If Home Is Where Your Heart Is. . . .

I am a great marketer.  I am!  I'll share a recipe I love the minute my kids say "this is awesome, Mom!"  I'll suggest that a friend should see a movie that I really enjoyed and even offer to tag along.  I'll suggest a lotion or a store or a vacation destination.  I don't think twice when I share things like that with people--friends or strangers actually!  I love to share with people.  (I was actually just offered a job at Bath & Body Works because I was helping some total stranger find the perfect scent and lotion because I love to share.) I also love so many MLM's.  For example, one of my best friends is very in to make up and skin care (she's a professional make up artist) and I know that it is her passion and I believe that she has spent much time researching and testing different products and when she put her "stamp of approval" on a certain skin care line, I hopped on board.  Why wouldn't I?  For one, she is my friend and I...

I got the opportunity to spend a few days with my brother and his wife last week and it was so good for my soul.  I am just awed by them.  They are the most perfect (no one is perfect, I know) couple.  They compliment one another so completely and they both spur the other on to growth and excellence and I love that.  Also, (since I am the big sister, I can say this), I have seen them both grow and mature so much over the past five years and I am so glad that I got to be with them and just hang out. I did get to go to Disney twice while I was there! Jen took me the first night to see Elsa "ice" Cinderella's castle.  It was so much fun to be with Jen and some of her friends from work.  They were all so super excited to see the castle get lit for the first time this season!  And Olaf made his first ever Disney appearance and that was super fun!!!  Then the next day Brady took me to the park and we did a whole lot of going from ride to ride dec...

So, yesterday I grabbed my littles from school early to head to the mountains because there was snow.  Last year I did this and it was a super fun memory, so when I saw snow on the mountains yesterday I decided to make a tradition out of it! They were so excited!  Dax actually said that when he saw snow on the mountains on the way to school that he knew I'd be coming to get him! So, I headed to the mountains with Tiki, Dax and Gabby (and Baylor).  The weather was beautiful and the drive was peaceful.  We to to Molas pass and had a blast throwing snowballs and laughing.  When it was time to leave, we realized that the keys had been locked in the car.  Not great. Thankfully we have AAA and thankfully there were several very generous people around at the time. One guy gave us food, water and THREE wonderful coats to wear while we waited.  He left us with the coats and his contact info so we could ship them back.  Another couple let the kids ...

So, a year ago today I was driving home from work praying about this new health and wellness company I was involved in.  I had been using the products for about 6 months, I had lost 40 pounds and I was feeling great.  Financially things were difficult at camp and I felt like I needed a financial back up for my family.  God really laid it on my heart to give MLM a go.  So, I prayed about it and I asked Him to send me the right people and to guide my steps. When I walked in the door from my commute, I got a call from a number I didn't recognize.  It was one of my sorority sisters (my big actually) who needed a change.  She needed some weight loss, she needed health, but what she was desperate for at that time was to be able and make her car payment.  Her testimony is below.  In the past 52 weeks she has gotten so much more from this company than a few pounds off and a car payment made monthly! And so have I!  I have friendships that I ...

God has me in an interesting (and really) hard place emotionally right now.  It is interesting because I am running all over the country hanging out with great people, working hard and having a great time, but on the inside He really is doing  number on my heart as He turns my world sideways.  You don't need to know all of the details, but there are things that I am struggling with and that I have been struggling with for five years now--but really they date back as far as I can remember. I'm really trying to work on my self development in many areas as I cry out to God to show me the me I need to become.  I'm realizing that in many situations as I deal with certain people (Tiki and Andy for example) that I am the one who needs to change.  Period.  I have been working so hard to get others to change and God has made it painfully and exceedingly clear to me that I need to work on me--mostly because I can only control me. When I went back to my Gran'ma's...

This past week I got to travel to Philadelphia for the first time.  Oh my.  I really like that city!  There is so much to see and do--I felt like I was in a European city.  I didn't get much time to explore because I was there for work (our Gap Year kids are there), but I had a great time for the few days I was there working!  I got to meet with our Gap Year kids and their parents and I got to eat with old staff and two of my professors from Eastern.  It was jam packed and even included a spontaneous trip to a jazz club where our Uber driver was a big star!!! A "Sorry" game piece in honor of my family because that is one of our favorite board games! One of my professors, Beth. My accounting (for dummies) professor, JoAnne. My Uber driver who happened to be IT at the local jazz club! They asked him to play a song or two.  So fun!

Last weekend I got to spend a super weekend in LA with my new Xyng Friends.  It was a great three days!  We were in training for the majority of the time and I learned so much. My very favorite part about the weekend was on Saturday morning when I walked into the green room and the entire executive team was circled up holding hands and praying.  That blew me away.  I knew that I loved this company (and the products), but the face that our executives were praying before the training floored me.  But it only got better from there!  During the training at one point we all stood up and held hands at first just to show that we are all a part of one vision and one goal.  Then one of the members read an amazing quote from his quiet time that morning and it was followed by one of the highest earners in the company praying that as we were all learning these new training methods that we would retain all the things we needed to and that our motives would be p...