R.I.P. Maximo

Today, my beloved Betta, Maximo, went to the happy pond in the sky. I will miss his swimming in circles in the flower vase on my counter. I will miss him fluttering excitedly as he ate the food I gave him. Sigh.

Maximo Ginn
June 2008---December 2008

Psalm 95

Just because it's a great way to start the day...

PSALM 95:1-7

Come, let's shout praises to God, raise the roof for the Rock who saved us! Let's march into his presence singing praises, lifting the rafters with our hymns! And why? Because God is the best, High King over all the gods. In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns, in the other hand grasps the high mountains. He made Ocean—he owns it! His hands sculpted Earth! So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God, who made us! Oh yes, he's our God, and we're the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.

Comment of the Day

We were watching the following scene from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in second grade at school today...it's when Jeremy, Jemima, Caractacus Potts and Truly Scrumptious are at the seaside having a picnic. Caractacus and Truly are off by themselves near Chitty, having a conversation, while Jeremy and Jemima are playing on the rocks. Jeremy is watching his dad talk to Truly.

JEMIMA: Jeremy, it isn't nice to peep!

JEREMY: I'm not peeping, I'm looking!

JEMIMA: Do you think they're going to get married?

JEREMY: I don't know.

JEMIMA: Has he kissed her yet? Because once he kisses her, then they'll just have to get married!

KID IN MY CLASS: Well, that's just about enough of that subject!

Did I ever mention I love 2nd graders? I wanted to tell them that was a great philosophy and remember it when they get to middle and high school. Sigh. Out of the mouths of babes...

NYC---Here I come!

It's official: I will be spending the big 3-0 in NYC!!! The tickets are booked, the hotel is reserved and we take off on December 19th!!! Mandy and I will fly into New York on Friday night and I'll wake up in one of my favorite cities on my birthday! We'll shop till we drop on Saturday and then head to Radio City Music Hall on Saturday night for the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular!!! I'm hoping to get to eat at my favorite NY retaurant...Serendipity iii...while we're there too! More info to come! YAY!!!!!!

Mountains...

Last weekend I went to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge for about 18 hours. Because of People to People interviews, and because of being tired from Lighthouse, Mandy and I headed up Saturday afternoon to meet Gina and Susan. It was beautiful. How about the name of Gina's parents' cabin? "Autumn Bearadise!" Love it!

The Lighthouse

Come on over, come on down

Come on in to the Lighthouse...

My time this last week at the Lighthouse Family Retreat in Watercolor, FL was just beyond words. It was such an amazing time to serve these 9, wonderful families who had a child who has cancer. One of the families even had a dad who had a brain tumor, and just as they were getting through that treatment, they found out that their 4-year-old daughter had Wilm's Tumor, a cancer in the kidneys. How do families manage such a traumatic, life-changing event?
The Lighthouse Family Retreat provides a place of refuge for families who have become disconnected and overwhelmed by the way cancer has affected them. I learned this week that cancer doesn't just affect the person with the diagnosis; it affects every member of the family...from the relationship between Mom and Dad, to the teenage siblings of the sick child.

Kids react to cancer differently than adults. Grown-ups tend to automatically view this disease as a life sentence. But kids are resilient. One of our moms told me that when her 10-year-old daughter found out she had osteosarcoma (bone cancer), she just looked at her mom and said, "Okay, what do we do next?" Some of the kids are back in treatment for a second round because they have relapsed. The kids' attitudes towards life really left me in awe and in silent recognition that every day counts and I really don't have a lot to complain about!
For many of our families this week, it was the first time Mom and Dad had been on a date or done anything without their children. And kids got to be kids...playing in the pool, at the beach, making Haunted Houses, and watching movies. We had a great time connecting with the kids while Eleanor and Buck Barber facilitated the group for parents each morning during a time called Flip Flop. It was here that parents were able to share their family's story with each other and encourage and support one another. Though our families were from all over the US...Texas, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Indiana, Florida and Georgia...connections of the heart were made forever.

Thank you for all of you who supported me in this endeavor, and the families would tell you the same thing. One mom has already blogged on her son's site that this was the first time in a long while that she's been able to really relax...her housework/laundry and cooking was done for her and she was really able to let go and enjoy her husband and children. I think that is just SO awesome. Jesus is in the business of connecting people and caring for them, and the families were really able to see that this week.

I hope you enjoy some of the pictures!

Kids Say the Darndest Things...

I cannot take credit for this stroke of brilliance. My coworker, D, did this a couple of years ago and I just found it on my computer. She went around asking kids at my school to finish the popular "addage" with their own words. The results crack me up! The addage is in black, and the children's responses follow in red. Enjoy!

1. Don't change horses there are shiny things on their paws.
2. Strike while the ball is moving.
3. It's always darkest before lightest.
4. Better late than early!
5. You can lead a horse to water but you can go in the forest by yourself.
6. Don't bite the hand that hurts!
7. No news is no fun.
8. A miss is as good as a Mrs.
9. You can't teach an old dog to swim.
10. If you lie down with dogs, you'll be sleepy.
11. Love all, trust all.
12. The pen is mightier than the pencil.
13. An idle mind is a statue.
14. Where there's smoke there's . . . Smoke!
15. Happy the bride who dances.
16. A penny saved is money
17. Two's company, three's a party!!!
18. Don't put off till tomorrow what is done already.
19. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and whine.
20. There are none so blind as mice.
21. Children should be seen and not loud. (AMEN!)
22. If at first you don't succeed you seek.
23. You get out of something only what you get in.
24. When the blind lead the blind they get lost.


Out of the mouth of babes. . .

25. Never underestimate the power of God.