Inspiration

Life Without ED

Dear Ed-delusioned Kirsten,

I know it's hard right now. Every meal seems like a battle. Food and ED are taking over your mind. You've lost the will to fight. But DON'T GIVE UP. Remember the days when you were feeling great. You were hungry. You were happy. You felt carefree. I know it's frustrating because those days same rare, but if you fight through the bad days, good days will come. Each day you fight brings you closer to life without ED. Can you imagine? A life where your choices, your thoughts, your actions, your activities, are controlled by you and you alone. It can happen. But it takes a will to fight. Push through today, and tomorrow will be better. Just one more meal. Just try. Take the risk. It will be worth it.

Love,

Kirsten

I won't give up-Jason Mraz

When I look into your eyes, it's like watching the night sky

Or a beautiful sunrise, there's so much they hold

And just like them old stars, I see that you've come so far

To be right where you are, how old is your soul?

I won't give up on us, even if the skies get rough

I'm giving you all my love, I'm still looking up

And when you're needing your space, to do some navigating

I'll be here patiently waiting, to see what you find

'Cause even the stars they burn, some even fall to the earth

We've got a lot to learn, God knows we're worth it

No, I won't give up

I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily

I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make

Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use

The tools and gifts we got yeah, we got a lot at stake

And in the end, you're still my friend at least we did intend

For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn

We had to learn how to bend without the world caving in

I had to learn what I've got, and what I'm not, and who I am

I won't give up on us, even if the skies get rough

I'm giving you all my love, I'm still looking up

Still looking up.

Brighter than the Sun--Colbie Caillat

Stop me on the corner I swear you hit me like a vision, I, I, I wasn't expecting

But who am I to tell fate where it's supposed to go with it, don't you blink you might miss it,

See we got a right to just love it or leave it, you find it and keep it

Cause it ain't every day you get the chance to say

Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart

It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun

Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky

Shining how we want, brighter than the sun

I've never seen it, I found this love, I'm gonna feed it,

You better believe, I'm gonna treat it better than anything I've ever had

Cause you're so damn beautiful, read it, it's signed and delivered let's seal it

Boy we go together like peanuts and paydays and Marley and reggae

And everybody needs to get a chance to say

Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart

It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun

Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky

Shining how we want, brighter than the sun

Everything is like a white out, cause we shika-shika a shine down

Even when the, when the light's out but I can see you glow

Got my head up in the rafters, got me happy ever after

Never felt this way before, ain't felt this way before

Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart

It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun

Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky

Shining how we want, brighter than the sun, yeah

11in11 Cardinals World Series Champs

The Cardinals Pass Their Greatest Test--Bernie Miklasz

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19960301

In the 179th game of this long, wholly improbable 2011 campaign, the Cardinals finally appeared to be out of time in Game 6 of the World Series. They were doomed. Down to their final out, down to their final strike. Not once, but twice. Down to the final minute of their impossible dream of a season.

In a few seconds, it would all be over. That was true in the ninth inning. It was true again in the 10th inning. What a sad way to end it all. The lights were about to be turned off at Busch Stadium, the happiest place in baseball. Cardinals fans would walk slowly to their cars, and drive home in silence.

The Cardinals had trailed Game 6 for much of the night, with the Texas Rangers having leads of 1-0, 3-2, 4-3, 7-4, 7-5 and 9-7. The Rangers led the World Series 3-2, and had repeatedly knocked the Cardinals down in the run-up to a victory.

How many times could the Cardinals rally? When would their hearts finally give way? Even the most resilient competitor has a limit, reaches the breaking point. There comes a time when you simply cannot go on. The Rangers were going to own the night and take the World Series championship back to Texas.

Well, if there's one thing we've learned about this gallant, gutsy Cardinals team, it is this: Their strength never wanes. Their will to win never fades. Until the end, this proud and resilient team believed. They knew that somehow the dream would stay alive.

At the bleakest moments, these foolish, stubborn men in the Cardinals uniform really thought they were going to pull this off.

They honestly believed they'd lift St. Louis off its moorings and shoot down the star that was twinkling over the great state of Texas.

"It's Cardinal baseball," third baseman David Freese said. "This is how they teach us. You never give up."

At 11:39 p.m. on Thursday, leading off the bottom of the 11th inning, Freese squared up on a 3-2 pitch thrown by Rangers reliever Mark Lowe. It was a change up, an opportunity that could not be turned down. Freese got all of it, jolting the World Series in a way that was so shocking, so incredible, that we'll be talking about this classic forever.

Parents and grandparents will grow old, talking about the night they danced in the aisles, jumping into each other's arms and into the embrace of strangers, as they celebrated one of the greatest moments in franchise history. The kids who watched this will grow up, savoring the wonder of it all, and passing the story down through the years. Through these stories, this unbelievable night will live forever.

Freese, the hometown hero from Lafayette High, sent a miracle soaring above the diamond, rising above the wall in center field to land in the beautiful green grass that no glove, no Ranger, could reach.

Home run. Then, delirium.

Freese circled the bases, his right arm raised in triumph, taking a victory lap, and all of St. Louis wanted to be at his side, running with him.

The thunderbolt gave the Cardinals a scintillating 10-9 win that was a testament to their pride and indefatigable desire. We witnessed one of the greatest games in World Series history, one that quickened and slowed the pulse, one that lifted us up, slammed us down, and raised us back up again during 4 hours and 33 minutes of bedlam.

"It was all about surviving," Freese said. "It was all about getting to tomorrow, and Game 7."

All of this wonderful, spectacular chaos and Freese made it possible by keeping it simple.

"It's all about knowing that this is the same game as when you're six years old," he said. "It's just elevated on a stage, and everyone is watching. But you have to keep reminding yourself it really is the same game."

Game 7 is tonight at Busch Stadium. The first pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. Make sure to bring medication, oxygen, and hope. The Cardinals and the Rangers will go at it one more time, winner take all. We will not exhale for nine innings, or for as long as it takes.

Freese had saved the Cardinals in the ninth on a 1-2 pitch from Texas closer Neftali Feliz, ripping a 98 mph fastball over the head of right fielder Nelson Cruz for a two-run triple that tied the game at 7-7.

Surely, Freese's clutch hit - delivered against all odds - would catapult the home team to a dramatic victory and an appointment with the Rangers in Game 7. But Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton answered, rocking Cardinals closer Jason Motte for a two-run homer in the 10th, giving the Rangers a 9-7 lead and taking them a giant step closer to the thrill of victory. The champagne was on ice.

In the bottom of the 10th, the Cardinals cut the lead to 9-8 on singles by Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay, a sacrifice bunt by pitcher Kyle Lohse and a run-producing ground out by Ryan Theriot. Lohse was pinch-hitting; the Cardinals were out of position players. The situation had become increasingly desperate.

Lance Berkman was up next. At 2-2, down to his last strike, The Puma lined a single to center off Texas reliever Scott Feldman, with Jay dashing home with the tying run. It was 9-9 now, and Busch Stadium was literally shaking.

Berkman put in his precious piece setting Freese up for the grand finale, the home run that made an entire town go nuts. A representative of the Baseball Hall of Fame showed up in the Cardinals' clubhouse to receive Freese's bat and jersey. And why not? This was instant baseball mythology.

What a game. What an impossible, insane, incredible game.

"You had to be there to believe it," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "We never quit trying."

And it's been that way all season, through all of the injuries and turmoil. It's truly been that way since Aug. 25, when the Cardinals began a ridiculously unlikely comeback from 101/2 games out of a playoff spot. This same tenacity carried them through Game 6, a game that seemingly had been lost several times. But these are the 2011 Cardinals. They are ferocious and fearless. And they have one more day to go, one more victory to claim, until they can rest.

Fears vs. Dreams

What is your biggest fear? What is your greatest dream?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI6H6ps6vrU

TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS

http://www.twloha.com/vision/

You were created to love and be loved. You were meant to live life in relationship with other people, to know and be known. You need to know that your story is important and that you're part of a bigger story. You need to know that your life matters.

We live in a difficult world, a broken world. Life is hard for most people most of the time. We believe that everyone can relate to pain, that all of us live with questions, and all of us get stuck in moments. You need to know that you're not alone in the places you feel stuck.

We all wake to the human condition. We wake to mystery and beauty but also to tragedy and loss. Millions of people live with problems of pain. Millions of homes are filled with questions – moments and seasons and cycles that come as thieves and aim to stay. We know that pain is very real. It is our privilege to suggest that hope is real, and that help is real.

You need to know that rescue is possible, that freedom is possible, that God is still in the business of redemption. We're seeing it happen. We're seeing lives change as people get the help they need. People sitting across from a counselor for the first time. People stepping into treatment. In desperate moments, people calling a suicide hotline. We know that the first step to recovery is the hardest to take. We want to say here that it's worth it, that your life is worth fighting for, that it's possible to change.

Beyond treatment, we believe that community is essential, that people need other people, that we were never meant to do life alone.

The vision is that community and hope and help would replace secrets and silence.

The vision is that we would learn what it means to love our friends, and that we would love ourselves enough to get the help we need.

The vision is better endings. The vision is the restoration of broken families and broken relationships. The vision is people finding life, finding freedom, finding love. The vision is graduation, a Super Bowl, a wedding, a child, a sunrise. The vision is people becoming incredible parents, people breaking cycles, making change.

The vision is the possibility that your best days are ahead.

The vision is the possibility that we're more loved than we'll ever know.

The vision is hope, and hope is real.

You are not alone, and this is not the end of your story.