Life is funny that way

So after I blogged the other day about how God is teaching me to embrace my own writing style, I received this daily devotional from Proverbs 31 Ministries reminding me that God gives unique gifts to each person and that we should embrace our gifts. The post centered around this verse

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)

Isn't it funny how God works? Sometimes we hear a gentle whisper through the storm prodding us to trust and follow Him, and other times He uses clanging symbols to send a message to jump start our hearts and reverberate through our souls. I find that I am continually amazed and thankful by his love for me.

I've been thinking a lot about strengths lately. I guess because I am still trying to pinpoint mine. It's always been easier to identify where I fall short, but I'm beginning to realize that life is better if we pinpoint our strengths and build upon them. To that end, I took the StrengthsFinder quiz. Here are the strengths it identified for me. Do you think they're accurate?

• Learner: People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them. 

Without a doubt, your hunger for evidence, data, or background information is immense. Whether your sources of knowledge are people, classes, books, the Internet, or discussions, you are hardwired to be as informed as you possibly can be prior to starting most ventures. You probably prefer to be overly prepared rather than risk being poorly prepared. Chances are good that you yearn to increase your knowledge by being kept in the information loop.

• Input: People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information. 

Chances are good that you are delighted to read more about topics with which you are already familiar. Accumulating additional information about these issues and subjects makes more sense to you than venturing off into areas about which you know very little.

• Intellection:  People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions. 

You regularly reflect on how you felt about your experiences as they occurred. You usually ponder how you felt afterward, too. Your emotional awareness sharpens your thinking. You are doubly blessed: You think with your head and feel with your heart.

• Empathy:  People who are especially talented in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or others’ situations

By nature, you might work persistently to lift people’s spirits. Perhaps you naturally see the good in individuals or situations. Maybe this approach allows you to embrace rather than resist life’s surprises, disappointments, opportunities, or successes. Chances are good that you recognize when your coworkers can benefit from your approval and compliments. You spontaneously sense a person’s need to hear kind, encouraging, or supportive words from a colleague. You enjoy celebrating the contributions, strengths, discoveries, or victories of individuals.

• Connectedness: People who are especially talented in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason.

Because of your strengths, you may get to know people individually in your quest to gain wisdom. Discovering the qualities that distinguish someone from everyone else might be an essential aspect of your search for truth. Instinctively, you occasionally help people realize they are part of the human family. With your guidance, perhaps they understand that their lives are intertwined with people they will never meet.

I feel like they're pretty accurate. So, the next time I start to doubt my own abilities and begin to compare myself with others (and lament that I fall short), remind me of this verse and smack me upside the head. :)

1 Corinthians 12:4-6, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”  

Let's have a heart to heart

Sometimes I write blog posts in my head while walking or driving or trying to fall asleep, but they never seem to end up on the blog. I wonder, sometimes, if you want to hear about

1. how much I LOVE editing for our friend Todd at Assured Leadership, 
2. how happy I am to still have a foot in the Tech Writing world, 
3. how much I want to learn to design websites, but feel overwhelmed by the tools, or 
4. how much I want to use up the cute fabric piling up in my office, and 
5. how much I want to sell the things I make with my cute fabric so I can buy more cute fabric? 

Do you really want to know that I love staying home with Travis, but continually stress out about the dishes piling up or the fact that I feel like the worst cook in 3 counties so I try to avoid it even though secretly I love to cook and want to be successful?

I read some blog posts by friends of mine who are so freakin' funny (don't visit if you get offended easily) or so stinkin' creative or so dramatically descriptive that you want to go back day after day and read everything they post. And then I feel like a total slacker for falling back on videos and the boring recounting of my days with T-man. Sometimes I feel sorry for you, my readers, that I'm not more interesting, creative, or descriptive.

But then I remind myself that my writing style is different, and that's not always a bad thing. I can be inspired by others, but I need to embrace my own strengths and find peace in my writing. One of the reasons I started this blog was to embrace a new style of writing, so this is kind of a growing thing.

My 3 followers read this because there's something here they enjoy (OK, well, one of my followers is me), and the rest of you read this because I actually send it to you whether you want to receive it or not. I assume you would tell me if you didn't want to be one of the chosen 10. :)

Though sometimes I wonder if you read my posts, I feel compelled to continue writing. I guess because something that God is teaching me is that I have to put myself out there. To be truly great, you have to practice, you have to try, and you have to fail (if that's what it takes). I am a master at staying within my comfort zone...in fact, the very idea of publishing this particular post scares me because it reveals more about me than I'm used to sharing with others, even those I love. But more than share pictures of my cutie, I want to inspire you, to connect with you, to share stories that make you laugh or cry, to share my struggles and triumphs and encourage you to share yours, to reveal the glory of God and how He prods me to be a better person and to lean on Him.

So, keep reading. I will continue to share photos and videos of T-man, but along the way, I will also share pieces of myself, and just maybe, you will read something that makes you laugh out loud, or smile throughout your day, or makes you think a little bit about life and the wonderful journey we travel together.

Feel free to share with me; I want to know what you think. Maybe we can swap some recipes.

More Videos

I've been taking some videos, and decided to post them for your viewing pleasure. This boy is so cute!

Playing Peekaboo

Learning to slide

More sliding

Standing and chatting

Playing with Saige

Photos of Trav's newly painted room.

Happenings and Changes!

On our morning walk by the river

Earlier this week, Ken, who has never met a stranger, helped a lady at Loewe's who was fixing her lawnmower. She happened to work for the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort right here in Bastrop, and invited us to visit, so we decided to treat ourselves as a celebration. Though it's only about 10 minutes away, it felt like we were miles away from home. We naively believed that we'd be one of a couple of families sharing the pool, so we were super surprised by the number of people and kids everywhere!!

My great guys

However, we had a great time. We got an upgraded room (with a balcony), and after we ran into Cynthia the next morning, she bought me a coffee and comped our breakfast, which was a delicious buffet! I hope that Travis is as outgoing as Ken--he always meets the nicest people!

We traded off getting massages and playing with Travis in the pool. He was one tired baby, there was so much going on that he would not fall asleep for anything! After 2 hours of trying, he finally fell asleep about 10pm, but woke multiple times to throw up...of course, waking us up in the process. Poor baby got so overheated that it made him sick. He's fine now, and has slept most of the day to catch up on his sleep, and now we know that 3 hours by the pool in this heat is a bad idea. For some reason, we forgot to get photos of us in the pool, but we did get some others.

Sleepy, sleepy baby

Ready for a nap!

We had to visit the horses:  Julius and Cesear

Travis seems to really enjoy the water, though the Hyatt was not his first swimming experience. Last Saturday, we were invited to a pool party, and had a great time with some of Ken's co-workers from ASI.

In the pool!

Sylin' with hats

Bob and Travis meeting

Tuesday, May 24 was my good friend Bob's 60th birthday, and we were invited to a surprise party at the Oasis. Boy, was he ever surprised! I can't help but feel that we were the highlight of his day. As soon as Bob saw that we were there, he made a beeline straight towards us, and Travis went right to him! Later that night, I heard Bob introduce me as his daughter, which, I have to say, made my day! I used to work for Bob, and when he and his wife Candy decided to move to Austin, TX, they brought me along as part of the family, which I've been ever since. Candy passed away several years ago, but I think of her every time I use my sewing machine because it was once hers. I feel that everything I make on it is a tribute to her.

Me, Bob and Trav

Finally some of you may have already heard that Ken has accepted a position with a company called RackSpace. It is here in Austin, and promises to be a new challenge, which Ken is looking forward to. I know that he'll miss his friends at ASI, but we're excited about this new change in our lives.