Teachable Moments

This whole situation with Rhianna and Chris Brown has been really upsetting to me. I am so disappointed that it looks like she's going to take him back. But it has been a good time to talk with Maddie about domestic violence. She knows who both of the singers are, but she was kind of confused to learn that Chris had beaten up Rhianna. You can understand her confusion when you think about the men she's spent time with in her life. How could she imagine her dad or either of her grandfathers or uncles or Martin Kasten or Lile Choate or Rob Sanders hitting their wives? The idea is (thank you, God!) so foreign to her. But, it's never to early to teach your daughter that it's not okay for anyone to hit her...ever!

Maddie had a big treat last night. A friend of hers got to spend the night on a school night! Megan's parents are in Prague to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Going to Prague from London is about like heading to Chicago from Little Rock. I got to go there last year and it's one of my favorite places that I've been. Maybe Skip and I can get there for our 20th!

I thought I was going to sneak in two Mother's Days this year. Mother's Day in Great Britain is this month. So I thought my family could do something for me now and then again for the American Mother's Day in May. My daughter, who insists on harboring the belief that life is fair, said that we could not do that because it wouldn't be fair to Daddy not to get two Father's Days. Oh, well.

Been wrestling with a sermon this week. I'm going to preach at the church we attend while the regular pastor is away at a church officer training conference. I am so out of practice with such things. I've really struggled, but think I've come up with something to say. I was a little worried about my American accent and being understood, but then realized with the wide range of Scottish, English and Ghanan accents, everyone was used to everyone else sounding a bit different.

We're just hanging out this weekend. Maybe catch a movie with Maddie. There are a couple she wants to see. We're going to skip the sightseeing this weekend, but may be back at it next weekend. Those weekends are running out for us. We're trying to strike a balance between making the most of our remaining time here and not crashing and burning from exhaustion. Too many fun things to see and do and too many fun people coming to see us. We'll sleep when we get back to Little Rock.