I was going to sit down and watch a movie I’d recorded last night with my son during lunch, but found the recorder missed the last 5 minutes or so (Cox DVR sucks.) That was a bummer so I just deleted it - no point watching the whole thing to not see how it ends so it will have to wait for the Netflix queue. I set myself a clock of free computer time to end. I pushed it by 10 minutes but forced myself to go upstairs and clean my bedroom. I figured I needed a few things where I could see results and clean sheets would feel great tonight. That was a good choice. It even bled over into getting the entire upstairs vacuumed and the family room picked up and vacuumed. The point of this is sharing that by forcing myself to do one thing I could see the results of, I felt better and even got a few more things done. And at the end of the day I didn’t feel like a complete loser.

I was taught in trade school that you should be doing the most productive thing with every given moment. I think that stinks and whoever said it isn’t very smart. It’s the reason why I feel guilt when I’m not getting something done 24/7. One thing I read during my slacker mom quiz was the importance of doing a few things that you enjoy, as a happy mom is a better mom. I like that bit of advice. So I advanced a level on a computer game instead of finishing the laundry. Who cares? I’m happier and I still have underwear for tomorrow - I just have to retrieve it from the dryer instead of my drawer. I’ll live.