Same Difference

A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said: "Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even 1 year old and I'm pregnant again. I don't want kids so close together."

So the doctor said: "Ok, and what do you want me to do?"

She said: "I want you to end my pregnancy, and I'm counting on your help with this."

The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady: "I think I have a better solution for your problem. It's less dangerous for you too."

She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request.

Then he continued: "You see, in order for you not to have to take care 2 babies at the same time, let's kill the one in your arms.This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we're going to kill one of them, it doesn't matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms."

The lady was horrified and said: "No doctor! How terrible! It's a crime to kill a child!"

"I agree", the doctor replied. "But you seemed to be OK with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution."

The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point. He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child that's already been born and one that's still in the womb. The crime is the same.

 "Love says I sacrifice myself for the good of the other person. Abortion says I sacrifice the other person for the good of myself..."
　
　(received via email, author unknown)

Ignorance is Bliss

Accomplishing anything at my house automatically involves crying. If I am making dinner, there is at least one child crying at my feet that they are staaaarving. If I am folding laundry, there is at least one child crying as they topple over my piles of folded clothes. If I am washing a floor, there is at least one child crying after slipping on the floor. You get the picture.

People have often told me that they "just don't know how I handle all the chaos so well." I always nod my head and politely thank them. But I'm going to let you all in on a little secret:

I have not learned to handle it really well, I have learned to ignore it really well.

House Cancer

Our house has cancer. Ceiling cancer to be exact.

The tumor

The surgeon

Circa 1987

Me, Mom (Becky), Ben, Dad (Jim), Andy

Growing

Check out my new pages. Above.

Bloomed

At eighteen, when I was thrown from my comfortable life into college, I felt lost. I hear this is common. My love of creative arts was just about to blossom, but was still only a bud showing its first hint of color. I didn't find any majors in scrap booking. I toyed with the idea of jewelry-making for about a minute. Cosmetology teased my thoughts several times. I always found a reason to reject concentrating in any one area, because frankly, I was lazy. I couldn't wait to graduate high school, and to be perfectly honest, only went to college because my loving parents urged me to. (This is not news to you, right, Mom and Dad?) The closest major to anything "artsy" that my small Christian college had was Liberal Arts. So after a year, I transferred to a state university. When I started my second year of college, I looked into Early Childhood Education, hoping that would satisfy my creative side. After sitting through my first class, I dropped it, and changed my major to Liberal Arts. (The official major of Un-decideds everywhere.) I was really only interested in one major at that point: marriage. I didn't even want to finish my second semester. I had a wonderful man who wanted to marry me just as much as I wanted to marry him. Why bother finishing? But once again, loving parents to the rescue. After reminders that I only had one semester left to get my Associates in Liberal Arts, I trudged back to school and graduated.

Fast forward ten years. I am now a twenty-eight year old mom of three. My oldest is three. I stay busy. My interest in creative arts is now in full bloom. (Who knew it took seven years of marriage and three kids to open that bud?) My interests have matured, and now I see a dozen different paths I would love to run down. Photography, writing, interior design, painting, wedding planning, sewing, fashion...

But for now, my biggest interest is my family. My children. My husband. Perhaps someday I'll have time to pursue these passions more intensely, but for now, I photograph my kids, I write on my blog, I decorate our house, I paint art for our walls, I sew blankets for our beds and curtains for our windows, and well, my fashion right now is thrift store made. (Who am I wearing? Oh, my shoes are Goodveel, but this top is Valyoo!) But I love it. I love it all. I love how easily my interests fit into my daily life as a wife, mother, homemaker.

Conversation

Sophia was in the midst of instruction after committing a series of heinous crimes, when the following conversation ensued...

Me: Sophia, you are letting sin win in your heart. Jesus is fighting against the sin in your heart, but you need to need fight against the sin too, and help Jesus to win in your heart. Do you want sin to win? Or Jesus to win?

Sophia, (pointing to her chest): Mom, Jesus is playing golf in there?

Moving Forward

I must confess, I have had a hard time posting again, (even though I have no shortage of material to post) because as soon as I publish a new post, that means that the posts about Flynn aren't on top anymore. They aren't the first thing I see when I log on. As the days march on, the hurt of losing Flynn grows a little dimmer, and that terrifies me. So I log on at least once a day to watch the "Tribute to Flynn" video. I don't want to forget. I want to remember Flynn and what he meant to me, to our family, just as much as the day we lost him.

But God is healing my heart, and teaching me that I will never forget our precious babe. That it is okay to continue with normal life. That moving forward, does not mean forgetting. So here come the posts... Flynn will always be in my heart, even if he is not the topic of my latest post.