A Marley-Tudinal and Marley-Doggin Life!

I know it's been awhile since my last post. I honestly have not been very happy with the content of my last posts.  I've felt that my posts thus far have lacked variety.   I've spent the last couple of weeks contemplating on alot of things.  I've also spent time reading other blogs, particularly from the writers of of the Proverbs 31 Ministries (see the links on my blog).  I've also spent this time being totally absorbed in reading The Shack by William P. Young.

During this time, I've had quite a few "ostrich days" where I have felt like hiding somewhere.  There have been days where I am thankful that God has given me the gift of life and allowing me to spend another day with my family and friends, and I am able to see and enjoy God's gift of seeing the beautiful snow capped mountains, feeling the rain and the sun, smelling the trees, wet grass and other natural wonders God has placed on Earth.  Then there were the days where I just pray to God to just give me the strength to get through the day.  The latter describes when I am at my lowest, feeling so lost, alone and scared.  These are the times where I begin to wonder if Jesus is truly with me when I need Him the most.

If you have not read The Shack, I strongly encourage you to do so.  This post is not going to give you a summary of the book nor give you my perspective on it.  I can tell you, though, that the book has truly affected me, and all in a positive way.  It has also forced me to look at my current life in a different light and my faith.  I've made a commitment to myself to truly look and appreciate the simple things in life.  I guess you can say that this is "part II" of my New Year's Resolution!

Our dog (or more like puppy) Marley has proved to be that living example of living a simple life and loving it.  We are truly fortunate to have Marley in our life.   A co-worker of mine and her parents had a litter of puppies in late June, and she was looking for a home for one last pup.  This pup was considered the runt of the litter.  His mom is a Terrier and his dad is a pure Chihuahua.  Over the summer our beloved Buster passed away.  Buster adopted us at the time I was pregnant with our son Christopher over 10 years ago.  We already had two cats --- Kailey (a girl) and Alvin (a boy), but I truly missed Buster and having another one in our family was something I thought could help fill part of that void....so we adopted the pup.

Our son had a variety of different names for our new puppy, but we decided to wait to see his true personality reveal itself before deciding on an appropriate name.  Let me assure you that Marley is truly the MOST appropriate name.  Other than his lack of size and weight like the real Marley, he has all of those attributes befitting of the name of Marley!!  Underneath that adorable face and tiny body is a mischevious pup who has chewed (well more like eaten) through four AV cables (the one with red, white and yellow plugs) that connect to our DVD player and our TV.  He digs through all the small trash cans in our bathroom and rooms and pulls out anything made of paper and chews it to shreds if he hasn't eaten it in its entirety.  He loves dirty socks and underwear.  My son has a habit of throwing his dirty clothes on the floor, and Marley always finds his dirty socks and underwear and runs like nobody's business up and down the stairs as we are scrambling try to catch him.  He finds tiny bite size snacks in my son's Lego pieces and has torn to shreds some of my son's Pokemon card collection  that is on the floor or at a height that Marley can find.  He's already planted his "pee-scent" in practically every bush in our backyard along with anything that is vertical --- posts on our patio, palm trees, etc.  He digs through our cat's litter box for his favorite "dessert" --- those brown "delicacies" we humans call "cat poo" but Marley considers it as his "cat cookies"!  Gross!

But underneath all this mischevious behavior is the lovable pup who ALWAYS greets us when we come home.  He spends over 8 hours a day during the week with Kailey and Alvin while we are at work and our son is at school.  He always greets us with feverish jumps on our legs, jumping on our couch and quickly through the house, up and down the stairs as if he's announcing to the world that "They're home! They're home! They're home!!!!!!"  He lovingly reaches with his face wanting to give each of us "Marley kisses".  In his crazy "Marley moments" he will excitedly run through the house, jump on a living room couch, bounce his body off of the couch as a spring board, and run around the house chasing Alvin or Kaiely then run again on the couch and do it again and again.  He'll play football in our back yard with our son and catching a "Marley" size football and run for a touchdown!  He runs towards our refrigerator when he hears the ice dispenser.....he loves eating tiny ice cubes!  We all call him "Marley puppy".  He sleeps with my husband and me on our bed all night, and he often pushes his body right up against one of ours during the night.  Marley is our automatic alarm clock that always goes off at around 6 a.m. every morning when he needs to be let out side to "do his business."  Marley's life, just like the lives of Kailey and Alvin and Max (our son's Bearded Dragon) is very simple --- his is about eating, sleeping, playing, and being with family.  His life is not complicated...it's very simple.  It's what I call a "Marley-Tudinal" life.  My son prefers the term "Marley Doggin" life!

As I've written in my previous posts, my family, like some many thousands of families in the US, are going through some very tough economic times, and we are all being forced to not only look for ways to cope financially, but also spiritually and emotionally.  Before the recession, I believe that many have focused more on material things.  I know my family and I did.  And you know what?   I also believe that a life focused on primarily material things creates blinders that prevent us from appreciating the most important things in our life.  It's not about the things we buy or have that counts.  It's the simpler things that truly money cannot buy.  Money cannot buy true love of your family and friends.  Money cannot buy the infinite love and grace bestowed to us by God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Money cannot buy faith or hope.  Money cannot buy the gift of life with your family or friends.  These are truly simple things and ones that are invaluable.  Here's to living a truly a "Marley-Tudinal and Marley Doggin" life!

Staying Positive and Trying to NOT Turn Into An Ostrich!!

Over the last few months, I have signed up to various websites that send daily inspirational quotes and prayers via e-mail.  I consider myself to be organized, at least with things having to do with family schedules and routines and work.  My daily morning ritual consists of waking up early in the morning with coffee in hand, checking and sending e-mails from at least four e-mail accounts, finalizing my daily to do list for the day, and starting (or finishing) some work-related items.  When checking e-mail, I always start with the non-work e-mail.  I usually receive at least one of the daily inspirational quotes for the day.  Throughout the day, I check the other e-mails and the others trickle in later in the day.  Doing this helps to keep me mentally in check.  The e-mails are often very timely for the moment.  One of the e-mails I received today was one of those "timely" inspirational pieces, which I would like to share with you.

The following excerpt comes for today's daily inspiration from Neale David Walsche's site www.nealedavidwalsche.com.

".....positive thinking does not mean turning into an ostrich.  Burying your head in the sand in the name of "staying positive" is not a good strategy.  Wearing blinders rather than looking right at what's going on right now is not the way to create for vision for tomorrow.  Sculptors have to look at the block and begin cutting parts of it away before their vision emerges in the marble. Look directly at the block if you want to create the art."

When I woke up this morning, I truly felt like that ostrich.  I wasn't feeling well as I have been dealing with a cold.  Both my husband and son have been sick as well.  I woke up congested and with a headache, and I started to think of all the stresses going on, particularly the financial stresses.  I truly felt like burying my head in the sand.  I knew deep inside that things will eventually turn out for the better, but I really didn't want to do anything about it at that moment.  I actually did not want to even think about it!


When I read the quote this morning, I remembered thinking that it's one thing to say and act "in the name of staying positive" during very difficult and challenging situations in one's life.  As I thought it through even more, I reminded myself that a key piece in dealing with life's challenges is to take an obstacle and shape it into something positive that will eventually help you in the long run.  For me having faith and trust in God that He is helping to lead me to a better path.  Only He knows what is best for me and my family.  That, to me is the "staying positive" part.  Now I can choose to just sit there and be an ostrich with my head in the sand and do nothing and take no action.  I can choose to stop finding ways to save money.  I can choose to not make the necessary, yet painful, changes in my and my family's life that will help us be financially healthy.  I can choose to let the stress take it toll on my relationship with my husband and son.  I can do nothing by perhaps convincing myself that God will just drop that path or "fix" right before my eyes.  But that's not how I believe God works.  We must trust Him by also actually doing something.  In a sense, I am living my life as if I am wearing a blindfold over my eyes, and God is holding my hand and leading the way.  I can "hear" Him not like one hears someone who is speaking to them as a live person.  God speaks to me through my heart and soul.

Every day I make a conscious decision on whether or not I will be an ostrich.  In reading my blog posts, you will find themes on positive thinking and having faith.  I truly have to work at it.  I believe we all do.  I sometimes allow the stressors in my life to get to me and bring me down.   My commute to work is rather long, and I do use some of that time as my "soul time," often feeling positive and upbeat, but sometimes I do feel depressed.  There have been times when I do cry and pray to God to please help me to just get through the day.  Then I get to work (or home), I brush myself off, pretend everything is okay, the I put my "work hat" on (or my "family time hat").  In those moments, I will be that ostrich.....but only for a short time.  I believe God accepts this because I know that sometime soon, perhaps later in the day, that something will happen to me that will be a sign and message from God that He is with me, holding my hand and reassuring me.  At the same time, He is gently pulling my head out of the sand.

I hope that this post resonates with some of you.  Staying positive and sustaining that faith takes work.  If you have faith in God, family and friends to lean on, life's challenges will be much easier to cope.  I pray that all of you who read this have the three F's in your life ----- faith,  family and friends.  I know that I do, and I truly feel blessed.

Changes......The Seeds For Growth

 It has been one week into the New Year.  Today I've asked myself whether or not I've made progress towards working on my resolutions.  I can honestly say a definitive "Yes!"   The key word here is "progress."   I know that in order to fulfill my resolutions I need take baby steps that move towards those goals.  The key to making these steps is to make changes in not only old habits but also beliefs.  The saying that change is never is so true.  It isn't and this week has not been easy.  But I've made progress.

One of the changes I've stuck to this week to save money everyday.   I brought my lunch to work rather than buying something.  This saved me at least $5 dollars a day or $25 this week.  While commuting to work I kept my speed at the speed limit of 65 and used the heater sparingly.  People say that fast speeds and use of the a/c and heater just drains the gas tank.  I figured I saved at least $5 a day or $25 this week.  I gave second and third thoughts of my mental urges to buy a new purse and CD by seriously asking myself, "Do I really NEED this or do I WANT this."  Of course the answer to that was the latter.  I figured that this saved me a minimum of $15 this week.  Assuming I continue this pattern for one month,  I estimate I saved $65 this week!  On a monthly basis that means I could save $260 this month....or $2,880 a year!!

Once I thought this out I could not help but feel pretty good about this progress, but it wasn't easy.   Not giving in to old habits and urges is hard.  It didn't help that my coworkers were eating in the same lunch room with lunch they bought.  The smell of In N Out burgers and fries.....sushi and teriyaki dishes.....Mexican food.. made me envious of my coworkers as I was eating spaghetti and meatballs for the third time this week!  As I'm rummaging through my old purse, visions of ads in the daily newspaper with big sales on purses came to my mind.  On my daily commute I was one of the few turtles on the freeway as it seemed that all other cars were whizzing by me by at least 15 miles per hour!  As I am in my car I'm shivering.  It's 38 degrees outside and seems about that same temperature inside my car.

You may be wondering what kept me going this week.  It was the thought of the peace and security financial freedom and zero debt would bring.  It was the reminder that giving in to impulse buying and immediate need for gratification through acquiring material objects just leads one into a life of debt.  It was the acceptance that this needs to happen for my benefit and my family's.  It was the acceptance that without feeling "pain" there would likely be no gain.  Without changes there cannot be growth.  Changes ARE the seeds for growth.

So I ate spaghetti three times this week.  I found myself grateful for being to have something to eat.  Ok...so I have an old purse.  It still can hold my personal belongings like my wallet and makeup bag.  Ok....so I'm freezing in my car.  I'll just put a jacket and gloves on.  Ok....I'm being flashed and honked by the cars behind me for going too slow.  I'll just drive in the right lane and be thankful that it won't be me that will likely get a $300 speeding ticket!  That just means I just saved $3,180 in a year!!!  I'll take that anyday!

A Fresh Start For The New Year .....Getting Organized!!!

I woke up this morning and thought it was Saturday.  For me it's been Saturday for the 14th consecutive day!  The normal routine of work and family responsibilities taking my son to school, picking him up staying on top of his school work and upcoming assignments, helping him with his homework, participating in Cub Scout activities, and other sport and play activities stopped during the holidays.  We will be back on our routine schedule on Monday.  "Normal" and "routine" to us means busy.  Luckily our "staycation" over the Christmas holiday has provided me with opportunities for much needed mental and physical rest, but it also has allowed me to stay relatively "on schedule" for household chores like grocery shopping and house cleaning.  In the next few days, I am determined to get myself organized for our normal routine.  I am sure that I am not alone in this goal.  I am providing in this post a link to an article I wrote for e-How months ago entitled "How To Effectively Manage Your Time for Household Chores".  I am by no means an "expert" organizer, but I'm absolutely willing to share the method I use.  Whether or not your are single or have a family, I hope that readers can use ideas from this article for their own use.  I have found that sharing ideas with others does help a great deal!  Happy organizing!!!

A New Season of Hope

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." --- Jeremiah 29:11

In less than twelve hours there will be a New Year.  2010.  That looks odd just writing it.  With a New Year comes reflection time of the year that is about the close --- the joys, the sorrow, the excitement, the fear.  With a New Year comes a sense of renewal and hope of better things to come ---- hopefully more joy than the sorrow and more excitement than the fear.

It's truly amazing to me that one can find a passage in the Bible that fits for the moment in your life.  I must confess that up until about a year ago, I was truly spiritually unhealthy.  I was in that state for many, many years, and I truly did not know that until last year.  God had been talking to me in His own way, but I was not open or willing to hearing His message.  I was under a great deal of stress at that time.  I finally gave in and, as they say "let go" to Him.  You can probably guess what happened....the stress I was feeling went away.  The "stressors" were still there, but it was as if God had wrapped a magic shield around me and made the feeling of the pain go away!!


I was raised in a fairly strict Catholic family and went through all the sacraments and rituals of the Catholic religion.  But I truly did not feel that I was close to God or felt that He was a part of my life.  I always felt a distance from Him.  I also did not/could not see the relevance of Scriptures to the day to day experiences of my life.  When I attended Mass on Sundays, I felt like I was in another world and escaping from the real world.  After Mass I felt the same as I did when I entered the Church.  I'm not writing to knock the Catholic religion, but I truly believe that one's spiritual path and religion they pursue is a very personal one.  One's relationship with God can only happen with one's self and not one that is forced upon by another.  So if you ask what faith I practice, I can tell you it's the path of Christianity and Jesus Christ.  I now find great comfort in reading the Bible and finding relevancy in my life to various passages.  The answer to everything can be found in the Bible.  Whatever your faith is, I truly hope that you are "spiritually healthy" or will soon be.   I truly believe a healthy spiritual life serves as the basic foundation one must have in order to live through life's many journeys and to appreciate those journeys as well.



The passage from Jeremiah 29:11 so fits my life today.  I believe that my life and that of my family's is in His hands.  We must have faith, trust and hope that God has plans for all of us, and it is for our own good.  We must be patient and seek His wisdom to do what He has planned for us, and that means keeping an open ear, eye, mind and heart to what He is trying to say to us.   And we must have patience as He will reveal His plan for us in His time, not ours.  With a New Year closing approaching I pray for myself, my family, and friends (including new friends who may find this site helpful) a new season of hope!!

A Real New Year's Resolution I Intend To Keep!

For the last few weeks I've pondered on whether or not I wanted to make a New Year's Resolution. I don't know about you, but I have never been able to fulfill a resolution. I often have great intentions but never the follow through. So why do I even bother making a "real New Year's resolution I intend to keep?"

It's different this time, and I mean different. The recession has greatly impacted me and my family. I truly believe everyone is being affected by the recession.  Some may be blessed to not have to experience a personal job loss or that of a loved one and the struggles and frustrations of trying to find any job. But one way or another the recession has directly or indirectly impacted all of us.  Like so, so many people, my husband and I made financial decisions that we probably should not have made.  But there were also things that we could not control.  It's like the "perfect storm" scenario.  All the little negatives coming together all at once and creating havoc.  Yes...the should haves, could haves, and would haves. Yes, there were things we should have never bought on credit but did. We, like so many, were not financially prepared for the length of this recession. It has forced us to re-examine our priorities and to trim our expenses and cut back. We still have more to go, and that is a "work in progress." Never in my entire life do I ever remember a time like this where I feel like I have been "slapped" in the face to wake me up to the real reality. That's what makes this time "different."

I believe that God works in mysterious ways. My family and I can choose to do nothing and just let things take its course without us having some control of our path.  We can simply be observers in life and not seek out what message and lesson God has in store for us.  I have faith and hope that if we truly listen to Him with our hearts and open mind, then He will lead us to something that is better for us and will better prepare us for our next life journey. Please know, though, that I do sometimes have moments of doubt and frustration, but somehow, with God's grace He always sends me a signal or sign to remind me that my family and I are not alone and that He is with is.  The picture of the footprints in the sand on my blog and the "Footprints" prayer serves as a reminder to me that God is always with us.  Sometimes when we feel that He is not, he is undoubtedly carrying us as we go through very challenging times.

I firmly believe that challenges we face in our lives serve as mechanism for Him to get a message across to us. Sometimes we may not hear a message He was trying to get through to us in less apparent ways, so He resorts to challenges that will wake us up.  I am not totally clear on the EXACT message He is trying to get across to me, but I do know that a message of daily reflections on the teachings of the Bible and Jesus Christ, living within our financial means, live frugally, save money and spend money wisely, and focus on real priorities of family. I am sure there is more, but these are crystal clear to me.  So what exactly is my "real" New Year's resolution? It's to do all those things on a daily basis. Do you have a "real" New Year's resolution? If so, what is it?