2 Sweet Teeth

First there was one. In days there was two tiny, sweet little teeth.

What joy!! This video is nostalgic seeing Sofia about to bite her momma. Oh my sweet daughter, you have met your match in life with this one! ha ha

What Money Cannot Buy

Rich is the person who ...

  ... sleeps well,

      ... has time,

          ... knowledge,

               ... respect,

                   ... good health,
                       
                        ... happiness,

                             ...friendship,

                                   ... faithfulness,

                                        ... and a home.

Don't read these so quickly. Linger a moment ... these are important.

I've always said everything in life that is the most important, money cannot buy.

Brooke's Senior Photos

Brooke had the best time doing her Senior photo shoot.

I was out of town and Mariah went on my behalf and shared this fun event with her. Brooke chose to have her Senior photo shoot in a favorite place her and Alex like to go to. Our thanks to our photographer who traveled and did these shoots in both my daughters chosen locations. Hundreds of photos later, here are our favorites ...

She felt beautiful and she is! Brooke is a natural, feminine, and elegant beauty.

Micro-cheating

Micro-cheating is the new term for infidelity in the digital age.

A trendy term. An initial curiosity that most definitely becomes a habit. An action that opens a path you ought not entertain.

Micro-cheating.      Flirting.      Curiosity.

Pick a term. If you are hiding conversations from your partner, you're micro-cheating. It's behaving inappropriately with others you wouldn't want your partner to know about.

Technology with its unlimited access is Pandora's box. [According to Greek legend, the first woman, Pandora, actually sent as a curse to Zues' men and was given a present upon her marriage. The present was a box that she was told to never open. Needless to say her curiosity got the better of her (like eating forbidden fruit) and she unleashed eight demons unto the world. The first seven being deadly sins, and the last, which she managed to capture, was hope.

Today, much like Christianity's idea of biting forbidden fruit, opening pandora's box refers to getting into a situation over which on has very little control over. -Urban Dictionary.]

• Flirting with someone other than your partner
• Meeting up with an ex behind your partner's back
• Lurking an old flame's social media
• Exchanging suggestive texts

"Liking" photos on social media under the disguise as a friend, sounds harmless. It's flirting without directly admitting your attraction. It's testing the waters to see if they "like" your photos, because you'd like them to. The liking begins and your interest is piqued and the opportunity is opened.

The "online disinhibition effect" is a term for the loosening of social restrictions and inhibitions that are normally present in face-to-face interactions that takes place in interactions on the internet, which suggests people disclose more personal information more quickly online, which can create an illusion of intimacy and can cause relationships to intensity quickly.

Call it a grey area, but if you are curious, engaging in an emotional connection, an online intimacy and attraction with someone other than your partner, micro-cheating will open that opportunity.

A cheater is a cheater. I believe it does start with a curiosity, that gradually becomes okay, then a habit, then a lifelong pattern.

Have you ever met a person who cheats on their relationship? I believe there are two kinds: one who in a perfect storm who fails once, regrets it and gets their relationship back on track with no other situations AND more often, the one who cheats where you see their lifetime pattern of need for attention and that never, ever, ever changes.

Love is an action, not a feeling.

Respect and protect your relationship. Be careful when things don't feel perfect, curiosity arises, and resist the temptation to just look. Every choice determines an action and before long you are on a path you never intended.

And, pay attention to your partner ...

A Little Thumb

Her bottle + fresh diaper change + snuggles on my lap + her favorite Netflix cartoons (My Little Pony and Minnie & Mickey Mouse w/Donald Duck and Huey, Dewey & Louie) = my sweet little granddaughter was ready for a nap. 

She has her own bedroom in my home, my former office/prayer room bright, airy and calming. I laid her down on her bed and she rolls around touching her pretty pillows. Laying next to her, our heads touching, I read her books when I could feel her little face looking at me.

It was such a sweet moment as I continued to read to her, wondering what she was thinking. 

Her little hands touching my face as if I was distracted and didn't notice. I let her take her inquisitive time when she put her little thumb in my mouth. Her beloved little thumb. 

Sofia loves her thumb.

We read books, talked to each other very close face to face and she fell asleep. 

I climbed out of bed, propped pillows up so she wouldn't roll and checked on her often. About 1-1/2 hours later I peaked in on her as she was just waking up and I go over to watch her. Her little eyes open and she sees me smiling at her. I want her to know I am there and I fall in love over and over with that sleepy little smile that lights up her face as she wakes up happy. 

All these moments count. 

Sofia loves my long, dark curls. Her eyes often wander to them and she reaches out and wraps her chubby little hands to touch them, one hand then both. I don't mind. I hope she has long, dark curls one day, too.

Yes, I lose hair in her tight little grips, there is so much though. I see it as less to thin out when I get my hair cut. 

Having a granddaughter is far, far, far greater than I ever dreamed. 

Her sharing her thumb with me was the sweetest thing. 

1st Tooth

I love her gummy smile, but look who now has their 1st tooth!

Enflamed Truth, Wisdom and Power

"Meaningless! Meaningless! says the teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless! - Ecclesiastes 1:1

What a proclamation King Solomon opens with in Ecclesiastes.

What a powerful declaration he shares throughout the entire book.

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind,
nothing was gained under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens;
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot ... - Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

You can feel his heartbeat quicken as the passion of his words enflamed with truth, wisdom and power as he warns those around him he did it, he tasted it, none of it ultimately mattered!

Ecclesiastes, a short book in the Bible, 20 easy pages.

How to live.

How to give our life meaning.

When you deep dive into this book, the words come alive. Then, you look up and see the chaos and shallowness in lives all around, and you can quickly pick off the ones chasing after the wind.

Everything temporal must be seen in light of the eternal. Fulfillment and happiness are in God alone.

Now that all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil. - Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 

Power, fame, approval and money is self-focused. If emptiness feels like a familiar friend, read Ecclesiastes and shift your focus.