How to Create a Visual Treasure Map for Fun and Inspiration

How to Create a Visual Treasure Map for Fun and Inspiration 

A new article I have written for HubPages!

Blessings and Prayers

It's Sunday and a good day to look back at the week and think about all the things that blessed me.  The following is a very incomplete  list in no particular order.

God!
My beautiful granddaughter Jillian!
Getting my budget balanced.
Having enough money to pay my bills.
My beautiful Vera Bradley bag from daughter Chris
The lovely cross my daughter Anna gave me for my Birthday
Learning how to Blog
My friends
My family
My dear husband
My beautiful and comfortable home
My church


Today is also a good day to pray:

For the people in Haiti - the grieving, the survivors, the sick,  the hurting.
For the safety and protection of the people trying to help them
For resources to be made available to help them
For my family and extended family- my husband, my daughters, granddaughter,my mother, sister, brother and all their families and loved ones. For my husband's family.
For my friends - for their health and happiness
For my students
For our country as it works its way through this financial mess

What has blessed your this week?  Who or what are you praying for?

Saturday Reflections

As I sit here on my comfortable couch typing away at my blog, I am feeling an overwhelming sense of thankfulness for everything I have. My granddaughter Jillian is having lunch of a peanut butter sandwich and glass of milk. The weather is lovely outside here in January in Southern California. And its Saturday. Sort of the day to kick back. Quite a a contrast to the horrors that are going on in Haiti where death is piled into trucks to be buried in mass graves. Where there is no clean water, food or even safe shelter. Where people are becoming more desperate by the minute. My biggest worries are about my 401K and whether to save money by cutting back my cable to just the basic digital pack. Shocking isn't it? At what we take for granted. Things like our arms and legs, a bed to sleep in, food to eat. Haiti reminds us that in a few seconds everything in our world could change dramatically. It reminds us that life is fragile. It reminds me to be grateful for the life I have. It reminds me to hold those I love a little closer. What are your thankful for today?

Thoughts on Haiti

Its hard to look at the terrible devastation in Haiti  and not feel a sense of sorrow mixed with fear. As I watch people grieving their unimaginable losses I find myself struggling with how I would feel in their situation. Living in Los Angeles, I know that we too are dancing on a fault line of potential disaster. There but for the grace of God go I.  I was saddened when I heard about Pat Robertson's statement that the earthquake was God's judgment against Haiti.  As a Christian, I find this kind of rhetoric needless, painful and completely unhelpful at a time like this. First, this is the moment that people MOST need God and their faith to somehow pull through this disaster. Telling hurting people that they have been "judged" does nothing to alleviate their pain or solve their insurmountable problems. This is exactly the kind of thing Jesus warned us about.. to NOT sit in judgment of others. Instead of judging the blind, the sick and outcast, he reached out to them, healed them and gave them hope. That's what the Christians that I know are doing. Instead of spending their time judging others, they are risking their resources and lives to help those less fortunate.
Haiti's is a country that exists in a natural world where tectonic plates move and sometimes shake.  As humans we live in this world that operates by natural laws. And though I do believe in a supernatural God who can miraculously save and heal people, He doesn't always do things the way I wish or think He should. I have never experienced the level of suffering the people of Haiti are going through right now. But I have had heartaches, and tragedies in my life. And all I know is - that it is my FAITH that has carried me through the dark times. It is my belief that God is with me even in the midst of pain that I can go on another day or another minute. My faith in a personal, loving God is what gives me hope.  I would hate to see people lose that hope because of the statements of one person. Jesus tells us to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Now is the time for us to show our love for our neighbors by helping them with our prayers and our resources.