Coming to All Our Senses

If I haven't said it before - and I think I have - I am truly blessed to have two brilliant children.

My oldest, Jeffrey, is an intellectual genius that has an incredibly high IQ and learns things at a very fast pace. Usually the first time he's exposed to them. He reads a book on a topic and then recants it back in more detail than I usually prefer but I find it fascinating the detail to which his memory goes.

My youngest, Sam, is as creatively genius and gifted at composing music as my oldest is intellectually smart. He "wrote" his first song before he turned seven. He doesn't actually "write" them as much as they just sort of flow out of him. We're fortunate we live in the technology age as we've connected his electronic piano to the PC and then have a program that records all his key strokes as he plays them. He cranks out beautiful three-part masterpieces in about a half an hour. I've watched him do it and it is awesome.

Why am I bragging about how brilliant my kids are????

I guess it's because it really doesn't matter how smart or talented we are if we don't have common sense AND choose to use it. I try to impress this on my kids every day.

For most of us this 6th sense isn't so common at all and if fail to apply it what will happen to us? To our families and to our world? Unfortunately, I think we're starting to see the answer.

So... I encourage everyone to keep their eyes open, listen to what's going on around them, stop and smell the roses sometimes, stay in touch and do things in good taste. BUT... if we don't exercise our common sense the rest of what we have won't matter.

Common is the 6th Sense... are you going to use it or lose it?

Keeping the Faith

Right now life is feeling "prickly". There are many things that seem to be poking at me trying to drag me down. I've had a rough couple of days at work; I hurt my back badly over the weekend and am in almost constant pain; my husband has been struggling with his health since last fall; my son is dealing with food allergies that make it difficult to feed our family; I drive by a house twice a day that is a constant reminder of hurt feelings which dredges up old hurt feelings from many past relationships; I've had to work overtime to get things done at work which is keeping me away from my family at home, and when I get home I'm too tired to do much of anything...

It just feels like things are piling up and trying to drag my mental attitude into negativity. So I'm working harder and harder to pick out things to keep my thoughts positive. I know that these rough days at work are temporary - this task is almost complete and I'll be able to move on to new things; I know that my back is improving and I'm seeking treatment for that to help (my sons assisted with massages last night!); my husband's health is trending towards improvement; we're exploring acupuncture as a treatment for our son's food allergies; and I'm trying to focus on the many wonderful relationships that I have now.

I drive 45 minutes to and from work. I don't like the fact that it adds to the length of my work day, but there are so many things that I enjoy about my drive. I watch the flowers change in one spectacular garden on my route; I watch for the many beautiful horses, big and small; I check the pond to see if my heron is there (one day had to slow way down to miss hitting a huge snapping turtle crossing the road); I observe the structure and details of the barns as the sun hits them; I wave at the crossing guard by the school I pass; I look for deer in two spots; and I enjoy my music!

I figure the harder things stack up against me and try to pull my attitude down, the harder I'd better work to keep it positive. I'm tired. I'm hopeful that things will turn around again by the end of this week! But if it doesn't, I will keep working hard to stay positive.

Recommended Reading

I never have enough time in the day to read all the things I want to read. I don't pay for a newspaper. It usually ends up spread out all over the floor and it is full of mostly bad news (and I'm a journalism major!) and advertising many things that are not necessary. And I'm in advertising!

I get books recommended to me all the time and I've bought several of them or check them out from the library. They usually end up just sitting on a shelf. Fiction is not an option as the books I want to read I'm seeking a purpose to giving up my time in the hopes of gaining knowledge and improvement in return.

But you know what? I still don't read much. Between my day job, homeschooling my brilliant 13 year old son; taking care of my two boys after school, monitoring the dogs; trying to start a new business venture; dealing with a long-term chronic illness; making most meals around the house and trying to be a loving husband. It doesn't leave much time for reading. But, I do believe you make time for what is most important to you.

Our family started attending a new church over five years ago. It was time for a change in churches as we weren't being fed by our current church family so we started to look elsewhere. Nothing against our old church... I even served on their council and chaired several committees and even taught 6th grade Sunday School before I had my own kids.. but we weren't feeling supported.

The first church we tried was also the last church we tried. We noticed a strange "occurrence" when we were walking into our first service. Almost everyone walking into church was carrying a "book" and we weren't carrying anything. What could this book be? Upon further review we found it to be a Bible. I didn't even know where mine was. It was pretty humbling.

You see our church teaches directly out of the Bible and encourages daily Bible reading. Something that my old church didn't really emphasize. So... we decided we wanted to be a part of this new church so we better track down our Bibles and dust them off and open them up.

But... where should I be reading? What would help me the most? Some of my friends and one of our pastors encouraged me to read in Proverbs every day. As many of you know Proverbs has 31 chapters and that matches up nicely with 31 days in many months... sometimes I have to read more than one chapter in the shorter months but their short! :)

Read one a day... month after month and it will transform the way you think. Proverbs was written by Solomon - who many believe to be the wisest man to walk the face of the earth. Most chapters take less than five minutes but I caution you to slow down and evaluate every word.

Some of my favorite verses include "grey hair is a crown of splendor" and verses about "quarrelsome wives". Mine is not! But also "iron sharpens iron" and "motives are weighed by the Lord".

Our design "A Proverb A Day" encourages me to read my Bible every day and I hope it will for you as well.

Check it out at http://www.fogpromotional.com/

Old Game Shows

A couple of years ago I participated in a Truth Project class. This is produced by Focus on the Family and hosted by Dr. Del Tackett. I really enjoyed the 13 weeks of the class and highly recommend it to anyone interested! They cover a Biblical view of many aspects of life including science, American history, and politics. It was very enlightening for me and our class had many great discussions.

The key point in this class is that the Bible is Truth and you either believe that it is 100% truth or it can't be truth at all. Jesus stated that he is the truth and told Pilate that "for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth." There are many people out there who want to take parts of the Bible and say this is truth but that is not; or this used to be truth back in Jesus' day, but it's not really applicable now, today.

The Bible also says "small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." So it truly is Truth or consequences. Choose truth! Choose life!

Helping Others Help Others

Our world would not survive without non-profit organizations. What would we do without schools, churches and other not-for-profit civic organizations? They help others...

It's no secret the economy is hurting right now and people are scared about their futures and cautious with their monies. Giving to these organizations who help others is down significantly and they can't help as many as they would like (or need to). It's a vicious circle... actually a downward spiral.

As our "mission" has been stated before we want to improve the way the world thinks. We started our designs - and continue to develop designs - with that purpose in mind. We have had an overwhelming response to this blog and I want you to know that I pray for each visitor that comes to this site.

As some of you know... we had our designs but we didn't have a way to market them in a way that we could manage and a method turned up. If you haven't seen our online stores check them out at http://www.fogpromotional.com/ and http://www.i-cubedpromotional.com/. Also, see our first post the story behind the stores. We're so excited to have that store tool to offer our designs to the world through the internet - and improve the way the world thinks - in a way that we can afford.

Once we got over our excitement we started thinking that there were other organizations that could benefit, too. I've been on many boards and committees of non-profit groups over the years and by far the biggest hassle was FUNDRAISING! Who was in charge? What would we sell? How to handle the money? Who would coordinate volunteers? And so on. But without fundraising the doors wouldn't stay open. Uggggh!

I've also sold promotional products (products with messages, etc.) to many groups over the past 15 years and found that selling them something in advance with the hope that they could resell it and recoup not only their money but make money, too, was a risky venture at best.

And let's not even talk about the kids going door to door selling candy bars, popcorn or cheese balls and loosing the order forms or the check (or both) and the parents losing their minds!

If you can relate to any of this we have a solution.

(pause, for effect)

We'll build an online store/gift shop for your organization that will help you raise visibility and raise funds. Imagine your own designs and messages on apparel (more than t-shirts) and merchandise being made available to your "community" 24/7/365 through the internet. We're building these stores at no cost and their's no "hidden charges" either. All you have to do is tell your "community" about it!

There's so much more detail that I can't go into here but if you're interested check out http://www.ffdemo.gigabitprint.com/. We've created this "show and tell" type store to present the capabilities. This store concept can be adapted to fit your needs.

The basics are
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Let us help you raise visibility and funds for your organization so you can continue to help others. If you'd like more information e-mail me at pwrpack66@gmail.com. I'd be honored to work with you!

Make a Joyful Noise!

This design has a lot of history behind it. I love to sing and crank the music in my car. Music has always been part of my life - my mom played the piano and my dad played the ukelele and both sing well. My nine-year-old son has been composing music on the piano and keyboard for a couple of years and is fabulously talented! My mother-in-law is a great singer and piano player and my father-in-law...well...he can't carry a tune in a bucket but he still makes a joyful noise.

I love the music at our church. The first time we attended, our older son commented on how much he liked the music and asked if we could come back. That was tremendous progress for him to be excited about church. And it's so much fun to hear the same worship music on my favorite radio station KNWI 107.1. It helps me keep focused as I drive to and from work; it reminds me of what is the most important part of my life and what I want to concentrate on throughout the day.

This was originally designed for my sister-in-law Jean and nieces Tracy and Sarah. They are all fabulous singers! I was planning to make a Christmas ornament for them with this design but our family system got changed up a bit and we ended up with different people. But those three certainly inspired me on this one.

Psalm 98 paints such a vivid picture of worship being joy-filled and loud! It doesn't say "make a perfect noise" so don't worry about your pitch - just sing with a worshipful heart!

Right and Wrong

Most of the time the right thing to do is also the toughest thing to do. It usually makes for an interesting battle inside my soul.

As I've grown to be a stronger follower of Christ, I see multiple examples of this in the Bible. But nothing is more evident than when God gave his only son to die on the cross for our sins. Now that wasn't easy! But it was the right thing to do. Jesus died on the cross to save us because we were incapable of saving ourselves due to our sinful nature. Jesus set the ultimate example.

I am challenged to do the right thing everyday. In my job... in my parenting... as a husband.

Why has it become so easy to lie and cover the truth today? If given the choice I'm tempted many times to not do the right thing. I need a constant reminder. I need to go to church. I need to read my Bible. I need to surround myself with good friends that will hold me accountable for my actions.

Most of all, I need to realize that I will not always to the right thing but I need to want to do the right thing. When I don't do the right thing I need to beg for forgiveness and call on the the mercy of family, friends or the person I've wronged but ultimately beg for God's grace and do everything in my power to learn from my mistake so that I don't do it again.

It is said we should learn from our mistakes. I agree completely. What do you think? Where would we be if we didn't? Do the right thing even though it's likely not the easiest choice. See where the world ends up. See how you turn out.

Buy this design on many items at http://www.i-cubedpromotional.com/ to serve as your reminder