Some of my favorite songs...

I found this cool website that allows you to pick your own music and create your own playlist for your own webpage! Some of my favorite songs by Christopher Cross are already playing on the playlist at the bottom of my page. I also added another old favorite song..."The Year of the Cat", by Al Stewart. Enjoy!!

Reflections

I thought I would write a simple blog entry about something that I keep getting reminded of a lot lately. Scott & I have been having some recent behavioral struggles with Sierra, our oldest daughter. She has always been a strong-willed child and tends to resist authority in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. She is the type who has to always push the envelope when it comes to being obedient. For the first time, Sierra came home from school the other day with a note written from her teacher explaining that she had to change her behavior card that day twice for two separate reasons. Now, on occasion Sierra may have to change her behavior card once during the day and I usually don't question her too much about it. I may just ask what happened and I trust that she is telling me the truth. What concerned me about this note from her teacher is that she mentioned that Sierra at one point during the day had wanted to play on the classroom computer and her teacher had instructed her to wait until after the class had finished a writing lesson she was going to teach. Apparently, a few moments later, when the teacher had turned around, Sierra had taken it upon herself to go and play on the computer, even though her teacher had specifically told her not to until after their writing lesson. Scott and I have certainly had our incidents with Sierra at home where she has gone around us and disobeyed our authority over various things. But, I am a little concerned that she would deliberately defy her teacher while in school, especially so blatantly.

It made me think about that nature inside all of us that often times we try to "tame". Speaking for myself, I know that I sometimes fight my own will in my mind over things I want to say or do, but can't because it's not the appropriate thing to do, or it's not what Christ would do, etc. Dealing with Sierra's constant challenges in the behavior department constantly has me looking back at myself in an effort to try and understand what makes her "tick" and why she does some of the things she does? I am often re-examining myself and some of the things I have discovered over recent years about my own personality. Take for instance, Sierra's bedroom and overall tendency to have messy surroundings. She is highly intelligent, but one thing we have always struggled with her about is the state of her bedroom. I know it is not uncommon for children to have cluttered rooms. But, Sierra always seems to have dresser drawers pulled out and papers and scattered everywhere (she is an artist who is always drawing and doodling), toys all over the place, etc. It reminds me of myself and how unorganized my own bedroom tends to be. I have ALWAYS struggled with this. I have certain things in my life which I am very disorganized about. I once told my mom as a teenager that the state of my room was a direct reflection of what was going on in my mind. If that is true, then I must have a very cluttered and chaotic mind. Could Sierra also have this, as well?

It also makes me think of how the Bible refers to us as being made in God's image. Trying to understand Sierra's personality traits, tendencies, and flaws makes me take a long, hard second look at myself. If I am God's child and am made in His image, then surely Sierra is my child and was made "in my image", figuratively speaking. There's nothing like being a parent to make you see yourself as if looking into a mirror. Reflections...it can sometimes be a scary thing. With all the recent situations involving Sierra's defiant attitude at times, it makes me wonder if I, too, am more resistant to God's authority in my own life in various ways than I originally thought? It seems that even though I like to think I have given my life over to Christ, I still must constantly squash that "flesh" side of myself which always tries to lead me away from God and His will for me. I must always be vigilent and be sure that I am taking every thought captive. Continually submitting to God's authority and fighting the "flesh" in every area of my life can be exhausting! Won't it be nice when one day we won't have to struggle so hard to keep our minds and wills in line with God's?

So far, 2007 is off to a great start!

Well, I realized that I have not written anything on my blog page in quite a while, so this is more or less a "filler" until I have something really great to say...

I am happy to report that so far, it seems that 2007 is off to a great start for our family! I feel as if there is finally some sunshine in our lives with no clouds on the horizon...no chance of rain or storms in sight! It has been a LONG time since I have been able to honestly say that I feel like we are out of the dry desert and stormy period of our lives. Hey, does that even make sense? Sounds like an oxymoron...how can you be in a dry desert and a stormy period at the same time? Oh, well, you get the picture!

We took a relaxing and refreshing trip during the first week of January up to Black Mountain, North Carolina with the kids and stayed with my mother and step-father in their cozy little getaway there! Amazingly, we all had a great time and no one was stressed out! We did lots of fun things, of which, you can read about and see some great photos on Scott's blog page...just click onto the sidebar link to "Serotonin Drip" to see and read all about it.

I must confess, even though it seems as if we are entering a period of calm and hope and dare I say, perhaps a smidge of prosperity in our lives, I still find myself tip-toeing and looking over my shoulder wondering when the storm clouds and lightning will come crashing around me again? It's like that movie title, "Waiting to Exhale". I feel like I can begin to exhale and have true hope again for the future, but at the same time, I am quite a bit gun-shy about it. I have battle scars and all-too-painful, fresh memories of days without a glimpse of hope in sight to remind me that life, whether as a Christian or not, is not always rosy. I don't know when, how, or where the next storm or season of dryness will hit, and I do admit that I wish I had the certainty of knowing that these times would NEVER come (don't we all?), but, as I grow in my earthly years and in my enduring relationship with God, I am learning to "be content in whatever my circumstances", as Paul referred to in the Bible. My only real hope is knowing that this life is not all God has in store for me! Where would I be without that hope?

I have posted a picture with this blog entry of our three kids that was taken by a river in North Carolina while we were mining for gemstones a couple of weeks ago! It is one of my favorite pictures of them! Enjoy!