Life's Not Fair

People get hurt. Tornadoes rip homes apart. War. Famine. Drunk drivers. CEO's get million dollar bonuses while workers get laid off. Women are battered. Children are abused. Bullies. Cancer. Buildings burn. Shootings. Robberies.

We all know that life is not fair. God does not promise that the road to heaven is paved with roses. ^{John 15:18-19} "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." John 16:³³ "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

But how do you explain that to a child? I have a child that sees the world as black and white. Right and wrong. If you do what is wrong you should be punished. But that does not always happen. Sometimes people that do bad things seem to be - almost rewarded - with popularity, skills, privileges. And it is not fair.

I wish there was a way to explain all the bad, without it hurting so much. But I can't do it. I just want to cry. Life seemed easier when I was young. Maybe the world wasn't as bad then, or maybe my parents just shielded me from it all. I wish I could wrap my arms around my kids, hold them close and protect them from all the evil in the world. But I can't. So, instead I will pray with everything I have that I can teach my children God's love and God's reward if we live like him. I pray it will be enough and that they can understand that we don't want to live life for the world's reward of popularity, fame or fortune. I pray that my children will live their life worthy, in an unfair world, to be a child of God.

Awesome God

Well, once again God has surprised me. Not sure why. I should expect it from Him by now.

A few weeks ago, I asked an elder if we could have a ladies Bible study on Wednesday nights. What I wanted was to get into the Word, but let someone else teach it to me. (Wow that sounds lazy!)

What I got was words of encouragement and a study book. The book is titled "Authentic Relationships: Being Real in an Artificial World". I was not sure if this was right for the 30-ish year old women that I had in mind. It seemed almost too basic. Developing friendships. We all have those. Right?

Wrong.

Believe it or not there are women that are faithful Christians. Involved in church activities. Popular. Cute. Sweet families. But not feeling connected. No close friends to lean on. How can this be?

As a society, we have gotten so busy and yet we still try to do more, have more, be more. Maybe today, we should do less, have less, and be less, so that we can be a friend. Because as my mom has always said, "you have to be a friend to have friends".

This week, there were 21 women in class praying for authentic relationships. Wow! What an awesome God! Whoa - what a responsibility. I may be making a complete fool of myself by leading this class, but that will be a small cost if God will use me to make a difference in one woman's life.

Spring Break at the Zoo

NOT!!!!

We got up this morning excited about the day ahead. We had decided to go to the zoo for the day. We dressed, packed lunches and picked up Grandmother. As we got to the exit for the zoo, we noticed police officers were directing traffic. Not a good sign. I kept driving, just hoping that everyone was going to a spring festival in the botanic gardens. Not so much. Cars were parking in the grass beside University!!! We knew it would be at least another hour before we even saw the zoo entrance. So, we sadly turned around.

Idea # 2 - We drove over to Keller-Smithfield Park to eat lunch and play with friends. But, there was not one single parking spot. Cars were jumping the curb and parking in the grass. I was not willing to jump the curb in my new van, so, we turned around. Again.

Idea #3 - We drove home and had a picnic in the front yard. No lines and no trouble finding a parking spot. It also had fairly clean bathrooms. Perfect! Lunch was great! It is a beautiful day!

Idea #4 - We have Putt-Putt passes, so this time I called to see how busy they were. I was told "We are CRAZY busy! It is spring break you know." Really? *sigh*

Idea #5 - We took a nice relaxing walk down the trails to the Nature Center park. It was a great walk and I got to see all kinds of wild animals. Mountain lions, alligators and monkeys...



I am so proud of my kids. Today could have been a disappointing day, but they all had such great attitudes. "... for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." Philippians 4:11

Thank you kids for your beautiful example of Jesus that you have shown me today. I treasure you in my heart.

Logan the Proud

Logan was honored at school last Friday as a Proud Porter Panther. Every six weeks, teachers and students choose a child from each class to be honored for a particular virtue. This six weeks the virtue was fairness. His teacher Ms. Fiehler writes:

"Logan is a great example of the fairness virtue. He is a patient student, which makes him a good friend. Logan makes sure everyone has a partner and doesn't want anyone to be left out. I am proud to have Logan in my class. He models all virtues, and I am thrilled for him to be our Proud Panther."

Awww...Way to go Logan! Mom is very proud of you!

Horrible Hair on a Cutie Pie

Last Friday was horrible hair day in Lily's class. She had a very specific way she wanted me to "fix" her hair to be "horrible". Thursday night we made ponies, braids and knots all over her head. Friday morning we added the non-matching bows.

It is pretty hard to make a cutie pie look horrible! Pretty much impossible...just look at that face!

Horrible hair morning was a great morning for Lily. She and Zachery were upstairs brushing their teeth. They had been up there quite a while and Larry was calling Lily down to take o picture of her hair. She came down, posed for the camera, and as Larry looked through the camera lens, she smiled...a really big, toothless smile! She had lost her first tooth while brushing her teeth! She did not say a word about it until she smiled for the camera. She loved "tricking"dad!

Sunday night she lost tooth #2. Well, actually Larry used some floss to pull it. She had been wiggling it so much that she was making it sore. She has been so funny looking at herself in the mirror, sticking her tongue in the hole and wishing for mashed potatoes to squish out. I love the way she talks too.

Such small delights. Such great joy.

Show me the Diamonds!

Lily had her first softball game on Saturday and LOVED every minute of it! She has a very fun team with 3 friends from church. They are the "Diamond Girls". The smallest girl on the team, Allie (not pictured) looked at her jersey, front and back, and asked "Coach, where are the diamonds?" Ha! Don't they all look precious in their uniforms???

Charlie, Harley, Lily, Jacey, Susie and Presley (Notice all the "e's" at the end of their names?)

I asked Lily and her best friend if I could take their picture, and this is the pose they struck! They love their uniforms. It makes them feel sassy!

Who needs sparkly diamonds when the girls are this beautiful?

Lily's New Trick

Lily has learned a new trick. She has practiced it so much tonight, that she may be cross-eyed forever! She is so proud of her amazing new ability. I had to take a picture of her because she kept trying to see what she looked like cross-eyed.

Tomorrow is horrible hair day for Lily, so I will post pictures of that later.

Oh, and tomorrow or maybe Saturday, she will probably lose her first tooth. Unless she stays up late wiggling it out tonight. Which would not surprise me at all from my little night owl! She is hoping that Jacey will hug her so tight tomorrow that her tooth will pop right out! (Lily hugged Jacey's last tooth out!) What are friends for right?

Extra! Extra! Read all about us!

Well, life is starting to get crazy again. Here is what is going on:

ZAC - Zachery tried out for the school talent show - and made it! He will be playing his guitar and singing "This Land is Your Land" on March 13th (the talent show has a patriotic/50's/showtune theme). He did great in the audition, even though he was so nervous that he almost changed his act before he walked in the room! The teachers were impressed that he did so well, especially since he has never taken lessons. The smile on his face was priceless when they said "You're in".

Zachery is getting bigger too - well at least his feet are! He is very proud of the fact that he now wears a men's 7. Which just happens to be just the size of his mom's feet.

Zachery is playing baseball on the Nationals team. He is playing first base and pitcher. His team practices twice a week right now.

Zac took the TAKS writing test today. He said "I don't like writing!" I'm sure he did great, because he always does very well in standardized testing.

LOGAN- Logan will be honored at a school breakfast on Friday as a "Proud Porter Panther". He was chosen by his teacher for showing the virtue of fairness this past six weeks. Way to go Logan!

Logan is growing even faster than Zachery! He is eating everything that does not eat him first! Seriously. He wears the same size shorts as his big brother, which makes him grin from ear to ear!

Logan is playing baseball for the Storm. He rotates positions and since he is catching so well right now, he got to play first base for the first time last night! He made some great plays and hit 2 doubles during the game!

LILY- Lily received a letter today to say she will be in the Excel program at school next year. That is the gifted program at Porter. She was thrilled that she gets to do the same thing as Zachery.

Lily is playing softball on the Diamond Girls team with her friends. They are soooo cute! I will post pictures after her first game on Saturday. She loves softball much, much more than soccer.

Larry is working like crazy and coaching three kids ball teams in his "spare" time.

And me, well, when I am not working on things for church, or PTA matters, or cleaning, or doing laundry (mountains and mountains!), or cooking for my growing boys (you are still hungry?!), or grocery shopping (we need milk again!?), or cleaning the flowerbeds, or running errands...it looks like I will be facilitating a women's Bible study on Wednesday nights. God has a crazy way of answering prayers! Ask Him to help increase your time in the word and He puts you in charge. Not what I had in mind, but hopefully the study will be meaningful to the ladies that attend.

Well, that's it. Everyone should be coming home soon ready to eat again. I will try to post a little more often than once a week. No promises though.