Spreading Some Work at Home Love
May 29, 2008 Unplugged Moments
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Kelly McCausey over at Sparkplugging talks to moms about working from home. This week she challenged WAHMs to count their blessings. That is a good thing to do and something we don’t do enough of. So this week I am going to meet the challenge and start counting my work at home blessings.
I am thankful to have the opportunity to work at home because it gives me creative freedom. For me creativity is so important to an authentic walk.
I am thankful to be a WAHM because I have more time with my children. I can remember when my oldest son told me that he was glad I married a man who encouraged me to stay home because that meant that I was where I belong. That touched my heart.
I am grateful that I am home because I have more time to play with my hair. Ok, so many that seems weird but trust me when you work outside of the home and you have a bad hair day that is not a good thing. With my natural style I am able to see what style works and which one doesn’t so that when I go out of the house I can rock the one that looks great.
I am grateful for that I don’t have someone to answer to but me when it comes to doing work. I love being able to set my desk up the way I want, to have a collage of pictures if I want and to take a lunch break when I want. Some days I take two or three breaks.
I am thankful to have my water cooler moments with awesome women like Kelly, CeeCee, Aurelia, Cara, Annette, Kim, Lynette, Diana, Alyssa, Tishia, Erika, Tricia, Vera, Tammy, Wendy, and so many other wonderful women who have chosen to work from homebase.
I am thankful that I can use my talent and skill of writing to help others with their businesses. It makes me feel good when someone compliments my work.
So those are just a few and I will share more over time because this is a new meme and one that I am excited about.
Are you a work at home momma? When it comes to work from home what are you grateful for?
Three WAHMs I am anxious to here from are:
Tags: children, mothers, WAHM, work at home, work at home mom
Why Must You Be So Transparent Part 2
May 24, 2008 Unplugged Authentcity
After I wrote the post Why Must You Be So Transparent, I came across a great video from an organization founded by a very good friend of mine. It fits right with what I said.
Why Must You Be So Transparent?
May 24, 2008 Unplugged Authentcity
I get asked that question a lot. My answer is always the same, “Because God chose me to be.”
I don’t believe that anything I go through is just for me. First off my life is not about me anyway but rather it is all about God. Sure I get in the way at times because, well I am me; but I try to live everyday looking for the opportunity to share.
My life is my testimony as to how God can take you from the darkest places into a light brighter than even the sun. If I hide who I am from those who need to hear am I truly living in the light or trying to push the skeletons into the deepest darkest part of the closet.
Now while I don’t go around telling all of my business to everyone, I try to watch for God’s leading where I do need to share a story.
Christ was transparent in all He did. Never hid himself from the world nor tried to be anything other than the Son He was called to be. Now you may say that His example is too big to use to get my point across but I beg to differ with you. For it His life that we are to imitate if we truly say we love and follow Him. It is a part of the call to obedience that God give each of His children. Does that mean we are to be as a mini-Jesus?
By no means would I ever suggest that.
However, I do think that it is important that we share our story with the uniqueness we each have. For me my uniqueness is to dare to be different and real (WYSIWYG) in a rather raw yet tactful way. Ok, so God is still working with my on the tactful part but I am getting there..
Can I give you an example of what it means in my life to share my experiences?
Last summer I was invited to speak to a group of young people about knowing and understanding what a Spiritual Gift is and how God may use it in their lives as they go into whatever vocation they may choose. As I was sharing on the different gifts I was led to expound upon the gift of Encouragement which I have and seems to never lay dormant in my life.
In my explanation I began to share about my molestation as a child by, not one, but 5 different individuals. I made a statement that I did not get until sometime later. That statement was ” I have no idea why I am sharing this but somebody here needs to here my story.”
About a week later I received an email from the coordinator’s mother. She told me that there was a young lady there who was encouraged to attend the event. That was not her plan. Her plan was to go home and commit suicide. You see she said that her best friend was being raped daily by her own brother and his friend. She said that she could not take the pain of knowing what her friend was going through. Now being a survivor of such an atrocity, I understood that the young lady who wanted to kill herself was the actual victim and had I not been transparent that night then I would have been the cause of a life taken too young. But because of what I shared, she shared an in doing so received the help she needed.
That is why I am so transparent and share who I am as God leads and I won’t change it.
Making Some Changes for a More Productive Walk
May 23, 2008 Unplugged Authentcity
Last month I had to make some changes. Heck I have been in a constant growth and change mode for a while now. There is always room to evolve and I try to roll with the punches that come along with it.
A major decision that I had to make was to start a service based business in order to help my family thrive and not just survive, which we were barely doing. God has already been whispering “use your writing” for some time to bring in income and I ignored it like the plague.
You see for me writing is very personal because of the reasons why I even started doing it. It was my escape from a childhood of molestation, abuse, fights, and so much more. It was how I forget that is all existed. It was therapy and way for me to really connect with the God that I had yet to really know but knew all the while He existed because of my momma’s faith.
So I was not ready to take it to another level like that.
But GOD!
The first week I meet my income goal and now I am at a point of exceeding it. If only I would’ve heeded when I first heard that whisper. Ahhh…but no need to dwell on that.
As I started getting clients I started getting more freedom in mind. It was not as cloudy. With that freedom to think more clearly, I have seen the need for some changes.
I have been working hard at making Vegan Family Living profitable and while it brings in some money, it does not even make a dent. It is more like a scratch.
So I have been praying and hearing God as I move towards what is sure to be a definite change yet productive and profitable change in my life.
You see I don’t want to be poor; and while I may never be rich, and don’t know if I want to be, I do want to be more comfortable. Therefore I had to take necessary steps towards making sure that this was done. But I knew I had to listen to God first and foremost.
I have this stubborn streak in me that can be good and bad. For the past few months it has been bad. Night after night I was up until 1 or 2 in the morning building on something that I know will one day be profitable but for right now I need to think of in a different way.
I love cooking and sharing my knowledge about the vegan diet. I will continue to do this but on a different level.
This past week I took a mini-break from VFL and took some time to really see what I need to see.
I am seeing a whole new avenue open up for me online. I always felt the pull but goodness it is so Good to answer the call and finally stop doing it “LaTara’s way”. That is a song that I need to stop playing. Frank may have done it his way but I gotta do it God’s way.
I am making room for what He wants and accepting the changes that must be done. Some I am more stubborn about than others but that is when God gives me a gentle tap and says “This way my child.”
I just hooked up with a great VA who has no idea how much she will be helping me to be more productive.
Do I think that one day Vegan Family Living will accomplish the goals I have set? You bet your buns I do. But I also know that it takes a team to accomplish it and I can only burn the candle at both ends for so long before the wick burns out and I am not ready to fizz out just yet.
I am looking forward to this ride and to what God is doing with me. There is more to share with you like how I worked most of the last year and a half in a depressed stupor or how I forgot how to hear God and heed what He says. Or how as I say in the tub and prayed yesterday I clearly heard His voice tell me that it is time to dig out a book I started over 8 years ago and finish it up because now I have the experience necessary to add more wisdom to the message. To do, however, will take a while or better yet a small book.
Change is good!
Mommy Fest Contest Winners
May 20, 2008 Unplugged Authentcity
The Winners have been chosen. And they are:
Jenny -you won the Membership to Vegan Meal Helper
Karrine and Michelle W. - You have both won Transitioning Your Family with Ease e-book.
Contact me to get your prize at latarah at gmail dot com
Let It Go and Let God
May 16, 2008 Unplugged Moments
I have been a momma for 16 years come June 3rd and let me tell you I have learned a lot. The main thing I have learned however is that you can’t control what God has in His hands.
I have learned that when it comes to our kids we can’t put on them what we want to. We have to learn how to work with the bent of the child and the will of God for their lives. I think I have always been that way because I was raised that way. My mother did not force me to complete college and every endeavor I tried, if it made sense, she supported. My father died when I was 15 but even he was a man who knew that what God had to his kids was for them and there was nothing he could do about it.
Recently however, I was caught in a dilemma where I had to make a choice that had me down for a few days. My husband and oldest son are not getting along. Simply put they are both very stubborn and one of them is almost 16 and is smellin’ himself a little too much. For those who don’t know “smellin’ himself” is a term used when kids forget that they are kids and try to be adult. It usually starts at around 10 and depending on if it is a girl or boy, ends between 16 and 20.
Anyway, one day about two weeks ago, I watched my husband and son become two men struggling to be the dominant male. As I viewed what was going on, I grew tired of the battle and separated the two. I spoke with my son and he asked me if he could just move with my mom. I was floored but also remembered many conversations with my husband where he said he saw this situation coming. Either AJ was going to choose to go or my husband would have to throw him out. I refused to see it. But there it was right in my face.
So I called my mom and told her the decision that was made and cried until I just became a ball of nothing.
What did I do wrong? Why was God allowing this? Why did my life have to happen like this? Why does he need to go? Why can’t my step-family situation work out? Why?
I was having all kinds of horrible thoughts.
I know they love each other but i also know that there is a bit of jealousy, a lot of assuming, a lack of compassion, and other issues. Just because you love someone does not mean that there won’t be issues. If you say otherwise, then you are not being very truthful and perhaps you have on some rose colored glasses.
As the days went on and I would talk to either my son or my husband, I would soak up their words and take it to God. God reminded that this is not the end of the world, I will be near my son when we relocate to OK, and that He has total control. He is allowing this for a few reasons:
Momma needs to learn to let go and let God. You see God showed me a long time ago that AJ has a purpose that I can’t control. Right now he is at a point of deciding whether or not to accept the call and I am just in the way because I will admit I have an issue with control.
My husband and I need some time to heal from the first few years of pain we both endured by hurting one another in one way or another. He also needs to take some time to really understand the mom/son relationship because he never had one with his mom. His mother made the choice not to love her children because they were her children. She was a conditional mom who made a clear choice between her kids.
There are many lessons that I am seeing through this and you know what I really don’t have control over this. It is in God’s hands.
If you are a mom who has yet to experience the teenage years let me tell you when it starts stay on your knees, let go and most of all let God!
God is Practical
May 13, 2008 Power Source
I was listening to a program today on Blog Talk Radio about Surviving the Recession. It was a Christian program and so I was intrigued. Plus it was friend of mine and I wanted to support her show today.
As I was listening to it, God reminded that it is so very important to make His word more than just a Spirit thing. It’s a practical thing as well. Our everyday lives should be led by the Word. Every aspect, every job, every title, every thing we do must have a practical application directly related.
Let me share a story so that it becomes more relevant.
My family is hurting financially and a few weeks ago I really could not figure out why. So I asked God what is going on because everything was being turned off or near that point, we could barely grocery shop, and going on a family out was impossible.
I kept hear God say “write” but I ignored it because I wanted to keep doing the business I was doing. Never mind that my husband was working 14 to 18 hours a day to make ends meet because the two projects he has bid and won were on hold for some reason of another. Those two job together will carry us financially well into 2009.
I was determined to keep pushing at what I am do with Vegan Family Living and establish myself as a Mom Blogger. I was not going to do a writing business. Nope not me.
But when we were bombarded with a financial issue that made my husband say I may have to leave the home, I guess that but some fire under my behind because that time I heard God.
I built my site and opened The Natural Writer, a content writing business, to the public. That week alone I made almost $100. My goal is $100 to $200 per month. So far I am at $100 per week and adding more clients as I write this post. It felt good to go grocery shopping and at one store look at my husband and say, “I got this”. Needless to say he was blessed by that gesture.
What changed?
Well for one my attitude. But I took what God has blessed me with and put it to work. I got PRACTICAL!
I am still working Vegan Family Living and its many aspects, because God did not tell me to stop it. He just told me to get PRACTICAL and use what I had. There was no need to go out of the home for work. God had already given me what I need to bring in income. I was just doing it LaTara’s way.
As I write this post I am reminded of Matthew 6:33 and I am using the Amplified version,
But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness ([His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides,
and I am reminded that being Practical is God’s way. He is a practical God.There is no way one should think that just throwing your hands up will bring you what you need. It is more than prayer, more than devotion, more than telling God you love Him. All those things are important; but if you are not doing it His way, nothing else you do or say will matter.
A practical approach to God is so necessary to live according to His will. And when He directs you to put your hands to work, then by all means, you had better get to it. God is not a magician and has never claimed to be. He not an ‘Uncle Ben’s instant rice’ type of God either; He does it all in His own time which often does not quite match up with our timing.
But, when you study His Word and walk with Him you cannot deny that He is a Practical God who does things decently and in order.
I ended up calling into the show and giving my testimony of how God kept prompting me to move towards starting the Natural Writer. Pastor Rebecca asked me to give my web address and told people to go visit and to use my services. I was not expecting much from it except for a few lookie loos. But God!
I received an email not even thirty minutes later from a book author inquiring about my services. Now that is God in action but guess what….LaTara had to do her part as well. I was led to call into that show.
A reason for everything and everything for a reason!
In this time of ‘recession’ get PRACTICAL!
5 Things About Me
May 12, 2008 Unplugged Moments
Ok so what 5 things about me might be of interest to you:
1. I have been keeping journals since I was 14 and I have a nice collection that I hope to use to create a memoir one day.
2. I love reality shows especially America’s Next Top Model, the Apprentice, Survivor, Big Brother, and the Amazing Race.
3. I have a tough exterior but a very soft heart. I have to appear vulnerable to anyone.
4. I was going to get married when my son was 4. I soon discovered he had another family elsewhere. Oh boy was my brother mad. He searched the city for that dude and I am glad he did not find him.
5. I was once a girl thug. Yep, I hung out in all the wrong crowds. So glad God protected me.
Welcome All Mommy Fest Participants
May 12, 2008 Whatever
Welcome to my blog. I am excited to be participating in the 5th annual Mommy Fest! I want to invite you to take a while and peruse through Mom Unplugged. You will find information on natural living, living a more authentic life, and learning to shed that “Supermom” image and just be you.
While you are here sip on some fresh iced herbal tea
photo credit: su-lin
And grab and oatmeal bar or two. They are homemade, all organic and yummy for your tummy.
photo credit: tofutti break
Or if pie is your choice then try some my “Cynthia’s Sweet Potato Pie Vegan Style”. My momma’s recipe but veganized!
Oh and I am having a give away so be sure to check it out.
Just a little bit about me before you head off to party.
I am a WAHM who has been married for almost 6 years with two boys ages 16 and 4,and 4 step-children ages 15 to 26. I am also a grandmother, but I still look good and plus I always tease my husband and say I am a granny by default.
My primary work is online as a podcast host, vegan cooking and natural living coach. Vegan Family Living is my main hub with The Vegan Meal Helper and The Natural Writer as a part of my entrepreneurial endeavors.
I started this blog out of a necessity to share with others the beauty of a life unplugged and moving in an authentic manner. God has so much in store for us but we truly hinder our walk when we plug so deep into the issues of life that we have no control over and allow life to control us instead of us taking taking control of life. So Mom Unplugged is really my own journey from a plugged up cluttered life to a life that is liberated in Christ.
There is so much more that I could share but I really don’t want to bother you with too much information because there is plenty here to read and soak up. Be sure to come back often because I am going to add a little music for the week.
Have a Great Time during Mommy Fest 2008!
A Mommy Fest Give Away!
May 12, 2008 Unplugged Authentcity
I decided to have a give away for all Mommy Fest participants. In order to participate all you need to do is link to your blog post about Mommy Fest right here in the comment section and I will place your name in the hat. Please be sure to provide your email address so that I can get in touch with you if you are winner.
The give away is (1) 6 month subscription to the Vegan Meal Helper and 2 copies of my e-book Transitioning Your Family with Ease: Simple Paths to Vegan Cooking. These are great products no only for vegans but for people who want some healthier alternatives to cooking and eating.
Looking Forward to giving away these great prizes!
