Meaningful Monday/Talkative Tuesday---Christmas!

Yes. This is a combined Meaningful Monday & Talkative Tuesday :)

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, and I couldn't wait until the 25th to post about it.

For my Meaningful Monday....I wanted to talk about my dad and what he does on Christmas.

After going to my grandparent's house on Christmas Eve, ( which consists of reading the Christmas story, eating, and of course...opening gifts) that evening we come back home and sit in our living room. We sit there waiting for dad to tell us whether or not we are going to open gifts now or wait until tomorrow. &&& We always  know what the answer is :) We take our time putting the other gifts away and dad starts handing out the other Christmas gifts from under the tree.  We each take a turn opening a gift (Mom opens a gift, Ronnie opens a gift, Becca opens a gift,  and so on...) and by the time we are done opening all the gifts, it has probably taken over two hours. Now, I asked my dad one time, "Why do you make us open our gifts one at a time?" He told me we open gifts that way to make it seem like we are getting a lot of presents even though we aren't.

The truth is, it doesn't matter how many gifts we get on Christmas or who gave them to us....but why we give gifts is what is important!

I love the Christmas season sooo much, and I hope you guys enjoy your Christmas this year also!

Now, for Talkative Tuesday...

Somehow, not only for Christmas,
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others,
Is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in blessing,
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing,
Returns to you glad.
John Greenleaf Whittier

Giving is more important then receiving!

Most of you should already know that :)

I love Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my followers! <3

Optimistically, Bethany Lea

Meaninful Monday #2

OK...so as most of you know, I missed the Meaningful Monday from last week....

I decided since the last Meaningful Monday was my brother, how fitting would it be for my sister to be this week!

Rabecca Danielle Jean Hicks.

Beautiful.

Artistic.

Cute as a Button.

Funny.

Sweet.

Loving.

My Sister.

My Friend.

I absolutely LOVE my sister...just in case you missed it! <3

She has seen me at my best and seen me at my worst! Either way, she still loves me...and that is what I love about her.

She is B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. in every single way :)))

Her artwork, is so unique and what she doesn't know is that I keep all the ones she throws away. I'm collecting them, because I know one day they'll mean something to her :)

We have had so many too many fun times together, and no matter how many mistakes I've made...I would never want to go back and change them; in fear of losing all of those wonderful moments with her.

She is my favorite sister...

well I guess she has to be...

seeing that she is my only sister.

These moments with Rabecca will never be forgotten.....

I know it is a possibility that I might go away to college.....

and if that happens,

I'll just have to find a way to take her with me :)

Optimistically, Bethany Lea

Friends

So... A while ago I made a post about things that inspire me... &&&

I have only posted about 2 or 3 of those things.

 I thought today would be the perfect day to catch up!

Something that inspires me would be...

MY FRIENDS!

From Surprise Birthday Parties...



Trying on dresses, even though we knew we were not going to buy them...



What happens after shopping {all day}...

Having Fun! Even though we were collecting important data for our science projects...



Hanging out with the bestie...even though I was actually grounded :)



Snapping fun photos at the church skate party :)))



Watching trains, eating pizza, and hanging out at the park...



Youth trips to the zoo....and acting like monkeys...

Taking photos in the fun mirror at Mickey D's :)



Hanging out after church; usually the park, and then some fast food joint...

Spending quality time with the one & only... Abigail....

 Having fun just being ourselves :))))



And finally...Having floss parties, pigging out, and watching movies...ALL DAY!

Thanks for being my friend!

Optimistically, Bethany Lea





Meaningful Mondays

So I'm going to start having theme days :) YAY!!!!

So Meaningful Mondays are going to be when I share something meaningful that happened that day or share something that I think is important <3

This is sooo exciting...

One thing that I find meaningful is...

 MY FAMILY!

...but specifically, my only brother...

 RONNIE!

A few of Ronnie's quotes:

"My name is Ronnie Hicks. I'm a nerd, and I like StarWars, LEGO's and awesome things.... I play WoW(World of Warcraft) ummm yeah that's about all there is to know about me......"

"My Grandpa, he's the best guy I know!!!!"

Ronnie is such a great brother, although sometimes...

 He doesn't like to show it ;D

One thing I love about Ronnie is how much fun we can have together. We have so much in common:

Our taste in music, our jokes, and even the need to defend our family :)))

One thing he would never admit is his awesome love for cats <3

I thought I would throw that in there since that's another similarity :D

I love this picture :)

He was someone I could share all my secrets with and when I did, he never made me feel like I was being judged.

He has been through so much  (well, we all have), but it seemed to all come down just a little bit harder on Ronnie.

He was always expected to be the perfect child and somehow it seemed that he was never good enough to meet my parents' standards.

So if I could tell Ronnie's story, it would go something like this:

I remember the day Ronnie finally turned from God. It was what I considered to be "just an average day" and then Ronnie stormed in the house screaming (something along the lines of) "I hate God, I hate you, I hate everything."

Dad was at work and my mom, sister and I were sitting in the living room.

All of us were confused at why he was saying such things.

Some little thing had happened that was as you could say "the frosting on the cake"...but in this case it wasn't good.

All the bad things seemed to outnumber the good and Ronnie was losing his optimistic view. He didn't believe that there was any good left in the world.

The thought of hating God was out of the question.

Who could hate God?

I finally got my answer after weeks and months went by.

He hated going to church, stopped bring his Bible to church, and eventually made excuses to get out of services.

Ronnie would do just about anything to avoid anything related in someway to God...including his own family.

As it became more apparent that Ronnie was growing farther and farther away from God, it also became apparent that we were losing the close bond that we used to share.

Even though it was a gradual process, one day it hit me that our relationship would never be the same.

We could never talk in the same way again or have the same feelings of comfort around each other.

So as I'm telling Ronnie's story, it seems like a tragedy and so far it is; but I believe in miracles and I believe that as long as I keep loving my brother and praying for him; no matter what kind of person he has turned into, 

THINGS CAN CHANGE :)))

"I'm here to re-write this tragedy.
One line at a time.
Hold on, I'm changing all the scenery.
It's okay we'll be fine.
Cause we know how this ends.
We know there's a better story."

Ronnie is the best brother anyone could ever ask for and sometimes it is really hard not to have him living here at home, but it makes it all the more special when he comes by for a visit. :)

I love my brother. One day he'll come around, you wait and see <3

Optimistically, Bethany Lea