January | 2013 | itsawonderfilledlife

Archive for January, 2013

It Has Been

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged Back to work, blessings, celebration, christmas, Christmas Break, counting sleeps, FAMILY, Gift, it has been, John 4:14, Life, one more day, time, time off on January 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

As I arise on this final day of a two week long break, I open my eyes to all that has been accomplished, as well as all that has not been completed. images-1

Two weeks away from work, away from school, commitments, pressures and deadlines will end tomorrow (Monday) morning when the alarm rudely rings at 5:55am.

It has been a time of celebrating, both Christmas and New Years. It has been a time of cocooning within our own four walls, with times spent with friends, and times spent with only our Fab 5. It has been at time of intense cleaning, purging and sharing of our stuff with others. It has been a good time.

As the two weeks of celebration and relaxation come to a close, as the New Year is barely underway, thankfulness fills every part of my being. It has truly been a blessed break.

Time is a gift that is so sweet, so very, very sweet. It is something we all have, although often is short supply. It is something that we love to give, something that we give grudgingly. It is something we either have too much of, or not enough, and never the right amount at the exact time we need or want it most.

When our children are young and demanding we desire more time for ourselves, more time away from our children. When we grow old we desire most to spend our time with our children, we dream of the days when the demands tired us, we regret that the busy years are gone.

When we are young we count sleeps (okay, some of us do not outgrow this stage … but, I digress) to the times and events that we look so forward to, when we are elderly we awaken and count the blessing of awakening for “one more day.”

I regret the end of this time of break, yet I have lived long enough to know that I am blessed to have been given the gift of this time. I was also blessed to have been away of the gift that is was before the break began, resulting in a return to work with less regrets and more sweet memories to take into this work week, and new year.

Christmas break 2012, and Christmas itself, has been the sweetest Christmas in my memory. I will leave this house, and separate from hubby and the kids with delightful memories to sit back and ponder with great thanksgiving.

It has been …

… yet there is so much to be, if I can appreciate every day in this intentional, thankful heart of blessing of the gift that this time is for me, for we.

“Your life
is like the morning fog–
it’s here a little while, int
then it’s gone.”
John 4:14

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Fiction to Motivate

Posted in Guest Post, Marriage, WONDER, tagged 30 days of carrying my wife, carrying my wife, Children, fact or fiction, faith in mankind, guest post, live better, love our children, Motivation, true story on January 6, 2013| 1 Comment »

images-1 Sometimes we encounter a story which we will never know with certainty if it was true or not, but we wish that it were true, for our own encouragement and for our own faith in mankind.

That is the case with my guest post today.

A few weeks ago when I finished reading this post, all I could utter was a sigh. I pondered at the ‘fairness’ of the story, I pondered at my own strength, and the depth of the love I feel for my own children.

Whether true or not, sit down, have a read and imagine that you would have the will to love your child to the same degree. It does not have to be a true story to truly motivate us to live better.

http://www.livelifehappy.com/30-days-of-carrying-my-wife/

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Spa Day

Posted in christmas, The Hubby, WONDER, tagged bitterness, christmas gift, couples massage, extravagance, failure, frustration, gift card, Hubby, joy, luxury, misunderstanding, re-gifting, spa, spa day, therapeutic massage, well-intentions, wild orange spa on January 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

They say that we give the gifts to others that we want for ourselves, and so I took this to heart this Christmas with regards to gifting for my hubby.

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Years ago … at least six years ago … I had gone that first time to try out a therapeutic massage covered by the health care plan at my work. It was amazing, and I later told hubby of my spa adventure. I am sure that as hubby was hearing my story of extravagant pampering the wheels in his head had him convinced that his annual tradition of ‘failing’ (his word, not mine) when it came to Christmas gifts for his wife, was about to turn to great success.

Although I did enjoy the experience, it was not a very comfortable place for me, as I felt a bit like a fish out of water in an environment of such luxury. From my point of view, once was enough … but I had failed to mention this fact to my very well-intentioned hubby.

So, when Christmas rolled around, a beautifully wrapped, generous gift card to a spa that I had gone to once, and had spoken so glowingly of at my premier visit, was to be my gift from the man who tries so desperately to please.

This lovely, generous, well-intended gift has sat in and on my dresser for at least six years, causing frustration and bitterness every time it would be within view of my guy.

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But no longer would it gather dust.

Weeks before this past Christmas I made the brilliant decision to re-gift hubby’s spa gift card … to him!

I went in to the spa, ensured that the balance of the card was as I had remembered, and booked a couples massage appointment.

So, yesterday, hubby and I went to share in the gift of Christmas past, as well as Christmas present.

Total and complete relaxation, being pampered and cared for in total and complete luxury, convinced me that the spa, not the ‘Magical’ place is the happiest place on Earth!

When we stepped out over two hours later, we both felt refreshed and relaxed. Gone were the years of gift ‘failure’ and feelings of rejection for the unused, unappreciated gift … all were replaced with the joy of sharing in the gift of well-intentions.

And, so often that is our problem when it comes to our relationships … the love and joy get lost in the misunderstanding of the intentions of the other person. We spin our own version of the gift; his that he is a failure, mine that he does not know my heart. But, in being able to share in the gift, to share in the well-intentions of each of us, joy can be shared … together.

In re-gifting to hubby the gift that he had given to me, we were both able to receive the gifts we both wanted most, enjoyment and time together.

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2012 in Review

Posted in WONDER, tagged 2012, a voice, annual report, blog, Blogging, book deal, discovered, Encouragement, Oprah, praises, readers, Story, therapy, woes, wordpress, writting on January 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

At the end of each year WordPress send me an annual report for this blog, and again this year I thought I would share it with you who read what I write.

I cannot believe that there were approximately 14,000 views of this blog, last year.

I cannot believe that views came from 103 countries from around the world (some days a view from a country I had not previously heard of will be listed).

Honestly, I cannot believe that there are any readers, because, although I do dream of being ‘discovered’ by Oprah, and offered a great book deal, I sit at my computer and click at the keyboard for very selfish reasons.

This screen that I face each day has provided for me:
therapy for my woes,
a stage for my praises,
and a voice by which to be heard …

I need to tell my stories, to share my life’s successes and failures, and to be ‘real’ with myself like I need air to breath.

Thanks to any and all who read each day or who are reading for the very first time. It really is a Wonderfilledlife!

Carole

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 14,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 3 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

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First Breath

Posted in GOD, WONDER, tagged awakening, breath, breath of life, Creator, first breath, fist breath, fully living, Genesis 2:7, hibernating, living, Morning, waking the kids on January 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »

As I entered the quiet room, I flicked on the light … no movement. images

I moved the blankets, still warm with the heat of his body, down off his chest … still no movement.

This man-boy sleeping before me is completely without movement, even the rise and fall of his chest with life-sustaining oxygen is almost indiscernible.

Waking my son recently gave me a birds eye view of the effects of God breathing life into man and woman.

When I entered his room he was completely unaware of my presence, of the bright lights being turned on, or that I had moved his blanket off of his upper body. He lay on his bed motionless, even the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed was almost without motion.

When we sleep our breathing slows immensely, because our muscles and organs are not needing large amounts of oxygen in their resting state. As our breathing slows, our body’s processes slow, it is as though the life within us were hibernating. We are still fully alive, yet we are not fully living our life.

Some of us live our daily lives as though we are still in that hibernating state of sleep. Our bodies function, we do all that is needed to be done in order to sustain our existence, yet we live as though we are asleep, our organs functioning, but not as though we are fully awake … not as though we are fully living our lives.

As I worked at stirring my son, the moment of his waking was discernible. He inhaled a deep and audible breath, and as that first breath of the day was entering his lungs, signs of life were also discernible in his body. His eyes moved behind the veil of his lids, his limbs moved and he stretched his body, as though making more room for the oxygen entering his lungs.

His awakening, heralded by his intake of the first big breath of the day stirring every cells in his body to be fully awakened, fully alive.

This is the freshness of each new day, of each new year. To take in the breath of life given to us by our Creator, and to make our days, our years, our lives worthy of the gift He has given.

“Then the Lord God
formed a man
from the dust of the ground
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and the man became a living being.
(Genesis 2:7)

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Month 6/7

Posted in Weight Loss DiaBLOG, women, WONDER, tagged accountability, diaBLOG, diet, goals, losing weight, myfitnesspal, new years resolutions, Old to New, pounds, prizes, Resolutions, Reward, weight, Weight Loss on January 1, 2013| 2 Comments »

Happy New Year! images-4

The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – month six, we have survived trying to diet through the Christmas holidays and the New Year! Were you able to use any of last months suggested action plans for not blowing all the sacrifice of the months before on piggy pudding?

For me, the greatest weight loss happened within the first week of this month, when I shed four more pounds!

It has been half a year of concerted efforts towards living healthier, and now we are beginning a brand new year, with the pressure to make resolutions. So, are any of you making resolutions? Are they health related?

When it comes to resolutions I have one suggestion, don’t make unrealistic or unattainable ones!

So many of us will set out to lose a huge amount of weight, or to start intense exercise programs only to get discouraged in the early weeks of the process by not being able to keep up the planned regimen. How about making short term goals? Ones that are only one month or one season at a time. That gives us opportunity to reassess our original goals, and tweak where necessary.

It is believed that it takes twenty-one days to break (or start) a habit. This could be why most New Years resolutions are forgotten by the end of January. How about making a twenty-two day plan? Maybe, if sugary treats are your weakness, challenge yourself to twenty-two days of eliminating them from your everyday diet? If exercise is a goal you have, plan out twenty-two days of fitness? And don’t forget to celebrate when you have reached your goal (and I don’t mean at an all you can eat buffet).

Goals with ‘prizes’ for success are great motivators! How about a goal of money for pounds lost? If the road to weight loss is going to be a long one, something like $5 for every pound lost, and that money can only be spent for new clothing, and only after losing ten pounds. If you only have ten pounds to lose, you might want to increase the per pound amount to $10. What a carrot to dangle in front of us, it makes the goal rewarding on two fronts, we benefit from looking and feeling better, plus we get to dress ourselves in flattering new clothes!

Personally exercise is tops on my priority list for this first month of the year. And if I lose just five more pounds, I am heading to my favorite thrift shops for a few ‘new’ pieces to add to my shrinking clothing collection … and I can’t wait!

2013 will be a good year! Lets continue working together to live our lives in a more healthy fashion!

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