11/25/14 - Tuesday - I am Important

Me in my favorite jammers of all time....Them there is my Ducky Jammers!

When I  promised God that I would make the changes I needed to make when I had children....I had absolutely no clue what that would mean....

Most parents want their child(ren) to know:  that they are important, loved and that dreams can come true.

How can you show your child(ren) that they are those things and so much more when you don't know that you are?

That's why God gave me Kelsey...to learn those things.

Before I got pregnant with Kelsey, at the age of 35, most people from the outside would probably have thought I was doing pretty good.

I had graduated from high school, I had an associates degree in marketing, for the most part I had been steadily employed full-time for 14 years, I had purchased a new car and paid it off, I was a home owner, I had no outstanding debt outside of my mortgage, I had been to concerts and traveled, I had a dog and a cat and I was making around $40,000.00 a year.

Those were some of my dreams fulfilled.

I knew that God was guiding my journey and providing me with the tools I needed to achieve those dreams.

Those achievements didn't make me feel important.

I was lonely, didn't feel loved, my head was a mess...much messier than Kelsey's room!  Things and achievements didn't resolve any of that.

When I found out that I was pregnant and would be responsible for another human life...that's what finally started to get through to me.

My perspective was...God wouldn't give me a child if I wasn't important.

That was a HUGE step for me.


 Some Bible verses that help me to remember that I am important:

Genesis 1:27   So God created human beings in his own image.  

Luke 12:27   Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don't toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Matthew 10:30    but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Psalm 139:13    For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb.


Please remember you are important too.


I love you,


Malinda A. Gottschalk  :-)  XOXOXO

11/24/14 - Monday - A Mess!

This is Kelsey's room for the most part right now.  At the same time, it's what the inside of my head looks like, exactly.

Last Monday, I made a commitment to Kelsey.  That commitment came in the form of a promise that if her room was not picked up by yesterday, I would be posting a picture of it and sharing.

That is one of many commitments I have made to Kelsey.  Even more it's part of a commitment I made to God as a teenager.

In previous posts I've stated that commitment and I intend on keeping it!

I promised God that when I had children I would make the changes I needed to make.

That commitment includes:  no secrets, sharing what God has taught me and striving to reach the dreams he has given me.

The old Malinda doesn't like sharing everything with the world and keeps herself tied in knots with the stress she puts herself under.  It makes for a huge mess.

This new Malinda doesn't want that stress anymore.  I want to share what God has taught me with all of you and help others to grow too.

It's like one beautiful picture that was in an exhibit while I was working for the Waterford Cultural Council.  Let me see if I can paint this picture in words for you.

The artist had visited Tuscany and on the canvas she painted a beautiful sunset she had seen while there.  Then the artist painted screws on the canvas.  Along with the screws there were strips of clothe painted.  Some of these pieces of clothe were tightly wound around various screws.  Other strips of clothe were loosely bound around the screws.  There were, also, pieces of clothe that had been loosened from the screws and appeared to be floating away.  I asked the artist to explain to me what the painting represented to her.

The artist said she loved the beautiful sunset in Tuscany.  The artist further explained that she had battled with cancer.  After having cancer, she wanted to free herself from the world and it's boundaries.  The screws represented those boundaries.  The pieces of clothe represented those boundaries being loosened and her being freed.

That artist and her painting have inspired me since that conversation.

As I grow in my relationship with God while raising Kelsey as he wants me too, I am freeing myself.

I want that freedom for Kelsey too.

No secrets, being able to talk about her feelings through the good and the bad, being comfortable in the body she has been given, how to apologize, how to forgive, how to accept people for who they are and where they are, how to keep your commitments, how to reach for her dreams, how to be the person God wants her to be no matter what gets thrown her way.

I can't share these things with her or you if I don't know them for myself.

God has given me so many confirmations that I am on the right path.  It's my choice.

There's no coincidence in how God works.

Kelsey has her messes and I have mine.  It's no secret.

I'm going to share.  Sharing is part of letting go of the mess and myself, so I can grow and be free.

11/05/14 - Thursday - Reminder to Self - Refresher on the 7 Habits Quadrants

• Quadrant 1 - Urgent, Important  (Get things done in a timely manner so you don't end up here.)
• Quadrant 2 - Important, But Not Urgent (Good job...This is where you want to be.)
• Quadrant 3 - Urgent, Not Important (Somebody Else Has an Urgent Problem - It's Theirs to Resolve.)
• Quadrant 4 - Not Urgent, Not Important (Distractions, Rerunning Things Through Your Head too Much.  - STAY AWAY!)

A much needed self-service reminder.

I went into Quadrants 3 and then 4 because of 3 and failed to get myself back into 2, then a Quadrant 2 came along with another Quadrant 3.  I still didn't get back to Quadrant 2.  Meanwhile that first Quadrant 2 was way past it's bedtime.

If you understood that last paragraph,  it's time for you to go to bed too!

We'll both try again tomorrow.

Hey!  At least, I learned how to make a paper airplane that actually will stay aloft out of the deal.  I'm not sure whether this knowledge will be handy in the future or not????

Sweet Dreams,

I love you all!  :-)  XOXOXO