"True Beauty"

I saw one of my two favorite cartoons last night. Beauty and the Beast. What a great movie! I find myself tearing up during the whole movie. For one thing Belle (the main character) loves to read. A girl who loves to read as much as her is a girl after my own heart. She also sacrifices her own well being for that of her father's. A selfless act of love for her family. I'd like to imagine if I was put in a situation that I had to choose between myself and that of my family-I'd choose them. My favorite, favorite part of the movie is that Belle falls in love with the beast even though she has no idea that he is really a prince. There is also a really dorky guy named Gaston (who is supposedly attractive) in the movie. He is conceited and really wants to marry Belle. She knows he is a loser and refuses to give in to his advances. There aren't that many movies made that I know of that have this kind of a moral. If only more of us chose to be like Belle. If only you and I would always choose to look past the exterior. The world would instantly become a better place. I try with everything in me to teach this to our children. The sad part is that no matter how hard you try to teach it, for most people it is somewhat of struggle. We are so saturated with it as a culture. What happens if my kids grow up to be not the most attractive people (by society's standards)? Does this make them any less valuable to society. No way. I'm so sick of seeing commercials that purposely make you fell inadequate looking so you'll by a stupid product. Then maybe you or I will attain a 5'11", 117 pound body(which, by the way, is the average size model). Then maybe we'll be worth something. Boy, this has got to be my most depressing blog to date! You get my drift. Take care of your shell. Don't be obsessed with yours or anybody else's. It just that-a shell. Who and what you are is inside of that shell. Spend your time (I'm speaking to myself as well) grooming and changing inside of you for the better. Don't waste your precious time.
Even though I know that my kids will have to deal with all these issues, I'm hoping that what we try to teach them will stick with them. They are already such beautiful people-where it counts.
Oh yeah. The other cartoon I love is "The Incredibles". It's awesome.
Oh yeah again: Galatians 2:6b- God does not judge by external appearance.

Letting things go

Do you know my daughter Danielle? If you know her at all, you know she is slightly clumsy. That is a nice way of putting it. I don't think she'll ever become a ballerina. Well, Danielle fell down during gym class on March 15th. She went over on her ankle and hurt it quite badly. She stayed in school the whole day. When we picked her up she burst into tears and told us what happened. When we wanted to look at her ankle the tears fell because it had hurt so bad to put her boot on. When we looked at it we headed over to emergency right away. When the doctor saw us, she sent us right up to x-ray. When the doctor looked at the x-ray she told us that nothing was broken and that she had a bad sprain. So we packed up and took her home. The ankle hurt all week, but we didn't think about it a whole lot. Exactly one week later there was a call for me to call our own doctor. Turns out that Danielle has a fracture in what's called her"growth plate". Thankfully, it is a fracture that casting would not have helped in the first place and she is expected to make a full recovery. I don't know what your reaction has been to this long winded blog. Maybe it's like mine initially was. Why did the school not call us? The doctor read her x-ray wrong? This should not have happened. This is a little example of what happens quite often. Events, mistakes, and unfortunately tragedy occurs and whamo- we seem to have this need to find somebody to blame. The funny thing is, it never changes the outcome of what has already taken place. It makes me think a lot about my own life. The wrongs I've committed, the judgments I've screwed up, the people I've hurt. The truth is-intentionally or unintentionally we have all done wrong. I know what I want for my screw ups. I want grace. I don't deserve it but I get it. My family and friends give it to me daily. More incredibly -God gives it to me-over and over and over again. It is totally undeserved and it feels really good. God's Word puts it this way-"Do to others as you would have them do to you.".Luke 6:31

Have a great day!

Brain awareness week

Well this is brain awareness week. It's really got me thinking. What would this world be like if everyone were indeed aware that they did have a brain. This may sound a little sarcastic (you need to remember who I'm married to). Now I can't say for myself that I always act like I have a superior brain. I've left too many purses in the mall, and too many coffee cups on top of cars to claim a prize or anything. I'm blogging about the big things. For example: If you really sit down and think about it, giving your child everything he or she wants is very bad for your child. It can make them believe so many wrong things about life. It can make them believe that"stuff" can make them happy. It can make them think that the world is about getting what you want. It can make YOU broke, frustrated, and tired. It can make them unable to sympathize with others. It teaches you an incorrect definition of love. It can inhibit their imagination. Now, many people have great intentions when they give everything to their child, but if they sat down and thought about it, they probably could see that they were in fact harming their child. Now I know that people use their supposedly superior brains many times to get bent out of shape about the little things. Things that in the long run won't hurt a soul. The things that I'm talking about have consequences. They matter more than the fashion of my clothes, and my grammar in this blog. Let's not use our brains to major in the minors. I do realize that this has nothing to do with what brain awareness week is all about. I'm just proposing that maybe this is what it could be about. And for those us that are Christians we could really make a difference in this world. That's a loaded statement that may require further blogging.
TTFN

So it starts!

Boy it starts young. The drama of having two girls that are going to be teenagers has been hitting me this week. The kindergarden soap opera has been in full swing. It all started with one of Hannah's friend starting a "club" of sorts. This "club" according to her friends is only allowed to have 3 members. This poses a bit of a problem when her class has 12 kiddies. It has become quite a thing to be part of the "tickle tickle" group. Interesting name don't you think? Hannah was a part of this group for a couple of days. I've been trying to explain to her that these groups can make others feel bad if they are excluded. It turns out that being cast out of the group was actually the best way to find out. I guess she started crying when she was cast out and her little friend felt bad and let her back in. I actually convinced her to try and start and group that everybody can be a part of if they chose so Hannah told her friend today that she was no longer a "tickle tickle". Apparently the group has not disolved because according to my daughter a fight broke out at figure skating today over who would take her spot.(not a physical fight of course, but a girlie word fight) So the drama is continuing as will for many more years I am sure. Matt and I will just have to take it all as it comes through all the tears and hurt feelings that are sure to ensue. What really gets me though is when adults act like Hannah's kindergarden class. These years are supposed to teach not to behave in this way. I guess there are all kinds of people who get it. I know that there are plenty who don't. I guess my advise is to reflect on it yourself. What are you like? Do you belong to any "tickle Tickle" groups. If so- graduation time is here.