Great Day...

A few things added to this day and put it over the top from ordinary, not-so-great, to really great!

1. Good coversation... 
(Thanks to my friend Claire who let me interrupt her work day and chat about anything and everything! :)

2. Time with a child...
(Visited Freedom Readers and got to hang and read with Devonte... His smile made my day. )

3. Holding hands & talking w/ Jeremy...
(This new marriedness couldn't be sweeter. Thankful for that guy and his sweet love!)

4. Starbucks & their new frapps...
(Decaf & soy!! mmmmm!)

5. Words of affirmation..
(Email from a friend with words of encouragement and inspiration to live out the passions inside me.. mmmm... I want that!)

6. The Holy Spirit...
(All day, even when I felt like I was spinning my wheels, I have been helped, inspired, encouraged, compelled... Gotta give credit where credit is due!)

7. The Joy of reflection...
(It's one thing to know the day was good... processing and reflecting and picking out what made it great made it that much better!)

Don't be so judgmental...

I've really been enjoying Donald Miller's blog a lot lately, maybe because he writes about stuff that matters, like fatherlessness (and what we can do about it) and writing good stories with our lives, rather than settling for lousy ones!


So, recently he brought up the subject of judging others (June 11th: The Power of Listening without Judging) and then presented the challenge not to judge for any reason, for about thirty days... (June 14th: The Stuff of Good Friendships)

In the 6/14 post he says:

Last week I opened a discussion about being judgmental, and how a good listener can listen without judging the person he is listening to. I asked us to pay attention to when we think less of people and asked us to ponder our motives…

Now to clarify, I am not talking about judging actions, I am talking about judging people, that is, thinking less of them, that they are less valuable, somehow, because of what they are doing or saying or even wearing.... (entire post)

It's been almost a week since I first read all this and became so painfully aware of my own judgmental tendencies... yuck! (Certainly I knew it was in there and that it was no good, but somehow I never really considered how to deal with it or had any urgency eliminate it!)

Well, the urgency is here now, and I'm glad... As he talks about in the 6/11 post, I want my friends, family, strangers even, to feel safe and loved and valued and free to be completely themselves -regardless of any differences in personality or lifestyle or dress...

Anyone else impacted by this?
I'd love to hear your thoughts!

thoughts & inspiration...

Love reliving the moments
and posting pictures all the time,
but there's a lot going on in my mind & heart as well...

First of all DREAMING...
like dream-job-dreaming
...about mentoring and counseling and
making a difference!!

(don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying my job,
but I also know that this is a journey
and I gotta keep moving forward!!)


Had a great lunch date with Tracy Bailey this week!
She let my friend Morgan and I pick her brain
for an hour or so about what she does,
how she does it... and even a little bit about
how she got there.

It was great.
Inspiring to say the least!

By the time I got home and checked my email
that night, she had sent us some more
leadership inspiration.



...some of the best I've ever seen/heard I might add!

Click on that guy... you're in for a 3-minute treat!!

Record bending girls' night... (Tues.6/15)

our project was a success!

(we didn't use this site, but here's a pretty good
tutorial on how we did it...)


very good times!!

The girls are kind to amuse me and my craft-needs!! :)

Favorite Guys... (Mon.6/14)

Nice treat to have my nephew Dustin around! ♥

meet Ava Jean...

newest addition to the Howell family...
what a sweetie! ♥

Company picnic... (Sun.6/13)

Fun times with the B&C family....



I think the RC cars were our favorite...



and the oversized balloon crown the magician made me! And Kayla won jeremy a Hulk!! :)

Props to mom for making party plans for that many people!! Oh my!!

after the recital... (Sat.6/12)

Rockstar singing Sister had her recital today
...a surprisingly good (& very long) one!

Redbox movie datenight... (Fri.6/11)

The new Alice in Wonderland was pretty fantastic.

Stranger than I remember the original, but great.

My favorite aspect was that
although she technically was the 'right Alice'...
she had to sort of become Alice that could/would
slay the dragon and save the day!

I like it when he tells her she'd lost her 'muchness'

I sure can identify with that!
Sometimes I feel like I go seasons without a whole lot of muchness... maybe that's why Romans 5 was written!

...we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope... (Rom. 5:3&4)

Maybe we gain 'muchness' by being in over our head a time or two... and if/when we persevere, that's when the reward comes...


Another thing I liked about the movie was how her father used to say he would sometimes 'believe in five impossible things before breakfast' ....I want to think that through some more. I think I might need to practice some of that in my own life too.

Mom's birthday.. (Thurs.6/10)

Wahoo's & the marsh walk with the fam...

love eating and walking and talking with them!
♥

GB girls' night... (Tues.6/8)

outing #2 of the summer with
Bev, Noreen & Stacy... ♥

Produce... (Mon. 6/7)

deliciousness from the Alford garden...
mmmm ♥

what i forgot to say was what exactly is in those bags...
squash, cucmbers, zucchini, garden peas, green peppers, and cabbage!

...and a bag full of potatoes in the bread box! :)

Don Miller says...

A blurb from Donald Miller's insightful blog...

If you’ve read A Million Miles, you know that a great story, and for that matter a great life, can’t get started unless the protagonist wants something. And the thing they have to want must come from their core values, and it must be specific, and it must be difficult to accomplish. And so I’ve started wondering if our addictions and our habits weren’t keeping us from wanting better ambitions, and if by not wanting better ambitions, we aren’t being robbed of great and fulfilling stories and lives.

Things that bring us pleasure are often good. Scratch that, they are often great. But most of our addictions bring us extreme pleasure without the cost of conflict. Porn brings us pleasure without the conflict of relationship. Alcoholism brings us a release of stress without having to deal with our issues. Overeating (my personal favorite) reduces stress and robs us of our dreams, dreams that MUST cost us conflict.... (source)

mmm, good words I think...

We've recently deactivated our facebook accounts for a time...
this is affirming that decision for me! ♥

Day 9: Family Finale... (Sun.6/6)

our last full day together

and we got a pic with Ric Flair...

Wooo!

Dinner that night was pretty awesome too!

Such fun times...

Sad to see them go!

Day 8: J&G's Wedding Day... (Sat.6/5)

ready for the wedding...

waiting for the shuttle to the beach

the wedding was this morning

then we had some beach time,

brunch with everyone,

and a sweet reception at 5:30...

sweet morning wedding

dinner reception

johnny, david, & kellianne

cousins... & uncle john (father of the groom)

twins, aunt cheri, & christopher


parents of the groom, and mom & dad... ♥

Day 7: Rehearsal Brunch... (Fri.6/4)

Giada with her family and maid of honor

at the house for the rehearsal brunch ♥

Day 6: Bachelor/Bachelorette... (Thurs.6/3)

I have seen this look many times..

thankfully my parents sent me to NY every summer
(from ages 4 - 16!) so I actually feel like I got to know
& grow up with my cousins....

Johnny is a video-game-guru & master!
this is a look of defeat [as in I will defeat you!]

It doesn't surprise me one bit that this is what he wanted most for his bachelor night!

didn't intend to hang with the guys,
but i'm not much of a club dancer
and that was the bride-to-be's wish... :)

J and I only stayed a little while anyway.
Enjoyed meeting everyone though...
of course we had to work the next day.
(That's the unfortunate part about staycations!)

Day 5: Break... (Wed.6/2)

Everyone went their separate ways this day...

John, Beth, Johnny & Giada

went to dinner

and the Connolly clan took Kayla

went to Medieval Times

Mom & Dad took the night off

to prep for the rehearsal brunch

and J&I got the night off too!!!

:)

Day 4: Rotelli's... (Tues.6/1)

a strange, yet wonderful

panoramic of everyone at Rotelli's

for our Tuesday night gathering...

same story; minus the panorama...

Day 3: Memorial Day... (Mon.5/31)

burying Elizabeth :)

...nice to have an extra day off

while everyone was in town!

After the beach

we came home and cooked out...

a cool shot of John Richard

with his dad and Grandpa Branch ♥

Day 2: backyard fun... (Sun.5/30)

sweet hang time...

...cousins!

& the guys handling a few fireworks for us...