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This blogging challenge was certainly created by a woman. I know this because some of the topics only the ladies will be able to relate to. Maybe we need to come up with a 31 day blogging challenge for the guys? The only problem with that is that most men would probably not get past the 33 word minimum or would not do it at all.
You guessed it. I do NOT have a make up bag.
Apparently I wrote this blog post but NEVER published it. Ok, here it is.
Day 11 has me listing 15 of my favorite things. This should be an interesting exercise.
I love connecting with people. People are interesting. I love to know what makes people tick. I like to make a real connection with them beyond the social butterfly stages. How hard is it to talk about the weather, favorite sports, politics or religion? After a while those basis are covered, then what? What makes us do what we do and why? I love hearing about likes, interests and dislikes. What do we have in common and where are we the exact opposites? That is one of the things I love about our local meet ups. I get a chance to listen to people and look for those nuggets when they speak.
I love being near the ocean. I love the sounds of the water crashing onto the shore. I love the sounds associated with the ocean or any body of water for that matter. I love listening to the seagulls as they talk to one another in flight. I love watching them as they soar and glide with their wings held out, as the winds hold them gracefully in place. I love the smell of the water and watching the baby crabs scampering about. I love watching birds crash dive into the water and come out with their next meal in their beaks. I love watching the tide go out and see what lies beneath the water line that is invisible to us when the tide is in.
I love taking photographs. I use my iPhone 4s and my iPad mostly since that is what I carry on a daily basis. I take photos of strange looking or exotic cars while I am stopped at a traffic light. I love taking photos of people when they are doing something weird or just looking strange. I love taking photos of different wildlife as they are going about life. I love taking photos of weather, especially bad weather.
I love the grace of God. I love the fact that God loved us so much that he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for us to pay for the penalty of sin once and for all. I love the oldest love story of the centuries that is told in the bible. How God pursues mankind and wants to have a love relationship with us. All through the Old Testament and new testament we see how God ran towards us and as humans we constantly run from him. In the old testament we see the law , the exodus and the prophets. In the New Testament we see Jesus come onto the scene as our messiah. We see how his dying on the cross once and for all pays for the sins of mankind both past present and future. God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense is the slogan that I heard at Grace Fellowship Church in Goose Creek.
I love going to church and being in the fellowship of other Christ followers. I never tire of hearing about the love of God or about how he provides for us on a daily basis. I love being with other like-minded people who share my faith in Jesus Christ. I love hearing about the transforming and renewing power of God in the lives of people. I love hearing about the changes that happen when we were followers of the world and how we change when we become Christ followers. I love to hear about how our world view becomes a Christ view.
I love social media. I love the social aspect mostly. I love connecting with people and being able to do it through online social media portals makes it easy. I am on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, and Google Plus. It enables me to find people who have the same interests as I do. It enables me to find people who are completely different than me. It allows me to discover other possibilities and to stretch my understanding of the world around me.
I love the fact I am an American. As a naturalized citizen of the USA I was not born in America. I was born in Germany and my sister and I were adopted by a military family. We were taken from a German orphanage and brought to the United States where we were able to live a much better life. I am fiercely patriotic. My adoptive father and most of his side of the family served in the armed forces and were in some of the major conflicts such as Vietnam and Korea. That means my relatives fought for the ability to experience the freedoms we know today. I have been known to stop my vehicle in a safe place and offer my help to someone who is taking down the American flag and allowing it to come dangerously close to hitting the ground. I have never seen anyone burn an American flag in front of me and I am not sure that I could stand idly by while it happened.
I love the fact that I am a supporter of the amendments to the constitution of the United States of America. I guess you could say that I am an American Patriot. I am involved in doing whatever I can through peaceful channels to assure that our second amendment rights are not violated. I believe that the amendments and the bill of rights were added to our U.S. Constitution because “we the people” should stand against the tyranny of corrupt government. We did it back in 1776 and I believe that it is going to happen again sometime in the not so distant future. Yes, I believe that there is going to be another uprising within the next decade or two. Our elected leaders have lost sight of what our founding fathers signed up for and especially the price that was paid so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today.
I love being a supporter of personal and family self-defense. I like being able to educate other people about their responsibility to be safe and to have a working defense plan for themselves and their families. Too many people watch the news and believe that violence only happens to other people. I formed Palmetto Concealed Carry group for the sole purpose of teaching others about this. I can remember a time when I was growing up as a child and teenager where you could go to bed at night and leave your doors to your house unlocked. Your neighbors could walk up to your house during the day, knock and come right on in. We never gave it a thought to the fact that it could be a home invasion. We knew our neighbors and we trusted them. We never had a reason not to trust them. Those days are long gone and now we have to be aware of what is going on around us at all times.
I love the sport of bowling. I have bowled on several ABC sanctioned leagues over the last ten years. My highest average was probably 165 but I have never bowled a 300 which is a perfect score. I think that 270 is the best game I have ever bowled. I love the sound of the pins blowing up when you hit them and make a strike. I started out throwing a straight ball but realized that if I wanted to take my game to the next level I would have to learn how to throw a hook ball. Like most sports bowling has its own complexities and need for lots of practice. How you bowl depends on how much muscle memory you have developed, which comes with lots of practice. How well you bowl also depends on the condition of the lanes. How oily are the lanes? What oil pattern has been applied to the lanes? What about the humidity in the bowling center? Humidity can really screw up the lanes of the air conditioning is not properly removing the moisture from the air. Then there is the type of ball you are throwing down the lane. Is it a plastic ball or is it an active resin type of ball? How much oil does your ball soak up and do you clean it frequently?
I love my family. Katy and I are working on 24 years of marriage. We have four children of which two young adults are still living at home. Our Jessica Ann, our angel, left us when she was 10 years old. Our family is special to me. I cannot imagine life without any of them. They bring quality and quantity to my life. Being a father and a husband comes with its fair share of challenges and problems. If I could go back and start all over again I would not. I would not trade the last 23 years being with my family for all the riches in this world. My family makes me a better person. They make me want to do my very best. They challenge me in ways that no one else can.
I love my career in Information Technology. My first career was in law enforcement and I had a lot of fun doing it. When I married Katy Moffitt in 1990, I entered into the I.T. world and have not looked back. I started out selling computers at Computer City in 1990 and have progressed to where I am today as an I.T. Manager for a vacation rental company on Johns Island out on Kiawah. I love solving problems and making people happy. I get satisfaction knowing that I am able to help others get their jobs done. Computer technology is like “mind candy” to me. I can’t get enough of it. I support end users, hardware and software systems during the day and enjoy technology at night through social media and online games.
I love Geocaching. I have not done this in quite some time but I love doing it. What is Geocaching? This is the modern equivalent of treasure hunting and you use a GPS to locate your treasure. I like doing this because it gets me out of the house and forces me to get out into nature. Most caches are located in public parks, out in the woods and nature trails. Over the years I believe I have found 50+ cahces but I have friends that have found hundreds of them. One of my friends in particular has a job where he goes all over the world and he always seems to find a geocache when he has the spare time. Believe it or not there is a geocache at the bottom of the red sea if you are so inclined to go after it.
I love star gazing. We have not owned a telescope in several years now but when I had one I used to love to go outside in the winter time and gaze up at the moon. Have you ever looked at the moon through a telescope when it is full? I am a Trekkie at heart. Katy and I have probably seen every Star Trek show and movie including the one that just came out. I would love to travel to different planets. How awesome would it be to stand on the bridge of the USS Enterprise and see the different star systems and encounter other life forms? Beam me up scotty!!
Last but not least I love “My Happy Place”. Someone else named this location on 4Square but I am the mayor of this location because I log it quite frequently. I would say I go there once or twice a week if the weather is permitting. Katy has been to this location but mostly it is just me. This is where I can go to unwind. I love listening to the waves hitting the shore line. I love watching the locals fishing on the shore line. I love watching the clouds as they race by. I love it when there is a gentle breeze that keeps the gnats from chewing my face off. When there is no breeze I typically keep the windows up and the AC running.
I want to share this article with all of my friends and family that read my blog. Please read it and think about it. Your life or the life of a loved one depends on you being prepared.
Personal Protection plans are important
Like most folks I have been absorbing the horrible story coming out of Aurora Colorado. This was another senseless shooting where folks lost their lives or have had their quality of life greatly reduced. All of the gun control folks have been hollering for more gun control laws in the face of this tragedy. As if that is going to stop some lunatic from killing people. I want to share this article with you. I could not say it any better.
Finding Joy in My Mesothelioma Journey
I gave birth to my lovely daughter Lily on August 4, 2005. As a new mom, I immediately realized that I would not be able to do everything on my own. Fortunately, I had a wonderful support system that surrounded my husband, our baby girl and me. Both sides of our family were thrilled with the birth, and we also had a great network of close friends. I enjoyed pregnancy and the birth experience, and I had no idea of how my life was going to drastically change.
After spending some time with my daughter at home after she was born, I went back to work. I started to notice that I was feeling terrible. I had no energy, it was difficult to breathe and I found it difficult to complete my daily tasks. Something told me that this was more than just fatigue from being a new mom, so I made a doctor’s appointment. After a series of tests, I received a shocking diagnosis.
On November 21, 2005, my doctor walked in the room and told me that I had malignant pleural mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a cancer that is often caused by exposure to asbestos. Upon further investigation, I found out that I had been unknowingly exposed to asbestos at a young age. Now, 30 years later, this exposure had turned into a deadly form of cancer.
My doctor was very honest with me, and I discovered I was only expected to live 15 months without treatment. Lily was only three and a half months old, and I could not imagine her and my husband living without me. Deciding to go with a drastic treatment method was an easy decision for me because I knew I would do anything for my baby girl.
I knew I needed the best professional treatment to get better, so my husband and I went to Boston to work with a prominent mesothelioma doctor. There was no way I could take care of my baby while undergoing treatment, so I had to make a heartbreaking decision. I said goodbye to my baby, and Lily went to live temporarily with my parents in South Dakota.
On February 2, I underwent a surgery called extrapleural pneumonectomy. This is an extreme procedure that involved the removal of my left lung and additional tissue. I was in the hospital for another two and a half weeks, and eventually had rounds of both chemotherapy and radiation.
I do not think there is any way I would have survived this trial without the support of my loved ones. I will never be able to thank my parents enough for lovingly caring for Lily during my recovery. In South Dakota, other family members and friends also chipped in to watch her when my parents had to work. My husband stayed by my side and supported me every step of the way.
No one wishes for a cancer diagnosis, but hard times in life make you realize how much you have to be thankful for.
Heather Von St James is a 43-year-old wife and mother. Upon her diagnosis of mesothelioma, she vowed to be a source of hope for other patients who found themselves with the same diagnosis. Now, over 6 years later, her story has been helping people all over the globe. She continues her advocacy and awareness work by blogging, speaking and sharing her message of hope and healing with others. Check out more of her story at the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog
A friend of mine reminded me of the different German food dishes that my mother used to serve me as I was growing up. I remember how my parents would make the monthly trip to Carswell Air Force base in Ft Worth Texas for groceries at the PX. My sister Tanya and I would sit in the car and watch the jet fighters practice their take off and landings. As a boy I was in heaven because I loved to watch the jets zoom off the run way and make all of that noise.
Once we got home with the months worth of groceries my mom would heat up some Kaiser rolls and put Braunschweiger and cheese in them. She would serve that with an ice cold glass of milk.
My mother also liked to make Weiner Schnitzel on occasion and we loved that as well.
We occasionally have pot luck dinners at the office. Today we are having a contest to see which desert is the best. I thought I would share the desert pictures with my blog friends as well. This way I can also post these photos to Pinterest.
We are going to have a drawing at 3 pm to see who the winner is. I must say they were all VERY yummy. It was difficult to find ONE winner out of the four.
One of the things that I look forward to each day is to read some of my favorite blogs. I spend most of my day reading about technology and researching problems. As much as I love technology, there are days that I just get saturated with it all. I love fixing problems and researching those fixes but that is not what I would call recreational reading. That is where the blogosphere comes in.
I want to increase the readership on my blog, and I believe that one of the ways to do that, is to tell you about some of the other blogs that I follow. I read Becca’s post this morning, and it resonated with me. One of the quotes in her blog post this morning got my attention.
“Dorothea Brande writes that “If you are unwilling to write from the honest, though perhaps far from final, point of view that represents your present state, you may come to your deathbed with your contribution to the world still unmade…”
I love Becca’s blog because of the many insightful thoughts that I find there, like the one above. These types of thoughts make me pause and think. It makes me wonder if I really am making a valuable contribution to this world? Life is all about making mistakes and learning and growing from them. As we learn and grow hopefully we are becoming better people who are more equipped to help those around us.
One of the things that Becca mentioned in her blog is that she writes more posts than she publishes. Becca illuminated the tendency of bloggers, to be hesitant to share some of the deeper thoughts and feelings that they might be experiencing. We do not want to be viewed as someone who abuses the blogosphere by over sharing. We struggle with finding the right balance when we write and I can relate to that.
If you are a blogger, tell me about your blog in the comments below. Do you feel that you struggle with finding a balance with what you share on your blog? How do you handle that? If you have a favorite blog please tell me about them as well.
Thanks
I joined a Bod4God weight loss life group at church. Katy and I joined Coastal Community Church in West Ashley in October of 2011. It was time for me to end a season at the previous church and move on. So, I finally let go of the emotional struggle of it all, and made the decision. Katy was more enthusiastic about the change than I was. I followed her and I believe that over time I will get more comfortable in this new church. There are quite a few differences in this new church home compared to our last one. The biggest difference is the number of people there. On most Sunday mornings we were lucky to have 45 people in attendance during the one service. At Coastal there are hundreds of folks that attend one of three services. We have gotten comfortable with going to the 6 pm service. There are less people and they have dinner afterwards. I know Katy likes that because it relieves her of the burden to fix supper on Sunday night.
Coastal Community has what they call life groups. These life groups are designed for smaller groups of people to get together and focus on a specific topic and to live life together. The groups promote focusing on Christ and living a more Christ like life and working towards serving each other. The church believes that one of its primary functions is to equip the saints for ministry. Ministry is doing whatever it takes to be more Christ like ourselves and to reach the community that we live in for Christ.
With that in mind, I looked at the list of scheduled life groups and I joined the Bod4God group and the Mens fellowship group. I have enjoyed both of these groups thus far and I am still getting to know the people in the groups. The Bod4God life group is helping me to get more focused with regards to losing weight and getting healthier. Over the last year and a half I have been getting more exercise and I saw myself lose 45 lbs and three inches in my waist. I also watched myself go on a roller coaster ride of losing weight and gaining it back. I have gained 30 of the 45 lbs I lost back. Before I joined the Bod4God life group I was looking at what I was doing as just maintaining my current weight.
One of the things that I like about the Bod4God life group is that it is helping me to focus on some important aspects of healthy living. I am receiving good information about what I need to eat and what I need to stay way from. I am learning about portion control and not to be an emotional eater. I am learning that I need to drink a LOT more water than I am used to. I am learning that I should reduce the amount of diet sodas I drink. I am learning that I need to eat more fruits and vegetables and less processed foods.
Week four has us focusing on the “members” of our body and how we are to dedicate those members to God. I am learning that there is nothing accidental about living healthier. You have to break old habits and replace them with new and healthier habits. I am learning to take baby steps each week. I am being told what to do and to pick a couple of things to change and then do it. I think that my biggest struggles are listed below.
Staying out of fast food restaurants as much as possible
I need to drink more water. I am doing some better in this area.
I need to eat smaller portions
I need to stop snacking and eating bad things late at night.
I need to think about what I am about to eat BEFORE I stick it in my mouth
Katy and I need to buy healthier foods at the store and not have unhealthy things in our home.
This post resonates with me in so many ways today. Please take the time to read this post and go to Becca’s blog and respond if you feel led to do so.
http://beccasbyline.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/well-trodden-paths/
