6710 Grand

In the criminal justice system... It's iconic. It's familiar.  It's ALWAYS ON! And I miss it.  We cancelled our cable a few months ago.  I can no longer watch Law & Order every night on a variety of channels.  It's a little depressing.  Iris asked me this evening if I'd seen every episode.  I can honestly say I don't know.  Sure, I've seen a lot but all of them?  No, probably not.  Even the ones I have seen, I don't know.  I've seen a lot but even the ones I know I've seen, I can't always remember what happens in the end. Sometimes I run across a movie that's really like a 2 hour Law & Order episode.  I can't wait to watch it.  What is it about this show that just captivates me?  I don't know.  I just know that I hope it keeps happening no matter how many times I see each episode of every version.  I.  Just.  Love.  It!

Anyone with a 3 year old knows that sometimes it's a challenge to get out the door in the morning.  My 3 year old is no different.  She's a firecracker most of the time but the 100 feet or so from the car to the front door of "play group" take ridiculously long to cover.  So, I've developed a little game we play to move things along.  I did it with the other two when they were in daycare and it generally works. As I'm unbuckling her from the car, I confidently assert that I'm going to win.  "No!" she says.  " I'm gonna win!"  She hops down from the car and sprints to the front door, all the while, we both are declaring ourselves to be the eventual winner.  She always  wins.  Always.  But of course, I win too because we make it to the door without tears or me having to carry her.  There's nothing monumental about this game.  It's fun, it works, we're happy.  Now, I've made no secret about my shoes.  I married ...

Some women look at my life and ask me how I do it.  How do I raise 3 daughters (mostly) by myself?  How do I get up so early every day?  How do I work a full time job?  How do I have so much energy (it’s the coffee)?  How do you find time to read so much during the week?  The truth is I just do it.  My dad told me once that people afford what they want to and I think he was right.  He was talking about me getting a new car.  I really needed one but the payments were pretty high.  I’d just gotten a job in Kansas City and now had rent and food and a whole lot of other stuff.  But I needed a new car.  He was right—I found a way to afford it.  And I did.  I ate a lot of ramen noodles, but I was never late on a payment. I think the same is true for time.  We make time for what we want to make time for.  It’s important to me to run every day so I get up early to fit it in before my kids are up.  It’...

I'm reading Come Thirsty  by Max Lucado (yes, again--it's a great book).  It's funny, his books always sound like they're about one thing and end up giving me a sense of being really about something else...or a bunch of something elses.  But I read them over and over--one day, it will all sink in, right? I was listening to the audio version in the car yesterday and he started talking about worrying and how pointless it is.  He said that 40% of what we worry about never happens.  30% is about things in our past that we can't change.  12% is about what others think of us that can't be controlled.  10% is about our health (which is made worse when we worry) and 8% is about real stuff that we can do something about.  So, 92% of worrying is useless.  Worrying adds nothing to our life (MT 6:27) and doing it shows that we don't trust God (MT 6:28-30). For the record, I completely agree.  But I still do it.  He's right--most of what I w...