Making Life Blissful

Another year older, another year bolder! RECIPE—Also, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that are so good you want them for your birthday cake! RECIPE BELOW:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies:

1 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips (I use Guittard)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter, sugars, add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Combine dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. And oats then chocolate chips. Bake in little balls for 10-12 mins.

Someone recently asked me if I thought “negative emotions” were bad. I answered NO—we need all of the emotions, every single one.
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Frustration, peace, joy, loss, worry, regret, and even anger.
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First of all, I believe God created us with all the emotions for a reason. If he wanted us to only feel joy, then he would’ve just given us that.
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But we’ve been given the ability to feel ALL the feels, not just the “positive ones”. There’s purpose in that.
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Being able to feel the difference between contentment and disappointment, or anger and peace is vital to our human experience.
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Experiencing “negative emotions” allows us to understand or empathize with each other as we experience similar feelings.
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And sometimes “negative emotions” are what brings positive change, especially when we see what we have done wrong or realize how to handle something better in the future. Often they lead to forgiveness, which in the end brings love.
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Emotions take some regulation though. We have to balance the good with the bad. We don’t want ONE emotion to take over our life so that is the only one we seem to feel all the time—whether it be a positive or negative emotion. It’s ok to work on our emotional growth.
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The good news is that our emotions are what connect us as humans. We find unity as we feel joy together, compassion as we sorrow together, growth and change as we feel frustration together.
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So whatever emotion you are feeling today, it’s ok to feel it. Let that emotion have its moment…and then let some of those other emotions have a turn too.

Let’s talk about MAINE! Be sure to check out the popular hikes at Acadia National Park on my blog. These are some of the most favorite hikes for families. We loved our visit last spring and now I’ve written up all the details for you. Stay tuned for more Maine travel tips.

Have you been to Acadia Nat’l. Park?

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“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. It’s what the sunflowers do” —Helen Keller
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New movie coming out that I want to see. I remember when this happened in 1989. The boy Josh was lost in an abandoned mine in UT for 5 days. It was a miracle how they found him. He was about my age so it made an impression on me. Now this true story has been made into a movie called Faith of Angels.
Check out the trailer here: https://upvir.al/158749/lp158749 DO YOU REMEMBER this news story?

Probably one of the best shows I’ve seen at lately!! The Nutty Professor had us laughing all the way to the end and the music was clever and fun. If you’ve been trying to decide about this one, I’d say don’t miss it!

God’s way of reminding us He’s still watching over us…