Jokes for the day...

A young boy had just gotten his driving permit. He asked his father, who was a minister, if they could discuss the use of the car. His father took him to his study and said to him, "I'll make a deal with you. You bring your grades up, study your Bible a little and get your hair cut and we'll talk about it." After about a month the boy came back and again asked his father if they could discuss use of the car. They again went to the father's study where his father said, "Son, I've been real proud of you. You have brought your grades up, you've studied your Bible diligently, but you didn't get your hair cut!"

The young man waited a moment and replied, "You know Dad, I've been thinking about that. You know, Samson had long hair, Moses had long hair, Noah had long hair, and even Jesus had long hair...." To which his father replied, "Yes, and they walked every where they went!"

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One Sunday a pastor told the congregation that the church needed some extra money and asked the people to prayerfully consider giving a little extra in the offering plate. He said that whoever gave the most would be able to pick out three hymns. After the offering plates were passed, the pastor glanced down and noticed that someone had placed a $1,000 bill in the offering. He was so excited that he immediately shared his joy with his congregation and said he'd like to personally thank the person who placed the money in the plate. A very quiet, elderly, saintly lady all the way in the back shyly raised her hand. The pastor asked her to come to the front. Slowly she made her way to the pastor. He told her how wonderful it was that she gave so much and in thanksgiving asked her to pick out three hymns. Her eyes brightened as she looked over the congregation, pointed to the three handsomest men in the building and said, "I'll take him and him and him!"

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Mahatma Gandhi was quite a spiritual person. He walked barefoot everywhere, to the point that his feet became quite thick and hard.

Even when he was not on a hunger strike, he didn't eat much. Over time he became quite thin and frail. Furthermore, due to his diet, he wound up with very bad breath. Therefore he came to be known as a.....

"Super calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis."

I'm a Good Parent. . .

I found two blogs yesterday when I was writing my Blogtipping post that had posts about admitting that they are good parents. I decided that I'd write my own post about being a good parent....

I have very low self-esteem... I always have. I have a hard time accepting praise. Why? I have no idea.

I've been watching my weight and have recently lost 28 pounds and only have about 7 more to go to reach my goal weight. I feel better physically than I have in a very long time. Hubby Frank and I celebrated out 20th wedding anniversary last summer with a trip to Gatlinburg and had a wonderful time. Our girls are a true blessing. They are both very good students, and very good girls. They are friendly to everyone and have lots of good friends. I've got a lot of very good friends too. I'm involved in a lot of the girls' activities at the school and very involved with our church. I work for an extremely understanding boss and love my job. Plus things are going pretty well on my blogs! Sounds pretty close to perfect, doesn't it? So why do I have such a low self-esteem?

One problem is, I can't help but compare myself to others. Even though I'm now in a smaller clothing size, I still picture myself as big. Outside, I manage my marriage, kids, friendship and job, but inside, I'm struggling to handle balancing it all.

Outside, my life probably looks pretty good, but if people really knew. . . my oldest dd Becca has been struggling with some pretty serious health issues. For the past two years, she has a headache on a daily basis. We've had her to every doctor imaginable both here locally and in Pittsburgh and were finally told there is nothing they can do... she just has to learn to deal with it until it someday goes away. Then she was diagnosed with bladder cancer last fall. Talk about your world falling down around you! We got that taken care of only to find she has PCOS (that's a whole other blog! lol!). She started having more health problems two weeks ago and we've been back and forth to Pittsburgh again dealing with them. Jillian, our youngest, has had asthma since she was 18 months old and still has occasional flair ups. Frank travels a lot with his work... sometimes having to be out of town 3-4 days a week. I volunteer for way too many things and end up with a To Do list a mile long! Work gets very, very busy during the spring so I often have to work longer hours, yet I've needed to take a lot of time off because of Becca lately, which hurts the paycheck a lot... I could go on and on, but I won't. I think you get the picture.

So how do I deal with it all? I cry out to God. I do a LOT of praying! Proverbs 3:5 helps me a lot, "Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart. . ." When I start feeling down again, I realize that I have been relying on me, not God. Another verse is Jeremiah 29:13, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with ALL your heart." Why do I keep forgetting that??? When I remember these truths, these treasures from God's Word, a calmness comes over me that I can't even begin to explain.

When I rely on His strength, and not my own, I feel better about myself, and I can breathe again. I turn my fears about Becca, Jillian, Frank, work, and every day pressures over to the only One who can take care of them.

How does this help me be a good parent? Because I can be there for my girls... really be there. I can give them the support and encouragement they need because of my inner peace. My girls and I have fun when we are together, whether it's a trip to Walmart or to the doctors in Pittsburgh. We all laugh at the dining room table when we eat dinner together. We share stories and laugh. They confide in my about boy troubles and girl friend troubles. I provide a loving home, they have a strong Christian upbringing and they are good kids. Really good kids.

I'm proud of them, and I'm proud of Frank and I as their parents. Yep, I still suffer from low self-esteem, but I work on it constantly! And I am very proud to say, I am a Good Parent.

Blottipping!

It’s Blogtipping Day! And it’s also the first anniversary of Blogtipping! The first monthly Blogtipping Day was exactly one year ago today. Time flies when you’re surprising other bloggers with free praise and blogging tips!

Blogtipping Definition: Blogtipping is where you publish a blog post in which you link to three unsuspecting blogs and offer three compliments and/or one helpful tip to each blogger. (Or adapt those numbers to your own preferences; the principle of selflessness is what matters most here.) Blogtipping is a refreshing and useful surprise that can start a blogger’s month with a huge smile!

The first calendar day of each month is a new Blogtipping Day. Who will you sneak up behind and tip next time?

I plan to surprise three bloggers on the first calendar day of each month and offer each one three items of praise. The idea behind blogtipping is to give a tip as well, but I’m still very new to blogging myself and will hold off on the tipping and just give praise this month.

Since the purpose of blogtipping is simply to help and encourage other bloggers, please feel free to blogtip whenever, whomever and however you wish.

So, on to my list!

Blogtippee 1: Life in the God Lane: Things on My Mind

1. This is a great blog that has been around for almost two years! She has lots of life story posts that are very well written and thought out. I very much enjoy reading it.

2. A tear came to my eye reading her story about Stinky... we had to give one of our cats away when our oldest daughter was born and I know how hard it was for us....

3. Her post about losing her anxiety over financial problems hit home... we had severe financial problems about 7 years ago... the only thing that helped was prayer. I had such a sense of calm after praying and was able to think things out so much clearer...

Blogtippee 2: Just a girl

1. Lots of great scripture spread out through the blog! I also love the song lyrics. As I read the lyrics to El Shaddai, I was singing along....

2. Cute stories and picture of the kids!

3. The post about her husband and his illness really hit home with me as we struggle with health problems with my daughter. I will be praying for his healing...

Blogtippee 3 - Graced by Christ

1. Love, love, love all the great pictures of the kids!

2. Many great stories about family and friends. Another one that touches the heartstrings about illnesses, this one with kids. Prayers are going out to the whole family!

3. Another blog with scriptures throughout. Very inspirational!

That's it for this month! Check out the links above and pay them a visit! I'm sure you'll be happy you did!

Noah's Ark

I wanted to share a news article with you about a Working Replica of Noah's Ark that opened in the Netherlands yesterday. Johan Huibers did the work mostly with his own hands, using modern tools and occasional help from his son Roy. Construction began in May 2005.

Reckoning by the old biblical measurements, Johan's fully functional ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house. Visitors on the first day were stunned.

"It's past comprehension," said Mary Louise Starosciak, who happened to be bicycling by with her husband while on vacation when they saw the ark looming over the local landscape.

"I knew the story of Noah, but I had no idea the boat would have been so big." This replica is five times smaller than the Ark described in the Bible. Can you even imagine how large the real Noah's Ark must have been?

If I were to ever visit the Netherlands, this is one exhibit that I would love to see.