charmed by choice

Resiliency is believing in real truth... nothing is impossible

2013-02-18T15:35:00.004-05:00

Believing in the impossible

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448&ytsession=WKNHG71N3onrfyA-0Nhxt4xLG4eEeWqXKk_CMgTpP5T_9cLXfY8PQAcJ8j13txVwxg48qMzsCkfoQ2M56Ayxm3gQLuAveaF95DVUmI1k7WhBMv7D9SXJvpQmMdcsEJUASijmfl5BPgIqY6Lng85spC3xiAIScmG3Ixv1ncpmWrb4lJf3g88D7OskNuhqY61zyKoc2N2mGj3YsOzROSsssmHqJKQoHz3jFVj5mS5Ajmc

Blogs added to my list....

2013-01-04T08:54:00.001-05:00

Check out the blogs newly added to my list to inspire resiliency

Happy New Year

2013-01-01T08:22:00.000-05:00

I've taken a bit of an "unannounced" break. In an effort to regroup. I'm seeking a more balanced schedule. I wasn't sure if I would decide to keep this blog on my journey or decide to leave it in 2012. But as my private decision deadline approached, I continued to "coincidentally" run across things that made me think.... that would be a great thing to share...
So for today, I'm deciding to keep blogging as a part of my journey.

That being said, I know that I'll be changing some aspects of what is shared. Truly based on what I find to be inspired resiliency. Examples of renewal in the lives of others in an effort to feed my resiliency and pay forward the inspiration I find. I may also be removing some items, not because I have discovered some inherently negative aspect associated with the site or blog, but simply because they just don't seem to fit me at this time.

Happy New Year, I hope you find all that inspires your resiliency and act on the possibilities!

An Option to Help Others... Pass It On

2012-11-04T08:32:00.001-05:00

Shocked By Photos of Hurricane Sandy? How to Help

When Hurricane Sandy made landfall, I started receiving text messages from the staff at our HandsOn Network affiliates New York Cares and the Long Island Volunteer Center. Despite being personally impacted by the storm, they were already thinking of how they could help others.

Hurricane Sandy swept through the northeast, leaving more than six million people without power and many communities flooded. Fire, wind, rain and floods have created the need for a massive recovery.

Points of Light is working alongside National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) and the Corporation for National and Community Service from FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C., to support the coordination of the voluntary response and recovery efforts.

If you are interested in volunteering in the impacted communities, you can find opportunities online. Financial donations can also make a significant impact on volunteers’ ability to respond to disasters. You can donate online at www.pointsoflight.org/donate.

Kellie Bentz is Points of Light’s director of disaster services.

Photo courtesy @MegRobertson

When "giving back" saves you $

2012-10-14T18:47:00.003-04:00

Yesterday my husband and I spent a day away together.
We went shopping to replenish some of the things that we needed. The Under Armour outlet had an interesting take on "give back" purchasing. I thought I'd share it with you.

The offer was to donate $5.00 to their Power in Pink - supporting various breast cancer centers and charities and that "earned" the shopper 20% off the purchase.
I thought it was an interesting take on social responsibility and shopping.

Hate is NOT Victory

2012-10-10T05:40:00.001-04:00

This morning I heard a teaching on kindness and goodness.

It struck me again how the simplicity of purposefully focusing on what CAN be done

in difficult situations, empowers us to help each other.

This month is dedicated to raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer.

As much as hating cancer seems right,

a focus on hating anything can drain us of our strength and power.

I'm focusing on loving and supporting organizations and individuals who strive toward

VICTORY OVER Cancer.

Join me in supporting United Cancer Services.

http://charmedbychoice.com/

Leave a comment if you'd like to share other programs that empower people in their battle!

Injustice and Faith

2012-10-05T11:07:00.000-04:00

The link below will take you to a place along a journey with a family battling cancer-

Cancer in a child's body.

It is heart wrenching, breath taking and overwhelming.

But please don't look away, join their journey.

Feed their faith, pray for them and the families we don't have a name for that are battling too.

http://izzystory.com/2012/09/25/cancer-is-too-hard-for-me/

Choose today to pray.

Assumptions

2012-09-15T17:11:00.002-04:00

Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in.
~ Alan Alda

Be Motivated By Inner Applause

2012-09-09T20:13:00.000-04:00

The person who seeks all their applause from outside has their happiness in another's keeping .
~ Dale Carnegie

Reasons and Rights

2012-09-03T07:17:00.000-04:00

Everyday choices that are relational and faith based are different than everyday responses that are reactions. In every human interaction there is an opportunity to be harsh and judgemental or kind and merciful.

Decide today how you will respond to the faults of others. No matter how far down a road you travel, there is always an opportunity to stop and analyze how you got there and if you want to continue down that path. Make your choices wisely, teach your children to choose wisely. The greatest wisdom can be gained from learning from mistakes and having the courage to step forward in a new direction
.
Resiliency that is faith based shows God's choice is not based on the reasons to respond to hurt with anger, but the right to show mercy.

Choosing the answer to life's problems...

2012-08-29T06:06:00.002-04:00

For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.
~ H. L. Mencken

TRUST....

2012-08-24T06:37:00.000-04:00

From izzy story...

I was in sixth grade the first time I played the TRUST game. I remember when we were told we had to take turns standing on top of a picnic table and falling backwards into the arms of our team members. We looked at one another in terror. The level of trust you had to have in your team was unreal. You had to believe without a shadow of doubt that they would keep there arms out to catch you no matter what. And you couldn’t just believe it in your head, you had to believe it in every square inch of your heart. I can remember standing on top of the table face forward seeing their hands and arms locked together. I turned around and even though I couldn’t see that they were still prepared to catch me, I could hear their voices assuring me that they had me. That they wouldn’t let me fall to the ground. As my heals backed to the edge of the table the adrenaline rose. I quickly questioned one last time if they would really catch me and then I leaned backwards. Falling through the air I panicked for a split second and then felt the security of their arms. They had me and their arms were actually more stable than I had imagined. It was actually a rewarding experience in the end.

I thought about this experience tonight as I lay next to Izzy as she slept. She had just finished her first dose of the chemo drug they are using this round, the one I’m told is “evil.” Initially it shows no side effects and then it explodes with horrendous nausea that lingers on days after the treatment is complete. As I watched her sleeping so peaceful and innocent it broke me to know she had no idea the poison that was flowing through her body. I was heart broken over the peace that she was about to lose and the lives that all of us already had when I was struck by the imagery of falling off a picnic table.

Finish reading....

http://izzystory.com/2012/08/22/trust/

At the Core of our Choices

2012-08-19T07:23:00.000-04:00

^{James 1:2-4}

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Choosing to grow from our difficult experiences.

Ephesians 5:15-16
¹⁵Be very careful, then, how you live —not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, (for doing good) because the days are evil.

Choosing to take the opportunity to live purposefully.

Another great example of resiliency....

http://www.seekingjoy.net/index.html

The only feeling stronger than our own pain is compassion for another.

2012-08-13T20:23:00.001-04:00

The following is an excerpt from a blog introduced to me at

Granger Community Church from Dr. Bob.

It touches me in every way that has significance in my life;

as a parent, as a Special Education Early Childhood provider,
as a spiritual seeker in all life's roles.

..............

This week, as I realized we’d be spending the majority of four consecutive weeks in the hospital, I finally realized that our life is on permanent hold. Locked in a hospital room watching your child try to overcome something that’s trying to take her life isn’t living. I spend countless hours staring at walls wondering how and why we got there. Yesterday, finally having to to have a break, I went outside for a walk. I started walking and then couldn’t bring myself to stop. I couldn’t bare to go back inside. It occurred to me as I was walking that perhaps I could just keep walking forever. Maybe if I kept walking I would never have to go back into this hospital. If I walked long enough perhaps I would find my way back to our hospital room on June 25th and this time when we saw the scan the cancer wouldn’t be there. Then things could go back to the way they were before. Then she wouldn’t have more of hell before her.
I walked for what seemed like forever and then it started raining. I guess even though physics wouldn’t have allowed it anyway, God didn’t want me trying. As crazy as it sounds, it made me angry that He wouldn’t let me try. I vowed to not speak to Him for the rest of the day. Which is fine, I guess. I have nothing to say. I’m too angry to be sad and too sad too be angry.
The only feeling stronger than our own pain is compassion for another. Yesterday I saw a father carrying his daughter in his arms down in the main lobby. Her limp body lay stretched acrossed his leaning into his chest for support. Her bald little head was the war wound of her fight. It broke me. It is an image I cannot forget. I felt such strong compassion for them. I felt broken by what she was experiencing. I felt heaviness in my heart. Her suffering stopped me in the midst of my self pity. But then I remembered. Izzy has cancer too.
It took me hours to make sense of it. See, I don’t feel that when I see Izzy. The pain we feel in the midst of our suffering is different because it is our own. It isn’t wrong to feel it, but it comes from the SELF. But the pain we feel when we see someone else’s suffering is completely altruistic, untainted and pure. It is Christ in us. And yes, even though I wasn’t talking to God yesterday I could appreciate that.
So here we are. Yes, our world has stopped. But what I most learned from that image of the little girl yesterday is that Christ has stopped here with us. He sees us the same way I saw the little girl. He is moved by compassion. And he is carrying both of our limp bodies in His arms and will continue to as we complete our journey to hell and back.

........

So there it is, more eloquently spoken than I could ever say...

Loving others, is seeing their pain above anything in our own circumstance.

It is ultimate purpose.

The way we experience it, the way we respond is unique

to who we are and where we are on our journey.

To follow this journey...
(also added to my blog list in right column )

http://izzystory.com/

Where is the Love?

2012-08-09T06:38:00.000-04:00

Love is not a feeling, it's a call to action.

Individually we can make choices that give a hand up to others,

we can join collectively to have greater impact.

http://blog.compassion.com/where-is-the-love/

Our Love Line is dedicated to giving back to children.

You choose to give...

locally to the Cass County Early Childhood Scholarship Fund

Internationally to Compassion International

http://shop.charmedbychoice.com/

What do you hope for in return?

2012-07-31T06:27:00.000-04:00

The game of life is like the game of boomerangs, deeds and words return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy
~ Florence Skinner

live in less fear

2012-07-29T07:59:00.000-04:00

living in less fear

stepping into faith

the truth...

God is enough

through Him, we can make a difference

a 12 yr old girl's story is an example for all of us to step forward fearlessly

http://blog.compassion.com/god-is-enough/

2012-07-27T19:34:00.000-04:00

Empowering support NOT entitlement support

is the difference that is made through Compassion.

One woman's story.

Opportunity in Rwanda made possible through Compassion.

http://blog.compassion.com/child-survival-program-a-moms-life-in-rwanda/

Connecting to overcome with love, with compassion....

2012-07-26T06:22:00.000-04:00

Have you ever seen those commercials on TV asking for a dollar a day to help a child across the globe? Or perhaps you’ve tried to get your kids to eat their vegetables by using the phrase,

“Do you know there are kids starving in Africa who have no food?”

Maybe you’ve even thought,

“It’s unfortunate that children are hurting, but there’s not really any tangible way I can help.”

Decide to follow the compassion international blog and see the difference an everyday choice can make in the life of a child, Transform their lives not only in the day to day needs, but realize the change in their opportunities for a lifetime.

Courtesy of Compassion International: http://blog.compassion.com/let-the-child-sponsorship-journey-begin/#ixzz21irNZ4As

Love Overcomes Evil

2012-07-22T18:05:00.000-04:00

Join us in overcoming evil with love. Items available at our newly opened web store include a love pendant necklace, a darling simple statement of love. Also available story bead Love charms to intertwine your story with the story of resiliency for the children of Uganda.

Kony 2012 brought us the story, we hope to move into the story by raising funds and awareness for Compassion International, who directly supports children across the world, but for us, for now, focusing in on Uganda's children.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

Making a choice to change can be choosing to believe the impossible.

2012-07-20T11:56:00.000-04:00

“If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable,

you disconnect yourself from what you truly want,

and all that is left is compromise.” Robert Fritz

Believing in the power of 1 suspends believing in only what seems possible.

Have you decided there is power in one?

2012-07-17T17:12:00.000-04:00

Decisions impact choices, impact actions, impact reactions.

What will you decide to do differently?
What will you decide matters most to you?
How will these decisions help or hurt you?
How will these decisions help or hurt others?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja9BFx5Mhqo&feature=fvwrel

Title of today's post refers to post 7.14.12
incase you missed it

It's not what others believe about you that matters...

2012-07-16T05:46:00.000-04:00

Beliefs impact choices, impact actions, impact reactions.

The greatest source of action or inaction comes from our beliefs about ourselves.

Be careful what you believe you can or can't do.

Be careful what you tell others to believe about themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YUExPsgs60&feature=related

Does it make a difference?

2012-07-14T10:20:00.000-04:00

Beliefs-

we are more alike than we are different

inside everyone a desire exists to connect with what is true and pure

giving to others is far more satisfying than receiving

being blessed is an opportunity to be a blessing

change is possible through the realization that change is possible

every choice has an impact

I've been a mission seeking and finding examples of resiliency and the amazing impact everyday choices have not only on ourselves but, on those around us.

It's such a simple concept and generally not deemed as any kind of monumental statement.

But I believe it is monumental

living as much as possible, in that realization that with every choice we make,

we make an impact, we can change our lives and the lives of those around us.

The Power of One video

isn't shared by me to promote one cause over another or one strategy over another.

I share it because I need to be reminded and hope to inspire others that there is power in one.

Each choice we make does have an impact.

Put passion into your decision making~

you can make a difference for yourself and what you care about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz_pVmf5NgE&feature=relmfu

What will become of Us?

2012-07-11T22:07:00.002-04:00

Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.
~ Albert Einstein