More Mother’s Day Gifts

9 May

Anna’s Mother’s Day gift to me was a gift certificate to my absolute favorite charity – KIVA.  If you aren’t familiar with KIVA it is the latest in micro-lending.  For $25 you can lend money to women and men across the globe who are entrepreneurs.  They pay you back over a period of one year.  So, it’s a loan program – not a hand out.  You choose who you wish to loan to.  I’ve been a member of KIVA for almost a year, and as of today have made 12 loans.

Anna and I sat down this morning to finalize my Mother’s Day loan, and it didn’t take long to make our pick — in fact our pick was made for us …  by Liz.

The very first loan application we saw was for a 20 year old woman living in Peru named Lizbeth!  Are you kidding me??

Anna and I looked at each other and burst into laughter.  How could we NOT choose Lizbeth??  Of course we did.

Another stunning example of how Liz shows us that she is still very much a part of our family!

I love you Liz and Anna!  I am SO BLESSED to be your Mother!

I Long for NYC!

8 May

Exactly one year ago tomorrow Anna and I jetted off for five fabulous days in the Big Apple.  I fell completely in love with New York City and I want to go back.

Thinking back on our trip, I have a huge longing in my heart to relive it all again exactly as it happened. 

The Universe has been reminding me of my wonderful trip in many ways over the past couple of days.  I really don’t need any reminding, I completely keep re-hashing it all again and again wishing I could turn back the clock.

But … it’s all so good.  And, of course, Liz is in the midst of it all.  (Why would this surprise me?)

Yesterday I received a call from a publisher in midtown Manhattan.  I was thrilled to learn that Angels on Earth magazine will include my story of Liz’s Letter in an upcoming issue.  I’m giving Liz major credit for this marvelous happening in my life.

Why, you may ask?  Well, first of all I have tried for at least two years to get this published by a major magazine with no luck.  Last week, after changing the title of the story to, The Unexpected Blessing, and making a few other changes, I decided to give it another try and sent it on to Angels on Earth.  Of the 12 months of the year it could be published, it will be published in the SEPTEMBER issue.  Why is that significant?  Because, Liz was born on 9/12 and she died on 9/20 … September plays a very significant role in the lives of my family and I … so of course it would happen in September.

Secondly,  Sunday is Mother’s Day … receiving this wonderful notification so close to this special holiday says Liz.

So, thanks Liz … aside from another trip to NYC, I couldn’t have asked for anything better.  I can scarcely fathom the number of people who will now  read our story.  And, I know it will reach those who are hurting and in need of an encouraging word.

This morning, I turned on the television only to see Matt, Meredith, Al and Ann in the crown of the Statue of Liberty … then Ellis Island, all places Anna and I visited just one year ago.   Why, Al even boarded one of the same buses that Anna and I rode on many times!  It shuttled us all through Manhattan and we saw all the wonderful sights of the Fashion District, Central Park, the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Tribecka, and  Times Square,  just to name a few.    Oh, the yearning!!! 

It’s no accident that those segments ran today – Oh I get it,  Universe – I get it, really I do!

Happy Mother’s Day Everyone!

We All Make Mistakes … and Some Are Deadly

30 Apr

I received this video clip in my email today and  I can’t quit thinking about it.  It’s so powerful – and it hits very close to home.

It is proof, once again, that our actions impact the world.  I usually speak about the good that our actions can create.  Not today though.

Please watch:

http://www.7rendered.com/life/march/MARCH_sin.html

Watching this video brings back painful memories of Liz.  Did she drink and drive?  My gut says yes, but she would never admit to it.

Thank God she never killed anyone … but she did have an accident where she was driving and she rolled our car with two of her friends inside.  Everyone walked away with bumps and bruises … but it could have been totally different.

In my eyes Liz contributed to her own death. 

I will never forget receiving her death certificate some six weeks after 9/20/03.  I opened it and read that she had died of smoke inhalation … that was no surprise … but a large, contributing factor to her death was alcohol consumption … sadly, that didn’t surprise me either.

Liz loved to party … she smoked – she drank – she loved to “have fun.”  As her mother, it drove me wild with fear and anxiety and no one, and I mean no one, could tell me how to get her to stop.

Minutes before the fire broke out she had been sitting down on the porch talking, drinking and smoking.  Mistakes … that had deadly consequences.

Can she be an example of what NOT to do?   Yes.  Was that her purpose for this life?  Yes, I believe so, in part.

Do I forgive her?  Yes, always.  Does it change the way I feel about her?  No, never.    Am I still proud of her?  Yes, always.

Please pass this video on … it was meant to be shared.  Together we CAN make a difference … one person at a time.

Another Stunning Example

20 Apr

If my last post didn’t convince you of God’s intimate presence in our lives, perhaps this one will.   This story comes directly from Phil Bolsta’s blog, http://bolstablog.com

 Keep in mind, though,  that whether or not this gentlemen listened to what he was being told, he still would have been fine – the outcomes would have been completely different, of course, but HE still would have been fine.  Different lessons would have been learned, but HE STILL WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE.

Now … on to the story:
When Christopher Barbour, a clairvoyant intuitive and writer who assists law enforcement with difficult cases, told me these two amazing stories about how his angel saved his life, I knew I had to share them here. Goose bump alert!

As far back as I can remember, I have always felt watched over and cared about by a divine mysterious creator, and what I would call a spiritual support system. Thankfully, this inner life of mine was not foisted upon me by organized religion or well meaning family members—it’s always been there, and always will be there.

When I was seven, episodes of clairvoyance and intuition spontaneously began to bubble to the surface in my life. These experiences always took me directly to the sacred and the mysteries that we all share. That intuitive wiring of mine would eventually become part of my work, expressed via a path of mysticism and service.

If you asked me prior to when I reached my 30s if I believed in angels, I would have said, ”Of course!” I would have answered that question looking through the prism of faith, combined with an inner knowing, as well as through reading accounts in ancient sacred texts, and listening to stories people have shared with me over the years about encounters with angels.

angel-in-forest

In the fall of 2002, I was dealing with some difficult personal and family issues and was rebounding from the death of a friend who had a long struggle with heroin addiction and eventually died of complications from hepatitis. I was in such a state that no amount of praying, meditation or discussion with my support system was helping. I was in a crisis mode unlike anything I had experienced before, and decided one blustery fall day, to take a long walk in a forest near my home in northern Arizona that many have described as “magical.” Walks alone in nature had become my way to deal with my mysteries and some of the darkness of my work, so it seemed the perfect thing for me to do under the circumstances.

My walk began normally but within about forty-five minutes, I had become so entrenched in my own head and problems that I hadn’t realized that I had veered off the path and was walking through a thicket of small trees and shrubs. I kept walking for several more minutes, approaching a line of low shrubs, when I heard a woman call my name. The voice that called “Christopher!” was female, and though I couldn’t place her, she sounded familiar; she shouted my name as only someone who knew me very well would.

I froze on the spot and looked to my left where the voice seemed to come from, and briefly saw a beautiful woman with long, light brown hair and a light colored diaphanous gown. She disappeared after a few seconds, before I was able to get a good look at her. I looked down and realized that I was no longer on the path, and that if I had taken one more step, I would have fallen forty feet onto jagged rocks below. I stood there, alone in the forest, closed my eyes and said to her, “Thank you, thank you, thank you . . .” 

car-ditch-snow

In early December 2004, I booked a trip back to the east coast to see my family in Connecticut for the holidays. I had arranged my trip so that I would return to Arizona on January 4th, after the holiday travel rush. One evening, I got into bed and fell into that state just before sleep called the hypnogogic state.

That is when a profound vision was downloaded into me. I was shown a scenario, seen from my own point of view, of flying back to Arizona from the east coast. It was stormy and raining as the plane landed. I looked to my left and in the seat next to me, there she was again, my angel—beautiful, light-filled, with long hair—the same woman who had called my name that day in the forest two years earlier. She was so light-filled, in fact, that I couldn’t look at her for more than a few seconds for fear that my eyes couldn’t take the brightness.

I was shown myself getting into the car that was to pick me up after my flight home, and then shown the driver and me on the highway north of Phoenix whizzing along. The car hit a patch of ice and I saw myself as the car began to slide off the highway and crash and come apart. I saw the windshield coming closer as I was thrown out of the car. There in front of me, seconds before what would have been my death, was my angel, smiling and radiating peace that I could feel deep within. I awoke with a start, shocked by what I had been shown with such razor clarity. I laid in bed for some time thinking about the vision and pondering canceling my trip east. It was very clear in the vision that I was flying west when this event happened, after I had been to the east coast. As I fell back to sleep, the vision came a second time, exactly as it had played out the first time. It was as if God and my angel didn’t want to leave room for denial or any ”it was just a dream” nonsense. It worked. I awoke the second time with a start and simply said, “Thank you God, thanks guys, I get it, I get it.”

After the visions, I was left with a strong inner knowing that as long as I didn’t return on January 4th, I would not die. I went back east for the holidays and after a few days, I checked the weather reports for Arizona and learned that a series of storms was heading toward the state. In fact, the part of Arizona where I live was bracing for severe floods and storms capable of producing dangerously icy conditions. I called the airline and extended my stay in Connecticut for a week, knowing that it was important, if I wanted to live, not to return to Arizona on January 4th.

I began to think of the driver who was to pick me up at the airport on January 4th and drive me home. As he was driving me to the airport in Phoenix at the beginning of my trip, he said that he would be dropping someone off at my airline around the time of my return, so it would be he easy for him to pick me up and  drive me back home. I attempted to tell him about the visions I had but I was unable to get through to him. I learned early in life that when it comes to visions, people are either open or they’re not-—many, especially men, are unreachable until an experience actually happens to them.

As I sat in my mother’s home in Greenwich, Connecticut, I wondered, Should I call the car service to warn them, not caring if I sounded like a goofball? I decided to do that, and though I tried to call the number at least a dozen times over the course of several days, my call would never go through. It felt to me as though Heaven had something up their sleeves and it was not my business to mess with it. As January 4th neared, I sent the driver grace and prayers for his safety and greater good.

angel-protecting-planeI returned home to Arizona completely intact. I had missed what friends and neighbors would eventually call “the 100-year flood.”  A few weeks after my return, I was catching up with a friend who works in law enforcement and she told me that in early January, while I was away, there had been a terrible accident on the highway north of Phoenix. I froze as she said, “Thank God, no one was in the car with the driver. He lived, but there was virtually nothing left of the rest of the car.”

Several weeks after that, in a synchronicity that only the gods could arrange, I ran into the man who would have been my driver that day—the man who survived the crash. He proceeded to tell me that on January 4th, after dropping a woman off at the airport, he had a very close brush with death as he made his way north on highway I-17. His car hit a patch of ice on the highway north of Phoenix and there was a devastating accident. He told me that the police could not believe that he lived. Only the cage around the driver was intact, the rest of the car was tangled, jagged metal. When the police found out that he worked for a car service, they said, “Thank God you didn’t have any passengers. There’s no way they could have survived.” Then he told me something that I found both fascinating and chilling. The accident occurred in the exact spot where he had pulled over years earlier, to pick up a dead owl and give it a respectful burial.

That driver was scheduled for a close brush with death for reasons known only to God and that man’s spiritual support system. This God we experience and speak about knows the tiniest details about our lives. It was known that this brush with death was scheduled and necessary, and that I was “accidentally” scheduled to be in that car. It was somehow necessary in the whole scheme of things that I was not to reach the car service or the driver to give them a heads up. It felt as if God and my angel were saying, via the visions I was sent

We want you to know this is on the horizon. You can come home if you want, but we think you are needed on that bedeviled planet and have more work to do. It’s up to you, you can come home or stay. The choice is yours. We will be watching very closely.

Needless to say, I chose to stay. What I have learned through these two experiences is that we are more closely watched, and watched over, than we could ever imagine. I often wonder, “Just what is this unseen world that exists and cares so much about us within the vastness of time and space?” I am humbled, and I often cry, when I think about how much this mysterious creator and my angelic companion care about me.

I have never taken one walk in the beauty that surrounds me since without thinking about my angel and the day she called my name with such compassion, saving me from breaking my body in two. Her beauty and light is hard to describe and my love for her knows no bounds. She was there, right beside me in the visions of the car crash, letting me know that she would walk with me to what lies beyond the veil of death, where our lives really begin.

The visions themselves came from the One who created all visions, and wired us with intuition and spiritual gifts and skills and the stamina to not care what others think, the One who waits for us to awaken from our human slumber, who longs for us to remember what we already know.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * 

 This story was taken from Triumph of the Spirit, Phil Bolsta’s blog.  To learn more about Phil or to read other great stories (including a couple of mine) go to:  http://bolstablog.com

ABOUT PHIL BOLSTA

SiSe_fullcover_final.inddPhil is the author of Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything, a collection of 45 inspiring, life-changing stories from prominent people he interviewed, including Joan Borysenko, Deepak Chopra, geneticist Dr. Francis Collins, acclaimed sportswriter Frank Deford, Dr. Larry Dossey, Wayne Dyer, Dan Millman, Caroline Myss, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, Dr. Bernie Siegel, James Van Praagh, singer Billy Vera, Doreen Virtue, Neale Donald Walsch, and bassist Victor Wooten.

Here is a three-minute video that introduces you to Phil and his book.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bic0j4QqFbI

Reading this book is like spending a few minutes face to face with each of the contributors and listening to their personal stories. Click here to read unsolicited testimonials from readers. Learn more by visiting the official Sixty Seconds website.

Listening to that still, small voice

10 Apr

One of my favorite blogs is Phil Bolsta’s blog, Triumph of the Spirit.       Check it out at http://bolstablog.wordpress.com

I’ve never copied anyone’s blog entry verbatim … until now.  I read Phil’s post for today after I had written my own blog entry and it tied in so closely with what I was trying to get across, that I decided the best thing to do was to borrow it and reprint it here as well.

Here is Ken Gaub’s phone call – THE BEST STORY EVER!:

Do you believe that God not only loves you, but knows where you are and what you’re doing every minute of the day? I certainly do after an amazing experience I had several years ago.

At the time I was driving on I-75 near Dayton, Ohio, with my wife and children. We turned off the highway for a rest and refreshment stop. My wife, Barbara, and our children went into the restaurant. I suddenly felt the need to stretch my legs, so I waved them off ahead, saying I’d join them later. I bought a soft drink, and as I walked toward a Dairy Queen, feelings of self-pity enshrouded my mind. I loved the Lord and my ministry, but I felt drained, burdened. My cup was empty.

Suddenly, the impatient ringing of a telephone nearby jarred me out of my doldrums. It was coming from a phone booth at a service station on the corner. Wasn’t anyone going to answer the phone?

Noise from the traffic flowing through the busy intersection must have drowned out the sound because the service station attendant continued looking after his customers, oblivious to the ringing.

“Why doesn’t somebody answer that phone?” I muttered. I began reasoning. It may be important. What if it’s an emergency? Curiosity overcame my indifference. I stepped inside the booth and picked up the phone.

phone-booth“Hello,” I said casually and took a big sip of my drink. The operator said: “Long distance call for Ken Gaub.” My eyes widened, and I almost choked on a chunk of ice. Swallowing hard, I said, “You’re crazy!”

Then, realizing I shouldn’t speak to an operator like that, I added, “This can’t be! I was walking down the road, not bothering anyone,and the phone was ringing… “

Is Ken Gaub there?” the operator interrupted, “I have a long distance call for him.” It took a moment to gain control of my babbling, but I finally replied, “Yes, he is here.”

Searching for a possible explanation, I wondered if I could possibly be on Candid Camera! Still shaken, perplexed, I asked, “How in the world did you reach me here? I was walking down the road, the pay phone started ringing, and I just answered it on chance. You can’t mean me.” ”Well,” the operator asked, “Is Mr. Gaub there or isn’t he?”

“Yes, I am Ken Gaub,” I said, finally convinced by the tone of her voice that the call was real. Then I heard another voice say, “Yes, that’s him, operator. That’s Ken Gaub.” I listened dumbfounded to a strange voice identify herself. “I’m Millie from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. You don’t know me, Mr. Gaub, but I’m desperate. Please help me.”

“What can I do for you?” I said. She began weeping. Finally, she regained control and continued. “I was about to commit suicide, had just finished writing a note, when I began to pray and tell God I really didn’t want to do this. Then I suddenly remembered seeing you on television and thought if I could just talk to you, you could help me. I knew that was impossible because I didn’t know how to reach you, I didn’t know anyone who could help me find you. Then some numbers came to my mind, and I scribbled them down.”

At this point she began weeping again, and I prayed silently for wisdom to help her. She continued, “I looked at the numbers and thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I had a miracle from God, and He has given me Ken’s phone number?’ I decided to try calling it. I can’t believe I’m talking to you. “Are you in your office in California?”

I replied, “Lady, I don’t have an office in California. My office is in Yakima, Washington.” A little surprised, she asked, “Oh really, then where are you?” ”Don’t you know?” I responded. “You made the call.” She explained, “But I don’t even know what area I’m calling. I just dialed the number that I had on this paper.” 

“Ma’am, you won’t believe this, but I’m in a phone booth in Dayton, Ohio!” ”Really?” she exclaimed. “Well, what are you doing there?” I kidded her gently, “Well, I’m answering the phone. It was ringing as I walked by, so I answered it.”

Knowing this encounter could only have been arranged by God, I began to counsel the woman. As she told me of her despair and frustration, the presence of the Holy Spirit flooded the phone booth, giving me words of wisdom beyond my ability. In a matter of moments, she prayed the sinner’s prayer and met the One who would lead her out of her situation into a new life. I walked away from that telephone booth with an electrifying sense of our Heavenly Father’s concern for each of His children. 

What were the astronomical odds of this happening? With all the millions of phones and innumerable combinations of numbers, only an all-knowing God could have caused that woman to call that number in that phone booth at that moment in time.

Forgetting my drink and nearly bursting with exhilaration, I headed back to my family, wondering if they would believe my story. Maybe I better not tell this, I thought, but I couldn’t contain it. ”Barb, you won’t believe this! God knows where I am!”

A New Perspective

10 Apr

Why is it so difficult for us humans to trust and believe that God is always present and working in our lives?  I struggle with this alot – I always think, “well, he was there for me last time …. but will he be present again this time when I need him? ”   Time and time again, He proves to me that he continues to lead me down the path and I continue to follow.

Last weekend I was asked to be a speaker at a women’s spiritual retreat in rural Minnesota not far from my home.  I am getting fairly comfortable with sharing my story with groups and I rather enjoy doing it.  I always practice and ask for God’s presence to make it all that it should be.  He never fails me.  But at this retreat I was also asked to do intuitive readings for anyone who wanted one.

I’ve been struggling with this for a while – am I really meant to do this?  After all I’ve been doing email readings for people for the past three years … but to actually have a real live person sitting right in front of me waiting with baited breath for whatever information I got for them felt unnerving and I didn’t feel adequate.

But I also knew if I stepped out in faith and trusted God that I would be helped to do it.  About three weeks before the retreat I began to express my fears to God and I just kept hearing the same words – “Just trust the process.”  What I assumed was meant by that was the very deliberate process I use to obtain intuitive iformation for people.

Not only was I helped – I was literally given step by step instructions on what to do.  I can follow directions and I did right down to the letter. 

When I went to bed on Friday night I really had no plan on where to do the readings or even how I would do them.  When I woke up on Saturday morning it was as if God had plopped step by step instructions into my brain.  And I followed each and every step.

1. Do the readings in your room – it’s quiet, it’s confidential and it will be calming for you and for those you are reading.

2. Go get the sign up sheet and copy down each person’s name and the time of their readings.  Then return the sign up sheet to the registration table – and be sure to write a note on it so everyone knows they need to come to your room at their specified time.

3. Take those extra note cards you brought along, cut them in half so you have enough.  Then write down each person’s name and time at the top.

4.  Now relax, focus and ask the Universe for some descriptive words that would describe that person.  Write them down on each notecard.  Next, ask what the goal for this weekend was for them.  Write that down.  Next ask for some words of guidance for the future.

I did that for each person and it was a wonderful way to begin each reading.  Amazingly (or not) every person related to the information that I gave them and that led to other questions that I again received guidance and passed on to them.

A few wanted to speak to loved ones who had died – so I used my pendulum to see if the loved one was present.  None of them were – however, as soon as I would put the pendulum down I was flooded with information from the loved one.  This happened on three different occasions.

One gal came in and shyly told me that she had always been able to see things and she never really knew if they were real or not and it bothered her.  “You were so supported in spirit last night,” she told me.  “I could see someone standing next to you the entire time you were speaking. ” That was so lovely to hear.  I always ask Liz to help me and even though I was 99.9% sure she had been by my side, to hear it from someone else was total validation.  And, my validation, proved to this gal that what she was seeing was very real.

I also did an angel card reading for each person. You shuffle the angel cards and choose three, and lay them each face down on the table.  The middle card represents your current situation.  The card to the left represents the past, and the card to the right represents the future.  We flip them over one by one and talk about them.  I would write down the angel card information on each person’s individual note card, and at the end of the reading I would give the note card to the person.

It hasn’t been all that long since I was the one getting the reading and  I know how important it is to walk out with something on paper so you can remember what you are told.

All in all it was a wonderful experience and my sense was that my clients each benefited as well.  And that was the best feeling of all.

What I also realized is this is not about me.  I am simply a willing conduit between the Universe/God and the people that I deal with.

A few days after returning home, it hit me that the message I had received to “trust the process” really was referring to that very deliberate and explicit set of instructions I received that Saturday morning.

God proved to me once again that He will always be there for me.  But will I continue question God’s presence in my life?  I’m sure I will, because I am, after all, only human.

When Art Imitates Life!

1 Apr

cartoon

Anna showed me this For Better Or For Worse cartoon – this was definintely me – a few years ago … Saturdays were meant for cleaning , washing clothes, getting groceries and many other things.  I would make myself a “to do” list – and I always had way more things to do than time to do them.  I’m sure many mother’s can see themselves in this cartoon.

Dr. Louis LaGrand

30 Mar

Dr. Louis LaGrand is a world-renowned grief educator and author of eight books as well as numerous articles on the phenomenon of “extraordinary experiences of the bereaved” also known as after death communication.

I first learned of Dr. LaGrand’s work when he was a guest on Carolyn Carlson’s radio program, Life After Loss.

Since that time, I have had the opportunity to share  many of my own personal extraordinary grief experiences with Dr. LaGrand, and it has been a real blessing.

Dr. LaGrand also publishes monthly ezine articles that deal with the various aspects of grief, mourning, death, and dying – but most importantly he focuses on how to heal and live life in joy.

The topic of this month’s ezine was “What To Do If You Uncover A Secret About Your Deceased Loved One.”

Reading this article reminded me of an anonymous letter we received shortly after Liz’s death.

Dear Family of Elizabeth Wencl,

I know you must be feeling incredible amounts of grief right now, and I am so sorry about your loss.  But I never got a chance to sincerely thank Liz, so I want to thank the people who brought her into this world.

When I was in high school, Liz was a senior.  Liz didn’t know me, but I guess she knew my older sister a little.  I had a crush on one of Liz’s friends.  One night at a party he decided to take advantage of that.    I was very scared and very sad, and I was crying hysterically.

I knew nobody because they were all two years older, and the guy was too busy making fun of me to care.  Your daughter saved me.  Liz asked me if I was ok.  She sat and held me and talked to me and told me that it would be ok.   The next morning she took me out to breakfast and gave me her phone number and told me if I needed anything I could call her.

To some people this may not seem like a big deal, but it was to me.  Your daughter, without knowing me, took me in under her wing.

Liz was an amazing girl.  Maybe someone in heaven needed her, like I needed her that night.  But like I said, I never got a chance to truly thank her, so I want to thank you for bringing her into this world and for bringing her up to be such a wonderful and caring girl.

The world will truly miss her.

To this day I have no idea who this girl is.  And although I am so sorry she had such a traumatic experience, I am so thankful that she was brave enough to send us such a wonderful letter.

Everyone who knew Liz, knew she loved to party … way too much.  But the fact that she was able to help someone else as she did, says alot about her true character.   As her family we are so blessed to have had her in our lives.

To learn more about Dr. LaGrand, his work and his books check out:

http://www.extraordinarygriefexperiences.com

Make Your Day Great!

When in Doubt — Choose Love

20 Mar

When everything is said and done, there are really only two emotions that we have:  love and fear.  How we choose to react to people and experiences in our lives is with some form of either of these two emotions.  Hurt, anger, lonliness, are all forms of fear.  Compassion, faith, helpfulness, are all a part of love.

We always are free to choose how we respond to everything in our lives.  And however we respond sends ripples out into the world to other people and other situations.

Consider for a moment how different our world would be if we all chose love instead of fear.  It would be a heaven right here on earth.

Consider also that everyone on the planet is important and has a purpose.  Whatever we do, no matter how small or insignificant we feel it to be, changes our world.

We’ve all heard the saying, you change the world one person at a time.  What if, we each tried to respond in love … we could change the world. 

Check out this you tube video by Susan Apollon … have a great day – YOU are important … choose LOVE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW0ViDkEoyE&feature=email

Family Weekend

18 Mar

Last weekend was a great family bonding weekend for Anna and I.

I’m always surprised and saddened when people tell me that they don’t get along with their family and choose not to have a relationship with them.

Family is one of the most important parts of life.  I know there are circumstances in life that warrant a cutting the ties from close family members, but many times it is petty, ego-centric ideas that cause the separation.

On Saturday the Wencl women gathered for what we hope will be an annual event.  We had several college graduations, a birthday and a retirement to celebrate.  What better way to celebrate than to eat, shop, drink, eat, gamble, swim, sleep, eat again, and gamble a little more!

On Sunday the Baldwin family gathered to celebrate birthdays. 

The weather was beautiful both days and it was glorious and just plain fun.

Family = Fun = Love