Disappointments

I love this quote by Mother Teresa about "doing it anyways". Even if the results are disappointing or not the planned outcome.

That can be easier said than done when you are the one giving love and forgiveness to someone who does not appreciate it. It makes one ask the questions "was it worth it?" " could I do this again?". I believe that God strengthens us to love others in this way & to keep loving others in the same way. Yes, at times our hearts hurt & ache. However, I am reminded at those times how God's heart had to hurt & ache for me because of some of my choices.

Freedom is not free, & often the cost or pain of freedom is felt by another. So I pray for you today and for myself that we are faithful in our commitment to "do it anyways!" and not look at the out come or results through our human eyes but through God's eyes! I long to hear him say "Well done,my faithful child".
Amy

Hard times

What is it about movies like "Rudy" or "Remember the Titans" that move us? Make us get up and cheer, move us to tears? I think it's because we all can relate to hard times, struggles. Haven't we all failed at something, or struggled to achieve something that even might have been easy for someone else?

I believe we relate to each others weaknesses so much more than our image of "perfectness". The 2012 Summer Olympics is over and lots and lots of medals were handed out! But you know who I remember? Oscar Pistorius




The runner with blades




He gave us hope! If he could achieve running in the Olympics, what can we achieve struggling against whatever our personal struggles are.




Amy

Family

Last night my family and I watched the 9/11 documentary that was on TV. Beyond remembering how shocking that day was. How watching the rescue workers work for weeks following that day was heroic.

I remember reading that cookbook sales surged and church attendance grew. Why? Was being vividly reminded that life is short made us pause and prioritize what was really important. How did we really want to spend our time. Yes, I think it did for awhile.

However as humans our memories can be short at times, our calendars slowly were filled back up. We returned to being busy. Now when we are. Not out and about many of us are guilty of having our head down above a computer or iPhone. Yes, I will be working on doing better.

Isn't that one lesson that we can take with us. Remembering to pause and really focus on the people who God has given us to fill our lives (the ones we love & the ones we are learning to love). That's my prayer today.

Lord please keep me from being so busy that I miss the opportunity to have face time with those that I love and those you want me to learn to love. Amen


-Amy

You have mail

Do you remember way back when you used to sign on the dial up internet, if you had an email a voice would say "you have mail". I couldn't help it my pulse would speed up I would be excited to see who had sent little ole me an email. Well now days that is almost the only correspondence I receive.

The world has pretty much gone paperless in between emails, texting, & even news media have gone to digital format. I guess that's why I love real mail. The kind you can touch, the type that traveled some distance to arrive in your mailbox.

If you love mail, or your looking for a neat way to teach your children about the geography of the world. Or you like stamps from different parts of the world you might consider "Postcrossing".

Postcrossing is a free website you can sign up to receive random generated addresses around the world to send a postcard to. You write a short note about your area you live in, then mail it off. Your address is generated at random to another person to receive a postcard.

I have enjoyed this but my kids have even enjoyed it more.

Who knows, where your mail will come from next!

-Amy

Life lessons are not learned in kindergarten

Oh don't get me wrong, you can learn how to line up, and be nice to those who are nice to you in kindergarten. However "real" life lessons like sharing, be thoughtful, making allowances for people that are different from you, being thoughtful-those lessons are learned by sharing a bathroom with your siblings!

Siblings won't hesitate to tell you when you are not thoughtful, when you are being a slob, when you are hogging the mirror or when you use up all the hot water!

These are such important lessons to learn. When I hear my girls fuss. Yes, I admit with 3 girls in one household sharing a bathroom they let each other know when they are being rude, unthoughtful, or heaven forbid if they use something of theirs without asking. I remind myself that future college roommates and my girls future spouses will thank me one day for raising such thoughtful, pick up after themselves, sharing
,kindhearted daughters.

But for now, I better get off here and go referee the latest argument erupting upstairs from the bathroom.

Amy