In life there are those moments where it feels like everything around us is falling apart. Sometimes they are only a small fall and other times we biffed the big one. The worst time for me, as anyone can imagine, was during those sixteen long days while Mari lay in a hospital bed deteriorating in front of me. My world began to crumble with every turn for the worse that happened to her. No matter how hard we hoped or prayed, our little girl continued to get worse. E. coli is no joke and should … [Read more...]
Archives for October 2013
Day 157: Dressed for Work
Those of us who don’t have a job outside the home whether it’s because we work from home, have a business we run out of our home or are home by choice (like stay-at-home mommies), what do we wear around the house? I can imagine all the different things people could wear. I think it’s all in our head and what we feel is best in that moment. For some, not getting dressed at all and wearing their PJs is the way to go. Or some maybe get dressed up in their business professional attire to give … [Read more...]
FALLing on my face ⎯ literally
Have you ever fallen hard when walking, especially on ice. The year my husband turned 30 I decided to throw him a surprise big 30th birthday party. We invited around 40 people to our friend Missy's house. She had a nice big house at the time that fit everyone comfortably. I purchased a sheet cake from Sam's Club. I got him a special t-shirt that actually said something nice, and not snarky, for his birthday. The day of the party, if you can believe it, Keith ends up getting sick. He was … [Read more...]
Day 156: Gratitude
In life there are so many things that can bring us down. The loss of a job. A house being foreclosed on. A spouse who’s had an affair. The loss of a parent; a spouse; a son or daughter. The list could go on with all the things that make us sad and miserable. However, it’s what we do when these things happen that matters most. When Mari died it would have been so very easy to curl up into a ball and just wither away as the pain was so acute and utterly deep. I’d cry out of the blue for what … [Read more...]
Looking Up or Looking Down
Which do you prefer? Would you rather be on the ground looking up at a really tall building or would you rather be at the top of a skyscraper and looking down to those below you? I can honestly say both for different reasons. When you are looking up at everything around you, you can enjoy those things close to you. However, there will be more noise around that might distract you from the beauty that surrounds you. When you're on top of a building and not only looking down, which by the way … [Read more...]
The Journey with Allyson Carter
Please welcome this weeks guest Allyson Carter for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? Kristena asked me to write about my writing journal and what God has done for me with it. I panicked, and had no clue what to write about, because, well let me explain, what I mean by what I just said. I’m a Christian, who writes, but until recently I wrote in a very hot genre. So, as you can see I had no clue how or what to say. Well, then, my … [Read more...]
Coming to a decision…
In the last week or so I've been trying very hard to keep my site going with having a post for every day. However, after giving much thought to my decision, I've had to decide to cut down on the number of posts I do here on a weekly basis. My 365 day writing journey has been so much fun for me. However, I've also started my fiction writing website, kristenatunstall.com, and this site has also become important to my writing career. So far it's been going great. I feel blessed with how my writing … [Read more...]
FALLing Asleep
Have you ever wondered how long it takes you to fall asleep? There are times where it seems almost from the moment my head hits that pillow I'm out. And then there are other times where I can be laying there for a couple of hours, tossing, turning, looking at the clock, and still not being able to go to sleep. But for the most part I'd say it probably takes me five to ten minutes to get there. Something that helps me along the way is reading a book. Here recently, the books I've been … [Read more...]
Day 155: Telling Family Secrets
I think of books out there like A Child Called It or Go Ask Alice and how either the person who wrote it, how'd they do it knowing family secrets would be revealed or how did the person who allowed Alice's journal to be published how they felt about revealing all this girl's most private thoughts when she was alive. They probably did it for the same reason as I'm telling Mari's story that by sharing their most intimate details of what happened in that person's life that somehow maybe they might … [Read more...]
Embracing Failure
"So go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground." - Oprah Winfrey How many of us out there can say without a doubt that they embrace failure? To be honest, I think our first instinct is a no. Who wants to fail? I hope that answer is a big no. However, do we fail a little, sometimes, or a lot? Absolutely. It all depends on our knowledge of what we are trying to do and how big the likelihood it will. In the end it's how we handle those failures that matter. Do we kick … [Read more...]