empowerment.

A little while ago Danielle of the merriweather council asked about empowerment. I seriously thought about this for a while. I didn’t really think that I had done anything in my life empowering for myself, but I guess I have. I think a lot of times I feel the things I’ve done in my life are small and unimportant, in reality they are pretty big.

First thing I did that really was a big deal was graduated from high school. Even though the odds were against me I managed to pull out a head and prove that I was more than what everyone said I was. After high school I attended community college and had a great opportunity to be a part of the Theater department and be involved in some really great shows. I even had my first official lead roll there. I’ll never forget performing in “See How They Run” as Penelope; it will always be a great high light of my life.

During my college years I also got to do some traveling. I visited Israel with a woman’s group and I’ll never forget how breath taking and beautiful that country is. At the same time it can be a sad and scary place for the people that live there. I was able to walk in places that have been inhabited for thousands of years and see things not a lot of people get to see.

Yes, that would be me akwardly riding a camel. It's not easy! He tried to bite me a couple of times too.
An amazing moment where I got to float in the Dead Sea. Float is the key word, you really can't swim in the Dead Sea.

The next big trip I took was with my church’s youth group. It was my first official trip as an “adult” helping out and it was amazing. We not only visited Germany but we got to experience time in Poland as well. It was a rocky road but serving on that trip was amazing. I think the thing that stands out in my mind is when we visited our second prison in Poland. There were only a few men that attended our service, but they were very thankful and receptive of us being there. I’ll never forget the looks on their faces and how shocked they were that a group of kids from American wanted to come visit them and share something important. It was a really beautiful moment to watch.

I think this is pretty much the entire group that was there. We were able to visit an old German concentration camp while we were there... wow... amazing.
This is our little acting group. We had a lot of fun preforming for the kids at the Vacation Bible school. The teens that were with us were so amazing. They're all grown up now, I can't believe how time flies.

For several years I floundered around not knowing left from right or what I was doing. Somehow, by the grace of God I believe, I found my way. Marc and I had Aurora, got married and shared in the biggest decision of our lives, I think. Deciding to move from Pennsylvania to Arizona was as easy as breathing but as hard as you can imagine. I feel like we are both growing and blooming into new people on our adventure and the best part is we have each other. I know I’ve talked about this a lot but it is very important to me. I have to say I’m proud of us and what we are doing. Being on your own is defiantly empowering.

Think about your life and what you’ve done. Things you wouldn’t have thought were that important probably were. If they were only important to you than who cares, they were important to you. Sometimes just getting down and really cleaning the house makes me feel empowered. Not killing our house plants thus far also makes me feel pretty empowered!

Now is the hard part, the next step. Moving forward I want to make sure I’m taking the steps to continue on my journey of empowerment. I admire so many people for what they have done and what they do now it’s my turn!

What are you doing to do?

blog love weekly V1.0

I really wanted to do a blog post of all the blogs I absolutely adore, and then I realized that there are so many amazing blogs other there that I couldn’t do just one blog post! So I decided that once a week I would feature two blogs that I love and couldn’t live without! I can’t even begin to tell you how much this blogging community has meant to me. I am a total hermit (trying to work on that) but I’ve met some wonderful people through blogging and also have had some amazing opportunities. The blogs I’m going to be featuring are in no particular order, I couldn’t pick favorites anyways. Each blog is just as unique as the beautiful person behind it.

{Grin & Bear It}
First of is Heidi from Grin & Bear It. I love this blog because it gives a really fun look at her life and you really get to know her as a person, I think blogs like that are great. She’s funny, and completely sincere about everything. She is also doing a series called “Weigh in Wednesday” that’s really inspiring. It’s hard to get fit and stay in shape and it’s nice to see her honesty about losing weight and working out. Let’s face it, no one wants to be on a diet and work out day after day. Did I mention she has an adorable Etsy shop? I, amazingly, won her most recent giveaway, and I feel so lucky! She’s been so supportive of me and my little endeavors, commenting on my posts and encouraging me to start and Etsy business. I’m blessed to know her, even if its via cyber space, you should get to know her too!


{the merriweather council}

Next is the lovely Danielle from the merriweather council. Talk about a girl who is honest! Wow. That’s why I love her blog, some of my favorite posts of hers are simple and straight forward like How to Be a Superstar on Etsy and Elsewhere I read that post and had to smile. I don’t think I can visit her blog without smiling. The best part about Danielle is she is completely willing to give advice and help if you really want it. She gave me some really helpful advice for my Etsy shop and I couldn’t be more excited to put it into play. She is a very successful Etsy business owner, so any advice from her is gold. I personally think she is an amazing artist. She has such patients for her art. I can only image how long one of her wishbone embroidery pieces takes her to make. I think her colors and textures are simply gorgeous! Don’t believe me? Go check out her Etsy!

Can’t wait to share more blogs with you! I can’t use the word thank you enough. I’m overly excited about everything right now. I mean remember, I am a cheeto.

Do you have a favorite blog that I need to see? Please share it! I love finding new reads!