Happy Birthday Tiki ~ Wordless Wednesday

My Niece is on the left.. Beautiful girl that we love more than words can explain.

My Letter of appreciation

This week is write a letter of appreciation.  And at first I was like that is silly who would I write a letter to.  But then it hit me. There is one person I appreciate more than anything.  Someone who has taught me so much without even knowing it.

Dear Dad,

I remember when I was a teenager and a young adult I always thought I was right and I always thought I knew everything.  But boy oh boy was I ever wrong.  Now that I have grown up and I have my own family, I have to say that you were always right.

You were right about they will not always be my friends.

You were right about I was running with the wrong crowd.

You were right about being a grown up is not as much fun as it look.

You were right Dad.

It has only taken me 36 years and the loss of you to realize it.

I want to thank you for everything you have taught me.

I appreciate you being a single Father and raising us the best you could.

Thank you for always putting us kids first.

Thank you for teaching me to cook even if we did not always like what you were cooking us.

Thank you for teaching me the real meaning of love and understanding.  You taught me how to be a loving parent and always put my kids first.

I appreciate the way you taught me to always keep a clean house.

I appreciate the way you taught me that making an income for myself was very important.

I appreciate the way taught me how to work on my own car.

I appreciate the way you taught me to be strong and independent.

I appreciate that you loved me no matter what I did and how much of a jerk I was.

I appreciate you letting me be your little girl no matter how big I got or how much I grew up.

I appreciate you not always lecturing me when I so deserved it.

Daddy I appreciate you…

Love your daughter,

Tricia

2011 = Amazing Grace

For the last couple months I have had an awesome feeling about 2011.  A feeling that 2011 is going to be a amazing year for myself and my family.  But I wanted to base my year on a one word theme.  A theme I could be proud of but that could really help me grow this year. Grow spiritually, personally, and truly in every aspect of my home and business life.

And if you know anything about me you know that I plan ahead, I make list and create routines. And as I have began getting ready for 2011 I purchased my 2011 planner, I purchased my daily devotional for 2011 and I began to create my routine all the while trying to figure out my theme for this year.

I put all my important stuff together to take a picture to share with you what was important to me for the upcoming year.  So of course a picture of my family was in it, and my planner, and my devotional, and my purse.  And while taking pictures I noticed.  Or should I say God pointed me something out to me.  On my purse was the letter G (for Gardner), on the cover of my daily devotional was the words GRACE for the moment, and on my 2011 planner it says amazing GRACE….

Yes you guessed it This year my theme is GRACE.  Great amazing Grace…. So I started doing some research.

The defintion of Grace accourding to Dictionary.com:

  • elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.
  • a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment.
  • favor or good will.
  • the freely given, unmerited favor and love of god.
  • the influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them.
  • a virtue or excellence of divine origin: the Christian graces.
  • Also called state of grace. the condition of being in God’s favor or one of the elect.
And that is it.  That is what I want this year.  I want to be in God’s Grace.  I want my health and personal life to be in God’s Grace.   I want to help people in their business as God has Grace me with an amazing business.  I want my family to be in God’s Grace and to have a amazing year together.

By God’s Grace this year is going to be AMAZING!

Starting out Right

How do you start out your week?  Better yet how do you start out your morning?  Do you start out with a bang?  Or do you get up, drag yourself around the house and just do what has to be done? With no motivation, no energy no nothing?  I am a strong believe of starting out right will make your whole day or week amazing.  I have personally started out both ways before.  I have started out with a bang and I have started out like a slug and trust me the bang makes everything  sweeter.

Starting out your week ~ I always try and start out my week with a bang.  I create a list on Sunday night of everything that I know needs to be complete, all errands that need to be ran, all household duties that need to be done.  Then I take that list and put it into my planner.  Then I know what I have to do when I have to do it. I write myself any notes that I might need for the week to remind me of things I need to do or want to do that week.

I then also created a to do list for my clients of special projects that I know they have coming up and due dates so that I am sure to get them finished by the deadline.  Creating a weekly client list is very important to me staying on top of my client work and also to being more organized.    I have found if I don’t do this then I will fall behind.

I also pray on Sunday nights for an amazing week and let God know that I am ready for whatever He sends my way.  I am ready because I have God on my side and with God on your side anything is possible.  I pray for a productive work week.  I pray for a productive week in my household and I pray to keep myself and my family safe all week.

I have found that praying and writing everything out really helps me stay on top of things, stay focused and stay positive.

Staring out your day ~ Some of the things I am going to mention I do to start out my day I have just started doing.  Others I have been doing for a very long time.  I have found that to start out your day positive you need to end your day the right way.  So every day I end my day with some good Christian reading, checking my calendar to see what I have to do tomorrow and scheduling my client work for the next day.  And of course last but most important I pray.

Before my feet even hit the floor in the morning I always say, “Today is the day the Lord made, Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  I then thank the Lord for the beautiful day and then hit the ground running.  I found that if I drag myself out of bed or don’t look forward to the day then my whole day pretty much goes down hill.

I always start out my day with Bible reading, a good devotional, and prayer. I then move on to prayer, exercising on the wii fit or wii active and then a good healthy breakfast.  All the above is super important to starting out my day.

I have found that if I miss my Bible, study, prayer time then my day does not seem to run as smooth as when I start it out with my quite time.

How are you staring out you morning and your week?

No Resolution This Year

Yap you read it right.  This year I am doing something totally different.  I am not making resolutions.  I am giving God a Year, But changing my life forever.  I am reading a book called Give God a Year, Change Your Life Forever.   And it has inspired me to not do resolutions like I do every other year because in the long run I always seem to fall short of my resolutions and then I am disappointed in myself.

So I have given myself to God for the next year and we are going to work hand in hand to accomplish five things.

  1. Getting my weight to 160 lbs. (35 lbs in a year totally do able)
  2. Build a closer relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
  3. Create and follow a morning routine and an evening routine.
  4. Live a healthier lifestyle
  5. Be debt Free… (Yap you read it right and I know we can do it)

Now I know you have to be wondering how I am going to accomplish these things.  Well I have set up a few things that I call My Part.  These are things that I plan to do to help me get where I want and need to be by the end of the year.

  • Quite time with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit every morning
  • Exercise 4 days a week
  • Follow my morning routine
  • Write in my planner and make a to do list every evening
  • Incorporate From Zen to Done into my Life
  • Read at least 30 minutes each night
  • Less TV
  • Spend more time with my family
  • Pray and Obey
  • Clip coupons, put all bills on auto pay, create a budget, become as frugal as possible while still enjoying life

As you can see all of this is totally doable and something that I can know I can keep up with.

I also wanted to share my routines with you

Morning

  • Make Jim’s Coffee
  • Laundry
  • Quite time
  • exercise
  • Feed indoor dogs
  • Check Meal Menu for the day

Evening

  • Counters, stove, and dishes
  • Shower and brush teeth
  • Bible reading with Haylee
  • Read at least 30 minutes
  • Get to bed before 11 pm every night

I am pretty excited about this and I know that God is with me every step of the way.  If you have time and this sounds like something you would be interested in doing I would suggest that you check out the book, Give God a Year, Change Your Life Forever.

I will try and keep you updated on Fridays but no promises here.