keelthepot

Homemade Cards and Macaroni Necklaces

2008-05-12T17:28:00.002-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to me! My kids made me coffee the way they like it -- watered down. I got a precious ~~home~~handmade card and some bling!
A ~~diamond~~ macaroni necklace! It's as precious to me as diamonds.

On another front, in this horrible housing market, where six houses on my street are on the market, we have an offer! I think we can work with it. I hope the contract is good, I hope we can find something good as well.

Pray for us...

This Is My Body

2008-04-24T17:22:00.002-05:00

via Philangelus

For some reason, this really, really hit me. I'd thought of this before during Communion, but Philangelus articulates it so well:

There are only two times in the average human being’s life when we can expect to say “this is my body” to another human being. One of them would be a mother with her baby: first, a mother giving her body over to her baby for the purpose of gestation and later on for nursing. The mother is giving from her physical self solely for the benefit of someone else. Her uterus exists only for the nurturance of a different human being. And really, the same can be said of her breasts. That whole system is there only to benefit someone who is not her. In fact, she might be healthier if those systems were removed, and many women can and do live a full life without ever using those systems.

The second situation would be lovers in an act of physical intimacy: a man effectively says “this is my body” to his bride, or a woman to her husband. Again it’s other-oriented for the most part: Take me; this is my body. I am yours.

And for the rest of the Mass, right through Communion, I was struck by the way Jesus had said that to us, the tender vulnerability of a man approaching his spouse or the concern of a mother feeding her baby. The chance of rejection. The openness to the needs of the other. The awkwardness of someone who loves someone else.

I have been discouraged and depressed lately... like nobody's business. I also have been thinking of Matthew 16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Some of my friends have an axiom: God wants you to be holy more than He wants you to be happy.

But what does that mean for me? Without veering off-course into extrabiblical legalism, what does this look like for a touched-out, bordering on burned-out mother?

Your thoughts?

2008-04-19T12:33:00.005-05:00

Well... we finally did it. We put our house on the market yesterday. We've been busy doing stuff to increase the curb appeal, clear out the clutter, and organize the closets. I've spent all morning cleaning bathrooms, with a toothbrush, in places that only a very tall or very short person would see.

I very much underestimated the difficulty of this feat with five children. The house is 1200 SF, if you didn't already know that.

Twice this week Fairlie, age 6, has found two dead squirrels in the yard. Having five tall hardwood trees in the yard means from time to time a squirrel underestimates the distance from one branch to another.

Fairlie, ever unafraid of dead critters (unlike her mom), and with a healthy respect for the deceased, digs a hole in the backyard and gives them a proper burial, Book of Common Prayer and all.

Well, it rained last night. That meant all the earthworms and pillbugs (or roly-polies for all you Southerners) came to the top. And what better time to gather them. What better place than in some fresh mud....

So, they disturbed the Squirrel Cemetery.

I go outside to the back, find the rocks that marked "Flowers" and "Rocky's" graves disturbed, "Flowers" -- at this point rigor mortis is still very present -- has taken on an icky greenish goo -- has been gently laid to the side and Fairlie and John are putting fresh dirt and mud in...my stemware.

I wanted to cover my face with my hands and run but remember my responsibility to keep Caroline, 1, from discovering something new to play with in the yard. I remind the kids that it is ill-mannerly to disrespect a grave by disturbing its occupant.

Fairlie, ever unfazed, tenderly lifts Flowers and replaces her to her resting place. With her bare hands.

Flowers re-interred, I scoop up the kids for a bath in antibacterial soap and a hot shampoo, instructing them that under no circumstances are they to put anything near their eyes or mouths.

Two filthy, smelly kids track dirty footprints onto my bathroom floor. That I just cleaned. With a toothbrush.

:::sigh::: I hope this house sells quickly.

Real

2008-04-18T18:06:00.001-05:00

From Issy, a fellow adoptee whose blog is well written and well worth your read. Often, she takes the words right out of my mouth.

What is real?

Women who give birth? Parents who do the raising? Siblings you never meet?

Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles, cousins who could care less. All the relatives who never knew.

I’m an oddity and enigma, something some people are ashamed of.

Nobody was ever supposed to find me.

And I will tell you the honest truth.

Most of the time the only one who doesn’t feel real

is me.

Well Worth Your Read

2008-04-02T08:49:00.003-05:00

Go here for the whole enchilada.

Let's take a look at another health issue that's seen a great deal of "expert" see-sawing over the course of, say, the last seventy years.
Anyone remember these ads? I'm a little young to have run across them first hand:

How 'bout we zero in on smoking for a minute, okay? I'm going to cite some stats and a bit of a timeline, briefly (click here if you want backup)

The first study linking cigarettes to lung cancer was published in 1939.

The first statement from the Surgeon General on the topic was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in November, 1959.

On June 7, 1962, another Surgeon General announced that he was establishing an "expert committee to undertake a comprehensive review of all data on smoking and health.
"

On January 11, 1964, after some 15 months of intensive study, this committee--half the members of which were smokers-- issued its unanimous report stating that "cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant, appropriate remedial action.
"

The government recommended that a warning label be printed on all packs of cigarettes sold in this country as of January 1, 1965, and in all cigarette advertising six months later.

The tobacco industry then prevailed upon Congress to change the proposed wording from "Caution: Cigarette 'Smoking is Dangerous to Health.
It May Cause Death from Cancer and Other Diseases" to "Cigarette Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health," with the passage of the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965.

This act also prohibited the Federal Trade Commission and state and local governments from requiring any other label on cigarette packages and any warnings at all in cigarette advertising before 1969.

Okay, got that? A reputable, peer-reviewed study links cigarettes to lung cancer in 1939, no official statement was issued by federal health officials until 1959 AND the words "may be hazardous to your health" couldn't be included in cigarette ads--newspaper, magazine, radio, and television--until 1969.

A New York Times editorial called Congress's cigarette labeling and advertising act "a shocking piece of special-interest legislation--a bill to protect the economic health of the tobacco industry by freeing it of proper regulation.
"

An article in the Atlantic Monthly described the political maneuvering behind the legislation under the title "The Quiet Victory of the Cigarette Lobby: How It Found the Best Filter Yet--Congress.
"

Now let's take a look at current tobacco-based revenues, campaign contributions, and lobbying expenditures of America's three biggest tobacco companies (citation):

..Altria Group (Philip Morris)

2006 Tobacco Revenues: $66.
7 billion

2008 Election cycle political contributions

by Altria Group PAC: $986,500

2007 Lobbying expenditures: $7.
2 million

Reynolds American (RJ Reynolds)

2006 Revenues: $8.
5 billion

2008 Election cycle political contributions

by RJ Reynolds PAC: $770,500

2007 Lobbying expenditures: $1.
95 million

Loews Corp (Lorillard)

2006 Tobacco Revenues: $3.
9 billion

2008 Election cycle political contributions

by Lorillard PAC: $175,250

2007 Total Lobbying expenditures: $1.
96 million

Overall Tobacco Industry Political Contributions since 1997: more than $34.
7 million..

Here endeth the second intro topic-- a recap: medical experts often reverse themselves over time, and it took the U.S. Government nigh on thirty years after the first study linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer to officially warn citizens about the dangers of smoking.

Enter topic the third...

If you think the tobacco companies spend a lot of money on lobbying and campaign donations, let's do a little comparison on how they rate compared to the pharmaceutical industry, in this country...

..

Tobacco (between 1997 and 2007): $34.
7 million

Pharmaceuticals (for same period): $675 million

..

Oh, wait, those figures aren't exactly comparable... that second amount is for lobbying alone--it doesn't include the drug companies' political campaign contributions, in the United States.

Here's another figure that might give a small idea of the pharmaceutical industry's global clout --the amount spent on marketing (and "administrative costs") by the 11 biggest drug companies in 2004:

..$100 billion

..

And here's what they reported spending on research and development that year: $50 billion.

When Dr.
Marcia Angell stepped down from her post as the edtior-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine last year, she published therein a scathing parting-shot takedown of the pharmaceutical industry's impact on contemporary medical practice.

My favorite paragraph is the following, in which she says of the pharmaceutical companies' marketing budgets:

..The industry depicts these huge expenditures as serving an educational function. It contends that doctors and the public learn about new and useful drugs in this way. Unfortunately, many doctors do indeed rely on drug-company representatives and promotional materials to learn about new drugs, and much of the public learns from direct-to-consumer advertising. But to rely on the drug companies for unbiased evaluations of their products makes about as much sense as relying on beer companies to teach us about alcoholism.

..It's not just doctors and consumers who may be lead astray by these expenditures, however, but the very state and federal regulatory agencies we rely upon to safeguard the public health.

Quoting from government transcripts obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
wrote in a 2005 article published in Rolling Stone that:

..In June 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials gathered for a meeting at the isolated Simpsonwood conference center in Norcross, Georgia. Convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the meeting was held at this Methodist retreat center, nestled in wooded farmland next to the Chattahoochee River, to ensure complete secrecy.

The agency had issued no public announcement of the session -- only private invitations to fifty-two attendees. There were high-level officials from the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, the top vaccine specialist from the World Health Organization in Geneva and representatives of every major vaccine manufacturer, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth and Aventis Pasteur.

All of the scientific data under discussion, CDC officials repeatedly reminded the participants, was strictly "embargoed." There would be no making photocopies of documents, no taking papers with them when they left.

The federal officials and industry representatives had assembled to discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming questions about the safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to infants and young children. According to a CDC epidemiologist named Tom Verstraeten, who had analyzed the agency's massive database containing the medical records of 100,000 children, a mercury-based preservative in the vaccines -- thimerosal -- appeared to be responsible for a dramatic increase in autism and a host of other neurological disorders among children.

"I was actually stunned by what I saw," Verstraeten told those assembled at Simpsonwood, citing the staggering number of earlier studies that indicate a link between thimerosal and speech delays, attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity and autism. Since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants -- in one case, within hours of birth -- the estimated number of cases of autism had increased fifteenfold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 children.
..Verstraeten wasn't alone in expressing concern. The transcripts record Dr. Bill Weil, a consultant for the American Academy of Pediatrics, as saying, "You can play with this all you want,... [The results] are statistically significant.
"

Dr. Richard Johnston, an immunologist and pediatrician from the University of Colorado whose grandson had been born early on the morning of the meeting's first day, said "My gut feeling? Forgive this personal comment -- I do not want my grandson to get a thimerosal-containing vaccine until we know better what is going on.
"

But the conversation didn't then turn to ways to ensure public safety. Dr. Robert Brent, a pediatrician at Delaware's Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children was more worried about the possibility that, "We are in a bad position from the standpoint of defending any lawsuits. This will be a resource to our very busy plaintiff attorneys in this country.
"

Dr. Bob Chen, head of vaccine safety for the CDC, chimed in with the assertion that, "given the sensitivity of the information, we have been able to keep it out of the hands of, let's say, less responsible hands.
"

Dr.
John Clements, vaccines advisor at the World Health Organization, declared that "perhaps this study should not have been done at all," adding, "the research results have to be handled," that the results of the study, "will be taken by others and will be used in other ways beyond the control of this group.
"

Adds Kennedy, at this point:

..

In fact, the government has proved to be far more adept at handling the damage than at protecting children's health. The CDC paid the Institute of Medicine to conduct a new study to whitewash the risks of thimerosal, ordering researchers to "rule out" the chemical's link to autism. It withheld Verstraeten's findings, even though they had been slated for immediate publication, and told other scientists that his original data had been "lost" and could not be replicated. And to thwart the Freedom of Information Act, it handed its giant database of vaccine records over to a private company, declaring it off-limits to researchers. By the time Verstraeten finally published his study in 2003, he had gone to work for GlaxoSmithKline and reworked his data to bury the link between thimerosal and autism.

Vaccine manufacturers had already begun to phase thimerosal out of injections given to American infants -- but they continued to sell off their mercury-based supplies of vaccines until last year [2004]. The CDC and FDA gave them a hand, buying up the tainted vaccines for export to developing countries and allowing drug companies to continue using the preservative in some American vaccines -- including several pediatric flu shots as well as tetanus boosters routinely given to eleven-year-olds.
..

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who received $873,000 in contributions from pharmaceutical companies, slipped a "rider" into a Homeland Security bill in 2002, protecting vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits brought by those who suffer vaccine injury--this despite the fact that any vaccine-injury cases ALREADY have to be brought to trial in a special federal Vaccine Court.

Eli Lilly, the company that manufactures Thimerosal, contributed $10,000 to Frist's campaign fund the next day, then bought 5,000 copies of his book on bioterrorism.

Kennedy adds:

..The measure was repealed by Congress in 2003 -- but earlier this year, Frist slipped another provision into an anti-terrorism bill that would deny compensation to children suffering from vaccine-related brain disorders. "The lawsuits are of such magnitude that they could put vaccine producers out of business and limit our capacity to deal with a biological attack by terrorists," says Dean Rosen, health policy adviser to Frist.
..

But wait, there's more... On five separate occasions, Frist has tried to seal all of the government's vaccine-related documents -- including the Simpsonwood meeting transcripts.

But what do we read about all of this in the mainstream press? Let's see, there was the study claiming that "autism is caused by drinking during pregnancy" this week, that got global play.
Last year it was "autism is caused by watching television."

And there are countless articles in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal assuring readers that "all reputable studies prove there's no link between vaccines and autism," that "autism rates have not gone down since ALL thimerosal was removed from ALL vaccines in 2001" and a great many characterizing concerned parents of autistic children as desperate for someone or something to blame for their children's condition or as lawsuit-hungry money grubbers.

Have autism rates gone down since thimerosal was phased out of vaccines, starting in 2001? Nobody knows.
Can you believe that? Seriously, there's been no effort on the part of the CDC or any other federal agency to gather national data on that front.

Shameless self-indulgence

2008-03-19T08:28:00.004-05:00

Last week my sister-in-law, fifteen years my junior, claimed "no comment" when asked what she would be in fifteen years, and she said "old", when I asked her if she thought I was old.

I receive, and faithfully read, Zig Ziglar's newsletter. I couldn't stop thinking about this:

The building blocks of our excellence are moments…literally. Defining moments, that is.

Nobel Prize winning scientist Daniel Kahneman asserts that we experience thousands of individual moments every waking day. These "moments" last only a few seconds. If you consider your strongest memories, positive or negative, you'll notice the imagery in your mind is actually defined by your recollection of a precise point in time.

In some cases, a single encounter can change your life forever. Think of your own defining moments. Are they literally moments?

Defining moments might be positive or negative, but either way, we are never the same after experiencing one. These moments shape who we are and who we will become. As Mufasa, the Lion King himself, said to his son, Simba, from the heavens, “You are more than you have become.” These few words created a positive defining moment for Simba to start acting like the king he was.

Fantasy or reality, it works the same. So let’s look at reality.

I'll be forty this summer, and what do I have to show for it? When I was eighteen and graduating from high school, my goals included writing copiously, winning a Pulitzer prize, and ending African hunger and nuclear disarmament. Nuclear disarmament isn't really a concern of mine, but I had nothing to do with it. I'm pretty much getting used to the idea that my descendants won't see my name in a history book, but what do I have to show?

I've been married to the same man for seventeen years, no small accomplishment in today's world. That man and I have borne five kids, and manage to feed, clothe, shuffle to sports, music lessons, and give them a first-class education. One is almost grown, and while the jury is still out on how I "did" as a parent, so far, so good.

I helped hundreds of women breastfeed their babies, and lost count of the women and couples I taught childbirth classes to over the past decade and a half. I don't know the net effect, or if I made any difference, but I hope so.

I helped to begin an inner-city preschool/kindergarten, and taught two local schools before a stroke brought that to a grinding halt.

I learned again how to talk, walk, feed myself, mother the two kids I had. I had a third through a difficult pregnancy, limited support of family. My church family support is what sustained me. Medical costs and private school tuition about drowned us. Those were some of the darkest years of my life.

I became stronger and began homeschooling again. Two more children were added to our family. I served on the Board of Directors for two charities, igniting my passion for the health and well-being of women and children. I'd like to think that I helped these groups lay a good funding development foundation.

Recently, I've become more active in leading a homeschool church school, our homeschool co-op, and planting another homeschool co-op. It concerns me that the West is dying, and if there is anything I can do, I can advocate for the necessity of teaching Christian children a biblical worldview, that no subject is outside this.

I look around sometimes and see our woefully skinny bank account, the house we've long since outgrown, and Caroline, age 1, stuffing grits into her mouth and flashing me a snaggle toothed grin. For a moment, I almost feel sorry for those I know, who at my age are "empty nesters," their mortgages paid down, their one or two children are teens or are graduating and moving out. I have fought the pangs of jealousy that cartoons aren't regular TV fare, that they don't trip over math manipulatives and toys on the way to the bathroom. I've had a Geoerge Bailey moment in the midst of it.

Back to the topic at hand. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, a wonderful book, has within its many gems that difficult moments often either kill one's spirit and will, or are the determining factor, the catalyst for change.

I still have so many goals, vision, and things I want to accomplish. I think of Matthew 6:19 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (a great exegesis here). I hope that my heart, passion, energies are in the right place.

Stay tuned.

New and Quotable

2008-03-13T18:16:00.001-05:00

via Homeschool Evangelist

From The Power of Play by David Elkind

"Children’s play—their inborn disposition for curiosity, imagination, and fantasy—is being silenced in the high-tech, commercialized world we have created. Toys, about which children once spun elaborate personal fables, now engender little more than habits of passive consumerism. The spontaneous pickup games that once filled neighborhoods have largely been replaced by organized team sports and computer games. Television sitcoms and movie CDs have all but eliminated the self-initiated dramatic play that once mimicked (and mocked) the adult world. Parents, anxious for their children to succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy, regard play as a luxury that the contemporary child cannot afford.

Over the past two decades, children have lost 12 hours of free time a week, including eight hours of unstructured play and outdoor activities. … The disappearance of play from the lives of our children is mirrored in the media. Television programs rarely depict children as simply playing and having a good time. … Even the cartoons have changed. Fred Flintstone and George Jetson never let work get in the way of having fun. Bob the Builder and SpongeBob SquarePants, on the other hand, love their jobs. SpongeBob was even named employee of the month at the fast-food restaurant where he works. When did life for a child get to be so hard?"

from Publisher's Weekly

Starred Review. In this fascinating look at the importance of letting kids be kids, Elkind argues that "Play is being silenced." According to Elkind, a child psychologist and author of All Grown Up and No Place to Go, important, unstructured play is too often replaced in modern times by organized activities, academics or passive leisure activities such as watching television and playing video games. Elkind explains how even toys have changed: "toys once served to socialize children into social roles, vocations, and academic tool skills. Today, they are more likely to encourage brand loyalties, fashion consciousness, and group think." Elkind acknowledges that technology has its place in the classroom, but debunks computer programs marketed toward babies and preschoolers whose young brains are not yet able to fully comprehend two-dimensional representations. "Parent peer pressure" is often to blame, causing parents to engage in "hyperparenting, overprotection, and overprogramming." Media-spread fears about everything from kidnapping and molestation to school shootings and SIDS can cause parents to forget that "children can play safely without adult organization; they have done so as long as people have been on earth." With clarity and insight, Elkind calls for society to bring back long recesses, encourage imagination and let children develop their minds at a natural pace.
—David Elkind, a professor of child development at Tufts University and the author of The Hurried Child, from his latest book on the intellectual, social, and emotional benefits of unstructured play. The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier Children is published by Da Capo Press (www.dacapopress.com; 240 pp., $24 hardback).

Quotable

2008-03-03T16:05:00.001-06:00

"When a kid with peanut allergy eats a peanut and dies, we don't say 'his underlying metabolic condition was significantly aggravated to the extent of manifesting as an anaphylactic shock with features of death,'" he continues. "No, we say the peanut killed the poor boy. Remove the peanut from the equation, and he would still be with us today."

-David Kirby, quoted on Feds admit vaccine
'aggravated' autism

Geek like me

2008-03-02T19:24:00.000-06:00

I thought I was nerdy, now the bar has been raised.

Asking the Right Question

2008-02-25T13:27:00.001-06:00

"To ask the question, 'Why does God allow?' has to go back to the issue of 'What is God allowing?' The glib answer to the question is, 'God is allowing evil deeds,' but in fact God is allowing us to prove that we are what He has said we are."

From Frank Turk, over at Pyromaniacs, a great read, via the daily thought email list of the Advent.

The Family, Evangelism, & the Decline of the Christian West

2008-02-21T08:20:00.000-06:00

In writing about issues facing our civilization as a whole, I'm sometimes reticent to do so, as all of us are miserable offenders and all of our righteousness is as filthy rags before a holy God (Isaiah 64:9).

With caveats out of the way, Dean's Divorce Proceedings was a really good read. The writer quotes Jen Abbas' Generation Ex:

“Even if you think you don’t have any lingering issues, I invite you to discover how…divorce has changed your life. You did not experience the fullness of what God designed for you in a family, and so you have been hurt. It’s just that you are part of a generation that has learned to see these scars as normal.”

and asks how readers are affected by their parents' divorce. Before my beloved and I jump on the keyboard, however, we are stunned by the responses of those who walk the same road of

My parents divorced when I was six. Twenty years on, I still hate it

Once you break the bond that worked within God’s plan to create the family, you no longer have a family. I used to resent the idea that I came from a “broken home.” I thought I shouldn’t be labeled like that. I didn’t want other people to make assumptions about me based on something I couldn’t control. Now I see that it wasn’t just stereotyping. It may not have been fair, but that doesn’t make it untrue. My home was broken, and I was too.

Now, I’m happy with my marriage, but I’m still, at 31, working on being happy with myself. Sociologists, psychiatrists, and academics can downplay it all they want. Divorce affects us. Watching a parent walk out the door on your mother and on you is something traumatic. In the 80’s, parents who divorced used to talk about how the parent “left the other parent, but not the kids.” Taurus Feces. You leave the wife, you break the family. They also used to say that people shouldn’t stay together “for the kids.” Ditto. All you tell your children when you walk out is, “you are not important enough for me to stay.”
This sounds like I blame my father. I do. I also blame my mother. Neither one of them put the kind of work, love, and sacrifice into their marriage that they should have. Unkind? Maybe. I’m sure I didn’t know everything about their marriage since I was only there for six years of it. But I’m also certain that if they had asked for help, gone to some kind of therapy, and really died to self the way that Christ asks of us, they would still be together today. And I would be a very different person.

Right before I walked away from my marriage, I bought a book by Gary Thomas called Sacred Marriage. It's premise: what if God made marriage more to make you holy than to make you happy. And I ran as fast as I could because I wanted to be happy, darn it.

...and there was a bitter custody battle which I "won", but our son was the loser. He is now 23 years old, a drug addict, and in very hopeless straits. I'm remarried with an eleven year old son and a happy and prosperous life, but not a day goes by that I don't think "at what cost?" Like Ronda, I am now an advocate for choosing mates wisely, and I counsel anyone who will listen

I am the product of several divorces in my family. This problem won't be solved until we start talking about teaching our children to choose wisely. I didn't. My husband isn't abusive, just apathetic and selfish. I will stay because my children will fair (sic) better educationally, financially, and in other ways if I do. (Just look at the statistics). But I pray constantly that they will grow to be mature and unselfish adults who seek God's wisdom before they marry. I do so want them to know what it is like to have someone cherish them and love them. I wish I knew

Judith Wallerstein's research discusses the hurt and betrayal children from first marriages feel when they find themselves in new families of step parents didn't want kids, father who give new cars, and college educations to step-children and half-siblings.

Have you seen Demographic Winter? If not, go NOW and view the trailer. That we are heading rapidly toward a Post-Christian West is no secret.

This is for another post, but I wonder if much of our evangelism efforts are futile when the vast majority of our Christian kids leave the faith when in college, and our Christian families look no different from the world's?

For my daughter on her sixteenth birthday

2008-02-21T06:47:00.001-06:00

As my eldest child is on the cusp of womanhood, I asked my friends, her grandmothers, and the older women in her life to write Emma a blurb or two on being a wife, mother, keeper at home. Of course I didn't expect Pollyanna, this is difficult stuff! I thought long and hard about what I would say to her.

My dear Emma,

Pursue wisdom and get instruction (pick a Proverb, any Proverb.) You are blessed with many wise people in your life who guide, instruct, and encourage you. Embrace wisdom, not childishness.

Don't be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. For most of us, "till death do us part" is a long, long time. Get wise counsel from your parents and others who have been married for decades prior to marrying.

Look closely at his home of origin. I don't think we like to admit this, but when the lesson is over, the student is like his teacher (-Jesus). Like it or not, we do have a propensity to adopt the traits of the parent who raised us and spent the most amount of time with us. Be very critical here and not blinded by love! Is his father a tyrant? Absent? Was he raised mostly by his single mother? Look closely at her life. That is likely who and what he will become. Conversely, we know a few godly men who were reared by unbelieving parents. Still, proceed carefully, and don't marry until he -- and you -- are mature in faith and life.

Don't look at marriage with the thought that the man just needs a little (or a lot) of tweaking and you're just the woman to whip him into shape. Usually, those little annoyances that are idiosyncracies prior to marriage just get worse.

For better or for worse. There is often a whole lot of worse. Those years with newborns, working through school, paying down a mortgage, and guiding teens can really stress a marriage. (This is why Daddy and I are counseling you to marry a man who has been prepared by his parents to work, study hard, save, avoid debt, and provide for a family.) While in general I believe a man who treats his mother well is likely to treat his wife well, a mama's boy is to be avoided! (The Word tells him to leave and cleave, not you!)

Likewise, while I hope and pray that you and I have a close, friendly relationship, being Mama's lil' princess whenever hubby doesn't meet your every need is a recipe for divorce. Don't complain to others, me included, about your husband. Seek good counsel from clergy or a counselor when it's warranted.

You are truly gifted and talented. I'm grateful that higher education and the doors of opportunity are open to you. I hope that you will avail yourself of every opportunity to be all that you can be. I want you to consider, though, that the incidence of divorce has risen proportionally with the advent of women laboring alongside men in the workforce. I know the Lord will send you a marriage partner who loves, cherishes, protects, and provides for you.

Look at Proverbs 31. This woman does her husband good all the days of her life. Lest you think I'm letting you off the hook here, as a Christian young lady it is your responsibility to do your husband good all the days of your life. That means today, you are preparing for your future as a wife and mother.

Daddy and I love you with a depth and intensity we never thought possible. May God always pour His richest blessings upon your head.

Martin Luther, mothering advocate

2008-02-19T20:42:00.000-06:00

As I'm working feverishly to complete Easter dresses and God willing, another christening gown, this hits home (From Cheryl, albeit a while ago):

"Now observe that when that clever harlot, our natural reason... , takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, "Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores... ?

What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, O God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers, or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? O how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labor, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight...

God, with all his angels and creatures is smiling--not because the father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith."

--Martin Luther

An educational buffet line

2008-02-19T10:06:00.000-06:00

Plundered from book sutlers in various ports!
Originally uploaded by lunawhimsy

See it here.

Twenty years ago in Alabama and nationwide, home schooling was a bastion for ideologues. It allowed those among the religious right to escape what they viewed as a Godless public education system, and it allowed students of the anti-establishment left to provide education without borders.

The two factions disagreed on politics, but they agreed on one principle: Home schooling was a commitment to raising children free from the influences of teachers and classrooms, said Mitchell Stevens, an education sociologist at New York University.

This is where I cut my eye teeth -- when my eldest was young, these were my friends who were homeschooling. Whether she was a fundamental Christian hoping to impart her biblical worldview to her children, or she felt that fluorescent lights and standing in line or asking to go pee stifled her children's growth, my friends chose home education out of ideology.

Hey, makes sense to me.

Many newcomers are home-schoolers of practicality rather than principle. They had a disagreement with a teacher. Another student was bullying their kid at school. Their child was failing. Their child was sick.

I'm particularly interested that there seem to be more people dabbling in homeschooling, for whom homeschooling is second best to the government-run school. In other words, they aren't choosing homeschooling because of a familial paradigm shift toward homebased, or even religious, education.

They aren't happy with public schools, and want to "try it" for a year. Their child is antisocial, er, has a hard time making friends, is fat, ~~is weird~~ makes unusual choices, or is picked on. The teacher stinks. The principal is narrow-minded. The principal told the parent to "get their child 'into homeschool'." (Meaning: Get out of my school in the most convenient way for both of us.) They aren't committed long-term.

In my experience, folks with this mindset don't last homeschooling. They head back to school after one year, the student academically crippled and none the wiser from the experience. If they're older than 16, they drop out and go the GED route.

(Note: there is nothing wrong with the GED route, but eliminating the homeschooling step can save a family a lot of money.)

Others view home schooling as an educational buffet line that allows parents to subcontract education to private tutors, parochial schools, public schools and virtual schools.

I'm one of those who collaborates with our local co-op/study center. My child can learn chemistry from our local weatherman, economics from a local economics professor, calculus from a local math professor. I know them all personally, have relationships with their families, and chose them to assist me to educate my child in areas where I know I'm deficient. What's not to like? All of the benefits from people who know, use, and love their work; none of the teaching to the test, No Child Left Behind, mainstreaming, or any of the crap that our local public schools throw at us.

I met the author at the CHEF convention and emailed her that the 2-day-a-week church school she referenced wasn't, by far, the only one of its kind in the state.

Nonetheless, as a church school administrator, I'm frustrated at the volume of people who call me and ask "The principal/ BOE told me to 'get my son into homeschool.' Where do I drop my child off to have him homeschooled?"

I'm one of the saucy ones. "To your living room," I say.

It's all I can do not to shake my head.

Abstinence Education?

2008-01-20T20:37:00.000-06:00

When I first considered posting about this, I read the article and thought, what idiocy! I couldn't believe anyone bought into this. Then, I remembered a Sunday School series that Dean John Harper did on wisdom and foolishness and had an aha moment! Fools behave foolishly because they are fools. I thought I'd offer a feeble attempt to share it with you.

U.S. News reported that there is yet another (contrived, in my opinion) debate about sexuality education based on abstinence.

This:

A study released in April by Mathematica Policy Research looked at four "promising" sex-ed programs that advocate postponing all sexual activity until marriage and emphasize the social, emotional, and health benefits that can be gained from abstinence. What it found is that the teens in these programs were no more likely to delay their first sexual experience, have fewer partners, or use condoms than their peers who didn't have a sex-ed class.

is what I hear, over and over. According to conventional wisdom, I'm wasting my time teaching my children to control their sexual appetities, just like I teach them to control their emotions, envy, appetite and so forth. According to research, it's a lost cause. I should be teaching them about the finer points of oral, anal, contraception, and putting condoms on bananas.

I think we would do well to consider what God has to say on the matter, before accepting U.S. News, Planned Parenthood, or the Centers for Disease Control as the final authority on the subject:

Psalm 14:1
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

Psalm 92:6
A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

I'm the mother of a 16 year old and a nine year old, and this hits home. It's our objective to raise our children to remember, from their earliest memory, that Jesus loves them, that He came to save us, and out of love we obey Him. His plan for our lives is perfect, His ways are perfect, and are laid out for us in His Word.

I'm not a perfect parent, and don't have it all figured out. But if my first is a guide, so far so good. She is faithful at attending Bible studies, engages us in theological discourse, and is proving to be a talented entrepreneur, diligent employee, studious student, and is in control of her physical, and sexual appetites.

I don't chalk it up to much of anything I did, (it's all God!) aside from not allowing her to spend time in the company of fools.

Proverbs 13:20
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

Think about it. This meant she didn't attend public school with the kid whose mother was living with her 'boy friend', she wasn't offered drugs, none of her girlfriends were on birth control, she simply wasn't exposed, and given the opportunity to befriend, for lack of a better word, fools (or their parents).

OK, so that's strong. Look at it this way. Either God is an idiot or conventional wisdom is wrong. Given that He created the Universe ex nihilo, I'll take His side.

A commenter on Titus One Nine hit the nail on the head:

What was missing (from public-school sex ed curricula) was (for lack of a better term) a doctrine of sex. There was no content on the purpose of sex. No guidance was provided on the crucial questions of with whom, or when, or (most important) why. And this had practical implications for their “Abstinence Plus” program. I asked the nurse how she would answer a student who asked “Abstinence until when?” She said they could not answer that question. This is sex education without moral content - without “ideology” to use their term.

Except these questions cannot be avoided. Sex cannot be taught without moral content, because it is inherently a moral act. To teach sex without moral content is in reality to teach a default moral context of consequentialism. It implicitly teaches a self-centered morality that sex is primarily for individual pleasure and fulfillment. It implicitly breaks all the connections between sex and children and marriage. It gives adult sanction to teenage sexual behavior, and therefore empowers children to make adult decisions of enormous magnitude at a time when they are ill-equipped to make sound moral decisions. And legally, their parents are isolated from all these decisions. Only when the bad decisions come home to roost are parents drawn back in, and then only to pick up the pieces.

And all of this very deliberate. This is the counter-ideology that is being taught, and for a very specific purpose - to separate children from the world view of their parents. They say “Your parents are wrong about sex, and a lot of other things. Listen to us instead.” And to teenagers who crave adult permission to have sex, it is a very powerful message indeed.

Yes, YES, YES!!! I do not need to provide my daughter information on the finer points of copulation. I have taught them about the marvelous way our bodies work, with ovulation as the nexus of our cycles, and that marriage is a tremendous gift from God to be treasured and stewarded (as our finances, children, time and so on are).

I'm just an idiot who learned lots of life's lessons the hard way.

And God said:

Proverbs 9:6
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

God must have written these verses just for me, who learns everything the hard way. Thank Him for His everlasting mercy on my children!

Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.

Ephesians 5:15
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise

May we live each day walking circumspectly.

Although it's still too early,

Merry Christmas,

wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross

2008-01-05T06:37:00.000-06:00

I am almost always astounded when really smart people are completely hoodwinked.

From Chuck Baldwin:

If the reader has not already done so, I again urge you to read the
book, Hitler's Cross, which was written by Erwin Lutzer and published
by Moody Press. This book should be "required reading" for every
pastor and Christian layman in America. In his book, Lutzer focuses on
the attitudes and actions of Germany's pastors and churches during the
rise and reign of the Third Reich. It is a masterpiece.

For those of us living in a country and time far removed from Hitler's
Germany, it is hard to comprehend how that nation's Christians--and
especially its ministers--could have been so thoroughly taken in by
old Adolf. We assume such an event could never happen
again--especially to us. However, to any honest observer of history,
the conditions of the Church in America today are eerily similar to
those of the Church in Nazi Germany.

For one thing, as did the Church in Nazi Germany, the Church in
America has become infatuated with Big Government. Historically,
patriotism in the United States meant love for God, love for family,
and love for freedom and independence. Today, however, Christians of
all persuasions have come to accept and even embrace the Nanny State,
complete with its intrinsic obsession with an omnipotent federal
bureaucracy that exercises perpetual surveillance and absolute control
over every area of our lives.

For example, according to today's Republican Presidential candidates
(with the exception of Ron Paul), patriotism demands that we click our
heels to the Department of Homeland Security and that we
enthusiastically support aggressive, preemptive war. This is exactly
the kind of redefinition of patriotism used so brilliantly by Hitler
and his fellow propagandists. Yes, Martha, it appears that history
really does repeat itself.

When Ron Paul was asked about Mike Huckabee's overt usage of a cross
for a campaign advertisement, he quoted Sinclair Lewis as saying,
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and
carrying a cross." Many Christians railed against Dr. Paul for making
this comment. However, the truth is, Ron Paul (himself a committed
Christian) is one hundred percent right! (To see how Hitler used this
same tactic, I invite readers to note the photograph of the German
Fuhrer in Lutzer's book, on page 75, which shows Hitler coming out of
church with a large emblem of the Cross directly over his head. This
photo was used extensively by Hitler during his political campaigns.)

More than any other Republican Presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee
carries his Big Government machinations on a cross. I strongly
recommend that readers take a look at Selwyn Duke's excellent exposé
on Mike Huckabee.

In his book, Lutzer notes that the tool Adolf Hitler used to ascend to
power in Germany was his ability to wrap the Nazi flag around the
Cross of Christ. In fact, Hitler often required that the Cross be
emblazoned directly in the middle of the Nazi flag. These flags were
not only prominently displayed in parades, but also in church
auditoriums.

As a result of Hitler's brilliant deception, Christians throughout
Germany were convinced that he was "God's man." They saw him as more
than a political leader: he was a spiritual leader as well. They saw
him as their country's President and as their Christian brother. If
Hitler said the German people needed to surrender their firearms, they
saw it as their Christian duty to comply; if Hitler said they needed
to enact a total surveillance society, they freely gave up their
privacy; if Hitler said Germany needed to invade other nations for its
security, Christians were among the first to volunteer; and if Hitler
said they could only be good Christians if they supported the Nazi
Party, they enthusiastically supported the Nazi Party.

In short, Germany's Christians and pastors surrendered their hearts
and minds to Adolf Hitler, because they believed him to be one of
them. What they never would have surrendered to a professing agnostic,
they gladly surrendered to a professing Christian. Truly, fascism came
to Germany "wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross."

Of course, there were a few in Germany who saw through Hitler's
deception. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian minister who actively
opposed Hitler by organizing what he called the "Confessing Church."
These were believers who would not surrender Christ's sphere of
authority to Hitler. They saw through "Hitler's Cross." Unfortunately,
of the more than 14,000 pastors in Germany, only 800 joined with
Bonhoeffer.

To the vast majority of Germany's pastors, Bonhoeffer was an
"extremist," or a "kook," or a "nut." They relegated Bonhoeffer to the
fringe of Christendom. They believed Hitler and repudiated Bonhoeffer;
they chose Hitler's "German Church" over the Confessing Church. In
retrospect, however, who would they follow today, if they had the
chance?

I teach history and am the daughter of one who loved history to the point of pursuing a doctorate in the field. It doesn't take a doctorate, however, just a rudimentary knowledge of fourth-grade level history to see this. If that means I'm a kooky extreme nut, so be it. Dave Ramsey convinced me years ago that to be normal is essentially to be stupid and do stupid.

From Bill Rice:

Ron Paul believes what I believe and what most of the founders of this nation believed. Specifically, he believes in a vastly reduced role for the federal government and that the Constitution should be the litmus test for all legislative or judicial actions. His belief is that America was founded on - and achieved its greatness from - the concept of maximum liberty for the individual.

The Constitution, he constantly reminds us, was created to erect formidable barriers against the federal government assuming too much power over individuals' lives.

Rick Fisk says it well:

We're young, old, Republican, Libertarian, Democrat, Anarchist, Green, Constitutionalist, Christian, Muslim, Jews, Atheist, Pagan, homeschooling, no-TV-watching, TV-watching, raw milk-drinking, pasteurized milk-drinking, farmer's market-shopping, alternative building, single, divorced, 2.5 kid-having, 3-car-having, bicycle-riding, fitness-fanatic, farmer, no-car-having, sedentary, public school–attending, Gay, Straight, Black, Yellow, Red, Brown, White, Man, Woman, child. We're the demographic group to whom you have never marketed. We believe that we're smart enough to manage our own affairs and don't need government hand-outs.

We're tired of being told about a Social Security trust fund that never existed, a government that is here to help us and an income tax that really, really does make us liable to pay – cross our hearts and hope to die (just don't read the law please). We're tired of being treated like children. We treat our own children much better than the bureaucrats, whom you constantly claim have our best interests at heart, treat us.

We're tired of being told that we should live our lives in fear of people six thousand miles away; who hate us because we're free, when we aren't actually free. We're tired of being told that every encroachment upon our freedoms is justified because the world is "different now." Different from what? Does our dictator wear a different brand of suit than the one whose country was bombed into oblivion on his orders?

Is there really any need to say any more?

Ron Paul for President!

2008-01-03T18:33:00.000-06:00

I am a history teacher and a history lover. I am the daughter of a man who had a Ph.D. is history and inherited his library. Unfortunately, from strictly a historical perspective, this is true, whether you like it or not:

"The United States is crumbling like the Roman Empire ... with plummeting currency and mounting debt," said Dunn, 22, who spent $500 on airfare from Oregon to work for Paul.

This is from a Newsday article about the ~~Paultards~~ ~~internet nerds~~ grassroots campaign by the people, for the people (what a novel concept!) for Ron Paul for President.

We can tune out the truth, stick our heads in the sand, pretend it doesn't exist, but that won't make the truth any less true.

Please tell me this isn't true:

Says Neal Boortz: Just now I saw a woman on Fox News saying that one of the reasons she was supporting Edwards was because "I like his haircut."

If you haven't seen this
width="425" height="355">
do it now. Do not collect GO, do not collect $200.

Tell me what you think.

More thoughts on homebirth, surgery and birth in general

2007-12-31T14:43:00.000-06:00

I've collected some stories on births, particularly healthy women entering hospitals to have babies and winding up maimed, without limbs or dead, the latest being a British woman whose epidural anesthesia, like that of Jasmine Gant, was inserted in her arm rather than her back, killing her.

I have dear friends who are on faculty and/or hold graduate degrees from at the UAB School of Public Health's Maternal Child Health Division, and while they support homebirth and midwifery, would point out how remiss I would be if I were to point to isolated, rare incidents as examples of an entire institution, e.g., birth in hospitals, to be maligned.

At least in my community, the decision to birth in a local hospital is also usually the decision to consent to the inappropriate use of technology, e.g., almost every mother planning a vaginal birth has her membranes ruptured and is given pitocin and continuous electonic fetal monitoring. No wonder most of them love epidural anesthesia. I see why.

Instead, I'm looking at an ABC article on unassisted childbirth. I've had all of mine at home with midwives, and the thought of a planned homebirth without someone who knows what they are doing scares the living fool out of me. (I wonder why it has, 100% of the time, never worked for those I know who planned it; but I had drug-addicted, crisis-living clients had babies in toilets in smelly tentements with no obvious ill after effects. Go figure.) Nonetheless, it would be an error to lump unassisted birth folks in with advocates for trained, certified midwives.

One thing that intrigued me, though, is the doctor who quoted:

"What women need to appreciate is that the few hours of labor are the most dangerous time during the entire lifetime of the soon-to-be-born child," said Dr. Frank Chervenak, Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. "Because of this, I would argue ... all soon-to-be born children have a right to access immediate Caesarean delivery, and women who are denying this right are irresponsible."

Immediate access to cesarean delivery is not an option at most hospitals! Indeed, a half hour's window from the decision to deliver the baby surgically is Standard Of Practice by ACOG. According to this gentleman's logic, most hospitals are irresponsible.

So, I began to wonder how important "immediate access" to surgery is to a healthy mother and baby in an emergent situation. I found:

a journal of obstetrics and gynecology:

Of the 11,481 primary cesarean deliveries, 2,808 were performed for an emergency indication (Emergency procedures were defined as those performed for umbilical cord prolapse, placental abruption, placenta previa with hemorrhage, nonreassuring fetal heart rate pattern, or uterine rupture). Of these, 1,814 (65%) began within 30 minutes of the decision to operate. Maternal complication rates, including endometritis, wound infection, and operative injury, were not related to the decision-to-incision interval. Measures of newborn compromise including umbilical artery pH less than 7 and intubation in the delivery room were significantly greater when the cesarean delivery was commenced within 30 minutes, likely attesting to the need for expedited delivery. Of the infants with indications for an emergency cesarean delivery who were delivered more than 30 minutes after the decision to operate, 95% did not experience a measure of newborn compromise.

CONCLUSION: Approximately one third of primary cesarean deliveries performed for emergency indications are commenced more than 30 minutes after the decision to operate, and the majority were for nonreassuring heart rate tracings. In these cases, adverse neonatal outcomes were not increased.

From OBG Management:

There are no randomized clinical trials demonstrating that the faster a cesarean section is performed, the better the maternal and fetal outcome. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that in an emergency, obstetrical units should be capable of initiating a cesarean section within 30 minutes of a decision to perform the procedure.

I knew that a 'crash' c-section, as with other emergency surgery, carried more risks than planned surgery:

Women have died from anesthetic complications during attempts to perform a crash cesarean section. Anesthetic complications that have caused death include inability to maintain a patent airway, and vomiting resulting in aspiration and hypoxemia. For a patient who enters the labor and delivery unit directly from home, the risk is high that her stomach is not empty and general anesthesia is especially risky in this setting. Morbidly obese women may be at especially high risk for a major anesthetic complication.

For women with a massive placental abruption, disseminated intravascular coagulation may be present prior to initiating surgery. If a full-service blood bank is not immediately available, initiating a crash cesarean section in this setting can result in the death of the mother from surgical complications.

Crash cesarean sections have been reported to be associated with an increased rate of obstetrical hemorrhage.

Yikes! No wonder physicians are encouraging women at high-risk of a c-section (such as mothers planning a VBAC) to consider repeat, planned surgery.

It's also enough for me to take enough steps to avoid unnecessary surgery in the first place.

Another thing I don't understand is that according to conventional wisdom, "soon-to-be born" children have the "right" to immediate access to surgery on their mothers for their well-being.

Certainly as a mother, if a midwife whom I trusted thought surgery on me was in the best interest of my child I would most certainly consent. But not all people feel this way, and that has been a difficult pill for some to swallow. The National Advocates for Pregnant Women point out this disconnect in terms of reproductive rights: the right to abortion is sacrosanct, but when a woman is intending to carry her pregnancy to term, she is expected, court ordered sometimes, to cede her wishes, expectations and so on for the unproven in many cases, good of the baby.

Any surprise?

2007-12-20T19:49:00.000-06:00

You might be surprised by these silly little blog test results, or maybe not...

8 - the Asserter

you chose AY - your Enneagram type is EIGHT (aka "The Challenger").

"I must be strong"

Asserters are direct, self-reliant, self-confident, and protective.

How to Get Along with Me

Stand up for yourself... and me.
Be confident, strong, and direct.
Don't gossip about me or betray my trust.
Be vulnerable and share your feelings. See and acknowledge my tender, vulnerable side.
Give me space to be alone.
Acknowledge the contributions I make, but don't flatter me.
I often speak in an assertive way. Don't automatically assume it's a personal attack.
When I scream, curse, and stomp around, try to remember that's just the way I am.

What I Like About Being a EIGHT

being independent and self-reliant
being able to take charge and meet challenges head on
being courageous, straightforward, and honest
getting all the enjoyment I can out of life
supporting, empowering, and protecting those close to me
upholding just causes

What's Hard About Being a EIGHT

overwhelming people with my bluntness; scaring them away when I don't intend to
being restless and impatient with others' incompetence
sticking my neck out for people and receiving no appreciation for it
never forgetting injuries or injustices
putting too much pressure on myself
getting high blood pressure when people don't obey the rules or when things don't go right

EIGHTs as Children Often

are independent; have an inner strength and a fighting spirit
are sometimes loners
seize control so they won't be controlled
fugure out others' weaknesses
attack verbally or physically when provoked
take charge in the family because they perceive themselves as the strongest, or grow up in difficult or abusive surroundings

EIGHTs as Parents

are often loyal, caring, involved, and devoted
are sometimes overprotective
can be demanding, controlling, and rigid

What spice are you?

Your Score: Cayenne Pepper

You scored 100% intoxication, 75% hotness, 75% complexity, and 50% craziness!

id=testResultInfoImg>

You are Cayenne! You're known for your dry wit, saucy remarks, and ability to stimulate (take that however you want). People in hot climates like you for your ability to make them sweat, but you're also quite good for people all over the world. Just don't mention your cousin, deadly nightshade.

Your Score: Jerry

Grateful Dead Knowledge = 80%

Congratulations! You know more about the Grateful Dead than most people ever will! You probably have all the albums and a lot of live shows- got any boots you wanna trade?

Trussville Christmas Parade

2007-12-08T14:00:00.000-06:00

I'm not big on doing a lot of Christmas things during Advent, choosing to focus on prparing our hearts for the coming of Christ. One thing that pulls us each year, however, is a parade, where the Big Man himself engages the kiddos at the end. I thought I'd share some photos from the Trussville Christmas parade with you all.

It's that time of year again, the community Christmas parade. It's almost always about 60 degrees and cloudy this time of year, which doesn't always make for the most Christmas-y feel. Anyhow, here are some highlights:

Our friend Emily with the Hewitt-Trussville marching band

Mary on the girl scout float

Fairlie waving to an old friend:

In a bunch of duds, this is about as good as it gets, trying to get all five of them to look straight and smile:

A holy Advent to you all,

Oh, that I could....

2007-11-25T18:22:00.000-06:00

...put these on my car. My beloved is adamant that I not junk up our vehicles with bumper stickers, but he said nothing about my blog! So, if I could, I would... of course I may just need to introduce my Ron Paul sticker to the back of my car.

“The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.
Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: "The LORD's right hand has done mighty things! The LORD's right hand is lifted high; the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!" I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done."
Psalm 118:14-17