A rough one...

November 9th, 2007

Wow, it was a rough day today...I think our hormones were raging times 4 in the Avila house and thank goodness Vince could only hear it via the phone! I don't know if it is the time change or what but time-outs, spankings, and lots of prayer time seemed to be the theme for today. Lila choked Haley, Haley punched and kicked Lila and Alex did a great job yelling at them! I know I was there trying to do crowd control, but I don't know if anyone heard me! SO it is 7:36 and everyone is in bed, except Alex, who is currently watching Star Wars, the one with the Ewoks. Vince, lucky dog, is at the KU game with his dad. Tomorrow is another day and yes, it was crazy, but there is a light at the end of this tunnel. We went out to El Mezcal with Vince's parents and it was great food, great conversation and the Margarita's were nice too. The girls had fun making their food creations with our leftovers, which gave mom a well-deserved break. It is hard to see the girls complain about their food (at lunchtime) when who know what or if our son is eating right now. To see the waste, to see how much my kids (and I) take for granted makes me sick. We have no idea what it is to be hungry or to only have one outfit. It has been good to talk with the girls about Titus and to pray for him. We can't even imagine what the 5 million orphans are going through--these in Ethiopia alone. It is sobering, how many hundreds of pictures I have seen of ALL the KIDS and NO ADULTS. Children raising children. And I look at how blessed our girls are and how blessed I am to have the opportunity to give my kids a future and a hope, clothes and food and education. Sometimes this can get me down and seems like this is unfixable...but God calls us to do what we can and will give us the grace to do what He has called us to...WE are not the answer and salvation to these orphans, but God is a "father to the fatherless, a defender of widows...God in his holy dwelling". God is there, but I believe He calls us to come alongside Him in some capacity. I can't speak highly enough of http://www.tomdavis.typepad.com/. Watch his short videos...the girl in the wheelchair, pizza and bananas, etc. Sorry, I get off on a tangent, but it is of value to open our minds up and start exposing ourselves to things, hard things, outside our own little convenient world. Hopefully God will give me a little more grace and a little more patience to love on my girls tomorrow. They are such a huge blessing to me.