Frustrated thoughts

I am always amazed at our hypocrisy.

I don't know why.  One of my favorite quotes is from one of my heroes, Ruth Bell Graham.  In inviting her gardener every week to join her in going to church, he finally said, "Miss Ruth, I don't want to go to someplace that is full of hypocrites."  To which she responded, without skipping a beat, " Well, there is always room for one more!!"

Yup, I am going to talk about a Duggar.

Not Josh.  Enough people are talking about Josh.  Rightfully so.

But now, I can't turn the computer on without hearing about what Anna is going to do.

Here in lies me frustration with hypocrisy.

See, in one of the many things I have read, this one made me want to kick something.  I am not a kick something type of person, so this alone should tell you more than you need to know.

This was written by a woman.  

She said, it was a shame that Anna was uneducated enough to not have the option to leave her husband, as she was homeschooled.  She won't leave him because of her faith.  She won't leave him because she probably can't stand on her own.  She won't leave him because she does not have the support system in place to do so.

(Side note, her siblings have pulled together to support and help her should she leave him, as they are hoping she will do. One of her sisters, Rachel, is going through her own divorce right now.)

At first that was laughable.  Until I started thinking about it some more, as many people I am sure read this.

This is the thought of many regular non Christian people, and having this written by a Christian proves their point.

But.

Here in lies the hypocrisy.

There is this woman.  Quite famous by any standard.  Her name is Hillary Clinton.

I am not a Hillary Clinton fan.  Even if you stretch your imagination all the way around the world, I still can't pull off liking her for any reason.  

Still, people, let's look at the list.

Uneducated.

Faith.

No right support system.

Can't stand on her own.

OK.  We'll take the ultimate feminazi, who has all those things and more. Evidently.

She is educated, has no faith to keep her with her husband, she can 'stand on her own', she has a support system, and her husband is gross to the umpth degrees.

She is a disaster.  BUT, where are the people telling her she is a loser for staying with her skank husband!?!?!

Seriously people.

You are so crazy hypocritical, you make us Christians look 1/2 decent!

Personally, I think Anna should...you know what?  Who cares what I think?!? I have never walked in her shoes, I don't look at into her children's eyes, kiss their precious heads, I don't stare and weep into the darkness of the night, tormented, humiliated and destroyed, wake up, and still live this nightmare.  I am not known publicly and have the weight of my decision be judged by millions who had their own opinions.  Who think they know what is best for her.  

Yes, dear woman.  Cling to HIM.  It is all you have.  One day, you will discover it is all you need.   In its rawest, truest form. 

My prayers are constantly going for your heart.  I can't even imagine. Quite frankly, I don't want to.

My heartache for you is real, though I can't empathize, I can sympathize. 

My prayers are for your children.  I can't imagine having them live through this.  Quite frankly, I don't want to. 

Don't worry about the hypocrites.  It is easier to gossip, make judgements and point and laugh, than to look in the mirror and see what ugliness lies there.  So we cover the mirror and look at ways to pile bricks on the hurting.  

Dear woman.  May HIS grace be on you.

May you know HIS presence.

I know too many people who had horrible moments and turned from HIM, blame HIM, hate HIM.

And every single one of them is miserable, bitter and lonely.

I hope for you.  

Nothing matters more than your relationship with HIM.  Even if its hanging by a thread, don't cut that thread.  It is your lifeline.

It is our lifeline.

HE is faithful.  To the point of death. HE is faithful.

Life is hard.  Life is beautiful.  GOD is good.  All the time.

Holy Moly

The school year is almost over!!

And it has been a rough year.  Not with the girls, the girls love school.  They can't get enough of it.

Son Jr. is making me work hard for my job.  That's ok.  That's why I get paid the big bucks.

So, loads has happened, yet it feels like most things have stayed the same.

I am the leader of the Holistic Mom's Network Chapter of our county.  Because I had nothing else to do.  I love it though.  I have learned so much.

 And we are coming down to the wire with VBS next month!!  Woo-HOO!!  I love VBS.  Because, really, children are so precious.  GOD loves them and has pretty much said, if we mess up raising them and teaching them, there will be hell to pay.  Literally.  :0

Reagan is a big girl.  She is too much fun.  I am so glad he got her.  She is such a love.  She loves people.  She loves food.  She loves to run and play and eat paper.  And people love her.  I need to take a picture of her and post it.

The girls have overcome so many things this year.  Both physically and mentally.  It has been hard but totally worth it.  It has been tempting to let things go, but even when I gave into temptation, I couldn't stay away for long.

SO, we went to Iceland for our 30th anniversary in January.  It was awesome.  I couldn't stop saying 'this is so beautiful'.  I told John I had to come up with something else to say, but when I turned around again, those words kept coming out of my mouth. It was beautiful.  I love seeing GOD's creation.  It is breath-taking.  Seriously, I gasped too often.  Maybe some people wouldn't love it as much as I did, but I did.  The only thing that about killed me was the sleeping patterns. Between being jet lagged and staying up all hours of the night watching the Northern Lights, it was a killer.

But I would do it again.

I wouldn't want to live there, but seeing its beauty with my own 4 eyes...well, I am thankful for the opportunity.

On the flip side, since I was not in a mood to look for a summer house to rent because of the anticipation of going to Iceland, we were not able to find a house ( that fits the whole family) at any of our usual place.

Well, in all fairness, I still refuse to look at/go to Martha's Vineyard until the president comes out of office.  Everytime we went, he was there.  UGH.  No thank you. No matter what week in July or August we went, there he was. The older kids have respected and agreed with that decision, but son jr. doesn't understand what the big deal is.  But then son jr. takes his entertainment entirely too seriously.

We have a few years to go and we will start going back again.  But until then, no way.

So anyway, this year we are going to...

PA.

Yes, Pennsylvania.

I know.  Wrong-ish.

But we got a house in a resort type place.  It has a beach lake and near the Delaware River. It has loads of fun things to do and the house is enormous!! So there is enough rooms and beds for everyone, including my parents.  <3

Still...it seems, weird.  We were so desperate, we even looked at the Jersey Shore.  There were plenty of homes, but not enough space.

It will be interesting.  But I have to say, at the end of the day, we are more interested in looking for a place were we spend time together, relaxing, laughing and enjoying each other's company.

So, mission accomplished.

Can I say though, we looked into South Carolina and MAN, we can get a mansion on the beach out there for less than what we spend around here.  But being the stubborn Jersey Boy that he is, with a love of New England, no going south for my man.  :P

Worse things can happen.

I am thinking one of these days we may even be able to go to the Finger Lakes region.  I wish I drank wine.  But, still it looks gorgeous.

Speaking of New England, this whole deflategate thing makes me so angry.  I mean, PEOPLE!!  Come on.  All I hear about is how Bill Belicheck is a genius, and he is.  And how Tom Brady is at the top of his game.  And he is.  So how many more stupid things can they do??!!?  I know, I know.  IF there happens to be a New England fan reading this, you won't accept or believe this could happen.  Whatever.  If the Steelers ever did anything so dumb, I would be angry with them.  I wouldn't stop being their fan, but I would want them to take responsibility for being stupid and accountability for whay they did.  That would make me have even more respect for them.  Not, the ' no you can't read my texts, I have no idea what you mean, it wasn't us' mantra they are so famous for.  Please.  Only NE fans believe it.  The rest of us, rolling our eyesballs here.

The Saints coach was gone for a whole year!!!  People shook their heads and moved on.  I bet this discipline wont stick.

Don't get me wrong.  I was cheering for the Patriots.  I wanted them to win!!  But This is just plain wrong.  And what will be more wrong is, BB and TB will walk away without any consequences.  Again.

Big surprise.

Ok, back to life.  Rant over.  Have to get ready for another meeting tonight.  Have to feed someone.  Have to buy work shirts for the man.  Have to water the garden. Have to go to the library.  Have to vacuum again. Have to check school work.  Have to take a nap.  OK fine.  I can dream about taking a nap.  But have to do everything else.

Until next time.  Seek HIM deeply.  You will not regret it.