Outside my window...
We're supposed to be reaching the 100s already for this summer by the end of the week. I am
so not looking forward to that. I am thankful...
I have successfully completed my Associate of Arts degree in History! Yah is so great! He has
faithfully seen me through the hills and valleys of my return to college after a 30-year hiatus.
Life did not stop while I was in school, though I would have liked it to. I shed many a tear
trying to go to school and grieve, and pray, and worry, and comfort, and counsel, and teach.
Every week during prayer, Friend Hubby's stepmom would pray for "all the hats" I wear. She
would continuously pray, "keep her encouraged." Just that prayer alone kept me encouraged,
even on days when I had to sit in my car and cry it out.
After my graduation, I allowed myself to get caught up on one particular male relative who
said nothing about my graduation (it was on Facebook). I have always been sensitive and if I
let my guard down, my feelings can be hurt, sometimes repeatedly, by this same person. But
Yah has demonstrated to me on more than one occasion that He has replaced that person's
voice in my life. Later in the day, after I had complained about it to my sister Clarity, Friend
Hubby's father, who is in his early 80s, said to me, "Here is the graduate! We are SO proud
of you!" It absolutely made me smile and cry at the same time. About an hour later, Friend
Hubby's stepfather who raised him and is in his mid-80s made me PROMISE him that I would
not stop my education until I completed my goal of becoming a college history professor.
Again, I smiled and cried at the same time. A few days after that, Ms. Sophia commented on
how Abba had replaced dysfunctional relationships in my life on more than one occasion.
Isn't He wonderful???? All praise and glory belong to Him!
I am also thankful that I have an unexpected new job. I have been chosen to serve as an ambassador for my community college's honor's program. I mentioned one day in class that
I had been taking honors classes since I was a little girl but I am ALWAYS the ONLY African
American in the room. I went to a meeting and the Dean said that there are many African
Americans who qualify for honors classes, but he has no idea why they don't sign up for them.
I will also be a liaison to the homeschool community for the honors program as well since so
many homeschooled students take honors classes. I am wearing...
Old shorts and shirt. It is hot up in here. I am reading...
I am reading Parable of the Sower (Earthseed) by Octavia Butler. So far, I've read 31% of it. I'm not impressed. I don't know what made me read this. It's not really a genre I enjoy. It's dystopian and science fiction. Meh. I am listening to....
Friend Hubby found a gospel station from back east in Philadelphia, Gospel Highway 11. I downloaded the app radio.net and now I can play it through the sound system in my car. One day they played a song that my grandmother's church choir used to sing. I posted it on Facebook and my aunt listened to it. She asked me who led it in the church choir. It was a lady who I used to love to listen to singing when I was little. I sang every song she led, including my first church solo, The Blood by Andre Crouch. This lady is now in a nursing home so my aunt said she would play it for her the next time she visited.
One of my favorite things... Mother's Day was fabulous. Friend Hubby and I went to the Mother's Day Brunch at the Fairmount Hotel. They had some smoked brisket hash that was (deep inhale) wonderful. Afterward my children were all here when we got back so I could listen to them fuss and threaten each other. LOL
Also, I have re-discovered a game that Friend Hubby and I used to play when we first got married. I LOVE this game! I have played twice with Princess Butterfly whom I have never beaten in Monopoly since she was 7 years old. This is different than Monopoly in that you think you're winning and then all of a sudden you've lost everything. It's much more fun playing with more than two people though. Friend Hubby says he will play soon.
My social media post about motherhood:
Nothing gets my attention faster than being called Mom by these three (selectively, of course), even when they're cuddling up under my blanket with me, poking me in the fat of my arm, provoking me just to see me pull my lips in, shocking me to get a laugh from my expression, putting things in my cornea to get me to look at something, talking to me until my ear drips down my shoulder, or receiving recognition that makes me lose my voice screaming with pride, "That's my baby!"A few plans for the rest of the week...👏🏾
😍
Friend Hubby and my 31st wedding anniversary!
Princess Butterfly's high school graduation. *sniffle, sniffle* The Girl Scout shop had a wonderful stole that had decals that could be added to it for Bronze, Silver, and Gold Award winners. She has all 3 of them! She will also have several honor cords (National History Day, Civil Air Patrol, Girl Scouts, Girls State, and Tae Kwon Do).
College grades are in and Princess Butterfly has reached the GPA level required for transfer to her siblings' alma mater. The business school has a little higher requirement and I am sure she will achieve that while she works on her Associate of Arts in Government that she will complete over the next two semesters. Pondering this...
The definition of this adjective is: "exploiting chances offered by immediate circumstances without reference to a general plan or moral principle."
A few weeks ago, The Grand Duchess was preparing for something on her job and the name of a town that a couple we were once associated with came up. Because of a horrendous trial that our family endured involving this couple, she decided to look them up just to be sure she would not suddenly be encountering them. What she found out about them was on one hand shocking, but on the other hand, given their personality and lifestyle, probably not so shocking after all. After 20+ years of marriage, they had divorced and he had moved on to another woman. After that horrendous trial, we cut off all communication with them, but they remained in contact with some of our family members. At one point, my aunt called to bitterly complain about them because they had financially taken advantage of an elderly family member. I was not in the least bit surprised. We had known this couple back when we lived overseas. There were rations in those days on how much tobacco, coffee, and other items that military members could by. These nice church folk bought cigarettes, knowing they didn't smoke, so they could sell them on the black market. We didn't know that at the time, so when they moved to my hometown, I introduced them to my family and they engrafted themselves, replacing Friend Hubby and I whenever they could, all in the name of being "family." The last thing they were doing before we ghosted them was getting the elderly to sign their life insurance policies over to churches and other non-profits (all the while earning a commission).
One particular characteristic of this couple is that they were always moving from one business opportunity or venture to the next. They had some great opportunities come their way, but they would never work at them long enough to become successful. FYI you cannot work at something for 2 or 3 years and expect to become successful. Success doesn't happen that way -- success at anything.
I talk a lot about the difference between knowing the hand of YHVH versus knowing His WAYS. His ways are not fickle. He doesn't tell someone to do something and then when they get bored or it gets challenging, or someone says something bad about them and then suddenly give them something totally different to do. Moses was a prince of Egypt for 40 years, a shepherd for 40 years, and a statesman for 40 years. One career prepared for the next and Yah didn't let him out of it just because it wasn't what he wanted to be doing.
I say this because it is so easy to be taken in by people who want others to invest their hard-earned money in pipe dreams and ponzie schemes they come up with, but they have nothing to show that investing in them for any reason, business, ministry, or whatever is a good idea. Their track record is full of excuses and unfinished projects.
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions is a proverb or aphorism. An alternative form is "Hell is full of good meanings, but heaven is full of good works".Stay clear of people who think they're too anointed to work a 9-5; that the WORD that Yah has given them is so deep they can't be bothered with the "unenlightened" who go to work for the "man." Be watchful of people who are too holy to do an XYZ kind of job unless the job is actually listed in Scripture as a sin.
Proverbs 20:6 (TS2009) - "Most men proclaim each his own kindness, But who finds a trustworthy man?"
Proverbs 14:23-24 (TS2009) - "In all labor there is profit, but talk of the lips leads only to poverty. The crown of the wise is their wealth, the folly of fools is folly."
Proverbs 21:5 (TS2009) - "The plans of the hard worker lead only to plenty, But all rash haste only to poverty."
From the kitchen...
I am still making breakfast every morning for Friend Hubby, which is good because at least I know that in the course of his busy day, he has had at least one good meal. He was cooking dinner for us during the school year and kind of subtly said to me the first morning I didn't have to go to school, "You should think about what you're going to make for dinner." LOL *hint, hint* Around the house...
I have things in my head that I plan to get done, but faith without works is dead. I don't want autumn to come and discover I have done nothing of significance. A peek into my day...
I have been working on my lesson plans for the high school world history class that I am going to be teaching in the fall. I am very excited!
My self-care... My daughters, my sister, and I have a private group where we discuss our fitness goals and achievements. It has been encouraging because it doesn't feel like I'm doing it alone and I don't want to let them down. Also, I could nag Friend Hubby all day until I am blue in the face about his health, but if I just do my own workout and then talk about what I've done, he will follow suit. He is now drinking SO much more water per day than he used to just because he sees me drinking a lot. Today, I have drunk 126 fl. oz. and I have walked 10,000+ steps.
Shalom and blessings!
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