Wonder Women: Meet Tiffanie

January 25, 2015January 25, 2015 my13daychallenge

Have you ever met a scientist? I have. Her name is Tiffanie.

Tiffanie loves to learn. When she has a question, she searches and finds an answer. In her life, Tiffanie has asked hard questions and she persevered until she found answers that made sense to her.

Many parents tell their children to help other people. Tiffanie actually shows her children what helping looks like by doing kind deeds. She’s also funny and makes life delightful for those around her.

Like many other amazing people, Tiffanie says she is ordinary. That’s just not true though. Tiffanie is a Wonder Women. She is a Wonder Women for seeking her own answers to questions instead of relying on other people to make decisions for her. She’s a Wonder Women for loving and teaching her children. She’s a Wonder Women because she makes time to maintain her childhood friendships. She’s a Wonder Women for sacrificing for her family. She’s a Wonder Women because she spends time on her own dreams and goals.

Wonder Women may think they are ordinary but the truth is that ordinary lives are made amazing by wonderful people. Tiffanie is a Wonder Women.

Remember every women’s success can be my success if I let it.

Wonder Women

Wonder Women: Meet Stacy

January 23, 2015January 23, 2015 my13daychallenge

Have you ever met a beacon of happiness and fun? I have. Her name is Stacy.

I met Stacy my first year of college. She was my rush adviser when I joined a sorority. Her enthusiasm for life and serving others made me want to be like her. Stacy loves life. She is kind. She is funny. She loves the rain. Stacy always posts a song about the rain every time it rains to her social media account. It’s a little thing but people love her for it.

Stacy goes out of her way to help others. I was ill one time and she visited me. I felt better by having her visit. Halloween is Stacy’s favorite holiday and her costumes are legendary. Just like all of us, Stacy has had some dark days. She keeps singing. She keeps striving to be a beacon of happiness and fun to those around her. Stacy is a Wonder Women.

Remember every women’s success can be my success if I let it.

New Years Goals

January 1, 2015December 4, 2015 my13daychallenge

2014 was hard. Hard in a lot of ways that I can’t write about on a public blog.

At 4:29 a.m. this morning, I woke up with a desire to do my morning devotional. I went to bed pretty late so at first I wasn’t very happy to be woken up at such an early hour. It was such an odd time to wake up though. I lay there trying to go back to sleep and trying to fight the thought that I needed to do my morning devotional. I figured I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep until I did it so I got out of my bed. The routine is pretty basic. I say a prayer, read a few scriptures and then I do five minutes of a deep breathing meditation. I’ve been told that meditation heals you and makes all your cells happy. I like happy and healed cells. Sometimes, I end my little routine with a song. I went along with the usual routine and then I did something different. I pretended it was December 31, 2015. I had met all of my 2015 New Years Resolutions. All of them. Even the ones I’m too afraid to speak out loud. I imagined myself on December 31, 2015 standing on a small mountain looking out to the ocean. It was a beautiful ocean that was framed by a rising sun. I looked beautiful next to that ocean. When I picture myself in the future, I always have perfect hair that never gets fuzzy and no acne. It’s amazing what your imagination can do for you. It was kind of cool, because in that moment it felt like I had already accomplished every single one of my goals for 2015.

With my morning devotional done, I promptly went back to sleep for three more delicious hours.

What are your goals for 2015?

Wonder Women

Wonder Women: Meet Josefina

December 7, 2014December 7, 2014 my13daychallenge1 Comment

Josefina loved music. As a child, she imagined that she could play the piano. Whenever she had a chance to sneak away at Church or at a friend’s house she would pluck out notes on their piano. Josefina’s family did not have extra money for lessons, but that did not stop her. She studied piano books on her own and dreamed about playing. After high school, Josefina decided to take an introductory piano class at the community college. Josefina described her first day of piano class in this way. “I was nervous, but I knew I could learn something easier as an adult. I had already had life experiences to use as a guide. I knew I could work hard and be motivated”. Josefina did work hard. She practiced using the college’s piano practice rooms for hours every week. She took additional piano classes and soon found herself being able to play the songs she imagined as a child. Today Josefina teaches piano and shares her love of music with her family, friends and students. When she meets an adult who thinks it is too late to learn something new, she tells them her story. You are never too old to learn something.

Josefina is a Wonder Women.

Challenge 14: Gratitude

Gratitude

November 30, 2014November 30, 2014 my13daychallenge

This month I gave myself a gratitude challenge. Each morning before I went to work, I wrote down one thing I was grateful for on that day. The rule was that I couldn’t repeat things. At first, it was easy. I like food and I can be grateful for that. My family is awesome. My faith in God is important to me. Butterflies are pretty. Then it got harder and the days kept coming. By November 15th, I felt like I had found every known blessing on planet Earth. I was done saying all the typical things I normally recognize as a small blessings. I had to start looking harder. Guess what I discovered? Green arrows that let you turn left at busy intersections are really a blessing. When you hear your favorite song twice in one day, you can write that down on your gratitude list for the next day.

Today is November 30th. It’s the last day of my gratitude challenge. When I woke up this morning, I had a funny thought. I was grateful that this was the last day that I had to find something to be grateful for. I laughed pretty hard about my little thought, and then I decided that I was grateful for toilet paper. Life would be really miserable without toilet paper.

Musings

What’s in the Book Bag

November 26, 2014November 26, 2014 my13daychallenge

I went to the library the other day. The man behind me in line saw the collection of books in my hands and he commented on the unique assortment. I said I was a unique girl with many interests. When I got home, I emptied my book bag and laughed. Maybe he is right. I have interesting tastes. Here is what in my book bag. What’s in your book bag?

1. The Chemistry of Alchemy: From Dragon’s Blood to Donkey Dung How Chemistry was Forged by Cathy Cobb, Monty L. Fetterolf and Harold Goldwhite.

Who wouldn’t want to read about medieval alchemists and all the crazy scientific things that they discovered and created on their path to make gold? As a science geek, this sounded fun.

2. The Motivation Breakthrough by Richard Lavoie

All the children on the cover are raising their hands and listening to their teacher. No one is poking their neighbor or day dreaming. Let’s give Mr. Lavoie a chance to transform my classroom.

3. The Dancing Master by Julie Klassen.

Alec Valcourt moves his mother and sister to remote Devonshire hoping to start over. He is shocked to discover the village matriarch has prohibited all dancing. (Let’s all start start singing the song from the movie Foot Loose.) It looks like a very predictable, clean Christian romance novel.

4. Aromatherapy for Bodyworkers by Jade Shutes and Christina Weaver

I like oils. Flipping though the book, I saw a lot of descriptions of the Terpenoid Compounds found in essential oils with their family and functional groups so I knew this book was right for me. Yes, I know your neighbor’s son was healed by applying peppermint oil to his aching leg and I’d like to see the university study to back up the antispasmodic properties.

5. 50 Women Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Heroines of The Faith by Michelle DeRusha

There are a lot of martyrs, Saints and activists they forgot to tell you about in Sunday School. I like a good inspirational story and I always come away with a desire to try harder after learning about other faithful people.

What’s in your book bag?

Musings

Magic Tricks

November 13, 2014November 13, 2014 my13daychallenge

The Accountant is pretty proud of himself. He has learned how to do a magic trick. He can make the cup stay on his hand. Our dinner guests were very impressed.

Of course, they only saw the final trick. I observed all the cups that fell to the ground on the way to learning how to do the trick. It’s kind of like reaching a goal. You may spend hours, days and even years to reach a goal. The audience only sees the final show. People will tell you that you make it look easy. It’s a magic trick. There’s a lot of work that went into it. Go work on your magic trick!

Musings

My Memories of the Berlin Wall Coming Down

November 9, 2014November 9, 2014 my13daychallenge

On the 25th Anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, I thought it would be good to remember and experience the wall coming down again. I took out my 11 year old journal and remembered.

November 9, 1989

“November 9, 1989. I think I will remember this date. We were watching TV and Mom came in to the living room with the telephone. She was crying and told us to change the channel to the news. One of her sisters had called her. I don’t know which one. The Wall was coming down. There were people shouting for joy and dancing on the Berlin Wall. Mom kept saying over and over that she thought this wouldn’t ever happen until the Second Coming of Jesus. David, John and I shouted for joy and jumped up and down with those people on the T.V. screen. Stephen ran around the room. Jenny just slept. She’s a baby. She won’t remember any of this. The man on the news said that the Berlin Wall was a physical, psychic barrier for the entire nation and now that it was fallen the world would be a better place. Sometimes the world is a scarey place especially since they had big earthquake in California and the freeway just collapsed on all those people. I hold my breath every time I go over a freeway now. I don’t want a freeway to collapse on me. I hope the world is a better place, because the Berlin Wall is torn down. Mom told us to remember this day and then she brought out some cookies to celebrate. She must have hidden them, because I didn’t know about them. Stephen says he hopes more historical things happen so that we can get cookies again. We watched the news for a long time and then it was time to go to bed. I can’t sleep. Right now, I’m sitting outside the front door looking up at the moon. It’s suppose to turn to red when Jesus comes again. And if I stare at the moon long enough it might just happen. The Berlin Wall is torn down. Jesus coming back might be closer than we think. Those East Germans woke up with a Wall and then at the end of the day could be free and travel and all that other freedom things. It’s an interesting time to be alive. I wonder what else will happen in my life. Mom says I have to come in, because it is late. I’d rather sit here and look at the moon.

Wonder Women

Being Yourself

October 25, 2014 my13daychallenge

The last few months, I’ve been interviewing and writing about amazing Wonder Women. I’ve been inspired and learned so much in recording the journey of others. I got an interesting phone call from a friend this week. She wants to know when I’m going to write a post about myself and describe my own journey as a Wonder Women. I just laughed. The thought had never even entered my mind. I, like many of my dear readers, believe that Wonder Women status belongs to others. So, I’m working on my own post and some day I’ll post it here.

In the meanwhile, enjoy reading about others because every women’s success can be mine if I let it. And believing in yourself is the first step to greatness.

Wonder Women

Wonder Women: Meet Andi

October 19, 2014October 19, 2014 my13daychallenge

Have you ever met someone who can fly. I have. Her name is Andi.

As a young girl, Andi loved the movie Peter Pan. In many ways, Andi grew up to be like several of the characters in that movie. Andi is like Wendy Darling. She is kind. She looks after children and teens who feel lost and afraid. Andi has the gift of cooking and has used her skills in her job as a school cafeteria manager. She not only serves the children food but gives them a daily dose of love and kindness as well. Andi is like Captain Hook. She is adventurous. She fights for the rights of all people. Andi is like Peter Pan. She loves to laugh, tell jokes and spend the day enjoying the good things found in life. Andi is like TinkerBell. She is both sassy and sweet. She is a loyal friend. Andi is creative. She designs wallets and purses out of duct tape. In short, Andi can fly. She is a Wonder Women.