"The Echo"

by C.C. Miller

'Twas a sheep not a lamb
That strayed away in the parable Jesus told,
A grown-up sheep that strayed away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.
And why for the sheep should we seek
And earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger when sheep go wrong:
They lead the lambs astray.
Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Wherever the sheep may stray.
When sheep go wrong,
It won't take long till the lambs are as wrong as they.
And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today,
For when the sheep are lost
What a terrible cost
The lambs will have to pay.

I had this poem given to me as a handout in Sunday school months ago, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. I have carried it around in my purse everyday since then and read it often. I could speak volumes about why I think this is so profound, but the poem is pretty direct. I think it speaks for itself.

Bradlee's 5th Birthday (only 5 months late)

This was probably Bradlee's best and worst birthday party so far. She had lots of cute friends and family over, but unfortunately I only got this one picture. Bradlee wanted a Barbie themed swimming party. As you can see from the pictures, the party started out all nice and sunny, but as soon as we put these poor kids in the swimming pool it started raining and hailing like you have never seen before!!!! We all yelled at the kids to all get out of the water and get in the pool room as quick as possible. Unfortunately, Maddy (above right) couldn't get out fast enough. I had to lay on the edge of the pool and try to pull her out. By the time I got her in the pool room, she was crying like crazy, and for good reason, we both had huge welts all over our bodies. The welts didn't go away for several hours either. The storm lasted for about twenty minutes. I thought the kids would be too traumatized to get back in the water, but they hopped right back in and swam for a long time. I think everyone ended up having a good time, but I don't think any parents will bring their kids to another one of our birthday parties ever again!