The Ride

Sometimes its all about the ride!

     I want you to look at this picture of my 5 kids that I homeschool on a daily basis( my three oldest are not pictured).  Keep in mind that 3 of my older children are not pictured ok?  Now, what kind of day do you think we were having?  As you can see my son who is 14 is driving this truck.  No, its not our truck and no he is not licensed.  Yes, it is on our farm and he only was moving them to the fence to hop over it from the truck.  What you cant see is the 8 acres of flood water that kept them from walking around the fence.  You also cant see how they fought me that morning to get their school work done and get dressed in "farm" clothes to go out and work. They also look happy right?  Well yes, in this picture till they hopped the fence and had to hoe the rows and plant the seeds.  Mind you our garden is about an acre.  What is my point?  Sometimes in life we have a rough road to go down.  There are bumps and turns and sometimes we may even end up in the ditch or stuck in a rutt.  What is the important part is the journey to where we are going.  You see it is in the bumps and turns that we learn who we are. We learn to have faith and to believe in ourselves and the Lord.  We learn if we can just make it to the top of the hill it will be all downhill till the next hill right?
       Looking at this picture I just see happy kids.  I see little Devon telling me in sign that he loves me.  I don't see the last two years journey I had with these kids.  You see not all of them are my natural born children.  Some of them came to me down a different road.  I call it the "Broken Road".  I thank God for that road. Each child has taught me a little bit about myself and showed me that I can love flesh that is not of my flesh.  Some of these kids have some major special needs and were kids noone wanted in the foster care system.  We were foster parents for 6 years and adopted some of them when we left foster care.  We were the last stop for them.  They were headed down a road to institutions.  One was 3 and like a wild animal. It was a super rough road we went down. One didn't want to let anyone get close. They constantly would push away and cause chaos and contention.  Another just has a ton of behaviors and destroys everything they can get their hands on.  If I would of gave up on the road we where on and took a detour , our family wouldn't be this size.  I would be minus some of my children.  I so often thought it would be easier to detour.   It is not easy to raise someone else's kids. Especially, after they have gone down so many roads and usually without parents.  The kids I adopted where raised in the system.  They didn't trust, love and where constantly moved from home to home. Still we choose to go down the road with all of them.
      This put our family on a new road. One I had no clue how to go down. My natural born children loved their new siblings but you see, there is a bit of jealousy.  Birth order changed, numbers changed. We doubled the amount of kids from 3 to 6.  I went from 3 teenagers to 5.   We also decided to move from Ohio to Florida for a new start and also for my health.  We are on a new road.  It has been an adventure to say the least.  This past Thursday as I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner it hit me like a ton of bricks. We have had a wonderful journey to become the family we are.  It has been a rough few years and honestly that is putting it lightly. We have all laughed, we've cried, we've experienced so much and all together.
       This picture doesn't show half of the journey it took to get to this point.  I however have it etched in my heart.  When I looked at this picture I finally saw a love between all the kids. It was a rough road but oh so worth the journey!

The Power of One

The Power of One

The power of one is the power to spread love to a million people from a single heart. be that heart; be that one. spread love to all those around you. change our world. 

     All of us have the ability to be the one to change something in OUR world.  What pulls at your heart strings?  What is within your reach to change or affect?  What do you believe in the most?
     These are all questions that have been in my heart since Saturday.  I often write my blog Sunday after church and just didn't feel ready.  I kept coming back to the Power of One.  I had no clue what this was or what I was suppose to even write about.  Then I started looking at my life and the power of one in it.
     My life you see has had a ton of rough patches.  I remember the one who every summer loved me unconditionally, opened her home to a wild and crazy child and loved me like her own.  She bought me toys, clothes, taught me how to cook, clean and in later years how to shop and be a great mother.  This "One" was my Grandmother.  Years later I was her power of one as I watched her pass from this life to the next just us two alone in a hospital room.  We needed no one else as we had each other.  I held her hand and cried gentle tears and was so thankful I was the "one" she choose to share the end with.
      In my teen years there was the "one" rough and tough Marine Master Sergeant at my High School Marine Corps Junior ROTC.  He believed in me when I didn't believe in myself.  He never gave up on me and encouraged and lifted me up.  I ran away from home at 17 and he was the "one" who helped me increase the communication with my family to let them know I was ok.  I otherwise would of just walked away.  He showed me that a teacher can love and open there heart and truly believe in me without hurting me or taking advantage of me.  He was my power of "one".   I often wander where I would of been if he hadn't instilled in me the discipline and respect and stick-to-it-ness of the Marine Corps. He also taught me so much pride in myself . I was drill team commander and Battalion Commander.  Some of my greatest memories are of those times.
        Flash forward another five years.  I worked on a cruise ship in Hawaii.  I had another wonderful blessing by a sweet man named Bobby Baron.  He was a power of one to me in so many ways. I was a lost 20 year old who just wanted to find my eternal mate and was looking in all the wrong places.  He told me to never give up.  He knew I would find my mate and that he would be better than anything I ever imagined.  He listened to my heart breaks and my desires. He never judged or degraded me.  He was my sweet best friend.  He was like a brother to me.  Him and his mate where always there loving me and lifting me up.  He was my power of "one."
        Years later I gave birth to a sweet tenacious little girl.  She changed my life.  I knew I now had to be her power of "one".  I changed my life .I learned to focus on the bright future and not on my torrid past.  I returned to college, graduated with honors and worked hard to provide for her.
        I married my eternal mate shortly afterward.  I went about things backwards but he honestly is the biggest power of "one"  I have had in my life.  He is always there loving me and lifting me up.  We have been together for 16 years. Longer, than I spent with my own parents.  We had 3 children we created and 3 we adopted.
      Years forward we became foster parents.  Yep, you guessed it , we became a lot of children's power of "one".  You see we took the children noone wanted or could handle.  We got numerous teens straight out of juvenile detention.  We never judged or discriminated.  We loved them all and showed them what it was like to be believed in.  We choose to uplift them and be their "one".
    It now has been 6 months since we quit foster care. I look to my community and my business to be someones power of "one". I try to feed the homeless or hungry when the Lord puts them in my path.  I try to smile at a stranger when I see they are having a rough day.  I am there to help if I see a need. I have taught my kids to look for opportunities to help others and be someone else's power of "one".
     So, I understand now what Power of One means.  I've been living it and experiencing it my entire life and never knew.  Until, this past Saturday when the Lord whispered it to me so I could share it with you. Why did I share this? So now you can go into the world and be someone else's Power of One.  Also, thank those that where your Power of One through out your life.  It is amazing what one person whose heart and soul is in the right place can do to change a life .

Bless The Lord All My Soul

Bless the Lord All My Soul

     I write today with a very full soul.  My heart is overwhelmed at the devastation that  Hurricane Sandy has left in her path. So many thousands of people have lost everything. So many are without just the basics of life.  Water, Food and Electric. It is just so heartbreaking.  However, in this time of adversity my soul is filled with the beautiful stories of love that are coming out of this horror. The family from NY city who has bilge pumps and is pumping basements out for free.  Breezy Point residents who are helping eachother and binding together.  All the churches who have sent supplies and volunteers to help their fellow citizens. A brewery plant in GA who shut down an alcohol producing line to can water to send to Sandy survivors. Down to the children who are sending their extra toys and allowance to help other kids affected by the storm.
   I know that some of the people in the areas hardesst hit by Sandy are angry and hurt.  Some are determined to rebuild and others are thankful to be alive. I do know that storms are a necessary thing in life.  They help us appreciate the calm.  I'm talking about getting back to the basics of life.  Remember how after 9-11 we all hugged our kids a little tighter?? Everyone had a flag on their car, their lapel, we all sang God Bless America? Even congress sang God Bless America together. There where no Democrats or Republicans at that time.  We where all Americans.  I feel so broken hearted for the people who have lost loved ones and all their homes and possesions.  I do feel however that the Lord does have a plan and will help them to rebuild their lives .  They will be better and more blessed in the end.  I know if we endure to the end the Lord will take care of us and watch over us.
     Sometimes, I think the Lord gives us storms in our life to see if we will still have the faith to cling to him.  Its easy to have faith when all is well in your life isnt it?  It is hard when all is lost.  I pray for the victims of the storm and pray they will still worship him.  I pray our country will continue to lift up our fellow citizens and love them through this horrible storm in their life.  I pray that we all take a moment to be there for each other whether we can see the storm our fellow man is  going through or not.  Some of our neighbors are going through their own personal storms in life.  We need to always worship him and be his disciple and always help his sheep. No matter the storms...