Fall Break

Monday of fall break was a really hard day for me. I got after my teenagers, probably about helping with the housecleaning, if I remember right. They didn't like my adversarial approach, and it went downhill from there, to the point where I was wishing for the week to be over. By the end of the day, I felt like a total failure as a mom, and was wondering how to get my girls to believe that I don't hate them. Sigh.
The next day I read the parable of the prodigal son because I needed to. The prodigal made up a speech: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants." This is exactly how I felt.
Today I read that parable again. It occurred to me that I'm always going to feel unworthy if I think I have to make myself worthy. But, to quote Relient K, the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair. In other words, I don't make myself worthy; I just receive grace. I love the way the father interrupted the prodigal's speech to announce that it was time to party. His reasoning is very interesting: "...let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." How does a person go from death to life, from lostness to foundness? Not by fixing oneself, but by going home to Father, the life giver. This makes me feel sooo blessed, to be loved like that!

Jack-o-lantern

Kara is making an angel jack-o-lantern complete with wings. It has a mouth shaped like an O, so it looks like a singing angel pumpkin. A bit different from your typical jack-o-lantern. To the pure all things are pure....

MERCY!

I was driving east on Jewell near E470, and I was in a hurry. A large, slow truck was in front of me and I was lamenting this. Maybe a minute later, I saw a police car at a stop sign about to pull onto Jewell Ave. behind me. Thank God for slow trucks that keep me from exceeding the speed limit. What a difference a minute makes.

Movie

We went to see Secretariat--my 12-year-old is a horse lover. And that horse was amazing! But his owner neglected her family to pursue horse racing against her husband's wishes. I had a big problem with that.
Writer, director, and producer Randall Wallace was interviewed by World magazine, and he said that he considered the ministry before he became a filmmaker. But he decided to inspire people through the stories that his movies tell. He quoted his father: "people will remember almost nothing of what you tell them and only slightly more of what you do. But they will remember for the rest of their lives how you made them feel."
I think there's truth in that. The apostle Paul said, "Love edifies." I'm thinking that this needs to be love that people can feel.

Bread of LIfe

"Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." John 4:34. Malcolm Smith paraphrases this: "God's love feeds you as you give it away." I think this has something to do with experiencing God's love more and more, and then giving the same kind of love to others.

Mostly Silly Sentences by Kara

Here are some sentences that Kara made up for a language arts worksheet:
(The assignment was to turn sentence fragments into sentences.)
While it aims at honor and reputation, it trips.
Trying to be somebody is hard.
He that is proud sprouts a beard.
Rejecting the counsels of reason is unreasonable.
As the sun appears largest before it sets, so pride comes before a fall.
When we realize that our life is but a moment compared to eternity, we faint.

Misc.

There are no seeded watermelons anywhere, so we had an orange seed spitting contest.

Here's a good quote from C.S. Lewis:
"Until you have given up your self to Him [God] you will not have a real self."