Random stuff

Here are a few pictures of what we have been doing the last few weeks.
Gretchen had a surprise birthday party for her mother-in-law Pat on Aug 15. She has cancer and going through chemo right now.

The next weekend we stayed home and cleaned. I had bought this saying and put it on our mirror.

Last weekend Aug 23 we went to a pre session Cardinals game. It was fun being in the new stadium.

The Struggle

The Struggle

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly and he kept it. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further. So to help the poor little butterfly, the man took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man, however, continued to watch the butterfly. He was certain that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to support the body and thus allow it to contract.

Unfortunately, that never happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never became able to to fly.

The man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand one important point. The restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening are all part of a higher plan. As the butterfly struggles through the tiny opening, fluid is forced from its body into its wings. Once the fluid is in the wings, the butterfly is ready for fight. It is the struggle that enables the butterfly to not only gain its freedom……but also to take flight.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If we were to go through our lives without any difficulties, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could have been We would never be able to fly!!

Take this story and apply it where you thing it might help. I have seen the results of not letting your children struggle and growing up still asking your 89 year old mother for financial help. There is nothing wrong with your children working, even if it isn’t the glamour job he wants.

New Sign

During one of our spring winds our sign at the store got beaten up. So now we have a new sign as of this week. Smaller but nice and insurance covered it!