Leading Little Hands

November has been a relatively quiet and relaxing month, at least compared to September and October.  On October 22, Eric and I took Isaac and Brooke down south to French Lick, Indiana for a scenic train ride. We left our house around 9:45 a.m. and headed down. Eric took a few back roads with twists and turns, bumps and hills; which provided us with a memorable drive. B was not feeling the bumps and hills however; she kept saying, "It's okay. I not going to be scared." She eventually said, "Daddy, I not like this road. I want to go home."  I sat with her and held her hand and we got through the drive safe and sound.  As we are in Indiana, with the combination of construction and general traffic, we had a cool ten minutes between arriving in the parking lot and needing to pick up our tickets and board the train. We made it...with a bit of scurrying and half-dragging, half-carrying the kids. They didn't complain though.  We boarded the train...

  Contentment. "A state of happiness and satisfaction"  This is what I need.  I desperately desire contentment.  Contentment in my relationship with Jesus, at home, in my marriage, as a mom, at work. Everywhere. I need to take small issue with the Webster's definition as well; contentment is not happiness. Happiness is external; happiness is evident when everything is going right, happiness can be felt when the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing. Happiness is the perfect wedding day, walking down the aisle in a beautiful dress, the picture-perfect cake, the smiling guests, the handsome groom. But what about when the sun stops shining, when rain pours down and turns dry ground into floodwaters and swirling mud? What happens when the wedding day is long gone and the handsome groom is getting under your skin? That's when happiness ends.  Happiness depends on how things are going and how I feel right now. Con...

Early this month, we packed up and directed our caravan south to Panama City Beach, Florida. It was, as always, quite the adventure. We headed out on Thursday, July 7th at around 5:30 in the morning. The kids were great. They read, played with toys, amused themselves with their Kindles, and napped. We stopped for lunch in Nashville and a Bob Evans and then continued our journey south. We stopped in Montgomery for a chance to unfurl ourselves from sitting in the car and to spend the night before continuing the final leg to the shore.  Ice Cream in Alabama The kids seemed to enjoy themselves at the Holiday Inn; they swam in the pool with Daddy and Pop-Pop and took advantage of their artistic side with the crayons and coloring books we brought along. While in the pool, Isaac met a little girl named Piper. She swam with our three and they seemed to get along fine. We headed up to the room and Grandma Ruthie asked Isaac about his new friend and what her name was. ...