You can't fail unless you quit!

Rebirth: Reese's Pieces

Some time in 2013 I decided I wanted to try my hand at photography.

 Back in 2011 after I gave birth to my 2nd daughter, I saw so many cute clothes & bedding. I wanted to buy her everything but  I didn't have the money. So instead I bought a sewing machine and I decided I'd make her those cute things myself. 

I named my sewing business Cuties By: D-Zign. I couldn't just be a stay at home mom with a hobby, I was determined to work for my coffee habit, so I decided I would sell my work. I came up with the name "Cuties" because  have 3 cuties of my own, "D-Zign" because I Daisy (AKA DayZ) was "De-Ziging" my little creations. 

Fast forward to 2013, I was trying to sell my things on Etsy but I felt like I just couldn't compare to the great sellers on there. Their listings had great photos and they looked so well presented. My little phone took the grainiest pictures ever so I convinced my husband I needed a DSLR & we invested in a Canon Rebel T3 .  

From the moment I opened my camera and took my first picture  (without a lens) I was in love. I had absolutely NO IDEA what the heck I was doing or how to work it but within me I just felt like I was born for it. I was so excited about my brand new camera that I announced myself as a photographer while shooting in full auto in my kit lens. 

I had no editing software outside of BeFunky  and looking back... damn I was a mess. Good thing I didn't charge for those sessions.

Anyhow, I tried to bring my business name over to my photography but it was too long. So I went with "CBDZ Photography" and I have hated it since. 

Last year while my husband was deployed, I  decided to upgraded a   to a Canon EOS 70D not because I had fully mastered my camera but because I wanted to force myself out of the automatic settings into more of a manual side. I am totally love with my new camera & I'm still learning to master it. 

My husband also got me the Adobe Photoshop & Premiere Elements  software so I could edit more "professionally". I love it because it comes with photo AND video editing software ! I enjoy making home videos and stuff so it's perfect for me! It certainly helped my stand out and improve my work.

This year for Valentines He blessed me with an Apple MacBook Pro and Wacom Small Tablet editing!He really surprises me with his thoughtfulness and loving heart. I cannot stress how blessed I am to have such a supporting husband  who believes in my potential.

I have been taking some time off business to redefine my brand and identity. I've changed my name to Reese's Pieces Photography & settled on my color palette. I have been playing with my new tools to give new life to my old work.

and I've gotta say I can really see improvement and I'm going to toot my own horn here! TOOT TOOT! I am so exited about personal growth in this area of skill. I'm not yet where I want to be, but I'm so far off from where I started. There were so many times that I felt like I was going nowhere but I'm glad I didn't quit! No way I'm giving up on something I love this much. So "Note to Self:

What it means to be a Mom Pt.1

Sometime in December I convinced my husband that I needed another book.
You see I have a been building a collection for quite some time but I don't always quite read them, or if I start reading I don't always finish it.
I asked him to get me this-->1001 Things it Means to Be a Mom: (the Good, the Bad, and the Smelly)I hadn't opened it until recently and I'm hooked. I wasn't sure what to expect (because I hadn't read any reviews) but I was very interested in what it meant to someone else to be a mom.
As a stay at home mom it's quite simple to take this precious blessing for granted. Stepping on toys in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom, one interrupted shower after another due to ear piercing screams. The joys of cleaning permanent marker scribbles on the wall and removing bubble gum from hair.
Being a mom is not an easy task, some days it drains me, other days it irritates me... but every night when the lights are out and there's finally a little bit of peace I'm grateful for my tittle.

As I was reading along there were quite a few things that resonated with me and I wanted to share to see if maybe you can relate.

 7. Being a mom means getting mad that your husband doesn't get upset about the same things you do.

Let me tell ya, more often than not my husband see things very differently. Especially regarding the gender wars!!! His girls are perfect princesses and my little prince is a big cry baby in his eyes. I hold higher standards for my girls because I know how the world can be for a girl. Equally I cut my boy some slack because, well because he's adorable and his kisses and "I love you"s make it ever impossible to stay mad at him. So yeah, definitely it's true! Being a mom means a lot of explaining to your husband why you're upset.

16. Being a mom means being wiling to be disliked by your kids.

This one made me cry. My kids are only 2, 3 & 7 so I haven't got the verbal expression of this. I can be quite stern (my husband dubbed me "The Warden") and I know my kids don't like me very much when I enforce the rules. It reminds me of all the times my mother put her foot down and I stormed away. I was so upset that my friend and their moms were best friends but mine wasn't approachable... and I realize now that I had enough friends so I'm glad my mom stayed my mom- even when I told her I didn't like her.

29. Being a mom means taking a vacation away from the kids.

I'm on mom duty 24/7/365. The hours are long, the environment is chaotic, the breaks can be non existent and the stress levels can be quite overwhelming. Truth is I need a break every now and then. We can't afford to get away for the week while someone watches the kids like most families, so I live on mini vacations. A walk around Wal-Mart without someone demanding my attention can be quite relaxing.

42. Being a mom means cooking dinner while everyone else is watching T.V.

I have a love hate relationship with the T.V.! When my husband was deployed to Afghanistan last year, the T.V. was off most of the day. I didn't want to get distracted so we saved T.V. for bed time where we could all cuddle and enjoy the show. Now that daddy is home I can do more of what I need to do but I feel excluded from what was our family time. When I'm finally ready to settle in and get my show on I can't- keep tight for

51. Being a mom means keeping your relationship with your husband a priority.

Bed time is the only time my husband and I have to ourselves.  Even then on some nights little ones crawl into our bed and wedge between us. So that little time before we fall asleep I like to turn my attention to him. I hear a lot of women say their kids come first- but that logic is flawed. You had your husband before you had your kids & when your kids are long gone it's your husband who will remain. Your husband is the most important and precious connection. Your success partner, your better half, the spiritual leader- He needs you as much as the kids need him. Prioritize him!

79. Being a mom means being shocked at the PG-13 movie you're watching with your kids.

Oh my goodness! Even cartoons really shock and appall me! The innuendo and acceptance of crude language and behavior is quite scary. I don't remember the media being so bad back in my day- or maybe it was but I didn't catch on. If it's not a Disney, I'm in constant fear of the next scene.

100. Being a mom means worrying that you've become your mother.

There's days when I open my mouth and my mother comes out... I didn't get along very well with my mother and I worry that my kids will see me the way I saw her. I don't want to become my mother but now I understand the reasoning behind the rules and punishments...

Being a mom can be quite exhausting, while very fulfilling and all together quite scary. There are many others In the first 100 things that had me laughing or nodding to- but I just wanted to share a few with you. Stay tuned for parts 2- 10!

Jr (2)

Sam (3)

Me & Nevy (7)

Happy New Year - 2015 Goals

Hey there- so here we are. It's 2015 and THIS IS MY YEAR!

I know most of us say that every year lol but this is really my year.

I'm facing my fears and going out of my comfort zone.

Last year I said I wanted to start a Blog/Vlog (Video Blogging)

 and I did the blog part but Vlogging seemed way out of my comfort zone- 

this year I'm removing my self set limits.

Thank you for the love and support thus far & thank you in advance for the cheers to come.

It is my hope to adopt healthier habits and a stronger work ethic and perhaps inspire others along the way. :)

Condemnation Interferes with Intimacy

I know this is a pretty long video, but if you can spare an hour watch it.



Condemnation interferes with intimacy. 

When there is guilt you don't make room for a trusting loving relationship.

When you feel like you have to make up for something, you're busy working instead of building.

Slow your role!!! Get your relationships in order and work together.



God wants to know you. We know who God is, He knows who you are, but are you spending enough time with Him to confidently say you have a strong connection?

Would you consider it a loving relationship? Would you say you're friends, engaged, or married with God?

Are you wrapped up in ministries trying to win souls and feel like you're hitting a wall?

Or are you getting intimate with God, birthing souls and moving your ministries forward?

There IS a difference!!!

I share this with you because it really tugged at my heart.
It is time we dare to be loved but also dare to get intimate with God.
Intimacy is beautiful & some people are scared of it because it puts you in a vulnerable position... Lucky for us we know that God has been, is and always will be the same.

Put your trust in Him, delight in Him, praise Him, offer your body, heart & life to Him.

Then and only then will the desires of your heart align with His will for your life and it will be added to you.



So take a moment and reflect-
What are YOU doing RIGHT NOW?
What are you working towards? What are the reasons behind your works?
Are you feeling condemned or intimate with God?



This is not in any way to judge you or put you down- but more so to raise a personal awareness.
In humility I urge us all to do a heart check for our benefits.
It is my hope and prayer that we all reach the level of love and intimacy with God that we want and need.

We are Family

So we've been having a series in church about family life and today was the last and final part focusing on parenting. It really hit home for me & I feel like I have to share it with you.

(Listen to the podcast here)

Parenting: It's not about controlling their behavior, 

it's about capturing their hearts

     Parenting is tough, and we make mistakes. We have messed up and we will continue to mess up. We're not perfect, and thats ok. Don't bee too proud to let your children know: "Mommy &/or Daddy isn't perfect and I'm sorry, but thats why you have Jesus. He can heal you and your heart if I hurt it or if I can't help you heal it. I don't have all the answers but he can help me love you better if you pray for me, just like I pray for you."

Surround yourself with Godly parenting examples, glean from them. Observe & listen. Our parenting requires 4 stages: Discipline, Training, Coaching and Friendship. First things first- if you're a single parent sit down and make a list of the things you want to to teach your kids and the things you will absolutely not stand for. If you're married, make sure you both agree and that you back each other up instilling and drilling in these core values. The example used where the non tolerable Dx3- Disobedience, Dishonesty & Disrespect.

Starting with Discipline (Ages 1-5) You must TEACH your children that there are consequences for their actions- GOOD and BAD. ***Be extremely careful when it comes to physical discipline. In the heat of the moment discipline is just a hairline away from abuse. Don't cross that line, don't lose your child, this is considered disrespect and it causes distrust. 

It doesn't matter how you do it but do it- discipline diligently, consistently and calmly.  Remind yourself that "the days are long, but the years are short." They grow up so fast and before you know it they are out in the world and the biggest thing they take with them is the memories you shared and the things you instilled in them. Discipline them in their mistakes and PRAISE them in their efforts, accomplishments and successes. It is equally important that you purposely catch them doing right. Shed light on their positive actions, it's both empowering and encouraging to them.

Training (Ages 6-11) This is reinforcing the foundations, it includes discipline but it's a different type of discipline. In their early stages you teach them to do things your way, in this stage they start thinking and making their own way. Tell them daily "God has a plan for you and you do not want to miss it!" Drill your love into your children by continuously encouraging them and reminding them they are loved. Help them make the right decisions but don't make decisions for them. Let them fail, don't bail them out. This will teach them that things go wrong, and it will encourage them to seek your guidance. The stakes are low at this age,  resiliency is a great thing to learn early. Ask them: "What do you think Jesus would do?"  allow them to think and come to conclusions. I think the reason why "Common sense" isn't so common these days is because people tried too hard to control the actions of their children without making them think about it. Once they were old enough to break free of the control they had no incentive to think deeper.

Coaching (Ages 12-18) Give wise council. It's important that you teach them early on to show respect to you, their siblings and themselves. Cultivate speaking life. Daily tell them something positive about them, something you love. You must tell them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. You are the parent not the friend! They have plenty of friends in school! Do NOT fear that they will stop liking you- they probably will and that's OK, because later they will and later is longer that right now. A quick way to know how you're doing in your parenting: stop and listen to the way they talk to their dolls, their siblings & their friends. They're little mirrors! You will hear  yourself come out of their mouth often, so give them something positive, kind and wise to repeat! When they're in the wrong, don't get mad, get grieved. Draw near to their disobedience & remind them that there is a better way.

Build them up daily- you are their advocate! It is not your job to control their actions, it's your job to capture their hearts by showing them love and appreciation- because mom/dad, if you don't do it they will go out and seek it from somebody else. Capture their hearts with YOUR LOVE and lead them closer to Christ.

Friendship (Ages 18-#) From early youth do your part to intercept faith with decision making. God is real, he's not just a fictional character in an old book. Bed time stories? Read a chapter of the bible daily. Scary, personal, difficult questions? Do not be afraid to be transparent: "I did things wrong but God has a better way for you" Allow them to learn from you so they don't have to search for the answers in the world. Openly speak about relationships. "Purity paves the way. " "There's no shame in waiting!" "Don't act like you're married when you're not" "Always make your intentions known" "Foreplay is not end play" SEX IS NOT FOR GROWN PEOPLE, IT'S NOT FOR INLOVE PEOPLE, IT'S FOR MARRIED PEOPLE.  Keep it that way and avoid the void in your soul and the pain in your heart. 

If you lay your foundations right and capture their hearts you will have made a friend for life. Your children will seek your advice, will look to you for comfort and will take heed in your words.

Stay blessed. Love your children & remember: Dare to be loved! <3

A song can say so much

There's some songs that just take the words out of your mouth. This one really hit home for me at a time when I was starting to get comfortable with God. Sometimes we fall into a comfortable complacency and we stop trying to influence the world & give way for the world  to influence us. "Oh I'm saved, I've been good, I can get away with a little bit of this & that" Before you know it, you stop reading your bible. The Bible will keep you away from sin & sin will keep you from the Bible. Why? Because you don't want to read and feel condemned- If the shoe fits wear it. If you don't want to wear it CHANGE THE SHOE! Stop sinning and you will no longer have anything to feel guilty about.

This song is a prayer that we should say if e ever feel like we are falling asleep on our faith. 

These are the lyrics, personalized into a prayer form.

Remember that there is no perfect way to pray. Just talk to Him.

Tell him what you think and how you feel. If there's something that you need,

Believe that he will grant it, because according to your faith it shall be added unto you.

Dare to say this prayer today!

LORD AWAKEN ME! because sometimes I feel like I'm just existing but I'm not really living. It's like I'm only watching time slip away.

Sometimes I forget who I am in you & I stop striving to be who I'm meant to be. 

I feel like I'm drifting away from my destiny.
I pray that you Awaken my heart & my soul. Lord, please use your power and take control. 

Awaken the passion to live for you, and Awaken me.
My soul is longing & my heart is searching. There's an emptiness that I know only you can fill. I'm desperate for you to move. Please give me a hunger to come and pull me closer. 

I'm crying out to you. Open my eyes so I can see your presence dwelling inside, because I can't live another minute if I'm not shining your light. Awaken the passion within in me to live out my destiny and shine your light through me.










LYRICS

Sunday Funday Success

Life Update 8/2014

Family Blurb

We celebrated Samantha's birthday today at Chuck E Cheese's. 

She had a blast! She was not afraid of Chuck E. 

She took pictures, ate cake, played a few games & even earned herself some tickets. 

She even went in the ticket blaster with me!!!! 

Nevaeh did not (We also celebrated Nevaeh's 3rd birthday at CEC). 

She's a brave kid. I of course was falling apart having to deal with "throwing" yet another party without my better half. 

Deployments suck. 

Life is so much easier when Anthony is home. 

He gets to be the ball of nerves and I get to be the cool & calm one- 

in his absence I take over his role.

We had a few of our bible study friends join us, it is really nice to finally have mommy friends!

Nevaeh had 5 parties all on her lonesome. 

Aside from her 1st being a super giant family gig & a 3rd CEC party with a handful of MY friends- her other parties have just been me, daddy & sometimes grandma. 

It's kinda sad & I feel guilty that her little sister & little bother get to have parties when she didn't.
But alas, she finally had her day with friends (almost) for her 7th birthday.

On that note- Chuck E Cheese's parties are pretty expensive so for a small fraction of the cost we added little Anthony's birthday into the celebration. 

For one I don't feel comfortable with celebrating on halloween because I hate the mixed reactions I get from people when they find out when his birthday is... 

And on another count daddy should be coming back from Afghanistan sometime around then.

I don't want to fluster him with rushing plans. 

I just want to take some time to close the doors and barricade ourselves indoors to try and make up for lost time.

I know it's selfish, but he's been gone a painfully long time already and 

I don't want to have to share with with anyone I don't absolutely have to. 

It worked out because this way Jr got his little celebration in, pictures/memories are good to go & the little fella will never know the difference. 

New Beginnings

This week brings much excitement for me. 

I'm stepping out in faith & probably stretching myself quite thin, 

but this is something I feel like I need to do. 

I originally started my Dare to be Loved blog as a means to share a little bit Jesus into the inter webs but I feel very limited about the topics I can or should discuss. I can often go out on a tangent and have to delete half of my post because it's not on point.

So I have decided to open myself to give me a wide variety to share any and all the pieces of me. 

Now I can focus on my faith based thoughts and still share the other aspects of my passions with you here. 

Also, I've decided to follow through with my original desire to start my vlog.  (Video Blogging)

I'm not exactly sure how, when, or what I'm going to do with it.

It will probably also be a two part thing but expect to hear my voice and/or see my face on the inter webs soon, videos will be shared on this blog page more than likely :p

This Tuesday I begin a new chapter in my mommy life & 

Christian walk as one of the head coaches for Upward at Woodlawn Community Church. 

It's a non-competitive cheer program focused on elevating the spirits of girls & 

introducing Jesus into their lives. 

I was a cheerleader in High School and I've always looked back fondly at that experience. 

Being a part of a squad counting on each other to get the job done taught me great life skills so it's something I've hoped to pass on. 

Nevaeh has always been intimated by cheerleaders, because she's not a preppy girly girl. 

(She's a lot like mommy: loud, bossy, stubborn but shy & a bit cowardly all at once.)

This will definitely give her a boost of confidence & watching her grow as I help out my little squad of eight k-2nd grade girls will be very fulfilling. Just as VBS was<3 

(Thank YOU Emma for sharing these opportunities with me)

With all that said- a Sunday well spent brings a week of content. Have a Beautiful & Blessed week!!!

Daisy Reese- OUT.