Yes, it’s all real. Sometimes people ask, “How real are you on your blog?” or “Are you the same person in real life as in online /blog life?” To which I must answer a resounding “YES”. This is me, the real me. My life is an open book. I am not hiding anything, not running from anything, not trying to escape anything when I blog. I blog because I love it. It is fun, it allows me to write without having to worry about grammatical errors or being right or wrong or if it sounds right, it’s just my thoughts that is all it is.

I also continue to blog because I LOVE the blogging community. Never before have I made so many connections with so many people. Moms, momprenuers, WAHMs, SAHMS, others, all who blog and have this as our sometimes only connection but its amazing to see. I’ve met moms who are Christian but I’ve also met some who claim to have no religion yet I still connect with them. It’s awesome and I love it.

I feel it’s a great way to share and you know what every single testimony I share and blessing that I tell about is real. God is working in my life just like I’m telling you. I am struggling with the issues I blog about I am not making them up. I do set the goals I set, I don’t just put those up here to look good. This is real and I am loving every minute of being real with you.

How about you, is your blog real, do you love blogging, do you enjoy the mom blog and other blog communities you are a part of, is the online world as much a part of your life as the offline…. how do you feel? Tell me about it here or blog about it and return here to post the link in the comments. I want to hear from you!

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It’s true, He keeps getting me here, to the point I am now. God continually moves in our lives to get us to the point where we stand today. It is hard to believe that there are people out there who do not believe in his divine power. I see divine inspiration and divine appointments in my daily life. They are too numerous to count, to amazing too miss. But, yet, some people go throughout life, day after day missing them all. Sad, but true.

I thought I’d continue “my story”. As I realized after copying and pasting the testimony I had written last July to the blog yesterday as part of telling my “testimony” that there was more to the story. My testimony is ever going, ever growing, never ending. Each day God adds more to it. Isn’t that awesome?

So, where I left off yesterday in the testimony was in July 2007 at the point I was giving the testimony to a group of ladies at my mother-in-law’s church. I was sharing with them that God was blessing my ministry efforts and that I was blessed to be able to do ministry and stay home with my children. I was content.

Of course, like most folks, I didn’t remain content. I had been home since March 2007, when my baby girl was born and thing had gone pretty smoothly for the time being, that is until the money began to dwindle. I was accustomed to a paycheck every month without fail from my youth-children’s ministry position, and that pay check was gone.

Being the one who takes care of the money in our family I began to stress. I crunched numbers, pinched pennies, made lists, tried to save and scrimp but the money was just not there and I was stressing. This was sometime towards the beginning of fall just as my son was starting preschool. Well, not being one to just “give up” i prayed and I searched online and everywhere for ideas.

I thought about getting a part time job, even checked into waitressing, something I had never done, but thought hey I can do it. Obviously, this wasn’t meant to be because it never came to fruition. In fact, that too was in God’s divine plan as it wasn’t long until I found out I was expecting baby #3. I know there are probably people who do it every single day, but waitressing pregnant isn’t something I’d choose to want to experience.

So, as I said God had other plans anyway. In October, I receive a phone call from a fellow Work at Home Mom. She had heard my desperate plea online for finding something to do to make extra money and she was familiar with me. She said she had read some of my articles and knew I could write. She wanted to hire me to write some articles for her, and agreed to pay me. So, of course, I agreed to write. I began the very next few days, then, decided hey, this is something I could definitely do to make money. Writing that is. So I set up a website, A Writer for HIre, and began pursing clients. God placed them one by one in my lap.

Then, I set some income goals and watched as month after month those goals were blown out of the water. In addition the bookings for Beauty by Design speaking opportunities kept a coming. I was doing both things that I had always wanted to do, speaking AND writing. It felt too good to be true, but apparently for once it is not, because today I am still doing both.

This year, in 2008, to date I have spoken 7 times already. My goal each year since I began this ministry has been to do 12 events per year. At this rate I should accomplish that, this year. Last year, in 2007, I got really close doing 11 events. Each a huge blessing and stepping stone to the next thing God had in store.

In February, I stumbled upon Proverbs 31 Ministries and began communicating with those ladies, signing up for the She Speaks conference and realizing what a God thing it was to begin talking with them. I am now writing devotions for them and have hopes for becoming more involved in their ministry.

I know there is probably more I could share as through the past few months I feel I have received many divine appointments and opportunities. I see God moving in miraculous ways daily in my life, and for that I am grateful. I can’t wait to see what He has in store.

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Several weeks ago I believe it was, and then my timing may be completely off, Heather, one of my favorite bloggers over at Desperately Seeking Sanity creating a blog carnival and contest entitled, Where He Met Me…. I might be completely and totally late doing this, but my point really wasn’t to enter the carnival or the contest, but to give you my testimony. So, Either way, I’m accomplishing that.

I am preparing to attend She Speaks in just 8 days now and as I blogged about yesterday, part of that is going to be giving my testimony or sharing my “story” in 3 minutes with my speaker evaluation group. As stated in yesterday’s post, this is going to be difficult for me. Reading this post you’ll be able to see that , because it is LONG. So, part of the reason I am posting this is I’m hoping to gain some ideas and insight into what I should talk about in that 3 minutes and to also give those in my group at She Speaks a place to go for the “rest of the story” as they say because apparently I’m going to have to leave a good bit out to make my speech ONLY 3 minutes. So, here it is, my testimony….it’s more than just Where He Met Me, but also How He Got Me Here, to where I am today, enjoy:

By the way, this is adapted from a testimony I gave to a ladies group regarding my ministry:

I will begin with my testimony of how Beauty By Design Ministries was created, my inspiration I guess you would say for having a ministry to girls and their moms. Let me give you a little background, I have to begin at the beginning as they say. I grew up in a Christian home; I was saved at the age of eight and was very fortunate to be one of the kids that was at church every time the doors were open. During my teen years I was involved in everything the church offered from Youth Choir to serving on the Youth Council to attending Church camp and going on mission trips in the summers. Growing up in Winona, I lived a pretty sheltered life. Therefore, I did not realize that others out there didn’t have the same situation that is until I attended Modeling School in Memphis. There I met girls from many different backgrounds and lifestyles. The situations were as different as they were numerous, and they were all very eye opening for me.

After attending Modeling school, I was chosen to attend an international modeling competition in Miami, FL to represent Memphis. There I saw and met even more people from very different situations than myself. I was also put in the situation where I had to choose how I would present myself, The girls in line with me at the competition were all wearing what appeared to be tube tops for both their top and their bottom, revealing was more than true! There I stood in line with these girls clothed from head to toe in my flare legged suit and boots. I was stylish but I was completely covered!

Ok, you may be wondering, what does this have to do with ministry? Well, a lot, I realized through these experiences that I was fortunate and that I was different. My experiences growing up in Church had made me who I was at 17 years old. I was a confident, bold, Christian who didn’t mind telling those girls about my faith or why I had on more clothes than they did! I understood that being a Christian meant being like Christ, honoring God with my body and my actions. This began a passion within me to help other girls to understand why it was important to be modest, and to make Christ a part of their lives and their decisions for their future. I had seen so many girls that were going down the wrong road that I wanted them to realize that they could choose a different path.
The girls I attended modeling school with looked at beauty much differently than the Bible speaks of beauty; they also found their self worth in a much different place than I was taught to find mine, in Christ. I wanted them to have the relationship with God that I did and the hope for my future that I knew could be theirs.

A ministry for girls became a dream of mine way back then. I also began sensing a call of God on my life back around that time, and even before that time. In December of 1998, at a youth service I committed my life to full time Christian service. At that time, I was unsure of what God was calling me to do. I just continued to follow God’s guidance. In 2002, after I was married and had moved to Carrollton two years prior I received the opportunity to do youth/children’s ministry with Carrollton Baptist, as many of you know I served there for over 4 ½ years. God truly stretched me and grew me in this position and I developed an even great love for ministry, for teenagers and for children as I served there.

There came a time in my heart that I knew the girls ministry was what God was calling me to do. BBDM was actually born in January of 2005 when I began pursuing speaking opportunities to speak to girls and their moms on my favorite topics of beauty, etiquette, modesty, fashion, etc. I only did a couple of speaking engagements that year but God continued to inspire me with ideas. One of which was to make the topics hands on where the girls would not only hear me speak on a topic such as beauty from a Biblical viewpoint but also be shown how to properly apply makeup so that she could look great without overdoing it. I also created a pampering session, a fashion show, a tea party, each paired with a topic.

The next January 2006, God blessed me even more. He gave me the opportunity to have a website created and send out flyers to churches to let them know about my ministry. This created more opportunities and in 06 I spoke 6 times. During that year, God created in me a desire to do this full time. I did not know how God was going to make it happen, but I had the strong feeling that he would. In March, my pastor at our church resigned, and I began questioning whether I should stay on staff. I prayed more in those months surrounding his resignation than I think I have ever prayed in my life.

During that time, I read the book “If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat”, I began to realize that my “boat” or comfort zone in my life was my job at the church. I knew God was calling me to be like Peter and step out of my boat on faith. However, I didn’t do it immediately. Even though I was unsure of my position at the church, I still hung on to it. I went through the days in a fog, constantly wondering what God was doing and what I should do next. I pursued other ministry positions in other churches, even in other towns, only to find dead ends. I had at this point forgotten about my girls ministry because I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do it.

It was over in the fall before I began to think about girl’s ministry anymore. It was at the Women’s Conference held every September at my church. Becky Brown of Little Brown Light Ministries was the speaker. I had prayed to God that through her speaking her would speak to me and show me what I was suppose to be doing. God answered my prayer. Anyway, through her speaking that Saturday and my thoughts and prayers I realize that God was saying, “Alyssa, you’re not prepared.” I began spending more time studying God’s word as a result. God continued to pull at my heart, giving me a longing to speak and minister to girls and their moms. He also gave me the inspiration to write and to create products.

During a sermon on the first Sunday of January 2007, that our interim pastor preached on change I knew God was saying, “you have to make a change, you have to trust me and step out on faith.” That day I told my pastor of my plans to resign after my baby who was due in March was born. It felt as if a weight was lifted off me, God continued to bless. He began filling my calendar with speaking opportunities and he inspired me to write. Since January, I have been able to write countless articles, as well as a prayer journal devotional guide for teens.

Beauty by Design Ministries is off to a fabulous start. God is doing what I knew he would do if I took that step of faith and that is he is paving the way. He is giving me opportunities to minister to girls and their moms from a Biblical perspective on things that they enjoy but also maybe some topic that they struggle with. Today’s society has a much different view of such topics as beauty, modesty, and abstinence than the Bible teaches. My programs teach these topics from a Biblical perspective while giving participants the opportunity to have hands on fun in the activities that they love. Each of my programs has a theme and topic that go together. I’ve had the opportunity to do Mother Daughter nights and retreats, girl’s nights and retreats as well as be the guest speaker at community events.

I am blessed to be able to use the Internet to reach an even broader market. I publish my articles online to many places visited frequently by moms, and I offer a weekly newsletter moms can receive via email with articles, devotions, tips and encouragement.

I am blessed to daily stay home with my children, but to also do what I love and that is speaking, writing and ministering. I can truly say that I am where God wants me to be.

By the way, this needs updating too. This was written in July 2007. Since then much more has happened that God has done. The ministry is still thriving, I”ve added a new branch, Organized Life by Design, and God has blessed me with a writing business as well. God is good!  I’ll blog the rest, since there still is more to the story another day, so check back!

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Yes, I”m from the south, the Deep South, MissSippy (I know that’s not how you spell it), whatever you want to say so yes sometimes we do talk like that, “It’s so purdy!” But, I am not walking around barefoot and pregnant all my life though I have been pregnant for the 17 of the last 24 months. Oh, should I have just admitted that? The thing is I had a baby in 2007 and got pregnant with another baby in 2007, I find that pretty remarkable but some people might just think it’s a Southern thing which I’d have to differ with.

Ok, so that was completely off subject and rambling, but hey, I can do that because this is my blog and there are no rules. So, if you’re here on my blog, rather than reading me through a feedreader then you can see I have a new look and it is Oh so purdy if i do say so myself. I had said yesterday it was going to be up and now it is. I really love what Sarah from Real Life Designs did and I hope to keep this design for a while.

Just to give you a little background on my blog. I actually started Life from my Laptop last June. I figured that out because I just got a reminder to renew the domain name. You may notice i have archives for further back than that. The thing is prior to getting this Wordpress blog on my own domain I blogged. I just blogged over at Yahoo on Yahoo 360. I didn’t want to loose all those precious blogs so I began moving them over here, trouble is, there were 100s of them so it is taking some time and since then I have gotten super busy with other things I have not had time to move all of them. Hopefully one day though so I can have every one of my blogs in one place. Then, I’d like to get one of those books printed with your entire blog in it. That would be some kind of cool, except I’m not sure I”d just want anyone to read it. Ok I say that and now I know what I just said doesn’t make any sense because well anyone can read anything here on the web unless I have it all encoded and password protected, but the thing is there are people still in my life who have no clue what a blog is or how to find mine to read it, but if I had a physical book they’d be more likely to actually pick it up and read it. So, does that make sense now?

Anyway, my point is eventually my blog will be all in one place here on my domain, I hope! And, the thoughts behind Life from my Laptop were this, I use my laptop daily, I probably use it more now than I did back when I first started this blog, because I am actually making a go of this work at home mom thing and I actually make an income so it’s more important now than ever that I log on daily, work, check emails, so on and so forth. My life doesn’t revolve around my laptop but it is involved in it. Does that make sense?

Another element that is on this design is the butterflies. I love butterflies, if you have ever visited any of my other websites you will know this. If you haven’t you can find a list of them here. Each one of them has butterflies somehow incorporated into the theme. Back in 2006, when I stepped out and started my website for my ministry, my good friend Crystal designed my first website. She designed the Beauty by Design Logo and I fell in love with it. Those butterflies now represent me and my ministry wherever I go. Butterflies to me are a sign of life, and beauty and that God allows us to become beautiful over time out of something that isn’t so beautiful at first.

Sarah noticed my love of butterflies and asked could they be incorporated into this blog theme when we were working on it. I was like YES! I like that idea. So, she decided to have them come out of the laptop or have “life” spring from the laptop. What an idea huh? It gave a whole new meaning to my blog title. I love it! Then I chose the green background because to me green is another symbol of life. When using colors to tell the plan of salvation to someone I say green means growth and it is the only step in the process you never stop doing. So, this green is here to remind me to never stop growing in Christ. I hope it’ll remind my readers of that as well.

Well, this post turned out much longer and more involved than I had first expected, but I am glad I have shared with you. Share with me what your blog name means in the comments below, I”d love to hear about it!

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This is the fourth in a series of post I’m calling “My Little Love Story” read it from the beginning here.

The night ends too quickly as it has before. He anxiously asks me out for the next night, “Want to go out tomorrow night?” Of course I say yes, and we begin determining what it is we can do, finally deciding to go “bowling”. I have a blast again. I can’t wait to see him again.

The next week we talk on the phone constantly. I just can’t seem to get enough of his voice. Early in the week we make plans for the weekend. His parents want to meet me, would I come to his house for dinner. Of course, after all I’ve already met the brother, why not the ‘rents?

Dinner the next Friday is fun, his mom makes spaghetti, it tastes just like my grandmother’s. I chat with his parents like I’ve known them my whole life. We leave there to go on another “drive”. It has become “our thing”. I begin to think there is definitely something in store for our future.

But just what is it? Find out more tomorrow.

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