Cosmos in Chaos

Don't Wait

to run over to Vanilla Bean Designs and get all the details on the giveaway. Two super-cute sets are up for grabs!

Life and Death

My grandmother has been in hospice care for the last week or so. Her body's been slowly deteriorating from smoking for 50 years, and she probably doesn't have much time left on earth. As we've spent time over the past week visiting her, the lyrics to this song keep replaying in my mind.

It's a matter of life and death
All the chances we're gonna get
To use our voices, make our choices
Happen here and now
What's the matter with all of us
Chase the wind and we miss the bus
We get distracted from what matters
And then somehow we forget
It's life and death

My grandmother doesn't know Jesus. She doesn't believe in life after death, and so I believe she won't spend eternity in Heaven. She's chosen Death not Life. And so of course, we all wonder if there's more we could have done to show her. We've talked to her, we've loved her, we've prayed for her, but did we truly treat it like life and death?

We ride emotions like subway trains
Down in the tunnels inside our brains
And life's a blur speeding past the window
We'd love to stop but who has the time
So much to do - we're so far behind
And we stay that way no matter how fast we go I wonder what's the point at which we break
When will we realize just what's at stake
We dance at weddings and we cry at wakes
And then we rush to make the next appointment

As it's Monday, I've been mentally going through my to-do list, and I'm feeling overwhelmed. Lots of work, lots of house-hold chores, lots of kid-time, and lots of little things. I start feeling rushed, and then I stop, take a breath, and remember to not be so hurried that I forget - it's life and death. 

Dance

I may not be doing the happy dance over the presidential election results this morning, but I am excited over a small victory for republicans reclaiming CD 22. 

At least once a day Kate runs to me asking, "we dance, momma?"  So I turn on the music and we dance. Usually it involves me spinning her around and all of us jumping up and down across the living room. 

Knowing that we're first citizens of Heaven and then citizens of America, means there's still plenty of reason to dance.

Vote LIFE.

Thanks Ally for the link.

Shifting Focus

We've decided to do something different for Christmas this year. Every Christmas Eve, my mom's side of the family gathers to celebrate and exchange gifts. It's been the tradition since I can remember, and there's been nothing wrong with it.

But this year, we thought, why not do something as a family for someone else - for someone who needs gifts more than we do. So as a family we decided instead of bringing gifts for one another on Christmas Eve, we're bringing the money we would have spent, and sponsoring a family child for a year. On Christmas, we'll take a family photo, choose the sex, age and country of our child, and write a letter to them.

Then, throughout the year, we'll continue as a family to focus on someone other than ourselves and send cards and photos to our sponsored child. 

On Christmas Eve, during what would have been our gift exchange, we're going to do a small white elephant game just for fun.

My hope is that our focus on others throughout the year will make us less selfish, more content, and more like Jesus. And my prayer is that my kids will grow-up knowing that it's definitely not about how much they have or what they get but how much they love and what they give. 

A Princess and her Super Hero

I'm very proud of my pumpkin --

and happy to say the princess and her superhero sidekick had a great night of trick-or-treating.

Home:

the beauty of the home is order

the blessing of the home is contentment

the glory of the home is hospitality.

Thinking a lot recently about living more simply.

Yes, I'm going there.

It stuns me how many young evangelicals I know are choosing to ignore the "telltale scratching" and vote for a candidate who charms them with his "mellifluous articulation."

I for one, am fine to be a single-issue voter this election.

"Jobs, highways, schools, economic growth—none of these matter if we're willing to sanction murder to get them. Perhaps my mentality is a recipe for political isolation for Christians, for the losing of elections, and maybe even a loss of national greatness. I worry that the alternative, however, is to lose something far greater, which is our ability to discern good from evil, and to act accordingly." Tony Woodlief in WORLD.

Senator Obama is found by Princeton's Robby George to be "the most extreme pro-abortion candidate to have ever run on a major party ticket." 

Biblically, abortion is one issue I find to be black and white, and I can not vote for a candidate who so strongly defends the right to kill innocent life. Even if McCain gets everything else wrong, I know he believes in the sanctity of life and will appoint judges who possess the ability to discern good from evil.

Ummm...

who stole my baby and replaced him with this little boy?!?

Just another Sunday morning...