I have kept a journal since I was nine years old. It started out with me writing about my pets or exciting events. Then it became a place to write anything that was on my mind.

For a while, my journal was about Luke. I have a journal of over 200 pages that covers 2 years of my life written about my husband and his family when he and I were both 12 (to age 15)!

After I got married, I got out of the habit of writing in a journal. I am not sure why. It is quite unfortunate, though, because it would have been really cool to have a journal of different events with the family, especially the kids.

Funny. You don’t really ever hear of people wondering which husband or wife they did something with, but it seems quite common to forget which event was shared with what kid (or so I am told). 🙂

Fortunately, I have begun my journal yet again. It is called Denim and Silk (this blog), which also includes my twitter updates. Between these two, I am able to remember and share small things that happen with each member of my family!

I am learning to be positive. It is very tempting to think thoughts like, “This is going to be one of those days!” Do you know that every time I have thought I will have “one of those days,” I have been right?

The thing is that when you tell yourself that you will have a bad day, you expect things to go badly. When you expect everything to go wrong, you are already giving yourself the negative attitude that causes a bad day.

Try saying this instead. “This is going to be a great day!” I wonder if your outlook won’t be better and you find yourself having a pretty good day!

I used to have a habit of saying, “I hate this day!” when I was having a bad day. One day my mom pointed out that God made each and every day and that I have no right to call it bad. After all, “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

I’ve never had much trouble with spelling. Although there was a time back in 2nd grade, when my teacher thought my class would never learn to spell “because.”

The funny thing is that even though I don’t struggle much with spelling, I would not do well at a spelling bee. If you ask me to spell a word that is longer than 7 or 8 letters, chances are, I will have to write it down to see if it “looks right!”

What about you? Which subject has always been your “easy” subject?

I like to drink hot herbal teas, yet I don’t care for the taste of cold tea. My favorite flavor has always been vanilla hazelnut. Not anymore.

Since I have cut back on my sugar and have experimented with unsweetened hot tea, I no longer care for vanilla hazelnut. It is awful with no sugar!

My new (for now) favorite is Vanilla Chai. The only other flavor I can tolerate completely sugar free is Apple Cinnamon and regular tea (as long as it has cream in it).

What about you? Are you a coffee or tea drinker? Or are you neither? Or both? It would be cool to find out. Leave me a comment here or in twitter, and we can compare notes. 🙂

I love sunsets and sunrises!

In the past, I have always tried to take a picture of every sunset/sunrise I saw. Recently, I have decided that the they are much more enjoyable to just sit and observe. And the cool thing about sunsets/sunrises is that you can thoroughly enjoy it alone or with a loved one!

If you’ve never taken time to just sit and watch a sunset or sunrise, it is time you did. Grab blanket and maybe even a loved one, and get yourself outside. But make sure it is the right time of day before running out. Otherwise you might see a moonrise or moonset. 😀

I can’t stand to have others say or think negative things about me. I realize this is not logical because of all the people in this big world, someone is bound to think something negative about me. But I guess logic doesn’t always rule, especially when it comes to feelings.  😉

If someone does think something negative about me, I would rather that person tell me than go on thinking those negative thoughts! At least then I can do something about it!

I would love to know your thoughts on this issue, positive or negative! Just leave me a comment!

I have a dream of helping those holding positions of leadership. It all began about 4 years ago. I had always held pastors and their wives as almost holy. Because I thought they did no wrong, I also thought that they could handle a lot! I never dreamed of offering to help them with anything because they were perfect, right?

About 4 years ago, I realized I was wrong. Now,  you are probably wondering what my pastor or his wife did to make me see how imperfect they were. The answer is nothing.

I was sitting in Sunday school one day listening to the pastor’s wife as she taught my class (and doing a great job!), when it came to me. I realized she was a human being just like me. She has problems and cries tears just like I do. She is no more perfect than I am!!

After realizing this fact, it dawned on me how full my pastor’s and his wife’s work load was. They were each carrying enough work for 2 or 3 people! That is when I started doing things to try to make things easier for them.

We have since been called to another church, but I am still keeping my “minister to the ministers” attitude!

I like routine. Now those of you who know me may be saying, “huh?!” It would seem that my life has very little routine.

I have discovered that I actually have several routines that I perform throughout the day. One is at bedtime. I always check the door and windows, cover the kids up, get water and chapstick and then go to bed. I do this just about every night!

Another routine I have noticed is that I can’t just wash dishes. Because I do not like to sweep a wet floor, I have to sweep before doing dishes (because the floor ALWAYS gets wet!). Well, if I’m sweeping, it makes sense to clear the table first, so that nothing falls off the table onto a freshly swept floor? I pretty much end up cleaning up the whole kitchen when all I set out to do was wash a few dishes!

So, I have routines and I enjoy them. Yet I can’t sit down and write a routine that I will stick to. It has always been an accident for me. Maybe I’ll eventually learn to intentionally write my own routines on purpose. 🙂

What about you? Do you have specific routines that you perform on a daily (or almost daily) basis?

Music is addictive to me. If a person sings one line of a song, it is very possible that I will be singing that song the rest of the day. If someone else starts whistling, I will do it without even thinking.

Once when I was in the high school band, my flute broke while we were playing at homecoming. I ended up standing there pretending to play, so I would not mess up the song completely. I was so disappointed, and I think I even ended up crying because I couldn’t be part of the music.

When I lose my voice and cannot sing at church, it is very disappointing. There’s just something about being a part of the song that is so much better than just listening to it! This is why I sing at church unless absolutely nothing comes out when I try to sing.

While I wouldn’t say that music is my passion, I would say that it is one of my favorite hobbies! Surprised? Oh well! I’ll keep trying! 🙂 Meanwhile, why don’t you tell me what you like to do?