I read on Facebook today that our friend Margie went to heaven. She fought hard. She was tough. In spite of her challenges, she always had a smile on her face. Our prayers go out to her family and her close friends. Margie loved the Lord with all her heart. She was a survivor and outgoing. She would tell anyone about Jesus and dedicated to her church. She was a hard worker and enjoyed life to the fullest.
I met Margie at the church we both attended. Every time I would see her, she would greet me with a big smile and a hug. She was a part of the Go ministry, where she and the team would go out into the community and tell people that they need to make Jesus Lord of their lives. When I saw her singing in the choir, I could tell that she felt every word that she was singing. A true Christ follower.
My hubby said that she would always say, “Hello brother Jason” in a deep voice every time she saw him. Margie worked with us on a program at the church. We included her in a promotional video that we created for the event. She can be seen at 0:52 and 2:01 mark of the video seen below.
Margie was a bright light in this world and will continue to shine in the hearts of everyone who knew her.
Isaiah 41:10fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Philippians 4:7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Words cannot say how I feel right now. Tears are streaming down my face as I write this post because I have lost my little buddy, my fur baby, and a part of my family. Gio went to heaven on Monday. If you are not an animal lover, you wouldn’t understand. And that’s okay because you don’t have to.
Gio
I celebrate his life. He had the energy of an Energizer bunny — very playful. He brought so much joy to everyone who met him. He is and will always be a family member.
This is a joyful post because he always made me laugh. He made everyone laugh and brought so much love to our family. Gio was a rescue dog. He came into our lives by the way of a colleague at work giving me a flyer with his picture on it (I still have that poster of him). When I saw it, my heart melted. I know that my hubby grew up with beagles on a farm so when he saw him he thought he was cute and wanted to bring him home. The story the family told us was that they had three beagles of their own and the female was trying to attack Gio because she didn’t like him getting too close to their child. And the female beagle would not stop, so if no one took him, they were going to have to take him to the local dog pound. Well we wouldn’t let that happen.
We brought him home and it took some time for him to know that we really loved him. We don’t know his past so we respected that and continued to love on him. And when he knew the love he gave so much love to us in return. That unconditional love he gave us is priceless. Our veterinarian said that he was 2 years old when we got him so he was fourteen, and we had 12 years of Gio being part of our family.
Gio
My sweet Gio we love you, miss you, and you will be in our hearts forever.
We learned so much from Gio about life that we wanted to share it with you in future blog posts.
You are beautiful. It’s so easy to think that you’re not. To let insecurities in. To beat yourself down. But it’s time that all stopped. Because you are you, and you can never change that. So you’re going to want to stop wishing that it could. Even if you don’t realize that you’re doing it, or you don’t mean to be so hard on yourself, you really do need to start being a lot kinder to yourself. You’re all that you have, so work it! Instead of looking in the mirror and criticizing what you see, why not choose to see the positives? Choose to focus on the good things that you’ve got going on. Because we all know that you have them!
For some people, this entire process can be a lot easier said than done. But it doesn’t have to be. You just need to know what to do to make it happen. Sometimes, you’re going to need to work on your mindset more than anything else. And that will take work. But if you want to feel great about yourself, you’ll be able to do it. Then you have some of the physical changes that you’ll need to make. Because if you’re not already rocking what you’ve got to the full potential, you have to change that. You’re going to want to work in some key changes and enhancements of what you already have to feel at your best. So let’s look at exactly how you’re going to do it.
Focus On Positivity The first thing that you’re going to want to do is adjust your mind. If you’re always so hard on yourself or you know that it’s going to be tough to feel confident, here’s where to start. Work on developing a positive mindset. By learning to become positive, you’re going to be in the best possible position to start changing your life and how you feel about yourself. So work on this before you do anything else. Well, except for the second point.
Stop Comparing Yourself At the same time, you really need to stop comparing yourself to others. It’s something that we all naturally do, but it’s not really something that’s good for you. This can often be the reason why you get so insecure in the first place. But you do need to know that you have the power to stop these insecure feelings. So it’s time to stop comparing yourself to others and to focus on yourself instead.
Look For The Good Next, you’re going to want to start to focus on the good things that you have going on. Of which there will be a ton. Now that you’re not focusing on others, but you’re focusing on yourself instead, you’ll want to start to pick out the things that you do like about yourself. Whether it’s your long and strong nails, your beautiful eyes, or your great figure, focus on that. Make sure that you feel good about the things that you have already.
Change Your Energy At the same time, if there’s any negativity in your life, you need to let it go. Even if this is certain people. Because when you start to change your energy, you’ll learn that you can attract what you want. If this means that you get to start feeling better in your own skin and bringing out more positivity, isn’t it worth it?
Put Yourself First If you’re someone that has always put others before you, then it’s time to stop. You want to work with what you’ve got? Well, that’s going to take work. And how can you work on you when you’re giving others all of your energy? It’s like they say with your putting on your oxygen mask – you need to have yours on first so that you can help others. So do you, and then go back to helping them.
Focus On Your Health How is your health looking lately? Sometimes, the reason we don’t always feel at our best, is because we don’t actually feel at our best. When your not that healthy, you won’t always feel great. So work on becoming a little healthier in your life, and see how it makes you feel about yourself overall.
Exercise A really great way to emphasis what you’ve got is to exercise. Now, everybody has a different shape. And you were born that way. You won’t always be able to change that. But you can use exercise as a way to shape your body and feel better about yourself. Because exercise makes you happier too, so it’s a win-win.
Fuel Your Body As a step on from that, you’re going to want to look at what you’re eating. Because one of the simplest ways to really boost your beauty naturally is just to eat well. When you’re eating foods that fuel your body, it shows. From lean proteins and whole grains to fruits and veggies, when the bulk of your diet is highly nutritious, you will look and feel great. So if you’re tired of your skin looking dull or your hair feeling limp, look to your diet.
Avoid Stress If you’re dealing with a lot of stress right now, it will show in how you look. So work on changing that. Make sure that you’re staying away from stressful situations and toxins. Not only if this important for anti-aging and your overall beauty levels, but it’s also important for your mental health overall.
Take Care Of Your Skin From here, you’re then going to want to make sure that you’re really looking after your skin. If you don’t have a solid skincare routine, now’s the time to start. Make sure that you read up on your skin type. Find out everything from the best type of cleanser to use and when to wear a face mask to what treatments you should be using. Then, you’ll be in the best possible position to work on your skin. And a better complexion always gives you a better base to work with.
Dress For Your Shape But don’t forget about fashion either. If you want to make sure that you’re able to work with what you’ve got, you need to be able to dress confidently. What you wear really can affect how you feel about yourself. So make sure that you’re dressing to show off your body type. Whether this is accentuating your waistline or working with your long legs, go for it. You’ll be surprised by how powerful this one step can be.
Accentuate Your Natural Beauty Being naturally beautiful doesn’t always mean rolling out of bed and hoping for the best. If you want to feel at your best naturally, then you have to work on that a little. From getting that good base like we said, to taking care of your teeth, looking after your eyelashes, shaping your brows and making sure that you treat your hair well, it all helps. So make sure that you’re doing what you can to highlight your beauty naturally.
Take Pride In Your Appearance From here, you’re then going to want to ensure that you take as much pride in your appearance as possible. To really rock what you’ve got, you need to get into the habit of doing your makeup and dressing well on a regular basis. This always makes you feel more put-together too.
Go All Out And while you’re there, why not get yourself a new hairstyle too? If you’re not really doing much with your hair, you’ll want to change that. Because different styles can show off your natural bone structure, so speak to your stylist about what kind of shape and style you should look to have.
Become Your Best Self Finally, you’re going to want to ensure that you do what you can to make sure that you’re becoming your best self. You should find that, as you work through each of these steps, you start to feel incredible. And you’ll pretty much be your best self. But this should be your goal. Don’t see this as changing who you are – it’s showing off the person that you already are. So embrace these changes and realize that you’ve always been beautiful, you just didn’t believe in yourself.
So now that you’ve seen the steps, do you see that you can do this? Do you realize that you just need to change the way that you see yourself, and how you think about yourself, and you’ll be able to make it happen? Because you can. If you want to feel beautiful and become the very best version of yourself, you just need to believe that you can do it. Because it’s already there inside of you, you just have to let it out.
Now that you know how to do it, don’t let anything hold you back. Make sure that you’re focusing on yourself, you’re working on your mind, your body, your health, and your appearance, and you’ll be looking and feeling your best before you know it.
FTC Disclaimer: This is a collaborative post and may contain affiliate links.
What do you think about your heritage? Do you feel that it is important? Or that it is not important to know where you came from?
JT and hubby
I used to think that it was not really a big deal because it was all in the past. My mother and grandmother would tell me my great-grandmother was a Cherokee Indian. My Grandmother said that my great grandmother had long black hair and how she would brush it when she was a little kid. I always wondered why I never saw a picture of her. My father did not talk much about his family, maybe because his own father passed away when he was only six years old. When I was in grade school, the other kids would tease me and call me Injun Joe (a derogatory term for a Native American). Where the heck did this come from? My mother told that people would look at me when I was a baby and that I would get darker over time; but I never did.
Am I Native American? My hubby and I took the 23 and Me DNA test this year so that we could confirm or discredit the myths and theories that existed that had been presented to us about our ancestors. We were not shocked by the results; but we were surprised at the diversity of our ancestors. I discussed the DNA complete findings in an earlier post (found here). I found out that the Native American DNA was only a very small percentage (0.5%), which discredited my grandmother’s story. It made me rethink what my family had told me. I learned that through history that most African Americans are multiracial with European blood. And even though this occurred through many Africans being enslaved, not all were enslaved. Yes, some Africans were free and married Europeans.
One Drop Theory According to the 23 and Me test, one-fourth of my DNA is non-African, with 22% being European and about 4% coming form other peoples of the world. For me to say I have African ancestry alone would be a disgrace and an insult to all the cultures that are found in my genetic makeup. I am a multiracial, African-European-American. It is a good feeling to know where my ancestors lived. Just because you have two parents who are African American, does not mean that you are 100% African American. The term ‘biracial’ really is saying you have two parents of different cultures; but the DNA doesn’t necessarily come out 50/50. I really am sorry to break this to you; but the majority of African Americans are multiracial. And being multiracial comes in all variations of skin color, isn’t that beautiful.
How do you feel about someone being called an African American? I would often wonder myself about the term African American because what about the Africans who come to American and become an American citizen? They are African Americans too. My former pastor would say that he is not an African American because he did not come from Africa, but instead he come from Los Angeles. He would say that he is not black. The heels under his shoes are black, and that he is brown.
After I took the DNA test and saw in the results what parts of Africa my ancestors came from made me think a little more about the politically correct term, “African American.” If you are not 100% African American; do you also recognize the other ancestors? So many questions come up because again the majority of African Americans are mixed. I am multiracial. From my genealogical research, I determined that my grandfather on my Dad’s side is listed as a mulatto — derogatory term used in the 19th Century for a person whose parents are European and African. I still need to do some additional research to find out more about him.
Research
I am an American with SubSaharan African, Northwestern European, Native American, Scandinavian, Iberian, and Oceanin ancestry. There are still many more questions that need to be answered, but my husband and I will be doing more research to see what we can find out. We have been searching for more on my grandfather on my Dad’s side, but it is not easy. We want to find out what his story is and what that story can tell us.
I would like to know if the Africans in my ancestry were all enslaved, free or both. I would like to know who the European ancestor was that was a part of my father’s family.
What’s the point?
Through this journey, I am learning about my parents, about my ancestors and most importantly about myself. It is worth the time and effort. I know that as a child of God and that I come from our father Abraham. However, my ancestors individual stories are being pieced together to create an amazing story. A story that tells the world what makes me uniquely me.
It is just amazing that this journey all started by me sending a saliva sample in a test tube.
Your thoughts
Let me know your thoughts about the DNA research.
Is the research worth the time and effort? At the end of the day, does it even matter. Do you agree with the term African American? Do you recognize all of the ancestry that exists in your DNA?
Last August, I was on my way to the vet’s office with Gio and Vinny for their annual checkup. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it there. As I drove down the interstate; the traffic had slowed in front of me. Not having enough time to stop, I ran into the back of the vehicle in front of me. While the lady’s car was only moderately damage, our 2001 Jeep Cherokee was totaled. Thankfully, despite the extensive damage, the doggies and I were not injured.
I was crushed. We had our Jeep for sixteen plus years; and I thought it would last forever. It had only 114,000 miles and was in great condition. It ran good and looked great; even though the air condition hadn’t worked for a couple of years. We planned to keep it for a few more years before planning to a new(er) Jeep.
Through the ordeal of the accident, dealing with the insurance claims and looking for a new vehicle; I learned five important things. I wanted to share them with you.
Pay Attention To The Road The traffic on the highway had slowed in front of me. Rush hour traffic was winding down; but there were still a lot of cars on the road for 9:15 in the morning. We were approaching an interstate interchange; and the vehicles were slowing and moving into the exit lanes. I had been paying attention to the road; but it was not enough to prevent the accident. It so important, especially when a five-lane interstate highway, your eyes are always alert and watching the road: in front of you, to the side of you and in back of you. You can never be too careful!
Be Up Front With Your Spouse I dropped off my wife at work on the way to the vet’s office. I told her that I would be checking with her throughout the day. She was executing an important meeting and I wanted to tell about the appointment and asking about the meeting.
However, after the accident, I did not tell her for several hours later because I did not want worry about me and the meeting at the same time. When I finally told her about what happened, she knew something was wrong because I had not called her or sent her any messages for more than three hours.
In addition, I had not told her why I was taking the doggies to the vet on a work day without her. I had been planning a little getaway for our anniversary and the doggies needed the annual shots to stay at the kennel. But I didn’t tell her about my plans until a week after the accident.
I learned that it important to tell my wife everything. She should have known why I was going to the vet’s office and she should have known about the accident as soon as it happened. She deserves to know the truth even if it is not the best news.
You Have To Move On In the days and weeks following the accident, whenever I was driving or even if I was walking in the backyard, I kept reliving it in my mind. I would see the Jeep slamming into the back of the lady’s car. It became extremely difficult for me to not think about what I had done to this lady and her car and my own vehicle. It took about a month for me to fully clear my mind and not think about it. Even though it was a serious thing, I could not undo what happened. I had to move on with my life. I could not move forward without letting go.
Make Sure You Have Good Insurance
While having automobile insurance is required by law; it makes a big difference if you are working with the right insurance company. Following the accident, I filed a claim and they went to work for me immediately. The Jeep was towed to the collision center for assessment and I didn’t have to pay any upfront money. When it was determined that it was a total loss, the agents worked with me to ensure that I would get the best settlement, even taking into consideration the new tires and battery that was added the month before the accident. They worked with me every step of the way, making sure the process went smoothly and answering any questions that I had.
God Can Restore To You More Than You Can Imagine
With the accident, it meant my wife and I were down to only one vehicle, a 2003 Jeep Wrangler. While having only one vehicle would work temporarily, it was not meant to be a permanent solution. After my own healing process, I started the search for our next new vehicle. Jeeps have proven to be an excellent vehicle and there was no doubt that we would be getting another one; but it had to be the right one. I looked a variety of models, from Grand Cherokees to Cherokees, to Libertys to Patriots. After doing my own research and determining the monthly payment that I wanted to be at, I decided that the right vehicle for us would be a slightly used Cherokee. The Grand Cherokees would have been ideal, but prices were higher than what I wanted to pay. The Libertys and Patriots didn’t have the size or features we wanted. I had seen several Grand Cherokees that were in our price range, but they were generally seven plus years old, or had well over 100,000 miles on them. I did not want pay that amount of money for a vehicle with those conditions.
As I began in earnest my search for used Cherokees, I kept my eye on the Grand Cherokees, praying that one would fit our needs at the price I wanted to pay. The more I looked at the Cherokees, I was not convinced that it was not the right vehicle for us. It reminded me of a car and not an SUV; and it was much smaller than what I had wanted it to be, even though we had not drove one.
On a Sunday afternoon in late February, as I was scrolling from a used-car app on my phone, I came across a 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee that was in our price range at a dealership that was only a few miles from our house. I thought that it must have been in accident or had high mileage. Looking at the vehicle’s details, I found no evidence of any accidents and it had only 46,000 miles on it. I immediately knew that I wanted to take it for a test drive. I wasn’t able to call about it until that Tuesday morning. When I called, the salesman told me that it was still available and wanted to know if we wanted to take a test drive. My wife and I left work early that day and arrived at the dealership at 5pm. By 7pm, we were driving home in with our new vehicle.
In only two hours, God worked it out where we took the test drive, talked with the salesman about our concerns/needs and then finished the deal with the finance guy. The Grand Cherokee’s final price was $4,000 less than its fair-market value and the finance guy worked an agreement for a five year, bumper-to-bumper extended warranty for the exact price that I was expecting to pay for the a used Cherokee without any additional warranty.
It was hard for me to imagine that we could get a used Grand Cherokee at a Cherokee price. The Grand Cherokee was what I wanted; but I knew the monthly payment was more than I wanted to pay. However, God worked out a plan that allowed to get the vehicle of my dreams. He has restored to me and my wife more than I could imagine.
Let’s face it! Even though technology has done so much good in most of the business fields, we can’t ignore the fact it has caused more harm in the relationship sector. Millennials have been accustomed to casual dating no thanks to the dating sites all over the web.
Dating sites and social media have created a bad rap for relationships in this generation. With so many divorces and separation cases, we can’t ignore the underlying problem. Gone are the days where courting was a significant process before engagement and marriage. Gone are the days where “in sickness and in health, till death do us part” was taken with seriousness.
Separation, infidelity, and disloyalty has become the norm of the day. Dating sites have become more of an uber for sex rather than a platform to help people find love. Be as it may, here are some of the tips millennials can use to make their relationships strong in a tech-infested world:
Understand Your Happiness is Your Responsibility Yes being in a relationship can make you happier. However, you need to make sure that you are happy alone before getting into any relationship. Millennials tend to believe that a partner is supposed to make them happy.
If you have this kind of mentality then your relationships won’t survive. With so much false implication of relationships on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. True happiness comes from within and it is directly affected by your attitude.
If you want your relationship to work out in this generation, you need to find ways you can be happy even when your partner is not around. Despite the external circumstances, you have to make sure that you can stand your ground. Explore new hobbies and try out new sports, do anything you can to take responsibility for your own happiness.
Strive to Become a ‘We’ If you want to build a relationship that will thrive, grow, and mutually-supportive, then you have to make sure that you are separated and connected at the same time. Being in a co-dependent relationship is what millennials advocate for, however, such affairs are bound to fail.
You need to understand that you and your partner will have differences. Those differences however, are no negatives. Its not a necessity to have someone who shares all your views and interests. The incompatibilities and differences are the facts that keep a relationship full of fire and exciting if you both put aside the ‘I’s’ and become a ‘We’.
Time is Everything Thank God for the messaging apps! Sure, our grandparents made their relationships work because they created time for each other. No matter what your work is or who you are, it is essential to nurture your relationship.
You need to make sure you schedule time for your relationship.This means creating time to have dates and spend downtime together. Shut out all things digital and technological gadgets. Your relationship is more like a garden, the more you tend to it, the more it will grow.
Compromise and Support A relationship is comprised of two people with two different background, different values, different beliefs, practically different everything. This is why you need to strike a level ground with your partner so that you can both be on the same page.
Compromise is key if you would like to avoid all the disagreements. Where here is compromise there also needs to be support. If your partner has personal issues then you need to be their support system. If your partner is battling an alcoholic addiction and they need to go to Englewood drug and alcohol rehab centersthen you need to be there for them.
Strive to Be Honest and Open Loyalty is attributed by honesty and openness, and loyalty is a strong foundation in a relationship. You need to be able to trust your significant other with your deep and personal feelings if you want your relationship to be successful.
Being able to share emotions with your partner will build trust with your partner and relieve any stressors. This will allow your relationship to build stronger and prepare the both of you for the trials of life. You need to show each other how much you care by being a safe place for each other to share emotions honestly and openly without any criticism.
Work on Conflicts Head-On When They Erupt Holding on to grudges is what kills relationships. Most divorces are attributed to inconsolable differences that erupt when conflicts were swept under the rug. If you and your partner leave your conflicts unresolved, they will build up overtime and create a much deeper, dividing resentment in the future.
This will eventually cause unnecessary stress in your relationship. You need to start handling conflicts by dealing with the issues that rise head-on instead of reverting to silent treatment, holding grudges, or attacking each other. Once you solve the issue, both of you need to let it go and move on.
Communicate If you want your relationship to work in a tech-infested world, you need to abandon the technology. Yes texting may be efficient especially if you are miles away from each other, but actual and in-person communication is very important in relationships that intend to last forever.
The two of you need to know how to talk to each other outside of the internet and in person. Plan dates and activities together where you will be in each other’s company. Take time to know your partner in and out without any reservations.
Tell your partner what you like and dislike and vice versa. If your partner does something you don’t like, you need to be able to let them know. Avoid making assumptions about your partner’s behavior and learn to ask them instead. Wrong interpretations and assumptions tend to kill trust and eventually kill the relationship. Be a safe haven for your partner by showing them that you are easy to talk to and they can trust you.
Learn More About JT Bubbling with Elegance and Grace is a place for life long learners. The Bubbling With Elegance And Grace team was created 14 years ago. A passion for fashion sparked a lifestyle blog for our Elegant Community to enjoy. We are thankful and in gratitude to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for those who have been with us from the beginning and those who have just started riding with us on this lovely journey.
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