Will someone stop this rollercoaster??!! - delia's Blog - The Bakersfield Voice

Trust God's Love

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:48:56 PST

Recently my husband, Tom, and I decided to redecorate our bedroom. As part of the new decor Tom wanted to have "Trust God's Love" scribed above the bed. The art came out beautifully as the attached photo shows, but that is not what is on my mind today.

It seems that since we have posted this note of inspiration/thought I have been presented with a variety of challenges that force me to remember those words.

Many items in my life that are normally stressful have become overwhelming. I continue to question if I am where God wants me to be.

As the days come to a close and I have the few precious moments driving in my car from work to home, I pray and a small voice reminds me "Trust God's Love".

Trust that He will direct me in the best way possible. Trust that He has a plan that I don't understand at this time, but may someday. Trust that just as I take care of my children and do what is best for them, He loves me so much more and will do the same.

So as I start today, still feeling a bit overwhelmed, I will again remind myself to Trust God's Love.

Life List

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:40:13 PDT

Growing up poor in a small west Texas town, my future dreams were very simple.

I wanted to marry a wonderful man, become a mom, own more than two pairs of shoes and live in a house that had a sidewalk, instead of a dirt path.

Thirty eight years later, I can say I definitely exceeded my youthful expectations.

As I approach my 40s, I have decided to create a new set of goals; Call it my life’s list, if you will. A life list is similar to New Year’s Resolutions with more items and and a expected longer deadline.

As I sat down to create my list the first four items came pretty easy:

1. Learn Spanish.

2. Trace my family heritage.

3. Experience salsa dancing.

4. Stay at the Hotel De Coronado.

Given that this is my life’s life, I asked a couple of friends for suggestions.

“Is there anyone you want to reconcile with?” one asked.

“No, I have the wonderful fortune of having no personal grudges,” I replied.

“How about going skydiving?” suggested another.

“No, I have a healthy respect of heights,” I explained.

But while talking to them. I did come up with another idea:

5. Write a children’s book.

I also mentioned my quest to my husband, who chucked about it and reminded me that he wanted no part in this.

This helped spark two more items:

6. Learn to play tennis.

7. Attend a professional boxing match.

As I looked at other people’s life lists online, I came across the list created by John Goddard’s. John Goddard wrote his list at the age of 15, consisting of 127 goals. To date, he has accomplished 108. His passions included visiting far away places, exploring foreign jungles, performing dangerous feats and visiting space.

My life is much simpler.

I am more interested in things close to home and exploring the United States before I visit abroad. But his list did give me a few more ideas:

8. Help build a house for a local Habitat for Humanity.

9. Visit Yosemite National Park.

10. Take a college course.

For my final two items, I sought the advice of my 18-year-old daughter, and I came up with these:

11. Take my children on a family trip to the Grand Canyon.

12. Record my childhood memories for my children.

As she watched me struggle in selecting my items, she asked, “Isn’t there anything you really want to do, Mom?”

“Not, really,” I replied. “I am quite content with my life.”

At that moment, I realized I’ve successfully accomplished what may be the one item on everyone’s list — finding happiness.

I want them cast out of the village!!

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 10:14:19 PST

The saying goes, "It takes a village to raise a child", if this is true I would like a few of my fellow villagers cast out! Before anyone thinks I am being irrational, let me explain. I am trying to raise my children to be respectful, resourceful, functioning members of society and thanks to a few of my fellow villagers this is getting harder each day. Take for example a small thing like Winter Formal.

My 15 year old daughter is a freshman at Frontier. She let me know that formal was coming up and that she wanted a new dress. "Fine", I said,"Save up your money and buy one." You see, in our family the children receive an allowance. My husband & I hope that through this our children will learn the responsibility of handling money and that if you spend the money on nonsense items instead of saving, when you really need/want something you will not have the funds.

The allowance is theirs to spend on whatever they chose. Or as I have explain to them "If the only person who benefits from an item/event is you--then you must use your allowance." To me Winter Formal falls into this category--it is an optional, entertainment event and if she would like to go she should pay for it.

But it seems that other villagers are not of the same mindset. In fact my daughter quickly let me know that her best friend's parents had bought her a dress for formal that cost "over $400!"--WHAT?? Oh and it didn't stop there--another friend was getting extensions costing over $500 for the event, and another was renting a limo! Did I miss something here? these are Freshman & sophomore kids--not the senior prom--no a winter dance!

So you can imagine the tireless conversations we had to have, as my daughter continued to tell me how her dad and I were so mean, unfair, irrational, etc. because the example of the other villagers was no the same.

This is the same type of conversation we have on a continued bases regarding things such as Myspace, a personal cell phone (we have a "shared kids phone" for when they go out), talking to friends after 9 pm, hanging out at the Marketplace, dating, having to buy her own car when she drives to name a few. I am tired of these conversations and really wish a few more of the villagers would use their heads when raising their children rather than handing them any material item asked for without hesitation.

So how did it turn out? Well, my husband and I stuck to our principals as I took my daughter shopping, with her own money . She purchased a darling dress & shoes with the $60 she had saved, spending the final $35 on the ticket to the dance.

The sky did not fall, nor did the earth move because my daughter had to make a financial decision on her own. She attended the same event, had the same fun and when I picked her up at 10 from the dance I could not tell which girls spent $100's of dollars compared to those who wore a sisters hand-me-downs.