Live your life in Harmony!

what a GREAT legacy to leave behind!
Have you ever attended the memorial service of someone's who's life was cut WAAAYYY too short?  of someone who's legacy is something everyone including myself should strive to live by? I did today.  Today I learned a little more of the type of person James was, I already knew he was a great soon-to-be husband, I also already knew he was a great father...  that was all evident in pictures that I've seen, and in the few times that I actually met him....
What I didn't know, was that he actually lived his life in harmony, in harmony with himself, but most importantly in harmony with everyone else....  And he wished everyone else would do the same...  Today I learned that he understood what was important in his life, he understood that his family came first, this guy would do anything for his friends, and he was the first to lend a helping hand...  LIVE YOUR LIFE IN HARMONY is appearantly what he wanted... and he lived it everyday, (at least that's how everyone memorialized him)
"put your energy in what's important to you, YOUR family, YOUR kids, YOUR friends, YOUR life, and spread harmony, spread harmony everywhere you go, instead of worrying about what is going on in everyone else's lives, or why...  THAT is NOT important to YOU!"  (Pastor Dave, about what was important to James, and about what how James lived his life)
You never know when it will be too late...
GREAT LESSON to learn!
What a great way to remember someone,
How we survive is what makes us who we are!
As we stood in the driveway talking today I noticed this awesome
sunset... I shared it with Michael... What a GREAT painting God has painted for us on this day I told him...  I think it means everything is going to be ok....  ;) we both just stared at it, lost in our own thoughts...  I think Pastor Dave heard me, because he nodded his head too...  ;)
 

again, God's painted a beautiful picture for me.... This one reminded me that with Faith comes Hope, and it is only with faith and hope that we are able to continue on our journey....
"If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it."
Author Unknown
RIP James...  Thanks for reminding me/us what's important today, and thank you for always greeting me with that great big smile of yours, even though you hardly knew me....  BUT most IMPORTANTLY thank you for loving my friend and her babies the way they deserved to be LOVED...

Trust in God..... ALWAYS!

I think it finally hit me today....  again God called another one of his children home...  and again it was someone I knew, not very well, but what I knew of him was enough...  I got home from work on monday and after thinking about it all day, the unfairness of it all, the why's, it finally hit me...  the reality of what happened was fresh in my mind. The similarities to something I had gone thru a few years before...  I think it finally ended up being too much, so I ended up walking to the front yard, JUST BECAUSE, I needed to think, I needed to sort it out in my head, I needed to be alone with God, I needed reassurance! I needed "understanding" just then I noticed the most BEAUTIFUL sunset sky...  I sat in the driveway trying to put together my thoughts and the events of the 24 hours before....  I also talked to God, and asked Larry to welcome James home...  I'm pretty sure they're up there getting along just fine...  :)  I also reflected on my sisters strength, and Bee's strenght...  It's always amazing to me how strong we become when tragedy strikes...   how we're able to gather strength from above to be supportive understanding and helpful... 

Today I was sad, I was sad for a friend who's life just came to a traumatic stop, for a little while, someone who's life just took on a completely different direction. I was sad for the kids that were left behind, I was also sad for the parents, friends and anyone else who was left behind to pick up the pieces, to understand why things like these happen...

As I did that, I took in the most AMAZING almost soul cleansing sunset...

...and slowly I became hopeful, hopeful that no matter how devastating this was to a family, it was within God's plan.  Why I have no idea, I may never know (today 10/29, was the service, and Bernadette said the same thing....)  I was also hopeful that this family will make it thru, Bernadette is seriously one of the STRONGEST, most POSITIVE people I know!

In the midst of my talking to God, I took the picture below...  and I swear, it looks like there's an Angel flying in the clouds...  :)

...and then my phone went off...  it was Jaime, she had sent a picture and all it said was " a little glimpse of Heaven" Oh how right she was....  isn't her picture beautiful? 

Bee is someone I have known forever, she's been around so long, she's practically part of the family! when my sister got the call, I prayed for the best, although in my heart I think I knew, and my heart hurt, my heart hurt for someone who deserves nothing but the best...  I couldn't stop thinking about it/them, I was mad, mad that life could be so unfair... I prayed for her, the kids, and mostly for my sister...  I prayed for God to give her the strength she would need to be there for her Best Friend, it's hard, I know, I've been there....

God gives us a sunset everyday that reminds us of the awesome beauty in His creation and shows His unconditional love for you and me.

"Beyond the sunset God

waits for you and me."
Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.- From a headstone in Ireland

Life's Short. Live Passionately! :)

I took this picture a few weeks ago on my way to work!  I am seriously proud of this picture...  Honestly I have NO IDEA why???  Maybe it's because I feel like I captured what God was trying to tell me PERFECTLY!  ;)

It came at the perfect time too!!  ;)   Oh how I LOVE the pictures God paints for me, so that I may understand what he is trying to tell me!!  ;)

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."  :)
 -- Albert Einstein

.....and with a little "editing"!  ;)

Life's short. Live passionately!♥
"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be ALIVE, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love-then make the day count!"
~ Steve Maraboli

My "Religion"

....The other day a friend and I were talking about religion... not always a subject I openly talk about... 

I grew up Catholic, and I still am Catholic, it's what I know, and it is what I believe...  In College I attended church with different roomates...  I wasn't impressed with them...  not gonna lie..  I like my church, when I attend, I have read the Bible in spanish...  ;)  it's been a while but I read it...  ;)  I have Saints that I believe in, the rosary is important to me, and it is usually prayed at my house in a time of need....  The definition of religion is different for every individual...  For me it's this.... 

My aunt had this posted on her refrigerator last night...  I LOVED it, it makes sense to me...  so I "borrowed" it! ;)

I try to live by this daily! I have ALWAYS trusted in God... And I try to be THANKFUL everyday!!

God is ALWAYS with me...  I learned that a LONG time ago...  My mom did a WONDERFUL job teaching my brother, sister and I the importance of praising, seeking, worshiping and thanking God when we were younger...

As hard as it is to believe sometimes, I believe that he really wont ever give us much more than what we can handle...  no matter how hard that may be!

I know my mom wishes that I went to church more often...  I know I should, but at the same time, I feel like God not only wants us to attend and worship, but he also wants us to LEARN of his teachings, and exercise them...  he wants us to treat our neighbors the way HE would treat them...  He also wants us to do good deeds, while not necessarily telling the whole world you're doing them... 

So here is my religion in a nutshell,

•  Reading and truly living by God's word
• Being completely true to ourselves, and to those around us... 
• Doing good to others without expectations...  It's what he wants
• Being "charitable"
• Being noble
• Praying and trusting that God will take care of things
• Practicing what we're preaching
When my dad was sick we got another lesson in the "power of prayer,"  I had used that once before when one of my friends from College almost died from liver failure...  and when he (my dad) was in the hospital and we could have lost him, God showed us again how POWERFUL prayer really is...  My mom had candles lit up in prayer, there was people praying for my dad daily...  there was a rosary being recited everyday at 6, for a week between his surgery and "the setback"...  Prayers came from everywhere...  the US, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and anywhere else that we had friends and family.... Prayer is GREAT, and GOD is even greater...  His teachings have taught me that, and they have also taught me that living our lives honestly, and thankfully is what he wants...  it's what will always give us, or me peace from within....  :)
I found this quote on a site and thought it would be a good end to this post!!  ;)  Now if we could only figure out how to always be charitable without needing a pat in the back about doing it!!  ;)
"Every Charitable Act is a Stepping Stone Towards Heaven"
Henry Waed Beecher