My awesome pre-teen daughter

Right now my 12 year old daughter, Bryanna, is away at her grandparents for the week. We were expecting her home tonight, but as it turns out she won't be home until Wednesday. I'm already missing her!! Tonight I realized, yet again, what a really cool girl she is.

To give you some background information, High School Musical is the best thing a preteen girl could possibly experience. High School Musical 2 comes out August 17th. This is a BIG deal. My 12 year old niece is having a slumber party for an early birthday party for the sole reason of watching said Musical. My soon to be five year old daughter's birthday is also August 17th. We call our four year old "bitsy" and the niece is "jeggie leggie."

Now that you have the necessary background information, let me share with you the email that we received from our daughter tonight:

daddy....is bethany having her party on the 17th?and if so what time will it be. because jessicas birthday party is on the 17-18 i'll ask her what time and then tell you.if i can i would like to go to both.but if i can't i'll just stay home and p-a-r-t-y party with bitsy. but let me find out what time jeggie leggie's party is.

Ok, I can't figure out how to make this not this color....anyway....My 12 year old daughter was willing to give up her High School Musical 2 party to stay home and p-a-r-t-y with her five year old sister. Take note when you read this that we don't have cable. If she doesn't watch High School Musical 2 at "jeggie leggie's" house, she won't see if for quite some time. All of her friends will have seen it, but she won't have. But that was ok with her-she was willing to do that for Bethany.

When I read the email I just began to cry. My goodness what a lovely girl God has made!!

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My son

The other night, we had our Awana commencement ceremony at our church. All the children were given the opportunity to go up in front of everyone and recite a bible verse if they wanted to. Only a few of the kids opted to do that, but Curt was one of them. Now you have to understand that Curt has always been terrified of getting up in front of a crowd. I wondered why he wanted to do it, but certainly wasn't going to discourage it. He decided he was going to say John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He practiced it and practiced it and practiced it until he had it down pat.

The night of the commencement came, and it was his turn to get up in front of everyone and say his verse---and he panicked. He started saying it, but then he just froze, and then he started to cry. Everyone felt so bad for the little guy. The Awana leader just put her arm around him and said "you can do this, you know this." She didn't say it for him or pat his head and excuse him-but she stood with him, arm around him, and helped him get it right. In the end, he said it and everyone applauded.

Yesterday we got this email from the Awana leader that stood there with her arm around him. It said:

"Curt, I just wanted to tell you a couple of things about what happened at the AWANA closing ceremony. When you couldn't remember your verse and "froze", there were things going on that you weren't aware of. God has an Enemy who does not want glory given to Him, and will use any opportunity to defeat Him or His children. Things were going too smooth, until you came forward...and stumbled. Now, what I want you to realize is that everyone in the room was pulling for you (except the Enemy, who wanted you to fail). And God was pulling for you, too. I know this because He spoke to me, and said,"Don't let him go back to his place until he can finish John 1:1." That is when I put my arm around you and held you tight. Curt, you did what we all were hoping you would do and that was to face your fear and embarrasment. You followed through and God allowed you the victory for His Glory. The Enemy left the room. That was a moment I hope you will always hold on to, remembering that to follow through is tough sometimes, but will always bring a result you can live with. If you had given up instead, you would always look back and see defeat and that could've kept you from ever serving God. All the rest of us in that room would've felt defeat, also. But that ain't what happened...and I'm proud of you. Proud to know you are my friend.

You may be a bit short, yet, but in my book, you're quite a man. I just wanted you to know."

I cried when I read it. He is such a cool little guy, and he's going to be an awesome man of God!

Veggietales and the state of the world

I recently saw a clip from a news show called Vent. On this particular segment, they were discussing the fact that Veggietales was going to be shown on NBC rather than only released on video by Big Idea. The first time I heard this, I was wary of it. I know network television enough to know that this wasn't going to happen without some major changes coming to Veggietales. I was really concerned that the creators of the show were "selling out." Sadly, the creators did agree to take out religious references. This makes me so sad. Phil Vischer says he didn't know when they made the agreement that every reference to God would have to be taken out of the show. This includes Qwerty's bible verse and Bob's signature line "God made you special and He loves you very much."
Why do they want all references to God removed? It might "offend viewers." This is from the same network that fought tooth and nail to get the "f-word" during primetime TV. This from the same network that aired a Christian bashing veggietales spoof on SNL. (Larry is a priest that molests young "gherkins") NBC also has plans to air a concert special with Maddona strapped to a giant crucifix.
To quote Michelle Malkin of the show Vent, "it is a sad sign of the times when the "c-word" and the "g-word" are considered more offensive than the "f-word" on network airwaves."

And now for something completely different

I love gummy bears.

Held

If you don't know the Natalie Grant song, "Held," go listen to it. Right now. Its on my little player thingy over there. Right there on the right of the screen. Are you listening? Listen good.

You know how sometimes you hear a song but you don't really listen to the words? You think "oh yeah, I like that song," but you haven't really HEARD it? That happened to me with this song. Just the other day I really heard this song.

So many times we hear "If there was a God, he wouldn't have let ___________ happen to me." Or people say that "I'm a good person, how could this happen to me?" or "You must not be living right or God wouldn't have done this to you." What a lovely thing for someone to tell you right after a personal tragedy, right? But I so love what she says here..."Who told us we'd be rescued? What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares? We're asking why this happens to us who have died to live. Its unfair. This is what it means to be held, how it feels when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive. This is what it is to be loved and to know that the promise was when everything fell we'd be held."

Wow..He never promised that the bad things wouldn't come. We aren't above the masses....we just have his arms around us while we cry.

This may turn to emotional ickiness for a moment, so if you want to stop now, go ahead.

In one minute it will be Mother's Day. The first Mother's Day I will have without a mother living here on earth. However, it isn't the first Mother's Day I have gone through as a mother who has lost a child. I have to say though, that He has held me. There were a wonderful few times that I actually physically felt his presence around me, holding me up to keep me from crumbling. I was held.
Today I will cry. I know that. And its ok. I will cry for Mama and I will cry for Molly. While I cry, He will hold me, and stroke my hair. He will know that I hurt and give me all the comfort that a Daddy would give his little girl who broke her favorite toy or skinned her knee. I am held.
And when I am through crying, he will lift my chin with his hand and he will point my eyes in the direction of my children. I will see the "centerpiece" made of hearts with their pictures on them that they made for me. I will remember that Curt cooked supper for me tonight because he loves me. I will see their shining eyes and I will get hugs and kisses and construction paper cards. I will go to church and have breakfast with Bethany's sunday school class, and I will be held.
Everything fell, and I am held.