ThatTimeJuls...

Positive thoughts create positive people!   Why did I start this blog? I have blogged for the whole month of January. That may not sound like a big deal… but for me it’s a major accomplishment. While I am a very outgoing and can have an in your face type of personality, I can also be very nervous, anxious, and lead by my fears. When I was younger, I was used to being the odd one out. It was normal for me to do things on my own. I enjoyed my individuality to the point that I yelled at my nephew (we are only 4-5 years apart) who said he wanted to be like me and told him to be like himself. Of course, now as an adult I realize he was just admiring his slightly older aunt. I guess as a kid when people look at you like your crazy you think nothing of it. As I got older those looks started to cause me to second-guess myself. Eventually, those looks turned into notes left in my bags and then conversations of what a decent Christian girl should do. Maybe because my mom was ver...

Have you ever heard a song, smelled a scent or saw something that triggered a memory so vivid it brought you back to that exact moment in your life? I know, it can be good or bad but my hopes are the great moments overshadow the bad ones. Writing this week’s blog has set off a change reaction in my mind and to be honest I’m having a hard time focusing with the flood of memories rushing in. I want to share funny, interesting and maybe even odd things about me to help you get to know me better. I’ve shared about my family, I’ve even shared about my children (well one of them) and now it’s time for me to share some of my story. I grew up in New Orleans and I was a very “active” child. I’ve learned when people say you have an “active” child with an “active imagination” in the south it’s not meant as a compliment (much like “bless her heart”). I was also the mixed kid that was constantly asked if I was adopted. It got to the point kids at school would just tell me that I was probab...

This week we celebrated the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   When I think about what he stood for and the work he did I am overwhelmed with gratitude. It is because of Dr. King that my uniquely blended family was able to be. What is your greatest family memory? For me, it’s a picture of my family in a tree. I don’t remember taking the picture nor do I remember the event but it reminds me of family. My family is different, unique, and honestly a bit weird but the truth is God blessed me with this crew and I wouldn’t change it for the world. It wasn’t until high school that I became aware that my family was outside the norm. Have you ever tried telling your friends about your siblings and they stop you midsentence and ask for a diagram? I have. What’s funny is my family isn’t very big. There are just a lot of moving parts. I am the youngest sibling, cousin, and grandchild. However, there are only 7 of us on my mother’s side of the family. My mother rais...

I have 2 amazing boys. I would love to call them little or my babies and while they will forever be those things in my mind, I can’t acknowledge it out loud. My youngest son has just turned another year older and I’m reflecting on all of the wonderfully hilarious conversations I’ve had with him or over heard him have with others. I hope you enjoy this birthday tribute to my youngest baby Josiah Kylon. When he was born six weeks early all I could hope was that everything developed properly and that he was healthy. My prayer was answered and if I’m honest God added just a couple more shakes of candid over him than I would care to accept. For starters, as a toddler he just looked like an old man, a little angry old man.    Before we would go to church he was the most playful talkative baby but as soon as the doors to the church opened his poker face would turn on. Poker face was the name given to him by another church member. People would come up to me and ask if he could speak ...

It’s 2018 and the “New Year, New Me,” mantra has begun. We will hear or say this glorious phrase nearly the entire month of January. What have you decided will be your 2018 mantra? I have determined that I will pursuit my passions. This year I will not allow the tether of fear to tighten it’s grip around my neck. I’m not saying fear doesn’t or won’t exist in my life. I’m saying I refused to be crippled with fear. Fear is keeping us from stepping out on that dream we have rattling in our every waking thought. If you have ever said; I wonder what my life would look like if… Then you are battling fear and you can win. When I was in middle school I wanted to be a cheerleader. I went to the camp and I was so good that I impressed the coaches at that were there. It was time to show the judges what we learned and I was not in the first group that went. I watched these girls get up there and look cat raggedy. I knew I had it in the bag. The group that went right before me one of the girls jus...