Life Markers

When God led the Israelites into the promised land, he had them pick up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from which they made a memorial. Joshua 4:6-7 tells us, “Let these stones be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”

God knows that we need markers in our lives – things to help us remember the significant events. So it seems that baptism is more than simply an “outward sign of an inward change,” but it also one of those life markers from which one can draw strength.

What a joy is was as parents to watch Miss Bookworm get baptized on Sunday. I loved her testimony where, when speaking of when she decided to follow Christ, she said, “Well, I was laying on my bed thinking things over . . .”. Thinking things over led her to a decision nearly 10 years ago now and she is still growing in the Lord to this day.

Teenagers and Music

On Saturday I was up on a ladder taking down Christmas lights while CrazyMom was “supervising” from the ground. (Yes, supervising. When I lean as far out as I can on the ladder to try to reach some lights, I can feel her we-have-too-many-kids-for-you-to-be-doing-something-so-dumb look burning through my back.)

Miss Bookworm popped her head out the front door and said, “Mom, can I buy a song?” She was on the iTunes store on my laptop and wanted to add to the collection on her new grandparent-provided iPod.

“Sure,” said CrazyMom. Then, as Miss Bookworm’s head was disappearing, CrazyMom suddenly realized that she never asked what song it was – she was lapsing as a parent.

“Wait!” she called after Miss Bookworm. “What song is it?”

“Lead Me To the Cross,” Miss Bookworm called as she stuck her head back out and then disappeared into the house.

As the door closed, CrazyMom and I chuckled.

“I guess that song will be alright,” CrazyMom said as she smiled.

“Yeah, I am pretty sure that one does not have an ‘explicit’ tag,” I said . . . and then I had to catch my balance because my chuckling had caused me to lose my focus on the ladder.

Sodo - The Best Dog Ever

Over the years people other than my children have tried to convince me to get a dog for our family. They would always tell me how great their dog was and I would always think that I would love to have their dog, but I was not so sure about having any dog.

So when we finally took the plunge and got a dog, who would have known that we would have ended up with the best dog ever. (For those of you who think you have the best dog ever, I guess you are entitled to your own - incorrect - opinions.) One of the many things that makes this dog so great is that she flunked out of a program to be a service dog for children with disabilities. Evidently she was exhibiting some poor behaviors while living in her crate, none of which we have seen in our home. While she may be a service dog flunkie, she is trained at a high level for a house pet.

We have named this dog Sodo after the Ethiopian town that all of our adopted kids are from. Sodo has adjusted beautifully to our home. Everybody is getting along just great - except for the cats. Even though the cats are above Sodo in the pecking order and Sodo keeps her distance from them, they have only warmed up a little to her at this point. We have seen some improvement and are still optimistic that all of the animals will become friends.