Decided to drop by Danielle's

...before toddling off to bed. I am so glad I did cause it gave me the amazing opportunity to donate a little cash to a great cause. To read more and maybe decide to donate yourself, click here. Read more!

Emma is away...

She has gone to visit her godmother and second oldest sister, Jenny. Also with her is Bethany. Calm, quiet, dependable Bethany who often quietly slides up beside me leaving a tall glass of ice water by my side.

Today, without Emma, there have been no sudden screams of anger from Nathaniel, piercing the air as she teases him. There have been no loud noisy follow the leader games with Elsa and Nathaniel imitating her piercing yells as they see if it really is possible to explode glass with high pitched notes. There has been no dress up strewn about the house as she and Elsa explore how many outfits they can change into within 20 minutes, and forget to put away. There have only been half as many ice cubes in front of the fridge as usual. Even the cat has been quiet.

Today has been quite peaceful and... boring. Read more!

note to self...

While listening to the play list on the headphones, remember to tape mouth closed so as to avoid the temptation of singing along with the music, to the great amusement of all others in the room. Read more!

Out of the bad must come some good...

We are all familiar with that saying and this past week, I experienced just that. I had written a thoughtful post about prayer and some of the conundrums a few bibles verses cause me due to the difficult past five years that we have experienced.

This post drew a very angry reader out of the woodwork who left an incredibly spiteful and hate filled comment. This person attacked my family on all levels, our faith life, our children, our morality, and s/he especially attacked my spouse directly and in a most hateful way. That was the most hurtful part for me - her attack on my beloved husband who works so hard trying to provide for the beautiful family God has blessed us with.

So what good could possibly come out of such a hate filled attack?

First I got to see my older children and husband band together, in love for me, as they tried to remove the comment in hopes I would not see it and protect me from such ugliness. Sadly, their efforts were in vain as all comments are also emailed me due to the settings I have chosen. Imagine my puzzlement though when I read from Jackie: "Is that comment above for real?" posted just below a very nice comment by Margaret?? By then my 21 year old son had already hacked my blog and removed the comment. He even managed to remove the statement "Comment Deleted" which is always left after I delete something. I need to learn how he did that!

However, checking my emails cleared up the mystery and as I sat in shock - not knowing whether to laugh or cry given that the accusations were so off the wall as to be almost funny, my oldest child, Amanda, IM'd me from Boston to ask in a casual and off hand manner how I was. She was trying to determine if I had seen the comment before Jonathan had deleted it. I explained about the emails and she was very upset for me. However, as I was quite chipper about it all she was very relieved.

Our second oldest daughter did not learn of all of this until the next day when she got the email from me explaining I was considering closing the blog to the public and why. She asked to see the comment. She was horrified when she read it.

So the second good thing came of it when she wrote the following comment in response. I decided to add it as a post because it is such a positive and beautiful statement of her love for her family as well as a testament to the love and support she feels she had received over her 23 years of life.

Jenny said...

As the proud second of this "mum to twelve" it is very hard not to be extremely angry at the person who wrote those horrible and nasty things about my beautiful family. For the sake of the blood of Christ I will give my anger to Him and pray for the conversion of my heart and all.

Whoever wrote those ugly words- I hope that you read what I have to say. I will pray for the conversion of your heart and for simple charity. I have never heard or read anything so hurtful, hateful, or judgmental.

I would not trade out one member of my family for any other person in the world. My life as a whole has been beautiful-even if there have been hard times. I thank God everyday for everything he has blessed me with-and at the top of my list is my husband, father and mother and everyone one of my beautiful siblings. I would not wish that any one of them not be born so that my parents could have bought me a car-or spoiled me with the things of this world.

You need to rethink your view on what is precious in this life.

Sincerely,

Jenny
college graduate with honors, self- sufficient, well brought-up, refined, successful in my non-profit job for the unborn, daughter of this beautiful "mum to twelve"

The third good thing that has come of it is the opportunity to practice Jesus' directive to "Love Thine Enemies". It is a hard thing to practice and it is good to be reminded of its necessity. Only someone is great need of love and compassion could only have written such a hate filled comment. If you have a spare prayer in your heart today, please offer it up for that person. And please pray for me as I have not yet been able to totally forgive them their attack on my husband who, unlike so many of this world today, did not turn his back on a huge weight and challenge when he lost his job five years ago. Instead he put his shoulder even more firmly to the plow and gets up everyday, not knowing what new and difficult challenges this day may bring, and goes back to our very challenging family business. I thank God every day that I married him.

My family, so far, are all of the opinion that we should leave the blog open to the public but that I should continue to moderate the comments. This way any ugliness is seen only by us and not foisted on my readers, rendering such attempts of character assassination as pointless and moot. Read more!