Charming Bees and Taming Lions...

Can you relate?

Do you ever feel like your life is a swarm of bees surrounding you that gives you just two choices; you could avoid the swarm- or life itself,  or you could take a deep breath and slowly reach in gently pulling out the honey.  You know if you choose poorly you will surely suffer here, or if you try to haphazardly fall into things to avoid the responsibility of choosing you will also experience pain.

Then there are the demanding people in your life, or the internal struggles and issues, they are like these lions roaring and clawing trying to shred your costume and eat you in front of your audience. These are often simple to take care of.  It is just a matter of boundaries or decisions that change your stance in front of others only to show a polished performance of taming and presenting yourself in the midst of order.

If you can relate to either of these analogies then you my friend are on the threshold of something good!

This is where I feel I am, I feel like I am charming and taming respectively.

I closed my business down officially, I choose to be here in my home and care for my long neglected abode. This is taken as offsetting to some of those in my life.
I get many questions now of what am I to do now?
Will I get a regular job?
What am I going to do with my time?
Oh, and then there are those who ask for products and seem to have missed my last several months of stressing over this decision to close and stating to the world that ' It was fun but now I'm done!'
 I ended up changing my voice mail greeting due to the sudden burst of orders, where were they when I had almost no sales for 3 months?

As I write this I wanted to make sure I put out there the clear message that AllThingsNew the business is really no more...but that Betty Kloppenburg is definitely up to something good, I am still enjoying this ride!

I hope this finds you also enjoying your journey...Thanks for being part of mine!

Take care
BettyK

Reading with a child

There is something wonderful about having a child sit with you and really pay attention as you read a book.  
I love it when you can see the story come alive in their mind by the way their eyes light up or the statements they make or the amazing questions they ask that make you wonder how it looks in their mind.
I also love the first stages of learning how to read themselves.  Our granddaughter is in kindergarten, just turned 6 yesterday, and she is fantastic how she reads.  I am enjoying each struggle and step of progress as she picks up more vocabulary and skill.

Today I am going to volunteer in her school for their 'Buddy Reading Time'.  I am so glad that I live close enough to her and am involved in her life enough to enjoy this experience.  I think every parent or grandparent would miss out if they didn't try at least some simple way to get involved with their family schools.
Our kids today need us to pay attention to them, they need us to take the time to look them in the eye and speak kindly with them and not dismiss them because of our busy lifestyles.  If we each took more time to acknowledge the kids around us and make them feel important what kind of difference would that make?

As adults that should be something we are keenly aware of, even we look for acknowledgement and connection everyday.  If we so eagerly seek this in relationships, in work, in life why wouldn't it have started with childhood?  The children who have a deeper sense of family connection and sense of value or worth grow to be adults who have a better self esteem and confidence about them.

Maybe you missed out on the healthy connection and life instilling messages when you were a child.  Use this as more reason to try to impart what you missed into the little lives you have around you.  Make a difference!

Ok, so I posted this today because it comes back to why I am doing what I am doing here- AllThingsNew.  I am really hoping that the items I create, the people I meet, the events I attend and the stories I share; that it all is to make a difference around me.  I want to inspire you to look at life and your own world with fresh eyes and seek the possibilities you may have forgot to search for.  I would love to seek greatness in my own life and I hope you find the way to do this in your own!

May your day be slow ~not hurried and stressful,
may your eye see the life and beauty around you,
may your heart feel the love and grace felt for you from above and within your family & friends,
may your home be peaceful and prosperous and may you be bursting with a desire to share!
You are loved!

Take care today
BettyK

Our son walking his daughter to the first day of school :o)