Wouldn't it be nice if we could make volunteer work mandatory. Think about it. Maybe we'd have happier people if we all volunteered. But then if it was forced on every single person, the reason behind volunteering would be lost. People would have bad attitudes about it. They'd make those around them miserable. Who'd want to work with people like that. Forcing people to do it just to do it wouldn't work. You have to want to do it. You have to want to have a serving heart. I think of all the … [Read more...]
Volunteers: A Priceless Commodity
Being a volunteer. Do we really know what our time means to someone else when volunteer our time? Sometimes I think we take for granted what some people do. Not that we do it on purpose, but we all get busy with our own lives. Things happen. For example, think of all the people it takes to run a single church. There are only a few paid positions. The pastor. The church secretary. Maybe one or two associate pastors. If the church is big enough, a youth pastor. But that might be about it. Think … [Read more...]
Day 129: Imaginations Going Nuts
I had to laugh. Just yesterday I was talking to a friend on the phone and I was talking about my story. She said, “Well, I’m glad I’m not in that family.” I had to agree. My main character is going to go through a tragedy that so few will ever go through, and thank goodness most people never will. However, it will hopefully still resonate because everyone in life at some points has some type of tragedy that befalls them. Whether it’s as simple as loss their job or as tragic as losing a child, we … [Read more...]
Just 24 hours earlier, I was…
Rearranging our school year for homeschooling my niece/daughter from 5-days a week down to 4-days. Have you ever had a gut feeling telling you to do something but you thought to yourself, "Well, that can't be the way," or "That can't be right." Well, I knew at the end of last year that doing 4-days a week worked best for both Athena and myself. If we had an appointment during the week that interrupted school we were able to move the school day then to Friday. Of if one of us got sick, again … [Read more...]
Day 128: Learning to Swim
I normally don’t like to quote from the book but I like what this had to say: “I learned to swim from a magazine article I read when I was eight years old. It told me to grab my knees, duck my head, form a tight little ball in the water, and then float. The next step was to stretch out and continue to float. I did exactly what the article said to do, and lo and behold, it worked. I got my arms going at some point, and I was a swimmer. It’s kind of like writing: get a paper and a pen, start with … [Read more...]
Day 127: One True Sentence
In writing, there is both fiction and nonfiction. Obviously, nonfiction is going to be based on a true story or something base that has happened in real life. However, fiction is all made up in the mind of the individual who writes it. However, even with fiction, there is a little bit of true behind. I might be wrong, but from what I have experienced and other authors I’ve talked to, they always put a little bit of either themselves and/or people they know. Not that they copy exactly who the … [Read more...]
Finding Something Interesting This Evening Online
As I sat here writing tonight and then went searching for some graphics, I came across an interesting one that had this on it: When To Shelve the Book You're Writing. Well, that little bit piqued my interest so I click on the graphic and it took me to this blog post: samanthaboyette.com/when-to-shelve-the-book-youre-writing. What this woman had to say was quite interesting. I know in the book I've been writing, or trying to write, every once in a while I think maybe I should move onto a new … [Read more...]
Not For A Moment (Meredith Andrews)
As it has become the norm every day while we do school, KLove is on in the background. Not just to have music on, because that is always nice. But it is more than that for us. First, it one of us gets frustrated, it seems to calm us. Talk about a blessing. It's the words in the songs that are played. But then there are songs that just tug at your own heart as they touch you in a personal. The words cut straight to your heart. For me, it happened again today. The song "Not For A … [Read more...]
Day 126: The Art of Finding Solitude
What a concept. Finding solitude can be difficult sometimes, especially if you are married and have kids at home. There always seems to be some kind of interruption that can stop you in the middle of whatever you are doing. Or sometimes we do it to ourselves. The phone rings and you feel you must answer it. The TV is on and just can’t break away from whatever is on. The radio is on and you just can’t stop singing along to the music. Or a million and one other distractions that interrupt for what … [Read more...]
One potato, two potato, three potato, …
Four. Five potato, six potato, seven potato more. Hee Hee. You know the old saying. I used to say that all the time as a kid. Does it really mean anything or stand for anything? I don't think so. However, it's a great topic starter. Do you have any old saying you used to love to say when you were a kid or old song you'd used to sing? One of my favorites song went like this: Little Bunny Foo Foo went hopin' through the forest scoppin' up the field mice and boppin' 'em on the head. Then … [Read more...]
