Life's lessons

A few months ago my parents, I, and Jubilee went on a trip to Gatlinburg. While we were there, we visited with a former pastor and his family that were in a nearby city. It had been a couple of years since they had seen me and Jubi. I think they were quite surprised by the changes in me (i.e. facial piercings) even though I'm sure they were briefed over the phone as to what to expect.

The pastor's daughter is now 13 and acting the typical teenage girl. I took up for her in some areas and in others I sided with the parents. This earned me no love when they argued over a jacket from the label Billabong and her dad was positive that it is "drug influenced".
Finally, he asked me what kind of message I was hoping to give to my daughter with the way I was acting/looking (not a quote but the basic message). I told him that I want her to "keep an open mind and that, just because a person looks a certain way, doesn't mean they are not a Christian."

I remember, when I went away to Lee University, I had planned on getting in with the worst crowd I could find and having as much fun as possible. I saw 2 girls across the hall from me that looked like the ticket. One had blue hair and some serious black eyeliner and the other had near-black hair with some serious eye make-up as well. Turns out I found some major Christians instead. They helped me get in touch with the Holy Spirit which is something all my years at church could never help me with. Isn't that odd?

I learned that you can never judge the level of a person's spirituality just by looking at their appearance.

where does she get that?

a couple of weeks ago jubilee touched my sister's candy jar and fell off of its precarious perch. the mess didn't occur right away. it was more subtle. more like she scooted it just a little and half an hour later it fell off of where it was (the top of the printer) due the vibrations.

my sister asked her if she touched it and jubilee admitted it. kristen was picking up the candy off the floor and jubilee came out with "i'm sorry, nanu. i'm ashamed of myself."

it was pitiful. where did she even get that?!? i never say anything like that to her. i never tell her she should be ashamed of herself or that i'm ashamed of her. that's just wrong. that's something you say to a dog.

it happened again last week. i picked her up from daycare and she told me she spilled her milk. i said "that's a shame" and she said "yes, mommy. i'm ashamed of myself." i told her to never be ashamed of herself and then told her it was "a pity" that she spilled her milk.

i want to know who has been talking to my daughter that way. there is no way she just came up with that on her own. if i find out it was one of the teachers at daycare, they might be meeting the open side of my palm because no child should ever hear those words.