It started to develop when Michael Jackson died. Not that his death was the first I’d experienced. I’ve been to a fair share of funerals but for his, people actually had to win admittance to the service. There were performers and dignitaries and millions of home viewers. I listened to people saying he didn’t deserve the attention and other people saying he deserved so much more. Had as many people been involved in his real life, maybe he wouldn’t have died so young.
Of course the jokes started the minute he died. The first one I heard was Farrah Fawcett died and was granted a single wish upon her arrival into heaven. She wished for all the children in the world to be safe. So God killed Michael Jackson. Whether you believe he was sick or not, no one doubts his talent. I think people who are given that much fame can never be happy. There will always be a void you try to fill and although it can be filled with the holy spirit and belief in Jesus Christ, very few celebrities ever find that spirit to fill the void.
Another thing that fills an empty heart is humility and the chance to serve. Would Michael have been on as many medications if he had a passion for service to his community? He could have done so much more by rolling up his sleeves and pitching in on a common man’s level. Imagine him showing up a few times a year to feed the homeless. People who are star struck would have showed up every day to feed the homeless just for the chance to catch a glimpse of Michael.
I can’t see people serving the homeless relentlessly, every day for a chance to catch a glimpse at me. As a matter of fact, I think if I showed up, some people would go home. I just don’t have the same effect he did. I can never do as much good as he could have. I didn’t make popular the phrase, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways.” He may have started with the man in the mirror but did he ever complete that transition?
Michael and I did share one thing in common; our love of children. I’m not saying I love children the same way Michael was rumored to have loved them, I just saying a child can change an entire event.
When I got married 21 years ago, at our wedding ceremony, one of our friends brought a baby who was about a year old. The child cried through the entire ceremony until his mother decided to give him a toy he could beat on, one of those toys that makes a ton of noise. Now in that instance the child changed the event. I was angry at the time. Now, it’s one of the things I remember fondly about my life.
Facing death makes you think about your life. Where you started, where you’re going and how you want to get there. I’m thinking about my own mortality. A few years ago I had a close enough encounter with cancer. When the doctor tells you they think you have it, and do you want surgery tomorrow or next week. Of course my first thought was my family. I thought, “Who is going to buy my girls underwear?” After all, their father can’t be trusted with such a delicate task. He would have them granny panties three sizes too big with some kind of embarrassing childhood animated character on them to ensure no one would ever see them. I can see my kids, in high school wearing saggy underwear with a big purple dinosaur on them. Since there are so many other things I can’t entrust to their dad, like menstruation and fitting bras, I just wasn’t ready to accept a diagnosis of cancer. My youngest daughter was still in elementary school. Who would help her with talent show costumes and fix her hair? So I just didn’t die. I’m like that. If I don’t want to do it, I don’t do it.
Then there were the times I suffered from depression that was so bad I wanted to die. However, I asked a good friend from work, who was a musician, if he would play at my funeral. He said no. Well, if he wouldn’t play at my funeral, then I just wasn’t going to let the depression get me. I’d show him! Until he was good and ready to play at my funeral, I just wasn’t going to die then either.
So now I know what music I want at my funeral…. Something my friend is going to play even if he doesn’t want to. What about the rest of my funeral? I definitely did not want some big fancy celebrity saying I was perched somewhere on a crescent moon. I don’t remember the bible saying we get to watch our own funeral sitting on a crescent moon somewhere. It made me think of Shrek and the opening scene with the kid fishing from the crescent moon. Yeah, I could see fishing in heaven, but not just hanging out sitting there, trying to figure out the meaning of life. Afterall… I’m dead. I don’t need to know what the meaning of life is. If someone hasn’t explained the meaning of life to you after you die, it just isn’t going to happen. It’s about time to get over it.
Or maybe the meaning of life just becomes clear when you die. You will know what you did to help people, what you did that hurt people and if you’ve accepted Jesus you’ll be surrounded with light and love. Death is where real love begins. So I’ve got the love covered, what else do I want at my funeral?
I certainly don’t want people I love crying when I’m experiencing light and love. I want laughter. I want people to just know I’m in a better place and remember me for who I was when I was happiest. I want people to remember me like this.
Monica calls me, “CCL.” It’s short for crazy chicken lady. It’s just a name she saw fit to give me because I have chickens, a chicken purse and my phone clucks on both ends when you call it.
Gloria keeps a list of “Karenisms.” It just a list of stupid things I’ve said. I apparently have enough Kareninsims that my boss believes I speak my own language. She gives extra work credit to anyone in our group that can understand me. I also get to claim on my work history that I’m bilingual because I understand myself.
Margaret (Valerie) calls me Margaret. Yes that’s right, we both call each other Margaret and have for years. It’s one of those things you share with a really good friend and no one else understands.
Denise, who is da niece of Monica, doesn’t get me at all. She just plain thinks I’m weird.
My kids think I’m crazy. My work here is done.
Their friends think I drive a mean scooter and are grateful I make them wear helmets.
I’m a great cook when the kitchen isn’t on fire and I can make a mountain of laundry out of a molehill.
I can keep crowds at bay, find a bush to cure stomach problems and spend an evening having conversations I’ll never remember.
The only thing that’s certain with me is, you never know what you’re going to get. I can be fierce when it comes to my cubs or a marshmallow when it comes to stay pets. I can bark and bite or just curl up next to the fire.
I am a walking oxymoron. I’m not afraid to ask CEO’s to lunch but I can be afraid of my own husband. I can stand next to the governor for pictures but I hate seeing pictures of myself.
I’ve never written for sale on a school house in stolen highway department paint or walked a cow into a gym but it’s in my blood. I can cook for 100 people or burn hamburger helper. I can make up recipes for crock pot lasagna and use the same recipe to make it in a dutch oven or I can throw a bunch of cans of stuff together and call it dinner.

New friend from wyoming

When you're in Wyoming and you make new friends, sometimes they are a little different then you're used to, but you have to just accept them for who they are..

What I am, and what I am not.
I’m a Christian. I love God. I love Jesus and I need them in my life to sustain me on a daily basis. I am a member of a great small group who in the past few weeks has taught me that if the devil is telling you, you are one thing, chances are pretty good God thinks the opposite of you. They have also taught me that if you don’t think you have the strength for something it’s because you are relying on your own strength instead of his. He will provide you with all the strength you need if you will turn to him first.
I am a little wild and a little crazy but most people who know me just think I’m fun. I am kind. I am Karen or caring depending on how you pronounce it.
I am a mom. I might not be a great mom and I’m not very good at teaching my children consequences of their actions but they seem to love me anyway. I can make them laugh and I believe when they think of me they will usually smile. I’m not a strict disciplinarian but I am the mom.
I serve. I don’t do anything well but I can serve and help people. I can cut onions, or sign people in, or just step up and help. Sometimes my only assistance is a smile but a smile can change a life.
What I am not.
I am not a good housekeeper. I am not a perfectionist. I am not a gourmet cook but I can put together family dinners like no one else. I’m not organized, I’m not strong, I’m not pretty. I don’t have a nice figure, I’m not athletic, I’m quick to anger and have a bit of a temper.
All the things I’m not, are the things my husband tells me he wants in a wife. He wants an elegant home. I don’t think you can use my name and the world elegant in the same sentence without it being an oxymoron. He wants me to be organized. Chaos is my specialty. My life is so chaotic that I’ve taught my children chaos is an adventure and something to be enjoyed. My husband wants perfection in his home. He wants a strong athletic wife with a nice figure and one that never angers.
So if what my husband wants is exactly opposite of me and he gets angry inside and he ends up being mean because I’m not what he wants how far do I go to change so he’s happy. What kinds of changes do I make. Should I make any, without expecting him to make some? He isn’t interested in my life at all. He wants me to work beside him in the house, while maintaining a clean house, making dinner, exercising, shopping, (never buying anything for myself or the children, only household needs) taking care of everyone and everything so he can go hunting or fishing every weekend and never be embarrassed by our home. He wants a full time housekeeper, bookkeeper, and handyman plus a gourmet cook, someone to iron cloths, vacuum 3 times a day, take care of all the animals, do yard work, and teach the dogs to hunt, in addition to helping kids with their homework, keeping up on technology and if I could learn to repair cars it would be a bonus. Now I need to do all these things in addition to keeping myself fit and being the caring serving person I am. Oh, and he doesn’t want to have to participate in any of my interests or hobbies. Don’t forget the only reason he married me was for the medical insurance so I need to keep my 40 hour a week job in addition to doing all the other stuff.
So I’m feeling inadequate and worthless because I’m nothing my husband wants. Should I feel that way or should I feel like he needs to make some concessions and realize I wasn’t anything like that when he married me, he can’t change me now. I’m currently on several different anti anxiety medications and several depression medications because I can’t be what I’m not. Is the problem mine or is it his?
I do know a few women who keep immaculate houses without the help of a housekeeper, but there are very few. I even know one that has a cute figure, keeps a nice house and is adventurous to boot. I told Randy when I die she should be his next wife. Why am I thinking about suicide and counting the days til he can have my pension so my work here hasn’t been in vain because he has unrealistic expectations of the person he married?
He tells me he loves me but I don’t believe it anymore. He doesn’t even like me.
But I am a mom and suicide shouldn’t be an option to get out of feelings of inadequacy because my children need me even if I’m only a shell of a person.
That’s not true… Raina doesn’t need me. She’s 16 now and she has her boyfriend. She doesn’t need me at all, except to do her laundry, make her food, buy her things that don’t matter, fill up her car with gas and pay for her insurance. To her, I’m a paycheck.
Reanna, she needs me to be the reason for all of her failures. She just needs someone to blame. I don’t have to be a paycheck to her as long as it’s my fault she’s angry, or my fault she’s mad at her sister or her dad, or my fault she can’t find her contacts, or my fault she’s lost a shoe, or her cloths aren’t washed.
So in short, it’s my fault the house is dirty, my fault the laundry isn’t all done, my fault the addition has been slow, my fault the cars break down, my fault Reanna and I are overweight, my fault the lawn has weeds, my fault we don’t have any money, my fault Raina is unthankful, my fault Reanna won’t take responsibility for her own actions, my fault Ducky isn’t trained, my fault the neighbor is needy, my fault we’re short on money, my fault the house isn’t vacuumed, my fault there are dishes in the sink, my fault the kids don’t put their stuff away, my fault the boats don’t run, my fault Randy can’t go hunting every weekend, my fault we have pets, my fault the kids don’t love or respect me. Boy that’s a lot of burdens to carry around. If I was gone would all that fault be gone too or would they figure out it really isn’t my fault?
I will try, try and try again for at least 3 years 3 months and 25 days. That’s the time frame I’m giving. If things haven’t changed in that time frame I’m going to allow them to see that all the fault isn’t mine. I’ll take out my pension, pay off the house and the rest of the bills and leave them to figure out their own fault.
Who knows… maybe they will find out their lives are truly better without faults or without me.

King Hezekiah

Now I don't want you to think I've figured all this out on my own cuz I am not that cool. I read this series of fiction books based on the Bible where the author took the history and added the story behind it. It was called Chronicles and Kings and it's based on… you guessed it, the books of Chronicles and Kings. I was amazed at how Hezekiah had enough faith in God to stop, wait and be patient. It says in 2 Kings, Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. The Assyrians have conquered all the land around Jerusalem. Part of their success is because they love mental warfare. Part is because they are incredible warriors. They take all the high ranking city officials and impale them alive and put them in the front of the line so the leaders of their next conquest will know what is in store for them. They die slow horrible painful deaths and not only suffer physical, but mental anguish.
God tells Isaiah that the King of Assyria will not enter the city, and Isaiah tells Hezekiah not to fight back, but to sit and wait. So Hezekiah is watching 185,000 warriors get ready to conquer his city, knowing he will be impaled and be put in the front of the line at the next city, impaled and dying a slow painful death. Instead of fighting, he did what God wanted him to do and he just waited. I can't even imagine how long that night was. I'm amazed that he could wait it out. 2 Kings 19:35-37. That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eight-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning there were all the dead bodies. So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
If Hezekiah hadn't just waited, the entire city would have been captured and he would have been killed in a way that is past imaginable. Sometimes God's answer is be still, and wait.
Sometimes God will take care of it for us if we just wait. God is amazing and has plans to prosper us not to harm us and sometimes all we have to do to experience it, is wait.
I'm praying for you today to just wait, be still, listen, know God will prosper us if we are patient.
God's love is amazing.

10 points

10 points!

Well, Reanna had her first playoff game for this year on Saturday and sometimes you see a team play and they look like a team. They pass to each other like they’ve practiced and every play seems to work. That’s what Reanna’s basketball team looked like on Saturday. I don’t think the Lakers or the Jazz could have beat those seven little angels on Saturday.
We had some zebra issues but the girls were so far ahead it wasn’t a factor in the game. The only thing is, it affects Reanna’s play when she doesn’t get calls and she’s fouled hard. Sometimes I’d like to tell the zebras to watch it and just call a foul on the other team so she’ll play with confidence. I’d love to have that much power, but I don’t. Reanna scored the first four points. From Marley, to Grace to Reanna and the bucket is good. From Marley to Rachael to Grace and the bucket is in and out, but Reanna gets the rebound and the put back is good.
The coach, Cal, who is a wonderful, patient, nice man and has put a great deal of time into coaching, knows how sick Reanna has been so he didn’t push her as hard as he normally pushes her. You see, she’s had strep and mono at the same time and Cal understands that because he’s a pharmacist. Raina has been thinking about being a pharmacist so Cal is a wonderful resource for our entire family. Cal would make sure Reanna got long breaks and didn’t push her too hard. Rachael and Grace are probably our best shooters, Marley and Kenya can steal the ball as well as John Stockton. Kendall is versatile and so small, but a force wherever she plays. Anne Marie, our newest player and the only girl on the team taller than Reanna is a hard worker and a kind, sweet girl and she’s really learning the game. Those girls have worked so hard this year and they are so much fun to watch, but the highlight for me was the 10 points Reanna scored. They kept the other team completely scoreless during the third quarter. The final score was 34 to 15 and without playing the entire game Reanna had 10 points. When you watch your children succeed in something they have worked hard for, there is nothing better in the world. I’m so proud of her.
Reanna has had a hard year and this is the success she needs. Randy has been hard on her with her weight but she has been hustling up and down the court like she’s 50 lbs lighter than she is. I’ve told Randy if he wants to work her that hard he needs to be more involved in her physical activity and maybe he should coach a super league this summer. He talked to Kendall’s dad and they are actually talking about coaching. I’m proud of him for stepping up and actually doing it. It’s hard to be this proud of my entire family. I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall. How could I be this blessed. I know it’s nothing I’ve done but the grace of God.
Our Father, who is in heaven, who created the universe and everything in it. Thank you for blessing me with a wonderful family. Thank you for the gifts that truly show how kind and loving you are. Thank you for teaching me some humility and working on my pride. Thank you, because I know everything good comes from you. Thank you for my husband, please soften his heart toward you. Thank you for grace. I know it is a gift more precious than anything else. Thank you for making my children, your children.
In Jesus name.
Amen.

Sunshine!

I’ve got sunshine, on a cloudy day. When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May. I guess you’d say, what can make me feel this way? My guy!
It’s sunny outside today. I stood outside with my face toward the sun and that song popped into my head. The longer I stood there, the brighter the sun shone. Of course my guy makes me feel warm all over but what really came to mind was 1st John Chapter 2. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. Later it goes to say, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shinning.
Go outside and enjoy the first rays of spring and remember as you stand there, someday, when you’re in the presence of God, it will feel like those first rays of sunshine on a spring day. It will be warm and bright and nothing will change. No darkness, no cold. That silly groundhog will never see a shadow because the light won’t be from the sun. It will just be.
It’s been a hard few weeks. Reanna had strep and she has mono. Raina has such a bad cold the outside of her face is swollen. I’ve never seen anything like it. Basketball season has ended for Raina and Reanna’s first playoff game is tomorrow. Reanna’s science fair project didn’t win. She is so discouraged. She has tried so many things this year and she doesn’t feel like she’s accomplished anything. Of course, as I viewed the other science fair projects I realized hers seemed to be the only original project. When she wasn’t elected student body president, I knew she had put her heart into it and she’d be hurt. She has had no sunshine for a long time. She’s also been sick for a long time. I don’t think she’s been 100% since before Christmas. She is so resilient and so beautiful. She just doesn’t know it yet. I wish she could stand outside and feel the warmth of the first sunshine and realize God’s love for us shines so much brighter than those rays. Or in her case, I should say Rae’s.
I love my kids. I love my husband. I can’t imagine it’s going to get better, but it is. There’s sunshine!

February 18th

February 18th. is the anniversary of the worst day of my life.
The greatest man I’ve ever known, Richard Keith Bertrand, 67 passed away on February 18 2003 after a long battle with illness. He is survived by the most important thing in his life, his family.
Then, 4 years later on the exact day.
Lisa Russell lost her courageous battle with lung cancer on February 18, 2007.
There are very few people who have impacted my life as much as these two people. Things they had in common were their love of life and their love of family. Both were adventurous and bold, had a wonderful sense of humor and they were skinny. Skinny doesn’t have anything to do with their personality but man were they both skinny.
Both of them were, at different times in my life, my best friend. Both of them are so dear to me that I don’t function this time of year. I spend from Valentines day til after the end of the month in a weepy state of mourning. For the past seven years I’ve gotten in trouble at work. I get written up for something every year in February. This year, it was for asking a legitimate question to the correct person. Now don’t ask me why that is such a bad thing, because I don’t know. Last year it was for letting the office know the lights were out on a street probably half the offices drives on. Again, no idea why that was wrong, but I still got written up for it. The year dad died it was because my email contained clip art. Again, there’s not really anything wrong with that, but I get in trouble for stuff that is stupid, every February.
At home I’m depressed and sleepy. Why would I feel this way when both of them went from pain to light? I know, I mourn the loss of people I love and I miss them both. I miss the long conversations Lisa and I used to have over nothing. I miss the silence my dad and I would share when sitting side by side doing nothing. Both of them have missed my girl’s basketball games. They both would have loved them and been very supportive of them. They would both have screamed at all the right places and called the zebras names just when they needed to be called names. They would have been full of encouragement and love for my daughters.
Neither of them had great health. Even when Lisa was healthy she was never the same kind of healthy Randy is. My dad had been very sick for the last 40 years of his life. Neither of them woke up and didn’t consider how their bodies felt before they got out of bed.
But neither of them complained. Their lives were dedicated to service and love of family. I could ask Lisa anything, anytime and she would come through for me. I remember her making all kinds of food to help me in my early years of deer camp. Once she was so sick but she still put together stew. She was such a trooper. She was always there for the dance recitals and just to baby sit if I needed help. She would do hair or makeup and never complain.
My dad was the perfect dad. On weeknights he would take us to the park every night and play ball, or roll down the hill or just play some kind of catch game. No matter how tight money was he had a couple of dollars to take us to get ice cream afterwards. I don’t know that he was the perfect husband, but this time was meant to be my mom’s time. She was supposed to get a minute of peace and quiet while he was outside making stilts for the neighborhood or while he had us laying on a sleeping bag outside counting the stars.
I have lost other people in my life, but no loss seems as great as the one’s that happened on February 18th. Is the day cursed? Or is it a day God has set aside for me to remember his glory? 1 John 4:8 “whoever does not love does not know god, because god is love.” Both these people were true love. Both of them were dedicated to their families. I am more blessed because of them, than just about anyone else in the world. And both of them left on February 18th.
I think February 18th will always be a difficult day for me. I doubt I’ll ever get through it without shedding tears. I’ll probably never get through it without getting written up at work. I’ll probably never get through it without realizing how blessed I am.
Dad & Lisa,
I miss you. I miss you so much and it hurts so badly. I know you’re both better off and neither of you is in pain anymore but somehow that doesn’t take away the selfish part of me that just wants to hold you. The part of me that wants to count stars, eat ice cream, laugh at my children, read stories to them,
Take long drives, camp, hunt, fish, watch jazz games, watch the kids play ball, and yell at the zebras. I miss you being on my side and just sticking up for me. Knowing that you’ll tell me there’s nothing wrong with asking a good question, advising people the lights are out or putting clip art on my emails, and you’d both listen to my side of the conversation before answering questions I haven’t asked. I miss being important to you in a different kind of way. I miss your love and your touch.
God is with you now and you can’t possibly miss me. You are filled with the love of God and this earthly life probably seems like a distant memory. It is to you but to me the pain of loosing you just doesn’t seem to be getting easier. I’m better at dealing with it, but it’s not easier.
Someday, I’m sure sooner than I want, I’ll join you. I could only hope it will be on some February 18th. That seems to be the day the best people die.
All my love,
Karen

the chicken or the egg?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

If modern science can’t take a chicken egg and fertilize it with the sperm from reptile or amphibian or take a dog and breed it with a cat, why would we believe in evolution? If very limited success has been had even crossing a tiger with a lion and they are the same species, why would we believe we evolved from a single cell ameba? I know several people who I believe to only have a single cell brain, but that’s an entirely different blog.
We can clone a sheep and from what I read on the internet we’re close to being able to clone other things, but if man evolved from apes, why aren’t there still half ape half man people walking around? Wouldn’t different people have evolved at different rates? Why are birds classified as birds and why can’t we breed them to dogs? If evolution was more than a theory, shouldn’t there be dragons with big leathery wings flying around and would they be classified as birds or reptiles? Shouldn’t there be half dog half chickens walking around? Why are species so incredibly different from each other and they can’t be combined? Is it possible the theory of evolution is just that, a theory?
Reanna is working on a science project. She chose the idea herself and she has compiled the information daily. She has a friend working on the project with her and I’m excited she chose this particular friend. She is the opposite of Reanna in every way and sometimes that kind of science is better than the project, but again, another blog. Mary Ellen is not top of the class in most subjects. She is a very active child and imaginative. She is just the kind of friend Reanna needs.
For their science project, they decided to see if putting golf balls in the nest boxes of the chickens would change where the chickens lay their eggs. Their theory was the chickens would lay more eggs where there were more golf balls. After keeping track and checking the nest box every day they have an answer.
The theory is based on safety. You see, chickens stick together and always return to the same place to sleep. They like the comfort in having a safe place to return. When they start laying their eggs, they go to where others have laid eggs because they see safety in it.
When we first got chickens we were told to put some golf balls in the next boxes. It lets the chickens know it’s safe to lay there. They will continue to lay where the golf balls are. That was the basis of Reanna’s theory. But you know what proverbs says about theories? Proverbs 18:17 NIV The first to present his case seems right till another comes forward and questions him. Reanna was questioning this theory and she came up with a different answer. Instead of the birds laying where the most or the least golf balls are, she found that the chickens actually have favorite next boxes with or without golf balls. It didn’t matter to them if there were 6 golf balls or none. They have certain boxes they like and certain boxes they don’t like. So the theory that they will lay more eggs where there are more golf balls seems right until another comes forward and questions.
Have you thought about evolution that way? It’s a theory. The big bang theory is based on all matter was once non existent and when all matter began to form it all formed in one dot. The dot included everything that exists and was no larger then the head of a pin. When every star, every planet and all matter came to be on the head of this pin it began to spin. It spun so fast it exploded. That’s your big bang. I think it is a huge leap of faith to believe something this outrageous. If something is spinning and it spins really fast and explodes, everything that explodes from it, will travel in the same direction. Why then does Venus rotate backwards?
Then add millions and millions of years and on one little planet in the middle of billions of galaxies life began with a single cell. That single cell split and grew and morphed and changed and became every plant and every animal we know. Wow, that’s another huge leap of faith to think that a turnip and a cow are all formed from the same single cell ameba. If everything is the same, then shouldn’t every plant and animal and person have the same DNA? How do we each get different DNA if we’re all the same?
I think it takes a lot less faith to say there is one creator and the creator spoke and it came to be. I can’t believe all the dirt on this planet and all the stars in the sky were once all the size of the head of a pin. You might say, I think it takes a pinhead to believe this. If I’m going to have faith, I’m going to have faith in something else.
So I’d like to ask a question that is asked in 1 Corinthians chapter 1:19 NIV
For it is written
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
The intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
So wise man and scholar, where are the animals that should still be forming? Why aren’t there monkeys with feathers? Why can you not find the link between a turnip and a cow? Why can’t we breed dogs and cats and birds and plants together?
Why don’t buffalos really have wings?
If you’ve believed the big bang theory or evolution, God has made foolish the wisdom of the world.
So we ask, which came first the chicken or the egg?
On the sixth day God said, “let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind. And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
“According to their kinds is why we can’t cross a snake and a zebra although if you’ve read other blogs this one might be debatable.
After God created the animals the reproduced. This answers the question. Which came first… The chicken of course.

The trouble with zebras

My understanding of practice and even of basketball games is to teach the kids how to play the game. No matter at what level you play, you can always learn. How do you learn the rules or the correct way to play if no one calls you on your mistakes.
We are not, however, talking about adults. We are talking about children. There are times, when even adults don’t take feedback very well, but if children are going to learn, they need to be called on their mistakes, especially if their mistakes affect other people.
I don’t think the team Reanna’s team played on Saturday could have ever beaten Reanna’s team. They are really playing together and really playing with heart. They know their fundamentals and the hours of practice they have put in really show. They have a couple of plays they do that are unstoppable with kids this age. They have two girls big enough to be centers and each one of them can dominate the key. They have a couple of girls who have amazing shots. They have one adorable little girl who has really come into her own with stealing the ball and others that read the opposing teams plays. They are amazing for fifth graders.
The other team is a fairly new team and I’m okay with the zebra’s calling it one way because of it. However, if they don’t let the other girls know about traveling, how are they going to learn not to? If they don’t explain to them they can’t double dribble, how are they going to learn? As long as zebra’s let them get away with it, they won’t learn. What does that teach Reanna’s team? If they don’t play up to their ability they can get away with traveling and double dribbling? Boy, that’s a fine line. Where do we as adults stand on that fine line?
I’ll tell you right where I stand. My stand is firm and I believe it is the right.
My family is going to see the Harlem Globetrotters tonight where they teach the fine art of traveling, double dribbling being truly tricky in their basketball play. They back talk the zebras and play tricks on them. They do all the things that we teach our kids not to do. I’ll tell you right where I stand. I’ll give you my firm, definitive answer.
Here it is.
“It depends.”

easy Friday!

Whew! It’s Friday and we made it through another week of the same ol’ same ol’. Because it’s Friday and it’s basketball season, my plans are simple. Fridays are a nice slow evening, starting with Reanna’s basketball practice where I will need to stop and get drinks and provide the team pizza. Normally we do this on Monday’s but because I had so many things to do on Monday and because the kids didn’t really score 20 points in their last game, I put it off til Friday. Seven ten year old girls, all of them with the attention span of 10 year old girls, who knows there’s pizza waiting for them, and still we prevail. We practice shots and defense and whatever a two three is and the play where the one girl throws it to the other girl. You know that play. All the teams do it.
After the practice and the pizza we take that nice leisurely drive to the high school. There’s about 10 minutes between cleaning up the pizza and the start of Raina’s game so leisurely is not really the right adverb but it sounds less frantic and goes with the simple plans of Friday. We make our way through the crowds that are usually there to watch the varsity boys so we scurry like mice to the opposite gym. We wind our way around up and over to find any seat still available and firmly plant our butts. You see, if our seats weren’t firmly planted it would be harder to get bleacher butt. From this position we can watch girls twice the size of our darling Raina, elbow, knee, slap, punch, sock and even kick our baby. We cheer her on and tell her to “battle” back. At least that’s the term we have to use in the gym because for some reason when we say fight the coach doesn’t appreciate it. This is a long grueling game. I feel every elbow and every bump. She get’s her first unfair foul called and I calmly remind myself, hey fouls are part of the game. By the second foul I’m sure the guy is blind and by the third I’m offering him my glasses. Let’s face it. There is no way my perfect little angel would ever commit a foul unless her dictator coach made her do it, and he’s just not that kind of coach. My daughter would never do anything wrong. By the third foul I’m sure she’s going to foul out but that would make her dad proud. He seems to think if you’re not fouling you’re not playing hard enough. She shoots and it bounces off the rim. She catches her own rebound and someone grabs her arm, swings her around like a rag doll and lofts her like an Olympic hammer in the track event. She slides across the floor and that’s when they call a foul. On her! What? Those zebra guys are blind. How could she have been the one to commit the foul? I don’t know that I can ever trust the vision of a zebra.
I like to refer to that fourth foul as the call of the wild. You see a call like that is one that brings the mama lion out in me and I know a mama lion can take down a zebra and I’m ready to do it. I get into my best crouched lion pose and just as I’m ready to leap, the king of the jungle places his mighty hand on my shoulder and tells me to sit back down. I start my best lioness roar and tell the zebra if he’s going to allow my daughter to get thrown across the gym floor, and then call a foul on her…. If he’s going to let someone hurt my daughter, he and I will have words after the game. That ends up being the last foul she gets.
Maybe I should just have a talk with the zebra’s before the games? I obviously intimidate them, me and my big lioness mouth, me and my fierce lioness roar. Or could it be the king of the jungle’s paw as he keeps me back from devouring the stupid blind zebra. Maybe the size of the lion paw is what stops the stupid zebra, either way the zebra lives another day and it’s time to find something to feed the king and the cubs. Dinner? Yikes, it’s 9:00 and Reanna has a game at 8:00 am. Can’t we just skip it tonight?
Nope the lion family has to eat and the zebra’s have left the building. That’s when the real work of Friday’s begins. I’m getting so tired just thinking about it, I think I’ll order take out early tonight!