Life Gets Lived in the Journey....

Today I thought I would share a little more of my story, who I am and where I am coming from, what has brought me to where I am today. I want to share a little of my history in regard to marriage.  Marriage is a topic that is near and dear to my heart.  I long to see strong healthy marriages, I believe that they are critical to strong healthy families and we NEED strong healthy families to combat the enemy as he prowls the earth!! (1 Peter 5:8)  I did not come from a home where one was in place.  I am no authority, this is not my first rodeo, but hopefully I have learned a little along the way that may in some small way be of benefit to even one of you, dear readers....
My first marriage was doomed from the start, but of course I was too blind to see that.  I have no desire to dwell on regrets - wasted energy in my opinion.  I will say this, I was young(ish) 30 years old at the time, I was deceived in many pretty major ways by the man I was to marry and most importantly, I was not walking with God at that time in my life....I did not yet know.  Not too hard to read that writing on the wall from my current perspective, but then I was clueless.
We were married for 8 years, 10 months and 16 days (I calculated this as I prepared this post as I am about to celebrate my 8th anniversary a second time and I get curious about things like that...).  The last 2 years of my first marriage were spent in divorce, primarily in court, chaos and oh so much drama.  This was one of if not 'the' hardest times in my life.  As a single mom I learned so very much in the School of Hard Knocks in which I found myself automatically enrolled during this time.  
Many good things came out of those 8 years, 10 months and 16 days.  It brought me to Alabama from my lifelong home in Canada - I had cats, he had kids, the cats and  I made the move..... I love living in The South Y'all!  I came to know my Lord & Savior during that time as well.....this is The Bible Belt after all. And last but absolutely not least, I have a beautiful son who was born out of that union.  God really can take what the enemy means for evil and turn it to good !!  And I wish I could locate the scripture reference for that to share with you - I was thinking Romans 8:28, but that doesn't seem completely right....help a sister out if you know the one I am thinking of ok? Thanks.  But I digress...
Many not so good things came out of those 8 years, 10 months and 16 days as well.  Wounds that run very deep which to this day I continue to pray for healing of.  My self image/worth was completely destroyed during that time, I lost myself almost entirely.  Damage to the way I related to people in general and even more so how I viewed men.  God's goodness (I am one of His favorites by the way...nannie nannie boo boo ;-)) brought me an amazing man...My Prince....who is nothing at all like the one who lied, who hurt me and caused so much pain.  He is a man of stellar character, patient (amazingly so at times - bless him), kind, gentle, honest and loves me like crazy!  There is that principle at work again - evil turned to good - in this case - turned to supercalifrajalistic! 
I tell My Boy (who is now 11 years old and already taller than his mama!!) all the time, that hurt people hurt people when he is struggling to make sense of the things that his dad does or does not do.  I won't even begin to dig into that today - there is an plethora of posting that is bound to come out of that as well.  

Photo Credit

It's true, hurt people do hurt people, but healed people can help hurt people heal...Amen! Again we see that marvelous principle at work - God takes our yuck and turns it into something lovely that brings life to the hurting...how awesome is that?  We serve an entirely Awesome God!!  A God who loves us beyond our ability to comprehend.  

I for one feel that there is accountability and responsibility that comes with understanding and wisdom.  This blog was birthed out of that belief, I will say it over and over no doubt, that if these posts help just one that is more than enough, and  the reason I feel called to be here doing this baring and sharing when it is hard. Even when I really don't want to because I am scared of the transparency it will at times require and I don't know what to make for dinner tonight and I need to start a load of laundry and what will people think of me? and the dishwasher needs to be emptied and there is the history test and the math lessons and on and on and on.....It is hard, but it is so very worth it!  
I certainly don't do it alone and never could.  God has given me a heart to reach out to the hurt out of my healing and with His help and guidance, it is my prayer that I can help you see that even in the yuck He can perform miracles....my life is truly a testimony of that...in progress.

 

So...Tell Me About You.....

It has been a few weeks since my first post and pretty much everything here has been fairly serious so far, not a bad thing but I do love balance, so with that in mind, I thought today I would share some fun, silly, random and perhaps little known things about myself with you, dear readers.

In honor of the new year I will cut the wild and crazy fun off at 13 things (hope I can think of that many!), so here in no particular order are 13 things about me......

1.  I was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  I moved to Huntsville, AL in 1994 and have been here ever since - wow it will be 19 years this December - how on earth did that happen?!!?

2.  I am an only child and mother to an only child.

3.  I was the lead singer (or a reasonable facsimile) of a band in college, we called ourselves UFB which stood for Unfit For Broadcast.  We were all in the Radio & Television Broadcasting program.  I had really short dark hair, a blonde tail that went half way down my back and wore clothes that caused my mother to refuse to stand with me at the bus stop in the mornings - it was the 80's - nuff said.

4. I did not get my drivers license until I was 36 years old and took my road test 6 months pregnant in a minivan.  You know they had to pass me out of pure pity alone!!

 5.  I met Carly Simon when I worked as a receptionist out of college at a major Toronto radio station CFTR/CHFI.  This was a huge thrill for me as I was/am a big fan and was lucky enough to have her autograph an album...you know those old round black vinyl  things that we used to play on something called record players.    

I had it framed.

6.  My favorite kind of sandwich is peanut butter and cucumber.  Smooth peanut butter, English cucumbers on thick crusty bread is best.  Try it....really!

7.  I am pretty good at music trivia - especially the 1970's....my brain has tons of lyrics floating around which I  sing/recite to suit just about any occasion.  My son and husband pretty much tune this out now and I do my best to control myself in environments outside of my home.  If I know you in real life and you would like to see me in action just let me know and I will gladly dazzle you! ;-)

8.  I had a wonderful piano teacher when I was young, she was blind and had a pet raccoon who sat her on baby grand when she played - she absolutely fascinated me! 

9.  I made my first film debut at age 4 on the big screen in a Toronto Parks and Recreation film that ran endless loop at the Canadian National Exhibition in the Horticultural Building one summer, running through a sprinkler at Renee Park in my yellow and navy bathing suit.  We didn't even know I was in the film, but an observant viewer nearby pointed it out and we stood there watching it over and over that afternoon.  I did not sign any autographs.

10.  I had two imaginary friends when I was young who I would meet in the park and play with - only children get lonely sometimes.  The girl who was my age looked like Little Bo Peep was named Chickata Lou. 
 The boy of about the same age, bore a striking resemblance to  Little Boy Blue and his name was Alley the Halley.  I would meet them at the park early in the mornings where they would come out from their hiding place in the trees to play on the swings and slides with me.   I have always loved fairy tales and still do.  Have you seen the TV show Once Upon a Time??  We love it!  My  favorite fairy tale is The Princess and the Pea.

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11.  My grandmother was the first woman in our family to get an education beyond high school, she attended the University of Toronto and was a librarian.  She passed her love of books and reading on to me  - I remember our outings to the library as magical times when I was very young - I loved Curious George books in those days. In our family lineage I was the next female after her to continue my education beyond high school.
12.  My son was born 2 weeks early after the decision was made to induce labor because the baby was 'big' and I was terrified to have a C Section - he was 10 lbs, 1 oz and 19 inches long.  He held his heap up on his own the very same evening he was born.  Is it any wonder I only had one child? ;-)
and last but not least......
13.   I was born in 1964 to an unmarried Catholic girl.  This was a big deal then, and big secrets followed.....I'll be sharing some of these things as time goes on and we get to know each other better......
Until then, tell me something fun, interesting, wacky, silly  and or random about you!  I would challenge each of you to leave a comment and share at least one random thing about yourself....it's certainly not all about me, so that would make it....your turn!