Late, but important.

Last Saturday, September 11, I had my blogger dashboard up ready to post a tribute to 9/11 when I realized the book I really wanted to quote was returned to the library. After re-checking out the book (must buy this one!), I am able to share a part of the book with you.

Here is an excerpt of Raising Kids for True Greatness, explaining the difference between successful people and truly great people:

"The terrorists who slammed airplanes into the World Trade Center caught us completely off guard. In the middle of a business-as-usual morning, they showed us how naive we were about the magnitude of their hate and the extent to which we could be humbled by their violence.

Many successful people found themselves trapped in the clutches of this ghastly event. At 9:03 that Tuesday morning, their SAT scores and the cars they drove to work meant nothing. There was very little that their pedigrees and resumes could do for them. The famous as well as the obscure became equals in the statistics. In the Twin Towers, 'Who's Who died side by side with Who's he?'

But in the midst of this crisis, there were magnificent people who responded to the urgency of the moment and gave everything they had for the sake of others. as the successful rushed down the stairs of the World Trade Center, the truly great ran up. as the well-heeled and comfortable ran for their lives, the truly great slipped inside the nightmare to see what they could do to help those who were left behind.

And after the smoke cleared, thousands of truly great people stepped out from their quiet positions within the ranks of successful Americans and opened their hearts and their wallets to those whose lives had been shattered by this cataclysmic event.

Isn't it ironic that as a nation we worship those who are successful, but when tragedy strikes, our survival depends upon those who are great? A cry for help is always answered first by people who live for something more valuable than their own fame or fortune. They respond even though there isn't a thing in it for them.

That's why, when it's time to bury our dead, we mourn the loss of those who were successful, but we celebrate the memory of those who were truly great-the firefighters, the EMT's, the rescue workers, and the countless civilians who sacrificed everything they had for people they'd never met."

The author, Dr, Tim Kimmel, goes on to explain in his book that you can be both successful and great. However, if your only aim is success you may miss an amazing story for your life that God has planned. The key is not short-changing our kids by emphasizing only what the world views as important, but allowing them to go beyond what we could imagine and achieve true greatness.

Look no further.

Than outside, that is. Oh, the inspiration these kids provide!

No stifling around here.

Ryder came to me the other day with an idea. It involved lots of tape, his spider man gloves and four light sabers. He had it all planned out and knew exactly what he wanted. Now I just happen to be reading this really amazing book, Raising Kids for True Greatness , and I just happened to have just read a chapter that made me think how we as parents have a tendency to stifle our kids creativity simply because we are tired, don't have the time or just don't want to deal with the mess.

Lucky Ryder.

Here are the results:

"Jedi Rule"

Honestly, it was so easy to create and he overflowed with joy for days showing everyone what "me and mom made". I'll be sure to review that book soon.

The girls' room, before & after.

With Grams and Gramps making the big move to San Diego, some items of furniture had to be shifted from mom and dad's. Ofcourse, I was more than happy to partake in any of that shifting as anything of theirs or my parents would be a step up from my hodgepodge collection. Ashlynn and Addie received my mom's bedroom set from when she was a girl. It's a beautiful French Provincial set and Ashlynn had a blast picking out colors.

Here is what it looked like before:





And After:







Obviously, these wild colors are not classic French Provincial creams, but we are talking about an 8 year old, though I will be the first to admit my personal love of color. But maybe one day, when we are older, we'll sand it down and get the creaminess back.

Maybe.

And so it begins.

We started school yesterday with Ashlynn and Ryde. It's hard to believe I have a first grader and a third grader in the house! They have been good sports as we plow back into our routine and I know our schedule will iron itself out just right.

All of the kids needed a haircut, so they pulled up a stool in mom's salon (our family room) and I cut away. Gage, Ryder and Addie didn't shed enough to warrant a photo, but Ashlynnie sure did.

Here is our sweet girl before:




And here is the new do (we sent her hair to Locks of Love):








I pulled it back into a pony tail and cut away....and cut and cut and cut. That girl's hair is so thick I started having second thoughts about how short it was becoming the longer it was taking. Apparently, I need to get bigger scissors next time so I can cut the pony tail off in one clip and get on with the styling.

After looking at the finished product in the mirror she hugged me over and over again, thanking me and saying "it is exactly how I imagined it would be mommy!".

Ofcourse, I was most anxious about what daddy would think about the cut. The last time I took my scissors to it, he casually mentioned "it shouldn't be as short next time".

Oops.

Thankfully he loved it and was more worried about what it cost than the length and was very happy to learn I cut it at home (the Dave Ramsey in me must be rubbing off on him!). It is just hair, and it will grow back.....if that's was Miss Ashlynn would like.