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In Defense of Date Night

This past Saturday Miranda and I joined our friends, the Gilmore's, at Acquire the Fire which is a Christian youth convention. This was a huge event with dynamic speakers and some really good Christian rock bands. One speaker struck a nerve with the kids with his talk titled "The Trouble with Parents". He shared about his own broken relationship with his dad who left his mom and brother and sister when he was only 2. He also talked about an abusive step father and how he struggled with the command to "Obey your Father and Mother". The speaker then talked about how important it is to forgive parents that have hurt you. At this point he invited kids who needed healing in their relationship with their parents to come down to the stage and he would pray with them. I kid you not, the auditorium came alive with kids making their way to the front. This event was held at the Palace of Auburn Hills, which is a huge place, so there had to be thousands of teens there. I couldn't believe how many kids had broken relationships with their parents. Honestly, just couldn't get over it. And these were the kids that were brave enough to come forward, so you know there were so many more hurting but not wanting to make the treak to the stage. As all these kids were walking to the front I leaned over to my friend Aleda and asked, "Are there really that many crappy parents in the world?"

I guess the biggest thing I took away from this event is that divorce just rips a kid apart. I knew that before, but I saw first hand all of the kids who were having a really hard time dealing with their parents divorce. I'm not getting on my high horse and preaching that divorce is never the answer. I get it that sometimes it is the best solution to bad situation. But this weekend I had a "A-hah" moment when I realized that the best thing I can do for my kids is to keep my marriage strong. One of the best ways I can love my kids is to love their dad. It only took 19 years of marriage to realize this. So I plan to have a lot more date nights with Brian this year. Lot's of dinners out, movies or just long walks to the park. And if the kids complain that they aren't allowed to go with us, I'll just smile and say "But Honey, we are going out on these dates for YOU". Think they will buy that? Yeah, probably not. That's OK-they we thank us later.

Grace

I finished reading The Shack last night. One of the many themes in the book is the Trinity and how they relate to each other and to us. Of course the book is fiction and who knows if this is a accurate portrayal of the Trinity, but it reminded me of one of my favorite Bible verses. I used this verse in my calendar this year, and come to think of it, last year as well. Thought I would share that page today.

A Great Book

A few months ago my mother recommended this book to me. Since I don't have a lot of free time to read I downloaded the audio version so I could listen to it while I worked. But I could never get into it. I would listen for a while but then my attention would drift somewhere else and I would eventually just turn it off. Last week I picked up the actual book and haven't been able to put it down. I couldn't figure out why listening to it was so different than reading it, but I think I get it now. This book is not a hard read but it's one that you have to focus on. There have been many times that I read a part and would go "huh?". I would back up and re-read it several times before I finally got it. Reading is active and requires totally focus. Listening is not. I haven't finished the book yet but probably will today. There are so many jewels in this book-here are a couple that spoke to me.

God is a verb. LOVE THAT

Also at the very end of the book is a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I've read this poem before but it means something totally different to me now, especially since I started my calendar project.

Earth's crammed with heaven, 

And every common bush afire with God; 

And only he who sees takes off his shoes; 

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Happy Tuesday-it's going to 60° today!!  So looking forward to walking the dog today!

Reminder

With all the uncertainty around here this week I just needed a reminder of who is in control. I logged in to Bible gateway this morning and this was the verse of the day. It took me about 10 minutes to make this in Photoshop since I already knew which photo to use-the one I took last week out my bedroom window. 

The Secret Language of Dogs

Or maybe the title should be "The not so secret language of dogs". It's pretty obvious what Tibbi, our Yellow Lab, is trying to communicated. She lets us know when she needs to eat (or want's to eat) by sticking to you like glue until you feed her. She lets you know when she needs to go out by sitting by the back door. It's pretty clear that she want's to come back in by jumping on the door and hitting it with her nails. You know when she happy, she runs around in circles with a toy in her mouth. And this is her way of expressing anger and frustration. 

This is a ripped up kleenex. Whenever she is mad she will go into my office waste basket and take out a kleenex (or more depending on how mad she is) rip it up and leave it in the middle of the room. That's her way of saying "Take that you @@#$%%^%#$# !" It's a little passive aggressive on her part, but you have to admit, it's pretty effective. I know exactly what she is trying to say. Between the crappy weather and too much work on my plate Tibbi has not had much exercise these past couple of days. This morning I found a ripped up kleenex in the middle of the floor. 

Doesn't she just look ticked off. Guess I need to take this girl for a long walk today!

Morning Beauty

This was the scene outside of my bedroom window this morning. My hair was still wet from the shower as I opened the blinds and saw this magnificent sky. So, being the resourceful (lazy) person that I am, I got my camera and simply opened my window and the screen and started shooting. I took a short break to blow dry my hair and when I went back to take more pictures the sky had gone grey with just a tiny bit of pink. So this is my motto for today: beautiful moments are fleeting moments-capture them now!

Winter Fun

This past weekend we visited our good friends the Gilmores. It was time well spent with good friends, great conversations, nerf gun wars, scrap-booking and hanging out watching movies. It warmed up to 10 degrees above 0 on Sunday so we even got some sledding time in too. 

No school today

The wind chill here is -25 so the powers that be have called off school today. The kids are so sad, as you can imagine! I predict today will be filled with games of Uno Attack, Guitar Hero, Club Penguin and possibly some toilet scrubbing (as punishment for the fighting that will, no doubt, be happening)

Here are a few pictures from this past week. 

No-we didn't catch Miranda smoking, that's just her Oboe reed right before her Band concert. You can always tell the Oboe players-they are the ones sucking on their reeds. Apparently, Oboe reeds need to be moist. 

This is how she looks when she is actually playing her oboe. Good Job Miranda-sounds great!

This was taken yesterday-when the temp was a balmy 6. I took this picture as Brad was leaving for school. Even though he looks ready for the cold trek to school he's actually only walking to the neighbors house right behind him for a ride to school. With this Arctic blast my neighbor's been doing the drop off and I have been on pick up detail. 

Stay warm and here's to snow days and quite possibly clean toilets!

A good read

I just finished reading "The Last Lecture". You may have heard about the author, Randy Pausch, since his lecture was all over the news and You-Tube about a year ago. Randy was a 47 year old father of three young kids, husband and computer science professor. He gave his last lecture at the university he taught at after being diagnosed with terminal cancer and given 3-6 months to live. The book isn't a sad story of death, but a celebration of life and how to live it fully no matter how much time you have. I haven't watched the whole lecture yet but I plan to today....with a box of Kleenex handy.

Winter beauty

Sharing a few photos taken at our park down the street. This was after the snowstorm on Saturday that brought 10 inches of the white fluffy stuff. Brian and I took Tibbi for a long walk on Sunday and I'm so glad I took my camera along.