I don't know what's funnier, Mr. Bill and the chipmunk or Janie's Mr. Bill voice. Actually, I do know. Janie's Mr. Bill voice is funnier.....
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I don't know what's funnier, Mr. Bill and the chipmunk or Janie's Mr. Bill voice. Actually, I do know. Janie's Mr. Bill voice is funnier.....
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I was to be at a ladies meeting this morning at 10:00, I didn't make it. I went to the house where we had met previously, no cars, I went to the door knocked several times waited, nothing, tried the door bell, still no response so I sat in my vehicle for a while. I'm thinking I should call someone to find out what is wrong. No cell phone once again when I really needed it I didn't have it. The phone was as dead as a door nail, so I left it at home charging. I started questioning myself as to was it Wednesday today, was the clock in the vehicle right. I finally gave up and went home, all the time thinking how duh I am. When I got home I was reminded the meeting was at my daughter in laws house now, at this point I didn't have to think I was duh I knew it.. The thing is I did know that the meeting place had been changed, but for some reason, it just never registered in my mind this morning. I called my daughter in law so they didn't worry because I had not shown up, I had to fess up and tell the truth and embarrass myself. I'm sure all the ladies had a good laugh.
]]>At the end of this post I'm going to give a link to an article I read today on CNN from Oprah.com. It's an article that, at first, made me mad, and then just sad. Mad that Oprah would put this garbage in her magazine and on her website, and sad that so many women will be influenced by it. It's an article titled, "She's happily married, dreaming of divorce". I can sum up the article pretty easily for you: I I I I I, Me Me Me Me Me. It's an article that is just dripping with selfishness.
Selfishness, it's the mindset that says, "I'm going to do what I want, regardless of how it effects other people, because what matters most is me and how I feel.
The article is written by a woman who is most concerned with herself and her feelings, and she'd clearly like other women to share her views. The woman states in the very first paragraph of the article how selfish she is. It can be summarized like this: "I think about divorce every day when my husband greets me in the morning, because after 16 years he still doesn't know that I'm not going to be in a good mood before 10am." She then goes on in the next couple paragraphs to complain about things her husband does (like he doesn't have a list himself on her). The rest of the article is basically how she contemplates divorce, how divorce is actually not a bad thing, and how marriage in general is actually the problem. Here are some snipets from the article.....
"Still, beneath the thumpingly ordinary nature of our marriage -- Everymarriage --runs the silent chyron of divorce."
"Should I stay or should I go. Our mothers knew better than to ponder such questions, at least not out loud in front of God and the hairdresser.......If we jump ship now, we're still attractive prospects who may have another shot at happiness."
"Marriage and its cruel cohort, fidelity, are a lot to expect from anyone, much less from swift-flying us."
"I recently stood by as a clothing designer, a mother in her 40s, announced to a group of women that she was divorcing her husband. The women's faces flickered with curiosity, support, recognition, and -- could it be? -- yearning. Not a one of us suggested that she try harder to make it work. No voice murmured, "What a shame." Because it isn't a shame."
"My husband is my best friend," others will say. No. Your husband is not your best friend."
"Our day comes down to choices -- and it's finally dawning on the long-term wives of the world that divorce may be the last-standing woman's right to choose."
"This is not to say that dismantling one's marriage will automatically bring happiness; it's the idealization of marriage that needs to be shredded"
"Maybe one day, marriage -- like the human appendix, male nipples, or your pinky toes -- will become a vestigial structure that will, in a millennium or two, be obsolete. Our great-great-great-grandchildren's grandchildren will ask each other in passing, "Remember marriage? What was its function again? Was it that maladaptive organ that intermittently produced gastrointestinal antigens and sometimes got so inflamed that it painfully erupted?" Yes. Yes it was."
Sad, really sad. Notice how many I, Me, Us and We statements are in the article. What you won't find are statements like, "How are my actions affecting our marriage?", "Am I being the best wife I can be?", "How would my leaving affect my children and husband?", "What can I do to make my marriage better?". Those statements aren't there, because how her actions affect others is not her primary concern. How other's actions affect her is her primary concern. Selfishness.
I'm sure her husband isn't perfect (he hit her with a car so obviously he makes mistakes), but I didn't see anything in the article about him being an abuser or a adulterer, just an imperfect guy. Plus, someone else's improper actions or behavior isn't an excuse for us to react wrongly anyway. But so many times we do. "I wouldn't have reacted that way if so-and-so hadn't of done such-and-such first. Wrong. We should react in a Christlike manner regardless of what others do.
I've been studying the subject of selfishness lately, as it seems to be the root cause of many of the arguments between the children in our house. A verse that really struck me was in James 3:14-16. It basically says emotions like bitter jealousy and selfishness, are not from God, but are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. Wow, demonic - that's pretty strong, but it's true. Which makes perfect sense when you think about it. Satan is the ultimate example of selfishness, and Jesus is the ultimate example of complete selflessness. Satan was an angel that wanted to be worshiped as a god, and it got him kicked out of heaven. Compared to Jesus, who in the garden of gethesemane prayed that if it were possible, that he wouldn't have to be crucified, but that ultimately God's will would be done, not what He wanted. Ultimate selflessness.
I guess because selfishness has been on my mind as of late, even though this article is basically a woman's skewed view on marriage, the pure selfishness of it just jumped out at me. Here's the link.....
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/08/26/o.divorce.dreams/index.html
P.S. I know that I'm not perfect (just ask Janie), and that I have areas of my life where I'm selfish, even in areas that I may not realize. I'm a work in progress.
]]>I've been wanting to blog all day, just to say something. I'm just not feeling it. Today was the first day of school, but I haven't uploaded the pictures yet. I did clean up and bake peanut butter cookies. Now I'm going to go get the kids and see how their day was. I think I'll take them some cookies too. To eat outside of the van of course!
]]>I have a few minutes before heading to church. I should unpack another box, but I am not going to do that right now. It's time to rest a bit and replenish some energy. My feet were aching so much yesterday after unpacking at least 13 boxes - mostly dish packs in the kitchen (translation: those are big boxes, folks). But it was worth it. I was able to make our first home cooked meal in at least a week last night. As much as I enjoy eating out, I think we were all pretty sick of it.
When I have more time, I will tell you about the movers. Nice guys, but things didn't go as they should have. Seems that we were mislead immensely by the sales rep of the moving company. Rob and the Business Manager who he is taking over for will sort it all out I am sure. Suffice to say that the total cost went up 50% because of their miscommunication and what appears to be dishonesty.
Now I know why folks tend to move themselves, even though it is such a hassle.
But anyhow, have I mentioned how nice it is to be home?
Within a few hours of arriving, one set of neighbors came by and introduced themselves. They go to our church! And they have boys just about the same age as our boys. Then an hour or so later, our next door neighbor came by and introduced himself. And he brought homemade cookies his wife had prepared for us.
I think we will like it here on this little cul-de-sac.
Today's plans are church, a cook out hosted by a church family, then more unpacking. Oh. And I have to take The Daughter's friend home. She lives about 30 minutes away, but it's near Costco, and I need some coffee.
Priorities, people, priorities. :-)
Okay, I am about out of time. One last thing: I miss you all. Thanks for all the prayers, good thoughts, and encouragement. It means more than you know. I will try to catch up on reading soon.
Big hugs - *mwah!*
I am so glad I didn't get a text message at 3 o'clock in the morning.
Seriously, I don't know what is up this summer, but the wildlife is coming out of the woodwork. Actually, it came out of our garage through the doggie dog that we never use.....
Josiah was playing video games this morning in our family room. I was standing in the kitchen. I heard my rabbit stomp really hard (he does that when he's mad or warning of danger). I saw something dart across the room out of the corner of my eye. I figured Benjamin Bunny got loose. I turn my head, Josiah was standing on the chair yelling, "There's a possum in the house!" Of course, I was imagining a full grown possum. I yelled to the kids to shut all the bedroom doors and open up the front and back door. I had no clue as to what I was going to do.
Victoria ventured into the family room and spotted him, "Awwww, he's so cute. He's just a baby!" Sure enough, there he was hiding behind the piano, cute as a button. Ok, maybe not the best description since some people don't think buttons are cute. He was a lot cuter than the full grown version I had seen hissing on my back fence in the Spring.