Sharing Faith in Marriage

I'm joining with a group of wonderful ladies in doing this Marriage Challenge over at Courtney's place. I find that one can never stop trying to create new life in marriages...especially when you hit the 23 year mark as we will next month!  If you look over at the side bar you will see some other great marriage challenges that you can try.  Its a new year...time for us all to try on some new attitudes!


This article was originally written for the Marriage Monday community on the topic of...Sharing our Faith in Marriage. If you would like to you can click on the link below to visit with the other MM ladies...lots of wisdom in this community!

When I pondered this, the first thing that came to mind is the many, many people who enter marriage in differing stages of spirituality. If anybody reading this can honestly say that you were on the same page...congratulations to you! You are one of the fortunate ones.

During our courting days I realised that my husband did not have the same level of spiritual growth that I had, but I wasn't a burning ember myself so his wanting to stand outside of an afternoon Mass with no singing and  me enjoying a two hour mass in my own parish didn't really phase me.

Early in our marriage, my faith blossomed and grew and I became passionate for Jesus Christ, while my husband's remained like an unwatered seed. My zeal was tempered by the needs of my young and growing family and I stopped attending prayer meetings and praise and worship sessions.   Some time later, my husband's faith bloomed and he was on fire for the Lord...I was in hibernation.

www.clipartheaven.com

I resented that he was able to grow in faith and had the freedom to attend meetings and serve in the Church and be part of a prayer group, when I had given it all up to put the family first. This really hurt our marriage for a while...it didn't help that his zeal blinded him to how much he was NOT giving at home. The children all felt upset that he was not there for them, but giving of himself  to perfect strangers and I became all worked up every time I realised that he had an obligation outside of our home. Church became a dirty word in our house.  In case you didn't know it, this is a spirit of  religion which causes people to be overzealous in their church activities while other aspects of their lives deteriorate.

One day, after a few years of this, we realised that we were supposed to be in a faith partnership, each one encouraging and helping the other along the road to heaven. I had felt left behind while he had forged ahead and this was not what God wanted at all.

I believe that each spouse has the responsibility to boost the faith of the other. We may not worship in the same way, or serve in the same way...our spiritual walks are very personal ones,  but we need to pray together and for each other.

 We need to be united in the core of our faith in order to pray for our family, for our needs and to break any spiritual strongholds by using spiritual warfare. My husband chooses to serve the Church in a tangible way...I like to be in the background. I'm not comfortable being in the public eye, so though we both may write a piece for our parish newsletter, I wouldn't put my name on mine but he is well-known for his articles.

As we all know, there are many ways in which marriage is tested and passed through the fire. It is faith that is the anchor in these times when life's stormy seas toss us about.  There have been times when I am the weak one and it is my husband who will be the one to encourage and bolster my sagging faith. At other times, he is the one floundering and it is I who can be the strong one.

In summary, though we may not walk the path in exactly the same way, by holding hands on our journey, we are stronger... by walking together and allowing God to be the center of our marriage, we have the key to a faith that will see us through.  Standing on my own, I'm vulnerable, but with my husband's support I have accountability and stability and when you have the Lord as the Head of your marriage...you have a whole lot more!  Ecclesiasticus 4:12 "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken" 

There are many in spiritually unequal marriages...your spouse either does not share your faith at all, or has so little of it that you despair that he will ever be the spiritual head of your home. If somebody reading this happens to be in this position...do not despair!  Keep praying for your spouse.  My mother prayed for my father for nearly forty years. His conversion came about shortly before he died of cancer...too late for them to enjoy it together but just in time for him!  If you need a little encouragement, please consider visiting Lynn and Dineen over at http://www.spirituallyunequalmarriage.com/. They are a wonderful duo of ladies in the same position and full of wisdom and encouragement for you.

Blessings to everyone until we meet next time!

Blind Faith, Obedience and Surrender - Lessons from Luke

Hello everyone!

Its been awhile and I meant to have this published last week when I wrote it. Life takes over...you know? I am yet to get back to some kind of order and my online time has been limited to my bible study. The Good Morning Girls have begun our study of the gospel of St Luke, with the theme of  "Living Like Jesus".

So, let me share what I've been learning. What stands out for me in this first chapter are the themes of blind faith, total obedience and surrender to God. This is something I need to keep on growing in...its not easy, is it? This surrendering to God and giving up control...this trusting in Him when life seems to press around you from all sides. Let's take a look at what the first chapter has revealed.

We see Luke, himself, choosing to believe what was handed down by the true eyewitnesses on events that occurred about 60 years before.  He sought after the truth so he could record the truth for others to believe. This, in itself, is a type of blind faith and brings to mind Jesus' words to Thomas in  John 20:29 "...blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe".

The most perfect example of this obedience, trust and faith, however, is Our Lady, Mary the mother of Jesus. A young girl who was too humble to believe she could be elevated in any way was addressed by an angel of God. She listened to Gabriel's message and she believed and immediately surrendered herself to God's will, wondering out loud how God would accomplish this in a virgin, but knowing in her heart that "nothing is impossible for God".

www.freechristimages.org

What a direct contrast to Zechariah, who was punished with muteness because he disbelieved the same Gabriel when he visited him to tell him that his wife would conceive in her old age. Zechariah not only disbelieved but he laughed! An angel of God appears to a 'priest' and he is incredulous! Poor Zechariah! He did not believe in the promises of God until they came to pass, but Mary did.

www.freechristimages.og

Mary is the role model of every Catholic woman who holds her up as the perfect example of womanhood. She was the first Christian and set a very high bar for the rest of us. She was wholly obedient to God, loving Him, serving Him, laying her life down for Him. Whatever came into her life, she had no Plan B...Plan A was always "do whatever He tells you".  These may have been her words to the servants at the wedding in Cana (John 2:5), but they are also her words to us.

In my quest to emulate her in perfect obedience to the will of God, I will sometimes be called to my own following in the footsteps of Jesus. Mary suffered alongside her son for our redemption. What courage must any mother possess to see her son suffer brutality, humiliation and death and yet she remained at the foot of  His cross.  I too may have to suffer, be humiliated or have to put to death the things in my nature that keep me separated from Him and His will.

I pray to humble and gentle like Mary...my wayward tongue often gets the better of me.

I pray to be able to love the Lord with all my heart and to put Him first above all things...this age we live in has so many things to pull at us and take our focus from Him and I sometimes succumb to these temptations.

I pray for the grace to surrender completely  and to trust in Him...my desire to be in control often makes this difficult.

I pray that I will be able to accept whatever He has for me, even a Cross...at times I shy away from situations with a fear of the unknown and willfully cling to my own decisions.

This is why I wish to emulate Mary, this humble, gentle yet strong and courageous woman who pondered things in her heart and chose to trust and be obedient.  May we ponder things in our own hearts, being open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

What does God want of us? What does He want us to do? What does he want to heal in us? Where in our lives is He asking us to obey or trust in Him? Where is He calling us to have courage and step out in faith?
We can only know these things if we open our hearts in honest and deep communication with God.

He speaks...may our ears be attuned to the sound of His voice.

Marriage Monday : Sharing Our Faith In Marriage

Hello Marriage Monday sisters! I wish you all a Happy New Year and all of God's blessings. I am late with this post but that old adage of "better late than never" is still as relevant today as it ever was.

So, our topic this time around...Sharing our Faith in Marriage.

When I pondered this, the first thing that came to mind is the many, many people who enter marriage in differing stages of spirituality. If anybody reading this can honestly say that you were on the same page...congratulations to you! You are one of the fortunate ones.

During our courting days I realised that my husband did not have the same level of spiritual growth that I had, but I wasn't a burning ember myself so his wanting to stand outside of an afternoon Mass with no singing and  me enjoying a two hour mass in my own parish didn't really phase me.

Early in our marriage, my faith blossomed and grew and I became passionate for Jesus Christ, while my husband's remained like an unwatered seed. My zeal was tempered by the needs of my young and growing family and I stopped attending prayer meetings and praise and worship sessions.   Some time later, my husband's faith bloomed and he was on fire for the Lord...I was in hibernation.

www.clipartheaven.com

I resented that he was able to grow in faith and had the freedom to attend meetings and serve in the Church and be part of a prayer group, when I had given it all up to put the family first. This really hurt our marriage for a while...it didn't help that his zeal blinded him to how much he was NOT giving at home. The children all felt upset that he was not there for them, but giving of himself  to perfect strangers and I became all worked up every time I realised that he had an obligation outside of our home. Church became a dirty word in our house.  In case you didn't know it, this is a spirit of  religion which causes people to be overzealous in their church activities while other aspects of their lives deteriorate.

One day, after a few years of this, we realised that we were supposed to be in a faith partnership, each one encouraging and helping the other along the road to heaven. I had felt left behind while he had forged ahead and this was not what God wanted at all.

I believe that each spouse has the responsibility to boost the faith of the other. We may not worship in the same way, or serve in the same way...our spiritual walks are very personal ones,  but we need to pray together and for each other.

 We need to be united in the core of our faith in order to pray for our family, for our needs and to break any spiritual strongholds by using spiritual warfare. My husband chooses to serve the Church in a tangible way...I like to be in the background. I'm not comfortable being in the public eye, so though we both may write a piece for our parish newsletter, I wouldn't put my name on mine but he is well-known for his articles.

As we all know, there are many ways in which marriage is tested and passed through the fire. It is faith that is the anchor in these times when life's stormy seas toss us about.  There have been times when I am the weak one and it is my husband who will be the one to encourage and bolster my sagging faith. At other times, he is the one floundering and it is I who can be the strong one.

In summary, though we may not walk the path in exactly the same way, by holding hands on our journey, we are stronger... by walking together and allowing God to be the center of our marriage, we have the key to a faith that will see us through.  Standing on my own, I'm vulnerable, but with my husband's support I have accountability and stability and when you have the Lord as the Head of your marriage...you have a whole lot more!  Ecclesiasticus 4:12 "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken" 

There are many in spiritually unequal marriages...your spouse either does not share your faith at all, or has so little of it that you despair that he will ever be the spiritual head of your home. If somebody reading this happens to be in this position...do not despair!  Keep praying for your spouse.  My mother prayed for my father for nearly forty years. His conversion came about shortly before he died of cancer...too late for them to enjoy it together but just in time for him!  If you need a little encouragement, please consider visiting Lynn and Dineen over at http://www.spirituallyunequalmarriage.com/. They are a wonderful duo of ladies in the same position and full of wisdom and encouragement for you.

Blessings to everyone until we meet next time!

Happy New Year to All!

Hello and Happy New Year to all of my friends out here in blogland! I have been on a long break...I know! When last I posted here I believe I mentioned that I would be heading to Florida for my daughter's graduation from university and its been quite a whirlwind few weeks for me...and it isn't going to slow down any time soon!

Remember, I mentioned doing a Bake Sale with my daughter? Here are some of the cookies we did. I was really proud of my daughter...she did an awesome job of decorating them. They also made some pretty unique Christmas presents which kept us really busy.

Last Sunday was the the 12th day of Christmas, the Feast of Epiphany, and so our decorations were not taken down until after that...in fact I'm still doing it a piece at  a time and our Christmas tree is still up! I'll be rounding up the family on Saturday to take care of this(not my favourite task).

My children went back to school on Monday and I've been taking this week to get my life/house back in order and try to make some plans for what my goals are for this new year. It is very hard to think when the house seems to be bursting at the seams with noise and bustling. Any order went out the window quite some time ago and, being the somewhat lover of order that I am, I am itching to get back to some level of non-chaos.

So, let me share a little of what I've been up to since last we met. We flew off to Florida for my daughter's graduation and hoped to get in a little R&R at the same time. My husband was as excited as a little child for this 'vacation'.  He and my employed daughter were the financiers of this trip and they wanted it to be the most wonderful experience for all of us.

Of course, things seldom go according to plan, but despite some hiccups and last minute stuff to do with my graduating daughter (like her shipping which was supposed to be organised weeks before!) we still managed to get in a day at Disney and a day at Universal Studios.

My daughter's graduation was beautiful...long (800 graduates) and you know I cried!  I have been forbidden by the lady herself from putting up pictures under threat of dire punishment (in fact I've been warned about using pics of anyone in this blog except for my youngest and, of course, myself) but I figure if its blurry or faces unseen it doesn't count (crossing my fingers, toes and all that they see it that way too!). Having said that,  I share with you a little of our adventures.

There she is, with her gold Honors stole and her red international one. How could a proud momma not want to share? Seeing that she's practically unrecognizable I hope she'll let this one pass!

Our days were hectic and fun-filled, exhausting but happy.  It was cold! Well, it was for a Caribbean girl like me, but the rest of the family enjoyed it and three of them walked around in shorts and didn't complain once. Me? Well, I had to endure the indignity of wearing a Mickey Mouse sweater because that's all I could get in Disney World. I felt a little vindicated when my daughter caved and bought gloves and scarves the next day.

Getting a piggyback ride (check out those cute ears!)

Being entertained by the Dr Seuss characters

Lil& Mom on Merry-go-round

Mom & Dad take a break!

Lil & her sisters on the Teacup Ride

 The girls had a wonderful time(so did the parents) and my youngest surprised me with her lack of fear on the roller coasters and rides she wanted to go on. She (and the other girls) obviously has the genes of some adventurous ancestor since neither my husband nor I are thrill seekers. You should have seen the size of the roller coaster my girls went on at Universal...the Hulk! Maybe some of you are familiar with it? It looked like a heart attack waiting to happen... to me!

Lil met the princesses...the highlight of her day. Of course, she had to use the bathroom while we were in a long line waiting and, while Daddy took my place, I had to hop over some cords to get her there ASAP, whereupon I promptly fell trying to cross over one. Don't worry...nothing got bruised or broken...much! If you were in line waiting that day...yep...I was THAT mom! When we left the park that evening, she said "This was the best day of my life!" How happy that made her dad and sister, who paid for this adventure. (and to her momma who suffered a bruised ego...at least it was worth it!)

Of course, there is so much more that we did, but you have better things to do I'm sure!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and the good Lord blesses you and yours with health, strength and happiness for this new year. I'll be back to regular blogging soon...I have missed this little spot of cyberspace and I'll be coming by to check out your blogs as I catch up with each of you. Until then...be blessed!

Jesus is the Light that never goes out!

 

Darkness...the darkness of sin enveloped the earth when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Yet, even on that dark day, as God expelled them from the Garden of Eden and banished them to a life of blood, sweat and tears, He had a plan for salvation. Later He would make His people a promise...a promise of salvation...He gave them Hope!

Darkness...David descended into darkness when he sinned against God, but God's love prevailed. David repented and God also made him a promise...that His covenant with him would remain forever. 2 Samuel 7:12-16 "When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house in my name and I will establish his kingdom forever...your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me, your throne will be established forever."

Jeremiah 33:15"In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land".  Another gift of Hope!

Darkness...it descends upon me too...whenever I choose to let my sinful nature prevail, when I feel trapped in the burdensome net of worry and doubt and fear, when I feel myself descending into despair or depression. Does it also descend upon you at times?

This week we started our beautiful Advent Study, but my heart was descending into that pit of darkness. My youngest daughter has been ill and at home. She is on medication that is adding hyper-activeness to her already active disposition. My heart was desperate for peace and instead I was thrown into a noise-fest. I tried to play my music, but had to turn it off because it was just adding to the noise level and my battered nerves could not endure any more. Closing around me in its death grip was anxiety about an upcoming bake sale my daughter and I are about to do for the first time this weekend(I'm desperately off schedule at this point and close to panic) a car that would not start and worry about our finances, to name a few!

Oh, but our God is so faithful...He continues to minister and teach lessons even in the darkness we occasionally find ourselves in.  This morning I lit my candle....and it went out. This regularly happens to me because I ought to take it down from its stand first so the air does not have a chance to blow the candle out before it gets into its chamber. As I lit it again, the proper way, and hung it back on its stand, my heart filled with tears as I felt the peace invade my soul and the truth that shouted loud and clear:

Jesus is the Light that never goes out!

No matter how dark things may seem at times...there is always Hope! Jesus is that Hope! He is that Light, that beacon, that guides me back to safety, to truth and to joy. It is to Him I must go to be refueled and refreshed. It is to Him I must go to be reminded that if I keep my eyes on the Light, I will see through the darkness that's threatening to blind me and disable me. I don't need to stumble through the darkness, lost and afraid and overwhelmed...neither do you!

Here is a little piece of the prayer altar that is in my bedroom.  There is my little light, a blessed tea light...small but it burns its way into my heart. Do you see that rose beneath the candle? There is a little story about that rose. It was blessed about a year and half ago on the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes. For my non-Catholic friends, you can click on the link to learn more if you like. When Father blessed these roses, he told us to take them to those who were sick and pray with them. I had three roses, one for my mother and mother in law and one for my family.  

Last year, my husband gave me roses for my birthday. Within a few days, their petals began to fall and soon I was left with only the stalks. This rose, on the other hand, remains intact...not one petal has fallen off, despite the fact that my air condition unit blows directly onto this altar. Why hasn't it fallen apart too? I can only believe that this is another little thing that God does to keep giving me Hope. Hope so I can continue to trust in Him, so I can continue to have faith in Him.

Dear Friends...if any of you are stumbling in the darkness, do not despair. Jesus is the Light that never goes out and I want to be mesmerized by Him. I want to be drawn in, like a moth to the flame. I want the Hope that He gives to me for a better tomorrow to light up my dark little world. This I pray for you as well.

God's blessings to you and yours...may His Light shine brightly upon the darkness! 

Advent starts next week...come take a peek at what I'm doing to prepare.

Hello everyone. I hope all of my American friends had a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving this year. I know you are all now free to focus on Christmas. I can't believe how quickly the year has flown and, almost before we know it Advent is almost upon us! How are you preparing your heart and home for Jesus?

As I write this, I have a calendar and checklist of things to complete before we travel to Florida next month for my daughter's graduation. What needs cleaning, painting and washing...but that's just preparing my home.
What of my heart?

Well, I want to share with you a few ways that I am trying to get my heart ready for Jesus too. First of all I am participating in Courtney's (of Women Living Well) Making Our Home a Haven Challenge. Everyday we have to light a candle and pray for peace in our homes. As the weeks go by, Courtney adds on other tasks, such as playing soft music (personally I like to rock the house with praise and worship...it helps me to keep the energy up you know!)

I am also going to be doing the Advent study with the Good Morning Girls...so much inspiration and encouragement there! As part of our study we have activities to do each week with our families, as well as our personal meditations. I am so excited to begin this! The study starts on Monday and I want to encourage you, if you haven't before, please join in. I promise you will be blessed. Just click on the image to download the e-book. You must subscribe to Good Morning Girls first.

One of the activities we will be doing, in the second week, is to have a Jesus Jar. I totally fell in love with this idea! Thank you to Jen from Good Morning Girls...who I believe is the author of this idea. As most of you know, I am a Catholic and I love Eucharistic Adoration. Each Christmas, the worshippers at the chapel I attend create a bouquet of visits to Jesus as a Christmas present.

Well, here's another way to give Jesus a present. Inside the Jesus Jar you will place random acts of kindness to others or various methods of charity and each day you and your family pull out one of the pieces of paper and do that act for the day. I am choosing to do this all Advent long...not just for the second week of the study because it is such an inspiring   idea! The only thing different that I am doing is that I have two jars! In the second one will be placed all the things my family has given up or done for Jesus. On Christmas Eve, when my family gathers in the living room to pray and read the Christmas Story, we will present Jesus our little bouquet of offerings as a present for His birthday!

I began a new tradition with my youngest last year, courtesy the inspiration of another fellow blogger. Thank you Nicole from Just Like Mary.  I wrap Christmas-themed books (I try to keep them mostly about Jesus, but there are a couple more thrown in there) in purple and pink tissue to match the colours of the Advent candles...1st, 2nd and 4th weeks are purple and the 3rd pink. Each night, during Advent my youngest daughter, Lillie, and I will unwrap a book to read. Last year she was so excited by this because, not only does she love to read. just like her mama, but it was like opening a present every night!

I've never made a Jesse Tree before, but I'd like to see if I could this year. Of course, I may be biting off more than I can chew with all of the other things going on, but the beautiful symbolism of the tree is one that appeals to me quite a lot.  Nicole had a lovely idea for hers last year , one which I think is very doable so I'm going to give it a try, enlisting the help of my third born who does Art.

Lillie also has to make a creche as a project for school this year. She had this same project last year and I chose to make it very simply so that she could do some of the work herself. I printed out pictures of all the key people and animals in the Nativity scene and she coloured them, then we stuck them in to a shoebox, which represented the cave/stable.

This year, they want the creche to be all 3-D. This is going to be a bit more challenging. We'll be working on it together this weekend and she is very excited...especially since her creche goes on display next to our Christmas tree.

Here's our Advent Calendar. You can't see them but the middle scene has little windows which Lillie can't wait to start opening to count down the days to Christmas Eve. That is when we'll unwrap the figurine of Jesus in all our Nativity Scenes and remember what a wonderful night it was over 2000 years ago, when God fulfilled His promise of salvation.


All of these things help to keep our hearts focused on the true reason for Christmas. I am so proud that my six year old daughter knows that it is not about the presents and the Christmas tree and Santa Claus. Don't get me wrong...she was super excited when we pulled out the decorations and went through each box, pulling out things exclaiming over each one. but I know that her heart is in the right place this Season. It helps that she is going to a school that encourages prayer and singing hymns.

 Tomorrow, we attend her school's Christmas concert and she has been entertaining us for the last couple of weeks with all the carols (and accompanying choreography!) that she's been learning.  Its been a joy to watch (except when she starts singing at 6:00am and the rest of the household are still trying to shake the sleep off!) That girl loves to sing!

I hope that you have been encouraged by reading about our own little preparations. I pray for all of you who read this blog...that God will bless your families and your homes and hearts as you prepare them for the celebration of His coming into the world...our Light and Salvation.

More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Me - The Leibster Award

Hello, sweet friends!

I have been nominated by Nicole at Seven Flowers for the Leibster Award which is for the smaller blogs, like mine, to help us to grow a bit.

Here are the rules:

• Post 11 things about yourself.
• Answer the questions posted by the person who nominated you.
• Create 11 questions you want your nominees to answer.
• Pass this award to a maximum of 11 blogs.
• Let them know that you've given them the award.

So, here we go...

11 Things About Me

 1. I have always loved books and have fond memories of working as a Library Rep in my school and later in the library at my children's school. I love the smell of a new book and old leather covers (okay I'm weird, but if you're a book lover yourself you know what I mean!)

2. I wrote stories and poetry from my childhood and throughout my teens. I also wrote sappy poems to my hubby in our early marriage. I guess blogging is now my creative outlet.

3. As you will see by #1, my favourite thing to do is curl up with a good book...watching movies with my family is a close second. Well, snuggling with hubby supercedes them both ;)

4. I was a tomboy growing up and climbed trees, scaled walls and tried to keep up with my boy cousins every vacation we spent at my grandmother's. ( I refused to slingshot lizards though...a girl has to make a stand sometimes!)

5. As #3 might imply...I have never been a fashion plate. I prefer to wear what I feel comfortable in. That is not to say I don't like dressing up, but I'm drawn to classic style and not what's in. (I was probably labeled odd as a teenager by people who weren't my friends...who were odd too!) Jeans and a top is my uniform of choice.

6. When I was young I loved animals (more than I do now) and dreamed of living on a farm in some place like the English countryside or Scotland or Ireland. (Those books I read left a great impression on me!)

7. I always wanted to be a SAHM (I believe a psychologist may say this was because my own mother worked)...this desire was made absolute after I watched the movie "Baby Boom" with Diane Keaton in my late teens...does anyone else remember this one? I embraced the idea of making my own fresh foods, preserves and jams from my own garden and baking up a storm in the kitchen. Well...the reality is not what I thought it would be...but I did get my wish come true!

8.  I really DO love cooking and baking up a storm in the kitchen.

9. I am a serious recipe hoarder.

10. I love the simple things in life...I'm a country girl at heart.

11. The thing I'm looking forward to the most right now is going to Florida to see my eldest graduate from college. Woo Hoo!! I'm so proud...can you tell?

Questions asked by Nicole:

1. If you could have 3 "Do Over's " in life, what would you do over and why?

Firstly, this is a hard question. I've made a conscious decision not to look back at my mistakes of the past because I would find myself grieving at the outcome. However, my first do-over would be to put God first in all things. I think that would have made a huge difference in many of my choices early on. Next would be a different approach to my marriage. I honestly wish I'd had the benefit of the wisdom of older women, other Christian women. I had a lot to learn and I learned it the hard way. Now, I am dedicated to being a Titus 2 woman to my own girls and to whomever God leads me. The next thing I'd do differently would be to purge myself of all the negative childhood influences that shaped me and affected my own motherhood and other relationships.

2. If you could have 3 wishes, what would they be?

I would wish for the ability to really be who God calls me to be...to get past, once and for all, all the little insecurities and fears that hold me in bondage. I would wish for the resources to be a blessing to others more than I am right now. I would wish for my girls to have a clear vision of what God wants for them as they are all at crossroads in their lives where career choices are to be made. (all except the 6 year old that is) for her I would wish that she could just enjoy her childhood with innocence and purity...so easily robbed in this world today.

3. What is the first thing you would do if elected President of the USA?

Oooh...that's a toughie! Especially since I am not an American national and not particularly knowledgeable of American politics. I will say though, as a Christian, I would do whatever was necessary to bring people's hearts back to God and make an intentional effort to bring the nation back to its founding principles, where laws were built upon God's laws and the motto "In God we trust" was actually lived out.

4. If you had an all expenses paid vacation, where would you go?

Hmmm....I'm a Caribbean girl and so I would love to see some of the temperate seasons. I would love to experience a part of winter, (not so sure I could take the cold for long) just so I can actually see and play in the snow....though I love the look of fall. I know that doesn't really answer the question and  I have to say that nothing beats the idyllic ambience of a beach in the early morning or late afternoon and I can get that close to home ;-)

5. What was your first babysitting experience like?

When I was growing up babysitting wasn't very prevalent where I live...it still isn't actually. Folks around here mostly ask grandparents or aunts and uncles to babysit.  I guess I'd have to say when I took my husband's two year old nephew along with us for the ride as we did some shopping for our wedding one Saturday. I remember holding his sleeping body and being at once thrilled and nervous.

6. Did you have your wedding all planned out as a young girl?

Actually, I didn't.  I didn't start fantasizing about marriage until my late teens and even then I didn't really think about what I wanted...except that I wanted roses for my bouquet and my favourite colour blue.

7. How old were you when you went on your first date?

Pretty old by modern standards...17 when I went to the movies with my friend and her older brother (that romance was nipped in the bud by my father) and 18 when I went on my first official date.

8. Any siblings? Are they local? Do you get along?

I have two sisters and we live about 12 miles from each other.  It pains me to say that sibling rivalry can continue on into your 40's  :)

9. Do you get along with your Mom, your MIL?

My MIL passed away earlier this year. We took a few years to come to an understanding of each other...my husband's upbringing and mine were so different. We did become close later on and she came to support me even more than she did her son, my own husband (that one could get me in trouble!)  My mother and I do not share the kind of relationship that I have with my daughters, but we don't bicker and fight either.

10. Do you get along with your Father, your FIL?

My father passed away thirteen years ago. We had a rocky relationship and it is one of my regrets that I didn't do more to overcome his reserve but as the saying goes 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree'. My FIL is very quiet and doesn't talk very much....after 22 years of marriage I still don't know alot about him, except what my MIL has shared.

11. How old were you when you first born again? Who led you to Christ?

Well, I'm a cradle Catholic so God was always a part of my life. I came to a deeper relationship with Jesus, though, when I was anointed in the Spirit after I did a Life in the Spirit seminar when I was 25. I will always be grateful to my sister, who encouraged me to do this with her. I guess that is the moment I was 'born again' into a life in the spirit.

My Questions to the Nominees:

 1. Why do you blog?

 2. What do you think is the best thing about blogging?

 3. What are you most passionate about?

 4. Do you have any dreams you would still like to pursue?

 5. What is your favourite childhood memory?

 6. What did you want to be when you grew up?

 7. What do you do when you need to re-energize?

 8. What is your absolute favourite thing to do?

 9. Do you have any pet peeves?

10. Were there Titus 2 women in your life to inspire and guide you?

11. What do you consider to be necessary to you for a happy life?

The blogs that I have chosen to nominate are:

Keri @ http://www.growinginhisglory.com
Laura @ http://www.wedoersoftheword.blogspot.com
Jean @ http://www.healthyspirituality.org
Marissa @ http://www.forfunreadinglist.blogspot.com
Kelly @ http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com
Beth @ http://www.footprintsinthemudblog.blogspot.com
Nicole @ http://www.justlikemary.blogspot.com
Joy @ http://www.adventurousbeginnings.blogspot.com
April @ http://www.countrymomto4.blogspot.com
Donna @ http://www.simplethingssweetlife.blogspot.com
Beth @ http://www.messymarriage.com

I wish all you ladies prosperity in growing your blogs...I am always blessed when I visit you. A great big thanks to Nicole for nominating me!

God bless you all and your families!