The Zoo

The only really cool thing I have to blog about was that last weekend (Saturday before Memorial day) Ryan and I went to the Zoo. I love the Zoo. I love wild animals. But they were a little boring this time around. The animals that weren't sleeping were the bears, elephants, penguins, camels, Giraffe's.

I took lots of pictures; some really cute ones too. I usually upload every picture from my camera onto my computer but I failed to upload the Zoo ones, and just this morning deleted all the images off of my camera. GRRR!!! So much for that! I was really excited about those pics too. Ahhh!! Can you sense my frustration yet?

Maybe we'll just have to go again. :)

"My own Personality"

My sister Caiti sent this quote, from one of C.S. Lewis' books, to me this morning as I got to work. I loved it so much that I had to post it. It's EXACTLY what I needed.

Thanks Caiti! :)

The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. There is so much of Him that millions and millions of 'little Christs', all different, will still be too few to express Him fully. He made them all. He invented -as an author invents characters in a novel-all the different men that you and I were intended to be. In that sense our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. It is no good trying to 'be myself' without Him. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. In fact, what I so proudly call 'Myself' becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events which I never started and which I cannot stop…. I am not in my natural state, nearly so much of a person as I like to believe: most of what I call 'me' can be very easily explained. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.

C.S. Lewis - from Mere Christianity

Mother

Mother I love you, Mother I do. Father in Heaven has sent me to you.

When I am near you, I love to hear you singing so softly that you love me too.

Mother I love you, I love you, I do.

Happy Mother's Day!

(This picture makes me laugh. She will kill me for posting this online, but it's so cute, we're just missing Caiti in it.)

Isn't she a beaut?!

4 years and counting

5/9/05

I love you babe. Happy Anniversary!

Life Lessons I've learned #2

I love my Mom. Growing up she always taught us girls about make-up and what shades are right for us, wearing the right color of clothes for your skin coloring, wearing the right hairstyle for the shape of your face, etc.

Another one of the things she would tell us was, "don't pluck your eyebrows too much or one day you'll find that they won't grown back".

Now my mom has the PERFECT shape eye brows. The kind that I wish I had. If I had really heeded her advice about plucking of the eye brows I probably could have some similar to hers.

(You can sort of see her awesome eye-brows in this picture with my dad, circa 1969)

However, being the stubborn and impatient and independant person that I am I ventured on my own when it came to my eye brows. The first time I really started plucking them was when I was a sophomore in High School. I thought I knew what I was doing when I got going on the plucking. But learned that this was far from the truth.

Let's just say they looked, in a way, like the little dipper. Thick and full and in a square shape at the beginning and thin the rest of the way out. I remember years later looking at my first drivers license picture and wondering what in the world I was thinking!

Later on and throughout the years I have played a lot with my eyebrows, always trying to find the perfect shape. Anytime I was stressed, frustrated, bored I'd get plucking.

Well, my mom's advice didn't set in until the last couple of years when I realized that they're not growing like they used to.

To this day I now need to fill in my eyebrows with a pencil in order to get somewhat of a shape.

They're a mess. All because I didn't listen to my mom.

Lesson learned.

I'm tired.

Do we really have to talk about weight all the time? It seems to always be the first topic of conversation when we get together. Who has lost weight, what kind of workouts are you doing?, we should do this or that to lose weight.

I know it's just me and the way my mind thinks, but each time we talk about it I feel as though it's geared towards me. It's probably just because I'm extremely self-contious, you know being the biggest of the family - yet again. And I know many times I'm the first one to bring it up - mostly because I feel that if I don't you'll think that it's not something I want; to be thin. But frankly, I'm tired of this topic being the focal point in everything.

I'm tired of it consuming me. I'm tired of me thinking about it non-stop. I'm tired of crying over it. I'm tired of not being happy because of it. I'm tired of the looks when I see you all, knowing full well what you're thinking, seeing that each of you are losing weight and doing so awesome at it; working so hard and I'm proud of you for it!!

Maybe it's because I'm not feeling well today and a little extra emotional but really...I'm tired.

I'll keep working on it because that's what I need to do, but let's find other topics of conversation, please.

I love you, and thank you!

Life Lessons I've learned

For a long time now I've wanted to compile some lessons I've learned throughout life into a book. Not a big book or anything, and not to sell (maybe) but lessons that I can look back on and that my family can look back on.

Trying to get these together has been difficult just because I'll randomly remember something and, of course, not have a pen or paper handy. I've thought about getting a little voice recorder, which I may end up doing for those moments, but I thought that since I have a blog why not put them of them on here as I remember them.

These lessons may be funny little things or they may be serious. These lessons also include many people throughout my life, friends, aquaintances, family, etc. So don't be surprised if you see that you were one of them that helped me learn a lesson for the better. After all, lessons learned are blessings in disguise. :)

LIFE LESSONS I'VE LEARNED #1.

I was about 11 years old. It was summer time and I was aching to get out and go swimming at the Scera Pool. I called a friend of mine, Sabrina, to see if she wanted to go with me. Knowing full well what her response was going to be I got anxious anticipating the moment when we could get going.

"Hello?" "Hi Sabrina, it's Shannon... (there was no caller ID back then)...Do you want to go to the pool with me?"

"No, not really" was her reply.

"Oh, ok bye", I said with an ache I hadn't felt before. Thinking to myself I said, "How rude! I can't believe she said NO". So then I tell my sister Erin of this aweful phone conversation I had just had.

"Erin, I just asked Sabrina if she wanted to go swimming with me at the Pool and she said no, rude huh!" Erin's reply was defining moment for me. "Well, Shannon, it's ok to say no. People don't have to do something they don't want to do."

Ding ding ding! "It's ok to say no?", I thought. I don't know why but I guess I had never had a friend before that moment say they didn't really want to do something with me. Not that I was a popular person to hang around with, but it had just never really happened before.

Throughout life I have realized that I'm a people pleaser. I always have been. I do whatever I can to make people happy, and that's ok. But this lesson taught me that I'm not here just to please people. I'm here to learn, to have growing experences, to be the best me that I can be.

And it's ok to say no.