Are you living your dream?

When I was a little girl, my mother would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. Of course, I wanted to be a singer or an actress or dancer, but most of all I wanted to be a mommy. And I used to tell my mother that when she got old I would take care of her.

Have I been able to live my dream? Well, you could say that I have. I had four little girls of my own, and when my dear mother was dying (only in her 70’s) I helped take care of her the last month of her life. Perhaps that was a love commitment more than a dream.

My childhood dream has not been my only one. I have had several over the years, as I’m sure you have. As we grow we learn new things and try our hand at them. I sewed clothes, made toys and crafts and quilts, tried sketching and painting, wrote poetry, and dreamed dreams. I took voice lessons but I’m shy and nervous about public singing. I dance but mostly when I worship the Lord in the privacy of my home. And the acting? Uhh, No. 🙂 But I keep returning to writing – ministry things, poems, stories, plays, songs, articles, blogging.

Again my dream is to be a writer and author of children’s books. Having accomplished NaNoWriMo, perhaps by sheer determination, then shouldn’t I be able to write a book for children, perfect it for publication, and stick with it until that happens?

But what do you do when life happens, when the time you had which didn’t seem to be enough is now split in half? How do you see those dreams fulfilled?

How do you choose what to sacrifice and what to push to the forefront?

It is a challenge in which, so far, I don’t feel I’m succeeding. With all the reading I try to do, my writing is taking a backseat. With the book reviews and author interviews I committed to, my newsletter publishing is delayed. But do you see the connections? In some way they are all to do with writing, so I haven’t completely left it behind, I just need to discover my balance. What I must do is trust the Lord to lead me in all of these things in my life. If I’m meant to continue them all then He will show me how.

Then there are the unexpected things that crowd in. I gave my piano to our oldest daughter who loves to play. She told me Tuesday that the movers will be here Thursday morning. That meant today’s time was devoted to rearranging things for the piano to be maneuvered around in order for the movers to get it up the stairs and out to their truck. This also means there will be more space for my stuff! 😉 Such as more books? Umm, maybe for all the fabric I have. (Yes, I love fabric too, which is intended to be listed for sale on my business website.)

Do I have too many irons in the fire? Too many interests and not enough focus? Too many ideas and not enough ‘stick-to-it-iveness’? Or maybe I dream too big? – forgetting I’m only one person and nobody else will be interested in my dreams – so I live a little of this one and a little of that one.

I don’t ever stop dreaming.

What about you? Are you a dreamer of dreams? Are you living your dreams? Or have you given up on them?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Surprises, sacrifices and schedules

This is Holy Week in the Christian faith, the week of remembering Christ’s sacrifice for us. It is coming into a weekend of special services and celebrations, family dinners and reunions. I hope it is also a time of reflection for all God has provided for us through the Cross and His unfathomable Love, much more than is realized or that we can even understand.

This weekend is especially wonderful for me because last Sunday we were surprised by the arrival of our daughter who lives in Alberta. She showed up for a three-week visit, which is a blessing to this mother’s heart. For the first time in a few years we have all four of our girls home for a few occasions – one daughter’s birthday, Easter, Mother’s Day. I love it! And tomorrow morning we – and some other family members – are all going to the Good Friday service where I fellowship. That means a lot to me.

On another topic — Now that I have access to my computer only half the time, my posts are having to be scheduled when I can manage to prepare them – which explains why I got two posts up last week when I was not online, in case anyone was wondering about that. A Twitter pal noticed. 🙂 WordPress has this great feature where a blog entry can be scheduled to be posted whenever you want it to be seen. Gotta love that! The only problem is that I can’t reply to comments unless I am here. But don’t let that stop you! 🙂

I plan to soon get another book review up followed by an interview, and another one is already planned for early May as part of a blog tour. So, if you enjoy those then please keep checking back.

I’m trying to keep up between times spent with my dad, but not doing as well as I would like in the other things. Hopefully, I will improve. My time management skills are severely lacking.

So, how are you spending the Easter weekend?

And on the topic of time management, how do you pull it all together?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Announcing the winner of Snow Day!

We have confirmation of our winner of a copy of Snow Day by Billy Coffey! (My apologies for not posting this earlier but I did not have access to my computer last week. )

Thank you to all who visited my blog and left comments at https://lynnadavidson.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/interview-with-billy-coffey-book-giveaway/

Shortly after 9:00 PM on April 8 my husband pulled a name out of the basket and I was pleased to send CONGRATULATIONS TO CATHY GRAHAM. Cathy, your book is on its way to you directly from the publisher, Faith Words.

In her reply to my email, Cathy wrote, “What fun to get your message about winning the book Snow Day. That’s great! Thanks so much! I’m all excited now!”

Thanks again, everyone. It was fun, and I know Billy enjoyed your comments.

There will be another review and interview as soon as I can manage it.

Thanks for reading and participating, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Have you come full circle yet?

Do you ever feel that life is taking off without you? That you can’t keep up with all that is in your line of vision? It is times like those that I realize I could not hold up without the strength the Lord gives me.

I am delighted that our youngest daughter moved home in March, and so is her little dog – as much as a dog can be delighted. 🙂 Now she is job searching so that she can get herself established again. Having her home will be helpful.

What is upcoming for us as a family is that we have come full circle, my husband and I. Several years ago, my sister and I lived with our parents again for the last month of our mother’s life when she was dying of cancer. We each moved back into our old rooms which allowed us to be there to spend time with Mum and minister to her however we could, and to support our father. (My sister’s husband would bring their baby some days, and each evening I would go home to have supper with my family and put our youngest to bed before going back to my parents’.) This month my sister and I will be starting a rotation of living with Dad, alternating weeks for as long as is manageable. We will be companions to Dad more than caregivers in the way it is most understood. This time it is a sacrifice that will affect our own households for an indefinite length of time, but it is the only right decision at this time as he needs someone there with him. We don’t live far from him anyway, but it is time to do this. And Dad won’t be overwhelmed by us — 🙂 — because we won’t both be there all the time, but taking turns week by week.

To be honest with you, in considering all this it is something that I want to do and do not want to do. Even though I want to be there for my elderly father, I know it is going to change my own life, marriage, home. I will do this, though, because my family supports me in it and I love my dad – otherwise it would be nearly impossible. Do you know the feeling? It will be a good challenge, very important to our relationship and with fun potential. 🙂

During our quiet evenings, since Dad is still able to enjoy his own reading time, I plan to read more books, prepare more book reviews, and finish writing my novel and picture books. Then the weeks I am home I can post to my blog and catch up wherever else I have fallen behind.

Yes, that is the plan. A good plan. A reasonable plan. I’ll soon find out how well it works.

Have you come full circle yet, becoming the caregiver for the one who cared for you?

Maybe you are caregiver for someone else you love, or are available to give someone else a break? (Being a caregiver can be very stressful and exhausting, so if you are considering helping someone who does this, I’m sure they would appreciate a few hours for themselves each week.)

I’m very interested in hearing your stories.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Do you blog or are you a frequent blog visitor instead?

I’m excited! I have been watching my Blog Stats steadily climb, and sometime this morning it reached the amazing total of 3000. In fact, at the time of this writing it is at 3003! That means that there have been 3003 visits to my blog! Not 3003 visitors, because most are repeat visits by some people who come back again and again – which I love to see. And not all visits mean a comment has been left, nowhere near that many on my blog – not even counting the spam that has been caught and blocked – but when I get to 1000 valid comments I will have to celebrate somehow.

Now I know that for many bloggers that number (3000) is a drop in the bucket, but for me? That’s a lot of visiting, don’t you think? And I have YOU, dear reader, to thank for that. 🙂

SO, my questions to you today are:

Do you like to keep a blog of your own, and does it matter to you if you get many comments?
Or are you a frequent visitor to blogs, not interested in maintaining your own but loving to read what others have to share and then leaving your comments? (If yes, do you have favourites that you follow or do you keep searching out new blogs?)
Or, do you prefer to just visit and not say anything … until you leave me a comment today in answer to that last question? 😉

I LOVE to hear from you! When I started blogging it was with a certain amount of trepidation but now I don’t think I could NOT blog, I’d miss it and you too much. So, leave me a comment? 🙂

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Do you feel safe on the Internet?

While visiting another writer’s blog I was inspired to write on a related topic, but then something else came up, something on the news. The original topic will have to wait because this is something that has been brewing in my brain for awhile now.

How do you feel about Online Safety?

There is so much going wrong in that department. We often hear on the news about children at risk, and not only children. Too often there are stories about minors of all ages being lured into dangerous situations and relationships. Even adults of all walks of life get tricked into placing themselves in harm’s way. The Internet has become an easy tool to target the unsuspecting and vulnerable.

Admittedly, I post things about myself but I rarely mention personal details about my family members, nor do I call them by name or post pictures of them. And my children are all grown, but I have a young grandson. Maybe someday I will feel differently, but my concern is that I would put them at risk should I post information that would potentially lead the wrong person to them. What my daughters post on their own is up to them, though. I have no control over that anymore. I wish I did.

It amazes me how much personal information people feel free to tell in such a worldwide public venue. What has happened to privacy? There is so much talk these days about not allowing one’s children to get into websites that could eventually hook them up with the wrong people who make it their business to stalk the innocent. Then on the other hand … what I don’t understand is that there are parents/guardians who probably are concerned that way about their own children and would not allow them – when they become old enough to use a computer – to share things online that would put them at risk … but, those same parents/guardians share information and photos of those same loved children because they are proud of them – and rightfully so. But, where is the line, though? That is my question?

What I am glad about is that there are qualified, skilled people who track and hunt down offenders who – by using the Internet to get to them – violate the safety and rights of our most vulnerable. It takes a lot of dedication to find those perpetrators, and I applaud their commitment.

So, how do you feel about it? When is it not safe to share on the Internet? And when it is no problem?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂