Crutches for Christmas...A word of advice to all parents.

To anyone who has or will have children...Christmas is coming, and I have one word for you:

Crutches.

We have a very unique 6 year old in our home, and last year she made it known that she wished she had crutches. So we went on eBay and bought her a youth pair of crutches, all the while thinking that this must be the weirdest thing a kid could possibly get for Christmas.

So she opens the gift, screams a happy scream, and around the house she goes on her crutches. Except down the stairs.

We have visitors pretty often...We have families over or kids from the neighborhood come to play. Here is the most common conversation I hear coming from the playroom...

"Hey Hannah, did you break your leg or something?"

"No...I got those for Christmas."

"Oh...(pause...) Oooohh, these are SO COOL!"

And around the house the visiting kid goes (except down the stairs) on the crutches. And maybe even outside if it's nice.

Yesterday I walked over to our neighbor's driveway to get Hannah, and her friend was in the middle of asking her..."Can we get out your crutches?"

So that's my word of wisdom for the day, and for the Christmas season for all of you parents who can't think of anything your kid needs or wants...It's a sure winner.

I knew it was You...

"I knew it was you...The whole time I knew it. But the others didn't believe me."

"And why would that stop you from coming to me?"



Oh, the times that I knew it was the Lord and I didn't bother to find Him because of the disbelief of others...

Interesting how Lucy has to go alone to meet him, how she has to travel light, how she has to travel a road that isn't easy. And this is how we must go also...Alone, with nothing but faith. She wonders, too, about what would have happened had she gone to him earlier, if the casualties would have been fewer...I wonder if the lives of those around me would be eternally different if I obeyed at once instead of waiting.

I wish I could be braver, too.

on days like these...

Some days make you think about what really matters...Some days make you consider what you might do if you knew that today was your last day. I'm sure most of us would change something about ourselves, or make things right with someone, or do things that we always wanted to do in our heart of hearts...I'm sure most of us would savor every minute of that last day. It's funny how certain situations really inspire us to be better...Events in our lives that we consider tragedies can stir us to become completely different people, and can move us in ways that nothing else ever could. It's as though loss brings forth a new fervor for living, and a renewed passion for what we believe.

The thing about days like this is that eventually that feeling wears away, and most of the time we go back to living just as we did before. That stirring in us fades and we become sedate again, uninspired again, and content living the status quo. 

I wonder what would happen if we could bottle days like this and take it out when we need it - if we could open that bottle when we see that we're taking life for granted...I wonder what would happen if we could generate that inspiration, that drive to be our best and to do what we know we should do. We know in our minds that each day is a gift, and yet that truth only hits us when reality strikes in someone else's life. 

Today was one of those days for me...A day when things just seemed as though the world wasn't right. It made me consider the reality that we never really know when our time here will end; it made me consider how fragile any person is, no matter how strong or how young; it made me consider what I might do differently tomorrow. Today I saw a grieving father lift his hands in praise, and I hope I never forget that picture in my mind, so that maybe I truly can live as if each day was my last.

just because it's funny...

All I really needed to know...

I learned in kindergarten.

Hannah is 5 years old and just started kindergarten here at home...In the past few months, I've noticed some things about her that I am lacking, some things I wish I could get back. I watch how she is sometimes and I wonder where on earth she got it from.

I guess what I love most about her right now is that she loves with all of her might, and it is completely unconditional. Maybe we lose this quality as we age, or maybe it's that pride seeps in and we choose to put conditions on love, but she doesn't do that. I've had my bad days, days when I hope she'll forget my poor parenting, but the next morning she wakes me with a smile just the same, as though I took her to Disneyland the day before. Always the same, always new every morning, always with her whole heart. I wish I had that in me the way she does. It wears me out thinking of the energy it would take for me to love anything as hard as she does...I wish it were that effortless for me.