Category Archives: Story Time

Thought of the day

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 29 May, 2014 None comments

Hebrews 12:11 NIV

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

You often hear life is worth more than you’ve been living but why aren’t you living it now? Why aren’t we striving for the importance of life to only have today soon become yesterday and a memory of the past. Soon your life has passed and nothing greater was accomplished. We always talk of the future and never make the future the present. More often than not, we let our future dreams keep us from achieving them; let your dreams become reality.

My son will soon be 2 and I am having a really hard time with it. It’s crazy how much I love the little bugger but can’t seem to understand how life literally passes by. I feel it was just yesterday that I bore this little child and now my baby is officially gone, he’s become a little man. I’ve struggled with time passing by and wishing I had another one on the way. I want a little sibling for my son beyond what words can describe. I always wanted a large family and I always wanted them closer in age. This was important to me as my sisters and I are three years apart and I always felt that was too far apart. We were just enough apart that we never hung out together, never had the same friends and simply didn’t get along until now. If given the opportunity I wanted to change that for my son. Well here we are and that simply is not possible as of today due to the simple fact that I am not pregnant and my son will be 2 in three weeks.

He is a blessing!

This is a part of life I have had to accept. It has not been easy but that’s usually typical in life. The things we want most, usually happen in a completely different way than we had wished. Accepting this part of my life is actually a really big deal to me because I know my desires of my heart but I also find it more important to take this opportunity to learn through the present just as the verse above stated. This is my reality right now and I need to embrace it. There are things in life I wish I didn’t have to go through, wish I could change but than I look back and am thankful for the heartache as it was in incredible teaching moment for me. I hope to gain that in this particular scenario as well.

So, with that in mind, I long to be “trained” from Christ through the hardship of my circumstances and one day have utter peace from these worries I carry so dear. I know the Lord hears my cry and I know He feels my pain, but as of now, the peace has not followed. I trust it will come, I trust my life in the hands of the One who created me!

Though my burdens may seem minor to some, it’s not to me. We all have such burdens that carry extreme weight that others simply can’t understand. That is okay! We all have desires of the heart we long to fulfill and when they aren’t fulfilled or look different than others, we tend to feel inadequate or insecure.

Through pain and sorrow we all carry burdens in our backpack. We tend to weigh them down so much that soon we are stuck with a heavy load we simply can’t carry. Join me in releasing our burdens to Christ and let Him carry them for us.

Read the verse once more:

Hebrews 12:11 NIV

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Let us choose to learn from every opportunity that comes our way. Don’t miss out by the distractions that fill our minds but release our minds to the One who knows our deepest desires! Let Him give you peace.

Moment of Truth: Don’t worry about failure, worry about the many times you miss the opportunity to try.

Thought of the Day

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 23 May, 2014 None comments

My son as every parent says, does nothing wrong. :) Okay that isn’t where I am going with this, but my son does not hit his friends and does not show aggression in a physical manner. But for some reason the other day he decided to partake in this action. The children I am watching stay from about 8 am to 5-5:30 pm. While their mom was at our house to pick the kids up Cooper decided to get upset and take a big whack to the little boys head and let out a large scream. Sharing has been a very tough thing to learn lately. He has done a fabulous job considering he does this three full days a week. When this incident took place I was mortified! I did not want his mom to think this happens all day long while she is at work because it doesn’t. Cooper does not hit…….. until now.

Two days ago the same occurrence proceeded to happen before my very eyes. Same situation, mom had just walked in the door and was chit-chatting and all of a sudden, the toy helicopter landed abruptly upon this little boys head. I was mortified yet again. I couldn’t fathom what had just happened and let alone while his mom was here for the second time. Again, this does NOT happen all day long but how do you explain this while she has visually seen this take place two times now?!

As the night proceeded I began to contemplate the scenario. I’ve begin to believe that by the end of the day Cooper is simply done sharing his toys and is ready for them to leave. He has to share all day long and is constantly being nagged by me to share his toys. He’s young, doesn’t have siblings and for the first time has regular friends here playing with HIS toys. I think this could be our culprit; he just wants his toys back. It’s the end of the day, friends are leaving and hungry bellies and tired eyes begin to take place. Poor little guy!

Moment of Truth: I’m glad Cooper does not hit on a regular basis but WHY does it have to occur when his mom is around!? The ugly moments you wish no one saw making you feel like a poor parent. “He is really a good kid” you think to yourself wishing that that was the side she saw as well.

The Deep Ocean Waters

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 21 May, 2014 None comments

We took a weekend and headed to the beach just the three of us for a GREAT change in scenery. We needed to escape as our house has never ending plumbing issues, I’m watching three kids, my husband works full time, his mother just passed and the “ebb-in-flow” of life seems to not flow so smoothly for the Cook’s.

It was supposed to rain all weekend as usual because we just came from a beautiful week of hot sun. My husband feels he’s doomed as every weekend brings on the rain while he can play but during the week it’s bright and sunny while he’s inside at his desk. Since this is pretty typical for our lives, we took the challenge head on and packed for rain and headed to the coast.

To our surprise, we had not only beautiful weather, but no wind either. It was incredible. Totally unexpected, unplanned and NO people. The usual crowded beach was every but that. We had the best time and surprisingly the water was not the typical freezing temperature as usual.

Cooper did not nap in the car on the way there which was our hope. This un-napped baby was beyond amazing! No fussing, no squirms, no attitude, no nothing. He was so happy he couldn’t even make it far before stopping to through the sand. He was in heaven. We took beach chairs and snacks and got some good sun.

He was so busy he did not have time to realize he was extremely tired. He had the time of his life. He loved the water and went up to his little waist multiple times. We had to drag him back to shore to get a break from the water. :)

I would take him out but he quickly got bored of it because I had pants on so we couldn’t go as far out as he would like. Luckily for me, daddy had to take him. His little brain was so fascinated and captured by the huge, deep waters. His little mind was going miles a minute. You could see him trying to process this vast ocean that was super fun to get wet in.

This was one giant bathtub for my little man.

You can see how deep they went as Cooper could not get enough of it.

Headed back to shore for some more digging!

Sweet little baby!

We ended the day at Mo’s, famous for clam chowder and sat outside soaking it up. Cooper had a blast and ate like a champ. This tired boy crashed within 5 minutes of leaving town. Sweet baby!!!

San Francisco Love

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 20 May, 2014 None comments

As you all know, my husband and I headed to San Francisco a couple of weekends ago. We enjoyed three full days in San Fran with just the two of us love birds celebrating our second anniversary.

We stayed in Berkley on the marina and surprisingly enough, Berkley was not that great of a town. Worn down and not as nice as I had presumed. We had quite the struggle to find any American Food. We do not mind ethnic food now and again but for some reason we wanted American Food and could not find anything. We drove around for an hour to finally stop at a diner that seemed extremely tasty but found out our hunger overtook the food itself. I realized after I ate almost all my food that there was mold on the bun. I was disturbed the entire rest of the night.

The following day was Easter and we found a fun little place between Berkley and Oakland to eat some delicious Easter Brunch. This restaurant was fabulous, but my husband and I found you can’t go wrong with breakfast places. We love them and love to travel for this very reason!

Easter Brunch-Great Eggs Benedict

After brunch we went to an Easter MLB Game. The Oakland Athletics played the Huston Asteroid’s. Oakland won 4-1, but most of all, it was an amazing day! It was 75 degrees and sunny. Not a cloud in site. We actually weren’t even prepared to have such nice weather that we were sweating out of our jeans and sweaters. My feet and shoulders got burned as that was all that was exposed to the sun, but it was beautiful and not a thing to complain about. We loved it!

That evening we ate dinner at a beautiful restaurant by our hotel. It was on the marina with a great walking trail that took you directly into the water about a mile out. It was a great little walk and beautiful scenery.

The following day was not as nice. We headed to downtown San Francisco and the weather was overcast and definitely chilly on the Pier. We went to Pier 39 after trying the best breakfast place of the trip, Fred’s Diner. They are famous for their Millionaires Bacon and it literally is a millionaire slice. It was incredible. This quaint little place fell in Sausalito, CA and was a beautiful drive along the water. Across the Golden Gate bridge we drove and headed to Golden Gate Park. We took our time walking around as we were in no hurry and our flight didn’t leave until 8:30 that evening.

After walking around the park for some time and seeing all the kids play areas wondering why it’s easy to find kids areas when you don’t have your kid with you but when you do have them, it’s never so easy to find. We wandered down to Ghirardelli Square and Pier 39. Pier 39 has definitely grown since I was last their roughly 12 years ago. So many places to see.

We ate at In N’ Out as it’s a must do when in California. Although I previously hated burgers and beef, I know crave a good Animal Style Burger and Animal Style Fries from their secret menu. It’s AMAZING and so incredibly horrible for you. It is cheap food for good food. I love it!

We ended our trip driving to the airport as we did not want to get stuck in Cali rush hour and parked the car on the water and watched planes take off and land. It was beautiful and very entertaining to watch the strategy they have for the thousands of planes coming and going. In one hour, we were so shocked to see how many planes come and go in pairs. 2 take off as 2 are landing. It was fascinating to sit and watch this for awhile and just enjoy great conversation. As we left San Francisco that night, I was excited to get home to my baby but always enjoy a good vacation. Wishing we were headed off to Hawaii for another 10 days with Cooper. :)

Moment of Truth: A husband and wife NEED time alone together for longer than a date night! It is extremely critical to a marriage to be childless for a night or two! :)

He Doesn’t Really Care

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 19 May, 2014 None comments

I think we often forget to show our love to our spouse in the midst of daily routine. We tend to question the love our spouse holds for us or whether they still feel the way they did on our wedding day.

Many questions arise when fights occur, distractions hit, chaos of life takes over and your marriage begins to suffer. The immediate response: “He doesn’t really care!” If he cared, he would clean up after himself. If he cared he wouldn’t leave his dishes in the sink forcing me to come behind him and pick them up. If he cared, he would help out more with the kids. If he cared, he would know I need a break. If he cared, he would…..

Unfortunately, the statements are endless. If you have ever seen the movie Fireproof you would know that in the beginning their marriage is already crumbled and the effort and desire to try and make it work is gone. Someone has to step up to the plate and show that their marriage is worth fighting for. The husband in this case does so. He begins by doing something small for her everyday and while she doesn’t notice it or thinks he’s doing it to prove a point, he begins to get angry and wants to give up again. This is how marriage and relationships work IF you quit trying and focus on the negative. He continued to push through and take responsibility that loves isn’t doing something to get something back. This is something we all tend to agree on but when you continually are showing up every day with something small for your spouse and it goes unnoticed, I too would start to get upset.

So here we are, “fighting” for your marriage and all we can conclude at the end of the day is “he doesn’t really care.”

I read this the other day and thought it was a good reminder that should be shared with all. If you yourself are feeling that He doesn’t really care, keep reading!

“What if I said to you Jesus doesn’t care?? I bet your first response would be, “How could you even say something like that?”
It seems one of the biggest complaints we hear from spouses is that NO ONE cares!! I hear wives daily say,”no one in my family cares what I do for them.”
We sat across from a husband recently as he gently poured out his heart to us and said that he was certain that there w…as no way his wife cared what went on in his day..she just complained. He’d love to talk to her about “stuff”…but she was too busy pointing out what she did and he didn’t notice!Think of 5 things that your spouse did yesterday…just 5 things…went to work..changed a diaper..made dinner… I’m not going to think of them for you… You can do it.Now..do you have them..they don’t have to be big…those were 5 things you didn’t have to do…they may be things you’ve done or do..but yesterday your spouse did them! They did those 5 things because they care…Call them, text then, thank them, go home and hug them.You need to be reminded of something…Even when it seems our spouses don’t care..they DO! We need to tell each other that…Jesus wanted it that way! WHY?
Because HE cared! He wants us to have loving marriages! He cares about every detail!
Can you think of 5 things Jesus did to show us how very much He cared? I’ll help you with this one…
He left His comfortable home in heaven and came to earth as a man.
He died on a cross for our sins.
He chose YOU!
He called you by name!
He forgave us of every one of our sins..we just have to ask!
He cares very much!! He doesn’t care that we may have messed up..He wants us to take that to Him and let Him bury it…But Oh He cares!

Next time you think no-one cares….think about leaving your comfortable home..put on a thousand pound back-pack and try to imagine that you had some pretty serious injuries on your hands and feet, and take a walk around the block…Could you do it??

Remember how very much He cares..He gave you that perfect spouse you get to go home to today!!”
Mike and Laurie (Sunday School Teachers)

My Garden

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 18 May, 2014 None comments

I’ve talked about wanting to grow my very own garden but I’ve never had the proper area to do so. Once we moved in to our new house, I was very excited as this was now a possibility. Now that summer is quickly approaching I’ve become quite nervous to begin the process as longing to grow a garden and actually doing so have entirely different outcomes. The beautiful thoughts inside my head of what my garden will look like and the luscious vegetables we will receive is unending. But there is a sudden realness to the cold reality that my mind can dream big and my ‘living garden’ may not be as big and full of unending vegetables.

Thanks to planetden.com

A couple days ago I bought some vegetables to begin the process. Now, the little I know about growing a garden comes from my dad. He always had amazing gardens full of massive zucchinis, cucumbers, never ending cherry tomatoes and extra large, juicy tomatoes. He also had grapes, green beans, pumpkins, peaches and apples. The task it took to bear this garden was never explored. I simply reaped the benefits and thoroughly enjoyed it. But now…..that is a different story. The years of reaping the benefits of my dads luscious garden was all a waste when it comes to beginning mine. I learned nothing from him as I was never interested because I knew weeding would follow my interest. Learning about the process would require me to be outside which would lead to those nasty “weeds that overtake a garden if not tended to.” I can just hear my dad trying to throw excitement into our list of outside chores. :)

Now, I fear the work put into my garden, the thought behind which vegetables to purchase and where to burry them all clouded my mind as I know I have the tendency to kill plants by over watering or under watering. I can’t seem to find the proper amount of every plant; maybe because every plant is ENTIRELY different and I know nothing about them.

Thanks to mikeonafarm.blogspot.com

So tonight I took my fear head on and tossed my little plants into the recently weeded “garden area” and hoped for the best. I planted and watered just as instructions had advised. Now, with great hopes I long to reap some benefit as I tugged away the many weeds the seemed to appear before my eyes.

Now what happens….I wait and wait.

I will water and I will wait. I will water and I will weed. I will water, weed and hope for the best! But most of all, I will update you on my adventure ahead.

Worrying too Much

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 17 May, 2014 None comments

I had a dear friend contacted me this week with a lot of struggle and pain she is battling within her family. I felt the deep urge to reach out and see if things were okay and to my surprise that was the Holy Spirit prompting me to pray for her and her family.

After a long conversation, the questions come up about anxiety, worry and fear. Oh how I know this all to well. The reality is most women probably struggle with this on some level or another. Her and I, are like two peas in a pod with fear and anxiety. We can allow it to consume our body literally paralyzing our souls keeping us from thinking beyond that moment. We go deeper and deeper into the hole of ‘worst case scenarios.’

Telling her and reassuring her that worrying will not change the outcome, it simply will make you feel worse but the outcome remains the same. As I speak this truth to her, I am reminding myself that I need to believe what I say. It’s not always easy. And this is a reality we must choose to remember. Life is hard and painful and when you are not experiencing trials of many kinds, give thanks because we know in life we are either in the middle of the storm, coming out of the storm or getting prepared to head back in. This is the cycle of life.

When we are in a healthy spot, heading into the storm helps prepare us to better handle the situation. The storm itself will also help teach us something new that we hadn’t learned previously. Take the opportunity to look at the positive while in the middle of pain, hurt, tragedy, and heartache. Prepare yourself to learn the truth in the middle of messes. This will help keep you focused and grounded.

My girlfriend mentioned how she thought she had it all together and boy did God open her eyes to realize she didn’t have it all together let alone how desperately she did need Him. What a blessing! God is working in ALL of our lives. We can tend to put our heads down in the sand when problems arise and be blinded to the hurt our dear friends are going through as well. When you pull your head up and allow yourself to be vulnerable, you will find you are not alone. We all have our own stuff to work through and some is more challenging than others. But we will come through! When you are not currently in the midst of the storm, be that shoulder for those who are hurting deeply. You will be surprised what others are dealing with and you will feel a sense of relief to be able to be there with them.

Night time can be our worst hurdle. Laying our sleepy heads to rest and letting your mind wander can be a deadly trap. Waking up from cold sweats to only find you worrying yet again. Laying awake for hours hoping and praying to fall back asleep but you can’t seem to do anything but let your mind take over! These are deadly traps from the enemy. He is out to destroy you and “our minds our the last bastion of rebellion!” The power our mind holds is vast, yet God is even bigger than that!

Thanks to: keithmcadamscoachingtips.blogspot.com

Moment of Truth: We all long for comfort and security. This must come from the Lord and Him alone. But we all need to provide that love and prayer for one another. Be vulnerable! Be compassionate! Be wise! And be loving! I heard it once said, “we are only in the storm for as long as it takes to learn what God has in store.” Take advantage of where you are currently and choose to learn, don’t allow self pity to consume you!

Mother’s Day

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 11 May, 2014 None comments

Happy Mother’s Day to all your wonderful mother’s out there! It is not an easy task but a very rewarding task. You have and will be blessed for your hard work in loving and training your little munchkins even once they are all grown up.

Thank you to my mama, who has been the best mother I could ask for and my best friend! I love the relationship we have and am excited for years to come!

I’m thankful for the knowledge I’ve received in how to be a mama myself and to love unconditionally!

Thank you for being the most amazing Grammy (grandparent) a grandchild could ask for. You spoil, love and care for their tender little souls!

~Thank you!

Happy Mother’s Day and I love you dearly!

Who Does the World Say You Are???

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 8 May, 2014 None comments

Yesterday I was struck with the simple fact that we place our worth and value on how the world perceives us. This thought stuck with me all day and made me contemplate how God views me verses how the world views me. I figured it would be important to actually put it into words and compare and contrast the two.

I think we forget the promises of God a lot quicker than we forget the hurt and betrayal we receive from our loved ones, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, and colleagues.

I’ve had the hurt of words stab my soul at the innermost part. I’ve had to deal with the pain and still have to deal with the pain words cause. The saying “words are sharper than any two edged sword” is beyond accurate and only those who have been inflicted with such pain (all of us) know how deeply our words kill.

In our household we call them ‘death words’ as they literally can kill a family and destroy the hope of true love. We jokingly say, “that was a put down, you owe me five put ups.” Unfortunately, this doesn’t take away the hurt our words cause, but it does stop to remind you how hurtful words can be and how finding positive things to say is not always easy. What a good reminder!

Words bring life or death and how do you want people to receive your words? If we aren’t out to kill one another, than we do we have to be so destructive to “make ourselves feel better?”

Who the World Says You Are:

You are worthless, prideful, and arrogant. You are fat and overweight. You are underweight. You are controlling, manipulative and weak. You will die someday, you are ugly and have too many flaws.

You are a low life, you are a burden to society and you are stupid. You will never accomplish anything in life. You are selfish; extremely narcissistic. You are a liar and a failure. You are mean, hurtful and not a good friend.

You are evil, only care about yourself and insignificant.

Who God Says You Are:

You are being remade, you are new, chosen, Holy, redeemed, blameless and loved! Blessed, faithful, a child of God, justified, no longer a slave to sin. You are not condemned. (Eph 1:7; Gal 4:7; 1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21;

You are accepted by Christ; His friend. In Christ you have wisdom, righteousness and sanctification. Your body is a temple and the Holy Spirit dwells within you. God brings about triumphal knowledge in Him. You have Christ’s power and every spiritual blessing provided to you in the heavenly realms. (2 Cor 2:14; 2 Cor 5:17; 1 Cor 6:19; 1 Cor 1:2; Rom 8:1; Rom 15:7)

You are forgiven. God predestined you. You have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. He has seated us in the heavenly realms with Christ Jesus. You are Christ’s workmanship, created to do go out and produce good works. You have boldness and 100% access to Christ within you. (Eph 1:3; Eph 1:11; Eph 2:4-6; Eph 2:10; Eph 3:6)

You are made new, full of righteousness and called holy. God’s peace guards your heart and mind. You are a citizen of heaven. God supplies all your needs and has made you complete. (Col 2:10, Col 3: 4, 12; philp 3:20)

God loves you and chose you to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. (1 Thes 1:4)

This is how we need to treat one another. God calls us to “love our neighbor as ourselves!” What a contradictory to lay our lives down for each other but to treat one another just as we LOVE ourselves. We are so self-focused and that God even knew these things back in the very beginning. He clarifies in the Bible how to love our neighbors- as we love ourselves. Because He knew we are self driven and self focused that the only way we want to be loved is how we need to love others. This shows our depravity as humans that we need to take the love we have for ourselves and gift that to one another! So challenging but also kind of sick that we are that self involved.

Moment of Truth: Friends, God has so much in store for us but we must take our eyes off ourselves and others. Keep your eyes on the Lord and he WILL direct your path!

Thought of the Day

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 7 May, 2014 None comments

I read this today and I felt like I got punched in the stomach. What a sad reality that our security is so wrapped up in this world. Our motivation, encouragement, excitement, goals, dreams, family and much more are all dependent on the worlds acceptance of us.

Read this and rethink what really matters!!!

Do not search for security in the world you inhabit. You tend to make mental checklists of things you need to to do in order to gain control of your life. If only you could check everything off your list, you could relax and be at peace. But the more you work to accomplish that goal, the more things crop up on your list. The harder you try, the more frustrated you become.

There is a better way to find security in this life. Instead of scrutinizing your checklist, focus your attention on My Presence with you. This continual contact with Me will keep you in My Peace. Moreover, I will help you sort out what is important and what is not, what needs to be done now and what does not. Fix your eyes not on what is seen (your circumstances), but on what is unseen (My Presence).

Sarah Young- May 6

Moment of Truth: Do not let the world be your motivation, let Christ!