The Beginning

The Beginning

How these two words fill me with hope. I have realized with each passing day that I am not getting any younger. In just a few months, I will be reaching the big milestone birthday of 50. It is hard to realize that my life is so far along. I have been through seasons in my life filled with valleys and mountaintops. I am so blessed to live as long as I have and be as happy as I am and as healthy as I am. It is amazing what fills your mind as the years creep by. I have a wonderful husband (Steve) of 28 ½ years, two beautiful, amazing children,(Angela and Ben), but then I have to stop and recount, because I no longer have two children, I have three as of June 24, 2006 which is the day my daughter became Mrs. Zachary Whitaker. I still have to stop and ponder that one. It is hard to believe that my daughter can be married when I remember so vividly the day I got married. It is hard to believe that my children are grown and gone with lives of their own. Forgive the digression, I can get fixated on my children rather easily. What gifts they are from my Heavenly Father!!

I am also blessed with my faithful friend and companion Pepper. He has been part of the family since 1994. He is getting on in years. I see his fur change from a black with dashes of white (hence the name Pepper) to one of grey with bits of black flowing through. He is not able to jump on the bed or furniture anymore which now breaks my heart where as earlier it made mad me when he wouldn’t move over to give me more foot room.

I see and realize with each passing day that indeed it is like His precious word says; our lives are like flourishing flowers. Today we are here in all our glory and tomorrow we are gone. As I realize that I have today and don’t know about tomorrow, I want to make the best of it. I want to be faithful to that which He has called me to do. I want to begin the things I know He has called me to do.

So here I am stepping out into the new realm of technology and posting my thoughts and feelings out for the world to read. My children are such inspirations to me when it comes to technology. I want to be a cool mom!! Ben (my son), is very tech savvy. He never ceases to amaze me with what he knows about computers, phones, etc. Angela and Zach are also amazing in this area. After all they have grown up in this era, I on the other hand remember computer programs using punch cards.

I have thought about entering into the world of blogging for awhile. I would use a number of excuses to keep from doing this. One of which is that I didn’t want to be a copy cat. Angela (my daughter) started her blog last year. I thought it would be something fun to do but I kept making excuses like “I don’t want to be a copy cat”. She and her husband Zach bought a new camera and then before you know it, Steve and I bought one just like it. She has done this and that and soon I was coping what she did. So I guess that you could call me a copy cat. I call it admiring someone and wanting to be like them. So my sweet Angela, here’s to you!!! No more excuses!!

I can feel overwhelmed easily when I begin something new. I think of all the possibilities and unknowns and I begin to get uneasy. I want to chicken out. I want to give up before I start. I kind of feel that way now, I think of having to title this blog, putting pictures on it and coming up with something to write about. Then I remember the advise that I gave Angela not to long ago. She had come to a situation that seemed overwhelming to her and I told her that she couldn’t do everything at one time. I told her to think about the situation as a big cookie. When eating a cookie you have to eat it one bite at a time. Savor each bite and then begin to think about the next bite. Before long you have eaten the whole cookie, one bite at a time. My favorite cookie is chocolate chip. So here I go with the first bite of my cookie…… It’s the beginning!!!!!