Now THIS is what I'd like to do for my upcoming birthday!

Taj Chahal has thrown himself some great birthday bashes. He has rented limos to take his friends to San Francisco. He's flown to Vegas.
This year, for his 29th birthday, Chahal decided to do something a bit different: He hosted a surprise party for 300 total strangers - complete with birthday cake and party favors for everyone - at Martha's Kitchen, a San Jose charity that serves meals to the homeless and working poor.

Most of us consider our birthdays as a time to receive, not to give. So why would this guy celebrate his by feeding the homeless? Taj says, "If you are blessed to have the things that you have, then you should share them with others."

I am inspired! Anyone have any ideas for me?

You gotta read the entire story - Check it out HERE

My Prayer Today

Dancing Matt

This video is so touching - at first it's a little goofy, but stick with it and watch what happens when other people around the world join him. It's BEAUTIFUL!




"However you interpret it, you can’t watch “Dancing” for very long without feeling a little happier. The music (by Gary Schyman, a friend of Mr. Harding’s, and set to a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, sung in Bengali by Palbasha Siddique, a 17-year-old native of Bangladesh now living in Minneapolis) is both catchy and haunting. The backgrounds are often quite beautiful. And there is something sweetly touching and uplifting about the spectacle of all these different nationalities, people of almost every age and color, dancing along with an uninhibited doofus. "

"The idea first came to him in 2006, he recalled, when he was dancing with some street kids in Rwanda. “If I had tried dancing with kids in a mall in San Francisco, say, I probably would have got arrested,” he said. “But in Africa there aren’t any barriers, and there’s immediate access to this kind of joy and irreverence.”


To read the whole interview and fin out more about Matt Harding, click here

Pure Genius

Here's the scene - I go in to wake Cody up and he's in that great place of half asleep, half awake. Kind of dreamily, as I'm scratching his back, he asks me . . .

CODY: What's going on with you today, Mom?

ME: Well, I feel like my head is going to explode, so I'm trying to figure some stuff out

CODY: Why's your head going to explode?

ME: It's just that there's so much I want to do and I don't know which direction I'm supposed to be going.

ME: It's kind of like when you were little and you would go to the amusement park - there's all these cool rides and fun stuff you want to do, but you just can't decide which one to do first. You only have so many tickets, so you want to choose well, and it's hard to decide.

CODY: Hmmm. Well, I always pick the one that's closest to me.

Wow - Pure Genius!! I think I'm going to take his advice.

Brain Explosion

Ever feel like this?

That's where I'm at.

My brain just won't stop.

HELP!

The Fountain of Youth

According to Dr. Manny of Fox News, here are the top 5 foods that are age-defying and better than the fountain of youth - check it out HERE . Incorporate these foods into your daily diet and you will look better AND feel better!

Top 5 Age Defying Foods:

Whole Grains
Whole grain breads, pasta, oatmeal, brown rice, etc.

Olive Oil
Pass on the butter or other spreads or oil - use olive oil and don't feel guilty because it's good for you

Tomotoes
The lycopene in tomoatoes does WONDERS for your body, so load up on salsa, bruschetta, sliced tomatoes, spaghetti (with whole grain pasta and lean meat of course) tomato soup, etc.

Nuts
Beer nuts, Corn nuts and chocolate covered nuts don't count! Walnuts are the best for you, with pistachios and almonds coming in next. Peanuts are good, but not as good. Even though nuts have "good" fat - it's still fat and if you eat too many at a time you'll add some pounds.

Red Grapes (or wine)
All I can say is "YAY" to this one! Finally, something good like wine is good for us! BUT, it's only if you have one glass a day. Go overboard and you do more damage than good. I usually drink white wine, but have been finding red wines that I like instead and am gradually making the switch.


Now, if you really want to look and feel younger, get some kind of fun exercise (yes, fun and exercise CAN go in the same sentence) in combination with this type of food in your diet and next time you order that wine for dinner, they'll probably ask for your ID to make sure you're old enough :0)

Weekend Recap

Friday we took Cody and his good buddy Austin to Michigan's Adventure in Muskegon, Michigan.

The day started out at the new "Thunderhawk" rollercoaster - we were one of the first ones on the ride (the day was overcast and kind of cool, so there weren't a lot of people - it was perfect). Cody and Austin ended up going on before us, then when they came back we got on, got strapped in and ready to go (I was really excited - it's been awhile since I've gotten to ride something like that). Next thing you know our bars came up and they told us to get off the ride and go back to the line. WHAT??!! I was so confused. None of the workers would make eye contact with us and tell us what was going on, so we all just stood there all confused like. Finally, they came over the loudspeaker and said the ride was down until further notice. We decided NOT to wait and be the first ones on the "test" ride, so we met Cody and Austin and headed out to the other coasters.

Cody talked me into going on the Shivering Timbers, which I've been on before and SWORE I would never go on again! BUT, when you have your teenage boy begging you to do something fun with him, it's hard to say no - so I went - and I SWEAR that IS the last time!! It's a great coaster, but it is just fall, after fall, after fall - I cannot breathe the entire time I'm on it! Cody and Austin rode it a total of 15 times that day - I would be puking for sure!

We had a picnic lunch in the truck with the air on, Trent and I took a nap in the truck (I know, we're old), and then we got our suits on and hit the water park. Trent and I went on pretty much everything and we had a blast. Then the boys met up with us and we all went on the Funnel of Fear together - we strategically positioned Trent and Cody (the heavyweights) across from each other so that their weight would balance Austin and I. When we got shot out of the tube into the funnel, I swear we set a record with how high we went - it was hilarious!

That night we went to Fremont, MI to visit our good friend Brenda who just had surgery and then we headed back to the cottage. It was a long day, but what great quality time. There's nothing better than playing and laughing together!

Happy 15th Birthday Cody!

You're my sunshine and you make me smile!

If I can stop one . . .

Sometimes it gets pretty overwhelming the amount of pain I see in my clients and in the world. I saw this poem this a.m. when I turned my computer on and I knew it was God's way of whispering to me and encouraging me to keep going and do what I was created to do.

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Up to his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

--Emily Dickinson

The best way to start the morning

Morning Coffee Time with the Girls!!

Beth and Merri

Donna and Lanette


Loretta and Lanette

Beth and Lanette (she's gonna hate this picture but I love it cuz we're laughing)

Kim - looking gorgeous as usual!

My Mom, Diana - I can't believe she's drinking coffee

Every other Wednesday a.m. this summer I am hosting a morning coffee time by the water for my girlfriends. Today was our second one and my best friend Beth from Arizona came as our special guest!!! We had a great time - it is a wonderful way to connect with people I love and start our day.


The older I get and the more that God is teaching me - I'm learning how important relationships and being in community is. I believe it's what God made us for and that when we get together, laught together, share stories and laugh together, it's a beautiful form of worship to our Creator.


Soooo, I am making a conscious effort to be a "connector" - a person who will provide opportunities for friends to get together and do life together, and I am loving it! Here are some of my very good friends - (if you want to come, just let me know!).

It's one way that I'm "Living Happy . . . and helping others do the same"!

P.S. We missed youi Debbie!!! Hope you feel better!

The Shack

We just got back from 4th of July vacation up at Silver Lake. One of my FAVORITE things to do is read when I'm up there, and I came prepared. I brought a huge bag of books - all kinds of books - study books for coaching, parenting, magazines, health and wellness, a novel or two . . . I'm kind of a moody reader - I never know what I'm going to be in the mood for, so I bring everything! I seriously couldn't even lift the bag into the truck, Trent had to do it for me.

Soooo, when we went through Holland and I sweetly asked, "Could we stop at Barnes and Noble"?, Trent thought I was kidding, but I wasn't. I was on a mission to get "The Shack". Trent pulled in and I went in and got it. I started reading it immediately in the truck and it got me at the first page.

I can't really tell you what it's about cuz I don't want to ruin the surprise, but let's just say that this is one of those books that has marked my life and changed the way I think about a lot of stuff. I feel much more at peace in my life, in my relationship and with God. I believe that everyone on this planet should read this book. It is a fiction story, but I've really never read anything like it.

The story is about a grown man who has suffered great tragedy as a child and as an adult - he is in severe pain. He gets a note in his mailbox from God to meet him at "The Shack" - there, Mack's perception of God is forever and completely changed.

The book is a quick read, but I never pulled out another book the whole vacation. I just kept reading and re-reading, learning something new every time I did. All those other books I brought never made it out of the bag! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET - GO GET IT AND READ IT NOW!!!

Some of my favorite quotes from "The Shack":

Of all the places he sensed the presence of God, out here surrounded by nature and under the stars was one of the most tangible. He could almost hear the song of worship they sang to their Creator, and in his reluctant heart he joined in as best he could.

God has never needed evil to accomplish his good purposes. It is you humans who have embraced evil and God has responded with Goodness . . . Give up being His judge and know Him for who He is. Then you will be able to embrace His love in the midst of your pain, instead of pushing Him away with your self centered perception of how you think the universe should be.

God Speaking:

"When all you can see is your pain, perhaps then you lose sight of me . . . pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly . . . and if left unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place."

"I don't need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It's not my purpose to punish it; it's my joy to cure it!"

"I just want you to be with me and discover that our relationship is not about performance or you having to please me. . . I am good and I desire only what is best for you. You cannot find that through guilt or condemnation or coercion, only through a relationship of love. And I do love you."

"When I dwell with you I do so in the present - I live in the present, not in the past. And for sure I do not dwell in the future you visualize or imagine. Do you realize that your imagination of your future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures me there with you? " "Why Do I do that", asked Mack. "You try and play God imagining the evil that you fear becoming reality, and then you try and make plans and contingencies to avoid what you fear." Mack asked "so why do I have so much fear in my life?" "Because you don't believe. You don't know that we love you."

"This whole thing is a process, not an event. All I want from you is to trust me with what little you can, and grow in loving people around you with the same love I share with you. It's not your job to change them. You are free to love without an agenda."

"Just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn't mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering, you will find grace in many facets and colors."

"If I take away the consequences of people's choices, I destroy the possibility of love. Love that is forced is not love at all. You demand your independence, but then complain that I actually love you enough to give it to you."

"I've been talking to you for a long time, but today was the first time you could hear it. "

"Each choice ripples out through time and relationships, bouncing off of other choices. And out of what seems to be a huge mess, God weaves a magnificent tapestry."