Five Minute Friday: Trust

Trust, when I think of the word, you come to mind.   You have embodied this word in my life in so many ways.    There was never a question in my mind that you would be there.   I grew up with the security that through the phases of life, the awkward transitions, the celebrations, and the tears, you would be near.    I didn't have to look to find you or wonder where you were, you were right there, a stable presence in my life. 

A daddy plays an important part in a girl's life, and you have been that very important part in mine.   From painting my fingernails for the first time to crossing the line of the half marathon, you have been there.    You were consistent through the college years, even though those were not easy for either of us.  You showed me the kind of man I wanted to marry, to be the father of my children, and to wait until I found him.

Trust is a big word, a quality that is sometimes hard to find.    How fortunate I am that you are my dad, someone I can trust, look up to, and have as a friend.   You taught me what it means to be passionate.   You taught me what it means to be open minded, confident, and strong. 


I don't say it as often as I should, but thank you Dad, for being someone I can trust, for being present, being understanding, and for loving.  



Linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five Minute Fridays.  Today's word: Trust.

Five Minute Friday: Real

I look forward to their visit each week.   When they come, they bring their books, their music, and their talents.   We sit together at the piano and share in the experience of learning music.   I love to hear what they have worked on throughout the week.  Sometimes they surprise me by playing better than I have ever heard them play before, my heart soars, I am so excited for them and their accomplishment!   I love it when the look of uncertainty passes and is replaced with the look of understanding when introducing new techniques and concepts.   The piano is where we meet, and experience

moments of celebration

moments of tears

moments of laughter

moments of learning

and moments of growing. 

My students are not the only ones growing during this time here.  They have taught me many lessons about life, and I am better because of it.  

Here, at the piano, with these students whom I love, is where I am supposed to be.   It is real and it brings joy. 

Linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five Minute Fridays.  Today's word: Real. 

Five Minute Fridays: Tender

I love to step into their rooms when it is dark and they are asleep.   Their faces, so peaceful, so angelic.   I pray that the dreams are good as I kiss them one last time for the day.   With the morning comes new adventures, new ideas, and new experiences.    I enjoy seeing the world through their perspective, full of life, energy, and love.  While their spirits are free and vibrant, they are also tender.   That is the delicate balance that I fight to protect in them for as long as I can. 

Linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five Minute Fridays.   Today's word, Tender.  

Five Minute Friday: Awake

Quiet Conversations

I lie awake in the dark before the house begins to stir, the only sound is the breathing of my husband next to me.   I lift him up in prayer this morning as his day at work is a full one of meetings and projects.    I think about my children in the rooms next to mine and what a gift they are in my life, a gift from above, and I thank God for them, for their laughter, their love, and the way they complete our family.    I pray that as they journey out into the world, beyond the protection of our home, that God would walk beside them and protect them, because he can be there, and I can't.  

As I begin the day and slowly everyone wakes up, I find comfort that while we go our separate ways, he will be with us.   I know that what ever our day has in store for us, he will be there guiding and supporting us. 

Not every morning allows for me to wake before the alarm and have these quiet conversations, often I find myself praying as I stumble out of bed jumping into the morning routine.   On the mornings that I do wake before the alarm, and the house is quiet, I cherish these conversations with Him. 


Linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five Minute Friday, today's word is awake.  

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Most important: comment and encourage the person who linked up before you.

Five Minute Friday: Roar

There is constant noise in my mind.   Always processing, always thinking, always moving.    Often when my husband asks me what I am thinking, grabbing a single thought is difficult, and telling everything that is going on lends itself to a ten minute or longer explanation.   A couple of weeks ago for the first time I experienced total space and peace in my mind.   I relished in it.    I absorbed it.    I enjoyed it.   I have been working on controlling the thoughts that constantly roar though my mind to get back to that place of serenity.  

 Linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five Minute Friday. 



1. Write for 5 minutes flat – don’t edit; don’t second-guess.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Must: leave a comment for the person who linked up before you – encouraging them in their writing!

Five Minute Friday: Connected

The stress of the season threatened to spill into the calm that I have been so diligently protecting.   I am encouraged that I have made it this close to Christmas before the stress came knocking on my door.    Yesterday, it not only knocked on that door, it barged right in, taking the door off the hinges and settled right in the middle of my calm.    Gone, the connection to everything I had been holding to, was gone.   It felt like it was miles away, never to be seen again.  

I woke up this morning, the stress greeting me as my feet hit the floor.   As I sat with Mark this morning, he knew something was wrong.   Looking me in the eyes, he asked what was wrong.    The flood gates open and I told him the stress is here and I am frustrated that the calm has so easily disappeared.    As we share our cup of coffee and he listens, I feel the connection that we share when we start our day.    A time to touch base on the day ahead.  

 

Today's project, making cupcakes for the Christmas celebration with extended family tonight.   I put on Sara Grove's Christmas album, a friend has highly recommended it, and I listen to the words.   Words about our Savior.   Ah yes, I sing along as the calm seeps back in and again, I feel connected.  







Today, coffee and cupcakes, have connected me with two of the most important aspects of my life.

Linking up with Lisa-Jo at Gypsy Mama for Five Minute Fridays.  

Five Minute Friday: Color

It has been awhile, but today I am joining Lisa-Jo in her Five  Minute Friday again.  If you care to join me check it out here. 

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Most importantly: leave a comment for the person who linked up before you – encouraging them in their writing!

OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes on:





Color. 

I love color.  In fact I love color so much that the walls in my house are painted some pretty bold colors.   My dining room is green, as green as the summer grass or the top of a pool table.   Our living room and family room have robin egg blue.   Addy's room is "Racer pink" probably better described as fuschia.   E's room also done in color sports a bold blue, think of the blue painter's tape.   All bold colors and I love them all. 

I love spring, summer, and fall because of the colors that are displayed in my garden and the surround areas.   Bright reds, yellows, purples... any color of the rainbow, you name it, I love it.   A friend once told me that she had read that enjoying color is a way to celebrate God's creation!!   No wonder I love so many of the colors and in nature.   

I used to call winter the colorless season.   The trees now bare raise their brown branches to the gray sky.   The grass, now dormant, is under a white blanket of snow.     However, the other morning as I was coming home from the gym, it was the time when the sun is just about to come over the horizon, but is not there just yet.   As I looked at the sky, I noticed that the sky was not actually pitch black, rather there was a mix of dark blue and purple in it as well.   My God, the great artist of life, had painted the sky with some color, and I took that moment to stand in his presence, admire his work, and say thank you for color. 

Stop. 

Five Minute Friday: Remember

 I am linking up with Lisa Jo for Five Minute Friday.   Join me here. 

 1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Most importantly: leave a comment for the person who linked up before you – encouraging them in their writing! OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes on:

 REMEMBER......

Start.

Remember when we said "I do."   Standing in front of our friends and family, we had no idea what we would happen in our lives.   

 Remember the birth of our children, and how you didn't leave my side for a moment during labor and delivery?    

Remember the times where we sat and talked long into the night and cried because of the difficult situations that we were going thought, the times that I wondered what the next day would look like?  

Remember when I was struggling and didn't think I could make it one more step, you were there encouraging me, telling me I could do it? 

Remember the times you would come home tired from work and ready for some down time, but you spent time helping the kids with their projects and talking to them about their day? 

I remember each of these moments, the joys and the sorrows, and what I remember about each of them is that we did them together.  

I am who I am today because you have been by my side for over twelve years, and I am so thankful that we do life together everyday.   What a gift you are in my life and I thank God for you every day.

I don't know what our future will hold, but I do know that we will do it together. 

I love you. 

STOP.

Five Minute Friday: Relevant

It is Friday, I am joining up with Lisa Jo for her Five Minute Fridays.   Join me here if you would like. 







1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Most importantly: leave a comment for the person who linked up before you – encouraging them in their writing!






Relevant

GO.

World English Dictionary

relevant (ˈrɛlɪvənt)
—adj
1.	having direct bearing on the matter in hand; pertinent dictionary.com

Perhaps this means that we live in the moment.   To be relevant is to see a need, acknowledge the need and do something about it.    If we are going to be relevant, we need to pay attention to the people around us.   It is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of life and miss the people who are in need.   It can take just a moment to offer a smile and brighten a day.   Perhaps, just to be noticed and acknowledged makes a difference in a day.   A quick hug to say I know and I care, or to listen when there seems to be no one around.  

Jesus was always present in the moment, seeing those in need and extending love and care. 

That to me is being relevant.

STOP. 

Five Minute Friday: Beyond

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Most importantly: leave a comment for the person who linked up before you – encouraging them in their writing!


Beyond...

Go. 
 

As my children grow up and become the people the God created them to be, my prayer is that they continue to be open to new thoughts and new ideas.   I want them to be able to think and relate beyond the walls of our home.   I hope that they are able to stretch beyond the boundaries of what normal is and be accepting.    



Our life is full of people with different cultures, backgrounds, languages, and beliefs.    I pray that my children can see beyond all of this and see the person inside that God created and celebrate in the difference.    With the ability to keep an open mind, their life will be so much more full and rich.    

This is something I learned from my parents, and I hope that my children can see that in my life as well.  

Stop. 

Join me here in writing for Five Minute Friday.  

Five Minute Fridays: Catch

It is Friday and I am joining with Gypsy Mama for Five Minute Fridays.  If you would like to participate, join me here. 

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Most importantly: leave a comment for the person who linked up before you – encouraging them in their writing!

Five Minutes on Catch. 

Go. 


Nine and a half years ago, a friend of mine asked me if I would teach her children piano lessons.   Having never taught before, I was very nervous, but needing a little extra income, I agreed.   Fumbling my way through the first few year, this family was very patient with me as I was learning to be a teacher.  

As the years passed by and I gained more confidence, I began to love teaching piano and love working with the students that I have had throughout the years.   Music is a part of who I am.   I always hope and pray that my students will "catch" or develop the love for music that I have.   

This morning while reading through the blogs I follow, one of my students posted the video below on his blog.  The music itself brought tears to my eyes because it spoke to me in a way that I cannot describe, let alone try in five minutes, but it also made me so excited because this particular student found a song that he really enjoyed, and I hope has caught the passion for music.  



Stop.

Five Minute Friday: Ordinary

Five Minute Friday, a time where we can blog without having to worry about edits or over thinking.   If you would like to join me here if you would like to participate. 

Ordinary. 

Start. 

Ordinary in my mind closely parralles routine.   While routine or ordinary are can be comforting, there are times that I long to break out of the ordinary and do something different, something I have not done before.   This is usually when I find myself on a new adventure of which my whole family is sometimes drawn into. 

Eleven months ago, I decided to join the health club.   I was tired of the way I was feeling and just changing my eating wasn't working for me.   I also did not want to stay home through the holidays baking and then eating everything I had made.   So, I joined the health club.

In the year that I have been there, our lives have looked very different.  I have trained and completed a half marathon.  The training was intense and time consuming, and it affected family plans as we always had to plan activities around my running schedule.  Most mornings, he had coffee waiting when I came home and listened as I was getting into shape and the bumps and bruises along the way.  On the Sunday morning of the half-marathon, he got up early and took me to the starting line.  Never once did he complain, rather he was always there with a word of encouragement and support. 

Now that the health club has become a regular part of my routine, I still continue to receive support from Mark.   That is something in the ordinary and routine that I do not take for granted.

Stop.  

Five Minute Friday

I have been following Lisa-Jo, on her blog for awhile now and have been intrigued by her Five Minute Friday.   She gives a topic, of which you write five minutes on, without editing or over thinking.

Hesitant to give it a try, here is my first attempt. 


On Friends

GO.

Friends.   

You have been there from the start, and how lucky I am that you are in my life.   I do not take for granted that not only are you my mom, you are one of my best friends.  As I have grown up and become an adult, you allowed me to become my own person.   I am the person I am today because of your love, support, and friendship.   I appreciate your help as I navigate the stages of motherhood, thank you for being the example for me that you did not have. 

To my sister, I remember the nights we would lie awake in bed, sharing secrets, joys, hurts, and struggles.   I remember holding hands as we would fall asleep each night.  We are grown up now and despite the ups and downs in life, we can still share secrets, joys, hurts, and struggles.

 To you both, I hope and pray that this continues as our journey in life continues.    Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your friendship.  I love you both.

STOP.

If you would like to join in with me visit here.