Tag Archives: family

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Passed Down Blessings!

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I give both of my girls a hard time, that’s part of my job as a Dad! 😉 Anyone who knows me, knows how proud I am of both of them and for so many different reasons.

I wanted to take a minute to brag on my oldest daughter, Gracie Harvell, because I see her do stuff like this all the time and this weekend, it just really made me think about what a blessing she is in so many ways to so many people and at the same time reminded me of how blessed we are as a family to have had ”good stuff” passed down to us.

On Saturday, Gracie got off work at 5 PM, came home, changed clothes and headed right back out the door to finish up a project she was working on at work. As she was heading out the door, she said: “I’ll take pictures!”, so I knew it must have been something important to her.

Around 7:45 PM, she still wasn’t home, so I thought, if it’s that important to her, then I need to go see for myself. When I got there, just before closing time, she was still working. She was doing a “reset”. Many people never stop to think about it, unless they’ve worked in retail, but the shelves and displays don’t magically reset themselves. And it’s not as simple as just throwing stuff up on a shelf or hanging stuff on a peg board.

Gracie could have left it for someone else to do. She could have assigned the task to someone else. She could have rushed through and just got it done, not concerned about spacing or presentation, but that’s not in her DNA. 🧬 She had to go back and was willing to go back on her own time, off the clock and finish what she started, because that is who she is and at the end of the day, she has to live with herself.

I totally understand and it reminded me of some principles that are a core part of who I am and how I operate. I am not a perfect person and I miss the mark in a lot of ways, but I am blessed to see that some of the things that matter to me, matter to my children as well.

And as I was thinking about all of this, I couldn’t help but think about parents and grandparents who passed this on to us, so we could pass this on to our children. Below are seven attributes that are important to our family and that have been passed along through the generations:

1. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right!

2. Never ask anyone to do something you’re not willing to do yourself!

3. Go above and beyond what’s expected!

4. Do it right the first time!

5. Have fun and enjoy what you do – let your work fulfill you!

6. Never forget where you came from!

7. Always have in mind where you’re going!

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Positive Social Media!

“If You Can’t Say Something Nice…”

Social Media is a place for me to share my life with family and friends. I enjoy letting folks know about my everyday human challenges and what they are teaching me.

I am grateful for my blessings, especially getting to cook, feed and share fellowship with those that I love. I love our great big crazy family that is all over the place, but always right at home whenever we are together.

I do my best to stay out of politics, although I can assure you that I most definitely have an opinion, but I learned a long time ago that it’s not worth arguing over.

I don’t air my dirty laundry, frustrations or disappointments in others, because let’s face it – there is already enough negativity in the world and if I’ve got a problem with you, that’s worth my time, then it’s worth a face to face conversation and it really isn’t anyone else’s business.

I love taking pictures and letting others get a glimpse of some of the things that intrigue, excite and challenge me. My new wrinkles, an adventure with one of our dogs, another nature discovery, what I am getting ready to eat or just something that caught my eye are all fair game to be captured in a photograph.

I’m not anything special, just a middle aged guy, who is learning that I still have so much to learn and my best learning, seems to have occurred through my shared experiences with others. I decided a number of years ago that if I can’t keep it positive on social media, then it would be time to get off, which is why through the years, there has been a break here or there, but I usually find my way back and have managed for the most part to keep it fun, encouraging and hopefully challenging.

Thank you to each of you that are a part of my social media tribe. I love seeing your life and learning from your posts. I hope that 2020 will be an amazing year of blessing and growth for all of us and that social media will do her part to help us along the way…

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Juggling Too Many Balls!

Up In The Air!Lately, I have become too busy!  I feel like I am running a never-ending marathon.  I am not complaining, just realizing that I cannot keep up this pace.  I was not created to live life this way and neither were you.

I spend almost all of my days taking care of other people and their needs.  I don’t regret this, I love that I get to do this, but then add-on top of this all the stuff that other people throw your way and that’s when it gets crazy.

Sometimes I feel like a guy juggling three balls, now that’s not so bad, even a little entertaining, but then someone throws in a fourth ball and then a fifth and a sixth.

I started out juggling three.  Three is what I juggle and now I am juggling six!  But that’s okay, because I got this.  And then all at once come balls seven, eight, nine and ten.  I think this is insane!

I finally get ball ten thrown back out.  I work my way through balls nine, eight, seven, six and get them returned to their rightful owners.  I actually pull off a pretty cool trick with balls five and four.  And now I am back to the three balls that I started with.

This is what I was created for.  Juggling three balls is a piece of cake.  I can’t stand all those other balls and I am glad they are gone.  Then I think – I was juggling ten balls and it did not kill me.  Look at how many more lives I was able to impact.  Look at how cool is was to juggle ten balls – baby!

Now I look at my three that I am very comfortable with and I think “one more won’t hurt!” and this is where the craziness starts all over.  In life, God gives you a certain number of balls to juggle.  Figure out what you are comfortable with, what you enjoy, what allows you to give Him glory.  It’s not about the amount that you juggle, it’s that you juggle for His glory.

Every now and then life will try to add something extra, if God gives you permission – take it on.  If God does not give you permission, then stay satisfied with what you’ve got and make sure you do the best with it by making the most of it!

I am still learning and I have had to learn a lot the hard way.  My main three are God, Family/Friends and Ministry.  Anything else is going to have to come with God’s permission and empowerment!