I read a book once about birth order and how we go through life based on that. I just read this and it seems so real. My son has the characteristics of a first-born only child even though he isn’t (but it seems like it because my other son is immobile due to his disability).  I am a first born and feel some of what they are saying is so me as well.

On another note, I have finished writing my grants.Wow! This was a very, very busy month for me. I was almost in a brain frozen state. I write grants on the side to make extra money so if you ever need one, holla at me! I usually like at least 1 or 2 month lead time but this June it was a three week turn around time, for one only two weeks. Marathon is what it was. My Editor over at PRISM was worried for me. How sisterly. She didn’t feel God would want us to kill ourselves and she is right. I usually am very aware of "burn out" issues but it was about making some quick cash. Like my mom used to say, "La pina esta agria" or in otherwords, "the pineapple is sour". So I am thankful for the work trust me.

I was just in NYC from 23-25 to do my bi-monthly coaching initiative with 7 women for CEFL. I love doing this.  The format is usually a teaching on 7 disciplines that I think are important for leaders to incorporate into their life then there is a time

In September I start teaching a class called Race and Ethnic Relations, I’d love to hear some thoughts about what you would love to see in a class like that. Of course, I am going to show the movie CRASH. Let me know what you think? I’d appreciate it.

Also do you know anyone who would want to help us start a youth program? We got some money that is guaranteed for our youth work but I don’t want to get it until we have someone in place to work with us as the lead youth cultivators. So if you know anyone who is willing to move to S. FL. have them email me.

Have a wonderful Independence Day weekend! We’ll be having our customary Agape Fellowship and we have some friends from NYC with us as well. I wish I was rich I would just move the rest of the folks I want down here with me.

I’ve mentioned it on my blog before. Men aren’t the only ones who struggle with porn. Here’s one girl’s journey.

Ok so I’m taking liberties here but the Miami Heat WIN tonight takes me to Proverbs 24:16 "for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity". Dwayne Wade was the man! I’m so happy for Alonzo Mourning and who knew that Coach Pat Riley had the gift of prophecy…he told Shak on June 8 they would be winning on June 20th. Woo-hoo Mi-am-i! White Hot! We’ll be celebrating!

Ok, so I can’t go to bed yet! I want to post (before I forget) some pics of our last Agape (were my church family and friends from around the Fl area gather to enjoy good fellowship, food and music) which was held Memorial Day weekend. We usually hold them every major holiday. So if you are in town for the July 4th weekend, we’re having the next one Sunday, July 2nd.

The ladies helping in the kitchen

Hungry people!

Leticia, Julia and Me (they help WHF with worship, they can sing!)

WHF friends and family

Derek our bass player, he’s baaaad

It’s been a long hard few weeks in June. I’ve been working for We Care America writing grants for the new federal Fatherhood and Healthy Marriage Initiatives for the extra dough it provides. But boy I’m I feeling it. I haven’t written marathon proposals in years. I am grateful for the opportunity I had last month to review some grants for the feds which gave me the inside scoop on what they are looking for in grants. Anyway, so by the end of the month after June 30th, my blog and my life should be back to some kid of normalcy.

On another note, the other day in the car on my way to work I heard Tim McGraw’s latest song, "Live Like You Were Dying". I cried. Ok, so that isn’t anything new since I’m a crier. BUT what a song! You have to hear it, better yet, download and put on your Ipod! I am. It makes you think, what would YOU do if you get news that you were dying! Why do we have to wait for that kind of news anyway?

Let’s love deeper, be kinder, forgive, laugh often, dream alot, start again, reconcile friendships, hug those we love, take more time off, take up a hobby, say " I love you alot"…yeah, we don’t have to wait til we hear we are dying…but we can surely ‘live like we were dying’. Have an awesome Father’s day to all you dad’s out there. But to all remember…live LIKE you were dying. Much love to ya!

"I am caterpillar. The leaves I eat taste bitter. But dimly I sense a great change coming. What I offer you humans is my willingness to dissolve and transform. I do that without knowing what the end-result will be." — Joanna Macy

I read this in a book my friend and fellow sojourner, Edna, gave me today "When the Heart Waits-Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions". It made me think of how we are to grown spiritually ‘from glory to glory’ and how afraid we sometimes are about not knowing what we will ultimately become. We can learn from the caterpillar just as much as we can learn from the butterfly. In my organization, CEFL, one of our symbols is the butterfly but in our materials we talk about the various stages it took before it became a thing of beauty…like the quote says, "the leaves I eat taste bitter", in our lives we will taste bitter leaves, we will crawl amongst the dirt all around us but do you "sense a great change coming?" I had to share a nugget at a home fellowship retreat with a few women on Friday night and as I challenged them to say "YES" to God and understand how YES means also going through the hard stuff, I shared how its after the YES that the changes come. We get a different perspective on life, we are a bit more patient with others and even with ourselves, we realize that "bitter leaves" are part of the package of YES because like the caterpillar, one thing we have resolved in our christian journey is to have a "willingness to dissolve and transform". How have you been dissolving lately? Any transformations going on? Ah, the beauty that awaits all of us.