Nice Women Do Make History (But that was not their goal)

A few days ago I saw a bumper sticker that said "Nice Women Rarely Make History." I guess the driver thinks that it's more important to do whatever it takes to make history than it is to be a nice woman. As a Christian, I thought, "Should that be our goal? To make history?" I don't think that God wants us "to make history." Matthew 22:37 says to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." There is no mandate in scripture to do something just for the sake of making history. Oddly enough, though, there have been many wonderful women who have made history. I happened to catch a PBS program a couple nights ago on a WW II Canteen. I believe the Canteen was in a small town in Nebraska. Soldiers were crying as they told of how touched they were by these women serving them in the Canteen. I was really moved by the soldiers as well as the women who said, "they considered it a privilege to serve." Mother Teresa, Clara Barton, and Susanna Wesley are just a few who have made history by serving their fellow man. If you think of any more, please feel free to let me know.

Here are some pictures from the Holtum Family Reunion. During the Holtum Family Reunion, my Uncle Tom shielded Autumn from those harsh Colorado UV rays. The next is Jim and the kids with the water balloon toss.

http://sydandkay.blogspot.com/2008/07/message-to-mothers.html

Ok, Jill. Here by popular demand are some pics of the Gruenwalds. The one of Jim with Ava was actually taken last year, but I just love it. She's a bit of a daddy's girl. The one of Arwyn in the tub makes me smile every time I see it. The other picture is of me with two of my violin students where they played at the local care center last week. I'm glad we could bless the residents with some music.

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matthew 6:34

"Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James 4:14

These verses have been speaking volumes to me lately. I have found myself becoming anxious over the "what ifs" in the future, particularly the "what ifs" that deal with my children. For example, "What if one of them dies?" or "What if one of them rejects Christ?" The Lord is teaching me that worrying about the "what ifs" is robbing me of the joy I could be experiencing if I were present at the moment. I'm so thankful that God wants to liberate me from my fears by saying, "Leave the future to me. Just live in the moment."

Day by day and with each passing moment strength I find to meet my trials here
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear

Adin and Autumn having some fun in the laundry basket. She is such a happy baby.

Last week I had an interesting discussion with my sister about her daughter's school. My niece is attending a Classical Academy in Colorado Springs. It's a charter school and Colorado Springs seems to have a lot of them lately. My sister shared some of her frustrations with me about the school. One of those was the amount of homework given to her daughter, who is only in fifth grade. Now, my niece is a hard worker and is also intelligent. If she's struggling with the hours of homework, can you imagine what the average kid is dealing with on a daily basis? I was talking with a friend at church who is a public school teacher who also teaches fifth grade. She was telling me about the long hours some grade school kids put in every night doing homework. She, however, sounds like the exception, and doesn't give homework on the weekend. Now, I'm not saying homework is bad, but how much is needed for kids so young? I almost feel as if this is some kind of a response to all those Reader's Digest articles that talk about how dumb American kids are. I'm not saying we should lower our educational standards, but is piling on the homework the answer? Can't learning be accomplished without assigning three hours of homework? When do they have time to play or pursue other interests? When my sister, along with other parents, addressed the homework issue, one of the teachers said, "Yes, but how will they be ready for college?" I have a few responses for this. Number one, if you burden them too much now, isn't possible that they will want nothing to do with "higher education"? Again, I'm not saying that our children shouldn't be taught. I think it's important that they have a basic understanding in mathematics, English, science, etc. but it's just impossible for them to truly master all these areas. I also agree with the point my sister made, which is that not everyone is meant to be a scholar. We all have different gifts. I really don't think the guy at Jiffy Lube is a failure because he may not be able to quote Shakespeare. I hope he doesn't have a problem with me because I have a minimal understanding of how a car works. All this to say-ease off the homewok! So, maybe the Japanese kids do score better on test scores. They also have a higher suicide rate in their country.

"The fear of the Lord...That is wisdom." Job 28:28