From Little girl to Young Woman

So...Alexis flew off on the other side of the world today. Not a big deal right? Well, I think my little girl is growing up and this journey of hers will only cement that reality. I feel as if I have said good bye to a my little girl and in exchange what I will get when she comes back is a young lady. She will grow up so much from this trip. A fact I have tried to hide from. How fast time flies. One moment you are holding their chubby little hands and looking into those deep and trusting eyes; and the next minute you are letting go of those hands while those eyes look on. One can only hope that you have taught them well and that those eyes will not wonder too far. Of course now more than ever I need to be the woman worthy of inspiring her. And more than often I feel unequal to the task. So now is the time where my knees will be knelt upon, that I may be guided in how to assist her through her journey into Young Womanhood.

"Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even
though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to
develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and griefs which
we endure help us in our marching onward."

Henry Ford

"One of the Least of these"

I made a hasty decision the other day. Perhaps it was because of my current studies with Alexis. In my mind suffering and poverty are very fresh. I feel like I have been to Cambodia and seen the suffering that I want to end. But I took a cousin some groceries and hand me downs that my children grew out of. I have been around her children a few times and seen their faces. There is a grave look in the eyes, something that expresses poverty. Her husband had some finances cut and I knew they were struggling. Upon arriving to their home She had prepared her children a potato for dinner. No, not a baked potato with all the wonderful toppings, a simple, baked potato. To accompany this potato was some watered down powder milk from her food storage. There was a time when this same cousin drove miles to my home to bring me a meal when my first son was born. The meal consisted of 6 homeade wheat rolls, 6 small baked potatoes and two oranges. In her humble way she was giving me her best, no doubt her widow's mite. When I purchased some groceries and invited my children to donate they did so and it became a family service project. An array of produce, bacon, eggs, diary products,sausage, pepperoni, two chickens and bags of whole grains (oats, wheat, and beans)filled our car. For a small moment I had the opportunity to be a miracle giver and see the light in the children's eyes and they recieved some things I am sure they rarely get, possibly never had.
Classic literature has a way of changing you. That is the entire point of reading a classic-it changes your character filling you with ambition to change and better the world around you. Maybe I can't help those Cambodians I read stories about with Alexis but I can help someone in my small corner of the world and in a small way Peace fills me.

To Be Human Is To Feel

As I have been studying things with Alexis before she goes I am amazed at the inhumanity that goes on in the world around us, most of which we don't know of. This book, When Broken Glass Floats, is about the killing fields that took place just 30 years ago in Cambodia. It is hauntingly similar to Hitler's madness just 35 years prior. It is a real tear jerker and a humbler. No matter how hard our circumstances, someone has got it harder. We have much to be thankful for and little do we American's know just how blessed we are. Even under the most dire circumstances, We have it so good. Why do these things happen? Just how does Satan get a hold of these people to commit such horror without feeling? It's as if they have surrendered their humanity and in so doing given up any feelings of mercy that come with it. It is amazing to me that even someone under those circumstances fights to survive. Why? Do they not know of the better after life and our Savior's amazing grace? How is that even though misery consumes them they have the will to live? Perhaps our spirits deep down know of the great privledge it is to be alive and live with a body, no matter the cost. Because to be human is to feel. We have been given much and how do we reach out to help those suffering and stop such Evil?Two things come into my mind. Spread the gospel and that light will follow and educate.

Let's Be Brave

This is one of my most favorite poems. We all experience sorrow in life. It is natural. But I find in this poem a reminder and it centers me.

Let's Be Brave

Let's be brave when the laughter dies
And the tears come into our troubled eyes,
Let's cling to the faith and the old belief
When the skies grow gray with the clouds of grief,
Let's bear the sorrow and hurt and pain
And wait till the laughter comes again.
Let's be brave when the trials come
And our hearts are sad and our lips are dumb,
Let's strengthen ourselves in the times of test
By whispering softly that God knows best;
Let us still believe, though we cannot know,
We shall learn sometimes it is better so.
Let's be brave when the joy departs,
Till peace shall come to our troubled hearts,
For the tears must fall and the rain come down
And each brow be pressed to the thorny crown;
Yet after the dark shall the sun arise,
So let's be brave when the laughter dies.
By Edgar A. Guest