I Can Only Imagine ~ MercyMe w/ London Symphony Orchestra

An Easter Gift of Music

Letter to our Congress

Dear Congress:

Last year I mismanaged my funds, procrastinated and allowed others to distract me with stupid issues without merit, along with reading the new healthcare plan AND this year I cannot decide on a budget, financial plan and strategy or donate all my money to NPR or Planned Parenthood.

Until I have come to a unified decision that fits ALL of my needs and interests, I will have to shut down my checkbook and will no longer be able to pay my taxes. I'm sure you'll can relate and understand.

Thank you very much for setting an example we can all follow.

If you need to contact me I will be at home on furlough, golfing or meeting with Al Sharpton in NYC.

Sincerely, 

Amy L Harden

Navy Veteran and Military Wife

Ultimate Blog Challenge - Day 8

Vision Boards - The Basics (Part 2)

This is a direct how to guide on creating a successful and powerful vision board that will help you to center yourself and channel your positive energy into the board, making the effect much stronger on your life involving you goal or dream for yourself in life. To find out what a vision board is and how to create one, 

My Vision Board for 2005. Created right before I turned 50 years old.  

You begin by being honest with yourself about what your ultimate goal or dream is. We all have dreams that may seem impossible, but they can actually be accomplished with some, determination, powerful positivity and a good solid vision board. After you have made your decision to create your own powerful vision board, start by keeping an eye out for pictures, colors and images that grab your eye. Some you will see and they will grab you with a definite "yes", whereas others you may feel attracted to with a "buzzing" feeling in the pit of your stomach. Not every image that you collect will end up on your board, but until you get them all together to make the vision board you will not know for sure.

Vision Boards

April 2011 Vision Board

I have been working on this Vision Board for several days and I finally completed it tonight, after procrastinating and then putting one together without gluing it...which the dogs came in and knocked the pictures all over the place.  I had to start over.

I have always created Vision Boards but back when I started they were called collage and IF you put a clear paste like medium over it...they were called decoupage.  In any case I loved doing it and after every collage I always felt a sense of emptying, a creative intensity...a release of of ideas, thoughts and emotions on to the page.  They started out with more pictures then words and not that I have been writing more...I seem to create or collage with words instead.  I LOVE collage/Vision Boards...as they tell a story or show where my head was at that time in my life

If you have ever taken a Vision Board class...tell you to break up the field in to four spaces with a center that place your most prominent picture, thoughts, words, phrases. Simply, each section can represent certain parts of your life, like: Love, Family, Work, Play or Health, Happiness and Wealth.  

The Vision Board you see above have several sections that align with what I learning and using a The Ultimate Game of Life Challenge.

In the next few days, I will be looking further in to the power of Vision Boards and how everyone needs to do at least one in their life.  If you would like to learn more about Vision Boards, the BEST resources are John Assaraf's - The Complete Vision Board Kit and Joyce Schwartz - The Vision Board.

Learn how to direct your story, affirm your life and work...focus on where you want to go!

Life Legacy Stories: Taking the Time to Listen

A dear Facebook friend, Becky Shaw Mantooth, recently wrote an inspiring article at her blog Becky's Daily Thoughts about her "dream job"...how she would like to travel the country... even the world and just listen to all the many life stories that people , religions, cultures and countries.  She actually got me to thinking about an encounter I had a few years ago.

These stories of those who are NOT famous, rich and brilliant can be just as amazing...aren't they?  Your blog post brought to mind the most wonderful encounter I had with an older woman in a Walgreen's Drug Store a few years ago.  She was there shopping with a few of her Assisted Living Friends and trying to get around the store with a basket and a walker.  I saw her struggling to get things down off of shelves and carry the basket...so I asked her if I could help her shop.  In the most distinct Brooklyn accent she told me: "Hon, you must be an angel sent straight from God...Yes!"...and for the next hour this delightful curmudgeon kept me enraptured with stories of her family, children and her youth in NYC before, during WWII and after.

Music Monday: Win Francesca Battistelli - This Is the Stuff

This is the Stuff that can make or break a Monday...maybe even a week. I love this little song or ditty by Francesca Battistelli!

On Monday's when life can get away from you or out of hand...with losing the keys, getting stopped by the cops because you are going too fast...running late again...This is the Stuff!

How about the forgotten gas bill that didn't get paid?  Suddenly you remember or figure out you have forgotten, as you are standing in the shower with a full head of suds in your hair and the water has suddenly turned quite cold....This is the Stuff!


God has a sense of humor...He loves to take every day annoyances or small mistakes and teach lessons of gratitude or even bless us. 


...What is the Stuff that gets in the way of your day...BUT...in the end God uses to show you how fortunate you are...in the end, He uses to blesses you every day?  


Please share your This is the Stuff God Blesses stories here with me. I will randomly select one story as a winner.  The winner will receive a download of the Hundred More Years MP3 and will be reposted as a guest blogger on Music Monday, along with another favorite selection from this album.

The next time your day seems to take a turn for the worse...play this little ditty and you will soon see that This is the Stuff that God uses to show us how blessed we truly are.

Please take the time to FOLLOW me here at Blogger. (See the right sidebar)

Join me in the FREE Ultimate Blog Challenge & receive daily blogging ideas http://bit.ly/blogchall#blogboost

Sunday's are for Gratitude

Thank you!!!! To all the people in my life who have guided , taught and loved me along my faith journey...those who are here and those who have passed on. There are some that I wish I had had the chance to tell them, while others I believe knew anyways. I dedicate this song on the First Sunday of April to you (Rose, Helen, Linda, Joan, Deb, Wayne, Paul, Dave, Dad, Nana and many more) and for all of those who daily sacrifice...give of themselves....You are God's angel's here on earth.

Start your week by thanking someone who has gone out of their way to help you, give you a step up... Pay it forward for someone else....tell them Thank you and if you can't tell them...DO what they did for you for someone else!!

p>

April's Word of the Month: Inheritance

I am blessed 100%!!

I am Loved 100%!!

I am blessed 100%!!

I am loved 100%!!

I am grateful for those here who Bless me 100%!!

I was thirsty...and now I am quenched...

I was hungry...and now I am fed...

I was tired...and I am rested...

I was weak...and now I am strong...

I was alone...and now I am NEVER alone!!

I am loved 100%!

I am blessed 100%!

I am humbly grateful 100%!


*This was supposed to post on April 1st to begin the The Ultimate Blog Challenge, but something must have gone haywire...internet gremlins or my technical glitch...any- hoo!!  I pray that this video blesses you as much as it did me. Prepare your heart for the Resurrection by knowing that He loved you so much  that He laid sown His life for you! 

What Does The Ultimate Game of Life have to Do with April Fool's Day?

Another stupid holiday Come and Gone: Bah-Humbug…April Fools Day!!

Please tell me why this day is all so important to people?

I have always disliked…no HATED…April Fools Day!!

Wait a minute…Since my recent participation in The Ultimate Game of Life; I am not supposed to use “absolutes” as there is no such thing as “always”.

Let me restate the above: Since I was young trusting (gullible) child, I have not joined in to the game of tricking or fooling others on this day.

No matter how I have tried to join in or put a smile on my face when someone tries to pull a joke…I don’t quite get the fun of it.  In most cases I believe it makes people look stupid, sets them up to display their weaknesses, doubts or fallibilities. I am always told to lighten up and find the humor in it. 

Bah-humbug!!

Since I have gone through the change there are not too many holidays that I jump in to with enthusiasm… but then I never really quite did as my old fashioned, proper mother with English blood running through her veins was not a great celebrator of holidays; especially those that were drummed up by the card or candy companies.  Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, Traditional Easter…Mum’s and Dad’s Day…you betcha…she would drum up some enthusiasm for the festivities, but…   those holidays would include Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and the commercial side of Easter and St. Patrick’s Day, they were a waste of her time and money.

In her mind, April Fool’s Day was just a stupid day set aside for those folks who loved to pull pranks on others, which she didn’t find humorous at all. (All said with bluster and high brow…give the royal wave at the end)

Oh, heaven forbid…I think I am turning in to my mother!!

…but wait, the saving grace IS the realization that these are beliefs that we can change or eliminate especially if they are holding us back from living the BEST or ULTIMATE Life.

Note to Self: Never Under-estimate the Power of TWITTER and Robin Roberts

First of all, before we go ahead with this rebuttal to my “cyber-hot flashing” Twitter comment of the early morning to GMA’s Twitter feed on Robin Robert’s joining the Twitter-nation:

 I LOVE ROBIN ROBERTS!!  I am one of her biggest fans…I have read her books and followed her at GMA from way back.  In no way was I trying to take a swipe at the most elegant and wonderful Ms Robert’s.  I prayed for her unceasingly during her cancer scare and praised God when she made it through.  I have been in broadcasting myself and she is among the few women in broadcasting that I truly admire. So, with that said and understood, let’s get back to the reason for this blog post…NEVER under-estimate the Power of Twitter!

 I awoke this morning to check my Twitter feed to find the preliminary build-up to Robin’s FIRST Tweet:

”Are you watching? ...Robin Robert’s Joins TWITTER!...TWITTER celebrates 5 years/Robins Roberts Celebrates by Joining”  Tweet after Tweet PLUS I am watching GMA as they painfully build-up to her inaugural Tweet and I am thinking:

“A week ago today, the people of Japan were looking for their loved ones who were washed away from the tsunami or killed by the earthquake…hundreds, if not thousands were/are dead, missing…a country is in destruction PLUS a nuclear power plant is on the verge of a catastrophic disaster that could effect Tokyo, possibly the world! Qaddafi may be killing innocent people…we may be asked to go to war there…the Middle East is going crazy…Gas prices are going up…people are still unemployed…the economy is still in the dumper… the ABC News Team reported from there with great concern….AND now GMA is creating a BUZZ about Robin Roberts joining Twitter like it is the Second Coming!”