How Do I Do It All...

This is the question I get often, but one I got quite a bit today... LOL
Today was my amazing little cousin's First Birthday!!! Lucy or LaLa as we call her, had a pretty picnic party and it was so much fun!

I made my first quilt ever for her present: an heirloom quilt. When I initially put together the baby shower for LaLa one year ago, I included a block of fabric in each invitation and asked the women to bring them back decorated. We ended up with 12 blocks all decorated differently per each friends different style.

While moving recently, I found the ever lost Baby Shower Blocks and decided it would be a really fun surprise to put together the long forgotten quilt.

ONE PROBLEM... I still work 8-12 daily at my part time job, then I have my own business to run and appointments booked for two weeks (let alone the marketing that needs to be done daily). I also have a one-year old and am 28 weeks pregnant. So, when do I find time to make a quilt?

I guess I allocated my time like I normally do when I need to get things done. Here's how I got the quilt finished:

(shower before I go to bed)
6am wake up: pack diaper bag for day care. Pack my breakfast and lunch. Take cup of coffee with me and leave for work at 7am.
NOW.. I dont normally have to be to work until 7.30ish, but this extra time allows me to work in peace and be as loud as I need to (sewing machines, metal embossing, etc)
12pm- pick up baby from daycare and take her home to eat lunch.
1.30pm- lunch and play time done, put baby in carseat with bottle for nap time. She falls asleep on our way to babysitters (either grandmas, friends or aunties).
2-5pm- Keepsake 3D Imaging (my ultrasound business)
5pm- pick up both kids and go home to start dinner.
During dinner I play with Ila- she smells all the different foods I use to cook with, or helps me taste things. This is a special time of ours.
6pm daddy is home from work and we eat together at table.
After dinner, daddy takes baby Ila for a bath and our oldest Deshae, has her daily chore of Dinner Clean Up.
This allows me another 30 minutes to get set up for finishing any craftiness.
After bath time, we usually spend a little family time by watching a TV show together and one of us usually sits on floor with baby and plays with toys with her during the show.
8pm- bedtime for baby.
8-9pm (ish)- Mom gets into crafts again that she already had set up and ready.
Usually by 9 Im either done and need to do NOTHING for awhile...
9pm- back on couch with daddy watching TV until I fall asleep at 10.

So thats it... No matter what craft I decide to try, I do rely a lot on the workings of our family to help me with my things, so that I can find a little ME time in there too... I suggest you do the same :)

GOT FUEL? {Day 2 Dream Journal}

{DAY 2 - GOT FUEL?}

DREAM
Last night I dreamt that I got trained to fly a jet. It was a small red jet, about the size of a couch cushion and barely held any fuel. Three of us got trained together and the three jets couldnt go anywehere without each other. After our training (2 random people from my church in real life and myself) we decided to fly somewhere for a vacation. We couldn't go far due to not being able to carry much fuel, so we went to a beach resort in California.

All the lifeguards and resort staff were Les Schwab employees (where my husband works in real life). For some reason in my dream, I had been 86'd from the resort- banned so I had to sneak in since everyone knew me- being that I knew them from when they worked at Les Schwab. I ended up at the pool on the resort where my oldest daughter was swimming with a couple we had met in real life while on our real family vacation. One of the other jet pilots reminded me at the pool that I couldnt drink any alcohol and fly a jet. I agreed and we started our trip home while the Vacation Couple watched our kids.

THOUGHTS
I'm dreaming a lot about vacations, it must mean rest of some sort. The three jets clearly represent God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The continual concern for fuel in my dream makes me wonder if it is symbolic for the fuel that God provides when we stay connected to him. For several months I have been in a spiritual rut. Like in my dream, I can't go far without fuel: fuel from prayer and reading my word.

PRAYER
Lord, help me to learn to rest in you even when life is hectic; to slow down and enjoy the journey, to actually look at the scenery that I seem to zoom right by. I dont know why this spiritual rut wont pass for me, so please help me to make prayer and my word a priority. Clearly, I cant go far without it. I love you Lord and want to draw nearer. You promise that when we draw near to you that you'll draw near to us... I miss you. Love, Becky

WANT TO READ MORE? CLICK ON MY FAITH TAB TO READ THE ENTIRE 30 DAY DREAM JOURNAL AND WHERE MY INSPIRATION CAME FROM... SEE YOU IN DREAMLAND

Where is God taking me TODAY

Where is God taking me TODAY...

My husband and I have decided to go to our first marriage siminar. We have been married barely 2 years and in that time we have moved twice, opened a business, endured lay offs, had 1 baby and will have 2 babies in Oct (we celebrate 2 years in August). So A LOT has taken place in that 2 years of marriage. So much so, that we felt our marriage and building our foundation as a couple, as a team, had been put on the back burner while life rushed by. This year we are focusing on us!

Our dream in life is to some day run a youth home. We'd love to have young men and women up to age 25, live with us on our "ranch" while they get their lives together, learn about Jesus the ultimate healer and become members of society rather than menaces. We know that is a long time off, because our current season is newly married and new parents. But, if we want to go into the waters that God has for us, we know that we cannot build on a makeshift foundation...

As we attended our first marriage introduction class, I was inspired by a speaker. She encouraged us to journal about our dreams. God speaks to her in dreams and if she hadnt kept track of them, she wouldnt have seen how he had been directing her all along when she finally got to one of her many destinations. So here it goes... Click on my FAITH tab to follow me on my 30 Day Dream Journal. I will put each of my dreams in, what I think it means and my prayer for that day about it. I'd love comments and interpretations too, because some of you have the gift of intrepeting like Joseph... See you in dreamland :)

Raising a bi-racial daughter in America today...

For those of you who dont know me, I am the mother of an amazing 11 year old girl, who happens to be half black. Deshae was and continues to be the joy of my life. She is the wittiest little thing that always has a joke to brighten my day. She is energetic and bubbly, carries a 4.0 gpa and is an amazing athlete! So how do I, living in a small town with very little diversity raise a bi-racial daughter?

Does racism still exist? Yes, I'm going there. While we may not experience things any more like burning crosses in our yard or dead racoons on our front porch, racism is still very real.

In Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Breaking Point" he shares his research that Black Men, still to this day, make 30% less than White Men. In "Freakanomics" they show research that the same EXACT resume is 6 times more likely to receive a call back if the name is something like Matt or Bill, compared to names such as Tyrone or Daeshon.

I believe that racism is much less in bigger cities where diversity and culture are not only loved but desired. Maybe that is what has kept me away from GP for 10 years- the lack of diversity and culture. I'd be lying if I didnt have thoughts moving back of my daughter. Wondering how the community will accept her, will boys in school think she is pretty, will she be the brutal punt of some jokes at school...

How do you raise a girl to become an amazing black woman in a small town today? Because lets face it, that is how the world will see my daughter. Even though she is as much white as black, they will see that black girl coming in for a job or college interview. It is the stigmas here in this small community that have made me look more carefully at the things I teach her.

We will not be late - We do not leave the house in our pajamas with uncombed hair- We will respect our teachers, elders, etc - We will use proper English. Call me extreme, I dont care. I will not let my baby live up to the stigmas that are already on the forefront of people's minds. I will prove them wrong. That is my objective.

As a family, we watch movies that depict strong black figures like Ray Charles, the first entertainer in history who stood up for black rights and refused to play in a segregated theatre. He was banned from the state of Georgia for life by congress because of that. And now, after a public apology and welcome back, Georgia has taken Ray Charles' song "Georgia" as their official state song.

We watch things on Youtube like the U of O women's relay team out run the other colleges by almost 100 yards- taking themselves to possibly the national title. And I point out to my daughter while we watch it "their entire team is black women!" I want to point it out to show her strong black women and what they can accomplish.

I am so thankful that I cannot remember a time in my life growing up where any one in my family made a racist joke- whether it be about hispanics, asians, blacks, didnt matter. Maybe thats because my dad's side lived by the Sunday School song "red and yellow black and white they are precious in His sight." My mom's side, well, we all had some sort of jungle fever :)

Honestly, though- I dont remember my family ever making a comment about someone elses' race. Recently my 11 year old was watching TV. She was telling me something about the show she was watching and referred to a character as Chinese. I noticed his name was not Chinese, but rather Japanese. I corrected her "I dont think he is Chinese, I think he is Japanese." Her response was "whatever, they all look the same." I say this because kids sometimes dont know the damage they are saying and its our jobs as parents to correct them. Shame on the parents who laugh and agree at comments like that, they are only fueling the fire in their own kids. Of course, I quickly chastised my daughter "do all black people look alike?" "do you look like every other black girl in the world." "That sort of comment is racist- we dont talk like that in our home." I said it with love and encouragement. I didnt belittle her, because she didnt know. She probably heard it on TV or from friends, but now when she hears it again, I hope she corrects the person that says it.

I have been so proud of my daughter through her transition not only back to GP but into middle school. She has endured racism already- quite a bit. But yet, she still loves school, gets straight A's, plays select sports and next year is in all advanced classes. She will make people in our community rethink how they view black girls and Im so honored to be her mommy.