Oh My, what have they done to my boy?

The grandchildren have come for a visit and I am soooooooooooooo glad to see them. But what a shock to see my beautiful Ethan wearing a mohawk!!! He is still my sweet boy....but a very busy one :). He is impressing me with letter recognition and all the new things he has learned!




Here is Ashlie and the girls. They are crawling and clapping and waving bye-bye. We must keep a close watch or they find trouble pretty quick. They are so very different in personality. They are indeed a joy to have around.

Life's ups and downs

We all experience them, however we still struggle when they come. We somehow think that life should be a continously positive journey. Struggles reveal character; and character is who we really are. I think lately I have experienced stuggles in abundance and I am not sure I like the character traits that have been revealed. I would love to be able to say that I am of strong, unquestionable character but in reality, I find myself lacking.

I remember years ago a friend told me she was going on a sabatical to sort out her life and I thought...why would anyone want to stop living to just go and think about it? I have now come to a place and an age where making the right choices seem more important than making quick choices. Sometimes we think we are where we have to be or for that matter where we want to be, just to realize we have made a mistake.

I have made many mistakes in my life but I do learn from them. I have always like the saying, "If you keep doing the same things you've always done, don't expect different results". There are no perfect people, I know that. We all are imperfect people in an imperfect world trying to make a difference. I feel a real contentment with my life, I know who I am and what I want and that brings a contentment. I know the ups and downs of life will keep on coming but that's ok. That's life.

Friends

This is a picture of my dear friends, Bill and Anne taken at a nice little country cookin' restaurant just north of Atlanta this weekend. I met Anne about 11 years ago when she brought the cutest little toehead to my class for preschool. This child is now 6'1" and wears a size 13 shoe.

Sometimes in life we find friends that just click. You seem to just enjoy each others company and know that if ever a need arises they are only a phone call away. That is Anne for me and Bill too for that matter. Good people who I am blessed to know. Thank God for good friends.

Life, love and commitment Part II

When I first began my blog I wrote on this subject, then through a glitch I lost my post. I began writing again but really did not rewrite the many posts lost. I have decided to revisit this subject for several reasons but mostly because I have strong personal feelings about each area.

Life; the Merriam Webster dictionary defines it as the following:

The quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body and the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual.

There of course are more, but for the purposes of this post I will stick with these. The quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body. I have known people that live as thought their life is over. They do nothing with the time they have. Never venture out to the land of the living or enjoy the beauty of the natural world. They live their lives through that little box in the family room, never daring to go out and attempt some of the things they see on it. For them life is truly a spectator sport. I see the sad, lonely and depressed and want to shout "get up, get out, and get moving!" That leads to the second definition, the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual. One must live life daily, it can not be watched but experienced! We all have the same amount of time each day and we can't get one second back after it has ticked away, so why not make a difference in the world you live in. Reach out and help someone, smile and speak to a perfect stranger. Tell those you love that you do love and appreciate them. Send flowers, write a love note, give a surprise gift. Each day is a series of snapshots of your life, one day when you are old and gray wouldn't it be nice to have albums of beautiful snapshots to see? The older I get the more I realize that age is truly just a number. People who love life and live each and everyday to its fullest regardless of hardships, aches and pains or the millions of other difficulties this world has, will always be young.

Love; I again reference the dictionary for the following:

Strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties (2) : attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3) : affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests

I am of the belief the love is a choice and that we can and do choose whom we fall in love with. I think God intended people to be involved in relationships. He placed each of us into a family unit and that is where little newborns grow and develop most normally. Our lives are a series of relationships, some good, some bad, but most a gift to enhance our lives. We have parents, siblings, and other extended family. We grow up fall in love; have children, grandchildren and on and on it goes. We find enjoyment in common interests and strong affection arising out of kinship or personal ties. Ain't love grand?

This leads me to my final point and that is commitment. Commitment is defined as:

an act of committing to a charge or trust: an agreement or pledge to do something in the future; especially : an engagement to assume a obligation at a future date.

Commitment is one of those scary words. We all commit to things daily, a job, a way of life, God, however we find talking about commitment difficult. We have preconceived ideas on what it really means. I believe that in life it is the things we love and more so the things we commit to that make our lives more than mundane days. Love and commitment are what make life worth living.