Love isn't finding a perfect person.

It's seeing an imperfect person perfectly.

-- Sam Keen

Why I love the geese . . .

I LOVE the geese that live around my house. We live on the river and right now all of the goose families on the river come to our house with their new babies and eat from our mulberry tree - love watching the babies grow up. It's so fascinating to watch the Mom and the Dad take turns watching out for their little ones - they are very dedicated to their families.

I love it when the geese take off from the water and their wings flap and hit the water - I love it when they land on the water and look like an out of control jet plane coming in for a landing. I love it when an entire flock flies over me while I'm outside, I can hear their powerful wings cutting through the air, and I love to hear them honking at each other while they're flying above me.

Down the road on Vistula by the pond, there are families of geese that live there and since I walk by them and drive by them many times a day, I feel like I know them. The other day tragedy struck and there was a Mom or Dad goose dead on the side of the road. It probably got struck by some impatient motorist late for work (it better not have been my husband!), and now their mate is mateless and their babies are only one goose tragedy away from being orphans.

I know, I know . . . I'm weird. Trent and Cody have told me that many times - they hate the geese and can't see their beauty the way I see it. So today when I got this post from helpothers.org, I knew I had to share it.

What The Geese Taught Me--posted by JZ on May 26, 2007

Next fall, when you see Geese heading South for the Winter, flying along in V formation, you might consider what science has discovered as to why they fly that way:

As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following.

By flying in V formation the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

People who share a common direction and a sense of community can get where they are going, more quickly and easily, because they are travelling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone ... and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.

If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed the same way we are.

When the Head Goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.

It's sensible to take turns doing demanding jobs with people or with geese flying south.

Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

What do we say when we honk from behind?

Finally...and this is important...when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by gunshots, and falls out of formation, two other geese fall out with that goose and follow it down to lend help and protection. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly, or until it dies; only then do they launch out on their own, or with another formation to catch up with their group.

If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that


So you see - geese are amazing creatures - that's why I love the geese and am proud of it!!!

Trent's brother, Barry

My husband and his family are going through a really difficult time right now. His brother (middle brother who is 46 years old) is close to dying right now - his organs are failing. Last week he spent 5 days in intensive care where he had to have a blood transfusion because he lost so much blood from hemorraghing. He is suffering from Alcolism and it is killing him - although he would never tell you that. He tells us that right now he is weak from being without food and water for 5 days.

Now he is home with Trent's Mom whose husband (Trent's stepfather) is in full blown Alzheimer's. Praise God that for the past month Hank has had a really good month so that is helping Emma (Trent's Mom) a lot! She really has her hands full.

We are trying our best to help Emma and support her - help Barry and support him. I'm trying my best to be a supportive wife and help my husband watch all of this going on around him. We really don't know what to do except love him and love her.

Last night we did get Barry to get outside for a walk and it took every single ounce of his being to get his shoes on a go down the road about a block. I can't even say how hard it was to watch my husband hold his brother up while Barry concentrated to hard on just putting one foot in front of the other. I am so proud of Trent at the way he is stepping up to the plate to take care of his family and love them. It's really hard when you don't understand the disease of alcoholism and you just want them to be better and not die.

Please pray for Barry, Trent, Emma and the rest of his family.

"The Judge"

Once a month I get a really great newsletter from a Life Coach named Lori Radun. The newsletters are always good, but this one was the best yet and I wanted to pass it on.

Make the Judge Sit Down - By Lori Radun

In almost every relationship, the source of discontent can be traced back to "judgment". Judgment keeps us in the dark and separated from one another. In our house, I call it the "blame game". Disagreements can never be resolved when the focus is on the other person, and what they've done "wrong". There is a big difference between "Who messed up my toys?" and "I am unhappy because my toys are messed up."

Judgment causes defensiveness because an individual can't help but feel they have failed to meet your expectations. Often, we expect people to behave in a certain way, according to what makes us happy. But each person in our lives is on a different path and comes from different life experiences and circumstances. No two people are alike, but that does not make either party "wrong", just "different".

So how can we make "the judge" in us sit down?

First, we must realize that we aren't always going to like everything about everybody in our lives. Our job is not to change other people so we can be happy, but figure out how we can be happy despite our differences. Sometimes we learn to tolerate minor differences, or set boundaries when our limits are being compromised.

Second, grace allows us to see in other people what is also present or possible in us. Our "judgments" can act as a mirror for us to see ourselves more clearly. Whenever I begin to judge another person, I ask myself "When was the last time I acted like this?" More times than not, I can truthfully say I, too, am guilty of the very behavior I am judging.

Third, learning to not take another person's actions personally gives us the ability to stand back from the situation and see things more clearly. How another person acts has absolutely nothing to do with you - it is completely about the other person. When you take another person's words or behaviors personally, you become emotionally attached and charged, and your emotions will cloud your judgment. Take the example of my teenager speaking to me in an angry tone. I can choose to believe that my teenager is speaking disrespectfully to me, and I am then automatically hooked. The reality of the situation is that my teenager is angry and is having a hard time expressing his anger in a healthy way. It has nothing to do with me. I am in a much better position to hear my teenager's anger and help him channel it differently when I am emotionally detached.

Last, you will stop judging others when you stop judging yourself. When we are critical with ourselves, it naturally follows that we will be critical of others. By learning to love and accept those things about you that you don't like, you learn to be more tolerant of other people. You realize that we are all imperfect human beings doing our best with what we have. "The Judge" in us blocks opportunities to see the best in ourselves and others.

When you can make "the judge" sit down, you will have the ability to harmoniously walk, side by side, in your relationships, and grow in the process.


Sign up for Lori's free newsletter, or check out her website for lots of other great articles at true2youlifecoaching.com

Life is like a roller coaster

Life is like a roller coaster and I'm just trying to hang on and enjoy the highs and the lows.

It's weird how in one day so many great things can happen and so many crappy things too.

If I spend all my time thinking about the crappy things, life is going to be really hard and painful.

But if I spend my time thinking about the good things that happened during the day, life is so much easier and joyful.

Right now we are on the fastest, tallest rollercoaster in the park - and I don't particularly like roller coasters - but I will hang on tight, scream when I need to, have faith that the car will stay on the tracks and take a big deep breath when I have a chance!

Philippians 4:8 (The Message)

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

We found a dog . . I wish we could keep her!

Tuesday a.m., when we were walking, this dog came running at us and scared the crud out of us - she looks so scary. Trent tried to make her go home, but she laid down in the middle of Vistula and rolled over for him to pet her belly. I ran home with our dog CJ because I was already mourning the loss of my cat - I couldn't stand to see this dog get hit by a car.

So I kept looking and looking for Trent to follow me but he didn't come - about 20 minutes later here he comes down the road with this silly looking dog following right beside him like she had found her new best friend. It was hilarious!

I didn't want to sit outside with her or be anywhere around her because I didn't want to get attached - I just really don't want my heart broken again by an animal for awhile - but I sat outside and had coffee anyway. She had to lay right by us and be touching us - so was so sweet and cute I couldn't help but fall in love with her. We made the plan to keep her safe for the day and then we would walk her back to the area where we found her. By the time Trent got home, Cody and I had her named (Maggie Mae) and had fallen in love with her - we wanted to keep her!

So, long story short, this is no ordinary dog. She's some type of mastiff (the brindle color like her is pretty rare) and is just a puppy around 9 months old and weighing in at around 90 lbs. (we're guessing). People don't dump dogs like this - she's worth a lot of money - we have no idea how she came to be running around lost like she was. I've tried EVERYTHING to find her family, but no luck. She doesn't have a micro chip - no identification - it's like she just appeared out of nowhere.

Well, at least she's taken my mind off of my lost cat for now!