A lesson for us all

It has been exciting to live in Indiana the past few weeks because we have had both a men's team and a women's team in the Final Four. Now I will not pretend that I am a sports fan by any stretch. We do not watch any sports in the Cook house. Shocked?? So is everyone else. It is almost the unpardonable sin to live in Indiana and not watch the Colts and root for a college sports team from here. So, we keep it on the downlow and pretend we watch! Shhh...don't tell. Anyway, unfortunately the Butler Bulldogs couldn't clinch the title this year but I learned a great lesson from their rise to fame. I learned some background on one of their players, Matt Howard, that I thought was truly inspirational and a great lesson for us all. I thought I might share it here. Matt grew up in Southern IN in a family of 10 children. His father has been a mail carrier for 30 years. As you can imagine growing up in a family with 10 children to provide for, money was tight. His father said that it was just understood that none of the children would be able to do a lot of extra-curricular activities that would cost money because they just didn't have it. As Matt grew older, his family noticed that he seemed to be a very talented basketball player. So, one night his dad gathered the family together and asked all 10 of them if they would be supportive of the family putting some extra money towards Matt being able to play basketball. They all agreed as they saw that their brother definitely had something worth investing in. Isn't that great? I just love the thought that all the other 9 of those children were able to put their own wants and needs aside to be supportive of one of their own. What a selfless act. And look at how it paid off. They now have a very talented brother who is living his dream. Sometimes we get asked whether we worry about being able to provide for our children in the future. I can't speak for Wes, but for myself, I don't worry very much. First of all, I know that we serve a God that will give us all that we need. Maybe not all that we want, but all that we need. Secondly, I don't worry about trying to keep my kids as cool as the next kid out there. The thing about that is there is always going to be someone who is cooler than they are! I think it's my job to provide for all of my children's needs, but defnitely not all of their wants. Now, they haven't been informed of this yet, but that's the way it's going to be. Because we have chosen to have more children, I know that my kids are going to have less than others around them. My hope is that instead of this becoming a negative thing, Wes and I will be able to make it a positive thing. I want our lives to be about each other, not about things or activities. I hope that one day, our children will be able to put aside their own wants and decide instead to invest in a life of another. I think that is something that money can't buy.