Don’t cry for the gold. Winners aren’t always first place. Winners just show up!
Be in the moment. Let your spirit soar and smile. Guard your mental health.
Thank you, Simone Biles, For being so courageous. You are our hero!
Embrace This Moment!
We are proud of you, Simone!
I’ve lived to try my very best. I’ve learned to accept defeat. But, when all of my dreams Are a heartbeat away, I just take a deep breath And keep on trying.
I AM more than I thought I could be… God knew I could be all this and more… After all, He made me! Give me one moment in time… And I will be all He made me to be. I will be free.
See ya tomorrow (God willing) – Embrace this moment!
Let’s embrace blooming – Both the blooming of flowers As well as ideas.
Let’s embrace blooming – Blooming of plants and ideas As well as people.
Let’s embrace blooming – Blooming of people today; The world needs blossoms!
Charles Stanley – In Touch Magazine cover
One is fully bloomed – One is on its way to bloom – A couple are curled.
To fully open, We must face toward the Son Light. Do not turn away!
You, too??
Blossoms need sunlight. We need the light of the Son In order to bloom.
Isaiah 35:1-2a
“The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; It will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.”
Your soul will sparkle; It will bloom and grow in love If you walk humbly.
As long as Christ leads We can make it all the way; We can bloom and thrive.
Let your blossoms dance! Follow in obedience. Let your spirit shine.
My choice for the look alike contest. Don’t you love those smiles? “Smilers never lose, and frowners never win.” Listen to the song below!!
Your smile’s contagious When you blossom from inside. Let’s Embrace Blooming!
You deserve this award!
Your blogging sparkles And your face reflects the Son. You’re brilliant and bright!
Fertilize others With words of encouragement. Continue to bloom!
Photo by Andre Furtado on Pexels.com God bless You!!
My heart bubbles over with gratitude for God’s Bright and Brilliant Light. May it continue to bubble over in our hearts and lives. “Open up your heart and let the sunshine in!” Listen to the sunny song below – It’s a favorite from my childhood.
Laura Sullivan is a Grammy Award-winning pianist whose soothing music is available on YouTube, Facebook, my Alexa, etc. In addition to her musical talent, Laura is a poet. She shared a couple of her poems this week and I was so impressed that I asked her if I could share them with you. She agreed.
Thank you, Laura, for sharing your poetry with us.
Laura’s musical talent needs to be shared, too. Take time to listen here, and if you enjoy it as much as I do, you may want to tune in to more. A link to her talent is here: https://www.facebook.com/musicbylaurasullivan
Have a peace-filled day, my friends. Click on that arrow. Come sit a spell and listen with me.
Today was my first day back at TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensible) https://www.tops.org/ since March 11th.
When this pandemic hit, we were not allowed to meet in our usual spot at the Madison Valley Medical Center. We were encouraged to stay home, socially distance, and sequester if needed to stop the spread of this disease. So we did.
I was nominated to participate in this fun blog post. I was nominated by https://charlotteannrobinson.com/ Check out her blog. It is fun, inspiring, upbeat, and always worth the read.
When she answered the question, “What are your ten favorite feelings?” she added graphics to each answer. She made it fun to learn these things about her. You will enjoy seeing them.
Rules:
Simply list 10 of your favorite feelings and then pass on the nomination to one or more of your favorite bloggers!
JanBeek’s 10 favorite feelings:
peacefulness
loving and being loved
compassion
empathy
faithfulness
gratitude
generosity
joyfulness
self-confidence
interdependence
I find peacefulness in Derrick’s garden. He shares wonderful pictures of the work he and Jackie do almost every day there. Their relationship demonstrates the reality and importance of interdependence. We all need one another!!
I love looking for Nugget, their feathered friend. When Derrick’s not in the garden, he shows us his travels through the countryside in his area of Great Britain. I nominate him for best daily inspirational post… derrickjknight
Nominate at least 5 bloggers and inform them of their nominations
Give them 10 new questions
Here are the ten questions Betul gave her readers … and my answers to those questions:
1- What do you like about yourself? I am open to life-long learning, knowing God is not finished with me yet.
2-What don’t you like about yourself? I can’t name them all… too many… but I’m working on areas of procrastination and impetuousness.
3- What are the most important characteristics you look for in a good friend? Honesty and compassion
4-If you were too hungry and too sleepy, would you choose sleep or food first? Would depend if the food was available or not. If not, I’d sleep and dream of food!
5-How much time do you spend on social media in a day? Is WordPress considered “social media”? If so, 3 or 4 hours. About a half hour on FB.
6-Do you have a favorite travel destination? If so, where is it? Switzerland, cuz that’s where our daughter and her family are … and California, cuz that’s where our son and his family is.
7-How do I believe my writing could help people? My goal is to inspire us all to love God and one another more completely, more faithfully, and to live a life of gratitude and integrity.
8-What is the most recent TV show you watched? Do you recommend it? I watched almost every episode of The Voice. Now that the season is over, I look forward to next season. Yes, I recommend it.
9-What is the most important human need (other than the basic ones like eating, sleeping etc.) and why do you think it is important? Love, connection… that was yesterday’s post on http://www.janbeek.blog
10-Mornings, afternoons or evenings? They’re all important! But, I am more energetic in the morning.
Most of you whom I nominated are too busy to bother with answering this nomination, but that’s okay. I just want you to know I think you’re awesome – and if there are any of my readers who by chance have not read your blogs, I want them to clink on your link and treat themselves. I try never to miss one of your posts.
If you feel like it, you can copy those same 10 questions up there and add your answers. If not, that’s okay. Just keep writing your awesome posts!
Feeling pleased when I step off the scale I see that I am the “Biggest Loser” At my TOPS group this week. I have “Taken Off Pounds Sensibly.”
Now, the trick is to keep those pounds off! I have yo-yoed up 5 or 6 and down again For about a year now… and it’s discouraging! My body seems to like where it is, but I don’t!
I have a goal weight to return to … And when I reached it, I was the queen Queen of the Montana State TOPS Club. I felt good and fit my clothes better.
Why is it that I can gain 3 pounds in a week And then it takes three months to take them off? Do any of you have that trouble, too? At 5’0″ the weight goes right to my tummy!
I want to earn the “Best Loser” trophy weekly Until I regain that goal weight position… And then I want to KEEP IT OFF!! Do you have any tricks that work for you?
I posted the video below on my FB page a year ago and reposted it today. Every time I see/hear it, I am moved to tears and inspired to want to go out and make a difference.
One person reaching out to make the world a better place – an inspiration for us all!
Our day will be better when we make someone else’s day better. Go out and share your love now. Make your corner of the world a little bit better just because you are in it! Recite after me, “I can do anything!” Yes, you can!! You can make a difference right where you are.
Yesterday our friend, Hailey, invited Bob to be her “Guest of Honor” for the day – and come to her school. Her class was celebrating Veteran’s Day by inviting a loved one to share lunch with them. Hailey’s mom took this darling picture of Bob holding the poster Hailey made for him.
I think Ennis was a better place yesterday because of all the people who honored our veterans – and all the veterans who stepped forward to be recognized. God bless them all!
If you are in the USA, what did the people in your community do to recognize veterans yesterday?
If you are from another part of the world, tell me what your country does to honor those who serve (d) in your military to keep your country free and your citizens safe.
Thanks for visiting JanBeek. Now – what are you going to do today to make your world a better place?
Last night we attended a dinner celebrating the 244th birthday of the United States Marine Corps and honoring our veterans.
The gentleman on the left in this photo is Don Bowen, a Marine veteran. He and his wife, Toni, invited us to attend. Don and Toni are the realtors who had our house built. They lived in it for the first 6 years before we bought it. I have a special spot in my heart for this couple.
The birthday cake was cut by the oldest Marine present (91) and served by the youngest one (42). I thought that was a nice tradition.
All branches of the service were recognized with a toast to their service to our country. Bob served in the army when we first were married.
Handsome dude, huh?
That opportunity to live in Germany while Bob served in the military got our marriage off to a wonderful start. I was stripped from my comfort zones: family, friends, language, culture, job… and placed in a “strange land” where I needed to rely on my husband, my inner core, my faith, and my ability to learn and adapt.
I landed a job (by God’s Grace) teaching first graders on the army base – it was mid-year, February – so it really was a God-thing!! And we became life-long friends with the Schallers, whose chalet we shared. Ah memories!
On this Veterans Day, I think back to those years of service and I remember all who sacrificed for our freedom. I live in gratitude – forever thankful for all who served and who are serving in our military today.
In a perfect world, we would need no armies. We would just love one another, and we’d all live in peace. Ah, I long for that day. But, I’m afraid it won’t come til Heaven. Nevertheless, I will strive for that peace in my life.
Today our Ennis Arts Association had a guest speaker, Kathy Coontz, who represents the Federation, Quilts of Valor, in our state of Montana. Kathy is such an inspiration!! I love her quilts and her enthusiasm.
Can you see what a delight she is?
The Quilts of Valor Foundation is a nation-wide service effort that delivers quilts to service members and veterans. Its mission is to cover service men and women and veterans touched by our war(s) with comforting and healing hugs in the form of beautiful, warm, red, white and blue quilts.
Kathy told us the recipients do not have to have served in a “declared war.” Regardless of the conflict or the branch of service, the rank or the job (Clerk Typist Specialist 4 – behind a desk in Germany in 1961-2 was my husband’s job), we owe them a thank you for their service to our country. The quilts are stitched with love, prayers, gratitude, and healing thoughts. It’s the quilters’ way of saying, “Thank you for your service, sacrifice, and valor.”
In their brochure explaining the program, QOV quoted one recipient, a veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan from ’05 to ’07.
Spc. JMcK, US Army, wrote,
“As silly as it might sound for a soldier with over three years in Iraq and Afghanistan to say, that blanket became a true item of comfort and peace for the road ahead.”
If you know a U.S. service man or woman or a veteran who might appreciate a Quilt of Valor, you can log on to http://www.QOVF.org and fill out an application. You also can discover on that site how to donate to the cause, join the organization, or designate a gift for a specific QOVF group or particular state.
It was a wonderful presentation. I wish more people in our Madison Valley had been there to hear Kathy’s message.
Do you have a Quilts Of Valor organization near you? Or do you know of a veteran who’d benefit? Think about it! There’s nothing like a warm blanket hug! My daughter DeDe sent me a blanket hug for Christmas last year. I love it!!
See ya later.
