Bed for Roses

So before I start this entry, I want to get something straight right off the bat.

I am NOT complaining.

In fact not a day goes by that I don't feel grateful about the many blessings that God has provided in my life. However, because I make a deliberate and conscious effort to focus on the positive things, some people may have gotten the impression that life is always rosy in the Tipsi D household.

Well I can assure you that is not the case. There are many occasions, every hour of the day, that life does not flow with the harmony of a ballet, or the synchronicity of a fine tuned machine. Like the way Nathan decided that he would like to try toasting his bread three times this morning. Which turned the bread into lump of charcoal...and for about five minutes, I seriously considered giving it to him in his Christmas stocking.

The thing is, I could write pages and pages of the different things that make life a little uncomfortable right now, like having an irregular income, and regular bills. I have learned that there are things about running a business that you can only learn by running a business. Like from time to time, you WILL run out of money. But for all its insecurities, Being entrepreneurs has been a major blessing for us. We have grown personally in ways that we could never have predicted.

For instance, I have a completely different understanding of being fully reliant on God for provision. When I was employed, it was more a matter of being a good steward of the income that was coming in regularly. As a start up entrepreneur there are many times when you have to make the choice between paying the Electric bill or the Gas bill, or a little of both. But the minute you let that mess up your head, you are in trouble.

YOU are the master of your thoughts. Control your thoughts, you can control your destiny.

If you want a rose garden, you have to plant it in fertilizer...and we all know what fertilizer is made from.

At the end of the day remember this:

• An arrow has to be pulled back before it is shot forward. 
• No matter what you are going through in your life right now, somewhere in the world someone would trade everything they have to have your problems.    
• Choose the lens through which you will see the world. Negative people often disguise themselves as "realists" (Its funny, I have NEVER met a realist who has ever had anything positive to say.)

Express gratitude. Lots of it. We all have things to be thankful for. The moment we stop being thankful for any of our blessings is the moment we start taking it for granted.

Don't take things for granted. Be thankful.

Tipsi Dad

Just Wait a Minute!

Advent is the season of waiting. As I write this on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception it is useful to remember that there is no better model of Holy Patience than the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In a world where busy is the new normal, the virtue of patience seems like the stuff of fairy tales of old. But never before has the virtue of patience been more important and necessary.

It is the virtue of Patience that allows us to speak the voice of reason instead of reaction. It is Patience that gives us the ability to work with diligence and steadfastness. It is Patience that softens the chastising words, which then become words of healing instead of wounding. It is Patience that gives us the ability to wait for Gods will and to truly pray “ Thy will be done” echoed in the words of the Blessed Mother, “Let it be done to me according to Thy word”

It was holy Patience that sustained the Holy couple while they searched for the adolescent Jesus for three days finally finding Him in the house of His Father.

And it was holy Patience that sustained the Blessed Mother during the three days Jesus lay in the tomb, conquering hell, and releasing the souls of the Just who eagerly waited for the coming of the Saviour.

Isn’t it interesting that the very season where we are called to practice patience is the very season where it is the most difficult. Perhaps it should not be a surprise at all, as it is very often a trick of the enemy to get us to stare in the opposite direction of where we should be looking in the first place.

 

Advent, from the latin roughly means, the coming. In the crazy busy time before Christmas, with all the hustle and bustle let us remember to practice Holy Patience, and to focus on the one who is to come.

Deus Gratias

TiPSI Dad

Just have to ask

One of the hardest things about network marketing is learning how to share and learning how to ask.

Its funny because if you were going to recommend a movie, or a particular food that you like, you probably wouldn't hesitate one bit. But as soon as you invite someone to try one of YOUR products, you get this irrational fear that it reflects on your character somehow.

The reality is, all you are asking them to do is to try the product or service your company has to offer. Some will say yes, some will say no. If they say yes, GREAT! If they say no, move on.

When it comes to recruiting or retailing in this business, there are really only two types of people. The ones who sign up now, and the ones who sign up later.

The secret to success though, is being 100% committed to the product, and to be 0% committed to the outcome of your invitation. If they say yes GREAT, if they say no, move on.

But you just have to ask.

Tipsi Dad

Back in the Saddle

Hey everyone,

Just when it seems like I disappeared form the blog world, here I am again :)

Just to bring everyone up to date:

Gabriel Francis Joseph Tan was born on September 9th, 2013 and everyone has been appropriately ohhing and "awwing"

Liz and I have been totally engaged in our entrepreneurial endeavors and what a ride it has been so far!!! Actually I have been doing some reflection lately and have decided to blog more about our journey in to entrepreneurship and sharing some of our ups and downs along the way.

I am a big believer in positive thinking, but I think it would be helpful to also share some of the insights we have gained from some of the difficulties.

As always, I will still write in the context of totally relying on the Providence of God .


See you soon

Tipsi Dad

Supernatural Trust

I've come to realize that trusting in God means you have to trust Him even in the impossible situations.

The more you trust Him, the more you realize that with God anything is possible. These last two years are a perfect example. I had a great job that I loved and enjoyed But I felt God calling me on a journey of trust Which in worldly terms makes absolutely no sense. But with the guidance of my spiritual director I took an enormous leap of faith!

If you haven't been following this blog over the last couple years here's the short of it: I was a teacher teaching religion (my favourite subject....actually I have sort of an issue calling it religion, when it should be called Theology, but that is the subject of another post) And I felt God calling me to exercise my entrepreneurial spirit, specifically to get into the trades.

So, I left my job, went back to college full time (I had lots of carpentry experience already, but I just wanted to fill in some of the gaps) So essentially we lived for an entire year with just a paternity leave income and the Providence of God. The crazy thing is we never missed a bill payment And the only debt we had was our mortgage payment and we never missed that either!

If we fast-forward little bit just over a year ago we sold our house I finished college and Liz and I became Network Marketers all in the same week! We moved twice in six months and we have been living on the income brought in from both of our businesses.

So right now I'm in between carpentry jobs. I've got a couple of quotes out but it's the middle of winter and there's not a lot of renovating being done. The bills keep coming in without the security of that biweekly pay check.

Without wanting to complain, at first glance in worldly terms you could say that our situation is stressful but here's the thing about trusting in God, You cannot trust when you're comfortable. It is only when we are uncomfortable when you are in impossible situations that we can really truly demonstrate our trust in God.

It is only then when we can truly let go and let God...and when we do, how awesome is the peace that follows.

St. Rita, pray for us

TiPSI Dad

The discipline of keeping busy

In all honesty, if have to admit that we have been really blessed the last couple of weeks.

One of the realities of being self employed, especially during the first year is that it's basically feast or famine. Despite how much you hear the truisms and conventional wisdom and "mentally prepare," you can never really appreciate the terrifying freedom of entrepreneurship until you go through a famine.

Don't get me wrong, we are still a long way from lining up at the food bank and we are blessed with some very good friends who would fill our fridge while we slept before it ever got to that point.

But when you look at the Donald Trumps and Steve Jobs of the world, you realize that the reason there aren't more self made millionaires out there is that very few people are willing to go through the famine to get to the feast.

I think the hardest part of being slow is keeping busy. After a couple of days, the stuff you needed to catch up on is pretty much under control and all that is left is the stuff you don't really want to do.

Is also really easy to start focusing on the things you don't have (like steady cash flow) instead of the things you do have.

So I have been making it a point to be thankful for the hangout time with the kids during the homeschooling ours, as well as being able to spend time with them over March break.

If it were not for the fact that I began this entrepreneurial journey to witness, in an unmistakeable way, to the glory of God by being completely reliant on His provision, I would probably be a bit worried right now.

But I find myself at peace. After all, if there is one thing I have learned during this two year Odyssey is that God always lives up to His promises. And He always provides.

I look forward to what lies ahead, but I do hope that it comes about soon.

TiPSI Dad

Too short to get irritated

Sometimes I just really want to say stuff on my mind on this blog. The thing is I know that I can get pretty opinionated and hot under the collar about a lot of issues And really just wanted to keep this blog lighthearted and fun maybe about saving a couple bucks here and there.

But the reality is there's so many things I want to write about because of so many things out there That get me pretty riled up. Like some of the ridiculous media coverage leading up to the resignation of Pope Benedict the 16th the last couple weeks.

I guess what really bugs me the most is that a lot of these people say this stuff without even really knowing what they're talking about. What bugs me even more is that the majority of people are willing to believe this stuff without going to a credible source like maybe the Vatican website itself or The hundreds of Catholic News services available out there. But the reality is sensationalism sells.

It just seems like a lot of the news out there right now is just glorified gossip!

Now I'm not to spend my time trying to counter all these arguments that are out there because there are a lot of other really good people much more eloquent than I who are doing that.

At the end of the day life is too short to get irritated by people who don't know what they're talking about.

TiPSI Dad

Arms wide open

One if the unexpected blessings about being a father has been understanding God's love for me in unexpected ways.

Like the time after coming home from facilitating a retreat, I went to the cupboard to fetch me a well deserved cookie.
As the cupboard door started to swing shut, I could hear this tiny voice from behind the door, "Papa, cookie!"

Busted.

Aileen was hiding just out of sight...and like any other two year old, wanted to partake in some delicious chocolate chip cookie consumption. Incidentally, she is now the official chocolate chip cookie maker in the house.

For the next 20 minutes she followed me around the house asking for a cookie!

She didn't cry, she didn't shout, all she did was follow me around the house with her arms up in the air saying, "papa, cookie!"

So finally in the end, like all good fathers do, I caved and I gave her a cookie. As I handed Aileen the cookie, all I could think about was Matthew 7:11: If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

It's funny how that lesson stayed with me all these years especially these days when I find myself looking up in the air with my arms wide open saying, "Father, give us this day our daily bread"

TiPSI Dad

Merry New Year!

Greetings everyone!

Man, what a year 2012 was! During the past year: we have moved twice, I finished a year of college, started a contracting company AND a home based business. Not to mention road trips to DC and Atlanta, a business trip to Long Beach CA. Not to mention doing a whack load of push-ups...although I did not make it to 5000.

It's funny, it doesn't seem like much in print, and truth be told there are probably a million things that I can't remember, and after all, it's all the little things that take the most time.

Anyway, no grand resolutions this year, save for one. And the is to get back on the blog more. After all, if Michelle Duggar can blog regularly with 20 kids, I should be able to throw a few words together with just 7.

TiPSI Dad