Thought for the Day

Family:

God gave us the family we have, because He knew that's the only way we'd associate with those people. . .

Feel free to discuss. : )

And no, I don't hate my family. I LOVE most of my family. I just don't count some of those people I'm related to as family. . . : )

Just when you think. . .

things are wonderful and perfect, you see something absolutely horrific. . .

Letter to santa leads to man's molestation arrest

and then you see something miraculous. . .

toddler survives 10 frigid hours after falling out of buggy

and I guess I'm back to where I started. God is wonderful and awesome. His power astounds. But why is there such evil in this world. . .

Soul Searching from Dr. King

Truthfully, I got. . .not much today. SSSSssssssssoooooooooo, as the election nears, I pass on to you deep thoughts from Martin Luther King, Jr. Honestly, this is not political as much as "life advice" from a great man, but I do think these things are interesting to think about in terms of how we vote, what ideals we pass on, etc. (And before some of you Type A people remind me, yes, I am aware that every quote in the world eventually gets cited to Dr. King and then Mother Theresa. These came from an online site--just humor me, ok?)

Again, Dr. King is always good for some soul searching. . . ENJOY!

1. Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?


2. Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.


3. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.


4. In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.


5. We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.


6. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.


7. All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.


8. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.


9. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.


10. Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.


11. Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?Expediency asks the question - is it politic?Vanity asks the question - is it popular?But conscience asks the question - is it right?And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.


12. If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.

Have a wonderful day! I'm going home to clean my house. . .yea, me!

We're Weird. (There, I said it.)

I wrote the following post a few weeks ago but never posted it. As I face a very difficult professional decision, I reread this post and decided to share it. Again, I'm not sure I've managed to verbalize what I want. . .


Our family situation is different than most. I enter this blog with some trepidation, fearing that I won't be able to say this as I want to (more so than with most posts. . .). If you've read my profile, you know Kevin works away from home. You may have wondered about this. So did we. We asked ourselves if this was really what Kevin needed to do, if this was what God had in mind. We prayed, I fasted over this decision. How could God take Kevin away from us? What sense did it make for a father to leave his children and go to work in Florida (at that time). God kept saying, "wait, just wait." I began to feel Him working on both of us. It still makes no sense to most people (and to us, if we're honest) that the father of my children is gone more often than he's home. That said, let me tell you a little something about our life prior to Kevin's change of career.


I have spent more nights falling asleep by myself than with my husband. Way more nights falling asleep alone. Kevin has worked nights since he was in college. There have been brief changes to this schedule, and he has worked many different schedules (3 1/2, 12 hour shifts; salary from 1 or 2 pm-ish to ?midnight or 1 am Tues-Sat, 3-12-ish different days of the week. . .the list goes on). We never saw him, and when we did, he was more concerned about catching up on his sleep or adjusting to being up during the day. We fought way more than we should. He felt guilty about not being with us. I made him feel guilty about being home with us. He worried about bringing home enough money to support us. (During part of this time, I was in graduate school, which means I contributed zilch to the income.)

Then, in 2006, we suffered such pain. Kev's step-sister lost her husband. Kev's dad passed away. Bad enough, right? Then, the crushing blow. Kevin's best friend was murdered. He was here one minute, with Kevin giving him a hard time about his job (they worked together). Then, he was gone. Dead, just like that. He left behind a wonderful wife and 4 beautiful, smart, funny kids. Slowly, as Kevin came out of this grief (Do we ever actually recover from grief? I'm not sure.), I began to see changes. Little ones at first, but they meant so much to me. He would take Kyler with him more. He would include me more. We would do stuff as a family.

During this time, things began to change at this job. He still worked with a great bunch of guys. Changes, as they are apt to do, were made that were not best for our family. He began to feel himself pulled in a different direction. He kept looking at different options. He talked to me about these options. I guess i should say that WE talked about these options. We had all the same questions that well-meaning friends and family have asked us repeatedly. "Why does he have to go so far?" "Has he thought about ______?" "What about ______________?" Couldn't he just ____________?"

I guess what I am trying to say is that our life is not be normal. It never has been. This current job situation is something that I wish will be temporary. I wish that some day, Kevin will be able to work close to home on an 8-5 or so job. However, until that time comes, we are satisfied (at least 90% of the time. . .) with the current situation. We currently get to see Kevin every weekend. When we do see him, he is all about family. He plays with the kids. He has more patience with them. He is tired, but he's on a "normal" schedule. It's something we can handle.

And those months in Florida? They taught me that I can do it. I may not do it well, and I can not do it without family and friend support, but I can exist without Kevin to depend upon. As for Kevin, he learned again just how important his wife and kids are to him. He values us more.

I did not write this post in an effort to elicit sympathy, etc, from anyone. It is my feeble attempt to explain my family's circumstances and the decisions we've made, with a great deal of caution and prayer, I might add.

Now, I pray that God will lead us and direct us as to the path He wishes us to take. I pray that I will truly give this over to Him and trust Him fully, in whatever path He leads us on.

We're Weird. (There, I said it.)

I wrote the following post a few weeks ago but never posted it. As I face a very difficult professional decision, I reread this post and decided to share it. Again, I'm not sure I've managed to verbalize what I want. . .

Our family situation is different than most. I enter this blog with some trepidation, fearing that I won't be able to say this as I want to (more so than with most posts. . .). If you've read my profile, you know Kevin works away from home. You may have wondered about this. So did we. We asked ourselves if this was really what Kevin needed to do, if this was what God had in mind. We prayed, I fasted over this decision. How could God take Kevin away from us? What sense did it make for a father to leave his children and go to work in Florida (at that time). God kept saying, "wait, just wait." I began to feel Him working on both of us. It still makes no sense to most people (and to us, if we're honest) that the father of my children is gone more often than he's home. That said, let me tell you a little something about our life prior to Kevin's change of career.

I have spent more nights falling asleep by myself than with my husband. Way more nights falling asleep alone. Kevin has worked nights since he was in college. There have been brief changes to this schedule, and he has worked many different schedules (3 1/2, 12 hour shifts; salary from 1 or 2 pm-ish to ?midnight or 1 am Tues-Sat, 3-12-ish different days of the week. . .the list goes on). We never saw him, and when we did, he was more concerned about catching up on his sleep or adjusting to being up during the day. We fought way more than we should. He felt guilty about not being with us. I made him feel guilty about being home with us. He worried about bringing home enough money to support us. (During part of this time, I was in graduate school, which means I contributed zilch to the income.) Then, in 2006, we suffered such pain. Kev's step-sister lost her husband. Kev's dad passed away. Bad enough, right? Then, the crushing blow. Kevin's best friend was murdered. He was here one minute, with Kevin giving him a hard time about his job (they worked together). Then, he was gone. Dead, just like that. He left behind a wonderful wife and 4 beautiful, smart, funny kids. Slowly, as Kevin came out of this grief (Do we ever actually recover from grief? I'm not sure.), I began to see changes. Little ones at first, but they meant so much to me. He would take Kyler with him more. He would include me more. We would do stuff as a family.

During this time, things began to change at this job. He still worked with a great bunch of guys. Changes, as they are apt to do, were made that were not best for our family. He began to feel himself pulled in a different direction. He kept looking at different options. He talked to me about these options. I guess i should say that WE talked about these options. We had all the same questions that well-meaning friends and family have asked us repeatedly. "Why does he have to go so far?" "Has he thought about ______?" "What about ______________?" Couldn't he just ____________?"


I guess what I am trying to say is that our life may not be normal. It never has been. This current job situation is something that I wish will be temporary. I wish that some day, Kevin will be able to work close to home on an 8-5 or so job. However, until that time comes, we are satisfied (at least 90% of the time. . .) with the current situation. We currently get to see Kevin every weekend. When we do see him, he is all about family. He plays with the kids. He has more patience with them. He is tired, but he's on a "normal" schedule. It's something we can handle.


And those months in Florida? They taught me that I can do it. I may not do it well, and I can not do it without family and friend support, but I can exist without Kevin to depend upon. As for Kevin, he learned again just how important his wife and kids are to him. He values us more.
This post is not intended to elicit sympathy, etc, from anyone. It is my feeble way to explain my family and the decisions we've made, with a great deal of caution and prayer, I might add.

Now, I pray that God will lead us and direct us as to the path He wishes us to take. I pray that I will truly give this over to Him and trust Him fully, in whatever path He leads us on.