Free By Design » Appreciation

Baba (Daddy)

kmcooley — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:04:44 +0000

Ozell gave me life; Bishop taught me how to live it. Ozell taught me to love; Bishop taught me to love God. Because of these two men, I live, love life, and give love. Happy Father’s Day, Daddy. Happy Father’s Day, Bishop. I love you and miss you both! - Your baby girl

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Silently

kmcooley — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:51:21 +0000

Good evening. It’s amazing how after the fact, you can sit silently and mentally and vividly replay just how God strategically guided you out of your last unforeseen situation. Like Him watching you leave your mobile in the kitchen just so He could make it ring only to get you back in the kitchen to turn the oven off because you forgot to do it earlier. Or even better, watching that guaranteed new job go down the drain for seemingly no reason at all only to later find out that had you gotten the job, you would have immediately been involved in career ending, corporate chaos which would ultimately cause you to pass up the great job you’re at now. Shall I continue?

It is SO hard to see God in the middle of present upsets and let downs, but I’m finding that they key is not looking at the “now.” The key is keeping our eyes on God and trusting that everything He allows to happen has very strategic purpose that only He can predetermine. So basically all we have to do is show up in faith and walk it out!

Peace – Kimberly

Unparalleled

kmcooley — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:28:00 +0000

Good morning. Too often we try to put together our lives using pieces borrowed from elsewhere. Guess what? Its not going to work. The only pieces that fit your puzzle are the ones that come with it. Your life is just as unique as the next. What works for one, may not work for another. Be confident. Be consistent. Be proud….Be YOU!

Peace – Kimberly

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What’s Your Reality?

kmcooley — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:19:00 +0000

Good evening. Life is not a MTV, 30 minute episode; it is a series of occurrences that are not pre-scripted nor directed by man but instead, divinely predestined by God. Reality TV will NEVER be as spontaneous or exciting as your own happenings, so enjoy you and all that "you" encompass and live life as if the world depends on it…cause it does; your just that special!!

Peace – Kimberly

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All Things Work

kmcooley — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:00:00 +0000

…Together for our good. Sometimes the seemingly worse situations quickly turn into situations in which God nearly out does himself. If we take all occurrences in our lives for face value, we'd miss out on all the riches of life placed right into the palm our hands. Tough situations with people teach us the importance of love. Tough situations with love, teach us the importance of people. There is no division…only a divinely ordered balance.

Peace – Kimberly

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The Brilliance of Jake

kmcooley — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:23:00 +0000

You have to admire the brilliance, honesty, and “literal” meanings that 3 year olds bring to conversations. Check out the dialog between a friend and one of her 3 year old twin boys. She has titled this:

Literal interpretation

This morning Jake insisted on both oatmeal and a muffin. I told him how about one or the other? But no — he wanted both. Alright, I prepared both. So. When he told me he wanted me to pour his oatmeal out, I told him he had to eat half of it, because he had asked for it. He ate a tiny bite and said: “Mom, I ate half a bite.”

“Half of the bowl, Jake,” I said.

“We don’t eat bowls,” says he.

O

kmcooley — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Good morning. Cats. I've never really liked them and vowed to never touch one. That was, however until I met "Big O" a couple of weeks ago. Literally within minutes of being on O's turf, I melted resulting in some darn good belly rubbing and head scratching. O's purpose in my life was obvious at that point; he helped me to discreetly overcome one of my biggest fears – my fear of cats.

Big O passed away this morning and will definitely be missed. However, I am indeed grateful for all that he contributed to my life in such a short amount of time. Big O, say hello to both of fathers (Cooley & Barnes) will ya? Oh and don't worry, Cooley only hunts raccoons, so you should be fine!

Peace – Kimberly

K.M. Cooley

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Let The Celebration Continue!

kmcooley — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 14:40:00 +0000

Good morning! Merry Christmas, guys! Earlier I saw a quote that said (paraphrase)”Christmas is about how you spend it rather than how much you spend on it.” While I totally agree on the spending part, I’m not sure if I can truthfully say that I agree with the entire saying. Christmas is a special day because its the day that we celebrate our Savior’s birth, and trust me, there is no better reason to celebrate than that. However, even though today is Christmas, our celebration should start, continue, and start again every single day of our lives. How we celebrate Christmas should be exemplified in every single moment of our existence. Celebrating our Savior’s birth is so much bigger than just how we clean up and behave for one day. No, He deserves so much more than that! His birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection was all for us. He is still in Heaven praying for us, so how can that be bundled up in a holiday package?

To celebrate someone’s life means to acknowledge and give praises to what they’ve done in their lifetime. …well Christ is still alive. That indicates an ongoing celebration, so literally all we can do to celebrate HIS life is replicate HIS life, in OUR lives EVERYDAY!

Kala Christougena (Merry Christmas) in Greek – Kimberly

K.M. Cooley
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Content

kmcooley — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:47:00 +0000

Good morning. Sure. Approximately 980 miles stand between me and person that I'd absolutely love to spend Christmas with. Yes. Its 2:00am and I've been awakened by wild, 8 year old limbs stretched everywhere. Ok. I think Cookie is still mad at me for taking her to the groomer. Maybe. The thunder and wind that I'm hearing is brewing into a nice, little Christmas Eve storm. But. I'm alive; I'm well, and I'm loved so why even complain?

Peace – Kimberly

K.M. Cooley

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Thankful

kmcooley — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:20:00 +0000

Good morning. Its early, and though I'm physically feeling bad, spiritually I feel great! Not just because its Thanksgiving, but because this is the one day when non believers become believers and the broken in spirit become lifted. Because on this day, we all, in one way or another, will bless God with words of thanks. On this day, reflections of the past will cause us to acknowledge God's grace. On this day between the hours of 12 noon and 12am, the phrase, "I give thanks" will be spoken more times than we could speak in an entire year. I can't help but to think that, just maybe, because of this, God will keep His hand on us. My prayer in this moment is that with every breath taken to say, "I give thanks," our hearts will become "that" much closer to God. And as we depart at the days end with all of our goodbyes and farewells, I pray that the fullness of God is experienced "that" much deeper within us.

Peace & Happy Thanksgiving,

Kimberly

K.M. Cooley

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