To Let Go

To let go doesn't mean to stop caring;

It means I can't do it for someone else.

To let go is not to cut myself off...

It's the realization that I can't control another...

To let go is not to enable,

but to allow learning from natural consequences.

To let go is to admit powerlessness,

which means the outcome is not in my hands.

To let go is not to try and change or blame another,

I can only change myself.

To let go is not to care for, but to care about.

To let go is not to fix, but to be supportive.

Pancakes And Love

Six year old Brandon decided one Saturday morning to fix his parents pancakes. He found a big bowl and spoon, pulled a chair to the counter, opened the cupboard and pulled out the heavy flour canister, spilling it on the floor. He scooped some of the flour into the bowl with his hands, mixed in most of a cup of milk and added some sugar, leaving a floury trail on the floor which by now had a few tracks left by his kitten. Brandon was covered with flour and getting frustrated. He wanted this to be something very good for Mom and Dad, but it was getting very bad. He didn't know what to do next, whether to put it all into the oven or on the stove, and he didn't know how the stove worked!

Suddenly he saw his kitten licking from the bowl of mix and reached to push her away, knocking the egg carton to the floor. Frantically he tried to clean up this monumental mess but slipped on the eggs, getting his pajamas white and sticky. And just then he saw Dad standing at the door. Big crocodile tears welled up in Brandon's eyes. All he'd wanted to do was make them proud. He was sure a scolding was coming, maybe even a spanking. But his father just watched him. Then, walking through the mess, he picked up his crying son, hugged him and loved him, getting his own pajamas white and sticky in the process.

That's how God deals with us. We try to do something good in life, but it turns into a mess. Our marriage gets all sticky or we insult a friend or we can't stand our job or our health goes sour. Sometimes we just stand there in tears because we can't think of anything else to do. That's when God picks us up and loves us and forgives us, even though some of our mess gets all over Him. But just because we might mess up, we can't stop trying to "make pancakes," for God or for others. Sooner or later we'll get it right, and then they'll be glad we tried...

No Depression Cake

It was the depths of the Great Depression. Several families on our block were receiving baskets of food from the welfare people. The grownups kept talking about it - Depression.

Hard times for everyone. But it was my birthday, and I was just a little girl.

My mother said there was no money for a gift or a cake. I sat forlornly on the front stoop and felt sorry for myself. Then Mama came out and sat beside me. "Remember, there is always hope. Come and see. I have a surprise inside for your birthday today!"

I ran in to find inside was the most adorable kitten with huge blue eyes. I immediately fell in love with it and called it "Fluffy."

Then I noticed a cake on the table with a candle on the top. "How did you do it Mama?" I asked, my eyes all aglow. "The kitten came from nice Mrs. Jones down the street.

She gave us the recipe for this No Depression Cake. When you bake it you can't be sad! Mrs. Jones said we must think of what we have on hand, not what we don't have.

We can always create something new and useful if we think positively. That is why it is called the No Depression Cake!"

Mama was right, I will never forget the happiness of that day. I took a piece of my birthday cake to Mrs. Jones to thank her.

I remembered the No Depression Cake when my own babies were little and my husband's dry cleaning business failed. To help him, I began a tiny advertising business on foot, pushing our children ahead of me on a broken-down baby stroller in the rural town of Baldwin Park, California.

Because there were no jobs, I asked the weekly newspaper to sell me space at a wholesale rate. Then I went out and resold the space in the form of a shopper's column to merchants.

When the rocks in the road wore out my shoes, I cut cardboard and stuck it in carrying extra pieces in my purse. Soon I had the house payment covered.

Then I spoke to service club luncheons to promote my advertising column. I had no car or baby sitter, so I made a deal with my neighbor. I traded baby sitting for the use of her car. Another helping of No Depression Cake! All of the business I run today, world-wide, began with that No Depression system.

As the children grew up we had many ups and downs. I especially remember one time when we had no money for groceries. I sat down with them and said, "Let's make a No Depression Cake! Let's see what we have on hand." My son said, "Mom, the avocado tree is full of fruit. I'll sell them today by the curb."

"There aren't enough oranges on our tree to sell," my daughter said. "I'll pick them, keep some for us, and take a bag to our neighbor to see if they'll trade for some of their great tasting plums!"

We all got busy. With the first avocado sales, I ran to the grocery store and bought day-old bread, a big bag of pinto beans, some brown sugar and powdered milk. Then I baked a No Depression Cake. We had a grand lunch, counting all of our blessings and thinking of all the good things we could do together.

By the end of the afternoon, our son had sold many more of the avocados, and I had a big bowl of beans bubbling and baking in the oven. Then the phone rang. It was one of my advertisers asking me to come over and pick up a big ad and a check.

Next time you're feeling low, trying counting the good things you have on hand. Do with what you have. Bake up a positive-thinking No Depression Cake!

Here is the recipe. It is milkless, eggless and butterless. You can substitute other ingredients for any you don't have. The one thing this cake is full of, however, is memories of cheerfully creating with what is at hand and on hand - and never giving up hope.

Depression Cake

1 cup shortening

2 cups water

2 cups raisins

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2 cups sugar

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

In a saucepan, combine the shortening, water, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and sugar. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand until cool. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. Stir the flour and baking soda into the cooled raisin mixture and mix until just combined. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 minutes.

Ask, Ask, Ask!

Ask, Ask, Ask

The greatest saleswoman in the world today doesn't mind if you call her a girl. That's because Markita Andrews has generated more than eighty thousand dollars selling Girl Scout cookies since she was seven years old.

Going door-to-door after school, the painfully shy Markita transformed herself into a cookie-selling dynamo when she discovered, at age 13, the secret of selling.

It starts with desire. Burning, white-hot desire.

For Markita and her mother, who worked as a waitress in New York after her husband left them when Markita was eight years old, their dream was to travel the globe. "I'll work hard to make enough money to send you to college," her mother said one day. "You'll go to college and when you graduate, you'll make enough money to take you and me around the world. Okay?"

So at age 13 when Markita read in her Girl Scout magazine that the Scout who sold the most cookies would win an all-expenses-paid trip for two around the world, she decided to sell all the Girl Scout cookies she could, more Girl Scout cookies than anyone in the world, ever.

But desire alone is not enough. To make her dream come true, Markita knew she needed a plan.

"Always wear your right outfit, your professional garb," her aunt advised. "When you are doing business, dress like you are doing business. Wear your Girl Scout uniform. When you go up to people in their tenement buildings at 4:30 or 6:30 and especially on Friday night, ask for a big order. Always smile, whether they buy or not, always be nice. And don't ask them to buy your cookies; ask them to invest."

Lots of other Scouts may have wanted that trip around the world. Lots of other Scouts may have had a plan. But only Markita went off in her uniform each day after school, ready to ask, and keep asking, folks to invest in her dream. "Hi. I have a dream. I'm earning a trip around the world for me and my mom by merchandising Girl Scout cookies," she'd say at the door. "Would you like to invest in one dozen or two dozen boxes of cookies?"

Markita sold 3,526 boxes of Girl Scout cookies that year and won her trip around the world. Since then, she has sold more than 42,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, spoken at sales conventions across the country, starred in a Disney movie about her adventure and has coauthored the bestseller, How to Sell More Cookies, Condos, Cadillacs, Computers ... And Everything Else.

Markita is no smarter and no more extroverted than thousands of other people, young and old, with dreams of their own. The difference is Markita has discovered the secret of selling: Ask, Ask, Ask! Many people fail before they even begin because they fail to ask for what they want. The fear of rejection leads many of us to reject ourselves and our dreams long before anyone else ever has the chance, no matter what we're selling.

And everyone is selling something. "You're selling yourself everyday, in school, to your boss, to new people you meet," said Markita at 14. "My mother is a waitress: she sells the daily special. Mayors and presidents trying

to get votes are selling. . . . One of my favorite teachers was Mrs. Chapin. She made geography interesting, and that's really selling. ... I see selling everywhere I look. Selling is part of the whole world."

It takes courage to ask for what you want. Courage is not the absence of fear. It's doing what it takes despite one's fear. And, as Markita has discovered, the more you ask, the easier (and more fun) it gets.

Once, on live TV, the producer decided to give Markita her toughest selling challenge. Markita was asked to sell Girl Scout cookies to another guest on the show. "Would you like to invest in one dozen or two dozen boxes of Girl Scout cookies?" she asked.

"Girl Scout cookies?! I don't buy any Girl Scout cookies!" he replied. "I'm a Federal Penitentiary warden. I put 2,000 rapists, robbers, criminals, muggers and child abusers to bed every night."

Unruffled, Markita quickly countered, "Mister, if you take some of these cookies, maybe you won't be so mean and angry and evil. And, Mister, I think it would be a good idea for you to take some of these cookies back for every one of your 2,000 prisoners, too."

Markita asked.

The warden wrote a check.

Things in Life I Learned from a Jigsaw Puzzle

1. Don't force a fit. If something is meant to be, it will come together naturally.
2. When things aren't going so well, take a break. Everything will look different when you return.
3. Be sure to look at the big picture. Getting hung up on the little pieces only leads to frustration.
4. Perseverance pays off. Every important puzzle went together bit by bit, piece by piece.
5. When one spot stops working, move to another. But be sure to come back later (see #4).
6. The creator of the puzzle gave you the picture as a guidebook.
7. Variety is the spice of life. It's the different colors and patterns that make the puzzle interesting.
8. Working together with friends and family makes any task fun.
9. Establish the border first. Boundaries give a sense of security and order.
10. Don't be afraid to try different combinations. Some matches are surprising.
11. Take time often to celebrate your successes (even little ones).
12. Anything worth doing takes time and effort. A great puzzle can't be rushed.

A Couple Quotes!

At my MySpace blog a long time ago I used to share inspirational quotes.
Here's a couple that I think are really guuurrreeeaaattt!! Smile.
Love,
Chelle
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by
 the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did
 do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe
 harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
 Dream. Discover."--Mark Twain
"Anything that has real and lasting value is always a gift from within."--Franz Kafka