Faith in the Face of Fear...

Tomorrow morning a family in our church will have their faith tested in an unbelievable way.

Brian and Cindy have two kids – Jake and Emma. Jake and Emma are twins – they’re in junior high.

When Jake was a baby he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in his eye. The treatment involved the removal of his eye to prevent the cancer from spreading/returning.

In spite of treatment, it has returned in his other eye several times over the years and the family has been forced to face the inevitable. They must remove the other eye to stop the cancer from taking Jake’s life.

So tomorrow morning, Jake goes in for surgery and will come out of it unable to see.

I can’t help but ask the question, “Why?”

I saw Jake and his family at church this weekend. Watching them I would have never known that they were facing such a battle. The courage and the faith that I saw were unbelievable.

They were there – smiling... hugging people.

How did they do that?

How are they so strong? I’m sure they’re scared – but what I saw on their faces wasn’t fear. It was faith…

They are a remarkable family – each of them – but especially Jake. He is incredibly strong in his faith. He is truly inspiring… He doesn’t miss an opportunity to talk about God with people; and has said that he wants to be a pastor when he grows up.

When I look at his situation, God isn't the first thing I see… I see questions, anger, doubt and fear.

But not Jake.

He sees a God that he loves and who loves Him – a God who has an incredible Plan for him, he sees a God that he trusts – he sees a God that he believes in.

Jake only has vision in one eye – and tomorrow that will taken from him – but I think he sees better than I do. He and his family have taught me a lot about what it means to have faith in the face of fear.

Please pray for them…

I'm Pretty Sure I'm Not Your Girl...

So I use Google Analytics to track the traffic to my blog.

It's pretty cool. It tells you how many visitors you get in a given time period, what country/state/city they're from, how long they're on your blog and how they found you.

The majority of my traffic comes from facebook - but some of it comes from people who are googling something and they find me.

You know how it is, you want to know about Butterfly Habitats and where you can buy them - so you google Butterfly Habitats and you get a million sites.

Based on some of the key words that people have entered, what I can tell you is this: The majority of the time, I'm pretty sure my blog did not provide what they were looking for (at least I HOPE it didn't).

Here is a sampling of some of the phrases that people entered and my blog popped up. Some of the searches made me laugh. Some of them made me a little nausous. Some of them just left me speechless.

(DISCLAIMER: In an effort to maintain a family friendly blog, I have omitted the R to X rated searches - but! If you're easily offended, do not continue reading.)

My Top Fifteen Favorite Searches

1. Childrens's curse words (Given Jack's love for the dark underbelly of the english language, I can see how someone would have found my blog with this search)

2. Forehead is squishy with steroids (I've got nothin'....)

3. How to control poop at school (Poop is a favorite topic of mine)

4. I wash my hair with battery acid (not a clue...)

5. Kid with a butt for his face (makes me giggle)

6. Looking for a goble head for obama (you know - a goble for president may not be such a bad idea).

7. Life is so much easier without panties on (I accept no responsibility for this whatsoever)

8. My mom and her huge butt (nope, nothin'...)

9. Personal space rules (I'm actually proud of that one - and I hope my rules on personal space helped some poor soul out there)

10. Puking at cracker barrel (YESSS!)

11. True stories about mermaids (Really? Ummm.... I wish I could find this person. There is so much I would like to discuss with her/him)

12. White people sitting in bathroom stalls (I will refrain from commenting on this one)

13. Groping panties in a bar (Hey, I warned you...)

14. You're a freakin' punk (I'm proud of this one too.)

15. Funniest blog ever (okay, okay, I made that one up)

So for those of you who found me using one of these searches - I hope you found enlightenment.

I know I did...

I Think it's Perfectly Normal; Part XXVII

First - I'm having a fierce battle with Writer's Block. If you have topic suggestions, I would greatly appreciate them.

What do you want to read about?

What do you want to know about me? (because, after all, it is ALL about ME)...

Anyway - on to my Perfectly Normal Post.

------------------

I think it's perfectly normal to avoid shopping at a particular store because of its name.

Case in point: DRESS BARN.

Seriously?

They couldn't come up with a name that doesn't have the word BARN in it?

I don't know about you, but I don't want my shopping experience to include feeling like a farm animal.