Standing on the Edge

If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try  ~ Seth Godin

I have been standing on the Edge for a while now. On the Edge of something big, on the Edge of adventure, and on the Edge of Fear.

Last Sunday, I heard the message I have needed to hear for months now about facing the Edge. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I automatically sat up straighter in my chair. Then I started frantically searching for a piece of paper and a pen to take notes. Hoping I hadn't missed anything important while this searching was going on.

I was obviously suppose to be sitting in the congregation that day and not upstairs doing the power point slides, which I do a couple times a month. I will admit when I am upstairs the sermon may not always have my full attention, but a good book might :)

Here are some key points from that message that caught my attention:

• I have been given certain life experiences, certain life passions, certain gifts, and certain people in my path (especially in the last year) as He has prepared me for this Edge.
• The Edge comes when He connects with us through ordinary events, and through ordinary people as He begins to take us on an Extraordinary Journey.
• Standing on the Edge almost always creates a dance between belief and doubt.

Haven't you had those arguments with yourself in which you say you can't and that Voice inside of you says "Yes, you can"? You say your afraid and the Voice says "It doesn't matter, you have to do it".

What it comes down to is Belief and Trust. Belief in yourself and Trust in God, or whomever your inner voice is.

Here are some things that have me standing on the Edge:

• Hanging around with my friend Jane has brought about some opportunities that I would never have tried by myself.
• Connecting with new people. As an introvert this has always been a challenge for me. Creating new friends via a Facebook Group last year really opened the door for me on this one. I consider some of these women that I have never met, very dear friends.  Now random new people seem to be popping into my life all the time, and I am loving it.
• Starting a new series on my other blog, PaisleyRainBoots, called Passionate People. This series will be about interviewing and photographing people and the things that they are passionate about. A big step out of my comfort zone, but something I am feeling very passionate about doing. The first one in the series will be posted sometime this week.
• Contemplating going to this photography workshop in Houston in November. BIG STEP! But if I don't continue to push myself I will never grow into who I am suppose to be.

I have been standing on the Edge for a while now, afraid to take that next step wherever it might lead. The time is now to Believe and Trust and step off the Edge.

How about you? Are you standing on the Edge?

Being a Mom

Happy Mother's Day!

My husband would quite often ask me as our daughter got into the middle school and high school years, why did I continue to wake her up each morning, make her breakfast, and then clean up her breakfast dishes. My reply was always "I don't mind, it's not a big deal".

Well this week she is back home from college for the summer, and once again I am waking her up, making her breakfast, and packing her lunch. She does take care of her breakfast dishes now. As I was doing these things this week I got to thinking about my husband's question again.

Then it dawned on me, the reason that I do these things is because I wish my mom had done these things for me when I was growing up. My mom worked 2nd shift through much of my elementary school years. She would still be in bed in the morning when I had to get up. So I was on my own to get dressed, make my own breakfast, and pack my own lunch. I walked to the bus stop with a neighbor girl and if it was raining or snowing, her mom would drive us to the bus stop.

I have always strived to be different than my mom, maybe a bit to the excess, but I am one who always errs on the side of too much instead of not enough.

I have made a very conscience effort to have the relationship with Mallory that I don't have with my own mother. To be fair to my mom, a lot of it isn't her fault. The only child of a loveless marriage, and the daughter of a hot headed, first generation Italian farmer. My grandpa's motto was work, work and work harder. Leisure activities were unheard of in their family. These factors had a huge effect on her.

I know that my mom loves me and my brother, she just didn't have the best parenting role models to learn how to express that love.

I was fortunate to have some close friends growing up that had wonderful relationships with their moms. So I watched and learned, and tucked all the information away for the day when I was a mom. I knew that I wanted that wonderful kind of relationship with my own daughter.

Today, my daughter is 19 and just finished her sophomore year of college. Even though most of the year she lives 8 hours away, we are still very close. We talk on the phone everyday, and I am almost always the first person she wants to talk to when something exciting or interesting has happened.

I treasure the time we get to spend together when she is home. I know that someday soon I will have to share her with someone else, and I may not be the first person she calls when something exciting happens, but I will probably be the second. I know that we will always be close and that we will still talk almost everyday.

FAVORITE MOTHER/DAUGHTER PHOTOS

FORMAT CHANGE

This week marks a format change for Becoming a Finisher...

I will only be posting weight once a month from now on, since Maribeth informed me this week, that at this point I am only going to gain muscle, not lose much more fat. So the 1/2 lb gain/loss is getting too depressing to post every week.

I am in a nice routine with my exercise, so nothing too new and exciting. If I come across something, I will share it with you all.

Recipes will be hit and miss as we move into the summer season. Everybody seems to be coming and going at different times. The turkey bacon wraps I eat when I am by myself are only exciting once.

I will be focusing more on a story every week (hopefully) since the stories to me are the most important at this point. I plan to continue posting self-portraits as well. Since the weather is finally getting nicer, I hope to have more opportunities to get out and take some.

Letting Go - Week 18

“Sometimes love means letting go when you want to hold on tighter.” 

                                                                         ― Melissa Marr, Ink Exchange

We spent part of this last week driving the 8 hours to where our daughter goes to school, packing up her dorm room possessions and driving the 8 hours back home again. Thankfully this was spread out over the course of three days.

It was bittersweet saying goodbye to a couple of Mallory's friends that are Seniors this year and are graduating. We are the parents that like to hang out with our daughter's friends, so we have gotten to know these girls over the last two years. We are so happy for them to be entering the real world and pursuing their dreams, but yet we will miss them next year.

Saying goodbye made me think of something I read in our church newsletter a couple of weeks ago. Our Senior Pastor was writing about the graduating high school seniors, and about letting them go out into the world beyond our little community. He wrote "The Lord calls us to hold loosely people we treasure so that He can take these treasures and invest them where they are most needed".

Thankfully I have a couple of years yet before I have to completely let Mallory go. The tears will flow, but I know that we have raised her to let her go. 

SELF-PORTRAITS

A lovely day out at the golf course yesterday. So I took some "selfies" while driving the cart.

WEIGHT

This week I lost: 0 lbs.

Total weight loss: 7 lbs.

EXERCISE

I started a new exercise class last week - High Intensity Interval Training - here is the description from the class:

 Raise your heart rate, fitness level, and calorie expenditure with short bursts of high intensity cardio, calisthenics, and power moves. Positive team energy fuels this workout you wouldn't do on your own! Elevates mood and metabolism.

What they leave out the description is that fact that you do a lot of coordinated moves on the stepping bench. I apologized to the class saying "I'm sorry but God did not bless me with a lot of coordination". I felt bad for the lady behind me, but I did make it through the class and exactly didn't hurt too bad the next day. So I guess I will be going back.

FOOD

I have been instructed by my personal trainer to eat more protein and less carbs, especially for breakfast.

So I made these egg and broccoli muffins ahead of time and stored the extra in the refrigerator, then just heat in the microwave for a minute of so in the morning, along with a couple of slices of bacon, perfect protein.