Deer Sighting

One of the most beloved pictures about a deer is the movie Bambi.  It is a fun loving tale about a young fawn living in the woods with his mother and what happens after his mother is shot.  Bambi is not the only movie that has deer in it.  There are many films, especially one's with a setting in nature, that show these strong creatures.  Many people have also seen live deer in a zoo or other special animal retreat.  But, how many of us have seen a live deer behind their own backyard?  Not sure on the percentage for that question, but at least I can say that I have seen one behind my own backyard.  I have seen four as a matter of fact.

Wednesday morning our dog Booka was barking as he usually does when there are squirrels in the backyard or when someone passes by or comes close to the house.  I always look at our back window just to be sure that he is in fact barking at a squirrel.  Eventually he stops barking but this morning he kept going.  I almost didn't look out of the window because I was getting the kids ready for school.  Finally I decided to go ahead and look out our back sliding glass door.  I am glad that I did.  Behind our house there is a grassy meadow-like area and a pond.  A few months ago our neighbor went back there and mowed all of the tall grass down because he likes to look at the pond.  Well off in the back part of the meadow I saw some deer.  At first I thought it was just a couple of them, then my husband pointed out that there were in fact four.  Two babies and two adults.  It was a family.  We called the kids over to come look and we all watched them from our back glass door until they ran into the tall grass where they can't be seen.

It was a majestic site to see and not one you can see everyday from the back of your own house.  It was a beautiful start to the morning.  Of course, this morning I tried to look in the back to see if I saw them again but there was too much mist rising from the pond covering the meadow.  I don't know what the chances are that they will come that way again or that my family and I will be lucky enough to see them, but we saw them once and that was enough for me.  Take pride in the beautiful things in nature that God has created and protect them.  They are part of our world and we should treasure them always!

What Is Truly Important

The other day when I was looking through my news feed on Facebook I came across a post that one of my friends shared.  I started to read it and it was longer than the usual so I almost didn't read it.  But then I saw the word homeless in the post so I thought it might be interesting and as I continued to read the first few sentences my initial perception of what the post was about changed.  I though the post was going to be about a homeless person putting themselves in harm's way to get some money or something they needed, but it wasn't.  After reading the entire post I thought it was very profound and I messaged the person who wrote it because I felt that it was something that deserved to be posted again for as many people to read it as possible.  It makes you think about what is truly important in life.  Whether one person or 100 people read this post it is worth sharing.  The post written below was by James Rose Jasmin and I want to thank them for allowing me to re-post on my blog.  Read the post and think about it and what is truly important in your life.

Facebook Repost by James Rose Jasmin:

As I was driving home from work, I took my normal exit off of 95 & saw something pretty interesting. There was your typical homeless man standing on the side of the intersection with one of those "Homeless. Please help. God bless." signs. Suddenly, this guy starts walking almost into oncoming traffic. So I'm thinking to myself that this guy has probably lost it & is just tired of putting up with his life. What I didn't see at first was that there was a man in a truck with something in his hand that he was waiting for the homeless man to come get. Since the lane that he was in had the green light & he was in front, he threw what was in his hand in the direction of the homeless man. It wasn't until I drove closer that I saw what it was that this homeless man was rushing to get. 1 MEASLY CIGARETTE. Smh, I know. But this event that took place before my eyes brings up a very good point. This man was willing to risk getting hit by a car & if not worse, dying of something so materialistic, it blinded his ability to distinguish what was worth pursuing & what was not. Believe it or not, many of us are like that homeless man on the side of the road. We set our goals so high & declare that we are ready to do WHATEVER it takes to reach them. Whether it's a career. Whether it's a trophy wife/husband. Whether it's the best wedding in history . Whether it's becoming the next best rapper. The next top model. The next...... I'm sure the point is made. I'm not saying that one shouldn't have dreams, but let's put some things into perspective:
Most of us will live to be about 70/80 yrs. But as we get older, life will be harder. That's inevitable. Before we know it, our time has passed & our REAL lives begin(PSALMS 90:9-10). There is nothing wrong with having goals/desires, but we should be careful what kind of goals we set & what we're willing to risk/give in exchange for a little change with a little taste of fame. What does it profit you if you gain every single, solitary dollar on the face of this planet & then you die seconds later? (Mark 8:36) When you close your eyes on this side, you open them on the OTHER side. That's when things get REAL. Most of us are not ready for that reality, unfortunately. We play the game of life like it's Russian Roulette. Some say "I don't believe in Hell, therefore it does not exist." Some say the'll have more than enough time to make things right before they die. Let's make this plain & simple. You can chase everything that you think is important in this world: cars, money, men/women, jewels, power, etc. When you leave here, none of it is going with you. There's no "eternity bank" that you can walk into & say "I'd like to transfer all of my money that I had while I was on planet Earth." I'm nowhere near rich & may never be in this life. But one thing I have is PEACE. That peace passes ALL understanding & guides me along this life. Without it, I'd be like the majority. Aimlessly wandering this Earth looking for "treasures" that will soon not even matter (Matthew 6:19). Whether you want to believe it or not, this world is passing. Watch the first 5 minutes of any news broadcast & tell me if you feel optimistic of the days to come. We need to get back to the things that matter & feed the soul, not the flesh.... God bless you all.

I Miss Me

This morning while I was putting socks together my  3-year old daughter sat on my lap and said "I miss you so much mommy".  To myself of course I was thinking that I never left her.  So in an effort to be nurturing and not condescending to my child I simply said that I missed her too.  After a few minutes I thought about what she said and then it hit me, while she may not have truly understood what she said for a 3-year old it was very profound.  It made me think about the movie Marley& Me and in the movie John and Jenny Grogan took a trip to Ireland to getaway.  There was a scene in the movie where they were together on the bed in their bed & breakfast room and they talk about being intimate for the first time after the miscarriage.  In the movie John (played by Owen Wilson) looks at his wife Jenny (played by Jennifer Aniston) and he said: "Hunny, I missed you".  He wasn't talking about them being away as in distance, but he was talking about them not sharing every aspect of their life together like they used to.  Then I realized, you know what, I sometimes really miss me to.  I do not miss everything about myself that I used to be, but there are some things that I miss.

I miss the fact that I used to be annoyingly anal when it comes to details, organizing, and neatness.  I miss the fact that I used to have an idea for a project, task, or activity and then plan it out and follow-through with it until it is complete.  I miss the fact that I used to do more than just hang around the house; even if it was a quick trip to the store.  I miss the fact that I used to dream about what I really wanted and think about how I could get it.  I miss being a real go getter.  But, most of all sometimes I just miss me.

In order to miss yourself then you have to know a little bit about who you are as a person.  Who am I?  I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a niece, a grand-daughter, an in-law, a Soror, a friend, a teacher, a doctor, a mediator, a writer, a craft enthusiast, a graduate student, a creative genius, a poet, a lover of nature, a wanna be amateur photographer, and so much more!  There are many parts to me and while many of those parts are still visible, some are not.  I must reclaim myself in the name of Joanne Marie Gambles.  I must not only recapture who I was that I still want to be, but I must also shed the parts of me that no longer matter anymore.  I must start dreaming about the future again and plot out a path to get there.  Bottom line, I just need to be me; whoever that is.  You may like me, you may love me, you may hate me, and it's possible you may even despise me.  But I will be me.  I do not want to miss being me and in turn miss out on the blessings that are waiting for me to claim.  I want to be the woman God intended for me to be and no longer miss me!!

Just Don't Know

Have you ever had so much going on in your life and so much on your mind that you just don't know what to do?  I feel like that often.  I have all these ideas for things to do but with so much swirling around in my mind it is hard to fine tune what I really want and focus.  There is also this thing called life and all of the daily activities associated with it.  And then there are times when you just don't know anything.  With so much going on in the world today, not being able to focus, and having too much going on in your mind and in your life a person can become severely stressed out.  But, when you just don't know that is OK.  It is OK not to know what to do.  It is OK not to know where you are going.  It is OK not to know how you are going to get things done.  The bottom line is that it is OK if you just don't know.  When you don't know then your mind becomes open to possibilities to help you decide so that you can go from "just don't know" to being in the know and completely happy and content.  Use these times of uncertainty in life to explore your options and see what is out there.  Yes it does mean that you may have to change something in your life.  It could be where you live, your job, your friends,  or all of the above.  But in the end when you make it through the time when you just didn't know you will be better off and you will be able to move forward with your life in a much happier and healthier position overall.

The Gambles End 2012 Together & Begin 2013 Together

The Gambles family spent New Year's Eve the way we like, and that is together as a family.  We brought in the year 2013 with a spirited game of Jenga and shortly after midnight I had to lay day and eventually fell asleep because I was struggling to keep my eyes open.  Wasn't sure if I was gonna make it to the new year awake or asleep at one point.  But it was a good evening and I am grateful that we all made it to 2013 alive and well.  Everyday we have to spend together is a good day.  The year 2012 brought a lot of ups and downs, as I am sure it did for many people, but we remained together as one family unit and I have God to thank your that!!

On the first day of 2013 that he blessed us with we had another great family day.  We started off with blueberry waffles, then we hung out, took a walk to the pond and played outside, had lunch, and then proceeded to go on an errand run.  We thought that our new thing for the week would be to go to Costco's because we have never been, but they were closed on New Year's Day; go figure.  I know they aren't Wal-Mart, but a store closed on New Year's day...hmmmmmmm.  After our Costco's visit was a wash we went into the siddity Wal-Mart and just looked around.  We were successful in finding Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 & 2 in one case and we had a gift card that we could use for it.  So now our Potter collection is almost complete.  We have all but the first one.  We watched the Deathly Hallows last night because we had already watched the others and were on a search to find it in a Redbox but it wasn't there.  It was a great movie and it is a nice one to have as part of our permanent collection.

Our first dinner of 2013 was grilled steak & pork chops, Au Gratin potatoes, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and spinach & broccoli in a creme sauce.  After that we watched a movie or two and then went to sleep.  As always my oldest son, Malcolm II, wanted to stay up the latest.  He always wants to watch one more movie and then falls asleep before it is over with.  Well needless to say he did the same thing again last night.  We had a great first day of the new year and are looking forward to many more great days to come!!