Dive on In!

I never really learned to dive properly. I am a hold the nose kinda of gal! Oh, the shame! (However, I can pass the required summer camp swim test! Yeah!) I did not want my daughter to have the same fear or water up the nose issues as me. Mission accomplished.

Above is a picture taken of Emma Grace at Auburn University ready to dive into her first race of the day. (She is the one closest to the camera in lane 1)

I am daily amazed at her willingness to continue this new sport despite the fact that she is competing with girls who have been doing this for 5 or more years compared to her 7 months. I love her commitment to going daily (even in freezing weather) and swimming lap after lap (after lap). Her hard work is paying off with lower times and new found muscles, but she still must work just to catch up with the others. And she does. Where can I get the bottle of magic dust that keeps her motivated?!?

I was going to write about the idea of "Just keep swimming" from Disney's Finding Nemo, but looking at this photo I snapped to send to my husband (who was very sad not to be there), the idea of her willingness to dive in seemed more profound.

Keeping your head above water is one thing. Being willing to dive into it is the FIRST thing.

I would love to be the one to dive in head first and just go for it (what ever "it" may be). Instead I ease in one toe at a time, sometimes not even willing to get my face in the water. But here is my own flesh and blood diving in head first not caring what the others do. She is doing what she wants and giving it her all. Wow. Again, I need that bottle of magic dust she must have hidden in the mess she calls a room!

God wants us to have the faith of a child. I say we need the faith, the courage, the hope, the love, and the pure heart that allows them to try new things, love new adventures, and see the world as something special given just for them. It was. God gave us all these things. The question is ... Are we using what is given without question?

Are we willing to dive in and see what is there for us? What might could happen? How can our lives change?

From her first very awkward dive in June, Emma Grace has had a new world opened up to her. She is learning more than just proper kicks and strokes. She is learning that it is better to dive in than just sit on the edge worrying about what might happen. I love that kind of faith!

Do you have the faith to dive right in? I am working on mine. See you in the water!

What I Learn at Disney

Please forgive me. It has been 6 months since my last blog. (Can't wait to hear my confessions now, huh!)

Wow, I am sorry it has taken this long to write. When I started this blog school was winding down and summer was giving me more time to think and act on those thoughts. The last blog was the end of July. We started back to school the first of August. See the connection?

I have written many blogs in my head, late at night while lying in the bed. I just couldn't seem to get them onto the computer. I am trying to get back to it.

I have wanted to share a story with you for a while that really struck a chord with me. Last spring (yes, it has take this long to write it down!), I was with friends at Disney World. I love Disney and can get a bit "park Nazi" on trips there. Just ask John!! So of course I was leading the pack in the park for that day's adventure. As our group walked along, my friend Lydia was walking beside me in the lead of the others. Not wanting to be a complete dictator on where we were heading, I turned to her and asked her opinion as to the direction we should take.

Her reply: "I might be walking beside you, but I am following you."

Wow!! That statement hit me so hard. Do you see where this should be in our lives?

God so wants us to follow him, but that needs to be done while walking with him. We need the connection as well as the willingness to go where he leads.

I may know the quickest path to Space Mountain, but I still need lots of guidance for the direction to take in my own amusement park we call life! And I don't always walk as if I have someone beside me (even though he is there, ready to be acknowledged).

My prayer is that I will walk each day with him knowing that he will not lead me wrong. I am trying but sometimes I take a wrong turn and end up in Toon Town instead of Tomorrow Land (If you get my drift!).

Plant Killer Strikes Again!

I said I would keep you posted on my new plants. The news is not good. Captain Brown Thumb should be my new superhero name! I appear to be a normal, child-nurturing, law-abiding citizen by day, but when no one is watching, I can kill a plant in 2 months or less!

My latest victim is the peace lily by my door. I had been able to keep one alive for almost 4 years (my only plant success story) so I purchased a new one with high hopes and good intentions. It died in about 8 weeks. What happened? I did the same things as last time. Same amount of watering, etc. What was the difference?

Then it hit me...John is not here! He is working out of town this summer with the oil spill. We know all the great things he does for Emma Grace and me (cooking, laundry, cleaning), but we realized that he was also my plant fairy. He was watering my plants behind my back! Now that he is not home all the time, I guess the plants are just giving up!

Thank you God for all the unseen and unsung "fairies" (angels if you prefer!) you provide to all of us. I forget that we can not do it alone and SHOULD NOT even try!

Hope for the Future for just $20!

In my last post I told you about the $20 solution for blindness. In this one I will reveal how $20 has helped me once more and renewed my hope for the future! Are you curious yet?

Think about what you can get these days for $20 bucks...
*1 large popcorn and drink at the movies
*Lunch for 2 at Chick-fil-A
*2 Sham-Wows (if you call in the next 20 minutes!!)

I got desperate the other day over my yard that was getting higher and higher. With John working so many hours this summer ( and knowing that I am not a yard person), something had to be done. I saw my solution in the form of a teenage neighbor out cutting his grass! I approached him with a small smile (so as not to frighten him) and asked in my sweetest kindergarten teacher voice if he was willing to come over and just mow my front yard for cash!

He "yes ma'am ed" me and we struck a deal! He came right over and went to work. Afterwards I had to force him to take the money when he kept saying that it was His Pleasure to help me out! Awe! Turns out he is an Eagle Scout (of course!) with the sweetest manners! He will be starting college in the fall (I swear he looked 15!) and I know that he will do well as long as he keeps that wonderful sense of helping others.

WE are so quick to say that kids today don't have the same values or work ethic as we did. I don't believe this is true. Good parents (today and in the future) raise good kids (usually!). So I will continue to teach my daughter about serving others and always look for the good in this next generation. I hope she will give someone else a reason to have hope just like my Boy Scout next door!

I am a bad mother (sometimes!). My poor-sighted daughter decided to swim on a swim team this summer. She is unable to wear glasses in the pool. People kept suggesting that she use prescription goggles. I kept saying that I would check into them if she wanted to continue swimming into the fall. I assumed the cost would be high (kinda like prescription sunglasses, right?)

Never assume!

On a whim I checked out prices on line (what did we do in the old days?!?) I found out that these special goggles that could help my very blind child not worry about hitting the wall on flip turns only cost about $20!!! Seriously?! No prescription needed. Who knew? Obviously not me!

It's a whole new world at the pool now for my Emma Grace! SHE CAN SEE!! A $20 miracle!

Sometimes the solution is so simple if we take the time and ask the right questions (and anyone who knows me, knows how I ask questions!). I had not asked any of the aforementioned people about the suggested prescription goggles. If only I had, Emma Grace would not have had to squint for the past month!

Internet search: free
Prescription goggles: $19.24
My child recognizing me from across the pool: Priceless!

What are you willing to take a risk for?

How you ever played the board game "Risk"? (Are you seeing a theme developing here?!) My husband John use to play it all the time when we went on vacation with friends to their river house. The two guys could spend HOURS on this game of war and armies fighting armies to gain more control over countries and continents. The winner declares "world domination" and can then gloat about victory until the next time!

Finally on one long, lazy afternoon when we were bored, the women folk decide to play this game we had listened to them argue over for so long. As the next 3 hours unfolded, it became clear that I was going to win. (Imagine that!) I was then told to declare world domination and end the game. I decided to instead declare "world peace"! Apparently the men folk had a problem with this change in the ending! They claimed I could only win with the domination term, not peace!?!

You see the problem here? Why could I only be a winner if I dominated instead of united the countries? Freaky how this board game scenario is often played out in real life conflicts between individuals and countries. We so need to change the rules! It is OK to have peace over domination! Aren't two winners better than one? Think about it!

I have decided that I would rather take a risk for two winners (peace) instead of my own domination over something or someone. How about you?

The Game of "Life", How do you like to play it?

I use to love to play the board game called "Life." You started with a car and a little peg person (pink or blue) and than drove your car around a big board. The spinner was kinda of like the wheel of fortune and let you know where to go next. There were not a lot of career choices (I seemed to always get the teacher job? weird, it didn't pay so well even then!) and you usually got married and had a few kids (more pink or blue pegs to add to your car!) and continued on the journey until you either landed in a mansion or the poor house! Game over!

I got the updated version of Life for Emma Grace excited to share this fun childhood memory with her. John, Emma Grace, and I got out the new game and realized that it was not the same simple game we had played 30 years ago! Just reading the instructions and setting up the game to play was almost too much effort to even continue, but we bravely dove into this new version. The career choices were expanded (I STILL ended up as the teacher!) and you even could change careers in your mid-life crisis period! We continued to have to read and reread the rules as we played. The simple game of our childhood was now VERY complicated! We have only played it once. I miss the old version.

It amazes me how that board game's updated version is like a mirror of our world today. We have really complicated life (real and game!). It is not as easy to get around and they seem to be changing the rules mid-play. WE don't have the choice of putting this real life version on the shelf, but I am beginning to think that we do have the choice of which version we choose to play. Simple or complicated?! I am looking for the old one. Let me know if you can find it, too. I just hope I don't end up in the poor house!