Does it matter?

Lately I’ve spent so much time on things that just don’t matter. I’ve been looking for a new couch. Does that matter? No. Not at all. It’s just adding more stuff to my house, more things to leave behind when I die. More junk to rot and mold and decay on this imperfect, dark earth. I’ve bought lots of little people on eBay for my kids to play with. That just doesn’t matter. They are going to grow up probably a little too spoiled, anyway. They have mounds of toys. They still fight over the same toy.

What am I teaching my kids? Can I, a selfish, materialistic being teach then what really matters? Can I show them that things, all of our mass amounts of stuff, don’t matter in the eternal scheme of things?

I want so badly to be used for His glory. I want to store up my treasures in Heaven like the Bible says.

I remember a real story in the Bible – it’s about a girl who died. As the mourners gathered around her home, they shared what the girl had done for them: the garments she made them, the many needs she had met for so many people. That’s what I desire to be like. When I die, I want people to remember that I met their needs. Because I was the hands and feet of Jesus, because I served them. I’m just not sure how to do that. What do I do?

If only it was easy. If only there was a checklist titled “God’s Will for Joy’s Life” that contained all the things I needed to do to follow Him. I could just go down the list and check things off when I did them. Oh, how simple that would be! But then where would the love be? Where would the passion be? I would just be religious. I would just be following the rules.

I feel like I flounder around, trying to figure out where I am and where I am supposed to be. What am I doing? What should I be doing? How do I know what You want for my life? What am I wasting my time on? What should be taking my time?

I only have a little bit of time on this earth. How can I make it count? I want to do what matters.

D.C.

My husband is getting ready to fly back home from Washington, D.C., as I type this. He made a quick trip there to do some lobbying for the US Durum Growers. I miss him when he is gone - it will be so nice to have him home again.

Washington - do you know a bit about the ENDA thing that is currently going on? If it passes, it will be the start of legal morality squelching in the US. It would take away a part of your freedom. It makes it illegal for every company (of over 15ish employees) to discriminate against homosexuals. Every company. Even, say, churches. And schools. So, you would HAVE TO marry a homosexual couple as a pastor at the local church. And you would HAVE TO hire that openly practicing homosexual kindergarten teacher at the Catholic school. It's forcing everyone to openly accept homosexuality or be legally prosecuted. It would force other people's choices on me.

Do a little lobbying - contact your senators/reps. Tell them what you think. They are there to represent you.

Pictures

My cute girls with some of the men in their lives...

This kid is way too much like his uncles...

Belly Buttons

I remember being asked, by a certain four-year-old, how the baby eats when she is in my tummy. I explained about how the baby gets food through it's belly button from it's mommy.



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A few weeks ago I jokingly asked my husband to feed the baby so I could do the dishes. My son looked at me and explained that Daddy can't do that because "he doesn't have those."



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So we end up here, with this picture of the kids feeding their babies with their belly buttons because "we don't have those, Mommy. We have to use our belly buttons."

So Big!

So BIg!

So BiG!

Showing oFf the PiPes!

Nice PiPes, dudE!

BiG SMiles!

Farm kid

Yesterday, as we were driving along in our little car, we got a rather strong whiff of the SKUNK-de-la-toilet fragrance. My kids concluded that skunks smell bad. Then my son told me that he had seen a skunk when he was in the tractor with his dad. "It was black and white, Mom. It was a Holstein."