To Be Worthy Of His Love

This past couple of weeks I have had some new insights about the Pure Love of Christ or Unconditional Love.  When I feel those things floating around in my head and heart I must put fingers to keyboard...to sort, to discover, to understand.  So here are some thoughts to peruse and ponder on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Since I have been a wee child I have known the song, "Jesus loves me" this I know for the Bible tells me so...   How can it be that I am still assimilating this truth at this stage in my life?  Who is this Man of Galilee that knows me enough to love Me?  Not me, collectively as in all of us...but ME?

I was well into my adulthood when I began to think about this pure love of Christ or the unconditional love that He has for me.   I never felt I was able to be unconditionally loved or loving without fear of losing that love, until we had children.  That gave me a glimpse of what it felt like to love and be loved in that way. Until those three, I never felt anyone was mine in a way that no matter what they did, I would still love them (or they me) completely, purely or unconditionally.  It was as though my feelings, my wants and needs were not part of the equation, when I learned about unconditional love as I felt for our babies.  There was no pride or selfishness at all.

 I loved them completely because of who they were.  And I knew they loved me in the same way.  I was their Mommy, that was enough for them.  In all their imperfections and mine the love never wavered.   The astonishing thing was it came so naturally.  It was not a struggle, I didn't have to keep trying for it.  It just was and I never doubted it or questioned it, no matter what they did.  I know their Dad feels the same.  This is a kind of love that transcends the earth.  It is divine.  It is also quite interesting to recognize that grandchildren also inherit this type of love as well.  It is their birthright.

I remember the first time I felt unconditional love.  I remember the hour, the moment and the rapture of it as though it were a moment ago.  I was lying in a hospital bed around 10:00 pm in Las Vegas, Nevada. I had just given birth to Jennifer at 3:38 that afternoon.  Jim had gone home reluctantly, after visiting hours and our tiny girl was in the nursery.  The day had been filled with excitement, hard work and euphoria that would not let me sleep as I pondered what had just happened.

Suddenly I felt a deep sadness come over me.  The thoughts were along the lines of...this is the most important day of our lives together...why are we all in separate places?  It was not normal, or natural to the point of being physically painful.  It was not long after that that the nurse brought our little burrito-wrapped baby into to me for the first time.

She looked so beautiful with her dark hair long enough to be combed and curled over a nurse's finger before her grand entrance.  Her cheeks were so rosy and her eyes the deepest blue! Her irises covered her entire eye sockets, not even a glimmer of the whites of her eyes were visible.  I held her in the crook of my left arm and began to talk softly to her in the quiet of that cold, mint green hospital room.

As I gazed into her eyes and she into mine...it happened. Just like a bolt of gentle and tender lightning our love was sealed to me.  It was spiritually electrifying.  By the time Chris and Laura were born it was there in all its glory, but not as dramatically presented because by then I was well acquainted with it.  That gift that is inherited by grandchildren may even come before their actual birth I discovered.  It is miraculous, penetrating, instantaneous and unconditional love!

Any number of things our children and grandchildren do may irritate us, saddened us, even offend us but the notion of withdrawing our love is not even an option, not even a thought.  This is different that worldly love, isn't it?  It is about God's Work and His Glory: to bring to past the immortality and eternal life of man, woman and child.  Our families teach us how to love unconditionally in the most conducive setting.  We are all a part of a family, past, present and future.

That is how our Savior loves us.  As I try to comprehend that I can only compare it to the love of our children.  It is never intermittent, never faltering no matter what we do or how we think or how much we protest.  It just is, whether we know it, believe it or even want it.  He is the Great I Am and His love is perfect even as He is perfect.

It seems so completely different than the way we experience love in the world.   Hearts are broken constantly by a trust that fails when someone gives and takes back their definition of love at will. How many of us guard our hearts because of experiences like that that we have had?  I would venture to say most of us.  We learn to protect ourselves by expecting less of people who say they love us and then hurt or abandon us.  It can be parents or spouses or siblings or friends...it doesn't seem to matter.

But the Savior will never love us like that.  There is safety and peace in His love.  And even more important is that He never misunderstands us or judges us unworthy of His love.  He never tires of doing all in His power to care for us.  He knows us without our having to prove ourselves by our words or deeds.   He just "gets" each of us to the depths of our heart and loves us, as is. No qualifiers.  No conditions.  Just Love, the kind we all yearn for from the deepest part of us.  We have that in Him.  What does He ask in return?  What is the greatest commandment, the one that all the laws of the Gospel hinge upon?  In Matthew we read.

"Matthew 22:36-40

King James Version (KJV)

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

As we learn to love the Savior as He loves us, we will learn to put our full trust in Him, in His plan, in His will for us.  Imagine what our lives could be like if we just had unconditional faith in Him and His will.  If we didn't kick against things that we don't think are fair or right or good for us and we just had unconditional faith in him, how different would life be?  If we loved Him that much, even as much as He loves us.  It we actually tried our very best to be perfect, or whole, just as He is.  If we knew Him like He knows us and could give over the driver's seat and let him be our pilot?  What if we would stop worrying and started trusting Him more?  

Why do we love Him?  The scriptures tell us because He first loved us.  Not only that but He shows us how to love so that we can get on to the next commandment which is like unto the first.  So that we might love our neighbor as ourselves.  

Because on these two commandments hang all the laws and the prophets.  To me that is saying that if we can master these three things, life will be the very best.  

Love Him as He loves and teaches us, Love ourselves as He loves us 

and love our neighbors as He loves all of us. 

 It is the beginning and the end of a perfect plan.  Mastering that kind of love is key.  Love is what we give.  Just as Love is what He gives.  All the other commandments comes easier to us when we have the foundation of unconditional love in our lives.  First His and then our own for Him and for all His children including ourself.

That kind of love that looks outside of our own wants and needs and to Him and His children around us is the goal.  It takes a life time and probably longer.  It is not easy nor was it meant to be.  It is a refining process.  It is growing in His Gospel.  It is repentance and forgiveness, it is faith...lots of faith in Him.  It is learning to be humble and teachable.  It is forgiving ourselves when we fail miserably at His kind of love.  It is getting up, dusting ourselves off and keeping our eye on the target.  As we become more like Him we never want to hurt another person no matte what sacrifices  are required of us.  He has shown us what an ultimate sacrifice for another is by His atonement for us. 

It is simple and yet so profound.   I constantly find myself having to relearn this and I am so far from being where I want to be.  I guess the first steps are seeing His unconditional love for us, then seeing Him as our example and then following Him.  He is God; we are mere mortals with but a spark of divinity within us.  But we can make progress.  We have that hope and that faith for the very fact that He is our God in whom we trust.  And we see evidence in many around us who are farther along the path than we are.  Our Prophet, the Apostles, the very special and loved people in our lives that are closer to loving as He loves.  They are all around us to lead and inspire us on our way.

I am grateful for the chances and choices placed before me and I want to love as He loves.  I never want a person I love to doubt my love for them.  I want to be a person of tender mercies as He is.   It requires us to overcome the natural man inside of each of us.  It requires us to be obedient and trusting, and it requires work.  It is a good work to be engages in and it brings happiness in the struggles.  The greatest understanding I have gained of this kind love is through being a parent.  It helps me to know that the Savior loves us in that way and I find comfort in it.  I hope you do too in whatever way He teaches you.

So what do we need to do to be worthy of His love?  Absolutely nothing.  He simply does Love us unconditionally.  What do we need to do to partake of His promises of joy in our eternal life? Humble ourselves to follow Him, to be taught by Him and redeemed by Him and perfected or made whole in Him.  Does He coerce us and force us to comply?  No, He offers us all that He has and then allows us to choose for ourselves.   What a gift for us to be able to choose.  As Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15.

To Bask In The Light of Reflected Glory~2014

Here we are once again at the end of one year and the beginning of another.  It seems like a natural time of the year to reflect upon and analyze our lives in an attempt to make some changes and hopefully improvements. We all need benchmarks and times to assess where we are.  The New Year seems a popular time for this.  We all know that for most of us the traditional Resolutions don't seem to inspire for long.

Trying something new often helps!

Last year I jumped on to the blogging bandwagon and decided to choose a motivational word to guide me through 2013.  My word last year was Believe.  Every time I would come onto my blog I would see that word and it did help me to focus on believing more in God, myself and others.  It helped me to take chances, to put myself out there beyond my comfort zone and to just do things that were scary sometimes.

I think it helped me more consistently throughout the year to keep on believing that I could do whatever was in front of me that made me doubt.  Contrasting that to a long list of things I need to change about myself, that inevitably wreaks havoc upon my self-esteem, I found the one word idea motivational.  It was much more successful than a long list of things that invariably fall by the wayside by March, if not before.  Especially when some of them in the past have been nearly impossible to attain.  That is more a statement about being realistic, than one of limiting myself.

I think sometimes we put something on our list because we think we "should" even when we know in our heart of hearts it isn't that important to us.  It is when we say something like...I would LOVE to play the piano!" But I don't take the necessary steps to make it happen.  Then what I am really really saying is, I just want to be able to play without paying the price.

I just want someone to give me the gift.  The reality is maybe that thing I think I am seeking so desperately in January just isn't even meant to be my gift no matter how hard I work.  Someone else's wish list does not need to become mine necessarily.

So I like the one word approach.  For me at least it will lead me on a path of thinking more positively, more abundantly towards what I can do and want to do.  It will dissuade me from beating myself up when I cannot or do not accomplish things that seem like they should be on my list every year.  It makes me feel like I will be intuned as to how to succeed when I am motivated for the right reasons.

Seeing the reflection of the light

I have thought a lot about what my word should be.  I have chosen a word that reflects the title of this post.  To bask in the light of reflected glory.  In a word that is to... Remember.  I could not think of a better word to motivate me to go beyond the limits I sometimes place upon myself.  To remember that in times past when I have had a desire to do something, by having faith, patience, hope, and a good perspective of my possibilities, I have often been successful in swimming up stream to something better.

To bask in the light of reflected glory means to remember the good things in my life, the things I have accomplished and to think about challenges that have been overcome.  It also means to remember the times that I didn't, to analyze them by remembering why, and to make sure that something good came out of those lessons learned.  Everything turns out to be a blessing or a lesson.  There is glory in reflecting on the lessons and they do promote change if we are wise.  Even if we have to learn those lessons over and over.  We may be moving like a glacier but nonetheless, we are moving in a better direction if we learn something that makes us a better person.

I want to remember to be realistic.  There are no free lunches.  We must pay the price for what we want.  That basically means working hard.  I want to remember what is most important to me and place my work and efforts there.  Remembering that is key because what is most important to me are the things that I will work hardest to achieve.  It cannot be what someone else thinks it should be, but what I think it should be.  That is where the motivation lies.  Our expectations for ourselves, not someone's else's expectations of us.

Here are some things I want to Remember:

~Our thoughts govern our attitudes about everything, which govern our habits, which govern our behavior and our very lives.

~With God, nothing is impossible.  I can do anything I set my mind to with His help.  I consider it a good idea to keep that "anything" in perspective.  To know ourselves and be true to it.   In this life I will not achieve all the things I want to do no matter how hard I try. We are not meant to and I'm OK with that as I have gotten older and know myself better.   So..."Know thyself and to thine own self be true."  A sound byte of a quote that makes sense.

~Remember that God loves all of His children.  We are all different and unique.  Remember that not everyone thinks as I do. In fact no one does. Remember that it is OK to not understand what motivates others to do what they do.  I need to remember to be cautious of judging them based on what I think about something, or my own needs, or my sense of the way I think they should be.  That is not my job or my responsibility or my stewardship.  My job is to accept, love, support, have realistic expectations and give what I can.  I must remember to try to understand we all have a tough row to hoe.

~I'll remember, no one is perfect!  Most people are good people with good intentions.  Hurts are not intentional usually.  I know I would never want to hurt someone and I want to believe the same of others.  But when I do I want forgiveness and a little slack for the human side of things...and I want to give that to others as well.  I want to live intentionally but when I mess up...forgive me, please.

~Remember that people makes mistakes.  You, me, all of us.  God has given us some wonderful ways to handle this.  He teaches us to simply love, forgive, serve, and treat them as our brothers and sisters.  He makes it simple~we complicate it.  Remember He did not add at any point...if they deserve it.  Remember to love another person (in spite of themselves, truly is) to see the face of God.  Victor Hugo was right!

~ I will remember that when I give the gift of love to another it is also a great shield and protection for me.

 It can fortify me against feelings that I have been treated unfairly by someone I love, by helping me recognize sometimes I over think things and see them differently then they were intended.

And if that hurt truly was intentional on their part, then my reliance on God's love for me and my love for Him and for them should lessen the blow so that I can forgive.  God is light and truth, by remembering this and looking towards Him I can find the comfort and peace I need under any circumstances.

~When I wonder if God loves me I need only to remember.  Remembering all the times He has blessed me with things that no one else had any inkling of, or that I even needed, prayed for or desired. I remember when He was there for me when no one else was.  I'll remember when I feel a distance between us, it is me that has moved away, not Him.  I'll remember that He loves me for exactly who I am right now with all my flaws, not for my accomplishments or my perfection (that doesn't exist) or the person I hope to be someday.  Right now just like this, I am His daughter and he loves me.  He always has even when I did not love myself.  That is enough.

~I'll remember to listen to the Spirit when I try to make changes for the better in my life.  He will guide me in the way I should go.  Not the world, not the common helpful hints of the world that are blanketly given to all.  They are deemed to be the "gospel truth" of the day, albeit ever-changing.  I have tried that avenue before in vain.  I choose now to remember to listen to the God who knows me personally and intimately and completely.  Me as an individual, not a huge group called everyone.  His spirit will guide me to what I need in my life to be the best I can be for Him.   Not my to do list for 2014.

~I'll remember these things when I run into road blocks and challenges and trials and stress in the coming year.  I'll remember where my comfort and solace and peace truly lie.  And I'll remember them when I am gloriously happy and filled with joy and doing well with my gratitude.  I believe that all good things come from Him and my proximity to Him and that the glory is always His when something good happens to me or changes, or improves or is learned or accomplished or overcome. I know this because I can bask in the light of reflected glory...my experiences from the past that validate and confirm to me where the true power to change and improve comes from in the first place.

I'll remember that it is never me working alone but my partnership with the Lord that makes things happen.  And all these things work together for my good and do give me experience.  Experience is one of the hallmarks of aging and learning and becoming.  Little by little, day by day, we are refined and affirmed in our beliefs of what matters most by remembering.  It has virtually nothing to do with a new year.  But is is a nice time to bask in the light of reflected glory.  May you have a wonderful new year, beloved family and friends.  May your personal journey be filled with enlightenment past, present and future.  Bask in it, it belongs to you.  B

Courage That Inspires

Hazie waiting for the bus on her first day
of school this year! This was her first bus ride!

I just love this series of pictures. I don't know why exactly but they represent something special to me. They brought tears to my eyes as I looked at her sweet little face, so eager, so trusting, so ready to go! I have had to ponder this experience for days to better understand why it touched me so deeply.

Getting on the Big Yellow School Bus!
This little one that has never met a stranger!
She is trying to engage this man who seems
to be unaware he is in the presence of an angel!

And off she goes to school....
To life as a big girl.

Her first independent trip away from home, away from her family and into the unknown with a smile on her face. That is courage. That is inspiring. When I saw the back of that bus...I had to think of our own daughter, Hazie's Mom. Watching her little, almost four-year-old, take off with perfect strangers on her own for the first time.

There was her little precious girl, that she has nurtured and cared for in the extreme, with all of her spina bifida issues, knowing her and helping her like no one else but a mom could. The very act of letting Hazie get on that bus and go off on her own...that had to take courage, it had to be hard. That kind of maternal courage inspires me.

I remember when Jennifer went off to school, how I wept. That little person who shared my body before birth and my soul all of her life, wasn't a baby anymore. And I prayed for her protection in a big, very uncertain world. I wanted to hold on to her and her innocence and never let the world rip it from her as it was ripping her from me right then.

I felt the same way when I saw the back of this big yellow bus. In our lives, we have those defining moments when we learn something that changes us. I am constantly amazed by the depth of love I have for our grandkids and kids and what I learn from them. I see things in them all the time that humble me and make me want to be a better person. Their refining moments refine me. The power of that love of mother to child is divine.

Their experiences bond me to them in ways I never realized they could or would. When they stretch and grow I do too and when they hurt I feel pain along with them, when they feel joy, my heart is bursting too. These feelings can be felt in other relationships, but never quite as keenly as in mother to child. Not even child-to-mother love knows of this power. Of course perhaps, a father's love for his children produces this experience too, but I can only speak of a mother's love through the heart that I know best. The courage that I see in our children and grandchildren makes me feel ashamed of my own fears sometimes. They are amazingly faithful and courageous. That inspires me to face my fears head on.

Spencer James

This very week our grandson, Spencer, has gone off for the first time as well. He is 12 so that probably seems rather strange to a lot of you. But Spencer has a disability that cannot be seen. He is deathly allergic to peanuts and soy. What this means for his parents is they must prepared all his food with caution. They never buy anything that the label isn't checked first because companies change ingredients all the time. Most of his food is made from scratch. (He will undoubtedly be healthier than most through out his life time because of it, right?) He can never eat any purchased treats like chips, cookies, candy or a gelato, or a hamburger. To a child with a peanut allergy eating can bring about unthinkable consequences. You cannot be lax, vigilance is essential 24/7.

Spencer carries an Epipen wherever he goes, he doesn't eat food prepared for parties or church dinners or in any but a couple of thoroughly screened restaurants where he is allowed pasta with butter only. He never travels on a train or plane without precautionary methods needing to be taken.

It is tougher because it is invisible and it enters into every new relationship he ever makes, as explanations and exceptions have to be made. There are emotional issues to be dealt with. I think most people never can imagine this type of thing unless they are faced with its challenges. Food is an issue and central to just about every social thing we seem to do. Imagine always being on your guard.

But this week he went on an outdoor, educational, camping trip with his new friends, at his new school, in another state. He went with every one of his meals packed and ready for him to confidently enjoy, prepared by his diligent mother. That took courage, that took faith. That is inspiring to me. I know that Laura and Robert wrestled with this and had very similar thoughts to what Jen must have when that bus drove away with her baby.

Again I do not know that I could have handled these thing well as a parent. I learn courage through their courageous acts. And I am pretty sure I would not have handled this well as a 12-year-old. There is so much security within the walls of a loving, protective home. When the grandkids are brave, I can be more brave in the things I face or may face in my life. I learn from them all the time.

These are just two examples of those who inspire me to be courageous. There is also James, always working hard and usually in pain as he does it. He just plows through in spite of the consequences physically sometimes. The sacrifices are almost always for someone else. There is also my brother, Steven, bravely enduring his cancer treatments that have been so difficult with his Steve Martin-like looks and sense of humor and a desire to lift the rest of us. That is courage that inspires me.

I have a mental list of those who inspire me to be better. You are probably on that list yourself. Who we eventually become has a lot to do with where we are looking. I am looking to God, and wonderful courageous and inspiring people that help me along my way, every day.

Do you ever think about who inspires you through their courageous living?

The Power of ONE!

This video will take 15 minutes. If you can't watch it now..please come back. It is well worth it. It is called Validation and Guaranteed to make you smile! Love, B

Have You Been Fed Today?

I received this gift from a friend and wanted to share it with each of you.

http://WWW.hasanyonetoldyou.Com/

You Are Never Alone

Spencer's Cookies

I have learned so many lessons in life from our grandchildren. Spencer continues to teach me and I have been thinking a lot about this lately. Spencer was born with food allergies. Not just your everyday type food allergies where you get a scratchy throat or a little runny nose, but he is allergic to peanuts and soy. You cannot begin to realize unless you have been around these two allergies how incredibly difficult they can make your life. For one, peanuts do not cause an allergic reaction in the familiar sense...they are a deadly poison to people that have the problem. I think they should be classified as a poison, period.

Children and adults with severe problems with peanuts can go into anaphylactic shock from just inhaling the dust of a peanut, smelling one or touching something that someone with peanut oil on their hands has previously touched.

Our trip on the train to Utah a few years ago

at Christmas time.
Laura should own stock in Handiwipes.

She cleaned the entire train area
where Spencer would be sitting.

Spencer's seat on the train is covered by a sheet
to protect him from the dirty seats.

It is hard to imagine the trauma this can cause for the parents of children afflicted with this. Every time you leave your own nut free home you are at risk, you can never let your guard down. Think about the ramifications of this...grocery carts, handrails, other kids houses and toys, playgounds, movie theaters, airplanes...the list is endless. You carry an epi-pen every time you leave your house praying you never need it. You never have a day when you can afford to forget to pray for protection and safety.

When you add soy to the mix things get even more complicated. Soy is in almost every product you can buy~check a few labels sometime. Places where you would never suspect..soy is lurking. Spencer has never been able to go to a birthday party and have cake and ice cream with the other kids, have a pizza from a pizza parlor, go trick or treating, eat at a restaurant unless Laura and Robert are completely familiar with every aspect of the products used, kitchen, chef, etc. That has happened so rarely you can count the visits on one hand. Laura and Robert have to bring food with them everywhere they go to keep him safe. You should have seen the food prep that went on when we got ready to travel around Italy for 11 days. We had 6 people for three days and 5 for 8 days. That is 138 meals and 92 snacks that were planned, purchased and assembled before we left. We had to have hotels with kitchens and we all ate this way most of the time to limit the times Spencer would have to sit in a restaurant with his own food.

Amazing parents!

One of their biggest jobs is educating others who don't understand that this is a very serious problem that can be fatal. Another thing you have to do is speak very frankly to your toddler and teach them early that peanuts can kill them. Imagine how hard this is when you just want your little one to have the innocence of that young and tender age and they don't even know what~it can kill you~ really means.

The Lord knew what He was doing when he sent his precious son, Spencer, to Laura and Robert..they have been beyond amazing in caring for him. This affliction is a lot like interest on your debts...it never rests, it never takes a vacation, you can never ignore it. We are so proud of their family! Spencer has been so disciplined in this whole thing~you would not even believe what children are capable of when the need and desire is there. Spencer will be 9 on May 11th. This is what he has taught me.

You must have Faith. Faith in God, faith in yourself and faith in someone other than yourself..in his case his parents, grandparents, and other adults looking out for his best interest.

He knows that the things that seem like restrictions in his life actually are the avenue to his freedom. Why can't I be more like that? When Heavenly Father says no...it is for my good. How does a little boy learn this so young and it takes most of us a life time of struggle?

You Must Be Obedient. Spencer is obedient when his parents say, no you cannot have that, it is not safe. He simply obeys, even when he wants to do otherwise. Why can't I be more like that?

You Must Trust Others. When everyone else has something you want and you alone cannot have it~ you realize that everyone has trials and tribulations and this one is yours to bear...like it or not...you do it. You don't understand why this has happened to you but you believe your parents, you do what they say and you benefit because of it. That is Spencer...why can't I be more like him? When everyone else is having a gelato, you quietly drink a Fanta soda and you find your own joy in that. Whoa, to be like that...!

You Feel God's Love for You Even in Your Afflictions. Spencer loves God and his family and feels their love in return, because of this he is a happy person in spite of his problems. You don't blame God for your issues, you just know that he allows these things in our lives to make us stronger. You realize that only good things come from God and He gives you the strength to cope with the hard things if we will just trust Him and be obedient. Wouldn't we all love to be more like that?

You Teach Others By Your Example. Spencer does this everyday. These are just a few of the reasons we love him so much and his parents who have taught him so well. And his little brother, Ross who has made many sacrifices also to help Spencer.

You Must Be Grateful. When Laura was able to find soy free chocolate chips at about $8.00 a pound from a mail order place..Spencer got his first ever chocolate chip cookies. Now you know why Spencer looks so happy in this photo and why we are so proud and humbled to be his grandparents! You also know why this picture is so important to us. How often we take for granted something so ordinary that can be such a big special deal to someone else. Gratitude is so important in the little things!

God bless you with safety always, Spencer James!
Happy 9th Birthday this Sunday!

My Favorite Cousins

A few posts back I shared the experience of going to our mini-Reese family reunion and crab feed at my cousins Bob & Beth's house. Well, both my cousin Bob and our mutual cousin, Bill have inspired me greatly as I have pursued my career in Interior Decorating. What both of them have taught me is ~ to do what you love and then your work will be enjoyable and fulfilling. Having fun with your work does not mean you have it easy. It still requires very hard work but the rewards are many. For years I worked at a job for a paycheck. Now I work because I love what I do and the paycheck is a bonus.

I cannot stress enough that if you are stressed out, burned out, bummed out and feeling under valued and overworked...no amount of money can compensate for that. Get out..move on, begin again. Don't just keep doing it! Do not delay...act today and find your happiness in what you love. This is what I learned from my cousins, albeit it took a while, I know their path was correct for them and now mine is for me.

Bob & Bill

My cousin,Bob, (left) always wanted to be a fisherman! He did not want a desk job some place or to be couped up inside. He always enjoyed the great outdoors, hunting and fishing with his Dad and brother and it is just what he wanted to do.

Gloucester Railway

I think a lot of people did not really think he would follow his dream, build his own first boat, or make money fishing, but he did! I remember when he started to build his boat after he got out of school and it took a very, very long time.

Talapia

But he set a goal, envisioned what he wanted and accomplished it. He has been a commercial fisherman all his life and has enjoyed the work he chose for himself and is still at it. We grew up near each other and I adore this cousin. I have so many wonderful memories of being with him and his brother, Billy, their parents, Aunt Wilma and Uncle Bill, and their dog, Perky. I remember their cows and chickens, their grandpa, Ken, and his apartment over their garage and much more. I am so glad we have a special relationship to this day. He is a happy, gentle man and I believe part of what makes him happy is doing what he loves. The other part of his happiness is one awesome woman; his wife Beth and their family and his beautiful 'other favorite girl', Misty, his black lab.

My cousin, Bill Reese, is on the right in the above photo. Bill grew up in Washington. My Uncle Harold had an apple farm and several times our family went up to visit them and they also came to visit us as we were growing up. Bill is the oldest of Aunt Margaret and Uncle Harold's five kids and so I always thought he was smart and grown up and the fact that he paid the least mind to me (a little kid by his standards I'm sure) impressed me. Bill has only one sister and her name is Bonnie too. We are closer in age so we hung out and followed the big kids all over the farm. I remember Bill and Tom scaring me with rattler tails and taking us littler kids on rides in their car on the irrigation ditches or whatever they call them. And if I am not mistaken, a calf was born one time when we were there too. I have such fond memories of going there, sleeping on their porch in the summer, eating cherries by the buckets full and just having a grand old-fashioned time with them. My worst memory there was when I stepped on a piece of glass. It started to fester and my poor Dad had to get it out of my heal. I pitched a huge fit and I am sure embarrassed my parents plenty on the front lawn that mournful day!

Bill always loved to draw and paint. I remember he always had a sketch pad with him if there was a dull moment ~he was drawing. He wanted to be a painter when he grew up and again I think people didn't think it would really happen. Well, it did! Bill is actually a world famous, highly acclaimed artist. He is amazingly talented and the painting above in Bob's section of the post were painted by Bill. He doesn't just paint either, he does sculpting, etchings, and he has now taken up carving leather as well. I am sure there are mediums I have left out. Here are a few of his pieces that I love.

Foxgloves and Chinese Porcelain

Maria

Bill has every right to be a very proud individual, but he is as humble as they come. He is just a sweet family man enjoying life with his wonderful wife, Fran and their kids and grandchildren. Fran is an artist in her own right and made the beautiful crab quilt you saw in the Crab Feed post. She makes several quilts each year. I feel so blessed to have them as cousins, friends and wonderful examples!

Love you all..Bob & Beth~ Bill & Fran!

Click here to see Bill's website and more of his art work.

Inspiring Men

After I retired from working in a surgery office for 20 something years, I really wanted to do something I had always loved . I thought of it more as "rewiring" not retiring myself. I really wanted to start my own business in interior decorating but it was a scary thought.

I knew I had the business skills needed to start and run a business because I was in on the ground floor of the oral surgery office. And I have always had a sense for decorating and a desire to do it. Throughout the years I have helped many people with different projects and found it very exhilarating and satisfying.

I always envied people who got paid for doing what they loved doing! I was 56 years old and it all seemed a little daunting and yet I was so intrigued by it. I had done some design work back before Laura started school in a large antique collective. I loved creating the vignettes throughout out the huge showroom, but not the sales. In those days interior design in the suburbs equated to selling draperies to make your money and that was not my thing. Since that was not anything I was even remotely interested in, I was led towards the medical field when the money would be helpful and the opportunity arose.

Speeding ahead many years, one day Jim and I went on a day trip to San Simeon and visited Hearst Castle. What a magnificent Castle, so opulent and gorgeous in every detail. As we were listening to the guide we learned that William Randall Hearst did not even conceptualize Hearst Castle until he was 56!

Something clicked for me at that moment and I realized it is never too late to start something you really want to do. So I went back to school and received my training and that is how Interiors by Design was born. So William Randall Hearst inspired me to move forward with my dream.

The next man to profoundly influence me in this endeavor was my husband, Jim. He has always been supportive of anything I wanted to do in my career and he was so enthusiastic about the business. I knew I could depend on him to be my partner and advisor and helper in what ever way was needed. I also knew he had faith in my talents and would cheer me on, which he totally has. As it all began to take flight I knew I was not flying solo and that was a great source of strength. We have always worked well together and enjoy the synergy created with two pulling as one. We both believe that desire+handwork=success. In fact the business has been a family business in many ways. My brother Gary chose the name of the business after we had a contest, we thought his name was best although not as entertaining as my brother Steve's choices! Robert and Laura and the boys assembled and organized the gallery for us. Spencer and Ross have been on many jobs with us and have done some work in the design field themselves much to their father's chagrin! I knew it had gone too far when four year old Ross would not go to bed one night until he finished decorating his room with books and blankets! Laura designed all the marketing materials and worked with us while in CA and now my sister-in-law Emily helps out. Here is one of the items Laura designed. I love it! This is also what my business card looks like.

Now I realize that even comparing Hearst Castle's creator in the same post with my cottage home business is a bit of a stretch. But it truly was that aha moment in the castle that made me go forward with my plans. So I call that unexpected inspiration while on a beautiful day trip. Who has influenced you in what you have achieved or want to master at some point? Who is your mentor?