Positively Beautiful

To Tree or Not to Tree by Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Blog Can you remember the very first Christmas tree you put up after you went out on your own? Decorations meager lights simple, and a star made of tin foil. I remember. Popcorn strung together with tiny red cranberries decorated my first tree. The very first Christmas tree was with my wonderful boyfriend Mickey. (Then on December 30th he was my husband…eloping was easy!) Each year I’d make sure to wait for the 50%off sale of Christmas ornaments and get a cherished new treasure for the following year. Then as the children were born a new one for them and me, child after child Christmas after Christmas my tree is a banquet of memories. That very first tree Mickey brought up to my apartment. “I went out and cut one.” He laughed. The lot next to the apartment complex was an empty lot with scrub trees, but beautiful in his hand. Eggnog and popcorn stringing the Christmas classics filled the air. It wa...

Drain the Lake by Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Blog Have you ever wondered what’s at the bottom of the Lake? I’m confident we could open a sunglass shop with all the spectacles drowning in the sludge. When you remove the excess, you reveal the truth. You reveal the bare bones of life as the dross burns off. “Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel;”- Proverbs 25:4 If you have metal, the impurities must be removed. Dross of a month! After hurricane Ian hit, I knew it was going to be a doozie! What crazy would happen here because “dad’s away.” I never imagined the mayhem God would orchestrate. Mayhem in many forms revealed the heart of the matter. I’m not as grand as I thought I was. How difficult is it to handle an entire household all by yourself? Poop patrol is all mine! (Two tiny dogs, tiny poop is ok) Watering the plants is easy! Cooking for one is not so much fun. Eating by yourself isn’t a festival either. Heartache is ...

Busy Work by Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Blog 9/3/22 Do you dream? No, not just thinking about building castles in the sky, but at night thoughts and images of crazy. My side of the family is filled with wild thoughts every morning. If you’re married to a dreamer you understand the excitement of sharing the extreme adventures of the night’s rest. ON the other hand, ask my husband how he’s had to live with 35 years of “Guess what my dream was about?” God does speak through dreams. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.-Joel 2:28 God also entertains us in our slumber. Last night was impactful. Okay, so not all complete details, because it’s sure to not make any sense to you. However, throughout the entire dream, I was doing useless things. Over and over at a university, my professor was making us complete tasks of...

Shocked About The News by Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Blog 9/10/22 Fitness drives my soul. The more I do the more I want to do. So, when my fellow cycle instructor asked me to sub her class I always said yes! Many attended this vivacious spin coach’s class, so it was a tall order. Week after week I substituted. The swaps continued for months. I began to sub even more. All she told me was “treatments.” With deep sorrow, we found out she died last week. Vivian Bary Obituary: It is always difficult saying goodbye to someone we love and cherish. Family and friends must say goodbye to their beloved Vivian Bary of Miami, Florida, who passed away at the age of 49, on September 5, 2022. How could this be? I texted her last week! On September 12, 2017, at 4 am our phone rang. We’d just had a crazy night with Hurricane Irma and the OU vs Ohio State football game. “We lost her.” -my father-in-law told my husband. Cancer won and Nanny died. We’d chatted for over 2 hours two...

How Do Stars Fly? By Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Blog The whole wide world spins in space with trillions of galaxies so far away we barely can count them all. Then I glance down at the ants crawling around my plants and think about how small they are in relation to the vastness of space. Yeah, I’ve been watching documentaries on telescopes and such. The shows make me laugh because they’re constantly questioning the origin of space. NO banging only speaking. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.”-Psalm 33:6 I’m ignorant of how the internet functions, and how the magic device (our smartphones) makes the world’s questions answered with one click. My heart soars thinking that I was born at this time and age of technological advancements. Simple air conditioning and sliced bread are relatively new creature comforts as we investigate the world’s timeline. And looking at the rainclouds your mind can be quickly blo...

Blank Page Progress by Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Blog 7/15/22 Get your goals set straight! We’ve all heard it said that we should have a 5, 10, and 15-year plan. We’re encouraged to set up retirement funds. Even some arrange their pregnancy spacings, but no one has a step-by-step program for a chapter that’s empty. What if you’ve done all the things, you’ve set out to do? Are you prepared to grab and go with gusto to the unknown? Spontaneous living is not what I’m all about. The Lord never has writer’s block, but I’ve hit a stalemate. The other Sunday our pastor was talking about Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourselves in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” First, we’re to delight and then he delivers. I closed my eyes and imagined the chapter of a book ends. My page turned. I opened to what would be the desires of my heart. The pages were blank. Not a single thing came to mind. God’s not done with me yet. The young-at-heart life...

      He’s Got My Attention by Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Blog 7/8/22         I listen to several podcasts. Like you, I find the information always interesting. We follow folks who entertain us, inform us, and make us laugh…sometimes cry. Most mornings I wake up to my husband catching up on the University of Oklahoma Football updates. We follow what gives us fun. What a joy it is to see God work. One of my daily podcasts is Revive Our Hearts. This daily dose of bible teaching has a way of opening my eyes to scripture and teaching I wouldn’t learn on my own. The other day it began, and I was ready to turn it off. Habakkuk. Uh! Warnings about a corrupt nation is not what I was interested in hearing about. Sorrow and sadness didn’t grab my interest.  God Laughed.              I listened for a bit then switched to another favorite podcast where it was not a current episode.  It w...

    Our Babies Are Alive  by Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Blog 6/26/22           When I found out I was pregnant I instantly was able to have a 3D ultrasound! There she was tiny and almost smiling in my womb. The photo was taken at 10 weeks. Posted full screen at church, Abigail gave the communion message. Yes, it was only her daddy speaking, but I’m certain it would be something she would agree to, life! Each baby we had, 4 in total, was a joyous event. Each kid has their own birth story and very different pregnancy story as well. Life! What a gift from God. Early in our marriage, we didn’t conceive. I’d thought I’d be barren. God knew differently. That first heartbeat sound at 10 weeks is always a time to weep with joy. Life!             I cannot imagine my life without any of my four children. You might laugh, but I wish I’d had more. Children are a gift and not a mistake. None of u...

  It’s About Time  by Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Blog 6/15/22   Answered prayers! Yes, right off the bat I’m telling you the skinny on the week. No holding back. God opened my eyes to his great glorious power. Let's swing back a few years. Rosey is 6 years old. Mary turned 18. Suddenly Mary’s a grown-up kid and on her own to fill her life with extreme adventures! In the meantime, Rosey is growing up too. These two were super close until Mary went on her way. Kids grow up and move out. I know it’s a tough reality to drift but children are made to fly the coop. They all learn by doing.         The years pass by, and Mary’s travels take her across the pond to England for a few years, but God brings her back. And back he does! The gift of God is to place children in your life and the greater gift I’m experiencing is the fruit of my labor. No not the labor pains of delivery because Mary was 26 hours of super intense labor. Rather I’m ...

  Use What You Have by Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Blog 6/11/22   I can assure you that everyone here in America is wealthier than most everyone else in the world. Times are tough now. We all feel the crunch. But once you look around your home you quickly will be surprised. Stuff is stuffed all around our homes. Now it might not be the stuff that we’re desiring, but we got stuff. So much stuff that we give away stuff on a regular basis. But where is the end?     When I was about 20 my grandmother from Canada came to visit. Grandma D was a super sweet soul, who was ready to pitch in at any point with anything she had to offer. During her visit, I noticed she’d grab small twine or twist ties and ball it up. “You never know when you’re going to need a piece of twine!” she’d smile as the ball became bigger throughout her stay. I thought how thrifty, but then I began to understand the lifetime of want. During the great depression, she grew up as a gir...