Abigail at camp

AI is so cool

 

Check out older Wendi with younger Wendi! Pretty cool!!

Kids, kids everywhere

Well, John and Sidge are back from their 17-day African adventure. Man, did they have a good time.  

Isaac left for a two-week camp at Liberty University. It was a combo theatre-camp and some sort of voice-over camp. 

Cousin Baylee (Keith's daughter) came into town and three days later, she and Abigail headed out for a youth conference with our church. 

Little Hannah got braces! (She is NOT happy about that!)

Me and Hannah have been the consistent presence around these parts. Everyone else is coming and going. 

Speaking of going .... poor John returned from his 17-day trip to face six-work-days in a row including four nights!

Yikes! 

My new porch!

My Aunt Connie is a professional organizer. She came over and helped me clean up my porch. She gave me this amazing area to have a bit of a sanctuary. I love it!

Liberty

Isaac is spending two weeks at Liberty University. He is doing a theatre camp, and then he is doing a voiceover camp. John’s co-director at work had a daughter, Riley. She is there as well. This is their second year going. Isaac sent me a photo of the two of them! 

Stop Trying to Solve Tomorrow

Another post from my mentor, Parag: 

One of the most common things I see in sensitization is people trying to solve problems that don't actually exist yet.

 

"What if I can't handle next week?" "What if this feeling is still here tomorrow?" "What if my trip goes badly?" "What if I never recover?" "What if I can't cope with what's coming?"

 

Notice what just happened.

 

The mind left reality and entered imagination.

 

Tomorrow hasn't arrived. The conversation hasn't happened. The trip hasn't started. The symptom hasn't appeared. The challenge hasn't unfolded.

 

Yet the nervous system is reacting as if all of it is happening right now.

 

A sensitized mind is a possibility-generating machine. Its job is to scan the future and produce scenarios. That's not the problem. The problem begins when we treat those possibilities as realities that need to be solved. 

 

You don't need answers for tomorrow.

 

You need a response for today.

 

Can you get through this moment? Can you respond to this thought? Can you allow this feeling? Can you take the next step in front of you?

 

That's all life is ever asking of you.

 

Think about it. Every difficult thing you've ever navigated in your life was eventually handled in the present moment. Not in the future. Not in your imagination. Not during the hundreds of rehearsals your mind put you through beforehand.

 

You handled it when it arrived.

 

The irony is that by trying to solve tomorrow, we often miss today entirely. We sacrifice the only moment where we actually have influence in exchange for trying to control a moment that doesn't even exist.

 

So when you catch yourself planning, predicting, analyzing, preparing, rehearsing, and problem-solving for a future that hasn't unfolded yet, pause.

 

Come back to now.

 

Today has enough opportunities for courage. Today has enough opportunities for responding. Today has enough opportunities for living.

 

Let tomorrow introduce itself when it gets here.

 

Your job is to lead yourself through today.