The Letter G

June 8, 2006 at 10:01 pm (Blogging)

Here’s a fun little blogging game I got from Angie at Carolina Rags. The purpose is take your assigned letter and list ten things that begin with that letter and a brief explanation as to why you picked that word. Angie gave me the letter G for grace since my blog is Graceful Journey.

1. God: Of course, God is number one. I am in awe that I have this sweet relationship with the creator of the Universe. My life is secure in Him and because of Him, I have purpose. He loves me so incredibly and compels a deep, deep love from me. My greatest desire is to please Him and He strengthens me to do so.

2. Grace: Ok, now this one is three fold and I would like to use it three times but I guess that would be cheating. First, God’s Amazing Grace that daily blesses my life. He has given so much more than I deserve, more than I need, more than I want. Grace is also my youngest daughters name, a name given to me by the Lord at the very beginning of a journey in growing in deeper understanding of His gift of grace. Third, one day I will have a tattoo of the word grace on my shoulder because I want to forever be marked by that word, inside and out.

3. Greenville: Greenville, South Carolina that is. It is my hometown and it so wonderful to live close enough now that I can visit. It has the best downtown that is the perfect blend of art, music, entertainment, hometown, restaurants, nature, old and new. It is close to the mountains and not to far from the beach. The weather there is wonderful. I think it is the perfect place to live and hope to move back there soon.

4. Garlic: Everything tastes better with garlic except maybe chocolate but I would probably be willing to give chocolate covered garlic a try. That’s how much I love it. My new obsession? Garlic stuffed olives. Oh! My! So, so, so good.

5. Gentle: What I am not. What I am striving to be. It’s a daily challenge for me to remember that even with my loud and wild personality, I can be gentle with people. Especially my children and my husband.

6. Giggle: Could there be anything better than giggles? Especially when you get the giggles at the most inappropriate times and you know you had better not look at your friend because the giggles will explode into full blown guffaws. Baby giggles are the best though.

7. Grow: I never want to stop growing … well, I would like for my body to stop growing in the outward direction. But I want to grow in faith, in mercy, in love, in learning. I don’t want to be content but to realize that I will never reach maturity but will always need to grow deeper in my understanding of God and life.

8. Glasses: I wear glasses. It seems that I have always worn glasses, since age six at least. I had some horrid looking glasses when I was a child, sort of the cat eye glasses. Ugh! My glasses now are green and that is another G word . . . green glasses. The ones before this were purple. I could never settle for plain glasses. I want something fun and wild.

9. Glue. I love to collage. It is relatively new hobby and I am learning as I go. Glue is essential though and I am learning that the right type of glue is essential. In fact, I have a little gift from a dear friend that I think I will spend at Barnes and Noble on a collage technique book so that I can learn more about glue.

10. Grateful: I want to develop of life of gratefulness. I don’t’ want to take anything for granted but want to savor the relevance of everything . . . the good, the bad and the ugly. God has promised that He will bring good out of every circumstance and it is because of that I can rejoice and be grateful in all things.

Ok, this has been fun. If you would like to play, let me know and I will assign you a letter too.

Immersed in the Mystery,
Cynthia

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Just Blog it!

June 7, 2006 at 11:31 pm (Blogging)

Maureen started a conversation last week with her Seven Habits of Highly Effective Homeschool Bloggers. The principles apply to all bloggers though and there’s been a great response to the thread. If you are a struggling blogger, as I am, take a look, glean and learn.

Randi took a different approach and in the mindset of learning from our mistakes, she has posted Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective Bloggers. Number One and Number Three go hand in hand for me and have kept me from blogging much at all.

I read a lot of blogs, I see wonderful posts and feel that I can’t measure up, so I don’t try. Or if I do try, I agonize over each word to the point of exhaustion and never post. Also, I figure that anything I have to say has already been or is being said by someone else.

Well, to borrow from the Natasha Bedingfield song, Unwritten

No one else can speak the words on my lips

I have something to say and no one else can say it for me.

My new motto and number one on my list to becoming an effective blogger, (though I have this wonderfully sinister thought that I might want to be considered an infective blogger instead) is:

Just Blog it!!

Immersed in the Mystery,
Cynthia

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Individual !!

June 5, 2006 at 9:14 pm (Standing)

Dear Mr. Vernon,

We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it is we did wrong, but we think you’re crazy for making us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out, is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours,
The Breakfast Club.


Labels. I hate labels. I struggle, fight, scratch and claw to keep myself out of the boxes that people try to build around me. It seems almost impossible though. People see me and draw their own conclusions about who they think I am, who they want me to be, who they need me to be. As I try to explain myself, speak from my heart about my beliefs, my passion, my heart, I can see the walls become as tall as the eyes are narrow that look back at me. Judgment is being passed. I am an individual and I cannot conform to pressure. If anything, I will run as far as I can so that I can be set even further apart. Don’t’ fence me in. Don’t begin to believe that you know who I am.I am a kaleidoscope. Bold, colors, sparkling and moving with each turn. You will not see me clearly because I am not content to stay the same. I am ever changing, twirling, swirling. Challenging myself to think, to grow, to become.After trying out other blog homes, I have decided to settle here. I don’t want to be a homeschool blogger. I was there. It was a successful start. I was even blogger of the month. After the recent call of a boycott, I began to explore other options, even thought I could stay there and be a witness. I discovered this weekend just how strong my convictions are. I am compelled to take a stand. If I stay there, I am submitting to the perception that comes with being a part of that community. I cannot and will not be supportive in any way of the Pearl’s writings. I had conversations with the powers that be at HSB. I hoped to get answers but my questions were evaded and comments were not seasoned with grace but with accusations and divisiveness.I tried a blog at homechooljournal.net and I highly recommend it there. Ron and Andrea have graciously given of their time, energy and resources to provide a free blog host for homeschoolers. However, I don’t even want to be pigeonholed as a homeschooler. At this point, I think I would like to purge the term from my life. Shannon posted that they are world learners. Maybe that is a term I could live with. I don’t know.

My life is too complex, too full, too interesting to be described by any one, ten, or hundred labels. I have learned that people see me as they want to see me, colored by the experiences that frame their vision. I am not going to go out of my way to change that. I am who I am and God is fine with that, even my kaleidoscope ways, therefore I am content. Either accept me, accept my testimony, accept my message or not. I am not debating, defending or deleting my identity. Converse with me, journey with me, grow with me or not

Immersed in the Mystery,
Cynthia

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