{"id":10105,"date":"2019-05-13T05:37:27","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T10:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=10105"},"modified":"2019-05-13T05:37:34","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T10:37:34","slug":"living-laughing-loving-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=10105","title":{"rendered":"Living — Laughing — Loving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Isn’t that what it’s all about? Living….really living this life we’ve been given — with all its many adventures. Laughing out loud in the midst of the good living and the tough-living-times. AND, most of all LOVING God, others AND ourselves. Sure, there’s plenty to complain and worry about but, seriously, why waste time, energy and breath on complaining, when there is so much to celebrate and be grateful for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what I know: Gratitude begets even more reasons to be grateful; living, really living, begets more out loud living; laughing begets laughter and a life intent on loving and serving God will produce the desire to love and serve Him even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, I MUST give gratitude for the last few days in Austin so that I’ll continue to have even more reasons to be grateful. I like that. It’s God’s laws of reciprocity. “Give and it shall be given.” Since I\u2019m with my Frisco family most because that\u2019s where I live, this Mother\u2019s Day was celebrated with my Austin Family. What a sweet time of laughter, reminiscing, Shawntel and I getting the \u201cspecial plates\u201d at the breakfast table, getting sweet gifts (mine included the lovely 70-reasons I love Nana from the notes at my 70th BD), going to church together to express our praise and thanksgiving for life and being able to give life to our children and those God has called us to \u2013 to \u201cmother\u201d and encourage. Going out for Sunday dinner with dear friends \u2013 having sweet and almost holy communion as we had a \u201cgratitude\u201d feast when we thanked God for His tender mercies. Life really is about giving life \u2013 the abundant life of Christ to others in word and deed. And, what a life it is! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe gratitude is taught from those around us. We can teach our children to be grateful for what they have. This family of mine — we talk daily about gratitude and our blessings. My children understand they are beyond blessed. As we stood in a little circle of eight on Saturday night, waiting nearly an hour for our table at a restaurant, I saw us. I REALLY saw us — we were a village like no other. At least it seemed that way when we looked at most around us waiting, who were deep diving into their cell phones, unconscious of those around them. We were living, laughing and loving as we talked \u2013 sometimes silly talk. We were embracing and holding each other close to our hearts \u2013 so much so, that I didn\u2019t even take my phone out to take a photo of this little village of love. The attention to each other mattered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I felt my husband\u2019s love \u2013 living, breathing and laughing with us. After all, if it weren\u2019t for him \u2013 this little village wouldn\u2019t be here. We have family, we have a roof over our heads, laughter in our hearts, and lots of love surrounding our every moment. We have memories before his death and memories beyond. Each memory serves as a blessing, for that means we had one more precious day together. We are valuing moments, not material things, and to look for the love and light in each situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can all find fault in this life. We can all wish and want for more, but the real blessings are the smallest moments and memories we cherish. I\u2019m grateful I taught my children to be grateful and, now, they are teaching their children to be grateful for the little things. We are teaching them to be happy at the deepest level in life \u2013 love \u2013 laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That is a gift every child deserves and every mother cherishes! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Isn’t that what it’s all about? Living….really living this life we’ve been given — with all its many adventures. Laughing out loud in the midst of the good living and the tough-living-times. AND, most of all LOVING God, others AND ourselves. Sure, there’s plenty to complain and worry about but, seriously, why waste time, energy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13095,13094,13096],"tags":[13116,837,5305,13117,13115,7798,38,8286,8288,5392,2883,2884,8289,99,4888],"class_list":["post-10105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-laughing","category-living","category-loving","tag-acctuate-the-positive","tag-blessings","tag-celebrating-life","tag-eliminate-thenegative","tag-god-orders-our-steps","tag-gods-mercies","tag-gratitude","tag-laughing","tag-living","tag-loving","tag-mother","tag-mothers-day","tag-psalm-10317-18","tag-psalm-3723","tag-sunshine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10105"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10115,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10105\/revisions\/10115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}