Leaving (Living) A Legacy

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

My daughter leaves for college in just about a month. It is amazing how fast time really flies. It just seems like yesterday when she was born and now 18 years later she is coming into her own. This has obviously sent me reflecting and thinking about my roles and what I want to be remembered for. Was I a good father, was I there when she needed me, and did I instill the proper values into her to last a lifetime? Some of those can be easily answered while the last one won't be answered until the very end. Actually in the end when we come face to face with God we will need to look back and see what legacy we have left. It is that legacy that will define us and it will be that legacy that we will be remembered for. All of us have sinned and fallen short of what God really wants for us but it is how we lived our lives that will be reviewed. We all have our highs and lows throughout our lives. There will be things we wish we could change or things that we wish we had done better. The bottom line though I believe is what have we leave behind, not the tangible items but rather the things that we are truly remembered for.

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Life Is Funny: Losing Teeth

By MAD21

My oldest has now entered the phase of losing teeth. She lost her first one the first week of June. She was so happy to have lost it before the end of school so that she could show her teacher and classmates. She was now part of the "club."

She had three other teeth that have been loose at any given time for the last three or four months. And considering the one that finally did come out took over a month of "wiggling" and two tugs with dental floss before it came out, my hopes were not high for the remaining three to come out anytime soon.

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Fingerprint Fridays: Sisters

By MAD21

My youngest got out of school a few weeks before her sister. Preschool has a shorter school year than Kindergarten. It was good to have some time alone with her. Not that we don't have enough time together, she only went to school two mornings a week, but still, it was a much more relaxed few weeks.

Our favorite library has a little playground behind it with a path to an awesome pond. We have played on the playground a few times, but had never walked the path all the way to the pond. So one day while we were waiting to go pick her sister, my youngest and I decided to go and investigate. It was so beautiful. The lilly pads were everywhere and were in full bloom. While we were enjoying the view and listening to the frogs talking to each other, I looked down in the water at what I thought was a rock... until it moved.

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The Overnight Guest

By Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday)

Recently my friend Sarah’s daughter stayed with us for two days. And I’m going to state this honestly, without fear of offending Sarah, because good friend that she is, she knows me oh-so-well: I did not look forward to the experience. Not because I don’t love Laini – I do – or because Laini’s not a great kid – she is – but because the visit interfered with my finely orchestrated life. It was different; it strayed from the routine. Laini’s visit required that I step out of the box, shake up the system a bit.

I said yes because I genuinely wanted to help my friend Sarah, who had to travel out of town for a conference. I said yes because I love Sarah and her daughter. I said yes because I knew Sarah would do the same for me, without a moment’s hesitation. I said yes out of love, sure, but also out of a sense of duty and responsibility.

What’s funny is that in saying an obligatory yes, I was the beneficiary in so many unexpected ways.

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Fingerprint Fridays: Life Around Us

By MAD21

My mother-in-law lives near a nature conservatory. We enjoy the drive to her house because you never know what kind of wildlife you might see. In the last week, we've seen a Blue Heron, hawks, deer, rabbits, chipmunks and a really cool box turtle.

I know that having a bird choose an area around your house to build it's nest is something lots of people experience, and while there are a lot of people who do not like it, our family loves it. Probably because the birds are good at choosing areas where the mess they make doesn't matter.

We have been watching this nest of Robins (residing on the front porch of my mother-in-law's house) for the last few weeks. My girls have LOVED watching them grow. And were surprisingly happy when they finally left the nest this past weekend.

I love that we can experience these small fingerprints of God, and the joy of watching the animals that live around us. Even the pesky squirrels that eat all the food out of the bird squirrel feeders in our own front yard.

Fellow blogger Beki at The Rusted Chain has a really great weekly post she does every Friday called "Fingerprint Friday." We are to look around and see where we can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Anywhere? Go find out where Beki saw God this week, and be sure to check out the other bloggers who linked their stories as well.