It's Always Me

+ DAN'S HEAD = OUCH!

My Boss....Kaitlin

If you would ask me if I would consider myself the "head" of my household, I would say...yes(along with my wife of course). Most of the time I try to be the one that has the final say in family matters, that uses the authority that God has given me to help our family in the best way possible. That is all fine and dandy but there is one person who is moving in on my territory...Kaitlin. I have this daughter (who is only two years old) that has thrown the whole chain of command into disarray. The girl has this power over me that leaves me wondering exactly who's the boss. I have come to the conclusion that it is not me, it's her. I have two other children (both boys), that understand their place in our family. They know the rules and follow them... most ot the time. Kaitlin on the other hand, lives to a different set of rules... her rules. I don't know how this happened. I don't know how she does it. This tiny, cute, innocent little girl simply makes me do whatever she wants. If she wants to read a book fifty times in a row, I do it. If she wants me to hold ten of her dolls at once, I do it. If she wants me to get her five different snacks at once (only to eat a single bite of one of them), no problem. Why is she so different? What is this power that she has? I just don't understand it. Where have I gone wrong? A TWO YEAR OLD IS RUNNING MY LIFE! Maybe there is some kind of support group for this kind of problem. Maybe there is still hope that I can regain my position in our family...probably not... at least for about sixteen more years.

Sincerely,
Kaitlin's Personal Assistant

I've got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart?

As I read back through some of my previous post, I have noticed something. It seems that I tend to go on and on about my troubles. I go on about how crazy things happen in my life and how things sometimes seem to go wrong. I go on and on about going on and on. So today I am taking a day off of complaining and self pity. Today (and hopefully from here on out), I am going to take ten minutes each day to simply be joyful (and thankful) about my life and the things that God has done in my life. I did my first ten minutes this morning and it was awesome.

Here's the deal, too often I (maybe you, maybe not you), spend a ton of time telling everone who is in ear shot about what a mess my life is and about the latest cotastrophe at the Ponchot house. Truth is, bad things do happen but how it affects us is what's important. Does it throw us into some kind of depression, a week of feeling sorry for ourselves, an ice cream eating frenzy, or do we simply see it as part of living this life on earth and that our troubles really pale in comparison to the good things in our life. Where is our joy? Where is my joy?

This morning in my Bible study I looked at a passage in 1 Peter 1:3ish (message)-"What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven-and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The day is coming when you'll have it all, a life healed and whole. I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine." Why is it that some christians are so negative about life when christians should in reality be the happiest people on the planet? We have this defeatest attitude like we are always under the gun and that we are these "poor little Christians". We forget who won the battle. Jesus took care of that a long time ago. I think that what it boils down to (at least for me) is that I sometimes misplace my joy . I simply lose it. I put too much thought into my every day, messy, life when I should be jumping for joy at what God has done for me. I am going to make every effort to keep the ten minute thing going. I think I'm going to like being happy more.
d.e.p.

Death of a "Flip Flop"

There are few things in my life that are very valuable to me; my relationship with Jesus Christ, my wife, my kids, my ministry, my guitar, and...my flip flops. My relationship with this particular pair of flip flops began over four years ago. I have had many other pairs of flip flops in my life but never have I felt so close to flip flop type footwear as I have this pair. There was nothing very special about this pair of flip flops; they only cost $3.00, I bought them at a bait shop in Tennessee, they are not a name brand, and they were not even close to a fasion statement but I think that all of those qualities in my dearly departed flip flops is what made them so special to me. I feel like a part of me has died, and in a way, I guess it has. What happened to my flip flops you ask? Well the police are still doing an investigation but based on the tear in the side, they think that it was an act of a...(sorry it's still hard to talk about) "flat tire". They still have some more interviews to do but they have told me that they have a "person of interest" in mind that may have commited this terrible flat tire. Here is the description of the person of interest: female, 15-16 yrs old, right footed, dark hair, possibly with the initials D.A., and probably wearing flip flops at the time of the crime. If anyone has any more information on who could have commited this act, please contact me as soon as possible. Well, I had better go. I am going to go out and bury my flip flops. I have a spot picked out right next to my 1986 Air Jordans.