Spirituality

Today, I actually wanna touch on something serious. I turned on my tv and for some reason it was on OWN (I'm pretty sure Rick had been watching Welcome to Sweetie Pie'slol). Anyways, I've never really been one of those Oprah worshipers so I really don't watch much on her network. But today was a rerun on Super Soul Sunday of her interview with Rev. Ed Bacon. I have to say.... This man gets it and what it's all about. The things coming out of his mouth are EXACTLY what I've tried to convey to the uber-RELIGIOUS fanatics that surround me. I always hear from people "my bible says..."..... But I ask, does "your bible" say these things to you because it's what you were told in church it says OR did you really study that meaning on your own and know its meaning fir yourself? For me, I am not a person that puts my "faith" in scripture.....I am not a person that takes comfort in the words to get me thru. That's not to say it can't or shouldn't comfort others. I take comfort in KNOWING that there is a higher power that I can turn to for answers, for unconditional love, and for light. One of the things I've been hearing lately A LOT is "my bible says....God says 'I am the way and the way to me is thru my son' which means if you don't accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you can't go to heaven." To me, as a person who was raised Catholic (and doesn't follow that religious belief system) this is the most asinine statement because I was taught that God loves all his children..... And if God created the heavens, the Earth, beasts, plants, Man.......then why would he give us free will and then force us to believe one thing to be welcomed into heaven?? The response I usually get (a typical church influenced response) is that God did not lead these other religious beliefs to be created....the deceiver did, meaning Satan. WOW! So here I am, watching REVEREND Ed Bacon say that Satan is not just this outside being..... Evil lives within every person, and that "evil" is EGO!! Ego is what keeps a person believing that their way...their churches way....is the ONLY way. And when you think that way, that is actually allowing deceit and evil into your life because you are making someone else feel excluded or ashamed for their beliefs and/or just being who they are. Instead, we need to all respect each others feelings, beliefs and/or knowings. Otherwise, our Ego's are feeding Evil which leads to hatred and violence. This is how we follow Grace. You can take the advice of those around you, but YOU are the ultimate decider of how to move forward in a situation. Your inner voice is there to guide you and you should listen to it. And why? Because that is the "Devine" speaking!! That is your answer from God. So for those that believe Jesus is the only way to God, remember that what Jesus himself said; "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." So if your belief system is that Jesus is the way, his teaching is that you need to look inside yourself for God... For the Devine. You don't need religion for this, but you can meld your religion and your spirituality. That means taking what you are taught and then figuring out what feels right to you. It means being a good person. It means taking time to live, time to breath, time to love, time to forgive. I'm reminded of a story an old friend shared with me recently.... He was sitting with a group of spiritual leaders and advisors and at one point, someone said to him, "well surely you believe in God." To wit he replied, "well, no, honestly I don't." Of course, being the room full of people it was, everyone was horrified. "How can you say you don't believe in God," he was asked. And his reply was "Believing is for people that don't already Know. I don't Believe in an idea of God.... I KNOW God exists." No one had a rebuttal to this, because what can you say except that he was and is correct. So figure out for yourself what you KNOW is your truth instead of following a Belief. And that is my serious message for the day. :)

Evil Genius and The Brain

I believe that people are just born with the ability to instinctively know how to push the right buttons, in more ways than one. My husband, of course, knows how to get on my last nerve. And my son.....well, his button pushing, although often nerve racking, is usually more physical. I believe he was born an evil genius. He has the innate ability to always know the right button to push on any electrical device to cause maximum chaos. Even now as I type one handed, I'm doing my best to counter attack his stealthy ninja keyboard moves.

Daddy, you're about to finally beat level 25 on Candy Crush? Let me help you waste a move!

What's that mom? You're waiting to see if Eric Northman is going to survive the season finale of True Blood. I'd rather you not know! CLICK...Oops, the TV lost power. How'd that happen? (Stop to pose) Don't I look cute?

I don't care if you're on an important call Dad....I will be heard! (followed by loud babbling and usually the stealthy pushing of END CALL)

Each of these is usually followed by threats, and then usually laughter because he thinks it's all hysterical.....and then he gives you the "I'm so cute" face and you can't help but laugh even though you're livid and everyone says "Don't laugh, it will only make it worse" which it, in fact, does! And nothing works to foil this evil genius' plans!

NOTHHHHHHHIIIIIIINNNNG!!!!

Now, if Jaxin is the evil genius of the family, I guess that makes my husband The Brain (I'm clearly dripping in sarcasm here). His brain definitely works in a unique way. He's one of those people who's thoughts don't always translate well into the English language....or probably any language, for that matter. I love him, but God help him. Some of the crap he comes up with and says.....I just don't get it. Let's take this outfit, for example:

This little doosy was something he dreamt up one day when I asked him to go under the house to inspect some work that had been done. It's like a bad Cee-Lo Green superhero outfit! A few days ago, we're checking out movies On Demand and this conversation happened.

Rick: What's Virgin Tales about?

Me: A family that believes in the value of Purity Balls

Rick: Purity balls? Is that those things girls put in their...?(He points to his crotch)

Me: Eww, noooo. That's Ben Wa Balls!!

Conversations like this happen pretty much daily. If you've ever read any of my other posts, you know. But, he is a good daddy. Like, he was ok the time Evil Genius decided to help The Brain pick his nose.

And he was good the first time Evil Genius got in a pool

And these boys have always had nap time in common!

I love my little button pushers. The two of them make me crack up every day. They both drive me nuts at times but they keep it interesting, especially when they push each others buttons. Let me leave you with a final few photos of these two in action.

HAHAHAHA Ok and this one cracks me up because this is a "Hey, look at the camera" moment and they're both pushing each other's buttons. It looks like The Brain has Evil Genius in a choke hold. Fear not, that's not the case.

I'm a bad, bad blogger

How the hell do I let myself go so long without blogging?? Bless me father, for I have sinned..... It has been 3 years since my last blog confession! Well, I suppose this can only mean one thing, and that is catch up time. So, lets try a brief synopsis of the last 3 years. From where I left off.... I was about to do vacation. Nothing significant I can recall that needs sharing, but it was fun. Lol I was working at the Cosmetology school.... That was true up until last June when the school closed. I was one year into marriage....now it's 4 years. :) People were bugging us about when we were gonna have a baby.... Well, let me tell you a story about that. So, it's Mother's Day, 2011. I did my usual calls and texts to all the moms in my life. And to wit, I revive SEVERAL responses saying "when do we get to say Happy Mothers Day to you??" I, of course, replied "stop trying to jinx me." Lol I really think at that point, I was pretty much ready to be a selfish non-parent. Within a few days, Rick and I talked and we both kind of agreed....Maybe we just shouldn't have kids. I mean, we were both 30 something's now and didn't like the idea of what we would have to give up to be real parents. So, we settled it, in the kitchen of our condo.... No babies. Over the next few days, weird things happened. First I went to the dentist for a filling and the dentist couldn't numb me. Very odd. Then, the next day I went tanning and literally got so sick in the tanning bed, I had to get out after a few minutes before I puked everywhere. Then I'm at work late one night and one of my students tells me she's worried she may be pregnant. So, I went to my desk and got out a pregnancy test. I know... Weird thing to have. But I have for YEARS no bought pregnancy tests in bulk online. It's the kind they use in the doctors office and they're only like $0.20 a piece. I started keeping some at the school several months earlier when a co worker's complaints turned out to be big pregnancy flags that she was missing. That was a fun day by the way.... She freaked out and said "this wasn't how I pictured finding this out." My response was "What did you expect, balloons and a parade?" Lol ah...but I digress. So, I give my student a test and I'm talking to the other girls about the weird stuff that's happened.... And then it hits me.... I'm really late. They convinced me to take a test too, and wouldn't you know, the test is positive. I kinda freaked. I thought, there's no way in hell I'm pregnant. We just agreed, no babies! And then I remembered I was on HCG still. So, even though I've read many times it does not give a false positive, I convinced myself it was just that. I called a women's clinic to take a blood test and they confirmed I was pregnant and it was in no way a side effect from taking HCG. But I still didn't believe them. I think I finally believed when I had my first ultrasound. But it was so bizarre. I was so resounded to the fact that I wasn't gonna have a baby that I don't think I ever really got into my pregnancy. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't against it.... It was just hard to wrap my head around. Lol I was for sure not a person to enjoy pregnancy. People told me I would miss it and they were dead wrong. Lol Although our little man started out with some complications in the beginning, today he is a happy little toddler.... And so my final update is that in the last 3 years, I have become a mom and we are now living in Southern California. And I am determined to get back to writing so that I can keep laughing at life. JAXIN CAIDEN SMITH 1/24/12