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					Why The Bona Fide Life Network?
					by Chele
					
If you haven’t heard already I have started something new. The Bona Fide Life Network is a place where we can meet, talk and support each other. I have not had much success on any other social networks (i.e. Twitter and Facebook) that we can really get to know one another and help one another. The first reason I started this is because of my new Goal Gathering Monday. Blogs are great but are not easy to talk back and forth on or have a gathering on. Not only that but I have many friends and family that I would like to see be a part of this as well but they do not have a blog.
My plan is to continue sharing on my own blog. As well as have you continue sharing on your blog and linking through MckLinky. The difference is that the network will give us somewhere to talk about our ups and downs in our process to completing our goals.
My other goal with this network is to help one another and support one another with all things. From blogging to anything in life!  Please take a moment to check it out. You will have your own page. A forum to ask questions and give your support on many items. And for the end of the month’s Gathering we have a chat as well! It’s very easy to sign up to be a part! Hope to see you there!
Thanks to my amazing husband, it was his idea! 
Happy Wednesday to you all!
Chele
						
					January 6, 2010   No Comments

					Introducing Goal Gathering Monday
					by Chele
					
My plan is to do my resolutions in baby steps. My problem is that I like to go all out and then get worn out! It never gets completed this way for me. Kind of like what I did with my blog a few months back. Jumped in head first and couldn’t keep up because of what life was throwing at me! Instead of all at once, I will be doing it week by week and month by month. So my plan includes a monthly and weekly goal!
For example, my first resolution is to work on Home Management. Calendars, to do lists, chore charts, daily lists, weekly lists, monthly lists and yearly goals! If you never heard of Home Management, Google it! Home Management also includes keeping track of finances, etc. If I can just get that together I would be on my way for the rest of the items I want to accomplish for a new year, new beginning!
So my goal for the month of January is my Home Management Binder. And my goal this week will be working on those goals/lists and my calendars. I know it’s a lot with all those “lists” but I have made it a little more to see what I can do! I think I can, I think I can!
What are your goals for the New Year? Do you plan on going cold turkey and doing it all at once? Or have you decided to do it in steps? What works for you?
I invite you to pick a goal for this month and also a different one pertaining to that goal each week, share it and we will work together on our goals! Where two or more are gathered! 
To understand how this will work, you can read more here. 
I’m thinking the last Friday of the month we will share how much of the goal was completed. A party I’m thinking! Never give up. Even if you don’t get that goal done, there is always tomorrow! Annie comes to mind! Ha-ha! Let’s make this fun and enjoy it!
This is my first time using the Mcklinky so if it is working, I ask you to link up so I can read your blog as well!
You can share this button on your page… the more the merrier!

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Many Blessings to you!
Chele
 
 
						
					January 4, 2010   6 Comments

					Courage Equals Resolutions
					by Chele
					
First I want to say Happy New Year to all of you! I hope it was fun, happy and safe!

I do have some New Years Resolutions. I will share them with you. This is only a small list. Believe me, my list is huge!
My family financially. I will start couponing and looking for better deals before I buy. This is a huge step for me. It takes time to do this which means I have to plan a day that I do this each week.
Back to Home Management including meal planning, goal planning, to do lists, and so on.
Blogging! 
Learning to say NO! For my families sake and my sanity!
A resolution is the act or process of resolving, analyzing something to make it simpler, to resolve a situation. The interesting part of this is that the synonym for resolution is courage! To have courage means you have mental or moral strength to resist opposition, danger or hardship. If you have faith, you can have courage, strength, hope and so much more to get things done that need to be done!
Do you have the courage to make a resolution or many resolutions to make life simple and better for you and your family? Do you have faith in yourself and trust in God to change things? If you have any resolutions will you be kind enough to share yours with me?
I ask you to pray for me with my resolutions. I will do the same for you. Prayer can change anything and will change everything!
Many Blessings to You!
Chele
						
					January 1, 2010   No Comments

					My Baby is 14
					by Chele
					
Oh what an exciting day today will be. And maybe a little sad too. My baby turns 14 today. I can’t believe it! I feel old! Austen, is such a good kid. He has a huge heart and already knows he wants to be, a preacher! From the time he could talk he has talked about angels and God. He definitely has a calling and I am so proud to be his Mama! So I am taking this day off to spend it with my son and the rest of my family. Have a happy new years and be safe!

Austen is my oldest boy in the white. 

						
					December 31, 2009   No Comments

					A New Year, A New Beginning
					by Chele
					
Yes I am back, I have a plan this time. I was honestly just getting overwhelmed with the daily things happening in my life and I believe God called me away from blogging to deal with the many situations that have happened since September. My family, my community and my church needed me at that time and still do need me. This is many of my seasons of  life. We all have them! I have been praying about my blogging for months and He has not called me back until now. God knows I enjoy each person I have met blogging and He knows I enjoy meeting new people as well. He just called me away from it and to other things. Now that I know that I can handle what people need from me in my life around me, He has given me the strength to do this as well. Difference is that I have made a plan before I started back. With the discernment I received from my praying and listening. I have a plan I know will work.
So stay tuned! I have many things planned for The Bona Fide Life!
First thing planned… starting Friday I will have a theme for the month of January. A new year, A new beggining. So any posts that have this photo in it is directed at the theme for this month! Fun, I think! Kind of like a party! WOOHOO!
 
Many blessings to you and your family for this new year! A new beginning we can all have!
Chele
						
					December 30, 2009   5 Comments

					Life Is Catching Up
					by Chele
					
First thing I want to say is that I am so thankful for all my faithful readers. I couldn’t believe even though I haven’t written in a few weeks my subscribers went up. God is so good!
Anyway my busy life the past few weeks is catching up to me. I am just plain worn out. I’m not feeling well. I am tired. I know it’s because I am finally slowing down and it’s time to re-evaluate again. I believe in re-evaluating my life often. With God… not what I think should be happening in my life. It’s that time again and I am in the process of doing this now. I will be back, I know that. I feel that God is calling me back but he’s also saying get it together first! Don’t jump in head first and get drowned… baby steps! 
So with that said, keep an eye out for another post real soon. Until then please go see my friends at The Creative Mama! Yes she is back with a new look and a new journey! I am so excited! My other blogging angel is taking part and I am so happy for her!
Much love to you all! May God Bless you!
Chele
						
					October 5, 2009   8 Comments

					Miracles Do Happen!
					by Chele
					
It’s been almost a week since I spoke with you. Sorry about that! I am just trying to get a routine that works. I have to tell you, I have enjoyed keeping myself busy with my family, church and community last week. I say busy but not in a bad way. I was doing things I felt God wanted me to do! It felt awesome! Although, we had something happened to us that I just want to rant and rave about what my God can do! This is kind of long but please keep reading. You’ll see why! 
 
My husband, Chasin has had a peculiar family situation that not everyone knows about. I’m not going to go into all of it right now but his Dad has been in and out of his life since he was a small child. The relationship has been rocky. His Dad is an alcoholic, a very severe case. Chasin gets annoyed with it. You can’t blame him at all for that (I’ve been there too). If you have someone in your family with that problem you know hard it is to be around an alcoholic. Our two oldest children have met him in the past. My Father In-Law was great with them but we never know if he is going to be drunk or not. Since then we have had the other two children. They have not met him. Chasin’s Dad calls us or vise versa, every once in awhile. Definitely not enough to get to know him like I would hope.
 
Thursday we found out through the grapevine, his Dad has been in the hospital for over a week. No one could tell us which hospital or what was wrong. Chasin called the hospitals and found him. We found out he is in for Cirrhosis of the liver and Hepatitis C. This comes from alcohol. He was still not doing well. They could not figure out what else was wrong so they kept him in the hospital. So I knew this needed some serious prayers. I called a few people, emailed some and posted on my Facebook page. (Remember this, it is an important fact to the ending!)
 
Friday we decided to go in and see him… we needed to. I have a few uncles that died from drugs and alcohol. I knew that this could be the last time we would see him. Chasin is the only kin he has that cares. Chasin and I will be left with everything, if and when he passes away. We need to be there!! Friday all day while waiting for Chasin to get off of work, all I could do was cry out to Jesus. My Amazing Lord who can comfort us, provide for us and so much more! I knew God would do what was best for His plan. I just wanted so much for my husband and my kids to have a little more time with this man. I prayed God did too.
 
We got in to the hospital room and I honestly wanted to turn back around and run. He looked like death. His lack of color, his lack of movement, his speech. He was horrible looking. I was praying for my husband this whole time. You could see the concern on Chasin’s face. You also could see the joy through the pain in my father in-law’s face. His son came. His son does care. Maybe it’s worth it to live on. I had tears as I observed. Even in his pain he wanted a hug from his son. Which Chasin did do. While we were there, we found out he had a blood infection as well but something else was wrong. So the doctors were still testing. His girlfriend stayed there all week long with him. Didn’t leave his side, Thank You God! His girlfriend proceeded to tell us how all week long he had dangerously high fevers. Was in so much pain too. But she mentioned that he didn’t have any fevers that day. He had some pain but no fevers!! Praise the Lord!!!! Prayer does work! There is proof right there. We left later that evening, wondering if we would see him get out of there or if we would be planning a funeral in the next week or so.
 
Saturday we got a call from him. He called to say it was Rocky Mountain spotted fever that was causing such a ruckus. He sounded great too! Chasin and I decided we need to go back in again and make sure what is going on. So we did. We walked in the room and his Dad sat up with a smile on his face. He was shocked his son came back again! Awesome!! We also took some family photos of us and the kids for him to keep. He sat there and stared at those photos with a great big smile on his face. It was amazing to watch.
 
Let me tell you what is so beautiful about this. Friday we were pretty sure we were going to have to plan a funeral. Saturday, he was up walking around (he couldn’t do that on Friday), absolutely no fevers, his pain was very minimal, he could move around in the bed better, he was cracking jokes (now I know how Chasin got that!), he ate for the first time in a week and he had his color back! I have never seen such a miracle. God used Chasin for that… I know for a fact! The miracle is that not only did God answer my prayers and my friends and families prayers for us. He used Chasin to give him the will to survive. I have never, ever seen a miracle so profound! God is so good!! He is giving my husband and my children the time to get to know their Dad and grandfather.
 
Due to the Cirrhosis of the liver and Hepatitis C, if he doesn’t stop drinking… we will be planning a funeral for my father in-law too soon. Please keep him in your prayers. Alcoholism is horrible; I have to say probably the worst disease I know of. I say disease because it is not just an addiction… I’ve seen it way too many times with my own eyes. He says he isn’t going to but I know that Devil will be right there tempting him at any time he may get! His Dad will be going home in a few days. Please keep our family in your prayers. And remember, our God does perform miracles everyday. You just have to keep your eyes open to see them!
 
Much love and blessings!
Chele
						
					September 14, 2009   7 Comments

					Priority #1 Slow Down
					by Chele
					
Well my friends, I had almost a week to get myself under control and in touch with God. It worked. I have answers. I feel so much better! I am going to share with you things I learned in this process. I am praying that those of you that feel like you are being pulled in too many directions will take time “away” to spend with God. As a matter of fact, we should do that many times a day! So I’ve learned!
I have two friends I’ve met since I started blogging who have put in my subconscious about slowing down. Marci at Overcoming Busy and Ann Kroeker at Not So Fast. These two ladies were placed in my path for a reason. And I have finally figured it out! Praise the Lord!
Before I took this break I wanted:
My blog to be an outreach.
To learn more about blogging by going to a conference.
Trying to read EVERY ONE’S blogs EVERY DAY!
To be a better Mom and Wife.
Be more organized.
Creative.
Completing my to-do list every single day.
my kids to do everything possible so they don’t feel left out of the world.
to be a part of my community here where I live.
to work on things with my church that is dear to my heart.
Before this break I needed:
TO SLOW DOWN!
Take time to be with God everyday, all throughout the day!
To put my family before the Internet
See, when I started out the blog thing, I was actually looking online to be more organized as a Stay At Home Mom. I saw the many things that could help me. I prayed about it. The Lord sent me here. But I took it and ran with it instead of letting Him guide me. Then I ended up with having a billion ideas and things I wanted to do. For home and this blog. I ended up having too many things going on in one day. I ended up very overwhelmed with my blog life and home life. I ended up not talking to God and not being still so I can hear Him.
He slowed me down ya know?! He put in my path the things that I had on my heart but had not stepped out and done. Right here in my life, community and church.
I realized that God doesn’t want me just here at The Bona Fide Life. He wants me to open up my boundaries. To do things for Him other than just on this blog! Until yesterday, I was still wondering if I should even continue this blog. Then my answer came which I will share with you. I have about everyone I grew up with on my Facebook. I had a message yesterday morning from someone I graduated with. She never was a real close friend growing up but we both always said hello to each other. She told me how wonderful she thought this blog was. How much it touched her. How she didn’t ever realize this side of me growing up. My response was a huge thank you for taking time to tell me that and she didn’t see it because I believed but didn’t live it. This was my answer, I know because after responding to her. I went and prayed. I asked God if this was my answer. He said yes but not priority because I am making it about me not the Lord. OUCH! WAKE UP CALL!
So here I am. I have decided to not make my days filled with trying to think of things to write. I will just write when I feel led to do so. So maybe a few times a week. Not every day. This will slow me down to do things like spending time with my family, the PTA I have joined, our Youth programs at church, Walk to Emmaus activities, Relay for Life and most importantly… time to be with God!
So in return this is my plan with the help of God:
I will talk with God more. Like He wants me to. To seek his guidance and provision in all things.
I will continue to write but only as I feel led to.
I will make time to do more things for my family.
I will be a part of the community and my church.
I will work on being better organized as I can not as a priority.
God wants us to realize these things. He doesn’t want us to be so overwhelmed with the busyness of life to the point we cannot hear him. So things like going to a blog conference will come in time, if it is His will.
My God, He is so good to me!
Do you take time to talk with God everyday? All day long? Are you too busy to hear Him? What step or steps are you willing to take to do it His way?
I pray that this does not take you from me. You all mean so much to me, to know you are reading is an amazing feeling. Even if it’s only a few times a week instead of everyday… I know I’m not the only blogger that writes like that! I still have so much on my heart to write about but I’m slowing down!
Many blessings to you all until next time!
Chele
						
					September 8, 2009   10 Comments

					Menu Plan Monday~September 7th
					by Chele
					

Last week had some changes on the menu. We had the Turkey Meatloaf on Sunday instead of Thursday. We did not have the pork chops or the ham because we ended up having company instead. We didn’t have the Chicken Taco Pizza because we had to have the turkey meatloaf before it went bad. So here we are!
 
 
 
Monday September 7
Pork Chops, Rice and corn
Tuesday September 8
Chicken Taco Pizza
Wednesday-Youth night - September 9
Leftovers/sandwiches
Thursday September 10
Shepherds Pie
Friday September 11
Grilled Ham, mac and cheese, and veggie
Saturday September 12
Eating away from home due to an event we are going to
Sunday September 13
 Lasagna, Bread, Salad
I have linked this menu with I’m an Organizing Junkie.
I hope you all have a fabulous week with many blessings! 
Chele
						
					September 8, 2009   2 Comments

					Does Obeying God Ever Get Easy?
					by Chele
					
Hello my friends! I hope everyone is doing well. I took the day off yesterday, I have had one busy week so far (including today). I wanted to ramble about my thoughts a little.
If you read my post last week about our Youth situation, you will know that obeying has been on my mind for awhile. We have a lot of issues with the kids in Youth and Sunday School Youth class which I participate with. I realized this morning, we (adults) have the same problem but with God.
Some of you know that my friend Erika and I teach our Youth Sunday School class. We have had issues with them not obeying and not respecting from the first day I started co-teaching with Erika. Respect is a big thing in my eyes… with respect comes many things, for example obeying others wishes. I met with her yesterday and we went over some new, exciting things we will be doing with the kids. In hopes of them obeying us and God. I have a lot to do this week to get ready for these new changes.
Last night, I decided to go to a PTA meeting. It was an actual organizational meeting due to our new middle school. I’ve always wanted to see what it was all about. I’ve always wanted to be a part but honestly never felt welcomed. Or actually probably made myself feel that way with thoughts that because I was new to it and everyone else knew what it was all about, they wouldn’t want me. So I just KNEW I wouldn’t be willing to help during the nominations. My hand was not going up! I was completely wrong! Do you know, God raised my hand for me to be a volunteers chair? I know it was Him because my mind was set going in that I would not do it. I did it anyway against MY better judgement. But obviously God had another plan and I obeyed! It actually felt good!
I got a phone call on Monday from our Youth Coordinator asking for me to do a devotion with a small group of Youth tonight with the help of my friends husband, Rusty. I, of course, excepted. She had the devotion and a question ready for me to go over with them. I decided to read over it this morning as my devotion and some realization came along with reading it and trying to answer the question, Does obeying God ever get easy? Honestly, I don’t know if I have the correct answer for that but I can say that if we choose to obey and follow His laws, He will make it easier for us to obey Him and others.
I have had a busy week. Really, have felt too busy. Too much to do and on top of it I was doing new things too! After reading our Youth devotion I realize I need to re-evaluate my priorities. This is what I will be doing the rest of the week. Having long conversations with God, re-evaluating what is important to Him, not to me! So that I can obey God! And not feel overwhelmed because anything in Him would not make you feel that way! So depending if I have the time, I will be here writing for you as I can this week. No, don’t worry, I already know that God wants me here too. But He obviously wants me with Youth too. That is not here, this is right here in my community. So as I re-evaluate what is going on with my life right now, please keep me in your prayers! I’ll definitely be back next week and fill you in with what God and I came up with! 
Psalms 119:30-32 says:
 ”I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws. I hold fast to your statutes, O Lord; do not let me be put to shame. I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.” 
I want my heart to be free. Don’t you? I don’t want to feel shame. Do you?What is your answer for “Does obeying God ever get easy?” 
Many Blessings as you go throughout the rest of your week.
Chele
						
					September 2, 2009   8 Comments
				
				
			
				

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