Bloom Where You're Planted

Where you are planted....                                    

Well, right now we are planted in Colorado. All of us. Mark, me, Valentina, Shyanna, Tanise, Nikayta and Cadence.

We have had some emotional  happenings as of late because of this fact.

Valentina arrived from Brazil on August 7th. Almost 3 weeks ago. She is a doll. We love her to pieces! It was her choice to come to the USA as an exchange student.

Sometimes choosing to be planted someplace doesn't make adjusting to the new soil any easier. She was shedding a lot of tears the first week of her stay. She was talking to and skyping with her friends and family a lot, too. She was very homesick.

Enter Shyanna. She had done so well in Romeoville her first year in public school. She had made many friends- some very dear, in fact. She also exploded on their basketball team. I guess you could say she found her niche and was loving her life. So much so, that she said she did not even want to move back to our home state of Ohio!

Transplated, not by choice, she has also been homesick. Not for her family as much (since we are here with her), but for her friends, her basketball teams, her familiar and comfy environment, the things she was looking forward to there.

We had to make some tough decisions with our girls. We had to limit time Val spent with family and friends in Brazil on the computer and phone. We may have to limit possible trips back to Illinois for Shyanna. We sometimes have to limit contact with the past so we can concentrate on the here and now. So we can grow roots and begin to bloom where we are.

A seed that keeps trying to come up out of the ground where it is planted cannot grow roots and flourish. And so it is with us. We cannot deny the place we are planted to become our home and begin to establish friends, hobbies and a life. If we are to deny these things, we are to deny all the beautiful possibilities that are before us for growing and blooming and becoming who we are supposed to be there.

Though we miss people and we have memories and plans that have not yet been fulfilled in places we have been, we cannot dwell there....where we HAVE BEEN. For by not digging into the soil that is currently around and soaking up all that it offers, a seed will never grow and a blossom can never bloom.

We must learn to BLOOM WHERE WE ARE PLANTED.

Green Pastures and Still Waters

All of my life, I have bee an achiever. Some might say an over-achiever. (lol) At times, it seems that the word "rest" could not possibly have been a word in my vocabulary! I have always enjoyed making lists and checking things off. The bigger the project, the better! People around me would just assume let me work alone as I rarely know how to even take a break! My philosphy has been that of "get the work done and then we can eat or play." 

Lately, though, all the busyness that I am accustomed to has been stripped away. There are no complications...fewer responsibilities...and beautiful green pastures, sunrises and sunsets, wildlife, and mountains everywhere I look! In fact, I have had a fox walk before my path and even a snake slither before my feet while walking around a reservoir and enjoying a gorgeous sunset this past week.

I feel rested. I used to get "heart palpitations" on occasion from nerves being jumpy- probably from being "maxed out" from all the many activities I was involved in and the many responsibilities that I held. Now, I look around me and notice a steady rhythm in my breathing and heart beating. I do not feel the stress that I once was so used to feeling and it seems to be making a difference in my ability to truly enjoy the many blessings in my life.

I can actually hear animals around me...crickets, locusts, and birds. People I care about talk to me and I am completely focussed on what they are saying and can enjoy hearing and seeing them as they share their lives with me! My husband and I have been able to spend good quality time together every day and share our lives, thoughts and feelings. I no longer have to go for a run to clear my head and think. I have a clear head...I am not distracted.

Worshipping God has never been easier! I see Him in everything surrounding me! His creation is magnificent and I am constantly marveled by it and by his many provisions for my family.

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside still waters."... verses I always thought talked about death. Now, I am realizing for the first time in my life that this is the key to LIFE! God doesn't want any of us so busy or so stressed that we are unable to enjoy the many blessings He has put before us! He leads us and makes us so that we can enjoy Him and all of His creation. The people, the places, the animals and the scenery! GOD IS SO GOOD!

All About Me

WOW! Today I am hit pretty hard.
Today I heard this still small voice that said- "Callico, why is everything about you?"

On my way home from taking the teens school shopping and doing our grocery shopping we managed to get into a traffic jam. A traffic jam out in the country, not during rush hour and about half an hour from home.

I sat there and enjoyed listening and watching the girls dance and sing to a couple songs on the radio...and then I began to get impatient!

I had two daughters waiting for us at home. I had a supervisor coming over to take pictures of our home for the exchange student program. I had to get home to clean up some things before that happened. I had frozen veggies in the back of the van that were thawing. I had to PEE!

Did you hear me?? I HAD! I. I. I. I. I. I. I. ......

UGH! Then it happened, we came across the hold up. There were skid marks all across the road from what looked like the other side of the median and when you followed them to where they ended, you saw a car- a car that had completely flipped and there were things lying on the ground around it. It made me want to PUKE that I had been so concerned about ME!

Started thinking, then. That still small voice was RIGHT ON! (Unfortunately) For the past year, I am realizing how self-centered and self-seeking I have been. I HAVE made it all about me. Virtually everything! I used to be selfless and so other-motivated. What happened???

I went from being a stay-at-home mom who wrapped her world around her husband and children, to this lady who seemed to never have enough. Not given enough credit, clothes, purses, time to herself, or jewelry for that matter. I went from being so involved at church- singing, praying with people, leading small group and doing Children's Ministry- to not being involved at all. Who had I been serving for the past year? Who had I been concerned about?? Me. That's who!

I got the message today. I am not feeling good about it at all. But, I guess it is better to hear it and be able to work at getting back to the basics of caring more about others....less about me, than to have not heard it.

I realize I will need a balance. It is never good to go to the complete extreme on either level, I am realizing. I will need to take care of myself so I can care for others. But, right now, I guess I am still digesting this rough message....

Second Chances

This is my second attempt at writing this blog and how fitting to be writing about second chances! This just keeps in what appears to be the theme of my week- first week in our new home in Colorado!

It all started last week when a pregnant lady was going door-to-door in our neighborhood selling magazines to put herself through Nursing College. She asked if we believed in second chances. Immediately I said, "Yes!" She gave me a high five and asked me why, to which I replied, "Because I have been given second chances." She shared that she felt she was being given a second chance through this selling opportunity as she was from the Inner City and had a baby on the way and was preparing for a better life for the two of them. I appreciated her story.

This past Sunday, my daughter shared with me that her pastor in Sunday school let each child in her class take one shot at a basket. That was all they got- one chance. After, the pastor asked if they would rather have had the opportunity for more than one shot- or chance and he proceeded with a lesson on second chances.

Later that day, our exchange student shared with us that she had been hit by a bus while walking. Then, last night we were jogging together outside and I heard her wheezing. She shared that she had asthma and when she was nine it was a big problem and took her to the hospital with cardiovascular trouble. (Talk about second chances!)

Then, today as I was preparing lunch, I heard one of my other daughters talking with her siblings about second chances....I thought, WOW! Could I hear that one more time?? WHAT is going on?

I have had a pretty lazy day with lots of time to think. (I am a thinker anyway- you will rarely- if ever catch me with nothing on my mind.) I thought about this apparent "theme" and why it is that it keeps coming up. I also thought about the many second chances I have been familiar with during my life.

I thought about me walking into a room where a heavy bookcase was and seeing my little brother climbing up on it just as it began tipping forward. I ran in and was able to hold it up until my mom could come in and help.

I thought about a friend of mine choking while we were on a trip to Washington DC and how I performed the Heimlich without being trained how and the food came dislodged and flew out of her mouth and she stopped choking.

I thought about the many times I had taken my life into my own hands as a young adult thinking I was invinceable and doing very stupid things! How it was a miracle at the very least I had made it through some of those situations.

I thought about a couple of friends who tried to commit suicide that I was able to be there for and get help - and thankfully they survived!

I remembered a time I was driving my Ford Escort to BGSU during a snow storm with some friends and how my car was spinning out of control as a semi approached from the other direction on a two lane highway. I fought and fought to straighten it out, but nothing worked until I completely let go of the wheel and sent up a little prayer. Suddenly, we were driving straight and out of harm's way.

I reflected on a couple relationships I have had with people that would be completely dead right now if it weren't for second chances.

Soon I was thinking about the present. About how in some ways it already seems as though we have been given a second chance with this move. A chance to bring our family closer to our values again. A chance to strengthen our relationships with eachother, a chance to see some economic growth, a chance to be more involved at church. Could it be that somehow we will be used here to help give another person a second chance at something? The possibilities are endless!

Who knows....but I know that the possibilities are there. They are ever present. You never know how many chances you will get in this life and you never know how you may be involved in another person's second chance....

Do I believe in Second Chances??? YES!!!! And, I am VERY THANKFUL for them!