Ava and the Boat

I rarely get to see this little cutie, but her grandpa, our son, was taking her for a ride in the boat yesterday and she stopped in to see us for a minute.   I'm going to post a picture of her 'driving' the boat with her grandpa here. I'll make a layout of it later, but I don't know when it will be done.

As you can see Tim is as proud of her as can be. He is here from his home in Florida, so he doesn't get to see her nearly as often as he would like.

Recently we have had to look closer at ourselves. Have we done anything to cause our countries distress? Can we make it better?  It seems like there is so little the individual can do. All we can really do is control our own lives, our own attitudes.

I received this email today from Rick Warren. It is a daily email called Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.
There is a paragraph or two from it that I'd like you to read:

"...the number one test of your spiritual maturity- not how much Bible you know or how often you go to church or whether you serve or tithe or pray but your relationships and how you see other people. Because life is all about love!"

"All people matter to God. It doesn't matter who they are or what they've done or even what they believe. Christ died for them, Jesus loves them, God has a plan for their lives, and he wants them to have a relationship with him."

As Rick says, we need to learn to see other people as Jesus does, through the eyes of love.

Again, ALL PEOPLE MATTER.

Of course that doesn't mean that all people should be given everything their hearts desire. They need to be taught to work and earn their keep. But don't look at others and say that they need to work; but work yourself. Be an example. Teach your children that life will not be handed to them on a silver platter. All men and women should work at something, whatever their interests and skills allow, so that they can feel good about themselves and their accomplishments.

You cannot give your children everything and then expect them to start being productive when they finish college. It's almost too late to learn...at least without a lot of disillusionment and hard knocks.