InJUSTiCe
Sometimes there seems to be injustice everywhere you look. Certainly, it's very evident in our world today, with children starving and left like garbage, mistreated and forgotten elderly, or things like this week when that little 6-year-old boy was suspended for kissing his little girlfriend's hand. Seriously. What in the WORLD? But there are days when you see it in your personal world, too, effecting people that you know, respect and love. They are dealt an outlandish hand, so incredibly wrong and undeserved that you can hardly believe it's really happened. If you're human, it makes you furious. You rumble it around and around in your mind trying to see any sense at all in it, and...
Avalanche
If you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, you're getting a little tired of the ice situation, amen? I just got out of the house, yesterday, for the first time since last Wednesday, and the roads, while much improved, were still slow-going. The mail is still not being delivered out where we live, and the country roads are still solid sheets of ice. A couple of nights ago, I woke up about 2:00am and went out to the kitchen for a drink of water. I was standing there in the silence, sipping it down, when what sounded like thunder started rumbling loudly above my head. It startled me to the point of causing water to slosh out of my glass. Just as I was going to investigate, a big chunk...
Deep Inside
We have a bird feeder outside our window, near a thicket of small trees. We try to keep it packed up with a nice sunflower seed mix, especially during the winter, and its promise to attract a variety of birds is always made good. Right now, with the icy mix as a backdrop, you can really see the variances in color and size and pattern. But, for all their differences, there is one thing they have in common. Just about every one of them is puffed out completely. With their feathers standing on end, they look to be about twice their size and plump as little Thanksgiving turkeys. Obviously, they're puffed out like that due to the frigid weather. It helps them keep the cold out, I guess,...
Mountain’s Echo
After quiet descended on my house yesterday, and I straightened up and put away baby equipment and toys, I collapsed into a chair next to the fire and did pretty much nothing. I watched some favorite movies with Maddie and Kevin, then grazed through leftovers and soaked in the calm. One of the movies we watched was The Family Stone. A long-time favorite, it never gets old. However, this time, there was a scene between Sarah Jessica Parker and Luke Wilson that stood out to me. They are together, just being quiet, when she starts to hum Joy to the World. She broke into actual words on one of the verses, and when she was done, he was struck by the same thing I was. One phrase, which he...
Extraordinary Ordinary
If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I got one extra day with my kids. Thank you, bizarro Texas ice storm! We needed diapers (forget bread and milk; priorities, people!), so Kevin bundled up and headed out for town in our diesel 4x4. About half an hour later, he called and said he'd only made it to the gas station, which is normally less than a 5 minute drive. So, it was Brand X gas station diapers that smelled like fried food, or nothing. Brody was stuck with a truck stop vibe, but he's cute so we let it slide. After that one attempt to exit our property, we knew that we weren't going anywhere else. It was just a day to be in and soak up some more time together. I know the...