Last night I watched an episode of "The Real Housewives of Orange County" on Bravo. My 15 year old thinks this show is a hoot so I decided I should check it out with him. Some of you may not be familiar with this show so here is the premise. Five women have been chosen from a very wealthy area of Southern California, I am not sure why they are called housewives because a couple had careers outside of the home. The camera's follow them around while they lunch, have plastic surgery, meet new men (some are not married any more, only benefiting from their large divorce settlements), and deal with the problems of their over indulged children.

I found myself transfixed by this show. The show was on three consecutive times and I watched each episode. The women in this show all seemed like nice people, but most of them looked liked wax figures who had way to much collagen injections. Careers were definitely at the forefront and children took a back seat. The lifestyle of these women was so different than mine, and by the worlds view so much better, but I found myself feeling sorry for them. Do they ever watch the show and see how shallow and self absorbed they seem? The children (mostly teens) seem to have one recurring theme coming out of their mouths, I wish my parents worked less and spent more time with me.

Half way through one of the shows I asked my son why he thought this was so great. He replied "The houses are really cool and I can get some good ideas". You see, my son wants to be an architect. He loves going and looking at houses and seeing the different designs people use. I was very much relieved. I asked what he thought of their lifestyle. " I would really like to live in one of the houses but other than that it doesn't really look so great. The mom's don't seem that happy, and the kids hardly see their parents". Now I know the show is edited for TV and I am sure edited for the most dramatic effect but his words got me thinking about the quote above.

The women as well as men were very urgent about their bodies as well as those of their children. Everything must be perfect. Teenagers were being given breast implants to "improve their self esteem". I did not see a lot of worrying about the soul. They definitely liked their comforts. On one of the segments a 20 year old daughter was talking to her Dad telling him she didn't have to be rich. She could be happy with much less. He basically told her she was full of crap, she was a princess, and could not survive any other way. The daughter then went on to tell the camera's how they used to be really super super rich but then her Dad lost it all. When they lost everything all of their friends went away acting like they no longer existed, and some of their family members too! You would think that an experience like that would have changed the Dad's opinion's on wealth. How sad that this was the best advise this Father could seem to provide his child.

Towards the end of one of the episodes my oldest daughter came in and started watching with us. She casually asked what was wrong with these people, why were they acting this way? I thought she was making a joke but it turned out she was serious. She thought they had some medical condition or something, because why else would they be acting so strangely, lol.

This led us to a discussion about our Heavenly Father and the advise and wisdom he gives us as a loving Father. We talked about not being so worried about what is on the outside for what is on the inside is so much more important. We talked about listening to God's leading in our lives which at times we might not understand but days, weeks, or even years later we can see his plan at work and how it fits together like a perfect puzzle in our lives.

I told my children about a time when I was pregnant with my first child. I had been layed off from work, and their Dad's job was ending at the end of the month. My husband worked in Aerospace and at that time their was a hiring freeze on at most of the big companies. He would apply for jobs and the people really wanted to hire him, but were unable to due to the freeze. We prayed, and prayed, and though we were both scared we talked about an inner peace we both felt that most definitely must be coming from God. You see, we had no money. We had put our small house on the market but nothing was selling. I was due to deliver our first child at any moment, and my husband only had a job for another 30 days. Sound a little stressful? However, miraculous things began to happen as we trusted God and held firmly to him. We knew he had a plan for us, however I must admit I wasn't so sure I was going to initially like his plan very much. Friends began to call offering us shelter for as long as we may need it and several times I went out to my mailbox to find an anonymous envelope with a little cash in it to help us through.

One beautiful October afternoon I gave birth to my first child. I was laying their that evening basking in the joy of new motherhood when the phone rang, our realtor was on the other end of the line. Our house had sold! Two days later while nursing my infant son the phone rang again. The caller told me that he had been talking with my husband about a job, and had just got the ok to hire him somehow getting around the freeze. This was my husband's dream job. The job would also allow us to move from Colorado back to California where most of our friends and family lived. Ten days after giving birth one of our best friends flew from California to Colorado, loaded a U-Haul truck with my hubby, and moved us back to the state I was born in. The baby and I (my Mom was also there) got to fly to our new home. When hubby arrived for his first day of work he was required to go see the plant nurse for a physical. She asked him how it was that he had managed to get hired? He told her the story and she acted very amazed. You see, she said, I do all of the physicals and I have not done one of these in three years. Three Years! The company that had hired him was very large with thousands of employees and yet my husband had been the only one hired in all that time. She kept going on about how amazing it was but my husband wasn't amazed. He knew that this was God's plan and God wasn't going to let something like a hiring freeze change his plans for us.

For nine long months I worried how we would survive and in a few days God took care of everything. We may not of had material wealth but I feel we are so much richer than those families we watched on TV last night. We are blessed with awesome friends and family who will do anything for us and a God we can lean on and trust to take care of our every need. God has blessed our family beyond what my husband and I could ever have imagined, and I must remind myself not to limit God, but to trust in him for his plans can be so much grander than mine.

Ecclesiastes 3:1