I'm with Mrs. L

Kira loves music. We gave her the new Dan Zanes CD for her birthday. Yesterday I stuck it my laptop so she could watch a video that was included. We thought it was both cool and trippy, so we went to Dan's website to see if there were anymore. (It turns out that there are 3 more on the Playhouse Disney website.) Kira watched the music videos while I showered. A little later, I was poking around on the DZ site, when I came across a page of links. One of them was for Roseanne Cash. I recently watched Walk the Line, and I wondered if she was related to Johnny. (Yep--she's his eldest daughter.) Anyway, I'm not familiar with her or her music, so I started poking around on her site. It turns out that she has a little column called, "Mrs. L's Monthly". I read it. I cried. I have a hard time sorting out what the heck is going on in the middle east. I don't watch the news. It's too painful for me. I do watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report--humor helps me to digest what is happening in the world--sort of like "a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down". I know that I have never felt that war is the answer, and I do not support our president and others who I believe have sent our troops there primarily to protect our interests in foreign oil. I am so totally with Mrs. L. What a thoughful, intellient woman. Please read what she has to say here.

How weird is it that a children's musician with crazy hair and a polyester suit indirectly helped me find words that summarize how I feel about the chaos in the middle east? It felt so good to find Roseanne's message and know that I'm not the only one whose heart breaks every time I hear about bombs dropping. Heck, my dad's a retired fire fighter, and I often get choked up when I hear firetrucks or ambulances flying by. You just know it's not good--that someone, somewhere is hurting. That's how I feel about the crisis in the middle east.

Each night when I go to bed, I count my blessings and thank God for my family, friends, and for the joys I find in my daily life. I ask for help to overcome my many weaknesses. Perhaps most importantly, I ask God to help me overlook the faults of others, and to be more patient. Forgiveness can be so challenging, yet so freeing. Tonight a truce has gone into effect to end the fighting between Israel and Lebannon...for now. I cannot imagine the fear--and I hope now the relief--that families are experiencing over there. I pray that for the sake of humanity that hearts will be softened and that peace may prevail. I just don't know what else to say about it all.