On the good side it was beautiful. It always is but particularly so around Memorial day. There are over 100 years worth of my family members buried out there. It has always been this little cemetery out in the middle of Farm country. The Man who originally donated the land placed in his will that the cemetery was always to be given land when they needed it and that that stipulation was to go with any contract for the land in perpetuity. For 100 hundred years that stipulation has been met.
Now though they have built an airport not too far from there and the land in that area is being chopped up sold for a million dollars an acre. I made the mistake of turning left instead of right a few months back and saw that the land a short ways in that direction was already turned into lots. Yesterday as we drove to the cemetery I noticed that the farm land just before the cross roads to the cemetery has started to have dirt work done to it and the roads have already been cut.
I know that it is foolishness on my part. I know that my family isn't really there in that cemetery; it's just what's left of the clay vessels that they lived in. On the other hand, it is the only place that I have to go and honor the lives of those people. We would go and I would tell my children about the people those markers represented.
"Here in this area, in an unmarked grave, are the graves of your third Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother. He fought in the civil war with a battalion out of Illinois. He was a sharp shooter. They were used then to range in the cannons." "These are the graves of your Great-Grandmothers parents. They moved here from Nebraska; they lived in a soddy out there. Your seconded Great-Grandmother would cut patterns in the dirt floor to make is pretty and she actually used to sweep it. One time a fire came through on the prairie and your second Great-Grandfather, who was plowing at the time, when he saw the smoke unhooked the plow, jumped on the back of the horse and rode for all he was worth toward the house. When he got there his wife was waiting with the door open and he just rode on in. Because the house was mad out of dirt and partially underground they were able to ride the fire out inside the house. It went right over the top of them and they were OK. But it had been so fast that it actually singed you Grandfathers hair as he was riding in." And on and on for six generations of stories about their heritage.
For over 100 years it has been a peaceful place where that could be accomplished. Now it's about to be surrounded by housing developments. My husband doesn't understand my problem. He's a practical man who was born and raised in Detroit, MI. The time that he has spent here has been the first time he has done more than just drive through the country one his way to another city or Military Post. His reply is that "It's the way of the world. All cities where country sometime." But my people where all farm people. They chose to be buried where they were because it was farming country. I don't think they would want to be surrounded by houses.
I plan to be buried there. We already have plots next to my son and close to where my parents will be buried. I don't want to see that happen. But the truth is that that is what is coming. worse yet, we will probably be the last generation laid there. With a worth of a million dollars an acre no one will want to give the cemetery land. They will find a way to legally avoid an old mans dieing wish made over 100 years ago. The cemetery is just a little country cemetery, they family members take care of the land and virtually give away the plots. They can't afford to spend that much an acre for more land. So the remaining sites will be filled, then in another generation families will stop coming and the people living around the cemetery will petition to "do something about that eye sore." The grave markers will be pulled down and turned into a tasteful monument and the area will be turned into a park.
While I know that none of my family is actually there; that they don't know what is going on. Still I don't think that was what they expected when they decided that that is where they wanted to be layed. It breaks my heart.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Memorial Day Musings
Please go to http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/chief_land_staff/remembrance/English/video.asp and listen to Terry Kelly's "Pittance of Time". It was written for Canada's Remembrance Day, hence the Nov. 11 date, but I think it is appropriate for our own Memorial Day. He wrote it in response to a man he observed refusing to honor the two minutes of silence in memory of fallen soldiers, he was too busy with his shopping. I think it says all that needs to be said better than a thousand words from me.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
I'm Here But...
I'm in kind of a hurry. It's Sunday morning and I have to get ready for my Sunday School Class. So this has to be short. I stayed up late making cookies for my kids and ended up with enough for my son's class as well. That will be good because teenagers like to eat and our pastor being a man doesn't always think of that.
I haven't forgotten about you Anita. I do think you will be disappointed though. The computer is in the school area next to the boys' desks. The closest book I have next to me right now is a spelling book. One of our book cases is a little farther away but it is filled with mostly school stuff as well, though I have to say that many of them are more interesting than a spelling book.
Oh wait, your saved! It only has 130 pages in it. Will flash cards do? I know I have more than 161 of those sitting right here on the computer desk. Oh the joys of homeschooling. More later.
I haven't forgotten about you Anita. I do think you will be disappointed though. The computer is in the school area next to the boys' desks. The closest book I have next to me right now is a spelling book. One of our book cases is a little farther away but it is filled with mostly school stuff as well, though I have to say that many of them are more interesting than a spelling book.
Oh wait, your saved! It only has 130 pages in it. Will flash cards do? I know I have more than 161 of those sitting right here on the computer desk. Oh the joys of homeschooling. More later.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
On the Homeschool Front.
The Boys are almost done for the year. The two oldest have finished for the semester and are now working to save money for the next. My oldest went through his graduation ceremony and made his mama smile. Toward the end of the semester the other boys were teasing me about making such a big deal about his graduation. It was after all only an Associates degree. But I heard my eldest tell them to leave me alone, it was like the high school graduation that he never had. They did stop bugging me about it after that, but my seconded oldest told me with a gleam in his eye that he would graduate but wouldn't walk for either his Associates or his bachelors degrees; that I would have to wait for his Masters to see him walk. I smiled that knowing smile that my mother used to use on me and said "We'll see." Little do they understand the power of a mothers will.
My youngest is through with everything except his math. He would be done with that but he and his older brother have a major case of Spring Fever. My second oldest has math and bible left to do. If they would just do it they could be done but they won't. The grass is calling, the days are long and warm and there is a cool breeze in the air. How can a school book compete with that? So we do other outside stuff.
Yesterday the dogs raised a huge racket. When my son investigated what should he find out in the field but a large, 1 ft. diameter, turtle. He came to get his brother an I so that we could see it too. I, ever the mommy, was worried that the dogs would kill it. We have one dog who is the leader of the two puppies that was wild when he got him. He had been running around a friend neighborhood living off whatever for months and was in the process of eating a deer when my husband stopped and called him in the car. He was one visit from animal control away from being in doggy jail, but they couldn't catch him. He nearly starved himself to death before we could get him to eat dog food. He still would rather have a rabbit, but everything else considered, he is a sweet boy. Anyway, I don't think he would be above trying to eat the turtle.
On the other hand we do have snapping turtles in this area. I'm not sure what they look like compared to other turtles but I didn't want my son getting bit in an attempt to find out. I told my son my worries as he got ready to move it and he said that he was pretty sure it was one. When I asked how he knew he told me he had move it away from the dog once before and that it had tried to bite him then. Sure enough when my son carefully picked it up it's mouth came open. luckily it was too afraid to pull it's head out of the shell very far to do much damage. It just sat there with it's mouth open. I wish I had though to take pictures but I was so shocked by it's size to do more than stand there and watch it for a while.
We have been checking out the birds, rabbits, and wild flowers. Because the field hasn't been hayed yet they grass is high and there are plenty of flowers out there. They are so pretty. Every time I walk through the field I think about the settlers walking through the plains. They say the young girls sometimes collected wild flowers as they went. I can't help feel that it must have been very much like our field.
Out west of us, out of the hills and hollers, is the Tall Grass Prairie. They have replanted all the old grasses and let the wild flowers grow. A few years back they let Buffalo loose on it again so that it would look much like it did a hundred years ago. I think that would make a good field trip for the boys this summer. I'll have to talk to my husband about going.
We used to take field trip like that more often before my husbands health started to fail. Last summer he and I took the boys out too see Monte Nae because the lake was low and you could see a lot more of the old town. As we started to leave my oldest got a little wistful and said "We used to do this kind of stuff all the time. This was fun." I resolved at that point to do more of it again, but the school year started and trying to come up with places to go got put on the back shelf. It's time to pull it down and dust it off again.
Most of my curriculum is purchased for next year. I only have a few literature books and one book for history left. I found what I wanted on Ebay and thought I would get it at a pretty good price. I put a ten dollar bid on it to see how it would do. I had twenty dollars left of my school book money so I thought it would be fine. I ended up giving it to my husband but he promised that he would get it back to me in time to take care of the book. That was before all the money problems. I have spent the last few days figuring that the book would go for more than that and praying that I would be right because I knew that we really needed that money for gas money. The sale ended at $10.50. One the one had a part of me say "Oh man $10.50, what a good price." On the other hand the mature, sensible side of me says "Thank you Father!"
Well in seven minutes it will be 9:00 and the school day will start so I had better go.
P.S. Oh the joys of school work! My youngest has decided that before he can start the window by his desk really does need washed and is in the process of doing that right now. If only I could get him to wash windows at any other time. He's doing better than his brother though, who has decided that guitar practice is of utmost importance. How else will he be able to play during church one day?
My youngest is through with everything except his math. He would be done with that but he and his older brother have a major case of Spring Fever. My second oldest has math and bible left to do. If they would just do it they could be done but they won't. The grass is calling, the days are long and warm and there is a cool breeze in the air. How can a school book compete with that? So we do other outside stuff.
Yesterday the dogs raised a huge racket. When my son investigated what should he find out in the field but a large, 1 ft. diameter, turtle. He came to get his brother an I so that we could see it too. I, ever the mommy, was worried that the dogs would kill it. We have one dog who is the leader of the two puppies that was wild when he got him. He had been running around a friend neighborhood living off whatever for months and was in the process of eating a deer when my husband stopped and called him in the car. He was one visit from animal control away from being in doggy jail, but they couldn't catch him. He nearly starved himself to death before we could get him to eat dog food. He still would rather have a rabbit, but everything else considered, he is a sweet boy. Anyway, I don't think he would be above trying to eat the turtle.
On the other hand we do have snapping turtles in this area. I'm not sure what they look like compared to other turtles but I didn't want my son getting bit in an attempt to find out. I told my son my worries as he got ready to move it and he said that he was pretty sure it was one. When I asked how he knew he told me he had move it away from the dog once before and that it had tried to bite him then. Sure enough when my son carefully picked it up it's mouth came open. luckily it was too afraid to pull it's head out of the shell very far to do much damage. It just sat there with it's mouth open. I wish I had though to take pictures but I was so shocked by it's size to do more than stand there and watch it for a while.
We have been checking out the birds, rabbits, and wild flowers. Because the field hasn't been hayed yet they grass is high and there are plenty of flowers out there. They are so pretty. Every time I walk through the field I think about the settlers walking through the plains. They say the young girls sometimes collected wild flowers as they went. I can't help feel that it must have been very much like our field.
Out west of us, out of the hills and hollers, is the Tall Grass Prairie. They have replanted all the old grasses and let the wild flowers grow. A few years back they let Buffalo loose on it again so that it would look much like it did a hundred years ago. I think that would make a good field trip for the boys this summer. I'll have to talk to my husband about going.
We used to take field trip like that more often before my husbands health started to fail. Last summer he and I took the boys out too see Monte Nae because the lake was low and you could see a lot more of the old town. As we started to leave my oldest got a little wistful and said "We used to do this kind of stuff all the time. This was fun." I resolved at that point to do more of it again, but the school year started and trying to come up with places to go got put on the back shelf. It's time to pull it down and dust it off again.
Most of my curriculum is purchased for next year. I only have a few literature books and one book for history left. I found what I wanted on Ebay and thought I would get it at a pretty good price. I put a ten dollar bid on it to see how it would do. I had twenty dollars left of my school book money so I thought it would be fine. I ended up giving it to my husband but he promised that he would get it back to me in time to take care of the book. That was before all the money problems. I have spent the last few days figuring that the book would go for more than that and praying that I would be right because I knew that we really needed that money for gas money. The sale ended at $10.50. One the one had a part of me say "Oh man $10.50, what a good price." On the other hand the mature, sensible side of me says "Thank you Father!"
Well in seven minutes it will be 9:00 and the school day will start so I had better go.
P.S. Oh the joys of school work! My youngest has decided that before he can start the window by his desk really does need washed and is in the process of doing that right now. If only I could get him to wash windows at any other time. He's doing better than his brother though, who has decided that guitar practice is of utmost importance. How else will he be able to play during church one day?
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
My You Live In Interesting Times
As far as I know I don't know anyone in China but I must have made someone there angry because boy have we been living in interesting times lately. To begin with we still don't have our lawn mower back yet. I am beginning to believe that he has never had any intention of giving it back to us. Maybe he's had it so long that he looks at it as an ornament and he doesn't want to do without it, I don't know. Anyway my husband has plans to borrow a friends trailer and go get it himself.
Since we don't have the mower we can't fix it, which means the grass is getting high. That's not bad in the field because we intended to let a friend hay it. The yard is another matter though. It's beginning to get scary. The other day I was sure that I saw gorillas peeking out at me through the tall grass. I need to get out and take the weed eater to it and knock some of that down.
The city lost it's water again. They won't let us dig a well because they want the water revenue yet this is the third time that the whole town has lost water in the past 15 months. The last time they lost water the repairmen told them that they needed to replace the pipe because it was getting old. That was during the Great Oklahoma Freeze, not even 6 months ago I think. Anyway, the city fathers decided that they would let it go for a while because they didn't want to spend that kind of money. Well, last Thursday the pipe gave way and fell into the well pulling the pump down with it. It's a deep well. So they ended up having to find the pipe and the pump in the water pool and pull it up. It took four days. Now the city has water again but we are under a boil order for another 6 days. They are still giving out drinking water but they don't have enough so they aren't giving out enough to last the day.
It has made it hard because you can only cook so long before all the pots and pans need washed. You couldn't wash them because there wasn't any water. You couldn't use the water they were handing out because there wouldn't be enough to drink and cook with if you did. So in the end we ended up using more expensive non-cooking options; ordering pizza, buying lunch meat and bread and so on. We rarely use paper and plastic for eating so I had to purchase those as well.
The next interesting thing was that one of the cars had trouble. We had to have the car for my son to get back and forth to work. So that was more money that we hadn't counted on having to spend and really could have used for other things.
Now I sit here scouring my freezer and cabinets trying to find a way to feed a rather large family for another two weeks without buying groceries. I have to come up with 39 meals without buying a thing. I think I'll make it but it's going to include beans three times a week. The big freezer will be almost empty when I'm done, which is a good thing because I was thinking last week that I really needed to get in and defrost it. Next paydays grocery bill will be a whopper though because when I'm done there will be very little left in the freezer or the pantry.
I have a little ground venison in the freezer, I think I'll take that and some beans and make chili tomorrow. The guys will like that. I may try to make some crackers to go with it, we'll see. I might be better off making bread, I know how to do that.
Since we don't have the mower we can't fix it, which means the grass is getting high. That's not bad in the field because we intended to let a friend hay it. The yard is another matter though. It's beginning to get scary. The other day I was sure that I saw gorillas peeking out at me through the tall grass. I need to get out and take the weed eater to it and knock some of that down.
The city lost it's water again. They won't let us dig a well because they want the water revenue yet this is the third time that the whole town has lost water in the past 15 months. The last time they lost water the repairmen told them that they needed to replace the pipe because it was getting old. That was during the Great Oklahoma Freeze, not even 6 months ago I think. Anyway, the city fathers decided that they would let it go for a while because they didn't want to spend that kind of money. Well, last Thursday the pipe gave way and fell into the well pulling the pump down with it. It's a deep well. So they ended up having to find the pipe and the pump in the water pool and pull it up. It took four days. Now the city has water again but we are under a boil order for another 6 days. They are still giving out drinking water but they don't have enough so they aren't giving out enough to last the day.
It has made it hard because you can only cook so long before all the pots and pans need washed. You couldn't wash them because there wasn't any water. You couldn't use the water they were handing out because there wouldn't be enough to drink and cook with if you did. So in the end we ended up using more expensive non-cooking options; ordering pizza, buying lunch meat and bread and so on. We rarely use paper and plastic for eating so I had to purchase those as well.
The next interesting thing was that one of the cars had trouble. We had to have the car for my son to get back and forth to work. So that was more money that we hadn't counted on having to spend and really could have used for other things.
Now I sit here scouring my freezer and cabinets trying to find a way to feed a rather large family for another two weeks without buying groceries. I have to come up with 39 meals without buying a thing. I think I'll make it but it's going to include beans three times a week. The big freezer will be almost empty when I'm done, which is a good thing because I was thinking last week that I really needed to get in and defrost it. Next paydays grocery bill will be a whopper though because when I'm done there will be very little left in the freezer or the pantry.
I have a little ground venison in the freezer, I think I'll take that and some beans and make chili tomorrow. The guys will like that. I may try to make some crackers to go with it, we'll see. I might be better off making bread, I know how to do that.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
A Strange and Wonderful Thing Happened at My House Today And I Wasn't Even There.
Early Wednesday morning I was looking at the Flylady site before I headed out to get everything ready for the business meeting. While at her site I read a recommendation for something called the House Fairy. It would magically get your children to clean their room without any arguments or struggles. All it took was to subscribe to her program in which the House Fairy would write your children weekly letters, send them videos on the computer, and promise them rewards.
My first thought was "yeah right, that will never work." To prove my point I proceeded to write a letter to my youngest, messiest son from a Fairy of my own. In it I explained that his mother had written in desperation needing help to get him to pitch in and clean his messy room. I too promised weekly letters and rewards, (no videos of the fairy talking to Santa though, I do good just to be able to use the word processor.) As a kicker I added an elephant joke to the bottom of the letter and printed out an elephant book mark as a reward if he cleaned around his toy box. He was told that there was a surprise waiting in that area if he cleaned it enough to find is. I then had one of his older brothers "find" the letter after I was gone and read it to him.
Guess what? He loved it! He called me at church to tell me all about the letter. He then went on to talk about how he had cleaned around his toy box and found an elephant book mark there. He told me that he was going to use it in his reader so he could find the right page. He then went on to contemplate were the letter had come from.
Now you have to understand that he is not a stupid child. He knows good and well that there are no real fairies, elfs, or Santas. So now he is all excited because he's going to get letters but he can't figure out from who. Could it be Skyler? Could it be Jeffery? Would someone else write him a letter? I really think he liked that part better than the surprises. Don't get me wrong, he's not above taking any gift he can get, but getting letters from someone is somehow special.
The other thing that he was really excited about was that one of the rewards for doing the work was that he gets to spend alone time having fun with his father or I. Imagine that, he's with us all the time, but the idea of alone time with us was one of the rewards he liked best. Funny how the smallest, cheapest rewards are the ones he prizes most.
So anyway I have painted myself into a corner. I can't stop because I promised that this would be a continuing thing if he did his part, and so far he is with great excitement. I can't purchase the other program because I have created a different personality in my first letter. How would I explain the change? Plus I know my son and can get personal, she does not and so she can't. Still she can provide cool videos when I can't but that doesn't out weigh the other problems. So now I'm about to become a split personality; on the one hand the mother on the other the anonymous friend.
Well I'm off to hide a well done sticker. This could get interesting.
My first thought was "yeah right, that will never work." To prove my point I proceeded to write a letter to my youngest, messiest son from a Fairy of my own. In it I explained that his mother had written in desperation needing help to get him to pitch in and clean his messy room. I too promised weekly letters and rewards, (no videos of the fairy talking to Santa though, I do good just to be able to use the word processor.) As a kicker I added an elephant joke to the bottom of the letter and printed out an elephant book mark as a reward if he cleaned around his toy box. He was told that there was a surprise waiting in that area if he cleaned it enough to find is. I then had one of his older brothers "find" the letter after I was gone and read it to him.
Guess what? He loved it! He called me at church to tell me all about the letter. He then went on to talk about how he had cleaned around his toy box and found an elephant book mark there. He told me that he was going to use it in his reader so he could find the right page. He then went on to contemplate were the letter had come from.
Now you have to understand that he is not a stupid child. He knows good and well that there are no real fairies, elfs, or Santas. So now he is all excited because he's going to get letters but he can't figure out from who. Could it be Skyler? Could it be Jeffery? Would someone else write him a letter? I really think he liked that part better than the surprises. Don't get me wrong, he's not above taking any gift he can get, but getting letters from someone is somehow special.
The other thing that he was really excited about was that one of the rewards for doing the work was that he gets to spend alone time having fun with his father or I. Imagine that, he's with us all the time, but the idea of alone time with us was one of the rewards he liked best. Funny how the smallest, cheapest rewards are the ones he prizes most.
So anyway I have painted myself into a corner. I can't stop because I promised that this would be a continuing thing if he did his part, and so far he is with great excitement. I can't purchase the other program because I have created a different personality in my first letter. How would I explain the change? Plus I know my son and can get personal, she does not and so she can't. Still she can provide cool videos when I can't but that doesn't out weigh the other problems. So now I'm about to become a split personality; on the one hand the mother on the other the anonymous friend.
Well I'm off to hide a well done sticker. This could get interesting.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
The Lord is Good All the time . . .
But sometimes He pulls through for me in a special way. I have been getting more and more nervous about school books. I had, had to take a fair portion of the money my husband had allotted for school and spend it on other things, (Gas and clothes for the kids, groceries; you know the drill.) Plus, while I got one son's math curriculum used, it was still over $100.00 dollars. That didn't seem so bad when I had all my allotted money but now I'm beginning to second guess myself.
I prayed about it and was sure of my decisions but as money gets short you wonder if you got it wrong somehow. So for the past three weeks I've been setting here contemplating whether I should choose a free program for my other son. It's a very good program but when I pray about it I don't feel free to use it. As a matter of fact the clear message I get is "trust Me." (I really hate it when I here that one, it always means a lesson in faith is coming.) So that's what I've been trying to do and it's been getting harder and harder. That is until today.
Math for one son and writing and part of history for the other for the other are the only things I have left except for a few literature books which I can pick up as I go along if need be. Not much I know but necessary still yet. Lately I couldn't help but wonder if I was getting it wrong; maybe I was being stubborn when I should be looking at other options. Then what should drop into my hands today but the thing I least expected to buy used; my youngest son's Math program. More over I found it at a place that I rarely go at less than 1/2 price. I can't believe that no one else got to it before I did. It was as if the Lord had put it there and covered it up waiting for me to come along to get it. What a blessing!
Now I find myself sitting here embarrassed thinking how many time have I heard the older members of my church say "The Lord is never late, but He's never early either. He always comes right on time." Boy are they wise and boy am I embarrassed that my faith is so small. I sure am feeling better about things turning out OK with the rest of my curriculum though.
Now if I can just get to the point of rejoicing when I hear the Lord say Trust Me rather than feeling dread.
I prayed about it and was sure of my decisions but as money gets short you wonder if you got it wrong somehow. So for the past three weeks I've been setting here contemplating whether I should choose a free program for my other son. It's a very good program but when I pray about it I don't feel free to use it. As a matter of fact the clear message I get is "trust Me." (I really hate it when I here that one, it always means a lesson in faith is coming.) So that's what I've been trying to do and it's been getting harder and harder. That is until today.
Math for one son and writing and part of history for the other for the other are the only things I have left except for a few literature books which I can pick up as I go along if need be. Not much I know but necessary still yet. Lately I couldn't help but wonder if I was getting it wrong; maybe I was being stubborn when I should be looking at other options. Then what should drop into my hands today but the thing I least expected to buy used; my youngest son's Math program. More over I found it at a place that I rarely go at less than 1/2 price. I can't believe that no one else got to it before I did. It was as if the Lord had put it there and covered it up waiting for me to come along to get it. What a blessing!
Now I find myself sitting here embarrassed thinking how many time have I heard the older members of my church say "The Lord is never late, but He's never early either. He always comes right on time." Boy are they wise and boy am I embarrassed that my faith is so small. I sure am feeling better about things turning out OK with the rest of my curriculum though.
Now if I can just get to the point of rejoicing when I hear the Lord say Trust Me rather than feeling dread.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
My Son Made Me Cry
I got into the car today with my husband as we went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. There on the floor was a paper from my son's American Government class in college that had fallen out of his book bag. I started to pick it up so that it wouldn't get stepped on and my husband said "you'd better read that. I think it will surprise you." So I did and was shocked by what I read. He had been assigned a paper on Political Socialization and had to limit it to two beliefs he held. Here is what he wrote:
"The ideas I hold in politics have always been an evolving thing. Over the years as I have matured in both age and reasoning so have the beliefs I hold. Some of these beliefs have changed a lot; some not so much. Now tracing back where I got these beliefs and ideas, my "political socialization", has not been easy. I have had many influences in my life that have adjusted and changed these beliefs as time has moved on, but I had to find two beliefs I could try to pinpoint. So for this I ended up choosing abortion and gun control.
Now I'm against abortion and my beliefs on this go back to when I was young. As you might guess I come from a Christian family with moral beliefs that it is wrong. Also you would be right in tracing many of my ideas when it comes to life and abortion back to that. My parents raised me to respect life especially human life and raised me to believe that human life starts at conception. I remember this from my earliest years, my mom especially held these beliefs. But you would be wrong to generalize so far as to thinking that is the only reason. I actually have a much more personal reason for that as well. You see when my mother was pregnant with me she had a good career in the army going and many of her friends told her just to abort me so I wouldn't get in the way. Well as you can see she disagreed and dropped the career instead. She told me about this when I had gotten old enough to understand and it just stuck with me. I could never have been given a chance in this world and life just because I was too much of a bother for someone and that has never sat well with me. So as you can well see, you might say I have a personal reason for my beliefs . . ."
He then goes on to talk about gun control and how it fits with his beliefs. The thing is that I didn't tell him that story about my pregnancy to be a hero. As a matter of fact I revealed that for a short period it had been hard even though I knew what was right. What I was trying to show him was that even when we know what's right doing right can be hard. Even though I kept thinking no I won't this is wrong, Satan brought a lot of people in to tempt and confuse me. It wasn't until I spoke my convictions aloud that peace came and I ceased to be tempted.
I don't know what it is about speaking it aloud that caused that to happen but it did and it's biblical because the bible tells us that that is what we have to do. That was the lesson that I was trying to teach my son. Somehow speaking it aloud confirms it in our mind. That he took so much more to heart remained unknown to me until I read his paper.
I walked in the house and said "Son, you made me cry." He looked at me with a shocked What-could-I-have-done look. His dad then told them that I had read his paper. He then got embarrassed and said 'You weren't supposed to read that, it must have fallen out of my bag." When I kissed him on the check he smiled that goofy little boy smile that he used to get when he had done something that pleased me. I haven't seen that smile in a long time.
Sometimes you spend a lot of time worrying about your kids and then sometimes they just blow you out of the water. Maybe he'll be alright after all.
"The ideas I hold in politics have always been an evolving thing. Over the years as I have matured in both age and reasoning so have the beliefs I hold. Some of these beliefs have changed a lot; some not so much. Now tracing back where I got these beliefs and ideas, my "political socialization", has not been easy. I have had many influences in my life that have adjusted and changed these beliefs as time has moved on, but I had to find two beliefs I could try to pinpoint. So for this I ended up choosing abortion and gun control.
Now I'm against abortion and my beliefs on this go back to when I was young. As you might guess I come from a Christian family with moral beliefs that it is wrong. Also you would be right in tracing many of my ideas when it comes to life and abortion back to that. My parents raised me to respect life especially human life and raised me to believe that human life starts at conception. I remember this from my earliest years, my mom especially held these beliefs. But you would be wrong to generalize so far as to thinking that is the only reason. I actually have a much more personal reason for that as well. You see when my mother was pregnant with me she had a good career in the army going and many of her friends told her just to abort me so I wouldn't get in the way. Well as you can see she disagreed and dropped the career instead. She told me about this when I had gotten old enough to understand and it just stuck with me. I could never have been given a chance in this world and life just because I was too much of a bother for someone and that has never sat well with me. So as you can well see, you might say I have a personal reason for my beliefs . . ."
He then goes on to talk about gun control and how it fits with his beliefs. The thing is that I didn't tell him that story about my pregnancy to be a hero. As a matter of fact I revealed that for a short period it had been hard even though I knew what was right. What I was trying to show him was that even when we know what's right doing right can be hard. Even though I kept thinking no I won't this is wrong, Satan brought a lot of people in to tempt and confuse me. It wasn't until I spoke my convictions aloud that peace came and I ceased to be tempted.
I don't know what it is about speaking it aloud that caused that to happen but it did and it's biblical because the bible tells us that that is what we have to do. That was the lesson that I was trying to teach my son. Somehow speaking it aloud confirms it in our mind. That he took so much more to heart remained unknown to me until I read his paper.
I walked in the house and said "Son, you made me cry." He looked at me with a shocked What-could-I-have-done look. His dad then told them that I had read his paper. He then got embarrassed and said 'You weren't supposed to read that, it must have fallen out of my bag." When I kissed him on the check he smiled that goofy little boy smile that he used to get when he had done something that pleased me. I haven't seen that smile in a long time.
Sometimes you spend a lot of time worrying about your kids and then sometimes they just blow you out of the water. Maybe he'll be alright after all.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
The Lawn Mower is Coming Home From the Shop. . .
But no it's not fixed. I am so frustrated. We gave him the mower and $1,000.00. He wanted to keep the mower and take another $3000.00 to sell us a new one. I don't think he ever wanted to fix it to begin with. He kept trying to talk us into just buying one of his. We didn't want one of his, we wanted ours.
Now the repairman is saying that it can't be fixed that we need to spend $2000.00 for a new gear box because it's so old that they don't sell parts for the old one any more. We have a friend, who has a friend that does tool and die work. For $400.00 he can make the knew part. Hmmmmmmm . . . $2000.00 or $400, I wonder which one we will pick?
When my husband told him that we wanted the mower back and weren't interested in a new one the repairman talked like we wouldn't see much of our money back. DH thought that he was going to try to charge him for new part that we had taken care of. As it turned out we ended up getting half of our money back. He did do some work and I don't mind paying him for that. The truth is that I'm just happy to be getting any of it back. I didn't honestly think we would.
Now the repairman is saying that it can't be fixed that we need to spend $2000.00 for a new gear box because it's so old that they don't sell parts for the old one any more. We have a friend, who has a friend that does tool and die work. For $400.00 he can make the knew part. Hmmmmmmm . . . $2000.00 or $400, I wonder which one we will pick?
When my husband told him that we wanted the mower back and weren't interested in a new one the repairman talked like we wouldn't see much of our money back. DH thought that he was going to try to charge him for new part that we had taken care of. As it turned out we ended up getting half of our money back. He did do some work and I don't mind paying him for that. The truth is that I'm just happy to be getting any of it back. I didn't honestly think we would.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
How Deep The Father's Love For Us
This Song by Stuart Townend has been on my heart lately. I think the first and last verses hold the mystery of the gospel. How is it that I am so precious to the Father that he would give up his son for my sake, or that the Christ would willing lay down his life for me. I can not fathom it. The words to this song are so powerful so I thought that I would share it here.
How Deep The Father's Love For Us
How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory
Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom (REPEAT)
How Deep The Father's Love For Us
How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory
Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom (REPEAT)
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