Flight Angel

Last night I went to get a hair cut from Melinda at her salon. Afterwards we went to Quakertown Family Restaurant to chat and share a dessert. Melinda just came back from Texas. She shared a story with me that I just needed to share. I am so lucky to have a person like her in my life.

One one of Melinda's joining flights, a girl got on the plane who was in tears. Actually Melinda said this girl was sobbing. She was alone, and struggling with her bags since there was no room left for hers. So, Melinda told her to sit down and she would get her bags. This girl ended up sitting behind Melinda. Melinda said it was breaking her heart to see this girl so upset. Something was egging her to do something about this. First Melinda started saying a prayer for this girl. She then took a piece of paper and wrote on it something to the effect of " I didn't know what to for you, so I wanted you to know that I said a prayer for you." Alyssa handed it back to her. After reading this note, the girl started crying harder. Melinda was thinking, "I didn't mean to make her cry more!" When Melinda received a note in return it stated that she was told that she had to get on this plane when she was supposed to be getting on a different plane that was to leave an hour later. She said that she was unable to say good-bye to her family who was still parking the car. And, her boyfriend who has Spinal Bifida had an attack on the way to the airport. She was worried about her boyfriend, upset that she was unable to say good-bye as well as her family not knowing that she was on this plane. She then wrote that there had to be a reason she was forced onto this plane and that she was so thankful for Melinda being her flight angel.

When Melinda got off the plane, she waited for the girl. Melinda hugged her and told her that she hopes everything works out for her. Here is another story of someone getting that nagging feeling of helping out a complete stranger. It is sort of like my story about the inmate a few blogs back. I told Melinda that it is awesome that her and I get that feeling of knowing we are meant to help a person in need. There are people out there that probably get these feelings and just ignore them. I feel that even if you do not know what to do at the moment that a feeling comes about, wait a bit and it will come to you. It will be like a huge realization on what you need to do. Once you figure it out and do it, you get this amazing feeling of satisfaction and peace. It is painful to see people hurting and feeling helpless. And, there is no way that we can help everyone besides saying a prayer for them. I think we should all try to be more aware of situations like mine and Melinda's. The world would be a happier place if we all just gave a little more...even to a complete stranger. Today I am thankful for:

Melinda

angels

giving people

my classes tonight

the urge to help others

my health

love

peace

my dentist

Goosefraba News

I just wanted to announce the start of Jenn and my new blog called Goosefraba! This will be a blog where anyone can submit their positive, silly, and inspirational stories. Jenn and I will be choosing our favorite story and this is what you can all scrapbook. Both Jenn and I fell in love with Scrappin To The Music. If you are unfamiliar with it you must check it out. Every week they post a new song. To enter the contest you must choose a verse or lyric from the song and make a one page layout with that lyric as your title. You can check out my current submission to the left of my blog. I decided since I love to write and Goosefraba is a great saying in the movie Anger Management in which is used for controling your anger. Next time you are venting or stressing, say "Goosefraba" and breath.... On Goosfraba, you can submit your stories under our comments section. Once Jenn and I pick a story we like, you can take a line or get an inspiration from the story to create a one page layout. The layout will be entered into our contest. If you win, your layout will be featured on Goosefraba until the next contest is over.

We are still working on the details and will hopefully talk further about this tonight. We would like to have this up and running very soon! Anyone can join us, even people out of state and out of the country! We can use these scrapbooking layouts to get ideas for our own layouts! Remember that there is no law against scraplifting! LOL!

What I am thankful for today:
Goosefraba
Blogs
Contests
Inspirational stories
Creativity
Ideas
Laughter

We are all butterflies, free to fly

Call me crazy, insane, whatever you like. What I am about to type may shock you. Call it an urge from a higher power, an ache that I could not explain whatever the case may be, I had to do something about it. Right after the article about my store was put into The Morning Call back in December, I received a letter in the mail. At first I was disturbed by it a little, I will admit. However, I did not get the negative feeling that most people did when I read it to them. The outside of the envelope read Pa Department of Corrections. Yes, it came from a man who is serving 5 years in prison for theft, public drunkenness, and DUI's. In his letter he seemed to be an all around funny guy. He has a great sense of humor, an upbeat personality and very down to earth. His, what he called "complete crap shot" of writing to me and wanting a response was something he felt compelled to do when he saw the opening of what he called "unique and rare" business. This man has a passion for photography and needed to tell me that he loved my idea of my business and wanted to wish me great success. He also asked me to be his pen pal. He has ZERO intentions of ever meeting me in person and says that he is just incredibly bored and in need of a females opinion on some personal matters he has with his 16 year old daughter.

I am thinking, "God, you have got to let me know what I am to do with this letter." I put it in the drawer of my desk, waiting for an answer. We all know that when we pray, ask for an answer, miracle or whatever, it doesn't come right away. I was in no rush to throw this letter away or answer. It sat there from December until last week. Finally I opened it again and this time I read it to my mom. This time I really read in depth about this mans life. He wrote 8 pages of little here and there details of his upbringing, how he got to jail, etc. I firmly believe that we all make mistakes and sometimes we choose to have people in our lives that are negative influences...just as he had. In parts of his letter I was in shock over how him and I are very much alike. Of course we took different paths which ended us in two completely different places.

When I got to a part of the letter on how his grandmother was more like a mother to him, I lost it. I could not contain myself. He is writing something that I have always felt. When I could speak again, I finished the letter. It then hit me like a brick.....I knew exactly what to do for this lost soul. There is a reason why this man chose me and neither of us may ever know the answer to that.

I recently purchased these awesome butterfly chipboard albums. I love butterflies. On my left shoulder I have a butterfly tattoo. I like that butterflies change so much throughout their lives and become this beautiful creature. I always compare them to our own lives. Since I have just read The Secret, I decided that I needed to pass it along to this man. How do I do this without sending the book, and how do I incorporate this butterfly?

If you have checked out www.thesecret.tv/ there is a memory game that you can play. The game keeps track of how many tries it takes you to accomplish the game. When you have your number of tries at the end, you are to scroll down to that number. Listed are a bunch of quotes fro The Secret. It is stated that the quote you read WILL pertain to something in your life. I have played this game a number of times and found it to be very true. I decided to take quotes from The Secret and incorporate them into this chipboard album. Because there are so many quotes and only 5 pages in this album, I used the memory game to help me choose which quotes I was going to use. Each time I played the memory game, the quote it came up with was perfect.

With each quote I put a picture. One picture was a sunset, one was the beach, one was of a shadow of a man with his his arms in the air facing the sun. I am hoping that this man will read each quote and start using them. I feel that this is what I was supposed to for him. I mailed it out yesterday and feel a sense of satisfaction. I feel I did something wonderful...even though there are many who disagree. Obviously there was no information about myself or anything personal in this album. It was only an inspiration for him. I know with his love for photos and creativity, he will enjoy his gift. I am not sure what will come of it all I know is that it is something I had to do.

What I am thankful for today:

Makenna

Gavin

Butterflies

The fact that we are in control of our lives and we all can change

the sun

Deigo

my kitties

The Meaning of a True Friend

Throughout my life I have seen people come and go. People that have said they were my friends some were just acquaintances. Now as an adult I appreciate all that I have learned from each person and was able to let go of the people who were not really a true friend to me. I have no regrets separating myself from some of those who I may have called a friend because they were actually very unhealthy relationships for me. Most of those who know me know that I am definitely a giver. I could care less what people give to me in return. This is not always a healthy way to be since it causes a lot of situations where I was taken for granted, and ended up giving a lot to some very selfish people. Of course I was hurt, and I would blame myself. However, I now know that true friends see you for all that you are, and will give to you just as much if not more than you give to them. I can also read people very well and know just by a first encounter with someone whether or not this is someone I want to pursue a friendship with or just keep them as an acquaintance.

The friends I have now are so much like me. They attend all of my kids and my personal functions and parties, they call just to say hi and see how I am, and they are there for me know matter what their own personal situations may be. I love the positive people that are now in my life accepting me for who I am and giving so much to me in return...without me asking for anything. They all want to help me out with everything without being asked, they listen to me when I just need to get something off of my chest, they pass out the tissues when I need a good cry or even join me. True friends, feel your pain, your joy, your excitement, your fears. True friends are there for you always to share all of your life's ups and downs.

Going through depression throughout my life, I pushed many people away. It was the true friends that didn't leave me no matter how hard I tried to be alone. Sometimes due to life events and situations, my friendships would be put on hold. However, once the situation was over we were right back to where we were. I consider myself very lucky to have as many true friends as I do. I know that if my life were to fall apart, I have my friends by my side the entire way. I will never be alone. Today I am grateful for all of the friends I have and the friendships that I am forming. I love each and every one of you. Thank you for your loyalty, friendship and love.

Jamie W.
Rachel K.
Diane B.
Heather P.
Melinda W.
Marty W.
Jenny D.
Judy A.
Rita P.
Buffy A.
Sally C.
Missy G.
Kathy Y.
Amy W.
Beth H.
Denise D.
Kate Q.
Jen S.
Cheryl K.
Maryann M.
Sherry K.
Valerie L.
Amy C.
Mary Ann H.
Jayne S.
Liz S.
My Mom
Linda my mother-in-law
Jenn my sister-in-law
and all the others I am forming relationships with at this time.