New Job and Friday Spotlight

I started my new part-time job in the field of health food education on Wednesday. I'm being trained by Ginny Nehring, author of this Gluten-free cookbook -- Brad's Basics.

What a blessing to have such a meaningful job with hours based around my son's school schedule! And, after only working for two days, I already have a day off since Friday is not on my work schedule. At times, the job description combined with the lovely flexible schedule just seem too good to be true. Obviously, God's hands are in this! Thank you God for touching my heart -- always!

On the job, I've begun learning so much about the Gluten-free diet -- the lifestyle diet that people who are diagnosed with Celiac Disease need to live by. On my first day working with Ginny, she did a mock walk-through with me so that I could get a feel for the no-gluten-added products in the store and what a customer typically experiences during such a walk-through. The tour was extremely helpful and fun -- yet somewhat overwhelming since there is a great deal of information to absorb. But, I have time to process it. Eventually, I'll have much of it down to a science. I particularly enjoyed learning from the questions asked by some of Ginny's already-established customers whom we encountered as we traveled throughout the store.

When telling my son's teacher about my overwhelming feeling that first day, she put it into perspective for me. She said that is probably how customers feel during their initial walk-through, therefore, I had the opportunity to walk in their shoes on some level. She's right! On that note, I also want to sample more of the gluten-free items customers can include in their new diet so that I can give them an "I've tried that" opinion of what tastes good and such. (Although I prefer to eat mostly raw foods, I'd certainly do this type of taste-testing for the customer.) There are lots and lots of healthy Gluten-free food choices in the store.

On the second day on the job, while I did experience some customer-contact work, I spent most of my time in the office learning more about what the Research and Education Department does before tagging a product -- No Gluten Added. There are strict procedures in place at Native Sun that provide assurance for the customer that this product is what it says it is. It's a Big Healthy Store with a Big Healthy Heart!

Talking about a Big heart, my son has one, too. Today, his teacher e-mailed this to me:

"You'll be wonderful at your new job. Isn't it neat how your past experiences and interests are coming together?.......Caleb brought your new job up as a prayer request yesterday, so I hope you're feeling the peace!"

(Yes, I am feeling the peace! Prayer works!!!) :-)

My son's thoughtfulness could have easily gotten him my Friday Spotlight pick for this week, but since Ginny was already on my heart this week for the spotlight, it is shining on her today!

Congratulations, Ginny! Keep up the great work! You're already such an inspiration to me!

Take a peak inside of Ginny's cookbook here.

In Health...In Life,

Penny

Dream Interpretation

Tonight, when I picked my son up from his friend Christian's house, my friend and Christian's mother, Charo, mentioned that she and the children (her three, my one and her daughters' friend) had just wrapped up a dance contest to old-school music. They had traveled around the inside of her house dancing in a line, and the winner would be the one who outlasted everyone. Turns out, my always-full-of-energy Caleb won. Charo joked, "Well, I said, he's like his Momma. This would go on all night." My friends think I have mega energy. I guess they're right -- sometimes.

The children were telling me about different dances they had come up with during their "Soul Train" time. Then, Caleb requested I bust out a move. Feeling put on the spot, I responded: "Well, you all had an opportunity to warm up. I just got here." (Any excuse to take the spotlight off of me, I guess.)

Charo interjected that I'd probably turn some Yoga move into a dance step. We laughed, but she was right. Her comment suddenly reminded me about a dream I had last night.

In that dream, I did a full handstand and then with my arms still holding the rest of my body up, I lowered my legs to a 90-degree angle. In that position in my dream, my 10-year-old son grabbed on to my feet or ankles, and I lifted my legs and his entire body back up to my original handstand position. Using the bottom of my feet as support, he was doing his own handstand in this dream. Then, someway, somehow, he did a flip (I think) and connected back to my feet that were held high in the air.

Next, both of us positioned our bodies to our version of a Half Moon yoga pose. In this case, I guess it would have been a Handstand Half Moon pose. That would mean that I removed one of my supporting hands from the floor while doing the handstand and fully extended it out to my side. Plus, I would have put space between my legs. In the dream, my son adjusted his body to imitate our Half Moom position while still using my feet as support for one arm this time.

Prior to ending the dream, we then returned to our original handstand position (Caleb's hands on top of my feet). Quite controllably, I proceeded to lower him and my legs back down to the floor and then resumed my individual handstand position.

Instantly, Charo said: "That signified your motherhood strength." She was just talking off the top of her head, but since she's such a deep-thinking, intuitive person, I couldn't help but wonder if she might have been accurately interpreting that handstand-with-my-son dream. She was convincing. Hmmh!

Until that point, I had simply viewed my dream as a result of my love of yoga and gymnastics. I figured my son was involved in that activity because of his athletic/kinesthetic nature, and because of the way he loves to challenge himself.

Who knows.....maybe Charo has a future in dream interpretation.

Anyone else out there interpret dreams -- for free? :-)

Friday Spotlight: Shining on Jennifer, Tee, and Linda

This idea came to me today. Each Friday, I will shine the "Friday Spotlight" on people who have touched my heart in some shape, size or form. I will pay special tribute to family members, friends, associates, or strangers! You never know...the Spotlight could be shining on you!

I've made some powerful friendships through my online writing.

Let's take Jennifer James from North Carolina, for example. She first contacted me several years ago after reading an article I had written on CelebratingChildren.com. We instantly clicked and have remained in sync and in touch through the years -- helping each other grow personally and professionally. She's truly a friend of the heart. To think it was the power of written words that connected us! I honor her today and always.

Then, let's move along to a few years later. I received an e-mail from a Maryland mom, Tee Jenkins, who read an article I wrote -- Reflections Of a Stay-At-Home Mom: Looking back over the past seven years -- again, on CelebratingChildren.com. That e-mail was the start of yet another powerful friendship. Tee visited my family last summer, and it wasn't as if we were meeting each other, in person, for the first time. It's like I've known Tee all of my life. Truly, my life is pretty much an open book with her. She must have been my sister in another life. (smile)

Next, about a year ago, I received an e-mail from another special person (whom I don't have a picture of at the moment). That time, the mail was sent from my place of birth, Bermuda. It was from a Linda Smith. Linda had come upon a journal entry of mine on CelebratingChildren.com and e-mailed me to let me know she was touched by what she read and looked forward to reading more of my writing. Turns out, I went to elementary school with Linda's sister. Recently, when I took a trip home to Bermuda, I stopped by Linda's workplace to meet her. She is such a supporter of my online writing; I wanted to give her a big hug -- in person!

In a recent e-mail, Linda wrote: " I have been following your blog, which is so encouraging. Keep up the good work...........Thank you for being you; I am so thankful for our friendship."

Well, Jennifer, Tee and Linda, I echo the above words to you, too: Thank you for being you. I am so thankful for our friendship.

Today's Spotlight shines on you, Ladies! Thanks so much for adding to my life with your warmth and sincerity.

Love and Blessings to you and your families always!

The Job's Mine!

I got the job! Wow! This is amazing to me. Exactly a year ago, I first stepped foot in Native Sun. At the time, my friend Tee was visiting from Maryland and we took our children there and purchased some healthier snacks to accompany us to our swimming adventure at my home. Today, Tee recalls me having said: "I LOVE this place" when we entered the store.

Fast forward a year........now I'll be working there, part-time, with the Food Educator of Special Diets.

I am both excited and slightly overwhelmed (in a healthy kind of way). Excited because it has been a dream of mine to educate people about health foods, but I thought I was going to have to first attend the Institute for Integrative Nutrition before getting to the point of giving clients walk-throughs at a health store. Not in my wildest dreams did I think that I would get intensive on-the-job training to be able to do just that...to work directly with customers who are seeking diet lifestyle changes.

This piece of the puzzle of my life has reminded me that God finds a variety of ways to plant the seeds for our personal passions--to convince us that we're actually truly passionate about something or the other. The way I see it, He gets us interested and all riled up about particular areas of life and lets us explore/play with those passions while He maps out the bigger part of the journey -- or while He puts His already-mapped-out plan on hold as He waits for us to grow to best accommodate/handle His bigger plan for us. Eventually, I believe, when He feels we're ready, He unveils the ultimate plan He has created for us. Do we see it, though?

In this case...this time...I do!

Mom-and-Son Saturday

I'm on track.

I did my 4-mile walk on Saturday -- part of my training program for my first-ever 10K I'm planning to participate in early September. My son rode his bike as I walked. Since he did laps around me along the trail and in the parking lots and such we passed, I know he rode way more than four miles. He was quite a trooper to hang in there with his Momma that way. I love him and his support.

However, I knew I would owe him something after his patience with me during that walk. Some quality time in our home pool. His style. A mom and son basketball game. Fortunately, I had the low-impact part. He created a game in which he would run along one side of the pool (although I don't advocate running around the pool, I made the exception in this case), then he would pass the basketball to me who was stationed in the pool. I had to attempt to quickly shoot the ball in the poolside basketball hoop as he jumped into the water while attempting to block my shot in the process.

He also came up with a creative scoring system which showed me that his summer brain has not lost its neck for numbers. (But I had already witnessed that part of him when we played Football Monopoly a few days prior and a card game another day and when I gave him some impromptu math questions to figure out on another day.)

We had a wonderful, active Mom-and-Son Saturday. That pool water was definitely soothing to my body after a long walk in the heat followed by stretching. I guess my son knew just what his Mommy needed, but he's good like that anyway. Sometimes! Most times! :-)

The day ended with a family outing to the movies.

A Sweet Friday for Me

Sometimes, you never really know what energy you're sending out into the world until other people share their feelings about you -- with you. That's why I value people such as my dear friend, Jennifer, who never hesitates to touch my heart with her "Penny" thoughts. On Friday, when reading her blog -- as I do every day -- I came across these words:

"Have you ever met those people who are so filled with energy they're infectious? My friend Penny is definitely one of those people."

After reading Jennifer's blog, I was reminded of my philosophy to let other people know your positive thoughts about them when you can, because words -- positive words -- are just so uplifting. A few encouraging words can take only seconds to say/write, however, have the power to give someone a major lift for a whole day or more. The right words can turn a sour day sweet!

By the way, talking about a sweet day; Friday was certainly a sweet day for me. I went on an interview for such a cool and meaningful part-time job. Since my son will be returning to school soon, I've decided to take on some part-time work outside of the home (around my son's schedule). But, I really need to do work that feeds my soul, so I interviewed for a Food Education position at one of my favorite places -- this Health Food Store. Any place that has an Organic Juice Bar, an Organic Produce Department, Manna Bread, Veggie Wraps and Books all under one roof is pretty much Heaven on earth to me.

Because I'm so passionate about embracing an organic lifestyle and learning something new about this journey, daily, I know I'd enjoy working at a place such as Native Sun Natural Foods. As fate would have it (although I don't have the job as yet), the Special Diets Food Educator there needs someone to assist her. Wow, the opportunity to train under her and then share meaningful information with customers seeking diet changes and such could only have been a God-send for me. I love to research topics of this nature and I equally love to share my findings. In this food-education role, I'd be particularly learning about gluten-free and casein-free products and how these foods have the potential to work favorably with conditions such as Celiac disease and/or Autism.

The Food Educator, Ginny, who would teach me how to do store walk-throughs with customers, has had firsthand experience raising a child with Celiac disease and certainly knows what's what in the food department in this regard. Today, her knowledge and compassion are helping so many others. Two of several related web sites that she lists as her favorites include: www.gfcdiet.com which "gives an overview on autism and the gluten-free and casein-free diet as well as other great information" and www.gfutah.org which "explains gluten and celiac disease."

I don't know if the blessing to work along with Ginny is precisely mine as yet, but I already have begun learning from her and simply feel blessed to have met her. I guess I'll just have to wait to see if this particular job is truly in life's cards for me right now.

After the interview, I made my way over to the book section of the store and purchased 12 Steps to Raw Foods by Victoria Boutenko. You can read a chapter from the book here. I was told that the author visited Native Sun about a year ago. That's another benefit of working there -- I'd get to stay in the loop about upcoming health experts who visit the store to give lectures, seminars and such. There is so much that this establishment offers.

Before I left the store, I popped on over to the Juice Bar and purchased one of the best freshly-made juices I've ever tasted -- "The Unbeetable." It consisted of apple, lemon, ginger and beet. It almost looked too pretty to drink, but I knew I had to drink it fairly quickly to get its full nutritional value. (Fresh juices quickly diminish in nutritional value once they have been made, so drink up when you have one!) I have made some pretty tasty juices with my Jack LaLanne Juicer, but I don't think any have topped the unbeetable one I tasted on Friday.

Indeed, Friday was a sweet day for me!

Yoga, Walking, Swimming and Surfing

I tell you what, I'm feeling excited about this new walking routine I've taken on. I pray the novelty of it doesn't wear off because the journey feels so right. My son's sports coach sent me a list of upcoming races, so now I have a better idea of what's ahead of me and what I can aim for!

On Wednesday, after attending an awesome 75-minute yoga class at 8:45 a.m., I drove home and then walked for 35 minutes. Later in the day, I took my son and his friend to our community pool, so I swam a bit, too.

Talking about the pool, while there, children were invited to gather at a certain section to participate in a mini surfing lesson. Here's my little surfer doing his thing. I snapped the picture with my cell phone. Although it's not a clear shot, the activity -- as one of my yoga instructors puts it -- has been "breathed in for memory." :-)

Walking Journey

I'm attempting to commit to a walking program outlined in the current issue of Prevention magazine. On Monday, I walked for about 30 minutes after taking a 75-minute Yoga class. Today was a rest day, and tomorrow I'll hit the pavement for a 30-minute walk at a challenging pace (combined with a Yoga class).

The walking program builds walkers up to participate in a marathon -- after a 5K, 10K and half-marathon. Since I think I could easily complete a 5K at this point, I started at Week 6 of the training program. On Saturday, I'll be hitting the pavement for a 4-mile endurance walk which I believe won't be too challenging for me to complete. However, since I didn't want to get too ahead of myself, I figured I'd start at a level a little under my current walking ability and move along from there.

In the meantime, I'll be on the lookout for a 10K that I can participate in during early September, followed by a half-marathon and then.............a Marathon. Yikes! :-)

"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters in the end." Ursula K. LeGuin