Okay, so I was considering watching The Passion of the Christ with the kids, but thought that might be too much for them, and an especially bad idea right before bedtime, so I chose Titan AE instead. I've had the movie since before either one of them was born, but never opened it, so tonight, we opened it! (Well, I opened it; thus, the case is still usable!)


Anyway, we cleaned up the living room, and they got jammies on. I sat down on the couch and stretched my legs out in my "movie-watching with the kids" pose. Jayden quickly got up into my lap in his favorite cuddle spot, while Vaelyn had a minor fit that we weren't watching Scooby Doo.


I finally got Vaelyn back in the room for a second: "Oh, how sweet! The Daddy just wanted to keep his little boy safe!" I convinced her to watch just a minute or two of the movie, and if it wasn't good, she could leave. (I know. . . I'm a terrible mom for manipulating my child into watching television! Phillip is working on the roof of the little addition he built off the den and needed space). Anyway, Jayden (on his own) told Vaelyn he would cuddle with her if she would be good, so he made her a spot. So. . . he was in my lap, sitting on my legs with his legs stretched out, and Vaelyn was beside him, a little lower, stretched out with her head leaning on his shoulder. And I. . . I couldn't reach the darn camera for anything. Once I finally did, the battery was dead! I got my cell phone, but by that time, Vaelyn sat up, and I had to re-create the pose.


Now, why, you may ask was this such a photo-worthy moment? Because they can NEVER share my lap! It ALWAYS ends in pushing and whining and crying and tattling (when I'm right there seeing and FEELING the whole thing!) Jayden volunteered to share with her, and we cuddled like that for almost the whole movie. Another thing that makes it a special moment is that Vaelyn just doesn't cuddle for long--at least, not with me. That's probably because her brother is there first, but still, this was probably the longest stretch of cuddling I've had from Vaelyn since she learned to walk!


Anyway, it made my whole week! It was just so sweet. So now, I'm using my blog to try to preserve the moment. :) It was so worth putting the laptop away and not working on the countless things that I still need to accomplish before Monday!

Oh, and about the movie: There was even place where a character gave his life to save the others. It was a great Good Friday movie. :)

The cell phone picture.  Notice that Baby Girl has to ham it up,
and Jayden doesn't want his picture taken!

A Sacrifice of Love

Okay. . . didn't I say that I found a folder of old writings?  Well, I've been going through them, and most of them are still powerful, so they're zapping me all over again!  Here's one for today.  Remember, today is Good Friday, and Easter is just around the corner.

August 5, 1996

I had always thought that it would take a lot of love and sacrifice to wash someone’s feet with your tears, and dry them with your hair.  Then I learned that because sandals were worn in Jesus’ time, dust and manure could be, and probably were, caked on His feet.  I thought that was bad enough, but then I learned that they didn’t shower every day like we do.  It could be a year before that woman got to wash all of that out of her hair.  What love!

But that love pales in comparison to a far greater love.  You see, Jesus loved us enough to wash us not with his tears and hair, and not our feet only.  He loved us enough to wash our whole being with his very blood.  The Son of God loved us enough to wash us with His blood.  I stand in awe and wonder at the God who loved me enough to die so that He could wash away my filthy sin in the purity of His precious blood.  May I never take His blood for granted!

--Originally written August 5, 1996

At the Foot of the Cross

Okay, this is not something new. In fact, it's really pretty old now, but it's on my heart again because it was written shortly before Easter back when I originally wrote it. It's from 1992 or 1993. March. It was originally written to be read in a church service. Let me know what you think. Here you go:

Well, God knew you were going to be here today. In fact, He worked everything out so that you WOULD be here today, because He wants to tell you something if you will open your heart and listen. God loves you! He picked out EVERY characteristic about you out of the millions of characteristics possible. He chose all of them just for YOU because they were required for His perfect plan for your life. And, not only did he hand-pick your personality, physical appearance, emotions, etc., He also planned exactly when you would be born. Out of all the centuries, decades, years, and minutes, He chose the EXACT moment that you were born. And He knows every heartache you will feel, every disappointment, every failure—and He knows every time you will break His heart. And He still loves you. In fact, He knows the worst thing you will ever do, and still loves you and desires to have a relationship with you SO much that He sent His holy, perfect, SINLESS son to die the cruelest death imaginable, for you. And His son agreed to do it. He died because He LOVES you. And we forget the price He paid for us. And we break His heart again and again and again and again. He hung on a cross, splinters digging into His torn-apart back, blood pouring from His body, His disciples at His feet. They didn’t understand. Some of them were crying, “Lord, is this all there is?! We had hoped your were the one.” –And those were the ones who had stayed. His mother was there, looking up with tears streaming down her face, sobbing as her hear breaks in two.

Then there were the guards. They were laughing and mocking Him. And He looked them in the eye as if to say, “Don’t you understand, this blood is for you? I am the sacrifice for your bloodguiltiness. You aren’t taking my life. I’m giving it in your place because I love you.” And no one understood. But He didn’t back down. He didn’t give up. He could have stopped and said, “No!!!!!! I won’t do it! They don’t understand!” But He set His face and went on.

And here we are at the foot of His cross. A drop of blood falls onto one of the guards. He wipes it off, not knowing that this blood could change his life forever. He doesn’t know that this is the answer to that empty space in his heart—that dull, aching void he has tried to fill all his life. No matter how hard he tries, nothing works. Another drop falls on him, and another. He wonders how long he will have to stand here at the foot of this cross. The sky is starting to turn black—in the middle of the day. The time passes slowly. Then the strange man on the cross cries, “It is finished!” and lowers His head. By now the guard is covered with blood. This has been the strangest day of his life, and yet, somehow, he feels he will never be the same.

They are taking the cross down now, and a rich man runs up and asks that he be allowed to bury the body in his tomb. He is leaving with the body, and the guards follow, making sure the grave is sealed, so that no one can steal the body. And the guard goes home.

A few days later, he sees a man on the street, and his heart stands still. It is the man who had been on the cross. He would recognize that face anywhere—and those eyes, they seem to see right down to the soul. The man is talking to a group of men, his students perhaps, and . . . wait a minute, He is rising up into the air, ascending into heaven! The guard falls to his knees, for surely this must be the Christ!

--Originally written in March 1992 or 1993

Relationship: It Ain't No One-way Street!

Today, I was thinking about an old lesson I learned. I can't quite remember why I was thinking about this particular lesson. I think it was because I was thinking about high school drama and how sometimes one person will keep on trying to kick a dead horse and make a relationship work. High schoolers (and sometimes older people too) just don't realize how unhealthy that is.

Anyway, I was thinking about this lesson. It was a particularly painful lesson, despite its simplicity: it takes two people to make a relationship work. In other words, ONE PERSON CANNOT MAKE A RELATIONSHIP WORK ON HIS OR HER OWN. Yep. . . that's about how loud it had to be to sink into my brain. To make a very long, very painful story short. . . in the past, I did everything humanly possible to make a relationship last, only to learn that you cannot force another person to behave a certain way. If he or she wants to be stupid, you can't change that for him or her--EVEN if you try to pray God's will on his/her life. The problem that you run into is this: God gave us choice. He doesn't force us to do anything. Sometimes when we pray, we ask God to make a person do right. He won't. Man, when I learned that lesson, I really didn't like it. Not one little bit. That, of course, didn't change a thing, except to make me see reality.

Now, since that time, I have been blessed with a wonderful, wonderful man, and I appreciate him so much more due to a very traumatic time in my life, but. . . that's not what I want to talk about. When I revisited that lesson today, it wasn't to think about it in the same old way. Nope. There was a new application. It was. . . well. . . ouch! not such a comfortable application. You see, this time, I was not the one working and working and working to make a relationship work. I was the one who was just doing my own thing, and God was the one who was patiently waiting for me to decide that I wanted to make this relationship work. Ouch! (I told you it wasn't a comfortable application!) Anyway, if you're out there reading this, I hope that it touches you in some way. Tell me what you think. You don't have to agree with me--just remember that I don't have to agree with you either! ;)

So. . now, I've got to remember that a relationship requires a great deal of effort from both parties. It's not about me doing whatever I want and Him dying to reach me. It's about Him dying to reach me and me dying to reach Him.

Hard-Headed Is a Relative Term

Wow. Never thought I'd see this, but Vaelyn has met someone with a harder head! Today at PE (best I can figure), Willian pushed Charles, and that made Charles hit Vaelyn's head with his head. Apparently, it didn't phase Charles. Vaelyn, however, cried, and a four-year-old helped her to the coach to tell what had happened. She got to go to the nurse, who had her hold ice on it and told her a story. . . "a TRUE story."

Apparently, when the nurse was a little girl, a turkey used to chase her and her sister. One day, the girls were startled by the turkey and smacked into each other (with their head, thus making the tale relevant to Vaelyn's predicament). Well, that night they had the turkey for dinner. Mom said, "That's the last time that turkey will chase you!"

Vaelyn found the story hilarious!

At any rate, I'm now counting my blessings that I have a soft-headed child! How difficult it must be for Charles' parents! ;)

(Oh. . . Willian lost his play time for this little incident; however, he and Vaelyn are "best friends" now).