r-e-s-p-o-n-s-i-b-i-l-i-t-y

I have just recently started to homeschool the Banimal and a friend loaned me a really neat little curriculum called Five in a Row. It takes children's library books and makes at least a weeks worth of lessons out of them. The first one I am going to do is called Katy and the big Snow.

Okay.... by this point you are probably wondering what this has to do with responsibility. Well, the theme of Katy and the big Snow is that Katy finally gets an opportunity to work and fulfill her responsibilities. As I was preparing the lessons and deciding how I would go about everything I realized that I should really get a concrete definition of what responsibility means. We use the word often with our boys, but I don't know that I have ever explained it to them.

I just couldn't come up with a defintion that I liked so I ended up lookiing it up in a dictionary. And then I had a blast from the past. I spent nearly every night in the 6th grade writing the word 'responsibility'. I had a teacher that would make the whole class write the word 500 times every time someone in class misbehaved.

I remember alot of writer's cramp that year.... but here is the sad part. I probably wrote that word over 10, 000 times in her class, but in a year's time she never took the time to fully explain what it means. We left knowing how to spell a word... which is great... but we had no clue what those letters stood for. Looking back, it seems like her time would have been better spent trying to help us to understand what true responsibility really meant.... personally, socially, corperately....

It seems like in our world there are way too many people that can spell it, but don't understand what it means.

fear

I think that in the society that we live in today it is hard not to be overcome with fear. Everywhere you turn someone is bringing up some new thing that you hadn't ever thought of to be fearful about.

I have quite a few well intentioned friends that send me these 'must read' emails. They are about new ways to be carjacked and scammed. And then there are the ones where someone in some place you've never heard of has some random something happen... but everyone needs to be aware of it. This past Autumn I got an email about a kid that decided to pile up leaves and hide in them and his dad didn't know and ran over him with a truck.

You hear of children being abducted from their own yards.. and of insane people cutting babies out of pregnant women. You watch Oprah and realize that should your minivan wreck into a body of water that you are not prepared to rescue yourself and your kids. You watch the news and they tell you about meth that is made to look and taste like candy. Of course, I don't want some horrible thing to befall me or my family... but my goodness... the knowledge of all of the things that could possibly go wrong is insane. We can't eat spinach, because we might get food poisoning and die.... we can't play in the leaves, because we might get run over by a truck. on and on and on and on.

I tell myself that I trust the Lord with all my heart, yet when I watch Megadisasters or one of those shows about crazy natural disasters that maybe, possilby, might happen and I feel my anxiety level rise and my stress level shoot up.

Life is risky business and in the end.... no one gets out alive. But I think sometimes we should spend a little less time worrying and fretting about what 'could' happen and just live a little. God doesn't promise us that nothing bad will ever happen to us, but He does say that He will never give us more than we can bare, that He can use any situation to make us more like His Son, and that He will always be there with us... no matter what we go thru... to give us His peace and comfort.

So when I flip the channels and see the financial news talking about impending economic crisis or the weather channel talking up the next possible disaster, I just take a deep breath and realize that My Heavenly Father spoke the very planet on which I stand on into existence.... so I am in good hands.

learning to read

I started 'officially' teaching the Banimal to read this morning. Scary thought. He has been asking me for a while and I told him he had to learn his letters and the sounds first. He accomplished that, so I went and bought the book I had decided to use.

Who would think that something that you learn to do in kindergarten could be that scary for me to teach. But I just keep thinking that everything he will do in his academic career will be built on this foundation. I hope that I don't let him down. But... after I thought it thru I calmed down a little. Most of the greatest minds were taught to read by their mothers and fathers who had little to no education themselves. So with that thought I embarked on this journey.

I was pretty uneventful this morning when I did his first lesson. He breezed thru it and I only had to correct him once. Even Pteradactyl boy jumped in and did the lesson with us. He is still working on recognizing his letters, but he got the hang of m and s as quickly as the Banimal. Who knows, maybe I'll kill two birds with one stone... so to speak. He may pick up alot as I teach the Banimal. That's the way its been with most everything else.

I was surprised at how well the adapted to the new schedule I came up with. But I did make it with them in mind. We do a 'sitting at the table being still activity' like learning to read followed by a 'moving around one' like playing games or doing chores. I think with both of them being so young still I would be shooting myself in the foot to do anything that required more than 15-20 mins of sitting still. I noticed the reading lesson took about 15 mins and towards the end they were fidgety.

Well, one day down..... thousands more to go.

MORE POLITICS

I didn't watch much of the coverage on Iowa.... not that there wasn't enough. Every news channel is running their own little breakdown of what happened. I don't know that I really believe that it even matters that much what Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina... etc .... think. Those are just little fish bowls. I don't see how any of those states would come close to being representitive of the US as a whole.

Like I said in the previous post... I am not a democrat. But I do keep up with what is going on with our kooky counterparts. I still really think that Obama is the best of the bunch. I caught some snippets of his speeches and he is really gettng or he has a great speech writer... or both.

I can't wait to see what Hillary does over the next few weeks. She can see that Obama is a huge threat so I believe in true Hillary fashion she is going to show her fangs and go after him with negative attack ads. Which, in my opinion, is great, because it will sink her ship. Now from a purely republican stand point I hate to see her not get the nomination. I really think that if she is the dem nom that people will come out of the woodwork to vote against her which is great for the rep party.

I honestly don't know that I could sleep at night knowing that she is at the helm of the ship I am on. You know, its funny that I can't stand her now, because I used to just love her. Of course, at that time I was in college with no husband and no sons and I was a member of NOW (scary, huh?). My how things change.

As far as the rep. side of Iowa. There isn't much to say. One of the biggest contenders didn't even show up. So I don't know that what happened there even matters. Although, I did have one thought. I saw some footage of Huckabee jamming out on an electric guitar and it reminded me so much of another Governor of Arkansas that became President that played the saxophone. hhhhhmmmmm. Do you have to be musically inclined to get voted in to office there?

Politics......

Yuck!!!! Man... what a depressing thought. I can't believe that it is election time.

Don't get me wrong... from a disconnected perspective I love politics. If I imagine that all of these less than stellar candidates will have no impact on my life... I love the whole process. But when I come back to reality and realize that one of these people will be making decision that will effect almost every area of my life.. that's when I get queezy.

From an unattached perspective the politicians antics and audacity is almost comical. They constantly change their views according to their audience.. .and in their minds they have no clue that anyone is really keeping track. They give these vague answers that really don't answer anything. And then you kick in all the personal stuff... the tabloid type news about them and its like a side show for your own personal entertainment and amusement.

BUT.... like I said, eventually reality comes crashing down on me and it hits me that in 10 months I am going to have to enter a voting both after alot of prayer and consideration and vote for one of these jokers. And then whoever the American public deems least likely to ruin us all will take office, eeeekkkk!!!! Its like a bad dream.

I am typically not a Democrat, but I will vote for whatever party I feel best represents me. So I'll start there.....

Hillary Clinton... The thought of that woman running our country runs cold shivers down my spine. Alot of people are under the impression that women will vote for her just because she is a woman. I think that is insulting. And most women I know don't really have any warm fuzzy feelings when it comes to her. I think that Bill was pretty low down in alot of ways, but I think he had alot of personality. Even though, he was far from perfect people could identify with him. Hillary has about as much personality as a Stepford wife.

Barack Obama.... Now even though I don't plan on voting for him I could sleep at night should he become President. I don't agree with alot of his ideas, but I feel that he is thoughtful and does want to make a better America. But on the downside.... I don't know if he has the kind of experience to make the cut. And then there is the fact that he isn't a good ole white boy. To me, it should not make a difference. And the PollyAnna side of me would like to think that most Americans would feel the same way... but I am not so sure that is the case. Sad to say.

Oh yeah... I can't forget my sort of fellow North Carolinian, John Edwards. He has nice hair.... well, that about concludes all I have to say about him. I just don't think he can get it done. Who knows, maybe he'll surprise me.

Then we have the republicans.....

Its even more sad....and I am one, so that is scary

Rudy Gulliani... I am not sure about him I think he would probably make a good vice-Pres. But I am just not sure about him being the man. His platform mainly seems to be playing on peoples sentiment from 9-11. I guess his actions during that time show that he is good under pressure... but the Pres has more to tackle than just terrorism... although that is pretty important.

Mitt Romney...I kind of like him, but I am not 100% sure that I could vote for him. I can't really get a feel for how everyone really feels about him being LDS. I have alot of Christian friends that believe that its a deal breaker. But living here in the Bible belt its hard to gauge how the rest of the country really feels about that. I have seen his nice looking family with him in their perfect pictures, but I haven't heard a whole lot about how he really feels about the big issues.

And then there is Fred Thompson... he could have went all the way, but now that the writer's strike is happening I think he is sunk. hheehhe!!!!!!! I think if he is going to do anything he is going to have to muster up a heck of a lot more enthusiasm than he has in the past few months. He might make an okay vp as well.

And how could I forget Mr. Huckabee. I am going to have to do a little more research before I make a comment on him. I am just not sure how I feel about him.

And then their is Ron Paul. I have to say ... I kind of like the guy... in a crazy, sort of demented way. He is really a liberatarian dressed up in Rep clothes. I am not sure if he thinks everyone has forgotten about his past go at it. I don't think he has a snow balls chance at being elected but I sure do like to muse about life under lib. rule. No IRS... No federal gov... it just brings a smile to my face..... oh wait... what was that I heard... oh man... it was reality knocking at my door. Okay, I am over the whole smiling thing.

Man, that is a depressing list. and I haven't even really began to think about state and local politcs...ugh.

But I can take heart, because I know that no matter what becomes of this whole political mess that the Lord is in control.

When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the
Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but
this is what they heard;

'Heavenly Father
We come before you today
To ask your forgiveness and
To seek your direction and guid ance.
We know Your Word says,
'Woe to those who call evil good'
But that is exactly what we have done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium
And reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and
Called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness
And called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn
and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists
And called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline
Our children and called it
Building self esteem.
We have abused power
And called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor's
Possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air
With profanity and
Pornography and called it
Freedom of speech and expression
We have ridiculed the time
Honored values of our
Forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God,
And know our hearts today;
Cleanse us from every sin
And set us free.

Amen!'

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked Out
during the prayer in protest.

In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is
pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 Of those
calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international
requests for copies of this prayer from India ,Africa and Korea .

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio Program, 'The
Rest of the Story,' and received a larger response to this program
than any other he has ever aired.

With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our Nation and
wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called 'one
nation under God.'