JOY: Pretty in Mommy's Pink Hat...

While Angela was in Chicago doing the Hair Show thing, Joy decided to create a little fashion show of her own in the kitchen!

I am honored that she wants & needs my approval right now early in her life. As a matter of fact I pray that the LORD always keeps me sensitive to this aspect of the needs of my daughter's heart.

Reading, studying, learning from many books is one of my strongest methods of life improvement. That along with consistent observation keeps my radar on heightened alert because of the critical nature of a little girl's first decade especially.

I know that the picture I just painted is a comic strip almost, Storm Trooper Stan Over-Protects His Little Joy!

(Maybe that's due to the fact that I got so much advice as a youth to pay attention if and when you become a parent that you don't neglect your child during the critical early years.)

Maybe it's the fact that I fear I'll never be as great as my father-in-law or my own dad.

When the truth is known, I think that we'll all find out that I am a perfectionist who has a hard time relaxing, and wants to be the Master of the Universe (like the next guy.)

I hope I have gained a little maturity that I admit that relating to my little girl is best done the way my God relates to me.
1. He doesn't answer all my questions. (He often teaches me much in the search.)
2. He does what is best for my life...patiently! (He doesn't respond in kind when I "pitch a fit" and "show my rear-end." [Some of Dad's expressions.])
3. He mercifully doesn't give me what I ask of Him because He often has something much better at the end of a little patience.
4. He loves me the same whether I like Him or am very angry with Him!
5. He never justifies His decisions to me because He's bigger than I am and He knows that He's in control. (Being P.C. never even hits the LORD's radar because His ways of doing things are so much better than group-think.)
6. God teaches me to trust His heart, even when I can't trace His hand in my circumstances.
7. Finally, My Divine Parent created, recreated me, and has His hands on every aspect of my life so that even when things seem out-of-control to me...Nothing is out-of-control for Him! (He works behind the scenes & out-of-sight, but I'm never out-of-His mind.

No matter how hard I try...these are standards I will never reach, but they are admirable goals for a constantly upward call.

So, I may be a perfectionist, but He only requires that I be faithful, not perfect! THAT, I will try to do... :)