Check out the movie Soul Surfer

I took the kids to see this newly released movie yesterday called Soul Surfer because they were off from school for Parent/Teacher Conferences. It was to be a "fun" day instead of "clean up the house" day.

It was actually quite Amazing! and I am so glad we went. I would highly recommend it. Watch the trailer here:

The movie is about the true story of a teenage girl named Bethany Hamilton who practically lived her entire life in the water in Hawaii as a surfer just like her parents and brothers. It was just their way of life. {Can you imagine?}

It was her love...her life. She is faced with her dreams coming to an end when a shark literally bites off her arm, and she is faced with the likely possibility of never surfing again.

It is the story of great Courage and Bravery and Strength of a young girl when faced with insurmountable obstacles. It is the story about Family; without that she couldn't have Soared like she did. It is the story about true Friendship.

It is a Story about FAITH. 

The belief and faith Bethany's family & friends had in her was impressive actually, yet I think what was most special of all was what she learned from her Dad; their relationship. What he taught her about herself. What he believed she could do, even when she couldn't believe it in herself.

So, I hope you get a chance to go see it if you haven't. I think you will leave the theater looking at the world in a whole new & different way!

And I highly suspect that the Sun will just seemed a bit brighter to you as you are walking (or maybe skipping!) back to your car - like it did for us!

This feeling of Hope in the air...

Just this feeling of being Inspired to doing something big!

And really... that all really is Good.

Recently, I myself have personally discovered at a whole new level what this movie truly represents ~ the message it is bringing to the World...~ Bethany's message to the World...what Life is really all about...

Love

Courage & Change

I learned a great lesson this past week about what it really takes to make a Change in our lives from
a complete stranger.

{I just love when this happens!}

His name is Andrew (I never did get his last name) and he was our AT & T U-verse Technician. He was scheduled to come to do a 4-hour installation job, but ended up staying the entire day, plus having to return the next morning for several hours. 

And all of this at no fault of his own.

My job as a Reference Checker at MRA - The Management Association involves "interviewing" references for the sole purpose of weeding through who our member companies do and do not want to hire. I have a series of questions to ask that the hiring company wants to know about this person; they want details.

They are paying good money for this information after all. 

They are after Truth so they can make a wise decision - all in the name of saving money and time, which is critical - especially now in our current economy - for everyone...hiring companies and candidates alike.

One of the questions they want us Reference Checkers to ask is:  

Was the candidate adaptable to change?

This is a big deal to hiring companies when they are considering whether or not they want to go out on a limb for a person.

Another question is:

Could you evaluate his/her Work-Related Character?

Naturally, our other questions involve rating technical skills, quality of work, accuracy and productivity. They are asked first, in the proper order in report format - all very, very good and much needed answers to know.

However, what Andrew taught me in our time spent together, literally sitting around our kitchen table "waiting" for help to arrive on his end {interesting how quickly a stranger simply becomes a 'stranger' no longer} is that being a flexible person in work and life is a big deal but what he taught me most importantly is that there is something far more grander and valuable and that is called...

~Character~ 

 And I'm not just talking about work-related character here. 

I am talking about  

Integrity...  Attitude... Work Ethic... Trustworthiness...

Andrew shared with me his daily productivity quota (I told him about my job) and how he was personally going to take the 'punishment' per se for the "job" taking 8 hours instead of 4. 

He shared personal stuff with me about his life and future...sort of what was holding him back...I shared the importance of education...he nodded in agreement.

He said this all with not a 'hint' of poor me, this job sucks, this company sucks, all of this time and money wasted sitting around... my productivity being affected...

I will admit to you that this is NOT what I was thinking about AT & T at that moment! My mind had immediately went to who I would be calling Monday morning on the behalf of Andrew.

What? I thought and probably said to him. Are you kidding me? None of this is even his fault. In fact, it is partially my fault, yet now he is going to have a 'mark' against him on his productivity record... 

and in this economy where jobs are so few and far between!

Oh...and I just have to mention here that I was baking homemade oatmeal raisin cookies - trust me, this never happens! - and since he was there ALL day I thought he must be hungry... I had already offered him coffee, lunch...all he would accept was a glass of water.

I kept saying, Come on, it is a homemade oatmeal cookie!!!

I realized later that this was one of their "rules"...very understandable, yet how he must have been tempted by the luring, delicious, yummy smells in the air....

I sure was & fell into the temptation {I just couldn't help it! ;)} and ended up eating both of our portions! ~

As Andrew finished the job up and I had a sense of what I would've been feeling if I were him:  

I just want to go home and eat dinner and be done with this job! Get me out of here!!

But instead - do you know what he did? {Blind-sided me - big time}

Even though this was to be our 3rd company for Cable T.V. of some kind, and Andrew already knew I pretty much "got" how to operate the remote and work through the menu and guide...

He still went through it all with me! 

He even went through very specifically and thoroughly how to do 'parental blocking' all with the knowledge & understanding that we have kids and of the importance of this very important "tool" for parents.

He left, and I was simply Amazed! 

I had just witnessed real live work-related character, customer service and integrity in action! 

Like in my own house!

Unfortunately, later on after he left, I came to realize that Andrew doesn't see it. He doesn't see his potential. He doesn't see his worth..his value...

And neither have I - many, many, many times...this lack of belief in myself...and I now know and understand that that is what has stopped me from moving forward when I am faced with a change.

And what Andrew taught me most importantly, as well as others have this past week, is that the missing piece to really moving forward, really making a change, really being Free is:

Courage

It takes Courage to make a Change. It just does.

And the thing is~ we all have it in us. 

The ability to Fly.

Anyway, the job got done and it got done well...all thanks and appreciation goes to Andrew...

for going above and beyond!!

The kids are happy with some "new" channels we now have...life goes on~

My hope for Andrew is that he sees what I saw in him. I saw that he already has it in him...

My prayer for him, a person of his Integrity and his Character is that he Soars...

~I just have this feeling that he will~

Now that makes me smile big from ear to ear.

I have 3 people in mind as I wrote this post and as I close~

Congratulations Deb on your new Nursing job~!...my dear friend-sister...

Thank You for your service to our community as a Nurse and what you have dedicated your life to. You've already done a good & praiseworthy job - a job well done on so many levels ~ 

more than you may ever know...

All who know and love you like your brother & I do, know exactly what I mean...how special you are...

You have what it takes to Soar, just like Andrew ...

Don't be afraid of change - sometimes it is just what we need...just grab hold and take it...
and you will Soar -
I have no doubt about that!

And of course, Andrew - our "Technician" - thanks to what you taught me about real life stuff...

Courage & Change...teaching me what it really takes to Fly...

Most importantly though ~
Happy Birthday Doug!~Son, Dad, Husband, Grandpa, 
Father-in-law
Thank you for showing all of us the way to do it well.

I will leave you all with this~ because it will make you smile like it did me~

I finally did get Andrew to take a cookie, but he would only accept just 1 and only after his job was done.

 Character

That is what Andrew has and what it takes to 
Change and Fly

I feel honored to have met him.

That is who I would want to hire & keep around if I were a boss, wouldn't you?

Yes, indeed!

Blessings in disguise

It has been very easy to for me to fall into a place that I like to call the "pit" where I can only see the world from my own vantage point, especially lately with chronic sleep deprivation really taking its toll on me both physically and psychologically.

So I've had to fight hard against going there...and it hasn't been easy...and I've fallen into it many times...and I know it will be a continuous struggle of being tempted to go there, however, the heartfelt prayers of those that love me have lifted me up and out of my "pits" many times.

I press on with Hope for what is to come... what awaits.

Please click here to watch, listen, enjoy this very inspiring and encouraging you tube video...because it is songs and videos like this one that have literally pulled me out of my pit time and time again...
It is called "Blessings" by Laura Story.

My sister, Tracy, sent me this song/video because she intimately knows the path I have walked in my Life...and she has walked it with me...many times having to do the "carrying of my load" for me...and because she knows that I am currently in the throws of  many "sleepless nights"...

She just knew that I needed the encouragement and uprooting this song brings. I hope you found that too.

I think we all need a little bit of that right now in our world, wouldn't you agree? I think of what is going on in Wisconsin alone, and how that affects our family being apart of a union...then my mind turns to Japan...and then to the Police Officer recently killed in Fond du Lac in the line of duty...and as I drive around my city I am reminded of it all when I see half-staff American flags flying everywhere.

As I take a step back and I look "outside of my own little world" to just the needs of our closest loved ones, friends, and neighbors..and then out to the world, my heart simply breaks.

Because I have realized personally that sometimes what Life has to offer just really stinks! Sometimes worse than stinks. Much, much worse than that. And it can be really, really hard to walk in it and through it...

Oh! But that's when the "message" of Laura Story's song comes to life!

What if the Trials in my Life have really been mercies in disguise?

And then I am challenged to think and ask God...does that mean every single one?
And then I begin to list them for Him...one after the other...

I have bowed on my knee before my God and I have prayed desperately with my tears and with no words for healing...peace...wisdom...to hear His Voice in my sleepless nights...relief...to just take it from me...please...

And I have been known on many occasions to have shaken my fist before Him and at Him ... just letting my anger flow out of me...and then I realized in a big way - like a smack upside my head - that He is God after all. And He can take it. Not only can He take it, but He asks us to hand it over to Him so that He can carry our burdens for us. After all, it is His Yoke that is easy, not mine.

And in His great love, grace and mercy, He has just simply allowed me to beat my fists on His chest over and over and over again...until I had nothing left...and as long as it took.

I easily become overwhelmed by it all - don't you? don't we all?

But I have learned that when I fall into the "pit"... I then begin to question and doubt God's goodness...His Love for me...us...the world...and I choose not to even go there anymore because I have learned that that doesn't serve me or anyone else well at all.

And then He reminds me tirelessly in Love that He has given me so many Promises...and He has been Faithful to me so many times...yet I act and think as if they are not enough...that He is not enough...

Hmm...I wonder. Maybe that is and has been my problem all along.

Discontentment. Ingratitude.

A not-so thankful heart for all that I have been given.

And then in a whisper He humbly reminds me that in each and every tear, in each and every devastating loss that has scarred my heart to its core, in each and every disappointment, in each and every dream that died, in each and every sleepless night, betrayal, scar, physical symptom of Lyme disease....

In it ALL...I have never walked alone. Not one step. In fact, I know for sure that most of the time I have been carried because He knew that is what I needed. I just couldn't - nor can do it alone anymore.

What I have learned through my Healing and through my deepest heartaches is that
This is not my home, nor yours.

Now THAT is something to smile about...that is something to focus on...

that is something to take heart in...that is something to press on towards!

Heaven awaits...it just does...and there we will have everything we need...everything.

So I challenge myself often with these ideas and wrestle with the answers I am given: What IF my Healing has indeed come through all the aches, scars, wounds of my life? What IF my Healing has come through all of the Storms of my Life...What IF every trial truly has all been Blessing in disguise?

What IF all of my trials have in fact been my greatest teacher?

Well, since I enjoy a "challenge"...and if all of that is indeed True, which I know it is~ then that means:

It has all been a blessing. And it has all been good because it has all been filtered through the arms of Love...

I say YES! to that.