Happy Birthday to my Sister!

There is no Friend like a Sister

There's no better friend than a sister -
There's no one more loyal and true…
and even when sisters are different…
their likeness come shining through!

Perhaps it's a family resemblance

that strengthens the bond they share…
or maybe it's just that sisters
live life with a similar flair!
A sister remembers your collegehood -
She knows more than you will admit
of times you were Little Miss Perfect…
and times you gave others a fit!
She's seen you in some situations
when silence just wouldn't suffice…
and managed somehow to get by
with those sisterly words of advice!

And when some encouragement's needed…
a sister will always be there…
to listen…
to laugh…
or to lean on…
to comfort, or simply to care.

There's no one who's more in your corner…
and no one you're more grateful to.
There's no better friend than a sister…
and no better sister than you.

(From "There Is No Friend Like A Sister" by Mary Engelbreit)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY SISTER!

Happy Birthday, Queen Mum!!!

Several weeks ago, I wrote a Mother’s Day post in which I described my mom (a.k.a., “Queen Mum”) in one word: faithful. She asked if I would take the time at some point to tell her why I chose that one word. In honor of her birthday today, I thought it would be fitting to write about why I describe the Queen Mum as faithful.

First, Mom has always been faithful to the Lord. While she is often soft-spoken about her faith, she lives her life in such a way that all who know her are able to see Christ though the example of her life. If Mom’s faith has ever wavered, I’ve never seen it. I know Mom is faithful to pray for my family and me.

Mom has been faithful to Dad for 45 years. In our society, that’s quite an accomplishment! As a wife, she has been the best role model I could ever hope to have. She taught me about the value of having girl friends, but more importantly of being loyal to and best friends with my husband above all others.

Mom has been a faithful mother to my sister and me. Remember my post on Mama Bears? Let’s just say I learned at the feet of the master! My mom re-entered the workforce when I was in the sixth grade. It was a hard adjustment after having her at home with us, but I always knew that her role as our mom came before any work commitments. And, her example had prepared me to step up to the plate and take care of my sister after school and to begin helping with the housework and meal preparations.

I’ve never lived in the same state as the Queen Mum since I’ve had my kiddos. Yet, she is faithful to maintain a close relationship with Burrito and Kat. She is faithful to follow the events of their lives, faithful to pray for and ask about those events, and faithful to celebrate their accomplishments with them. She is faithful in coming alongside Bud and I to help raise our children.

Mom is faithful in her relationships. In a world of superficial friendships, instant messages and emails, Mom still takes the time to regularly send cards and personal letters through the U.S. Postal system to stay in touch with friends and family. She is well known for her habit of clipping magazine and newspaper articles, cartoons, advertisements, etc., that she believes someone would enjoy receiving. Each card or letter is stuffed with these clippings - a sure indicator that those she cares about are on her mind as she goes about her daily routine.

Mom is a faithful worker. She has been employed by the same company since she went back to work. While never neglecting her family, she has worked with excellence at whatever her responsibilities were at the time. (They’ll be so sorry when she finally decides to retire! Ha!) Her work ethic is a great example to our family.

The Queen Mum is simply faithful.

If she says it, it is so.

If she agrees to do it, it’s as good as done.

If she promises to be there, she’s there.

Amen!

(I don’t know why, but it just seemed appropriate to add an “amen” at that spot.)

Thank you for your example of faithfulness, Mom. Happy birthday and I love you!

The Party and Lessons Learned

I’ve been a bad blogger. Oh, yes – I’ve been reading blogs. I just haven’t written my own. But I have a good excuse because I’m still recovering from the party we had last Friday night with 27 of my kiddo’s closest friends.

Yes, there was food. These are just the remnants. After all that I prepared, they still felt the need to raid the pantry and make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. What would they have done had I served PB&J sandwiches? (I like that they feel that comfortable in our home!)

There were middle schoolers. We were grossly out-numbered. (Sigh…)

Jumping on the trampoline.

Several games of football.

Can’t have football without the cheerleaders.

And, it’s not a good party if you haven’t danced the Cha Cha Slide.

There were high schoolers.

A well-supervised game of twister.

Can you lick your elbow? Go ahead and try it. (We’ll wait…)

She can!

This is what honor students do to unwind after finals. Who knew?

A Dance Dance Revolution dance contest. Did anyone ever really win?

Max hid in our bedroom. Who could blame him? (Not really – we locked him in there for his own protection.)

The party was fun. Mostly. Both parents and kiddos learned a few things.

• Middle schoolers never get tired. Ever. Ever.
  
• It's really fun to hang out with teenagers. Seriously!
  
• It is good to have a spare pair of shorts around in case of an “accident” on the trampoline. All that jumping places a lot of stress on seams. Thank you for loaning replacements, Kat.
  
• Real friends respect your home, your possessions and your parents. If they don’t, they aren’t.
  
• The goal of TP’ing is to NOT get caught. Got that, Burrito? We’ve never been so embarrassed. Who would have thought that we would raise a kid who would get caught before even getting started?

'07-'08 School year comes to an end!

I spent several hours sitting at the computer on Saturday morning. Bud had been after me to upload the numerous photos I had stored on our camera. It was a tedious, time-consuming project since I made the extra effort to properly name each photo (using the system my Prince Charming had created) and to touch up the photos to eliminate red eye, shadows, etc. It was fun to relive the many events that occurred over the course of this school year.

This is the last week of school for Burrito and Kat. The ending to many firsts. Burrito is finishing his freshman year of high school. Finals and all. Kat is finishing her first year of junior high. No finals this year. They have planned a party together at our house on Friday evening with approximately thirty of their closest friends and I'm sure this will provide for many more photo opportunities.

Here's the year in review - one full year condensed to five minutes.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Remember

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."

(Information from http://www.usmemorialday.org/)

MARIA SUE CHAPMAN, DAUGHTER OF STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN, DIES IN ACCIDENT AT FAMILY HOME

From his official website:

NASHVILLE, TN...5/21/08... At approximately 5pm on the afternoon of Wednesday May 21st, Maria Sue Chapman, 5 years old and the youngest daughter to Steven and Mary Beth Chapman was struck in the driveway of the Chapman home in Franklin, TN. Maria was rushed to Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital in Nashville, transported by LifeFlight, but died of her injuries there. Maria is one of the close knit family’s six children and one of their three adopted daughters.

(Note: One of the Chapman's sons was the driver of the vehicle that struck Maria Sue. Please, please keep this young man in your prayers!)

More than five years ago, Chapman and his wife MaryBeth founded The Shaohannah’s Hope Ministry after bringing their first adopted daughter, Shaohannah, home from China. The ministry’s goal is to help families reduce the financial barrier of adoption, and has provided grants to over 1700 families wishing to adopt orphans from around the world. Chapman is a five-time GRAMMY ® winner and 54-time Dove Award winning artist who has sold over 10 million albums and garnered 44 No. 1 singles.

The Chapman family is so grateful for the incredible outpouring of love and support at this difficult time.

If you’d like to meet Maria and express your condolences click here
By mail, send to PO Box 150156 Nashville, TN 37215.
In lieu of flowers, the Chapmans request any gifts be directed to Shaohannah’s Hope.

Mama Bear

A quick search on the internet revealed several sites that describe the qualities of mama bears. They all had a common theme.

• Mother bears will not leave their cubs. They are fiercely protective. She will hide her cubs nearby (to keep them safe) while she hunts or fishes. She will put them in a place where they are still nearby, but where other animals are not likely to notice the cubs. If a mother bear feels that her cubs are in danger, she will fight to the death to protect them.
• Mother bears are fiercely protective and extremely devoted, attentive, sensitive and affectionate with their young cubs.
• The mother will fiercely protect her cubs from any perceived danger.
• Mother bears are fiercely protective of their young.
• You especially don't want to get between a mother bear and a cub. A mother bear with cubs will be fiercely protective.

Fiercely protective. Sound familiar? Are you a mama bear? I am.

My kiddos can vouch for this. They say they can see the transformation begin in my eyes. Then it moves to my jaws. The clinching begins. The timbre of my voice drops and sharpens as the volume slightly rises. Sometimes more than slightly. Push me beyond this stage and you’re likely to see the claws, snarling teeth and flying fur appear.

It doesn’t have to be a life or death situation to bring about these protective instincts. And, it doesn’t matter the age of your child. I’m certain that my parents still feel the mama bear tendencies arise when they believe my sister or I have been wronged.

Wronged. Aggrieved. Mistreated. Persecuted. Maltreated. Victimized. Offended. Ill-treated. Injured. Harmed. (I have a great thesaurus. Let me know if you need more words.)

The dilemma in these situations, I’ve discovered, is finding the discernment to know when to unleash the mama bear. Or, when to take a deep, cleansing breath, step aside and let my cubs fight their own battle. Especially as my kiddos are getting older.

How am I doing with this dilemma? Well, it’s a day-to-day process. Some days I get it right. Some days I don’t. My prayer, though, is that my kiddos will know that whether I jump into the fray in their behalf or step aside and allow the battle and its outcome to be theirs, Mama Bear is there. Praying for guidance and protection from the One who loves them even more than I ever could.

And then I return to our family verse:

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. " (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NLT)