Attitude is a decision

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LET IT REALLY SINK IN......

THEN CHOOSE .





John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, 'If I were any better, I would be twins!'




He was a natural motivator..




If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.




Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, 'I don't get it!'




'You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?'




He replied, 'Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or...you can choose to be in a bad mood




I choose to be in a good mood.'



Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.




Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or...I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.




'Yeah, right, it's not that easy,' I protested.




'Yes, it is,' he said. 'Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood.




You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life.'




I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business.. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.




Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.




After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.




I saw him about six months after the accident.




When I asked him how he was, he replied, 'If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?'




I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.




'The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,' he replied. 'Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live.'




'Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?' I asked.



He continued, '...the paramedics were great.




They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action.'




'What did you do?' I asked..



'Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,' said John. 'She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity''




Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'




He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude...I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.




Attitude, after all, is everything.




Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.' Matthew 6:34.




After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

The Crying Baby

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a movie theater with my 7 year old daughter. The theater was not crowded, but in walked a mother with a couple of kids and a baby. The baby as you can guess started crying in the theater and the mother never took it out of the theater.

It seems wherever I go, I hear crying babies and sometimes it is a screaming baby and I admit, they are annoying to me. I joke, "The crying little people...are everywhere!"

I am currently raising two children. They are now 7 and 9, way past the baby stage. I know all about crying babies and it isn't always easy to comfort them.

When they were babies, my husband used to tip the waitresses about 30%, because they were simply so messy. They often times keep you up at all hours of the night and the pooh, oh the pooh....but;

"They are babies for such a short while, their lives so innocent and precious."

I was visiting a local church this morning and I received one of their church pamphlets. On the back was this story below;

The Crying Baby

Do you hear him? Right now, you can probably hear a baby crying. We hear them all the time-they are everywhere.

When you go to the movies and see a mom come in with a baby on her hip, your blood pressure rises. When you are reading a magazine in the waiting room and see the wheels of a stroller push through the door, you know you won't be reading much longer. When the person sitting in 15b has a baby and you are in 14b, you know it is going to be a long flight.

When you see the family enter the auditorium at church, baby in tow, you know they missed the nursery. Babies interrupt our worship, break our silence, and disturb our peace.

What if babies are meant to interrupt our lives? What if babies remind us that the routines we have made for our lives are not always the best course for us? What if babies remind us the world is not all about us? What if babies reminded us that birth is to be celebrated and life is to be experienced?

What if babies are meant to remind us that once a baby entered the world with the expressed purposed of interrupting our worship, breaking our silence and disturbing our peace?

What if babies reminded us of Jesus? Like this morning.

-Derrick



It makes you think.

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for"

"A baby in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between angels and men"

I went for a run today. I ran 8 miles. I've had this nasty cough now for about 3 weeks and every time I have to stop at a traffic light, I start coughing fairly uncontrollably until I get moving again.and when I realized this morning that the rain was really coming down, practically blowing sideways, I admit, I groaned.
I dressed with my wind and water breaker and headed out. I was drenched within minutes. I had to stop at the stop light and I read a sign at a local church that read "It's hard to be thankful, when you're grumpy!"
After reading the sign, the run became fun. I didn't care that it was raining anymore, it didn't matter that my hands were freezing. I thought it was funny when Barlow Girls song "Hello Sunshine" came on. Cute. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAVCU0BAHJs
Stopped staring at the sign, I remembered a time when I was a little girl. I absolutely loved to go out in the rain and come back in completely drenched. My parents never mind, well that's my memory of it.
And for the remainder of the run, I was that little girl and once again, running in the rain was fun again.

Gaining confidence

For todays trail adventure run, I once again wanted to run hills, different hills this time.

I chose Birch, Lower Mac, hill up to the Pitock Mansion and Firelane.

If you remember, Firelane is my goal. I want to run it, without stopping and at a reasonable speed. I have never run Firelane without stopping. It's located just slightly after mile 3 on Leif Erickson or near the Wildwood/nature trail intersection. It's .40 long.

When I left the house, it was 31 degrees.

In a nutshell, this is what I did. I started at Birch trail, ran down Birch, took a right towards the Stone house, ran up to the Pitock Mansion (without stopping), turned around, ran past the stone house, going up Wildwood towards Birch, all the way to the Nature Trail/Firelane intersection area.

By now, I have to say it started snowing, just a little and it was a mix of snow/rain.

I ran down Firelane, took a right on Leif, ran a tiny way on Leif, no more than .25 one way, turned around and started to head up Firelane. I said "attempt #1" I got about maybe .15 of the way up and my legs were completely burning, so I just stopped. I didn't start walking; I just stopped, caught my breath and started again. I kept going, without stopping, until I was almost at the top, when I felt the burning desire to stop again. I stopped, caught my breath and kept going all the way up to the top and kept running. I will mention that this was not a record breaking speed up Firelane, but it was the running motion.

It started to snow again and it kept getting worse and I think it's safe to say, I was running in a "almost" snow storm and it was starting to stick to the branches. I lastly ran up birch.

I quickly got in my car. I had a choice to make. I could either go down 53rd and turn right and go up Cornell and up to Sylvan or I could go left and go down towards Fit Right. I am a huge baby when it comes to snow. I hate driving in it and I have a huge phobia of driving in it, scares me to death and I instantly freeze up and freak out. I like to think that I am a fairly intelligent person, but I made a dumb decision. I went right and started going up the hill (Cornell) and the snow was sticking more and more to the ground. Well by the time I got to the stop sign, the ground was completely covered and I knew I would have to keep going up. So I finally got my brain back and turned around and went back the other way, where there wasn't much white at all.

I feel good. Nice run.

16 miles 3:36.

I am thankful for...

This is a picture of me, right after my brother "accidentally" hit me in the face with a wooden bat.
Old pictures of me(middle) big sister, brother and dad
I bought Brett this shirt. It says "chick magnet"It's funny because he has 3 daughters.
Old pic of Naomi in her tu-tu
My dad celebrating a birthday

A few weeks ago, my family got together at my parents home to watch the Oregon Ducks game. Sitting on the couch, my mom says, "at 1/2 time lets talk about what were going to do for Thanksgiving." I said immediately, "were all coming over to your house and we'll be here at 3, I'll bring the rolls."

In less than a week, it will be Thanksgiving. I can’t believe it is already Thanksgiving, it came so fast. While I used to think it was a bit silly to go around the room and the dinner table and announce what we were all thankful for. I am thankful. It’s a time to get together with your family, give thanks and of course eat too much. So, what am I thankful for?

My dad who had a stroke over a year ago, who dialed 911 himself, dragged himself to the front door and somehow unlocked the door to let them in. While it was the most difficult time for my family, we didn't know if he was going to make it. But he is still alive. The surgeon, who removed his blood clot, saved his life. He isn't the same, finds it hard to form words and I see sadness in his eyes. But he is still with us.

To my mom, she is the strongest person I know. She has had to deal with so much in her life and in the past year. She is a wonderful mom and person.

To my husband who loves me even when I don't deserve it. He has a very kind and gentle heart. He could have shut the door to our relationship long ago, but didn't. To my husband who never complains about the long hours that I am away from home, so that I can pursue my hobby.

To my God, who has never given up on me. He has always loved me, who turned my life around and saved me from heartache, bad decisions and anger.

I am thankful for my 3 children. They bring silliness to my life and unconditional love. I'm a pretty serious and analytical person. But when Kayla grabbed on to the mannequins leg and yelled very loudly "mommy, mommy, there you are mommy!" How can you not laugh? There are moments like this that fill my life. While they are getting older and are now fighting over the bathroom, they are all cherished.

To my brother, sister and extended family. We live close to each other, within 45 minutes. I don't mean to draw attention to just one person. But, my brother....a Steve, I've had a bruised face from you, I still have the scar from the pencil that got stuck in my arm thanks to you, you are the loudest one in the family and the funniest, but without you, life would be so boring.

To all my close friends whom I share a very close and personal bond with. You really get to know someone when you run with them for 3-6 hours.

To all the wonderful people that I have gotten to know through running. There is a reason that I like to add everyone that I am running with in a race. I get emotionally attached to all my races and I like to share the experience with others.

And of course to running. It's taught me so much. It's taught me patience, discipline, not quitting, pain management, overcoming fear, confidence, courage, strength....

Happy Thanksgiving

"I miss you Naomi?" said Dave Salesky.

A couple of months ago, my daughter Naomi took an airplane adventure ride news reporter Dave Salesky from the channel 2 news. Ever since then, she is glued to the TV when he comes on to report on the day’s weather. Tonight she said, "I just wish he would say I miss you Naomi in to the camera."