CHRISTIAN MANHOOD

     My Dad started a new study with the boys in the family.  He is using ''Christian Manhood'' a guide for training boys to be spiritually strong men by Gary Maldaner.  It is a really good book.  I am very excited about using this book with my brothers and Dad.

     Last night we talked about ''What is a man?''  We learned, God defines a man in a much different way than the world does.  He is looking for certain qualities in a man.  God is looking for a man who will take a stand for what is right even though it may not be popular.  A man of God is willing to take a risk to do what is right.

     The Four Areas You Need To Develop As You Become A Man.

SPIRITUAL:  The command to men to ''be strong'' in 1Cor. 16:13 does not refer to your physical muscles.  It means to be spiritually strong -strong in faith and in the character of Jesus Christ.

MENTAL:  God expects a young man to have a ''sound mind''.  2 Timothy 1:7  You should be able to use your mind to think clearly, to commit much of the bible and it's knowledge to memory, and to be the best worker for the Lord that you can be.

EMOTIONAL:  The Word of God instructs a young man in how to express his emotions.  Your emotions should be trained to be under the control of the Holy Spirit.  Phil.2:5

PHYSICAL:  A young man should take care of his body so that it is physically fit to be used by God.  It is good for a young man to learn to control his body and bring it under the discipline of the mind.  Train your body to be strong, durable, and coordinated.

Your most important goal in life is to become a man of God.

''.....Be strong, and show yourself a man.'' 2 Kings2:2b

The Princess and His Knee

It's been a week but I want to tell you the story of Nicholas' accident.

Last Tuesday while at soccer camp Nicholas got hurt.  BAD.  I had the privilege of calling Mom when it happened.  The director of the camp and I were calling her simultaneously.  She was a bit shocked but snapped into action.  She got the keys and said she would head to Finley Stadium to pick him up.  UH...NO...Mom, you won't be able to do that.  The Camp Director:  "Mrs. Moran, we won't be able to move him, you certainly can't and I don't even know how to do it.  I'm calling an ambulance, you meet us at the hospital."


Here's what happened:
During one of our drills Ethan accidentally kicked Nic in the knee.  Nic's kneecap moved to a place I didn't know kneecaps could go.  He fell on his back and cried out in pain.  We play all the time, and we play rough, but this was different.  My gut knew he was hurt bad.  Ethan dropped to the ground and held Nic's leg and kept it from moving.  Ethan was shaking horribly but he kept talking to Nic and encouraging him and apologizing, AND insisting that Nicholas not look at his knee.  The ambulance arrived and Nic was given a shot of Morphine.  We helped load Nic onto the stretcher.  I felt sad. As Nic is being loaded in the ambulance, Ethan and I are informed that we are not aloud to go with him.  NOT GOOD.  We weren't letting him ride off by himself.  We called Mom (time 37) and demanded she get us on that ambulance.  NO.CAN.DO.
Having to stay at camp was torture.  Because I was so distracted and worried I couldn't do anything right.  When lunch came I called my mom, and dad, and our neighbor.  I wanted information.  Nic was put to sleep and had his knee cap put back where it belonged.  I couldn't wait to get home and see him.  Mrs. Wallace showed up at camp to pick us up.  She drove us home but there was no Nic.  We waited.
When he finally came home I was so happy to see him.  I had to leave almost immediately because I was going to help out with Bible School.  Mom brought him in wearing a huge black immobilizer and he looked exhausted.  It was almost 7pm.  
For the past week he has had to rest.  Ethan and I have taken over his chores and mom kisses and hugs on him more than us.  Two family members have sent cards with money and he has ordered pizzas and rented a movie with some of that money.  He takes pain pills and sleeps.  He is bored.  He has been to church and is very happy when we are there.  He moves around on his crutches like he has always had them, even tackling our enormous staircase.  Ethan calls him Tiny Tim. 
Tomorrow he returns to the Orthopaedic doctors.  We know from x-rays that there are no broken bones but the ligaments remain a mystery.  An MRI will answer a lot of questions.    If you want to do something for Nic...pray for him.  We are not out of the woods yet.  Surgery has not been ruled out depending on the damage to the ligaments.  You can also call him or send him a card.  He is super bored since he can do practically nothing...no basketball, no biking, no swimming, no running, and NO SOCCER.  We hope one day he will be able to return to the soccer field.

"I destroyed my knee cap and they gave me this FREE t-shirt!  Cool!"

Don't cringe.  This is beautiful.  This is after the surgery!

"Mom, my knee is hurting will you bring me some hydrocodone and my favorite Princess blanket?"

My Crazy Life

The Lord is so good to me and He has given me a wonderful life!  

I must tell you though, it's crazy around here most of the time.  

These are pictures of us cleaning the other day.  Mom noticed some cobwebs way up in the corners of the entryway.  She asked us to get them...and we did!

We found a dusting mitt and stuffed socks down inside of it (to give it some weight).  Ethan stood on a step ladder upstairs and threw it at the corners and Nic and I caught it downstairs and threw it back to him.  Fortunately we did not knock any pictures off the wall!  After a while of playing this game the corners were cobweb free and Mom was happy.  She said she would take help with cleaning any way she can get it.



We catch things around here every day.  I mean it, every day.  We do pretty well considering we live in a subdivision.  We catch lizards, turtles, TONS of frogs, and all kinds of cool bugs and spiders.  My mom can take anything now.  I don't know if she has toughened up or we have worn her down.  Either way she's grown into a great mom for boys.  We can keep whatever we catch for as long as we want.  We just aren't supposed to bring it in the house.  (sometimes we do - sorry Mom!)  We have a cat, a dog, and 4 fish and a lot of other things from time to time.

If you came to live with us here is what you would find.

• A ton of food.  WE EAT A LOT!
• A ton of dishes to wash.
• Sweaty, stinky, dirty clothes because we play a lot.
• Lots of Bibles.  They are everywhere.
• SHOES.  Everyone comments about our garage.  We keep a lot of shoes lined up in there!
• Books!  All of us love books and they are everywhere too.  We have 7 bookshelves in our house.
• Sports Equipment, and that's not all...baby dolls - tons!
• Every school supply known to man.
• A very cool Dad, a wonderful Mom!
• Ice cream
• Forgiveness
• Games
• Pets
• A lot of noise.
• SO MUCH LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you God for my crazy life.  I love it!

Ballers

     This weekend our grandpa came to Tennessee to visit us.  He came down Friday and stayed until Sunday morning.  I was so happy to see him because we only see him usually once a year.  On Saturday we went to the lake and had a picnic.  After the picnic we went to the store and picked out a basketball goal.  We LOVE playing basketball!  We were so excited!  The next day we couldn't wait to build it.

      Olivia and Eli are good at basketball.  They love playing and I love playing with them!

   
       We all worked together and it was fun.  It took us about 3 hours to put the goal together, but it was worth it.  We have been shooting basketball now every chance we get.