With that,
​
From my Heart to Yours...
Choose to live "appreciating" Moments
that will become Memories. Choose to add and not subtract when you have an opportunity to laugh and to love on others. ​

I was asked...

Donyale, you share often that "No One Promised Us Tomorrow will Look the Same as Today"

You no longer have hope for Tomorrow?!

I appreciate those who Share their Heart

That question reminded me how...

How Words
How Images

Can mean numerous things to the Heart that Reads or Views Them.

Again,
I don't share Answers
I share a Perspective
From the Heart that has traveled this Journey to Present Day

Those words "No One Promised Us Tomorrow will Look the Same as Today"

Is a "bow" for this heart that has traveled "through" many experiences 

From a young heart who Learn to say "I Love You"
As with many things it was adopted from "an experience"

From that Young Heart's Experience
Now. . .
When Ending a Conversation or a Visit
It most often ends with "Love You"

Words Adopted. . . 
Priceless words from a young heart who experienced the loss of a dear childhood friend who was a next door neighbor to my Grandparent's home, a childhood friend who I spent "numerous summer days" playing childhood games.

Her life tragically ended at a young age and for the first time as a "young heart"
I realized that life could end at a young age?!. . .

This young heart decided I would always tell my love ones that "I loved them"
because 
That young heart "recognized" the value of those we cherish in our lives can end, prior to that experience it was just childhood games and now for the first time a young heart was confronted with "No One Promised Us that Tomorrow Will Look the Same as Today"

Words for a "young heart" not phrased in that way, more at that time it was,
​Wow, I never thought. . .

That lesson was the beginning lesson of many lessons of "LOVE"

To take the reign of every single day
Add as Much Love as Possible
In Every Single Conversation
In Every Single Moment

And

When those difficult days surround you
And 
You don't have much to Share with anyone because you are crawling through that day.

In those days. . .
Just
Peaceful Silence can be a wonderful Gift

When 
Not If
Life Changes
It 
Will be filled with many emotions
But 
This Share 
Is 
That "those days" will not include "Regret"
Because
Every Share
Every Word
Every Video
Every Image
IS MEANT

To Remind Us 
To EXERCISE GRATITUDE
Every Single Day

Always a Choice, if "you" choose to participate

This Heart is Not Sharing
What I Think
I'm Sharing from a Heart That Knows

And 

I'm Grateful for Life's Love Lessons BEYOND THE WORDS TO EXPRESS 



Those lessons to "present day" 
Has Allowed This Heart to Rob Regret

From a Heart that Knows. . .
And
Will Continue to Share
​That 
​GRATITUDE ROBS REGRET

Before we travel another step, it's important to know who is speaking into your life, to learn more,  you're in the right spot by visiting the first shares on this page which provides the framework present day of  "Living In My Truth" and of course that includes
the "About" page.

Please know, I don't share answers, I share a perspective which comes from my belief,
​my environment, and experiences along the way. 

Please take what can be an asset for this day, and for the journey ahead for you. 

​Hugs,
​Donyale

Hurtful, Unimaginable, Painful Places, Out of your Control Places, it's imperative that you Take Time to catch your breath, to do the work, to get healed within.  It is imperative to Fill Your Cup, to put the Oxygen Mask on first before assisting anyone. 


Consider, those who dance with evil, speak from it and make decisions from it, consider there is "no boundaries", and there is no consideration on the damage that will be delivered. NONE.


For me, when it visited my home, interrupted my life, my plans, and including as a woman of Faith confronted me directly asking, Where is God now, and can you Trust Him?!, it arrived with vengeance without regard of what it would mean for anyone in my home which included the "ripple effect" of the village of family and close friends.


MY thoughts,  a storm comes to destroy, to create destruction and that includes damage left behind once the storm passes, and from any disaster some don't make it out, some don't walk out of a dark room. Some lives are never the same and just can't seem to find there way around the broken pieces.  **Whenever, I'm sharing in such a delicate area and recognize that our vantage points, our foundation is very different, it's important to me share with you, the Hope / Suicide Line available 24 hours a day / 7 days a week, the phone #: 800-273-8255, it's not just about suicidal thoughts, for some it come mean a voice, a venting place before a line snaps emotionally, and for some there are no resources or trusted friends to draw from, so if you need help get help, if you have life someone needs you now or down the road, don't allow anything to rob you of life.


So with that, SOMEONE NOT MAKING IT OUT. . .FOR ME, IT BECAME VERY CLEAR ON HOW TO MAKE PAIN PAY DIVIDENDS, ON WHAT TO DO WITH THE TSUNAMI that came to my home.  


God's Grace, allowed me to see to not allow Anger to rob my sons and I, of traveling forward through life's journey, to not lose hope, or become overwhelmed, to review the page that we embraced in our lives, and have read many times; Eagles Rise above the Storm, they use the Strong Winds to Go Higher, that is winning, that is taking what tries to rob your life and "choosing in smite of" to continue to Soar not just for yourself but for those who may be watching and need to know they can go higher, who need to know they can come out of a dark room.


Allow me to say, our work, our journey, our hopes and pursuits are uniquely like our own fingerprints.  When you find your Why, it no longer depends on the validation of others, it is living in your truth and recognizing "at least for me" how to be of our service, that is very fulfilling. 



Yes, I do Trust God, and my prayer was Lord what can I do with this Pain that "TRIED" to steal my Faith, that tried to ruin the generations that are grounded with Faith and understand Service?!  What can I do with it?!



When Evil visits and when life knocks you down, strips you of your hope, your joy, your plans, and that includes those who don't have a foundation of Faith, or Hope. . .A great option is to not allow a moment to Trigger you, to rob you and or trap you into a dark place that you can't come out of, including making decisions out of anger.  Some decisions out of anger, you can't recover from, some decisions out of anger can cost you a lifetime.   



IN MY OPINION, when you allow Anger to become lodged in your heat, that means Evil, Challenges, being Knocked Down Wins.  It means that it robbed you and continues to rob you daily, robs you blind of what you have now that is priceless, precious, and surrounds your life now.  


Every story is not meant to be shared, but from a humbled heart, that can include to be in service silently knowing that you can relate and you can share a kind word, moment, and or peaceful silence all of which, can be a gift to someone else. 


There is not one way to Pay Back what knocked or knocks you down, when Tragic things happen, just be aware of what tried to and or is trying to Destroy your Joy, just take time to heal, take time to pause, to gain your perspective, your and than consider how you can be of service.  

​

If you only Take One Thing Away . . .

Do the Work 
Get Back Up
Take Time To Heal
Continue Forward

and 
​
"For Some" consider what you can YOU do to make a difference
in the lives of others, to be of service?!

Sharing with Purpose 

The Why is the #StoriesBehindtheSmile
The Work is #PlantingSeedsofGratitude

From a Heart that Knows #GratitudeRobsRegret

If your visit receives nothing else but this... "No One Promised Us that Tomorrow will look the Same as Today" 

That alone should give Pause on how this Gift is Treated called "Life"

#AlwaysaChoice

We Travel with many but the "decisions" are always decided by "one"

Tears, Pain and Prayer when my life was altered, "In An Instant".  I had to speak on behalf of my husband Todd, to that Craigslist predator, that murderer
directly in court at his sentencing. 

What would I say, what would be my response...
**Video below of the predator's sentencing and what I chose to say**

~ I had to decide that day and now that work continues for many reasons  ~

No One Said Easy
and now that we know that...

#MakingGratitudeContagious is always the intent

My Life was forever altered, my home, my family. My husband of almost 20 years was shot in the back with a military assault rifle, left to die in the street. 

This is My Story, this was recorded a year after the storm that came to destroy our lives, to destroy generations. 

​This was Recorded Sharing Freely, not a script, or words written down, a flow of the heart, and there are two parts.  

For me, this is taking what disrupted my life and "choosing" to make a difference
in the lives of others...that is "fulfillment" for the remainder of my journey. 

Note:  I considered recording a short version but it is better shared just how it was felt a year after and my heart a this time just doesn't want to share those words.

~ Thank you for traveling this unfamiliar path with me ~
​"No One Said Easy"

The Story...What Happened?!
The Day my Husband Died
​Part One

The Story...What Happened?!
The Day my Husband Died
​Part Two

The Predator who shot my husband has been sentenced, the link of the sentencing
is shared below, on a prior post on this page.

My sons and I, our lives forever changed.   
That day changed numerous lives extended beyond our Home
​a ripple effect in the lives of many. 

For me, "Victim is not my name, my punch back was and is
"Making Pain Pay Dividends"

I can't control the winds...but I can adjust the sails.
​My Sons will know that flowers can grow out of ashes. 

In an instant...Life is forever altered, a chair is now missing at the table.
"Victim" is not my name and after praying through, walking through, the only question is how to Make Pain Pay Dividends.  How to make flowers grow out of ashes?! This is not just about me, this is about flowers out of ashes for my sons, for Todd's boys.
This is about those who "right now" are in a dark room and or are sharing a similar experience that is a sucker punch to the heart. 
That a moment, in an instant "life changed" forever altered. 

Grieving Process after death, of a spouse, a child, any loved one is very real and
post-travel of that is a continual journey. 
A journey that I would never tell anyone how to live or how to grieve. 

My healing ointment by the Grace of God, is the work, is my eagle call, it is finding
out that Encouraging multiplies, returns and encourages me.  

"No One Said Easy" and I live that, the question I asked myself is now that I know,
what can I do with that?!

#MakingGratitudeContagious is always the intent

Why is the focus...Gratitude?

In An Instant...I know firsthand "a moment" that changes your life forever. 

Gratitude allowed me to Rob the Thief Name "Regrets"
Gratitude is not a small word and that is my focus, my work and my fulfillment
When my Life, my Home, was forever altered, blueprints and plans torn up "In An Instant" this "exercise" was a gift that returned to me, gave back into my life...it showed me the value of exercising life in this way, the priceless treasure that was attached to that. It showed me the Harvest of the many years of planting these seeds.  Exercising Gratitude, never mastered, an exercise. 

The Seeds "we" plant in the lives of others "will always grow"  
The Only real question...What are you planting?!

Did You Know that Your Life Can Change "In An Instant"?
"No One Said Easy" and now that you know that...what does it mean to you and to the lives that surround you?!

Don't be fooled by "forever" things do and things will change.  It's called Life's Journey. 

​In An Instant

The Full Story; My Husband was shot in the back by a 17 year old predator, Fake Craigslist Ad, left to die in the street.  He knew the dangers of Craigslist but this Predator perfected his craft and now I choose to make a Tragic Moment a Movement. #TeamTerry,
Todd's sons deserve that, they deserve to know that Flowers will grow out of Ashes
and now it includes many, it expands beyond my Doorstep.

Why? Because. . . 

We All Have a Story! To know someone can come out of a Dark Room and be Encouraged, encourages me, it is my Fulfillment. 
(The complete story, including, the Predator being sentenced is found below):