The Cost of Living

For over a week now, we've been without air conditioning in 90+ degree heat.  We do our best to cool things off with ceiling fans cool nights.  But overall, it's made us pretty hot -- and it's humid -- and tempers are short because we're all very uncomfortable.

Which brings me to this:  Proverbs 15.  When I read these things:

¹³ A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face;
   a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day. 

¹⁵ A miserable heart means a miserable life;
   a cheerful heart fills the day with song. 

³⁰ A twinkle in the eye means joy in the heart,
   and good news makes you feel fit as a fiddle. 

I think of my youngest child, Babydoll.  She's 14 and one of the greatest joys of my life.  And she's pleasant and easygoing even in the midst of this uncomfortable heat.  More than anyone I know -- and I know a lot of people --  she is a living example of these verses.  

Babydoll shouldn't even be here.  She was a surprise gift from God when Hunk O Man and I had decided that four children was enough.  We were done.  So when news of Babydoll came along, there was considerably less excitement and joy greeting the news.  This changed, of course, in the days that followed and especially on the day of her birth.  She has been a joyful child from the start.

I remember someone asking me just why I had to have five children.  Couldn't I have stopped at three?  It's a fair question; kids cost a lot of money.  College alone for just one child these days will send you into the poorhouse.

I honestly didn't know what to say, but I was offended at the question because I love every one of my children.  So I countered with this:  "which one would you like me to get rid of?"

I didn't have five children.  I had Rose, Bug, Barbie, JB, and Babydoll.  I had the privilege of bringing five people into the world.  They aren't nameless "kids," they are unique individuals that contribute to the world around them.  They drive me and each other crazy.  They are talented and smart.  They are thoughtless, careless, and stupid -- and the apples don't fall far from that tree!  They are sweet, kind, and generous.  They cost a fortune with their makeup and trips to Sonic and movies with friends and school fees and uniforms and Christmas and birthday gifts.  They make even me question just why I had to have five kids and not one or two or three.

But above all else, they delight God with their being.  He glories in Rose, in Bug, in Barbie, in JB, and in Babydoll.  

So there you go.  We may all be irritable with each other due to a lack of air conditioning in 90 degree heat.  We do drive one another crazy.  There are never any glasses out of which to drink.  The washer works day and night. But . . . 

Thank you God that this house has a cool basement.  And for my girly-squirrelies, cause they are priceless.

xoxox