Growing Down: The Secrets to Becoming Like a Child

Have you ever wondered what Jesus really meant when He told His disciples that unless they became like little children, they would never enter the Kingdom Of Heaven?

God inspired me to write this book a few years ago.  It was only recently that I was able to update it and offer it electronically.  Growing Down breaks Jesus' instruction down into simple terms that anyone can understand.  It is the perfect tool for a new believer who wants to please God in everything he or she says and does.  It's also a great tool for anyone who wants to grow in their walk with God and just get back to the basics.

At the end of the book, I offer my readers a sneak peak at Drop By Nine Spoonfuls, which will be available as an e book very soon.

Download your copy of Growing Down:  The Secrets to Becoming Like a Child today!

Lessons Learned

I have learned so much during the past few months.

I haven't been very verbal about it (and I'm not even sure I'm going to share this blog on Facebook, for that reason), but we've been dealing with bed bugs since the middle of May when our old neighbors moved out and left behind an infestation that soon became our problem.  It was a rough road, complete with many types of do-it-yourself treatments, lots of cleaning, lots of tossing stuff out, and lots of dust.

And it's over now.

I've learned that, although I'm not as bad as one of those people you see on the show Hoarders, I do have many things that I can stand to get rid of.  We downsized so much of our crap, it wasn't funny.  A ton of stuff from our basement got thrown out.  A ton of stuff from our bedrooms got thrown out.  I learned how to live happy on very little.  In the end, we were cycling through five or so outfits each, in an attempt to stop from doing laundry constantly.

I've learned the value of a clean home.  The final DIY treatment we did was using DE on the floors, in the dressers, under/on the beds.  It was basically everywhere.  You couldn't walk through the house without shoes on and not get your feet absolutely disgusting.  I want my home to be a clean place for my children.

Along with that, I've learned the value of doing just regular housework and how good it feels to do it.  I spent so much time doing bed bug work that I didn't have time to do the regular stuff you do when you are just cleaning your house.  In fact, I couldn't do much housework at all because of the dust.  I didn't want to pick it up, so I couldn't vacuum the carpets.  I couldn't sweep the floor much.

We are now in our new apartment and I just love it here.  It's much smaller but it's very cozy.  It's big enough for our family.  God has been so good to us in bringing us here.  He was so good by providing that Ehrlich exterminator who just happened to run into Craig on his route one day and told him how we could treat our stuff before we move to kill any bed bugs that might be left after the DE application.

Life is getting back to normal as we slowly continue to work on putting our house together.  I'm writing again.  I'm getting ready to publish my first e book by the end of this week.  I got a ton of direct assignments in the past 24 hours and one of them is worth $168.  So, things are getting back to the way they should be and I'm so happy that we're finally free of that house.

It feels so good to finally be home.  

Last Post Before Moving

This is my last blog before we move to a new apartment.  We've lived here for three years.  I have to say that for the most part, those three years were pretty good.  Although the past few months have been challenging, this little duplex we've called home has been a nice place to live.

The house we're moving to is still a half a house.  It's smaller in size but I think it will be better for our family, at least for a little while.  It will be nice to not have to deal with the "issues" we've been dealing with for the past few months.  It will be nice to be able to sit and write for a few hours at a time without interruption.  It will be nice to end my evenings relaxing with my husband instead of doing other things to manage problems in the house.

Still, I'm a little bit nostalgic as I think about all that we've been through here.  This was the place where Craig and I first kind of got a handle on taking care of our family the way we needed to.  He got a good job when we came here to live.  This was where we moved when I was pregnant with Caleb.  And this is the home where we brought our baby home for the first time.  We've had three Christmases here.  We've had one Thanksgiving here.  We've had countless fires in the backyard, roasting marshmallows and making smores.  We've had a lot of laughter here.  We've had some sorrow here.

I'm getting ready to unplug the Internet so I can go to the new apartment, where I'm hoping Time Warner won't take too long to show up and turn on our Internet, cable and phone there.  This is only a temporary situation.  And although I really do like the new apartment, I'm looking forward to the day when we finally have a house to call our own.  A house that we choose, to finish raising our family in.  This is a new chapter of our lives, that begins in less than 24 hours.  I know God has great plans in store for our family.

He always does.

Sleep Tight...

There is one phrase I will never, ever, EVER utter again, as long as I live.

"Sleep tight...don't let the bed bugs bite!"

When you're a kid, you think it's cute; funny, even.  I remember my Grandma saying to me, "Don't ever say that!  You don't want people to think we have bed bugs!"

Well, here I sit.  With a bed bug infestation.

It has been the worst few weeks of my life.  This is worse than when my ex-husband left.  Although, honestly, when he left, I cried for one whole day and then pulled myself together and went into survivor mode for myself and my kids.  I could have handled this bed bug thing if it only required me crying for a day and then going into survival mode.

The quick recap is this:  We had some neighbors living next door who weren't exactly clean.  To make you understand what I mean, once I was sick.  I mean, I was SICK.  I could NOT be away from a bathroom for very long.  On that same day, the toilet needed to be repaired because it was leaking through the ceiling in our kitchen.  So, I couldn't use the toilet here.  I asked our neighbors if I could use theirs.  I only used theirs once.  Every other time, I went down the street to the gas station to use the bathroom.  THAT'S how bad their apartment was.  It smelled.  Everything was just filthy.  The toilet didn't flush and it HADN'T been flushed.  There are just no words to truly describe what I saw over there.

We were elated last month to find out that our neighbors were being evicted.  They hadn't paid rent and had seemed to disappear from the apartment.  It took about a week and a half to get the key from them, at which point, our landlords started moving things out of there that they had left behind.  It was mostly garbage and nasty furniture.  It took all week long, and they took out several pick up truck loads a day for the entire week.  In the meantime, I began noticing little bites showing up on my arms and legs when I would wake up in the morning.  They looked like mosquito bites.  I had just installed a mosquito repellant app on my phone and I thought that it was malfunctioning.  So, I uninstalled it.  The bites continued.

One night, Craig killed a bug that was crawling on our headboard.  He showed it to me and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  It was a bed bug.  I told Craig I was not sleeping in the bed that night.  I was sleeping on the couch.  He could either stay in the bed or sleep on the other couch.  He slept on the other couch.

What ensued after that was a battle with our landlords over what was going to be done about the bed bugs.  (This is the short version)  I began washing all of our clothes and bagging them.  We cleaned out all of the bedrooms, encased all of the mattresses and put our headboard outside.  The headboard ended up disappearing.  We don't know if it was stolen, or if one of the guys who was cleaning next door took it to the dump.  But it's gone.  We vacuumed constantly.  We pulled all beds away from the walls and, in various ways, fixed it so that any bugs could not climb up the legs of the beds.  The bites stopped for a few days.  And then they started again.  This time, they were biting Matthew.

Our landlords insist that this problem is not THEIR problem.  They told us that they would take money off of our rent but that they weren't going to pay to have anything done in the house (like heat treatment or an exterminator).  They say that there's no way to prove that it was our neighbors who brought this problem on.  But I know.  And I know they do too.

It's been really tough.  I feel like an outsider.  I haven't hung out with my friends because I don't dare to have anyone come over.  I haven't been able to make much money writing because of all the time I spend doing laundry, cleaning, etc.  I haven't been able to go to church during the week.  I've had to say no to two other jobs that would have earned me some money.  Not to mention the psychological toll this has taken on me.  My nerves on constantly on edge.  Every time I feel anything (example:  Dust particle) fall on my skin, I jump, thinking it's a bug.  I just started going to sleep at night without tossing and turning for two or three hours first.

Yesterday we used a product our landlords bought us from Home Depot in an attempt to get rid of the bugs.  I doused the entire house in this stuff.  I was declaring Bible verses all through the house, casting out demons and telling them that our family was highly favored and Satan had to leave us alone.

I believe my God is bigger than this.  I believe we have beaten these things and we are going to be free.

I'm so tired of dealing with this and I believe God has taken care of it.  I don't believe this problem is going to stay with us forever.  I believe God is more concerned about this than we are and that he has delivered us from these monsters.  I BELIEVE.

Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me...

Why is it that when we quote certain Bible verses, they sound better or even just happen to come out in King James?  Oh, well...I'm getting off track with this before I even start...

So, it has been brought to my attention (again) that I have a problem.  I love sleep.  I mean, I LOVE sleep.  During my single days (both in college and after my separation) people would say to me, "Why do you sleep all the time?)  It wasn't that I was depressed, although there might have been a point in my life when I was and sleep was a welcome escape...at least for a little while.  Now things are much different.  It's very rare to find me napping in the middle of the day when Caleb naps only because that's become the time I usually try and get my work done for the day.  Now, my love for sleep has become pushing the snooze button a hundred times or telling myself at night that I'm going to get up nice and early so I can have some time to myself, only to re-set the alarm for the last possible second after it goes off the first time to help Craig get up for work.

I knew that this behavior had to stop.  Not only was I standing in my own way of getting a lot of things done around the house, but I was also putting sleep into a position of being an idol in my life.  So, Craig and I had a conversation about my wake up schedule the other night.  He suggested (once again) that I get up when he does.  That way, I'd be okay with going to bed when he does and I might actually learn how to fall asleep at a decent hour.  It actually sounded pretty good to me.  So, I agreed that he would wake me up in the mornings before he went downstairs to get ready for work.

Today was day number one of my early wake up mornings.  When he woke me up, he turned the light on (I told him to do this ahead of time) and it took all of my might to make myself sit up.  Because we had an interruption of our sleep last night (a pipe broke next door and we were jolted awake by loud banging on our front door at midnight so they could shut the water off), I was SOOOO not feelin' the early morning.  But, I reminded myself that I could do anything one time, even if it meant waking up at 4:30 just to see how it goes.

"You need to get out of that bed.  Don't sit there too long or you'll go back to sleep."  Roger that.  I got up and went downstairs.  Craig was gone when I got downstairs and I was struck with a few thoughts:

Wow...it's peaceful right now.
That coffee smells great.
I need to do my devotions while it's quiet.
How much of my OWN writing can I get done in these early morning hours?

I fixed a cup of coffee and began spending time with Jesus.  That time was sweet, indeed.  It felt like the most absolute perfect way to begin my day.  It had been a long time since I've sought the Lord in the early morning hours like that.  After I had finished my breakfast, I started writing and I actually got two chapters finished--all before it was even time to wake the kids up for school!

This has been a great morning, so far.  Yes, I'm a little tired.  I might sneak in a tiny snooze this afternoon due to my abrupt wake up call last night at midnight.  But...I might not too.  I'm going to spend the rest of the morning hanging out with Caleb and doing a little bit of housework.

And I'm definitely going to look forward to these early morning hours from now on.  This was a great idea, Honey.

I've Realized...

I think back to the beginning of March when I took that first step out of Dr. Addams' office.  It took everything within me to just keep on walking.  I was shaking and nervous and...I felt like I was going to faint.  I had never done anything like that before.  I've always been a good worker.  I've always done my best to exceed the expectations of my manager. I just...I couldn't do it anymore.  I couldn't manage facing yet another "scolding" for doing something I didn't do, or for allowing something to happen that I had no control over.  I'd done so every day for two months by that time.  And I had had enough.  For my own sanity, I had to get out of that place.

And then I came home.  I walked in the house and it was quiet.  Caleb was at the sitter's house and the older kids hadn't come home from school yet.  In a panic, I sent out a flurry of resumes, despite the fact that Craig told me just to go home and relax and get myself together for a few hours before I had to go pick Caleb up.  I felt like I was in a downward spiral and I didn't know what to do.  I felt like I had just financially doomed my family.

And then...in steps God.

I was reminded in those moments that I was His kid.  My prosperity didn't depend on whether or not Dr. Addams gave me a paycheck.  That fact was further enforced a few weeks later when Dr. Addams decided not to pay me my final paycheck right after we just spent all of our money on a minivan.  God knew exactly what I needed in those moments.  And He immediately began showering me with His love in a way that only He can.

And now...here I am.  It's almost three months later.  I've been a stay at home mom, but I've also been a child of the King who has been revitalized and reminded of the calling that's been placed on my life.  God instilled in me a gift to write.  He has been building this passion in me since I was ten years old.  Ever since I wrote my first two-page story about The Monkees, I had a dream to be a writer.  God took my decision to leave that stifling job and turned it into an opportunity to bring my dreams closer to life than they have ever been before.

I've been writing for a company who provides SEO content to businesses for online distribution.  I've written everything from costume descriptions to website content for dental offices.  I've learned about air conditioning and plumbing and adult autism.  And I've found that the more I write, the more I want to write.

On the days when the writing boards have been slow, or when the clients who've selected me to write specifically for them haven't had any work, I've been able to devote time to re-typing books I've written in the past.  It's come to my attention (thanks to the Family Life Network) that publishing e books is a very lucrative, not to mention cheap, way to get your books into the hands of people who will pay to read them.  And with the transition of the world into e everything, it's easy to see that e publishing really is the way to go.  So, I'm working even more toward my dream.

And...as if that wasn't enough, I've been offered an opportunity to provide transcription services for a therapist who practices in Binghamton.  It's only a few documents a week, but it will be a big help financially on those weeks when the job board is slow.

I am incredibly blessed.  I am blessed, and I am favored.  I'm so thankful for God's work in my life.  I'm thankful that He picked me up when I "fell down" back in March.  I'm thankful that He is the One taking care of me.  I have no reason to fear.  I'm a King's kid.

I'm still in awe of what is happening in my life right now.  Craig asked me tonight if I was going to get "antsy" and want to return to a job outside the home once Caleb goes to school.  He was incredibly relieved when my response was "No way!".  That made me happy.

It's not that I've found my calling...I've just realized that I needed to answer it.

Feedback Is Appreciated

I am very interested in feedback from anyone who is willing to give me some.

I am currently involved in a few writing projects.  One of them is a devotional book I wrote several years ago.  The title is:  Growing Down: The Secrets To Becoming Like A Child In A Very Grown Up World.  I am in the process of getting this book ready for publication into the e-book world (Nook, Kindle, etc) and I thought I'd include a chapter here to whet the appetite of my potential audience and get some feedback.  So, here it is!  Feel free to leave me a message here on the post or just a comment or message on Facebook.
Enjoy!


Chapter Three:  Children Appreciate The Little Things In Life

When is the last time you stopped and smelled the roses?  If you close your eyes, can you imagine a rose?  What color is it?  What do the petals look like?  Is it in full bloom?  Is it a long-stemmed rose or a sweetheart rose?  Does it have thorns?  Leaves?  Is it in a vase?  Did it come from a store or from your garden?
If you’re like most people, you’re thinking, “What’s the big deal?  It’s just a rose.”  That’s because you’re not yet thinking like a child.  Children notice and appreciate the little things in life.

I used to live only a few blocks from my parents’ house.  Back then, it took us three minutes to get there by car.  My husband’s long legs could get him there in ten minutes and my short ones could carry me there in fifteen.  I can remember shortly after Cassidy’s second birthday, we decided that it would be fun to take a walk to Grandma’s house.  The two of us were home alone and I thought, why not?  We donned our jackets, I grabbed my purse and the diaper bag, and out the door we went.

Those fifteen minutes stretched into twenty, then thirty, then forty-five...their house wasn’t even in sight yet!  It wasn’t completely because Cassidy had legs that were much shorter than mine.  Sure, it took her longer to walk places, but the reason it took us almost an hour to get to Grandma’s house was because Cassidy kept stopping to admire the beauty of the creation that was all around her.

She marveled at the sticks she found.  She picked up each one and carried it with her.  In her other hand, she was gaining a sizeable collection of rocks.  Before long, both of my pockets were full of rocks, and both of my hands were full of sticks.  That way, Cassidy could concentrate on picking “flowers” (dandelions) for Grandma.

She stopped to pet a dog.

She stopped to admire a bright blue pick-up truck.

She sat and watched the water of a fountain as it traced crazy designs in the air.

She chased a squirrel.

She ran through a sprinkler.

She peered into a store window.

My daughter was enjoying the little things in her life.  She was appreciating everything that was around her, not taking advantage of anything.

Sure, we both had handfuls of sticks and pockets full of rocks.  The dandelions were staining her hands green and yellow.  Yet, through all of this, Cassidy was blessed.

Applying This Principle To Your Life


We’ve talked about living a fun-filled life.  If you’ve put that principle into action, you have no doubt noticed a change in yourself.  Have you noticed any blessings?

As humans, we tend to notice the big blessings but we overlook the small ones.  This is unfortunate because we have a great-big God who loves to work in big and in small ways to achieve great-big results.  We tend to send our prayers to heaven much like we order fast food.  And then we expect fast food-type answers.  God doesn’t work that way.  God is weaving an intricate pattern into your life that cannot be achieved through short cuts.

God doesn’t put tiny blessings into our lives so that we will ignore them while we wait for the big blessings.  We have conditioned ourselves that “bigger is better”.  This isn’t the case with God.  It is God’s style to choose the underdog to fulfill his plans.  He chose one man (Abraham) to build an entire race of people!  And then, he called that entire race his chosen ones.

A day does not go by in your life when God does not bless you.  Sometimes we miss blessings because we already have in mind what we think God is going to do for us.  And then, when God chooses another way to bless us, we may miss it entirely or even become angry at God for not doing it our way.

What are some blessings God has given you today?

I’m blessed...

When my two-year-old son smiles at me.

When my husband pours my coffee in the morning.

When the laundry is done.

When my best friend calls just to chat.

When I get somewhere on time.

When Cassidy does the dishes.

When Matthew leads our family prayer time before we eat dinner.

Sure, there are big blessings.  Like, when the budget balances.  Or when God heals someone of an illness.  We should definitely notice those and give praise to the God who made them possible.  But when we ignore the small blessings, we’re missing a major part of what God has in store for us.

God is there when...

The rain holds off until you make it to your car.

A friend happens to stop by on the night you really need help getting the kids ready for bed.

A loved one is thinking of you and whispers your name in prayer.

You get “lost” when you’re driving, only to find out you’ve actually found a better way.

God wants to permeate every part of our lives.  Oh, how important it is for us to let him fill our lives with his love and to notice those small blessings.

I can’t help but think back to the look that was on my mother’s face when Cassidy presented her with that big bouquet of dandelions.  The joy I saw there reminded me of the joy that our Heavenly Father must feel when we notice his blessings blooming throughout our lives.

I think I’ll go out and pick some flowers with my daughter.

“How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ.”  (Ephesians 1:3)