I Was Just Thinking...........

My husband, Chris, doesn’t really care for football, but he’ll watch a few games with me because I like it. He doesn’t get into basketball and cares even less for baseball. He’s not really a golfer or tennis player, and doesn’t get into car racing at all.

He likes to fish. I do too. He will occasionally hunt. I don’t. He does like soccer. His real love though…is bicycling. Both mountain biking and road biking. He was into cycling long before he met me. I refer to it as his first love. Here he is (on the left), in a race.

This past weekend the pinnacle of cycling began. The Tour de France. It is the one sporting event that my husband watches with much interest and enthusiasm. OLN broadcasts the races live daily and reruns them at night, and that is what our TV is tuned to. Our evenings are spent discussing the events that occurred with each stage. You know… who crashed, who broke away from the peloton, who sprinted to the finish line, who won that stage, and who’s the overall winner.

This is Alberto Contador, 2007 Tour de France winner. He rode with team Discovery, who participated in the Tour of Missouri last September.

I actually don’t mind watching the Tour, although it was much more exciting when Lance Armstrong was riding in it. I mainly like to watch the last 15 minutes or so of each stage. The Tour goes to July 27th, so until then it will be the topic of conversation around our house. And that’s okay with me, because come fall when most husbands are glued to the TV on Sunday afternoons, mine won’t be. That means more time with us, his family.

……………unless the weather is nice and then he’ll be riding!

My family likes to get together for holidays, so we spent the 4th at the farm, my parents’ place. The kids shot off fireworks, we visited, cooked out, there was a b-day cake for me and presents. We were having a great time!

As the sun began to set, we all headed outside to shoot off the big fireworks. I went to our car to get something. As I opened the car the door, I saw something strange all over the passenger seat.

“What is…..?”

“TRISTAAAAAAAN!!!”

He looked up at me. We made eye contact. Then he looked away, and acted like he didn’t know what was the matter, but he knew…….he knew very well.

Apparently earlier that afternoon, for reasons still incomprehensible to me, he decided to put a smoke bomb in the van. It’s hard to see in the picture, but there are now about 60 small burn holes in the passenger seat, a few on the driver’s seat and even some on the back seats. We were thankful that the car didn’t catch fire!

Boys…..

I was not happy…..

My brother laughed…..he has two younger sons and another on the way………… just wait!

- By John Adams - 2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence
“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.”

- By Thomas Jefferson - 3rd U.S. President, Drafter and Signer of the Declaration of Independence
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event.”

“I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.”

- By Samuel Adams - Signer of the Declaration of Independence and Father of the American Revolution
“And as it is our duty to extend our wishes to the happiness of the great family of man, I conceive that we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly supplicating the Supreme Ruler of the world that the rod of tyrants may be broken to pieces, and the oppressed made free again; that wars may cease in all the earth, and that the confusions that are and have been among nations may be overruled by promoting and speedily bringing on that holy and happy period when the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ may be everywhere established, and all people everywhere willingly bow to the sceptre of Him who is Prince of Peace.”

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

It was a hot summer day, and three kids, ages five, seven and eight anxiously waited to hear the news. Their mom had gone to the hospital earlier that morning, and they wondered how she was doing. Finally they received the news, they had a new baby sister!

There was no name picked out for this baby girl yet. Her siblings have names from the Bible; Joe, Mary, Daniel and Ruth. As her parents discussed what they should name her, her father reads a name out of the newspaper. How do you like the name Cynthia, he asks. Her mother replied yes, but let’s not shorten it to Cindy. They agreed it would be Cynthia.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m speaking of my birthdate. It was 44 years ago today that I entered this world. I would be the fifth child my mom gave birth to and her last. I often teased my brothers and sister that they stopped when they got their perfect child!

I’m far from perfect though. The older I get the more reflective I get. I look back on my life and realize I spent a lot of years living for myself and not God. Years that were given to me by Him, to use for His glory, but instead I wasted them.

In retrospect, I certainly would do things differently. I often write very introspective songs. Songs that are cathartic. Some written for no one else but me.

The important thing for all of us to remember though, is not to get so hung up on the past that we don’t move forward and start serving Him now. Now……today is a gift from Him, and I don’t want to waste it.

My sweet baby girl, Kaitlyn, got out of bed early this morning to make me breakfast. I think this is going to be a great day!

This morning I spent several hours working at a fireworks tent. The Christian school (JCCA) where my kids attend have this tent every summer to raise funds for the school.

If you happen to live in, or may be passing through the Warrensburg area, stop by the JCCA tent and buy some fireworks! It’s located south on Highway 13. We have no sales tax, and offer a 10% discount to all military families. It’s for a good cause!