I know I keep borrowing clips from other blogs I read...but really, if I do that, it is just because I think that they are THAT important. This, my friends, is excellent.
I am TOTALLY guilty of wanting my kids to be "happy"...are you?
This is very well written, from a mother to her children...It appears that they are in the midst of adopting a child from what I can tell, but her points are awesome...something I will try and work towards teaching my kids...
ENJOY!


Recently we were told by people whom we love and respect why they oppose our plans to adopt. One of the reasons given was that we would not be able to pay for your college education.It's true.You all have college funds - college funds which recently took a terrible hit - but "they" say that by the time you're 18, college will cost anywhere between $200,000 to half a million dollars each. You might as well know now, we won't be covering that. I'm telling you. The people said that the day would come when you would look at us with resentment because you had to apply for school loans while many of your friends got a free ride from their parents.Maybe you will. Maybe you'll resent us. I really hope not.
But maybe I should tell y'all now why your dad and I have decided to do what we are doing.I know you're going to think I am going off topic (I do that a lot) but several years I saw a story on a TV show about how the latest trend was for parents to give their daughters boob jobs for high school graduation (I don't know what they gave their sons.) When interviewing one of the moms, she said, "I just want my daughter to be happy." And as I tossed a throw pillow at the television, this really huge thought occurred to me: I don't want my children to be happy.My goal as your mom is not your happiness. In fact, I spend at least half my day making you unhappy. If I had a nickle for every tear that falls in this home on a daily basis, we wouldn't need to worry about college tuition at all.
Happiness is fleeting. That means it doesn't last. It's a quick feeling that comes from a funny movie or a heart shaped lollipop or a really good birthday present. It's great. I love to be happy. But happiness is a reaction that is based on our surroundings. And our surroundings are so very rarely under our control. Even when - especially when - we think they are. So no, I absolutely don't want you to spend your life chasing something that has so little to do with your own abilities. You'll just be constantly frustrated.
There are two things I desire for you. There are two things that I spend most of my time as a mother trying cultivate in you. Happiness ain't one of them. (This means, sorry, no boob jobs for you.)
The first is, I want you to be content. Being content is so much different from being happy. Being content is not based on your surroundings. Being content comes from within. Contentment is a spirit of gratitude. It's the choice you make to either be thankful for the things you do have, or to whine about the things you don't have.
As you know, because I've told you lots of times, Paul talked about being content. Paul said that he had "learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." And Paul was in some rotten situations, kiddos, really rotten.How could Paul be content whether he was in prison or if his life was literally a shipwreck? Because Paul was constantly seeking to be in the will of God instead of his own, was constantly sacrificing his own comfort for the sake of the gospel, and was constantly being confirmed, strengthened, and blessed by God because of his obedience. He was given a supernatural power - that means something kind of like magic, God magic - to do things that most other humans could not do. And guess what? The bible tells us (in Ephesians 1) that God will give you the exact same power! If you want it!
Which leads me to my second desire for y'all.I don't want you to be happy. I want you to be holy. That means, I want you to seek that God-power to make you content. I want you to want the Kingdom of God more than your own kingdom. And that's hard, that is so hard. And that usually means passing up a lot of what the world considers happiness. But it means that you will achieve blessings directly from God that most of the world never dreams of because they are too occupied with the achieving the perfect birthday present!
This means you may be poor, 'in want' as Paul said, and that's okay. It will never, ever be okay with the world for you to be poor. So you'll be up against the world. But not your dad and me, because it was never our goal for you to be wealthy - at least not in the way that the world considers wealthy.
You will never even grasp how much we love you until you have children of your own, and then you'll get it, and then you'll apologize for the ways you treated us ;) But our goal is not to please you. Our goal is to please our Heavenly Father.
And nowhere in the bible does the Lord command that we save our money to send our kids to college.But the Lord does command us to care for the orphan around fifty times. He does tell us to care for the poor around 300 times. He does tell us that when we care for the neediest, we are caring for Jesus Himself. And in chapter six of the book of Matthew, He tells us to seek His kingdom first, and let Him worry about the rest, like college tuition. Because it's all His anyway.

WHITE

What is it about the tranquility of the color white? I find myself lost in pictures of rooms done in all white...I know, strange. It seems to go against all decorating coolness to just leave everything ALL white...but some days, I could so go for this:

So simple, plain, and WHITE. Maybe it is the lack of clutter I am drawn to? Hmmm. I like this too:
People say..."You have to have color!" I say....seriously, people...I have three boys...how much more "color" do I need!?!? I am guessing that is exactly the reason why I am drawn to WHITE. :) Just a guess. Of course, if I had it my way, the house just might look like this:
'cause I don't know about you all, but the NEXT best thing to WHITE....is PINK. Something tells me I just might hear some protesting if our house looked like this.....

Wake Up CALL!

Just had to share this insight I got today...major wake up call...right when I needed it most. I don't know if any of you have visited the Jill Savage blog I have listed on my blog list, but in case you didn't today, I am going to copy and paste on here today what she talked about. I can't help but feel strongly about this post of hers, because at this point in my life/marriage, it makes complete sense. After being with the same person for 18+ years, I have found that things are "different", if you get my drift. We have transitioned through many "phases" of love, and, believe it or not, it isn't always a field of dreams! Life happens. What more can I say.
I won't bore you with any of my stories and such...I will just let you read this over, and seriously, to those of you who have been married as long/longer than we have, take this to heart. Maturity, forgiveness, grace, selflessness and patience are key in making ANY relationship work. And to those of you who are barely into marriage...GET this now, and save yourself a lot of frustration later!

Love is a Verb
by Jill Savage
My friend and I sat across the table chatting over lunch. With February being the “month of love” we began to discuss our plans (or lack of plans at that point) for Valentine’s Day weekend. Eventually we moved into sharing some marriage lessons we’ve learned throughout our combined 45 years of marriage. Without thinking much of it I shared that I’ve learned that love has to mature for a marriage to go the distance. And then I followed that with, “I guess love has to move from being a noun to being a verb.” We both paused and considered the implications of what I had spoken. My friend said it was one of the most profound things I’ve ever said. While I’m quite sure it’s most likely the only profound thing I’ve ever said, I’ve definitely not been able to get the concept out of my head. Immature love is a noun. A thing we long for. A feeling. An expectation of what someone will do for us. Mature love is verb. An action we take. A decision. A choice to do something for someone else. Unfortunately too many of us have yet to mature in our love and our relationships bear the scars of that fact. But it’s never too late to grow up. And if we want our love to last a lifetime, we can’t afford to keep believing that love is a noun. The feeling of love is short-lived. We have to transition to understand that long-lasting love is really a verb.But what does this English lesson of nouns and verbs have to do with real relationships? How do we take this concept and apply it to real life? Maybe these scenarios can help paint the picture.

Love as a noun spent all last week wondering what your spouse was going to do for you for Valentine’s Day. Love as a verb spent all last week preparing your expression of love for your spouse.

Love as a noun feels despair when you no longer feel “in love” with the person you are married to. Love as a verb understands the ebb and flow of feelings. It focuses more on expressing love than feeling love.

Love as a noun demands its own way. Love as a verb works to understand differences and is open to new ways of doing things.

Love as a noun finds faults in others. Love as a verb gives grace and forgiveness.

Love as a noun expects others to serve them. Love as a verb serves freely.

Love as a noun expects to always feel warm and fuzzy and “in love.” Love as a verb realizes that often we have to choose to love even when we don’t feel like it.

The most frequently quoted Bible verse at weddings is I Corinthians 13, which is often referred to as the “love chapter.” It says that “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

It wasn’t until just a few weeks ago that I realized that every time love is mentioned in this often quoted verse, it is a verb. Maybe this concept has been right in front of my eyes all along, but I just didn’t understand it until recently. The most interesting thing, however, is a less often quoted part of the verse that says, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” So love has to grow up. It has to mature. Who knew grammar could reveal so much about love?

Already #9

Let me repeat myself. AGAIN.

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

Today is Justin David Horton's 9th Birthday. Wow. I would be kidding myself if I said he wasn't SLIGHTLY excited! This kid has done nothing but wish that he was older since the time he realized he actually WAS getting older. Does that make any sense? He has always wanted to be "just" a little older. That comes from having an older brother, who of course, gets to do WAY more fun stuff. As much as I try and convince him that is OK to take things slow, he doesn't listen.

He, thankfully, is still just as lovable as he used to be...MOST of the time, and ONLY in the privacy of our home...his "cool" factor has gone up significantly this year, and he is way more into cool clothes etc., than Jared ever has been. He still wears his emotions on his sleeve though, and is very tenderhearted. Now, if we could just get him to deal with that better, we will be in business! It will come in time...hopefully....before the hormones hit!

Remember when....

AGH! His backpacks was as big as he was!

AND THIS:

Some girl is going to swoon over this cowboy someday. And I will slap her hand and tell her to get away from my beautiful boy. Just kidding. Well, sorta...unless she is respectable...then I might let her. Oh well, I do know that this growing up thing is inevitable...I will have to let him go one day. But for now, he is mine to hug and cuddle...even though HE is almost as tall as I am already!
I love ya buddy! Happy Birthday!

Out of the mouths of babes...

Travis and I have some interesting conversations at lunch time, just the two of us. As most of you know, this kid takes the cake when it comes to story telling, so I never know what I am going to get. Makes life vvvveeerrrryyyy interesting.

Yesterday, I decided to see what he would come up with when asked this:

Me: Hey Trav, if you could get up in the morning and do anything you wanted ALL day, what would it be?

Travis: (Belly laughing) WATCH TV AAAAALLLLLL DAY MOM!

Me: (Mouth hanging open) Seriously, son?

Travis: YUP!

Oh. Boy. I have a 5 year old with no aspirations to do anything but watch TV. Great. I guess we have our work cut out for us, eh?!!?!?!?!? :)

Straight out of Africa...

Well, my mother-in-law has flown the coop...to Africa. Kind of a long way to go to "get away", but let's just say she has gone with a purpose. That purpose would be to visit Hope Children's Home, in Uganda....innnnn....AFRICA. I still CANNOT believe that she is actually there! This is honestly the last place I would have ever expected her to go, but I just have to say that I am really proud of her for going. We were all a little skeptical when she said she was going to go, because she has struggled with certain fears and anxiety in the past, and has always been a little afraid of stepping out of her comfort zone. But, she was determined to overcome those fears with God's help, and by golly, she did! What an amazing testimony to what God can REALLY do when we just step back and let him take the reigns. She really cast all of her fears on him, and he cared for her. Not to say that getting there was a little rough, but hey, she is THERE and from the smile on her face, she seems to be enjoying herself! I am so excited for her and what God is going to do in her through this experience.
Our other dear friend Julie went along as well, and from the looks of this picture and what Rita said on her blog, she seems to have the same effect on kiddos over in Africa that she does here. Seems they flocked to her and have been her constant companions! She is one of our school secretaries and also the infamous "recess" lady...so she is quite at home playing with little ones.

I have the daunting task of "being Julie" while Julie is gone at the school, and let me tell ya, I just don't measure up! They all miss her ALOT!
So, I guess this post is to remind all of you that God can do ANYTHING if you just give him control of your life. I am glad he forgives me when I doubt that he can do that!

Do I REALLY have to reflect about 2009?!?!?

So I have been thinking that maybe I should reflect about 2009 a little...but UGH. I don't wanna. Aside from watching the kids grow and accomplish so much, 2009 can pretty much go on record as being one of the WORST I have ever had.

We have had more than our share of heartache, trials, tribulations, drama, woes...etc, etc, you get the picture.

BUT, throught is all, God has sustained us and provided for us, which, in reality, is all we REALLY need. RIGHT? His Grace and love is more than enough. I know that some days I have struggled to feel that, but when I put my "reflection" hat on, I can see evidence of it woven throughout. It warms my soul. Literally.
I have a lot to be thankful for...a roof over my head, food in my (needs exercise) belly, amazing HEALTHY children, a great hubby.
Here's to hoping that 2010 will be a BIG year of improvement...in my parenting, my faith, my marriage, myselft... and the list goes on and on.

CHEERS and best of luck to you in your goals for 2010!