Our Family Circus

Last weekend, in the rain, we had a yard sale to raise money to pay for My Dear's upcoming mission trip to Hait*. I mentioned the sale to the kids and asked them to go through their belongings and find donations. Dolly was on it! This is the child that wants to keep everything but for this cause she was ready. She even priced her own items. Amazing enough, they sold for the price she put on them! Billy gathered several little cars and we decided they would be perfect for My Dear's suitcase and small enough to fit in his pockets to give to the Hait*an Children. When My Dear began to make plans for the trip, Billy gave him a bank. My Dear would drop his change in it at the end of each day. B. saw the pattern and would find coins to add to the bank. On one occassion Billy asked to purchase something. When I asked how much money he had, he said he did not have any because B. was taking it from his room and putting it in daddy's bank. After he mentioned it, I realized ...

Since our trip to Vnam, I am seeing ministry differently. I did not realize that I was looking at it through, "it's all about me" glasses. You would think I would already know how this works. I held ministry positions since college and even worked at a Missions camp. I was called to ministry and then called to be a minister's wife....I should have gotten it! But it was clouded through those "it's all about me" glasses. Many times when My Dear wanted to hang out with the fellas or have teenage boys laying around our living room with game controllers, soda, burping, or the RISK game board-I wondered why he did not want to spend time with me. I resented his being gone every Friday night for football games and through the week for practices in a position he volunteered for. Tonight, after a service mission project and then a game of Capture the Flag-we had My Dear to ourselves again. After dinner, we hopped on our bikes and rode to the park. We LOVE...