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Archive for the ‘News/Current Events’ Category

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep Thoughts

12 Feb

The last few days have been interesting. The situation in Egypt and also one in my personal life has me thinking lots of thoughts. If you want to know my opinions (and yes, I do know what they say about opinions!) read on:

Eloquence is useless if the person who needs to hear your words isn’t ready to listen.

Respect is something you should strive for constantly. Don’t assume that once you’ve earned it you’ll always have it.

When I came up with something ridiculous and thought everyone who opposed me was wrong, my dad would say “Everyone’s crazy but me and thee, and sometimes I wonder about thee.” When it feels like you’re fighting against the entire world, stop and consider that it doesn’t have to be that way. When everyone seems to feel the opposite of the way I do, it’s time for me to examine myself, not assume everyone’s crazy.

Along the lines of the previous point, perception is reality.

Changing your approach to things doesn’t mean you have to compromise your values or principles. It just means you have to be willing to use some old-fashioned problem solving skills so that you can stay focused on what’s important to you without driving people away. Often, people who are upset with you have solutions if you’ll only listen.

It’s okay to examine yourself and the path you’re on from time to time and adjust if necessary.

The best leaders talk to not only their closest friends and most trusted advisors, but the people at the very bottom of the totem pole. Most importantly? They listen to the things they have to say. An out of touch leader placed on a pedestal can never be effective in the long term.

God (or the universe, if you prefer) gives us messages constantly to let us know if we’re on the right path. We just have to be willing to listen.

Everyone messes up. We are all human. It’s important to forgive the person who wrongs you, but forgiveness doesn’t have to include continued friendship or respect.

Friends, good friends, can make even the worst situations better simply by being there. And when the drama and trauma of the ordeal is over, those great friendships are cemented in the kind of bond that can’t be undone easily.

Even the best friendships can get better.

It is wonderful to feel validated, to be at peace, and to be loved.

 
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Posted in Me Stuff, News/Current Events

 

Perspective

11 Nov

So I was feeling sorry for myself this morning. I am home alone with all 3 kids today and no vehicle. My husband is doing a special open house for Veteran’s Day, the boys are out of school, and since we’re down to one good vehicle, I’m stuck here. It’s not what I would like to be doing and I figured it deserved a good wallow.

I lounged around in bed until 11am. Complained every time the phone rang, interrupting my movie. Whined about Violet insisting on ‘nuhs’ and finally got out of bed when the movie I was watching ended. It was cold, so I stomped down the hall and turned the heat above my self-imposed max of 62*, grumbling about the expense of the electricity but not caring because I was uncomfortable, dammit, and if I had to be stuck here then I was at least not going to be cold. I stumbled into the kitchen to find that the leftover sweet potato souffle I wanted to eat for brunch was gone except for a very, very small serving. I was irritated by the fact that there wasn’t any meat thawing for dinner, because my husband hadn’t planned ahead. I complained about the amount of time it took my computer to boot and when I finally got on Facebook, all I saw were status updates about Veteran’s Day.

Whoa…

Needless to say, my mood has taken a 180 degree turn. I ate my small serving of souffle, made lunch for my daughter, (the boys had fed themselves already) and called my husband to ask what he wanted for dinner. I threw some stuff in the crockpot to take that responsibility off of him since he’ll be working all day. I walked back down the hall, turned the heat back down and put on some clothes and socks so I wouldn’t be cold. And I said a prayer to thank God for my country and for the men and women who protect us, who have always protected us. We’re stuck at home, so I’m going to find some activities to do here with the kids that will help them learn about the importance of honoring the people who serve our country in the armed forces. And I’m going to be thankful for the ‘problems’ I had this morning, the ones that pale in comparison to the things our veterans have experienced.

Thank you to all of the men and women who put their lives on the line so that I could have the kind of life where my ‘big’ problems are really not so big.

 
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Posted in Me Stuff, News/Current Events

 

4 Year Old Funnies

04 Aug

Four year olds are challenging and hilarious.  And luckily, cute.  My youngest son recently turned four and I’m seeing so much maturity in him lately but he still seems so young to me…didn’t he just arrive in our lives?  How is it possible that he’s about to start preschool and will be in (ack!) kindergarten this time next year?

I have some hilarious conversations with him.  His name is Colin, but he has recently begun asking everybody to call him ‘Fire Colin’.  I want to believe he is pretending to be a super hero, but based on the fact that I’ve heard him saying “my evil scheme is fire” I suspect he’s probably a villain.  Frankly, it fits his personality a little better than a super hero would!  This morning, we were talking about Tropical Storm Colin (which I find endlessly hilarious for some reason) and how it might come our direction.

Colin: But I’m Fire Colin, not Tropical Storm Colin.
Me: I know.  I’m just telling you that this storm with wind and rain has the same name as you and it might come to us.  You’re still Fire Colin!
C: What if the rain rains on me and puts my fire out? Then what will my name be?
M: I doubt your fire will go out, but if it does, you can just be Colin again. Colin’s pretty cool on his own, isn’t he?
C: (Thinking for a minute, stroking his chin and everything.) I guess. Or maybe I could be Storm Colin. Yeah, Storm Colin is cool and has lightning and thunder powers, too!

This is the point where I grabbed him up and smothered him with kisses. Because I love watching him imagine and think about things like this.  It is undoubtedly one of the best parts of being a mom.

Just a moment ago, I laid Violet down to nap and heard Colin’s little voice coming from the bathroom next to her room so I went in to check on him.  I whispered to him and asked him to talk quietly so that Violet could sleep.

C: But I’m pooping.  And playing.
M: I understand, but please be quiet so your sister can take a nap.
C: But mommy, I am pooping.
M: OK.  Please talk quietly if you need to talk.
C: Just go.  Remember mommy?  Privacy. (Meanwhile he is motioning at me with a very dismissive sort of wave.)

I have to remind him to give me privacy in the bathroom daily, so I guess he was feeling like he needed to remind me gently.  When he came out, he reminded me again. “Mommy, you shouldn’t go in the bathroom if the door is shut.  Knock first, OK?  And wait until I say come in!”  I can’t remember how many times I’ve told him this exact same information.  He doesn’t remember to do it, but he sure remembered that a person in the bathroom should expect a little privacy!

I can’t believe that he’ll be in preschool from 8am to 2:30pm every day at the end of the month.  What will I do without my little buddy?  I know he needs it so that he’ll be ready for kindergarten next year, but I will miss him so much.  These first four years have flown by and I am just not ready to give him up!

 
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Posted in Family, News/Current Events, Parenting

 

Nashville Flood Relief — Easy Way to Help!

12 May

Nashville was my home for two years after I graduated college.  Prior to that, I spent five years in college in a small town that was about an hour and a half away from Nashville, so there were a lot of road trips on weekends to partake in what the big city had to offer.  From 1993 to 2000, Music City was a major part of my life.

It has been very difficult for me to watch the videos and see the pictures of the flooding there.  I cried when I saw the devastation at the Opryland Hotel and the Tennessee Titans football stadium.  I suspect that the apartment complex I lived in was flooded and I am pretty sure that the small advertising company I worked for was, too.  Did you see the school building floating down the interstate, until it hit a semi and broke into pieces?  That happened in an area that I drove through every day on my way to and from work.  The restaurant employee that was swept away in the floodwaters worked only a mile or two from where I used to live.  It is heartbreaking to hear and watch and see these things and know that you can’t be there physically to help and can’t donate because you’re in a financially precarious situation yourself.  Many of my college friends live there now and several have lost either their home or their job.  I have been praying that a way for me to help would present itself and today it did…SwagBucks is allowing members to donate their swagbucks to the cause!

If you’re not already signed up with SwagBucks, do it here.  You get 30 SBs just for signing up, so even if you just sign up and donate those it helps out Nashville.  In the interest of full disclosure, that is my referral link.  However, I will donate all of the swagbucks I get from referrals to Nashville Flood Relief until they close down donations.  It’s the least I can do for a city I called home.

 
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Posted in News/Current Events

 

What happened to WWJD?

09 Apr

For the life of me, I will never understand why people who call themselves Christian are often the most hateful, judgmental, hypocritical people out there.  The Bible is full of examples of Christ’s love for everyone, even the worst of sinners.  The prostitutes, the corrupt, the people afflicted with leprosy…they were deemed the most unlovable people of the time and yet Christ made a point of befriending them and showing them His love.

In a small town in Mississippi, the “undesirables” were sent to a fake prom.  The parents of the town instead hosted a secret prom for those deemed acceptable to them.  This whole episode started because Constance McMillen wished to take a girl to prom as her date.  When I was in high school, girls without dates would go together and their sexuality was never questioned, nor was it ever an issue.  Regardless of your feelings on homosexuality, how can adults condone this type of behavior?  Are they showing these children how Christ wants us to act or are they behaving like petulant, whiny children themselves and reinforcing that hateful behavior in their children?

The behavior of these people makes me embarrassed to call myself a Christian and a Southerner.  In a day and time when children go home and commit suicide because they have been bullied and ridiculed, it is unconscionable that adults would engage in this behavior.  It makes me sick, it makes me angry, and it makes me sad.  Christ’s message of love and redemption is being lost these days in hate and hypocrisy.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Mark 12:28-31.  The NIV translation is this:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.‘ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

These are the two greatest commandments, as given to us by Jesus Christ himself.  I have no doubt that these people truly do love the Lord.  Clearly their religious beliefs are very important to them.  Sadly, they’ve missed the mark on the “love your neighbor” part of it and have taught their children that it’s more important to pass judgment and pick and choose those to whom we will show love.

Every day, my goal is to show the Lord how much I love him and I think I do this by treating all of His children with kindness and courtesy.  It’s too bad that these adults chose instead to teach their children hate.  Shame on you, Itawamba County.  It is people like you who give Christianity a bad name.  I pray that people who don’t know Him can look beyond your hate and see the love that God has for all of us regardless of who we are or what we do.

 
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Posted in Faith/Religion, News/Current Events

 
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