Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

I am feeling really down today.  No particular reason I can put my finger on just a not-so-good day.

Recently I started reading a blog again that I used to follow closely.  And have remembered why I quit reading it.  I start reading the comments and get all caught up in the 'hate' commenter's she has.  And it gets my blood pressure up!  And then I discovered the blog that is dedicated to discussing her and tearing her apart.  Then I checked out another well-read blog and found she has a site of 'haters' too.  It gets me down. 

On the way home today a vehicle went tearing around me.  They got slowed down by the next vehicle who was going between 55 and 60.  Not too slow by any means.  When they were finally able to pass they made an obscene gesture out the window to the other driver.

It got me down.

This world is so depraved!

And it's supposed to be the month of love.

(Hearts made by my girls...)

Where is brotherly love?  Where is courtesy?  Where is patience?  Where is kindness?

(...and hung on the tree we used for our Christmas tree.)

Why do we all think of ourselves and what WE have going on over everyone else? 

Why are we so quick to say that the lady over on that blog is lying?  Have we walked in her shoes?

Why do we think WE have all the answers and could certainly straighten out everyone else if they would just listen to what we tell them????

Because of sin.  This world is a fallen world.  A depraved world.  A dark world.  A lost world. 

Let's stand up and LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS!   Let's shine a light of LOVE, Christ's LOVE, everywhere we go, to everyone we meet.  Because who is our neighbor??  Everyone we come in contact with.

Love them as Christ loves them.  Love them as we would love ourselves.  That gets pretty sobering if you sit and ponder it a bit.

Love the people who show hatred for the bloggers I enjoy reading.  Love the guy who doesn't know any better on the highway.  Love the lady in the check-out lane who yells at her kids because she is so overwrought.  (they were cuties but had WAY too much energy)  Love the impatient, love the unkind, love the seemingly unlovable.  It's only possible with Jesus' love in us.

And to bring it even closer home - love your teenager when she tells you she thinks you are stupid, love the 8 year old when she throws a fit and cannot be reasoned with, love the 6 year old when she refused to eat the food you fix.  Be patient.  Be loving.  Be kind.  Be Christ-like.

"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins."      1Peter 4:8

                                                                 

What are your thoughts on Loving your neighbor???

These are the Best Years of Our Lives

I remember hearing my Mom say that the best years were when the kids were old enough to all take care of themselves but not old enough to be gone all the time yet with their own plans.

I guess that would be between 5 and 14 or 15.  So.  That's where we are.  And yes, I'd have to say these are some pretty good years.  And I know they won't last long.  This year at Christmastime, the kids pretty much played, ate, and slept all together without fussing!  We didn't see much of them - except when they came tearing through playing pirates, or ninjas, or cowboys, or...

The Teenager is old enough to stay with the others if we need her to, and not old enough yet to have her own plans that take her away from us.  Little Sister is 6 and doesn't need a lot of care anymore (which can be sad if you dwell on it!)

Anyway, I'm in agreement - these are the best years of our lives - for now anyway!!!!

Christmas Pageant

My girls and my niece and nephew performed a Christmas Pageant for us.  It was quite cute and quite amusing.  Doncha just love where the quilt landed??!!

There were plenty of giggles:)

They really did a great job and it was delightful to watch.  They even have a curtain made out of a rope and shower curtains that they talked their Grandpa into putting up for them last year when they did this.  Amazing what Grandparents will do:)  So thankful their Grandparents are so involved in their lives and enjoy spending time with them.

I'd share more pics here but as you can probably tell my camera is not getting any better.  And santa didn't drop a new one off here.  If I can get any more of my photos edited to the point they are viewable I will try to post more.  But now I'm off to spend time with my Sister while I can!

My Brother left today:(  Sniff Sniff.  I miss him already.

"Away in a Manger no crib for a bed.  The Little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head!"

The kids even loved it!

The last 3 of the free kitties came home with us.  Could YOU have said no to this little lady??

Vacation in the Heart of Kansas!

When you tell someone you are going on vacation they always want to know where.  When I tell people we are going to Kansas they always look a little blank.  And just a tad bit sorry for me.  As if to say 'that really doesn't count as a vacation'.  I mean, it's in the middle of nowhere right?  It's flat and dry and hot and boring right??  WRONG!  Well, it is hot, and this year Pratt County has been more than a little dry.  But flat?  Not so.  Boring?  Definitely not.  NOT NOT NOT.

Just look at some of the fun we had! 

Water parks are just the best.  This was the first one we went to.  The second one a few days later was even more fun but I didn't take my camera in with me.  And I kept so busy going down super fun water slides and swimming in the big pool to even think about taking pictures.  We had a ball.  No way would a 'typical' vacation spot have been better.  AND we were with my sister,  brother-in-law and their kids, and my brother.   Can't get any better than that(unless of course my Mom and Dad had been along too). 

Break time.  Snacks.  Sunblock.  Water.  Rest.

My sister kids.  So wish we didn't live so far apart but oh so thankful we can get together as much as we do. 

Little Sister was her normal self:)

A good friend of Big Sister and R. went along with us.  The more the merrier!

Middle Sister got to not feeling so well on our first day in the water.  I think she was exhausted (it was the day after we got there) and just a tad dehydrated.  I got her some Gatorade and sat in the shade with her for awhile.  She was back in the water and playing before we left but was still glad to leave.  She got a good nights sleep that night and was fine the rest of the week.

On the ride home. With the temperature at over a hundred a vehicle gets a little toasty inside.  So we always had the a/c blasting.  The kids always got cold way before we were ready to turn the fan down so they pulled out blankets and bundled up.  Every single time.  Cracked me up.

We had a total blast the whole 6 and a half days we were there.  It was NOT long enough.  Next year I'm pushing for 2 weeks.  And I don't care what we have to miss here!

And just in case you wonder - I LOVED the hot DRY weather.  I love to swim and it's so much more enjoyable if it's hot:)  I don't especially love the humidity we have in Ohio, so the hot, dry weather was just great to me.  I'll take 110 and dry any day over 90 with 90 percent humidity!