Please take the time

I don't do this on my blog too often but I am pleading with any of you who haven't seen this video to watch it. It is about Kyle, a 5 year old little boy who was killed when his seat belt failed in a car accident. Kyle was in an approved booster seat, held into the car by a regular seat belt...but, tragically, when the car rolled the seat belt gave out and Kyle was thrown from the car and died.

Kyle's parents just did what so many of us do...they moved their son to a legal, approved booster seat when he outgrew his 5 point harness car seat. But that IS NOT the safest option for kids under 80 pounds. There are a few companies that manufacture 5 point harness car seats for children up to 80 pounds and these are the safest option for your children (and mine).

Popping up for air

I have been so absent from this blog. We have had an insanely busy schedule the past few weeks and to be honest I am exhausted. But the end is in sight...and the pool opens Sunday...and I'm getting a mani/pedi today!!! So by the middle of next week I should be started on my tan and feeling more relaxed. I'll be back then!!!

Coming out of a DIFFERENT Dark

Marriage. Marriage in 2007. Marriage in a culture that doesn't do anything to support monogamy, faithfulness, purity or putting family first. How does anyone do it?

In the past few weeks Alex and I have gotten the sad news that several married couples we know are in trouble. Marriages that we have looked up to. Marriages that we thought were strong and solid. Marriages that seemed impenetrable.

I hate the fact that we try and hide our problems...especially in our marriages. We feel that we need to present some perfect image of ourselves when in reality we are wasting away. I know Alex and I have done it in the darker times of our marriage. But I ask you this, what is good about being so secretive (or discrete as people like to say)? My mom used to always tell me "people are only as sick as the secrets they keep". I am beginning to understand that more and more as I get older. It is all about maintaining an image of strength and avoiding the appearance of weakness at all costs. WHY???

The fact is that we are all weak and we are all broken...and we do NOTHING apart from God and His strength. Another fact we may as well get use to is that God gives strength in HIS time...not always when we ask for it. I don't understand why God can't just give us all the strength we need to walk triumphantly through everything life hands us - but I'm beginning to think it is about building community. If we always had the strength to walk through on our own we would never see the value in one another.

As it stands we keep so much to ourselves and we attempt to hide the shattered parts of our lives...and then what do we end up with? A bunch of shattered people who have a very limited capacity to help one another...because asking for help would reveal parts of my brokenness that I can't possibly let you see.

Sometimes I envision God crying out from Heaven and saying "You need each other! Reach out for help...I'm there in the people around you." But we are deaf to His cries because we are so worried about what people will think. All the while God's heart is breaking for us as we isolate ourselves by pretending nothing is wrong.

Well something is wrong...in fact lots of somethings are wrong. We are sad, we are broken, we are sinful, yet we are LOVED. Loved with a deep and abiding love...a love that transcends time and space and circumstance. A love that reaches out to us through people, music, sermons, a smile from a stranger.

We are commanded in Scripture to love one another...and that doesn't mean the warm fuzzy feeling...that means the action of love. Love with hands and feet on it. Love that says "no matter what, I will walk through this with you." Love that won't leave if things have been hard for a long time. Love that endures endless torments. Love that is giving and forgiving...over and over and over again.

I need you. You need me. We need one another. We are the world, we are the children...whoops. But seriously, stop hiding and step into the light of God's grace. Welcome others into your weakness...and maybe you'll find that strength you've been searching for. Peace.

Coming out of the Dark

Earlier this week we were without electricity for 24 hours. Thankfully it was a beautiful spring day, and nothing in the fridge or freezer spoiled...or else this post may have had a very different tone.

I loved being without power! It forced me to think creatively and solve problems that (any other day) could have easily been solved by flipping a switch or pointing a remote.

Once I realized that the power was out and (according to the power company) probably wasn't coming on anytime soon, I broke the news to the kids. At first they were disappointed (no TV) and scared (no nightlights) but I soon distracted them with an activity. We sat around the kitchen table and painted rocks. I had come across a rock painting kit and I broke it out and we got to work. We painted footballs, cats, flowers and daddy! After that we all pitched in to clean the house and then we played outside. Once Alex came home we went out for dinner and then went to a park to run around before bed. I gave them a bath by candle light (which Jack loved!) and then it was bedtime. This was the hardest time of the day...the girls really hate being in total darkness. But after stories by candle light and lots of singing they fell asleep. They even slept through a quite powerful thunderstorm, that Alex and I enjoyed very much.

Once everyone was asleep, Alex and I sat talking in the darkened living room and somehow stumbled onto the topic of sitcom theme songs. We laughed and laughed listening to one another sing the themes from "WKRP in Cincinnati", "Family Ties", "The Jeffersons", "The Facts of Life", "Happy Days" and many more. We headed up to bed and as we lay there we continued on the TV theme by recalling our favorite shows from different decades. I drifted off somewhere around the 90's with a smile on my face and a contented heart.

When the power is on it is so easy to overlook one another...to turn to TV or the computer or the phone (and when you have VOIP no power = no phone). But when it was off we re-discovered how much fun we all have together. Running in the park, singing favorite songs, telling funny stories, and recalling childhood memories...all things that happened because we were in the dark.

I'd love to tell you that things haven't changed even thought the lights are back on...but I can't. We appreciate having lights to turn on and fans to cool us on warm nights...and it is all too easy to slip back into old routines. But I think I'm going to to institute a once a month "power outage" in our home. Maybe we'll eat by candle light and sleep outside under the stars next time. I'll be sure to keep you posted.