Change in direction and an action plan.

I'm not very good at keeping a blog when there isn't a specific point to it, so I'm changing the direction of this one from just everyday happenings to my ministry blog. It will have posts on anti-human trafficking and on prophecy, as those are my two ministries. Today I'll share my action plan for them, and then I'll keep updated with how things are progressing.

First, though, I'll share what my ID coach, Michael, told me. He said that he rarely sees anyone with as concise a vision and plan for achieving that vision. That was good to hear (and a little bit flattering to my ego). I guess I am pretty focused. And that's a good thing, because it's easier to see where I need to go and how I'm doing on the road.

So here's my action plan:

Suzi Wollman  

Personal Value Statement*

“To glorify God in all I say and do through developing the character traits of compassion, faith, honesty, integrity, kindness, love and truth as befits a follower of Jesus Christ. It is the standard by which I measure success.”

Personal Purpose Statement*

“To utilize the strengths (strategy, belief, learning, intellection, and ideation) and gifts (teaching, faith, and prophecy) which God has so graciously given me to achieve His goals and purpose for my life.”

Personal Mission Statement*

“To provide freedom from slavery for trafficked children through illumination of the problem and belief in God’s provision, and to help victims reach a place of forgiveness.”

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Action Plan

Overarching goal: “To Glorify God by putting the spotlight on Him and leveraging everything I can in my life to lift Him up so others can see Him. To maximize all that I have been given to show and tell others about Him. To use my money, skills, talents and passions, and all that I am, for Christ.”

1-6 month goals

• Develop statements of purpose, value, and mission. DONE

• Find a group that is doing important work and contribute to it. BEGUN

• Join or start a small group for discussion.

• Get training in Prophetic Ministry. BEGUN

• Begin blogging about my journey. BEGUN

1 year goals

• Seek teaching and/or curriculum development assignment

• Begin Russian language study

• Get involved in Prophetic Ministry

3-5 year goals

• Speak Russian fluently

• Advocate for Russian speaking victims of trafficking

• Publish a book about Human Trafficking (from blog posts)

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[*Value: something intrinsically desirable. / purpose: the reason why something is done or used. / mission: a specific task with which a person or group is charged.]

Writing prompt: Magic in the Details

The night breeze ruffles the small hairs on the back of my neck, wet from sweat despite the cool air. A shiver runs down my spine. I hear the snapping of a twig and think someone is sneaking up on me. Turning quickly, terrified of what I might see, I strain to see through the thick blanket of darkness that smothers me. No one there. An owl who-whoots somewhere above me. The tall pine trees have left a carpet of pine needles that smell pungent when my boots crush them underfoot. In the pale moonlight, I can see what seems to be a human shape, facing me, standing stock-still. My heart skips a beat and drops of fear-smelling sweat run into my eyes. I squeeze my eyes shut and open them again, hoping against hope that whoever—or whatever—is standing there watching me will be gone. Is it? No. It doesn't move. My heart beats loudly in my ears as I hold my breath.

Then the moon breaks through the clouds and its light shows me... a statue.

I am alone in the garden of good and evil.

UnResolutions

i'm no good at resolutions. like so many others, i make them only to break them in a week or so. or when the enthusiasm of an idea disappears in the reality of actually putting that idea into action. so these are un-resolutions. things i want to do with my life this year (way too many things). they fall into several categories: health and wellbeing; creative juices; finances; homemaking; relationships; spiritual, self-improvement.

here's what my ideal would be:
spiritual - read a chapter in my bible every day. do a daily devotional. pray more.
health - lose weight. eat more veggies and less sugar. exercise at least 5 days a week. get more sleep.
creative - write every day. keep an art journal. develop my own line of prim patterns. make a scrapbook (not a digital one!)
finances - get (and keep) my business books in order.
homemaking - make and maintain a cleaning schedule. redo craft studio.
relationships - call loved ones every week. have fun with my hubby. develop some girl friends.
self-improvement (physical) - let hair grow out. get a new wardrobe (a few pieces at a time as I lose weight. maintain my nails.

obviously i can't implement those all at once! so tomorrow, i add a chapter a day to my bible reading and devotionals, and spending more time in prayer. keep a prayer list in a notebook with room to write down when and how God answers.

start keeping a food journal so that i can see what i'm eating (i'm using "lose it"). also include an exercise log. go to bed by 10:00.

writing in the blog everyday, if only a line or two.

set up new bookkeeping system online.

follow my cleaning schedule.

call jenny and each of my children as well as mom and dad every week.

do my nails.

Potty training

I've started to train REMY, now while I still have two weeks before I start potty training my new puppy. What possessed me to think that I could train a puppy while I have two still in diapers? Probably because I've done it before (but I was much younger!).

Labor Day -- A Day of Love

To honor our working force, we didn't have a barbecue or a party, and we didn't go to the local rodeo; we worked. We have a little dog, and for the last three weeks, we've been fighting fleas. We washed him and sprayed the house and laundered the bedding (ours and his), yet still the fleas came back. So today—after visiting our new puppy who is not yet old enough to come home with us — we washed the dog again, and vacuumed, vacuumed, vacuumed everything in the house, and washed all the bedding again. Tomorrow morning, we'll give him a Capstar pill (neat, safe pill guaranteed to kill all the fleas on him) and take him and our birds to our son's house while we flea bomb the house and get rid of all the fleas for good (as well as any other hapless bug in our home). It was a day of love because the love of my life, my wonderful husband, did most of the work. That's what you call love!

Visiting our puppy—Sadie—was a nice hour-long drive into the country out to the J Bar T Ranch in Blue Ridge, Texas, where the kind people raise Toy and Miniature Australian Shepherds. Sadie is the result of a breeding between a red-tri-color female (Princess) and a blue merle male (Cinnamon). She is one of three  pups in the litter, all of whom ended up red tris. She, of course, is the cutest one. Here's her picture:

Doesn't she look like a little teddy bear? She is typically puppy-sweet, with razor sharp teeth and puppy-breath. We played with her on the grass; it was her first time on grass and she didn't know what to do at first. She tried to eat it, then decided it felt good to roll and drag her tummy in it, and then best of all to run in it.

Even though it was only 86° today, she is used to being in air-conditioning, so she got hot pretty fast and whined to go back inside. When we took her in, she stretched out on the cold floor and immediately was asleep. So cute.

So that was my day. How was yours?

Early morning ramblings

Every morning I get up at 6:00 and read my Bible and pray. Then I get a shower and get ready for my day. (So far, it sounds like a poem!) And tonight I need to go get my hair cut. The rest of the day is spent caring for Remy and Liam, my youngest son's children. They are the light of my life, and I LOVE taking care of them, although I return home at about 6:30 exhausted. How can such tiny little people make me so tired?? (And for that matter, why am I so sleepy? I had 7-1/2 hours sleep last night.)

Then the love of my life comes home, we eat dinner and watch an episode of whichever serial we happen to be watching, and then we spend the rest of the evening unwinding, doing things we enjoy, and getting ready for bed. Bedtime comes rather early—no later than 10:30 at the outside—and often more like 8:30 or 9:00. (And I'm still sleepy the next morning!)

Right now it's 7:13, and I have about 15 minutes until I have to leave to walk to their house. I need to finish this post, get everything ready to go—don't forget the needle and thread to fix Bunny—and restrain Mac while he goes nuts on the end of his leash, so excited to be going to a house with kids in it. I guess not many people get to take their dog to work with them!

After the loss of Tosh, my sweet little friend, I've decided to get another dog. This time it will be a Toy Aussie (Australian Shepherd), and her name is Sadie. I can't bring her home for 17 more days, but who's counting? (Me! I am! I can't wait to get her home!)

Well, I guess I should go downstairs and get my day ready to go. Just wanted to drop in on my way to work this morning.

A good day to all!

Until next time!

Where does the time go?

Well, it's been months since I last looked at this blog. My other blogs are taking the time, and I've not had any time left for this one.

Where does the time go?

We have daylight savings time, and I think after all these years we should have quite a little account somewhere. If I could figure out where we're actually saving time, I'd make a withdrawal when things get so busy that some get pushed to the back burner.

Speaking of the back burner— I've discovered something to rid my dog of fleas that sits on the back burner, turned to low. Go outside to where someone planted a lot of rosemary and cut a handful of stems. Take it into the kitchen and curl it around into a sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then turn it down to low to simmer for awhile. How long depends on how much rosemary you've used. You want to simmer it until the water is a nice tea color, and by that I mean some really brewed tea. You want it dark. Let it cool and then work it through your dog's coat, starting with his head and working backwards. You want to completely saturate the dog, between his toes and everything. Now let him air-dry and then comb him with a flea comb, which is a comb with very close teeth. It will catch the fleas and pull them out of his coat. Comb all the way down to the skin. If any of the fleas are still moving, drop them into a cup of the dip and watch them drown. This stuff is amazing! Apparently fleas don't like the essential oils that leach out when you boil the rosemary. You can also add mint to the mix, or try tea-tree oil if your dog is not sensitive to it. (Mine is.)

A note of caution: Never use essential oils of any kind on cats. Their systems are very sensitive to environmental elements, and they can make your cat really sick.

A sad note. We had to put our faithful old miniature pinscher, Tosh, down last week. She had a lot of health issues and had recently developed seizures that made her cry. I really miss her, and now our other min-pin is all alone. His name is Mac. (Get it? Mac and Tosh.)

Until next time, then.

Joyfully yours,
Susannah