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Carpe diem! A Latin phrase which means......Seize The Day!
Have you ever really thought about it? I mean we all know what it means, but do we all know how to apply it to our lives? It makes me think of another Latin phrase, Momento mori which means.......Remember that you ARE mortal. None of us mortal humans will live forever on this earth. I truly believe that if we all were to Carpe diem, EVERYDAY the world would be a totally awesome place. I mean really think about it. How many of us awake in the morning to the sound of an annoying alarm and our first thought is......"Oh crap, I feel like pulling the covers over my head and sleeping for a few more hours!" Do any of us ever awake when the alarm goes off and say....."YES, I cannot wait to see what opportunities this day holds for me!" My challenge to myself from this moment on, is to think on these two Latin phrases each and every day as often as possible. I am not going to live forever so I am going to SEIZE THE DAY! I'm going to start actively looking for the opportunities that are put in front of me to make each day a remarkable day. And at night when I rest my head on my pillow and open up my SuDoKu book, I'm going to write in the margins all the opportunities I was given that day and wether or not I seized them. What are your thotz? --
Rejoice Evermore!
DawnRae | | |
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please listen to the song as you read. just a note of MomPride it's my daughter Mandi singing) the strangest thing happened to me yesterday. i know this is long but try to keep up, it's really an awesome story. okay, i was on my way down the road just about a mile from my house to the grocery store. i had to do my big shopping and i promised Cal i would return all the pop cans and bottles we had accumulated this summer (i hate doing this!). keep in mind i have been very sad lately and frankly was feeling kind of upset with God about my friends life being cut so short so suddenly. anyway as i was driving down the road i had a thought to drive about 10 miles out of my way to go and look at a house i had been wanting to look at. so i turned around and started heading towards the house which is located out in the middle of nowhere. so, as i was driving and talking with God, i passed a homeless man carrying a huge trash bag and he was picking up cans. i thought to myself, i should just give him my trunk full of cans (remember i hate returning them). i then said out loud, "okay God, if this man is still out walking when i head back then i will give him all my cans (about $12.00 worth). sure enough on my way back there he was. so i pulled over, popped open my trunk and gave him all my cans. he said, "God Bless You". yeah right i thought. i get in my car and am thinking, what an idiot i am, i just gave away 12 bucks that i could have bought a roast with (i do atkins so roasts are important to me). i get to the store and start chipping away at my list. i get to the meat section and there is a man standing next to me as i am trying to find a roast that is under 12 bucks. the man grumbled to me how expensive meat is these days and how ridiculous it all is and he walked away. i kept digging and got to the last roast, held it up to my eyes (i did not have my glasses) and i could not believe my eyes. it read 6 cents! can you believe that?!!!! it was a 12 dollar roast almost to the penny. i could not believe it. it was mismarked. the little upc sticker said
.02 cents per LB and the price was .06 cents. i stood there as i heard God say to me, "I AM HERE!!!!!! DO WHAT I PROMPT YOU TO DO AND I WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU! I AM HERE AND I HAVE A PLAN, DO NOT WORRY SO ABOUT YOUR FRIEND.....I HAVE A PLAN, I AM HERE!!!!!" so ya see, the homeless man got 12 bucks and i got a 12 dollar roast for 6 cents. how cool is that? any comments?
Rejoice Evermore!
DawnRae p.s. my friend passed away the very next day......the day that i was supposed to visit her. i'm trusting God and His plan completely, looking forward to the day when i see her again. | | |
| WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!! July 18th 2008 has to be one of the best weekends of our lives. Our daugher Mandi Hutchins was asked to sing the national anthem at friday nights Cincinnati Red's v. New York Mets game at The Great American Ballpark.   If that isn't enough to be braggin' about for ya, well there was the fact that it was Ezra's first Major League ballgame and his mommy was singing the national anthem.....how cool is that?!  How many grandparents can say they took their grandson to his first major league ballgame and their daughter was singing the national anthem?!   God blessed us with a beautiful full-moon and the most amazing postgame fireworks show.  This was also Ezra's first at a fireworks show.  Big Poppi (my husband) and DRams (me) were just bustin' with pride, joy, and extreme gratefullness at being able to experience all of this in one night. Thank you God for blessing our family the way that only you can do! Enjoy the video and the pics! MeeMum | | |
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i am thankful for Alice Shunka, a patient i had in the nursing home who suffered terribly and who i was able to lead to the Lord the night before she passed away. i'm thankful for her, because it was through my short relationship with her that God taught me how much He loves EVERYONE and how it is important for me to introduce them to HIM and HIS grace. i've changed so much since that relationship. i am thankful more than anyone can know for my three amazing God given children. each of them has taught me so much. they taught me how important it is for me to allow God to work in their lives as individuals that HE has a specific plan for, and it is not what i want for them that matters at all. Mandi, has taught me to be a strong woman of great faith and to always seek God in every situation cause HE is always right there beside me. Michael my son has taught me what real wisdom is and how valuable it is. there are so many people whom God loves but they do not yet know HIM and it is important that we be wise in order to see and act correctly on the opportunities God has put before us. Haley has taught me unconditional love and unconditional kindness for others. i've never met anyone who exudes this like Haley. the outward physical beauty that God has given her is something i envy and probably will never attain no matter how i try (short of plastic surgery that is), however her inward beauty is something i can try to emulate. i am thankful for my parents who did an awesome job of loving me the way God mean't for parents to love a child. they were both my biggest fans. i cannot think of one single bad part of my childhood. how blessed am i eh? my dad brought so much joy and laughter into my life that i hoped to have passed on to my children. my mom sacrificed so much of herself and her desires, all for me. i hoped to have passed that sacrificial love on to my children. i am thankful for Prof. and how he loves my daughter and takes such good care of her. a parent can not ask for anything more out of a son-in-law but that he keeps his promise to love her and be willing to give his life for her like Christ loves his church. i am so thankful for that. Mickey our sweet daughter-in-law who is the perfect help-meet for our son. it takes a truly special/gifted woman to agree to be the wife of a pastor and i am so thankful that Mickey is the ONE that God has given to our son. She's very beautiful inside and out, she's funny and she takes pride in making sure that her husband (my son), is thought of and respected highly. oh, and i'm sure she is going to make adorable babies for my son and for us all to love and be proud of. Hogey, is not yet officially part of the family but i love him as if he was. i think of him as one of my own children and i am thankful for him and the way he loves our daughter, our baby. that is a really tough spot to be in but i truly believe hogey will fit perfect in that spot. lastly but not least, i am oh so thankful for my husband, Cal. i first met him when i was 14 years old and i knew that i wanted him to be my husband someday. God blessed our courtship and so therefore i knew that Cal was the one that God would have me to spend the rest of my life with. we have been married for going on 30 years now and where we have had some rough times we are none-the-worse for wear. through those rough times God taught us both so much about what real love is and how it is suppose to work. we are both better off for those rough times. i've learned so much from Cal that it would take me a few years to finish this email if i listed it all. i mean, 30 years is a long time ya know? just know that there has never been a time that i regreted or thought that it may be that i had made the wrong choice for a husband. it's been an awesome marriage that God has blessed greatly by giving us Ezra who is currently in the process of teaching me how to be the bestest grandma in the world. i'm so thankful for Ezra and for another grandchild soon to part of our family. i'm telling you all right now, it's true there is nothing like having grandchildren. you think that becoming a mother or father is top's but it's not. to me it's like God is saying, "you have done well and so now i am going to give you my greatest blessing"! it doesn't get any better than that.
okay i have said enough i think......don't you? Rejoice Evermore! DawnRae | | |
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My Thotz On Raising Children   I have been blessed with 3 well balanced, well functioning members of our society, and most importantly...godly children. eh-hem....adults. Over the past several years I have been asked by many, what our secret is? How did we raise these awesome children? Well I have always given a real "flip" response, "well God knew that I could not handle bad children and would probably be sitting in prison for beating them up, so He gave me predisposed good children". Well, one day a woman in my church, who I have a ton of respect for as she is a beautiful, kind woman who is well known in society circles and is generous beyond measure. She invited me to lunch. Her reason, she said for inviting me to lunch was to pick my brain on how to raise children just like mine, (she has pre-teen and teen children). I'm glad she forewarned me so that I could take her request seriously and give it some thought. I have way to much respect for her to give her my usual "off-the-cuff", response. Not that I do not have respect for the others that asked, it's just that I felt uncomfortable giving advice, as if maybe I was not qualified to do so. For that I apologize. I truly mean't no harm. Please forgive me. Do keep in mind that this advice is solely from me and has no scientific backing or factual basis what-so-ever. You can take it or leave it. That's up to you. Cal and I are Christ-followers so we've always used God's Word as our child rearing manual. Proverbs 22:6 has always been my personal favorite. “Train up a child in the way they should go; and when they are old, they will not depart…” In my opinion, for whatever that’s worth, too many Christian parents don’t really understand what that means. It does not mean that one should beat their children over the head with God’s Word. That method only makes them feel worthless because they cannot measure up to it. We can’t do that, so how on earth can we expect our children to do it? 80% of the children that grow up in Christian homes, i.e. in the church, walk away from the faith by the time they reach adulthood. Unbelievable, eh? It’s true! Anyway, back to, “the way they should go”. I strongly believe that God is trying to tell us that we as parents need to train our children in the way that He wired them up. That’s “the way they should go”. Let me explain. God breathed into each of us certain individual characteristics and gifts that would be conducive to His plan for our lives. As well as, the necessary tools to do His service. Therefore, I think it is crucial that we train our children the way that He wired them up. We need to focus on each of our children’s individual charecteristics and talents. It takes real work on the part of the parent, because it is our human nature to try and mold them into what we think they should be. I don’t know about you, but God did not sit me down and tell me what His plan was for each of my children. However, through reading His Word I do know that I need to do all I can to help them to be exactly what God wants them to be. I can’t do that, if I am preoccupied with what I want for them. I could go on and give you lot’s of examples, but I think you get it. Love your children and raise them to know that there isn’t anything they can do that will cause you to stop loving them. They may make some really huge mistakes and you may have to correct them, or discipline them in a way that may seem harsh to many, but no matter what they do…….you will never stop being their biggest fan and supporter, and you will certainly never stop loving them. God Bless all of you and your children. DawnRae | | |
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