<![CDATA[BLINK IF YOU THINK I'M AWESOME

<![CDATA[BLINK IF YOU THINK I'M AWESOME - Blog]]>Fri, 17 May 2024 17:35:37 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[alex prochaska day is april 1]]>Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:28:24 GMThttp://blinkifyouthinkimawesome.com/blog/alex-prochaska-day-is-april-1

Alex Prochaska Day

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
1 Timothy 4:12

Alex Prochaska was a fun-loving Christian boy who attended Isaac Newton Christian Academy from Preschool through 8th grade. Around the 3rd grade, Alex got his first funny t-shirt. It said: “Hey man, I’ve got your back” and had two stick men, one holding the other’s back.

Alex enjoyed the attention that he got wearing it, but he especially enjoyed that the shirt made other people smile. Alex really liked to make people smile. Eventually, his entire wardrobe was funny t-shirts. (He also had funny socks and a great tie!) By the time he was in 4th grade, he wore his funny shirts every single day, everywhere that he went.

As he got older, the selection became more difficult to supply. Many shirts at the stores are inappropriate, and that’s not funny. Also, he wouldn’t wear shirts that contradicted his work ethic or his values. Alex continued to seek out the good ones and wore them every day. He had made a standard for himself and he held to it.

When Alex finished 8th grade at Isaac Newton and started at a public high school, of course, he was nervous about his new school. His funny t-shirts were exactly the ice breaker that he needed. Other kids noticed the shirts and would talk to him. “I like your shirt” was a quick conversation starter and Alex made a lot of friends that way. Making new friends also gave him the opportunity to share his faith, and he did.

Alex died in a mowing accident when he was 17. The funny t-shirts are one of the things that people remember about him. Old and young, he had made a connection, and many people remember how Alex made them smile.

April 1st is a special day in the Prochaska house. It’s a good day to laugh. Seeing people wear funny shirts and smiling on this day reminds us of an example that we all want to follow.

So with this day I want to encourage you to make someone smile today. Make a new friend. Laugh together. Encourage each other.

The Message says this in 1 Thessalonians 5

"God didn’t set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we’re awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we’re alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it."

]]><![CDATA[a lesson from my awesome dad]]>Wed, 17 Nov 2021 02:34:56 GMThttp://blinkifyouthinkimawesome.com/blog/a-lesson-from-my-awesome-dad

I have a great childhood memory of my dad and I standing in the back of the garage, I was around 8 years old. I don’t remember what we were doing, or even what I was struggling with that prompted this, but I’ll never forget his attention-getting statement or the lesson that followed.

He said: “Can’t never did nothing”

What?

He had stopped me in my tracks. My dad usually gave instructions very clearly, and that’s not good grammar. He had my attention. He was agitated at me and he repeated “Can’t never did nothing. We don’t say can’t in this family, so try again, sweetheart”

You may hear that and think that he put a lot of pressure on his kids. Were we NEVER allowed to say that we “can’t” do something? Fast forward to 2021 and this isn't popular! We live in an era where this doesn’t seem politically correct. Keep reading.

My dad was ahead of his time, he just had his own approach. I Hope his wisdom will be passed on for generations to come because Dad was encouraging us to take a step back and listen, and then choose better words.

According to my dad, filling your own head with the word CANT was a sure way to stop trying to do things. I think he was right.

Instead, CANT should be changed into one of these
3 replacements:

I don’t know how to do this, yet. - Which also means that I need to learn more. I haven’t done this before and I need instructions, if I have to find them myself I will look, or if you can give me the instructions I will listen.

Examples of this are when a child gets frustrated working on homework or building a complicated lego set. "I can't!" Or a teenager trying to build something, or learn something new. Or even an adult at work when someone has an idea to do something that hasn’t been done before.

I need help doing this. Please teach me. Willingness to learn is a sign of good character, be willing to learn. This could also mean that I recognize that I need someone else’s expert help.

When a job is too big you should ask for help. Did you know that is biblical? Check out Ecclesiastes chapter 4! We all need help sometimes, be humble.

I won’t do this. This one shouldn’t show up too often, but when it does, pay attention. The person who says “I have a line that I won’t cross, and this is it” has integrity. It’s different from “I don’t want to do this” which usually reverts to #1 or #2 above. It is a sign of maturity to figure out internally which one you are dealing with.

Empower the children in your life to tell an adult to back off if they are making them uncomfortable, in a kind way. Give teens the power to not follow the crowd when they are breaking a rule or a law. Raise your children with a value system and by the time they are adults, they will understand the difference between right and wrong.

What it does not mean:
This phrase does not mean that you know everything and you will always be great at everything automatically. Dad knew better, although he didn't ever let on that he did.

From the time I was small till the day he died my dad believed that I could do anything.

It is ok to fail, as long as you try - but if you try again, you probably won’t fail.

Life application: Take a moment to listen to the people around you today. Especially your children. Most likely you will hear the word “can’t” Which phrase could you encourage them to use instead?

A note to the next generation: This was written remembering my awesome dad, who passed away in November of 2019. Till the very end, he was sure that cancer wouldn't win. He never said he couldn't beat it, he just got tired at the end and had to let it win.

My kids have grown up with the same rules about the word "can't". Say what you mean, and mean what you say.

Looking at the future, I consider this a life skill, and it gives me confidence knowing that my kids are going out into the world with this power. I hope they will pass it on to their children someday, too. Whatever situation they face I believe they can figure it out, and this is one of the tools they will use to do that.

Of course, my kids can do anything. How about yours? (wink, wink)

]]><![CDATA[Gratitude for God's promises]]>Sun, 14 Nov 2021 22:05:56 GMThttp://blinkifyouthinkimawesome.com/blog/gratitude-for-gods-promises

This morning at church my Pastor suggested that we go home and Google “God’s promises”

We had an awesome sermon on Jeremiah 29:10-14 and I would certainly encourage you to spend some time in God’s Word this week studying that passage.

It made me start thinking, how many times have I heard about “God’s Promises”?

The first thing that comes to my mind is this song:

One of the things that gets me as a Christian is what I like to call “Christianese”.

Christianese: Words and phrases that we say inside the Church that someone from outside would scratch their heads at.

“The promises of God” can be one of these phrases.

What are God’s actual promises?

Google gave me several resources.

One article cites the 10 promises of God.
…The next list had 5.
Someone else came up with 52 promises of God, one for each week.
Another had 7 promises, one for every day.
Then there were 40 promises, that’s a Biblical number.
365 promises are listed in another article, I’m not sure what we are supposed to do on a leap year?
Biblegateway.com has an article on 5467 promises.

Then I found this, and I thought it was interesting:

How many promises did God give to man in the Bible? The following quote is taken from the Introduction to Dr. Herbert Lockyer's (1886-1984) timeless Christian classic (published in 1962), All The Promises Of The Bible…

“It has been computed that there are 30,000 Bible promises. No indication is given as to how this colossal number is reached. Altogether, there are 31,173 verses making up the Bible; 23,214 verses compromising the Old Testament, and 7,959 — the New Testament. Doubtless, this total of verses gave rise to the 30,000 — every verse being a promise.

The magazine Time, of Dec. 4, 1956, carried an item to the effect that schoolteacher Everett R. Storms, of Kitchener, Canada, reckoned the 30,000 figure to be off the mark. During his 27th reading of the Bible, this devout student tried to tally up the promises, a task which took him a year and a half. Storms [Everett R. Storms] came up with 7,487 promises by God to man, 2 by God the Father to God the Son, 991 by one man to another (such as the servants who promised to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar's dream), 290 by man to God, 21 promises were made by angels, one by man to an angel, and two were made by an evil spirit to the Lord. Satan made nine, as when he promised the world to Christ if He would fall down and worship him. Storms then gives us the grand total of 8,810 promises.

Scattered throughout the Bible are hundreds of definite explicit promises forming the category Peter names as "the exceeding great and precious promises" (II Peter 1:4).”

SOURCE: Dr. Herbert Lockyer, All The Promises Of The Bible, pg. 10; 1962

I’m not going to list all of God’s promises in this article, that is not today's purpose. I have a lot more research to do before I can do that! Instead, I want to point you in the direction that my Pastor did this morning.

My Pastor encouraged us to “Be thankful for God’s promises in our lives because those promises shout the truth that no one wants more for you than God does.”

That sentence speaks to my heart.

Here are 4 of the promises that I am thankful for this Holiday season: 

Promise #1: God is always with me —

Deuteronomy 31:6 (The Message) “Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.”

Promise #2: My God is kind and compassionate -

Isaiah 54:9-10 (The Message)
“This exile is just like the days of Noah for me:
    I promised then that the waters of Noah
    would never again flood the earth.
I’m promising now no more anger,
    no more dressing you down.
For even if the mountains walk away
    and the hills fall to pieces,
My love won’t walk away from you,
    my covenant commitment of peace won’t fall apart.”
    The God who has compassion on you says so.

Promise #3: Nothing can separate me from the love of God

Romans 8:38-39 (The Message)
I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

This final one is a big one for me in this season that I am facing. I have been reminded over and over that He can be trusted. He always keeps His word.

Promise #4: God can be trusted

Hebrews 10:23 (The Message) Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word.

What are the promises that you are grateful to God for this season?

Please share the promises you are grateful for...

]]><![CDATA[Alex’s epic getting-stuck-in-the-mud adventure]]>Sun, 31 Oct 2021 06:36:10 GMThttp://blinkifyouthinkimawesome.com/blog/alexs-epic-getting-stuck-in-the-mud-adventure

March 29, 2019 - That is the anniversary of my son, Alex’s, epic getting-stuck-in-the-mud adventure. It’s an awesome story, worth telling, if only for my own memory. But I think there could be a lesson in it for all of us...

First, let me set this story up. Alex was 17 and he loved old vehicles. There is a highway near our house that leads past a lot of farmland. You can turn up gravel roads that turn into B-level Maintenance roads pretty fast.

Some farms have old cars laying around, and Alex liked to drive around looking for one that might have a “for sale” sign in the window. When he was ready to go home he would just put our address in the GPS of his phone and the map would always bring him home.

The final important detail for this story is that Alex drove an older Ford Focus (low clearance) with a manual transmission, and the spring of 2019 had been wet.

The story

I was sitting in my office at work when my phone rang, it was Alex.

“Mom, I’m stuck.” I rolled my eyes because it wasn’t the first time this had happened. The map feature on our iphones was a fun feature to have that day. He didn’t know that I had his location shared, and I wasn’t ready to tell him, so I asked “Where are you?” His reply made me laugh out loud.

“I don’t know.”

I gave him my best advice on getting un-stuck and suggested that he call his Uncle Jay if those things didn’t work. “Good Luck!”

I work in a small family car dealership with my two brothers. Jay is a car geek and he is also the one who is most likely to end up in these types of situations. I ran to his office before Alex could call and tried to prepare him for it, holding back my laughter as much as I could. Teenage boys are fun to play with.

His phone rang and I saw Alex’s name on the screen.

He greeted his uncle and informed him of his predicament. Alex was concerned about his clutch and didn’t want to break it. I have to give him credit for that. He was at least aware of his car at this point.

Uncle Jay: “Where are you buddy?”
Alex: “I don’t know”.
“You don’t know?”

“Ummm. no.”

Jay was holding back the laughter. He asked Alex a few general directional questions, like which way he had driven out of town and Uncle Jay didn’t miss a beat - “I know that area pretty well, take a picture in every direction, l’ll find you”

These are the pictures Alex sent.

Of course, Jay was actually looking at his location on my phone’s GPS. He called him back.

“I know right where you are, buddy , I’m on my way.”

Story Pause

When the pandemic started, I composed this, but there have been several times in my life that I have felt this way. Have you?

How did I get here? Where am I?

Sometimes I feel like my prayers are a lot like Alex’s pictures.

No details but I know I’m in trouble - “I’m not sure what is going on, or how I got here, but please help”. I promise you, God knows what to do.

Unpause Story

Uncle Jay grabbed a friend on the way out of town. He and Mike found Alex on a B Level maintenance road with mud packed in his wheel wells so tight he could barely turn the wheel. They made Alex hook up the tow straps - after all, the grown men knew better than to get muddy themselves.

They all had a great laugh. Uncle Jay was a hero and Alex was grateful. He even offered to wash his uncle’s truck, since he got it pretty muddy. (Uncle Jay told him the laugh was worth it and gave him grace, this time)

The rest of the story

Alex made it home, covered in mud, and started getting ready for work. He changed out of his dirty clothes quickly and forgot his wallet in the dirty clothes.

When he got out to his car, he had a flat tire that had to be changed.

Alex worked at McDonalds and was closing that night. On the way home, at 1AM he ran out of gas.

No wallet meant no money. Who did he call? His big sister, of course.

She was 19 at the time and he assumed correctly that she was less likely to get mad at him for waking her up than if he called mom or dad. As he had hoped, she left quietly and took care of her brother. It was a great story when they told us the next day.

I call that “Alex’s epic getting stuck-in-the-mud adventure.”

My favorite part is that he was the kind of kid who kept a smile on his face throughout the whole thing. Never angry. Just lost - even in the challenges at the end.

End of Story

As I think about how amused we were that day by this whole scenario, I realize that what I’m going through now is going to be ok as well. I don’t have to know it all.

Like I said earlier, I wrote this at the start of the pandemic. I want to encourage you today that God’s got this virus situation (and all of our other situations, too), even if this is what it looks like in every direction for us.

God already knows the details, and He’s ready to be there for us. Standing by in the middle of the night sort of like Alex's big sister.

One final thought: Alex died in a mowing accident 4 months later.

Grief has given me a new perspective on the world around me. The world is panicking because we've been told someone is going to die and we don’t know who - but we want to protect those we love.

While I agree, I also understand too well that death is part of eternity. You don’t really get to know if the people you love are going to be here tomorrow.

Remember to love them today.

]]><![CDATA[Blink.... what?]]>Fri, 22 Oct 2021 03:20:54 GMThttp://blinkifyouthinkimawesome.com/blog/blink-what

I want to be really direct about where you are, and what you will find here - this site isn't about me!

Let me tell you about that name “Blink If You Think I’m Awesome”....

Welcome to “Blink if you think I’m Awesome”

There are three possible reasons you might have found this site:

You knew my son, Alex. - I would love for you to share a memory or a picture in the comment section sometime.
You found The Alex Prochaska Memorial Project at AlexProchaska.com and landed here - Welcome! Your donation is tax deductible, but it is also in memory of a great kid. I hope you will get to know him a little here.
You are part of the grief community. I’m truly sorry. Please, tell us about your loved one.

No matter the reason, you are welcome here. Please keep reading.

Disclaimer - I’m not a therapist, or a doctor. I probably don’t know much more about grief than you do but that's what this community is. I am a bereaved mom, and I’m still surviving today - so far, so good. Sometimes there should be an award for getting out of bed and going to work.

Humor has always been a big part of our home, so you are going to find some of that here. Grief is now a big part of our home as well, so that's here too. Can you have them both together? I sure hope so, because my Alex was a funny boy and my memories include some pretty great stuff! I call this a "brother-blog" to another blog I have called "I'm Mom's Favorite". I've been a parent for a long time and there are other things that I share there about parenting in general.

So, what will you find here? My hope is that you find community. Encouragement, kindness, and something interesting to think about. I love Jesus and I’m going to point you to Him every opportunity I get - YES, even in my grief. I hope that after you read one of my posts you will walk away with something positive to think about. Perhaps even a chuckle.

So, more about that name “Blink If You Think I’m Awesome”...

My Alex started wearing funny t-shirts sometime around the 3rd grade. I don’t mean that sometimes he wore funny t-shirts. No, that wasn’t Alex. I mean he wore them every-single-day! 3rd grade through 10th grade - that’s a lot of funny t-shirts! He even had a funny tie, in case he was forced to dress up. It was such a part of him that it is one of the first things that people remember about him. The pallbearers at his funeral wore them. The school he went to now has an annual event called “Alex Prochaska Day” where students are encouraged to wear them. I love it. Another blog post talks more about why he wore them.

One of his shirts said “Blink if you think I’m awesome” Of course, everyone blinks, so it was a real conversation starter! And that’s where the name of this blog was found.

Question: Do you think your kiddo/parent/friend/spouse was awesome? Me too. How many times have you had that person stand across from you with nothing to say because they can't find the words? I've seen a hundred articles about those terrible conversations, and I agree. I've had so many of them, too. It's ironic that we, the parent who is hurting so much, have to help others navigate that moment, but sometimes we do. So, I blink. If only for a long pause. And when I open my eyes sometimes I see things in a different light.

I interact with a lot of people in a normal day, so I've had to come up with some coping skills for those moments. That's another article that you will find (coming soon). For now let's just recognize the pause. We could start a movement! Smile. Blink. Lets blink for our awesome people. Blink, if you think they are awesome.

My Alex died suddenly in a mowing accident. Unfortunately, I could not create a “Moms against mowers” group. Sure, my husband and daughters were supportive of the group, but the rest of the following was small. Plus, I live in one of those neighborhoods where everyone mows their yards constantly, so I knew I wouldn’t have the support of my community. Instead, we decided we should use our energy for something good. That was a better decision.

So, in lieu of the anti-mowing group, we created a non-profit called The Alex Prochaska Memorial Project Inc in 2021, as a better option. Alex was more than just funny t-shirts. He did a lot of things. And he would have been a lot of things. This project is to make some of those things possible. In our family, Alex was the last “Prochaska” male. This memorial is his legacy.

Please, come in and check out the articles I’ve written. You may find something that you can relate to. In two years I've learned that sharing helps. Stay for a devotion, I’ll be including some of those, too.

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Alex Prochaska Day

The Message says this in 1 Thessalonians 5

​He said: “Can’t never did nothing”

According to my dad, filling your own head with the word CANT was a sure way to stop trying to do things. I think he was right.

Instead, CANT should be changed into one of these​3 replacements:

It is ok to fail, as long as you try - but if you try again, you probably won’t fail.

The first thing that comes to my mind is this song: ​

What are God’s actual promises?

That sentence speaks to my heart. ​

Promise #1: God is always with me — ​