Brave Heart, Brave Soul. She who is brave is free.

"She has fire in her soul and grace in her heart." ~ Unknown I am a mess of a woman. I can be honest. I rarely have it all together. I love to daydream, to get lost in a book and I've got a flair for the creative. Music, comic books, Star Wars and anything steampunk is generally right up my alley. I'm a responsible woman. I acknowledge when I'm wrong. I have a different sense of humor, goofy probably describes me more than the word than humorous. I'm educated, both in the traditional sense and in an unconventional means. I'm a resourceful woman. I can make something good to eat out of whatever is in the pantry and fridge. And yes I  can make money stretch for as long as need be. I'm fairly responsible too. I work full time like many women,  leaving the house and finding my way back home again every weekday. I pick my battles when it comes to cleaning our house and the kitchen is open for home cooked meals Sunday through Thursday and some Saturday

Celebrating 21 Years as Mr. And Mrs. O "I wasn't looking when I met you. But you turned out to be everything I was looking for." ~ Unknown That's exactly how I feel about my hubby. I wasn't interested in a relationship, much less marriage when he came walking into my life wearing his boots, cowboy hat and wranglers. The night he pulled me out on to the dance floor, I was breathless. Johnny was everything I wanted and nothing I expected. He was a man's man, confident, and yet he was sweet and humble. That night some 23 years ago, my baby swept me off my feet and I have yet to land on them again. To think I was just 22 years old when I met Johnny. I was seriously a baby. When I think of today's standards, I was barely out of the cradle. To be honest I had no idea what I was doing whatsoever. All I knew was I loved the man standing in front of me and I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life waking up beside him. I may have

"You own the skies and still You want my heart." ~ Unknown I often find myself wondering why God has placed me where I am. I mean who am I to be a witness or give testimony of His grace? And yet it is He who has set my heart on fire and shown me mercy in spite of myself. I think sometimes if He hadn't chosen me before I was born, He might not have done so after wards. But I think that is the way many of us think, as if we're not ever good enough. But the truth is we're all sinners, not one of us is perfect and if that was a deal breaker than God wouldn't have provided forgiveness. He wouldn't have sent His Son, paving a  way for us to find redemption or for that matter shown us mercy and given us grace. I like how C. S. Lewis puts it, "I would rather be what God chose to make me then the most perfect person I can think of; for to have been thought about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most preciou

"Christ is the head of our house, The unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener to every conversation."  ~ Unknown When you think of leadership what comes to mind? The leader of a country, a sports figure, maybe it's a job title or a position? So how often does the word family come to mind when we think of leadership? Probably not as much as it should right?. I mean someone has to be the leader, guiding and steering our families through adversity and hardship right? What about our dreams or our efforts and accomplishments, who spearheads those endeavors? There's usually someone behind us or beside us rallying, lifting us up and motivating each of us to push past what we see as our limits right? In every family there's at least one person who takes the reins.  That's leadership...where the buck stops, the fault lands and the liability for all decisions good or bad when push comes to shove. Now that said leadership can be in a more traditional sens

"I like nonsense. It wakes up the brain cells." ~ Dr. Seuss I have always been a curious soul. As a little girl I was inherently curious, inquisitive and filled with an imagination that took me on adventures like none you have ever seen. I loved to play dress up, the wilder, the more peculiar and unusual the better. I loved to sing out loud, at the top of my lungs even if I was off tune. I told bed time stories to my parents. I'd take them on my many wild, crazy and unexpected adventures right before night time prayers, ready to sail off into my dreams. I guess you could say I'm weird, odd, off beat, and very unconventional. But I like it that way. Walt Disney once said, "We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things because we're curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." I think this is why I fell in love with his world and why his world became part of mine as a little girl. I guess when it comes down to it, I wa

"A lot can happen in three days."   ~ Anonymous I think of this saying a lot when I evaluate my life. I mean, from day to day a lot happens doesn't it? One day you're living happily, cancer free and the next, you're fighting for your life with a cancer diagnosis nipping at your heels. Life happens that fast and change comes in the blink of an eye. A key note from 'Fallen' explains it this way, "There are moments which mark your life. Moments when you realize nothing will ever be the same and time is divided into two parts ~ before this, and after this.  I don't know about you but I have many divided parts of my life. We all do. From wonderful moments such as saying I do, becoming a parent, graduating or getting the news you're cancer free to darker, more troublesome moments as we let go of toxic relationships, lose a job or sit down for our first of many chemo treatments. What I've learned through the years, is something Cur

"Today is a perfect day for opening new doors." ` Anonymous We talk so much about our past, the what could have been and the chapters we've left behind locked doors we often forget to focus on the new doorways waiting for us to unlock. We have this knack of collecting old keys and wearing them around our necks like chains. Maybe we think we'll get back one day, maybe we'll W-40 that lock and jimmy our way back through or maybe we just feel better knowing we have a link to all the doors we've passed through at one time or another. I don't really know, but what I do know is life is full of doors either we have closed or God has locked . Honestly many more times both of those statements are true. I think as human beings we just get stuck in-between doorways, caught between the past and present, one foot over the threshold while the other one's stuck on the doormat on the opposite side. The truth is many times God has already shown us the way, unlo

"There are some people who could hear you speak a thousand words and still not understand you. And there are others who will understand without you even speaking a word." ~ Anonymous We all have a few, close friends we know we can count on. We may call them our brothers or sisters but the one thing we know DNA or not, they are only one call away in any situation. Anywhere we are in life,  no matter where we go we know they will be there too. When we think of these loved ones, we know their hearts and ours are aligned. They are very old friends much as rumi speaks of.  Be it 20 years or just a few months our hearts are entangled, connected and joined together. We are affixed be it spiritually, mentally, emotionally or physically. And for those few we hold closer than a brother or a sister, we are fused together by all four. For me personally, "I'm close to a very few people but those few people mean everything to me." See when you've got a close c

"Be a game changer. The world is full of game players." ~ Hugh Jackman What I know about the game of life is that it's mostly a hot mess. I mean an absolute hotter than all get out kind of hot mess. Way too many players and not enough game changers in my book. Standing on top of the winner's podium means nothing if you had to  cheat or find a loop hole around the rules to get there. Being a player in the game of life, not a game changer, well it just leaves you with the kind of hot mess our mama's warned us about. I'm talking the kind that pulls you under on a hot summer day  in a swamp full of gators and leaches. the kind of predicament that pretty much leaves you a hot, slimy, sweaty kind of mess with nothing to show for it but mud on your face. I don't know about you, but I've had my share of those kind of days, months and even years. Going back into that hot mess is nowhere in my vocabulary, that's for sure. You can call me late for lu

"I often miss the little girl whose dreams had no barriers...Who believed in a world where anything is possible with a heart that was full and unbroken." ~ Anonymous I don't know how things were when you were growing up or what you wanted to be or  even who you wanted to become. We're all so different with distinct ideas and dreams but we can probably agree on one thing, we saw the world through young, fresh, wide open, bold eyes.  I remember very clearly who I was as a child and who I wanted to be. Years later, the truth is life has turned me inside out and back again. Despite those disappointments I can still hear that same little girl inside me, yelling, "Hold on tight girl, we got this." Seriously, isn't it funny how we change and yet stay the same?  I am so much the little girl I once was and yet I have changed in more ways than I can count. The reality is I have grown through those changes and in growing I've become a much stronger, pa

"Forget glass slippers this princess wears boots." ~ Anonymous I wasn't born in Texas but I can tell you as the old saying goes, I got here as fast as I could. That aside I am definitely God made, Jesus saved and Texas raised. I love  rodeo, the Texas country music circuit, a good ole kolache in the morning, my Blue Bell on a hot day, my Tex-Mex any day of the week and yes I know a good margarita when I taste one. You can say I have Texas in my soul. It's s been said by Bob Bullock, "Only death will end my love affair with Texas." I do believe he's right. I am proud of my state, of the generous, friendly people, the old dirt roads, rusty old fences, cattle grazing and the town I have rested my boots under the bed from the time I was a little girl. Yes, my roots run deep here in the Lone Star state. Texas is my home and no matter where I go, my heart always longs for Red River Country. I have to admit, the saying is true, "You can take the gi