Today's Quote 

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.

Six Feet Deep?

This weekend turned out to be so shocking in many ways here in Broward Florida.  Two teens where killed by another peer by a shooting and a stabbing.  One a female and one a male.  The male, a 17 year old, attends my sons school.  His younger brother actually plays with my son often in hockey.  The energy in the last two days at the school have been uneasy.  You can sense a sadness or uneasiness around the campus.  The school has taken extra steps to provide security for the kids from the media, as well as provide support groups and counsel. They have allowed for kids to attend the funeral today, with permission from their parents.  

I personally didn't know the teen, but I also feel a sense of sadness.  As I talk with my son about it on the way to school.  Its sad that his friend he plays hockey with lost his big brother forever.  Its sad that these parents have lost their son forever.  Its sad that these kids have lost a friend forever. And for some it will be their first time to experience a loss of this kind in their lives.  It will be very painful and confusing to them.

My heart aches that these two families have lost a child.  I also hurt for the two families who still have their children who are responsible for the killings (one female and one male).  No matter the outcome or the punishment, these are still kids who made big mistakes and their lives will forever be different from this situation.  I hurt for all of them.  It also adds more fear in me as a parent for my own children.  To think that all because of a disagreement or hurt feelings that someone that may or may not be a friend of theirs, could take such actions to end their lives.  

If you haven't read yet the 7x7 prayers on this blog, please do so.  We always talk about praying for this or praying for that.....but WE as parents need to always remember to not let a day go by that we don't pray for the protection and safety of our children.  Don't take them for granted.  We need to listen to our children, talk to our children and teach our children the right way and the wrong ways to handle themselves in any situation, no matter how they feel (angry, hurt, embarrassed etc).  They need to realize the seriousness and the frailness of life to never want to end their own or an other's. Please don't take the easy way out because you don't want to deal with the emotions or question to not talk to your children.  By avoiding the emotions you don't want to deal with, you in return could most likely be hurting your own child even more. If they can't hear it from or talk to you, their parents, their safety nets... they will only rely on themselves and or their peers influences.  Don't let your child be a victim on the living end or the lost end in their lives, all because you didn't want to get into a deep and serious conversation with them to avoid having to deal with your own emotions.  Be real and honest with your kids.  They know when you are being anything but!!! 

So I ask that you keep these families and kids in your prayers.  As a lot of them attend their first funeral today here in Sunny Florida, it will be a very dark day and time in many of their lives for days, weeks and months to come.  Please talk with your kids and share these stories, help them to open up and talk and work things out in positive ways.

I hope everyone is having a blessed week so far.

God Bless your families!!! 

Today's Quote 

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

Sharing Your Life Message - Week #3 Devotional

I am taking a bit of short cut this week on (last weeks) devotion.  I liked what this had to say and maybe when I get a little bit of time I will sit down and share my own testimony. 

This little light of mine!

“Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony of God in them.” (1 John 5:10a GW)

“Your lives are echoing the Master’s Word .... The news of your faith in God is out. We don’t even have to say anything anymore – you’re the message!” (1 Thessalonians 1:8 MSG)

When you became a believer, you also became God’s messenger. God wants to speak to the world through you. Paul said, “We speak the truth before God, as messengers of God.” (2 Corinthians 2:17b NCV)

Your Life Message includes your life lessons. These are insights you’ve learned about God, relationships, problems, temptations, and other aspects of life. David prayed, “God, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course.” (Psalm 119:33 MSG)

Sadly, we never learn from a lot that happens to us. Of the Israelites, the Bible says, “Over and over God rescued them, but they never learned – until finally their sins destroyed them.” (P 106:43 MSG) You’ve probably met people like that.

While it is wise to learn from experience, it is wiser to learn from the experiences of others. There isn’t enough time to learn everything in life by trial and error. We must learn from the life lessons of one another. The Bible says, “A warning given by an experienced person to someone willing to listen is more valuable than … jewelry made of the finest gold.” (Proverbs 25:12 TEV)

Write down the major life lessons you’ve learned so you can share them with others. We should be grateful Solomon did this, because it gave us the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, which are filled with practical lessons on living. Imagine how much needless frustration could be avoided if we learned from each other’s life lessons.

Mature people develop the habit of extracting lessons from everyday experiences. I urge you to make a list of your life lessons. You haven’t really thought about them thoroughly unless you’ve written them down. Below are a few questions to jog your memory and get your started:

So what?

• What has God taught me from failure?
• What has God taught me from a lack of money?
• What has God taught me from pain or sorrow or depression?
• What has God taught me through waiting?
• What has God taught me through illness?
• What has God taught me from disappointment?
• What have I learned from my family, my church, my relationships, my small group, and my critics?

Butterfly is 7 months Today

(Click on images to zoom in)

Riding around in classic car walker .......

check out those ears!!!! 

Getting the Flu shot and her ears pierced ...again!

Just a cute picture that Granny took in her crib.

Look I got my first tooth!!!  

Morgan is 7 months old today.  Yes, she is growing up.  We took her in for her shots D-Tap and Flu shots.  Then while there we decided at the last minuted to go ahead and do the ears again.  I marked the spots this time and they turned out great.  However, I have to say this time it was way more sad to watch her go through this.  The first one she cried so hard she couldn't catch her breath.  So I ran over to kiss on her and sooth her as best as I could. Then while I backed up to let them do the second ear, the nurse was holding Morgans head in place for the doctor to get to her ear.  Morgan was cutting her eyes over at me with this look if terror, while screaming.  It looked as though she was looking at me in one of two ways, 1) mommy aren't you going to rescue me? or 2) mommy how could you let them do this to me.  It was awful.  I had tears appearing in my eyes.  I couldn't grab her fast enough when they were done to hold and kiss her. I felt awful.

Then as if that wasn't bad enough, they gave her the two shots, one in each leg.  Poor baby girl!!!  She was so upset, to the point where she was huffing in between cries.  I am sorry baby girl!!!

Morgan is doing great.  She weighed in at 19.14 lbs. She is laughing, trying to say mama and dada.  She can sit up and roll over and over and over again.  She doesn't have interest in crawling just yet.  She is sleeping through the night and over all is just one happy baby girl.

Happy 7 months butterfly!!!