My Poor, Sweet Baby

We made it through the Disciple Now weekend okay (will post about it later) but now I have a poor, sick boy at home hopefully recovering from whatever he had. He had a temperature of over 102 on Monday and was coughing like crazy, dizzy, and achy. I made a doctor's appointment for him for 5:00 on Monday while I was at CBS.

When he got to the doctor's office they had no record that I had called in an appointment and he had to wait around forever. It was 8:30 before he got home from the doctor and the pharmacy (don't even get me started on the terribleness of our pharmacy...they are so understaffed and not friendly!!! He went and slept in the Jeep for an hour and went back in when they said it would be ready, stood in line for 20 minutes, and they told him it still wasn't ready yet!!!).

The doctor gave him a prescription for an antibiotic and cough suppressant. He told Brad that he didn't have the flu but that he wasn't sure what exactly he had...some kind of infection that would get worse if he didn't have antibiotics.

As of Tuesday evening he still had a fever of around 102. We are very thankful for Tylenol Extra Strength Gel Tabs!!!! It takes a little while for the Tylenol to work but reduces his fever pretty quickly. He felt terrible yesterday still and so he didn't go to school (we didn't have school on Monday because Barbara Bush came to speak at our school) on Tuesday. He ended up missing a 40 point test in one of his classes that the teacher will not let him make up. (Sometimes I think our school stinks!)

He didn't go to school today because he only had one class and didn't really need to go. I figure the more sleep he can get, the better. He is at home snuggling with Tina now. I haven't talked to him since I left for school but I am hoping that he feels a lot better!! If you can, please pray that the antibiotic will clear up the infection and that he will be healthy again soon!!!! I hate it when my boy feels bad!! :(

P.S. Vicki made an awesome post about Henry here. Totally made me cry when I read it.

BVOTD: "So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12 NASB

EDITED: Brad is feeling better and his fever finally broke! He was 97.5 earlier! He is still coughing and feels achy but you can tell he feels better. I even took him out to get some dinner tonight at Sonic (and for cinnamon ice cream at Cold Stone followed by a trip to Target to get me a watch!). Hopefully he will be back to his regular self soon!!!

In Memory of Henry

Henry Polasek
1928-2007

Still in shock that Uncle Henry (my great uncle, mom’s uncle) passed away yesterday. Though I hadn’t seen him in a while, he was a huge part of my childhood. Since dad’s dad died before I was born and mom’s dad died when I was still young, Henry was like a grandpa to Amanda, Vicki, and me.

I have so many memories with him. He and Aunt Frances would come over every Saturday after lunch when I was a kid. Henry would hang around with dad at home while the girls went out to shop. In the evening, we would all go out to eat together. Every Saturday without fail...I can still remember sitting in the middle of Frances and Henry in the second seat of the Suburban as we drove to Docs, Friendly Freddie’s, or the restaurant in Academy.

I have many memories of him at Deer Camp in Burnet as well. We would stay the weekend there in camper trailers. Hanging around camp, watching cows, going on nature walks, playing horseshoes, eating chili, sitting around the campfire…good memories there.

I remember at Christmastime they spoiled us rotten. There were huge garbage bags of presents for us girls…all kinds of clothes that Frances and Henry had picked out for us.

They also spoiled us rotten during the year, buying us things when we went shopping, giving us Halloween candy (a huge thing for me since I didn’t get to go trick or treating), buying us books and toys, etc. They were truly the grandparents that we never had, very much involved in our lives.

Henry had a lot of health problems for many years. I remember when we went to visit him in the hospital after he had heart surgery when I was about 8 or 9. I drew him a picture of flowers in a vase (not as good as the real thing, but hey, I was young). I remember feeling so sad that he had to be in the hospital and going through so much pain.

Years went by and for some reason (I still don’t really know the reason) we stopped seeing them. We no longer went on Saturday shopping trips or saw each other at Christmas. They didn’t come to my graduation or my wedding. We received no phone calls or letters.

I sent them Christmas cards each year hoping to hear something back. No cards or letters. It is hard to even think about. Lost time with loved ones, lost memories…And over what? I don’t even know.

I remember the last time I saw him. I went to an eye appointment near their home in 2002 and afterwards decided to go by their house. When I knocked on the door Frances answered. She told me that they were just about to go to town to get groceries but (hesitantly) said that I could come in. When I walked in I noticed that things had changed from when I was there as a child. The furniture looked worn. The carpet no longer looked new. Henry and Frances looked older and tired. Things were different.

I remember it being really uncomfortable as I told them about my life. I told them about how I was in college and hoped to graduate in a few years. About how I was soon to be engaged to a wonderful man. About my job. About how I was active in Bible study and church. About mom, dad, Amanda, and Vicki. Things they truly should have known already...

They both seemed so sad that day. I asked if I could pray for them and they looked at me with startled expressions. I prayed for Henry’s health and for strength for the both of them. I prayed in gratitude for all of the years that they had loved us and been there for us.

Though Frances was hesitant to let me in the house initially, she kept telling me “You don’t have to go, you don’t have to go.” I left their house not knowing that would be the last time I would see Henry.

I am not sure if Henry was a Christian or not. I hope that he was and that I will see him again in heaven one day. I hope that he knew how much we all loved him and what he meant to us, that he was the grandpa we never had. I will try my hardest to never forget my memories of Henry.

BVOTD: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Matthew 5:4 NIV

Just Catching Up

• In need of cleaning and organizing the house as we are hosting Disciple Now at our house this weekend...for those of you who don't know what DNow is...it is like a weekend retreat for teens with Bible study, group fellowship, and fun. Brad and I met at a DNow at our church so we are very partial to this ministry :) If you think about it, please pray for us...that God would move and change hearts and that the Lord would be glorified throughout the weekend and beyond.
• Settling into life with Tina. She does not keep us up late at night anymore...YAY! Brad rigged the fireplace screen so that she can no longer get inside the fireplace. She is even becoming more social! Aimee and Vicki came over Saturday night and she came out to visit. Usually when people are over that she doesn't know she will hide under the tree and come out only if you drag her out. She seems to like us a lot more lately. But we still have to watch the door...Brad keeps leaving our bedroom, bathroom, and closet door open and she will run to retreat in the closet as fast as she can.
• Still running. I am up to 25 miles at the gym so far this month. I ran yesterday with Brad in the park, too...but I am not sure how far we ran exactly. Maybe 2 or 3 miles?? It is so much harder for me to run when I am not on a machine that is making me! It is nice that my clothes are fitting better...I wore some dress pants that I haven't been able to wear in a while on Saturday!
• Dreading doing our taxes. It is so confusing with all of Brad's side jobs...we have gazillions of purple work orders laying around and organizing them does not sound like fun!
• In scrappyland...I am trying out for the design team once again and would like votes so if you are anywhere near Scrapbook Fever you should (please) go vote for #24! :) I love being on the design team!! ... I am currently working on my "It's All About Me" album (which makes me laugh since our curiculum for DNow is "It's Not All About Me"!!). I have completed 3 pages so far and it is taking me forever because I am doing so much journaling.
• I just finished taking a ton of photos last week...I decided to do a "Week in the Life" album because I have really been wanting to make one and kept putting it off. Last year I made a list of things that I wanted to photograph for the book and I read it a few weeks ago and it was sad that so many things had changed (like our favorite restaurant to eat when we are at school closed, CBS moved, etc.). I need to still work on my journaling but at least I have a ton of photos to help me remember!!! I still can't believe this is my last semester of school ever! CRAZY!
• CBS is going well...we are getting a lot more boys and it is really exciting! Tonight is Night of Grace so each group meets individually...so I don't have any responsibility tonight. Kinda crazy. I might go to one of the groups NOG though... Not sure because I really need to clean and don't know when else I can get it done.
• School is going okay. Took one last Friday that I just found out I made a 74% on (the 3rd highest grade in the class-isn't that sad?? The highest grade was an 80%) which basically equates to an A! I need to read Getting to Yes and Jesus CEO ASAP because I don't want to spend Spring Break reading!!
• As for Spring Break...I don't have many plans (besides work). I can't wait for a day off from school and work! (Vicki can you take off any days March 12th-16th? We could go on a shopping day with mom!...And maybe we could even convince Perez to come {not bloody likely, though!!}. Amanda can you come over sometime??) Side note: No scrapping at my house on March 10th!
• Had a really nice Valentine's Day. I made Brad a card, got him some candy, and his favorite cereal. I got Mucinex (he made me sick), a box of chocolates, and yummy beef jerky. Brad and I went to IKEA (he had never been) and we were big fans of the Cars game (you can run into the other cars and they will make funny comments...I love it!). Bought a glass jar to put some of my minibooks in, some really cute lime green food bowls for Tina (not sure why they didn't send hers when she came to visit?), and some batteries for our smoke detector! We also went to Home Depot to buy some tools for Brad and Mangia Pizza for a heart pizza deal. It was a lovely day and it was really nice to spend the evening with Bradley. He isn't home before 10:00 or 11:00 most nights lately :(
• Completed the wedding album for Alyssa and Josh and gave it to them on Valentine's Day. It is a sharebook...I gave out two page packets to Vicki, Amanda, Mom, Liesel, Aunt Linda, Nelwyn & Ronnie. They each did two pages with whatever they wanted. Linda made a poem about how the ring bearer wouldn't come down the aisle...Ronnie copied the menu and other cool wedding documents and wrote about the beginning of the wedding "according to the Father of the Bride"...Mom, Amanda, Vicki, Nelwyn, and I gave advice and shared memories...Liesel wrote wishes for them and used photos from a wedding shower and the happy couple standing by their honeymoon cruise ship...I also made a couple of pages with the story of their engagement from Alyssa and Josh's perspectives (as they told to me on video) and a page with a pocket for things they want to keep (like their wedding program, napkin, etc.)...and Vicki made two awesome pages with photos with Alyssa dancing with Ronnie and with Josh on one page. On the other page she scanned photos of Alyssa and Josh from when they were children through their wedding photos. She printed the words of the song Alyssa and Ronnie danced to "I Loved Her First" on vellum and it went over the photos. Too cute!
• Wishing there was more time in the day to get things done (and sleep!)!! And wishing that my VCR worked! I keep missing American Idol! :(
• Hope that you have a wonderful day! Will hopefully get to post some pics later this week!

BVOTD: "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." Psalm 37:7 NIV

I've Been Tagged...

By Vicki and Julie!

1. WHO WERE YOU NAMED AFTER? I am not sure if I know? Mom and dad were friends with some people who named their daughter Lacey but I think we are about the same age...mom, can you help me out? I know my name was going to "Christopher Allan" if I was a boy, though...does that count for something??
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? I am not sure. I haven't cried in a while though I am very emotional.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I like it more now then when I was younger. I am starting to use it more and more on my layouts. (The only drawback is that I write so fast that people can't read it.) I think handwriting says a lot about a person's personality...and I definitely love getting hand written cards over typed any day!
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Honey ham (thin sliced!)
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Nope, not yet. (Unless my Bible study kids count...)
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I think so...though I am crazy and a bit annoying at times.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Usually...unless I am around people who don't understand my humor.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yup. (AND my appendix!)
9. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Well, I would say "Marshmellow Mateys" (the Malt-o-Meal version of Lucky Charms) just because I loved the name but they changed the name :( I love Rice Krispies but not as a cereal...I love Rice Krispie treats and Mrs. B's Peanut Butter Balls...Smacks are good. And Cinnamon Toast Crunch!
10. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Depends on how tight they are...and if they have ties :)
11. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Not really. I am getting more physically strong these days though.
12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Blue Bell. (They are turning 100 this year!!!!! YAY!) I like Cinnamon!, Cookies and Cream, Neopolitan,and Mint Chocolate Chip.
13. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their mood (good answer, Julie) and their appearance (frumpy vs not so frumpy)
14. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? That my thighs are too big to find jeans easily (and even when I find some that fit in the legs, they are too big in the stomach!)...and that being a perfectionist makes me slow at most things...the flab on my under arms...zits...and my peg tooth!
15. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My grandma...and my good friends that I don't get to see very often.
16. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Of course! Why else would I tag them?
17. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Jeans (that fit in the legs but are too big in the waist I might add!) with my new Adidas shoes that mom and dad gave me for Christmas :)
18. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Golden Chick (YUMMY rolls!)
19. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Some UMHBians talk.
20. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Red or pink...probably pink!
21. FAVORITE SMELLS? Babies, chocolate chip cookies baking, fresh cut grass, cinnamon rolls, good perfume, and my boy.
22. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My cousin Liesel! :)
23. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes! Both of them!
24. FAVORITE DRINKS? Dr. Pepper (I am on my second week of DP only one day a week! I get it tomorrow, yay!), Minute Maid Berry Punch juice, smoothies, unsweet tea, and water...
25. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Gymnastics and ice skating...and sometimes skiing stuff...snow is pretty :)
26. HAIR COLOR? Brown
27. EYE COLOR? Blue/green...usually more green.
28. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Umm when I have to...they are really hard to see out of!
29. FAVORITE FOOD? Mangia Pizza, Chick sandwiches & fries, potato soup from McAlisters, grilled cheese, & dessert of almost any kind :)
30. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings, all the way! I am a sucker for a good chick flick.
31. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Father of the Bride II...the other night waiting for Brad to come home...it really is a darn good movie!
32. WHAT TOP ARE YOU WEARING? (lol Julie, they asked about shoes earlier not tops...:) A Creating Keepsakes University shirt! :)
33. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter (unless I don't have to work in the summer and then maybe summer :)
34. HUGS OR KISSES? Both
35. FAVORITE DESSERT? Coffee cake, molten chocolate cake from Chilis, most anything from a bakery, PIE!
36. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Eh.
37. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Eh...
38. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? The Bible, scrapbooking magazines (do they count as "books"?), and (sometimes) my textbooks for school.
39. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I don't have one because I have a laptop with the finger pad thing. At work I have a Napoleon Dynamite one! :) (That also doubles as a notepad...SWEET!)
40. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Unfortunately, not American Idol :( I watched part of Deal or No Deal and Malcolm in the Middle.
41. FAVORITE SOUND? My boy's voice, quiet, favorite songs on the radio, Isaiah singing, & baby noises.
42. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Neither really.
43. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Grenada or Barbados.
44. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Uh, scrapping? Sometimes taking photos...as long as I shoot a BUNCH of photos and can delete a BUNCH of them!...typing fast...I don't know...
45. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Gtown, Texas
46. WHO'S ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Everyones, of course!
47. WHO AM I TAGGING? MAM, Mel, Riss, Amanda, & Dayne.

BVOTD: "For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:5 NIV

Meet Tina, the New Kitty on the Block...

Okay, her "real" name is Hannah but we wanted to give her more of a kitty-sounding name so we renamed her Tina (you know, from Napoleon Dynamite..."Eat it, Tina!"). Don't worry, she likes it. When we call out "Tina" she will usually come out from her hiding spot to see us...

It surely has been an adventure the last few days adapting to having a kitty and helping the kitty adapt to her new home for the next three months...

(She is snuggling with me as I type...she is purring like a motorboat!!!)

For the most part she likes to hide under our Valentine tree (our Christmas tree is decorated for Valentine's Day) and in various places around the house. She is really good at hiding...
Sometimes we play hide-and-go-seek. She will hide and we will call out her name...but she won't even let out a peep. When we find her she lets out some loud meows! Then when we leave she will secretly go find a new hiding spot...fun game...

We keep the doors to the laundry room, guest bedroom, scrap room, and our bedroom closed...she roams around in the kitchen, dining room, living room, and the Christmas tree room (okay, really they aren't "rooms", more like "areas" but we will call them rooms to make it more simple) too much stuff in those rooms for her to get lost in. Bradley thinks she would love it under the guestroom bed...it is carpeted and she can hide away where we can't reach her...

She is very sneaky, she is. This morning Brad left the door to our bedroom open and went in the kitchen to get some breakfast and when he returned a minute later she had already darted into the bedroom and he had to coax her out. Sneaky, sneaky.

The other night we came home from eating out & going to the grocery store and were carrying groceries into the kitchen...she jumped down off of the kitchen counter (where she is not supposed to be!)...we are guessing that she smelled the chocolate chip cookies that I was baking all afternoon and wanted to get her share...

She misses her Caden and her Logan...she usually snuggles up with them during the night. So the last three nights or so she has meowed LOUDLY (keeping both myself and Bradley awake) so that we know that she would like to snuggle with her boys.

Today we came home from school and she had somehow jumped up onto the sofa and knocked down a vase (that we got as a wedding present) that was on the mantle. I am still cleaning up little shards of glass that fell onto the sofa. :(

I think when Tina gets bored her middle name becomes "Trouble"...

As for us, Brad LOVES having the kitty here. He snuggles with her each evening (as I sulk in the other room, lol!). We are hoping that she will eat more soon...she is just not eating very much.

I went to the parent's meeting for ETeen tonight... SO EXCITED that we are going to have an ETeen (CBS for 6th-8th graders) in town!!! Middle schoolers most definitely need a place to go to visit with friends and grow in the Lord! And we have so many middle schoolers in this area. They had around 10 show up but I just know it is going to be huge! I got to see one of my favorite Camp Crestview kids tonight, too! I am so excited that she going to be going to ETeen!

I ran 5 miles again this morning and tried a new smoothie at the smoothie place...it had strawberries & bananas in it...very yummy!! I was so tired this morning though...I think because I ran it faster then I normally run it. I am feeling more healthy in general, though. It is so odd for me to actually keep this running thing up...give me a few weeks and it will be a habit! (But then school will be over in May and I won't have a gym anymore) :(

I am sad because I missed AI tonight...apparently it was only an hour tonight?!??!?! I got home at 8:06 thinking I would get to see half of AI...but not so much!! :(

Today I paid graduating fees for me and my boy!! I still can't believe we are going to graduate in a few months! YAY! :)

P.S. I never blogged about it but I finally got to meet Miss Anika Rose!! She is so sweet and cute! Her wonderful parents brought her to CBS so that I could see her (and probably some other people too, lol!). Despite the fact that I had my camera with me, I did not manage to get a photo with her on my camera. :( David took one with his disposable camera though. I still have hopes to go take some photos of the new parents with their sweet little one!

BVOTD: "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1 NIV

Some Random Stuff...

• I have decided to drink DP one day a week instead of two...we'll see if I can hack it...time will tell!
• I have been running more lately. Tuesday and Thursday mornings I get to work out at the gym while Brad is in class. Last week I ran 5 miles on Tuesday and last Thursday I didn't have to go to school so I ran 0 miles. This week I ran 3 miles on Tuesday and 5 miles on Thursday. I decided that if I could make it to 5 miles I would buy myself a smoothie (we have a smoothie place inside our gym) and that was really why I did it. I am sucker for sweet stuff :) and I love smoothies!! (Just for the record, Brad benefited from it as well because he got some of my smoothie too) :)
• Making it through school (just barely). I am never in the mood to work on homework or study. I have to read two books (besides my textbooks) and am wondering when I am going to read them. Hopefully I will be more motivated to study soon...
• Been working on some CBS stuff lately...trying to catch up on my memory verses but I ran out of laminating sheets last night :( (and I so don't want to go to Wal-Mart to buy some more!!)
• Wishing I got more sleep lately. I am so tired all the time! I have been taking short naps in between school and work this week...
• Still wishing for snow...daddy said that it snowed last week when he was on his way to the office. I love snow!!!
• Needing to do a lot of laundry and cleaning...am so sick of the thousands of pieces of paper in the house. Wishing I could just throw them all in the trash. Anybody know how to get on the "do not mail" list??? We get waayyy too many credit card applications that we will NEVER fill out. So they should save their money and time so that we don't have to deal with the garbage and add to the landfill!!
• Might possibly be kittysitting for the next three months...Brad is excited (he loves cats)...I am concerned about the house being even more dirty then it is now...and the fact that we are hardly ever at home. Since Kellie is thinking about moving the boys (sad, sad, sad, sad, sad face on this one for many reasons!) :( they are going to work on trying to sell their house. They want to clean the carpet and get rid of the cat for a bit because someone allergic to cats might buy the house (yeah, I don't get it either...if the people were that allergic they would get completely new carpet anyway...and how many people could there possibly be that are that allergic to cats that are going to think about buying the house???!)...
• Wanting to have some time to scrap. I have been working on my "All About Me" album lately. I've only gotten two pages done but they took a long time because the journaling was so detailed!
• Watching Sweet Home Alabama right now waiting for my boy to get home....and drinking Chick DP :) YUM!!
• Hoping to make some of Mrs. Buchhorn's world famous Peanut Butter Balls later tonight. I LOVE THOSE THINGS SOOO MUCH!! I miss them since we don't have any more elementary school birthday parties (Mrs. Buchhorn always made them for our class for Ryan's birthday & various holiday parties) and Mrs. B. doesn't work in the kitchen at CBS anymore... (Big thank you to Miss Paula for getting me the recipe!!) :)
• Needing to order a whole lot of photos. Not wanting to actually sit down and do it.
• For a person that loves organizing and being organized, my whole life is currently very, very disorganized and it is stressing me out! Work, home, the car...it is all so disorganized! Wanting to go to the Container Store and buy storage containers and then take a few days off of work and school to really clean the house & car(s) (yeah, like that will happen!)! I love that store...wish I could work there but it is too far away!
• Wishing that the gals could all come over tomorrow to watch movies and scrap...thinking that I may be scrapping all by my lonesome. I have missed those scrapping parties SO MUCH!!! We had so much fun last week catching up and hanging out. Amanda even came all the way to see us! YAY! :) It has been months since Julie, MAM, Amanda, Vicki, and I got together to scrap! It feels good to sit around and laugh hysterically with such wonderful gals! :) (LOVE YOU GALS!!)
• Going to get off the computer and get some stuff done...wish me luck :)

EDITED: We now have a kitty in the house...that is very unhappy and very stinky. She was in her itty bitty cage all day long and a two year old may or not have been harassing her while she was inside there...she is very vocal about it!! Brad sang her the "Smelly Cat" song..."Smelly cat, smelly cat...what are they feeding you?...It's not your fault!"

BVOTD: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..." Romans 8:1

Check This Out!

If you like to cook this is a great deal for you...

If you go to the Barilla website you can download a free Celebrity Pasta Lovers' Cookbook and Barilla will donate $1 on your behalf to America's Second Harvest!!

http://www.barillaus.com/Celebrity_Cookbook.aspx

BVOTD: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." Philippians 4:8 NIV

A Call for Prayer...

This has been on my heart for some time now.

I think we all need to lift up the younger generation in prayer.

They are being taught

• a bad self-image.
• they can never be skinny enough or smart enough.
• it is okay to eat and eat and eat and never exercise.
• it is okay to smoke and drink and do drugs.
• it is okay to have sex before they are married.
• abortions are not murder.
• it is okay to be unethical as long as it gets them ahead.
• violence & abuse are acceptable.
• porn is acceptable.
• marriage is disposable and divorce is an acceptable fix.
• there is no God.
• they can go to heaven if they are "good people."
  

Many children feel like they are not worthy of love. They are searching desperately for companionship and meaning in life.

I watched the Tyra Banks show at the gym today (which I normally don't watch but it was either that or the news). The whole show was about rail thin models and women's self-image. One model weighed 88 pounds and said she wanted to kill herself when she weighed over 100 pounds. It was disgusting how skinny she was!! She said that she eats and is healthy but would like to lose more weight.

I think that is such a sad message that is being sent to younger generations. 80 pounds is now heavy?!

There was a lady on the show who was anorexic that had two sons and weighed 75 pounds...what a 9 year old should weigh! She said she has a cup of coffee in the morning with some cigarettes and in the evening she allows herself 150-200 calories. WOW! When they interviewed her husband he said he took off work for as long as he could just so he could spend time with her. He worries that one morning she just won't wake up. Her doctor said that her anorexia was so bad that she won't just faint and be revived; she will simply have a heart attack and die. The whole family looked so sad. She is going to a recovery center...I just hope they can help her in time.

Even when young kids come into the store it seems as if parents do not care about their children. We have fire that can burn them, heavy items that can fall on them, and stove doors that little fingers can be pinched in and the parents are completely oblivious. They let their children wander around and don't even pay any attention to them. There is no discipline. It's like they don't have time for their children.

Last week a guest speaker came and spoke in one of my classes. He said that he works 13 hours a day and spends 2 hours with his son unless he is traveling and then he doesn't see him at all. What a sad way to live! A nanny is raising his son!! It is such a shame that people are so busy that they do not even have time to spend with their children. Parenting is such a huge responsibility!

I also think about the children growing up in homes with verbal, physical, or sexual abuse or parents who smoke. Oh my goodness, my heart goes out to them. I cannot even imagine growing up in that kind of an environment. That is emotionally and physically scarring.

I also saw part of an episode of Montel this morning. The whole entire family was addicted to Vicadon. One of the daughters was 5 months pregnant with her second baby and refused help. She wants her children to live with the same addiction that she has...just because she doesn't want to deal with withdrawal.

Sometimes I wish people had to take a test before becoming a parent...so many of them would fail!! (This is not to say that anywhere near all parents are bad. Many children are growing up in homes where they feel loved and uplifted and I praise the Lord for that!)

Children need to be taught the Word of God and grow in their faith. They need their "God shaped hole" to be filled with the Lord. One day they will have to stand before the Creator of the universe and be accountable for their actions.

Children deserve so much better than this!!!! We need to realize what is happening. Please, please pray for our younger generations and the parents that are raising them. Encourage the parents around you that you know are struggling.

BVOTD: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. " 1 John 5:2 ESV

"It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us." 2 John 1:4 NIV

"Every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father." Phillippians 2:10-11 NIV