Living With Purpose and Passion.........

Yesterday the most wonderful thing happened!!

After almost 2 years of being lost I found my wedding ring and my mothers ring!! I was sad to have lost both but was most sad about my mothers ring because it has the 4 kids' gemstones (including our son, Joshua, who went to be with Jesus when I was 6 mths pregnant with him in 1995) plus DJ's and mine.
I found them in a basket in the basement. I used to use the basket in the kitchen and didn't realize my rings were in there. I almost threw the basket w/ greenery in the get rid of box then for some reason decided to take the greenery out first and.....there were my rings! God knew :)

We are excited for the holidays this year as always. The kids and I are going to help serve Thanksgiving dinner at the homeless shelter then come home and enjoy our dinner together.

I'm grateful to have kids who have a heart for others. We've started having family movie night on Thursday nights. We get Costco pizza and cell phones and computers are set to the side for that time.
We've been trying to watch some meaningful movies. The last 3 weeks we've watched The Ultimate Gift, Amazing Grace, and last week was Beyond the Gates.

The Ultimate Gift with James Garner is about a grandson whose grandpa dies. To receive his inheritance the grandson must complete a series of tasks. Very good!

Amazing Grace is an incredible story based on true events. It's the story of William Wilburforce, an 18th century politician who fought for the abolition of slavery. He was friends with the man who had written the hymn Amazing Grace 20 years earlier. It left me thinking "Wow.....what passion has God placed in my life and what am I doing about it?" The kids also were touched by this story.

Beyond The Gates will leave you in tears but what a story. Even Ben was brought to near tears and was upset at the injustice he saw in this movie.
It's based on true events during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. A British priest ran a school for the children in Rwanda along with the help of a young British school teacher. They had an amazing impact on the lives of those children. The school compound was guarded by the UN and when they were told to pull out the priest and school teacher each had to decide whether to leave with the UN or stay with the children.
It was an eye opening movie but left us all in tears! It's very graphic so wouldn't be appropriate for younger kids.

There really is so much more to life than what goes on in our little corner of it. It's inspiring to see other people passionately living out what it is God's called them to do. I have to ask myself "How far out of my comfort zone am I willing to go to do what God calls me to do?"

We aren't all called to go to Rwanda or be in the political arena (though we all have the responsibility to be aware of what's going on and at least vote!).
God does call each of us to live our lives with purpose. That's different for each of us............

I'm going to ponder that while I fix dinner :) Corn bread baked in flan pans then topped with taco salad. One of our favorites!!