Late May

 I am 99.9% done with the first draft of my latest book. I realized I didn't talk about a semi important character in the epilogues so need to go back and add her.

But mostly I am done. Hooray!

The last week has been WET. We have gotten so so so much rain!  Dayton got almost 9 inches of rain in May, and most of that was in the last 10 days or so!

Our house is on a hill and we have a good roof so no leaking, which makes me happy. There are flooded roads here and there.

One of my odd characteristics is that I like reading about people who do dangerous and crazy things, while also personally having zero desire to do said dangerous things. I have been following the tragedy of the five Italian divers in the Maldives closely.

Short story is that earlier this month, five divers in the Maldives (a group of islands in the Indian ocean) made their way into a deep cave system and all died.  Which is very very sad. Three of them were women, two were mother and daughter, and all were experienced divers. However, there is no indication that they were trained in cave diving, which is extremely dangerous because of course if you get in trouble, you can't just go up. You have to get out of the cave first. It appears that four of the five took a wrong turn and got lost in the low visibility murk and ran out of breathing air.  The fifth guy made it to the entrance of the cave and died there.

So you have to have a certain personality to do dangerous things like dive into cave systems or climb tall mountains. A surprising number of people are overly casual (in my view) about such things. Sometimes this results in nothing more than a few scrapes, but sometimes people die.

I am reading a book called Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver by Jill Heinerth. She has spent incredible amounts of time diving in narrow cave systems. Crazy stuff. Her personality is a weird and wondrous combination of excitement over being an explorer, along with being very detail oriented. She describes her preps for deep cave diving as being extremely meticulous. She checks things over and over. She has lists. 

She has had close calls. She had a serious bout of decompression sickness once for reasons that are not quite understood.

Anyway, the Italian divers were a research group. At least one, maybe more, was a Ph.D. level scientist. And yet, they dove into a cave system without backup tanks, and without a guideline, which is what every cave diver should do. That is, bring a rope, tie one end to the entrance, and take it with you so that you can use it to get back if you cannot see well or get disoriented. These five did not do that. They  made so many mistakes.

Truth is, intelligence doesn't mean wisdom. You can be super smart and still make idiotic decisions. In this case, those decisions led to tragedy.

Mid November

 

We had a little snowstorm! It was a record for November 10th in some local places. I think we got at least 3 inches.

Rose and Daniel were super excited. They spent a lot of happy time playing in the snow.

Do you see the pale sun shining through the clouds in the picture above? Cool!

Yesterday was Kevin's birthday. He and I only barely stepped outside yesterday. It was a great day to be inside, enjoying the warmth. Lydia came over for dinner so we had 8 kids celebrating.

Lydia and Naomi have several cats, and one of them has been losing weight. Turns out he is diabetic! So now they are having to give him insulin shots twice a day. He is already feeling much better.

Let's see... OH! Joseph got an IT job!  It starts next Monday. So that is a huge answer to prayer.

Isaac is still working a temp job but he does have an engineering interview today. So we will see.

We launched a book a week ago and so far it has been kind of a dud. I don't think it is the fault of the book. Amazon got messed up which affected the launch.

Two things happened. First, we have a big group of people who like my books, and they are supposed to be told when one of our books is on pre order, and when one of our books has launched. By Amazon, I mean. As far as we know, neither email got sent out.

Also, the reviews got totally stuck. A week from launch, we have only three reviews. Other books are having the same problem. Amazon is HUGE and sometimes things go wrong. By this time, I expect there have been at least 100 reviews to the book, most of them so called "star" reviews, where at the end of the book, people have the option of just telling how many stars there are. The written reviews are always far rarer.  But by now there should be quite a few and at the moment we have three and the first one showed up only yesterday.

All of this is annoying but reality. We work with Amazon, which is gigantic, and there are algorithms and computer stuff and when it goes wrong, the author "suffers".

But we also are blessed by Amazon, because, hey, most of our money comes from Kindle Unlimited page reads! So I am working to just take the good with the bad and be calm.

I haven't written anything in several days (creatively, I mean -- a book, I mean) and my brain has been bouncing all over thinking about stuff.

I am going through a Chernobyl phase. There was a huge nuclear accident in 1986 and I am watching a documentary series and reading about it again because it is fascinating.

I FINALLY figured out one scientific detail which has been confusing me for ages. So that is nice.

I have also been making parallels in my head between our situation with Amazon and SNAP recipient with the governement. The shut down caused a lot of fear and anguish and we decided to donate a decent sum to a local food pantry to help out.

I assume SNAP will get sorted out now, which is a relief for those who are struggling with food insecurity and hunger.

There are so many families struggling who need SNAP. There are also a bunch of people being kind of stupid about the whole thing.

I have seen online videos, which seem to be authentic, where people with SNAP are buying tons of expensive stuff -- expensive meats, and lots of pricy frozen meals. Here's the thing ... if you are on SNAP, and cannot pay for your own groceries, you SHOULD use SNAP very very very carefully. If I were in that position, I would buy a bunch of long lasting things (like rice or canned items) so IF the government had a problem and SNAP stopped, I would have food stored in the pantry.

Now some people literally don't have stoves, I get that. So their situation is different from those who do have kitchens and stoves and still decide to buy pricy pops and expensive name brand chips and that kind of thing.

My mentality is very different, maybe especially because I have kids. If I was so poor I couldn't pay for my own food, I would be trying to stockpile and lots of people don't.

Lots of people probably do stockpile, too.

Maybe there are a just a few people with terrible habits, but I would guess that isn't true.

When the government comes through faithfully every month, it is easy to take it for granted. And then, when we have a 40+ days shutdown and SNAP is delayed, a lot of people freak. Some people are literally on the cliff of poverty so I do understand that it is really hard. But some people are definitely being stupid about how they have been using their "free money" for groceries.

We are used to having Amazon be helpful, and this time it has been causing problems with not doing what it should be doing. BUT, we have savings so we can weather having lower income than expected.

Kevin and Monkeys

 

Kevin turned 54 in the last week. I turned 55 a few weeks ago. I am just a little more than a year older than he is

I love him so much. He is very smart, and hard working, and we have a lot in common, and he loves Jesus, and me, and our kids.

Please note the jade plant behind Kevin. Usually it lives in our sun room but we have been hosting a cat who has a bad ear infection. Twice a day I get to snatch her and pour drops in her ears. She doesn't like it, but she is improving.

So the plant is indoors. Now the plant is interesting because it is alive. I kill plants.  Like, I am so bad with plants. I am great with kids, but not great with plants. So every living plant in the house is thanks to Kevin. He does a good job.

So yeah, great husband and father and editor and grower of jade plants.

Why did I mention monkeys? Why, because about a week ago, more than 40 monkeys escaped their enclosure in Yemassee, South Carolina. MORE THAN FORTY!

Crazy stuff! They have managed to capture most of them but apparently there are still 13 on the lam.

It just makes me feel kind of, I don't know, happy, to think of monkeys leaping on trees and fences and generally causing chaos, so long as no one gets hurt, of course. It is funny. So far, the captured monkeys have all been well. Now realistically, the sooner they are captured the better, but there is this certain joy in thinking about them carrying on and leading their caretakers a merry dance.

November!

 

I love fall colors so much! Gorgeous! I don't even know where this tree was. I found it on my phone. I took the pic but don't remember where I was at the time.

So...

Lots going on. First a new book launched a couple of days ago. It is doing fine, though nothing like the last book, which was called Elizabeth is Not a Bennet. That one was a BEAST. But this one is doing fine so far.

Our church had a Trunk or Treat ministry on Thursday, Halloween.

Angela manned a table and also did the decorations and made the Flower Face for herself. It comes from a video game. Isn't it cute?

We had about 400 people go through.

Yesterday I went to the funeral of my friends' seven year old son. It was a powerful service and also so incredibly sad. I thought the pastors both did a great job. They didn't speak empty platitudes. They said, yes, we have a Lord and Savior who loves children and this little guy is with the Lord. BUT this is agony for his family. We don't understand it. We may never understand it.

So yeah, that was a hard service. I wish I had brought more Kleenex. I am praying for my friends and also will be available to help them in the future. 

This is funny to me... I have been watching a lot of shows and video clips that have little commercials mixed in. It seems like no one knows who I am because the commercials are absolutely aimed for someone else. I keep seeing a wine commercial. I hate the taste of wine so much. I keep seeing commercials for special shampoo for black women's hair. My hair is straight and boring, not beautifully curly and able to be braided in a fancy way. I also keep seeing Pampers commercials, sometimes in Spanish. WHAT? I mean, yes, I had plenty of babies, but a long time ago!

Rose learned to ride a bike this last week. Yes, it was late but she took to it like a duck to water. Then yesterday she and a couple of other kids were doing the Death Gully Challenge and she crashed into a tree. She is fine though has a bruise on her leg. Like why, kids? Why be so crazy?  Because they are young and full of vim and vigor.

Obviously the election is on Tuesday. A lot of people are stressed, including me. It has, if nothing else, been a whacky election cycle with a previous president running again, and Biden dropping out, and assassination attempts, and other insanity. 

I keep trying to remember that God is God. Sometimes the "wrong" leader comes to power. God is still God.  

We do have seven voting Kendigs and will be doing our part on election day. 

One thing that is regrettable is that people generally ascribe rotten intentions toward people with other views. I can believe someone to be wrong while still understanding the motivation behind it. There can be good intentions which lead to bad outcomes.

Well, we will know soon...

More Political Stuff

I have been quite upset since the attempted assassination of Trump. It really shook me. And grieved me. By the grace of God, he was only grazed, but a 50 year old father is dead, and two other men are in serious condition in the hospital.

I have read the Jack Reacher series off and on, written by Lee Child. The protagonist, Jack Reacher, is a lone wolf sort of guy who wanders around helping people who need help, with great violence, usually.

One of the books I liked the most involved Reacher assisting in the protection of a vice president who has been receiving death threats. The author has done his homework, and describes in detail all the ways that security details have to think about possibilities in protecting their protectees.

Obviously there have been many failures in security in the past; Reagan was shot by an insane man in 1981, which was the last time something like this, where there was an actual injury, has happened to a president or presidential candidate.

It obviously isn't an easy job. One lapse, and your person is injured or dead. Or, in Trump's case, grazed.

I do confess to being startled, and horrified, and sad, that the assassin was 20 years old.  I have two sons close to that age! How does a young man get to this point? Not just the assassination part, but to be so ... depressed? Angry? to do something that will likely result in one's death! To kill civilians?

I am thanking God for saving Trump's life, even as I submit to the reality that God is God, and He does what he wants. Other presidents and presidential candidates have been attacked and died; Lincoln (major security lapse) and Garfield, who apparently had NO security, and Reagan, of course...

Reagan would probably  have died if shot in the 1800's, since the medical profession didn't have antibiotics and scanners and stuff.

I am rambling. I am grieved that four men were shot a few days ago. If Trump had been killed, this entire presidential election would have been very different. 

One man was killed - a husband, a father, who is younger than I am. It breaks my heart.

Mid July

 

Now my right foot has plantar fasciitis! So annoying! My left one has had it off and on for a few years now but just in the few months, the right one is bothering me. I wear my boots at night when I can stand it. Two boots are way more annoying than one boot. Often I just wear a boot on the right foot. And during the day I wear supportive shoes. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I wore this outfit to church last Sunday. A fancy-ish dress and Hoka shoes!

Our church holds an annual rummage sale; lots of people donate stuff, and then for three days in July we sell things to the local community. Last Sunday, Isaac and Joseph went to church in the afternoon and spent hours toiling with carrying items from the storage rooms in the basement into the fellowship haul. They are both remarkably strong and I was told on Monday that the ladies running the sale were extremely grateful.

On Monday, I took the four younger kids and we spent more than an hour organizing tables. And today, I took the three younger girls there today and we emerged with a ton of stuff, including a great many swaths of fabric, for very little money. So that was fun.

I don't like random stuff pouring into the house, of cours, as we have enough people in the house that we could quickly be overwhelmed. But today's haul was good. You can see much of it below. Now I am not a seamstress but Angela is and she is excited at all this random fabric!

It has felt like a busy week, but they all do. We will start homeschooling up in a few weeks and I feel intimidated. I ONLY have three kids to teach this year, but I had hoped to write a TON this summer but we have been busy enough that I haven't written as much as I hoped.

Angela is taking college classes this year, as is Isaac, and Miriam and Joseph are working full time. So far they both really like their jobs, which is a huge blessing. Thank you, Jesus!

Right now I am writing two Pride and Prejudice stories simultaneously, which is a little silly, but I'm the Talent. I can do what I want!

Part of the busyness of the week was that Kevin spent hours and hours and hours and hours working on first, listening to an audio book and checking it for errors, and second, going through my last book (which is 109,000 words) and checking for punctuation and other errors.

So yeah, he has been busy! But he is done with both of those projects.

We had a bit of Hurricane Beryl, just the remnants, this week. We had a lot of rain Tuesday night, and wind the next day. We didn't lose power so we are happy.

I am still watching the political stuff with interest. It is such a weird situation. I keep remembering that I am not a politician and I can watch and observe and think about it, but I can't DO anything about it except for pray.

Kevin has been working on our garden regularly. We hope to have zucchinies and cucumbers and green beans and tomatoes and squash and carrots this year.

We have deer that have been nibbling a few things so Kevin tied smelly laundry sheets to stakes in the hopes of discouraging the deer.

Political Stuff

 So obviously a lot of weird things are happening politically.

I am not a hugely political person. That is to say that I have strong views about a variety of subjects, but I also know that I have no influence on the presidency so while I pray for our government, I don't spend a lot of time stressing about stuff that worries me. I have enough worries of my own with life and kids and all that.

From Matthew 6

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I do not approve of most of President Biden's policies, and I think that he should step down now and make way for the Vice President. Of course it isn't that simple. Politics is super complex and there is posturing and this and that and the other. I do believe that the president is in the midst of major cognitive decline and is not well enough mentally to lead our country.

My own parents are actually almost exactly the president's age (within a few months) and they are literal globe trotters these days. Sharp as tacks. The age isn't necessarily the issue; the problem is that Biden seems to be suffering from dementia. Though I am guessing my parents would say they are slowing down physically compared to a decade ago.

Anyway.

I was doing some poking around online and I had forgotten this: Joe Biden has lived through some horrific tragedy in his life, and so has his family.

Hunter Biden, the president's second son, has been a mess for years: drug abuse, promiscuity, more drug abuse, gun charges, weird and doubtful business decisions, random illigitimate daughter. I hope he is off cocaine now. I guess he is?

I re read this a couple of days ago and it whacked me, figuratively, on the head.

In 1972, Hunter and Beau Biden, along with their little sister Naomi and their mother, were in a horrific car accident around Christmas time.

Naomi and their mother died.

Hunter and Beau were badly injured; the former had a brain injury, the latter broken bones.

Joe Biden was a Senator elect.

The incredible tragedy of this blows me away.  These poor little boys, ages 3 and 4, mother and sister dead, father crazy busy, in the hospital for months.

It is weird to ME that Biden continued to pursue an ambitious political career. If it were me, I would settle down into something less busy and spend time with my two little boys. But as Kevin said, no one ever becomes presdident without being super ambitious.

Biden is also a war child. He grew up in a very different generation. He pushed forward. I would imagine that Hunter and Beau both battled some significant emotional challenges after the death of their mother and sister.

Hunter did, anyway.

And then Beau died young. It really is terribly sad.

Anyway, people are complicated. Joe Biden wants to keep being president when it seems like WOW, this man has worked hard for decades and he is old and why doesn't he want to just sit in the sun and enjoy retirement?

Why is Trump running again? I think Trump is healthier than Biden, but still, he is old too!

What makes old men DO that? Ambition, I guess? Genuine commitment to serve their country?

We will see what happens with the President. I think it would be best for the Democrats to shift to Kamala Harris. She is young and cognitively doing well.

But we will see!

A Little Tired of Summer...

 For most of my life, I have been a hot weather girl. I spent 3 of my formative years in the South American rain forest and while I remember being hot, I don't remember being ridiculously hot. Typical high temperatures were in the high 80's to low 90's and during the rainy season, the humidity was close to 100% much of the time. We used to get several short rainstorms a day, which would sweep across the lake upon which our little missionary village was built.

In the last ten years, I have found myself less enthused with really high temperatures.  For one thing, chiggers like summer and I have whined plenty of times about my chigger problems.  So one nice thing about fall, winter, and early spring is NO CHIGGERS.

This summer, I appear to be going through menopause with the associated hot flashes.  Oh. Joy! 

I had an emergency hysterectomy in 2018 but they left in my ovaries, so I have been plugging along sort of like normal -- except not really, because the docs yanked out my uterus -- but based on my current experiences with hot flashes, my body has finally decided it is time to shut down the whole fertility thing. Of course, without a uterus, it wasn't like I could have any more babies, but my body didn't get the memo for a few years. Whatever.

Anyway.  So I keep having hot flashes.  Not fun when I am sitting by the pool watching the kids swim.

So fall will be nice. Summer is awesome too though.  I am just ready for something new and since it will be September shortly, my feelings are jiving quite nicely with the calendar!

We are sort of quarantining for a couple of weeks.  When I say sort of, we are still going out to grocery stores for food and Kevin and I went out to dinner last night, but mostly we are staying home. COVID-19 cases are very high now.  This is no surprise with schools starting up. Thing is, since we homeschool, we CAN stay home. The kids can stay home.  Most people don't have that option.

The four teens now have one dose of the COVID vaccine and Kevin and I are vaccinated.  It is unfortunate that the vaccination, while it does provide protection, does not prevent all breakthrough cases so yes, some vaccinated people can get mildly ill and pass it on to unvaccinated people, and all kids under 12 are unvaccinated...

Societally, it is rough.  The decisions being made by the government and schools and places of business are tough decisions.  Kevin works on the local Air Force base and they are going back to having everyone possible work from home. He has been working from home almost completely since COVID crashed our country, so it is no big change for him.

Oh, and here is something kind of funny!  I was FRANTIC to get Isaac driving. I mean, I wanted him to get his license because this fall he has 3 classes at a local university and two were in person. I did NOT want to have to drive him to and from classes 4 days a week!  He did get his license. Yeah for Isaac!

His first day of classes was last Monday. He showed up, and was informed that all his classes can be done online. So now he isn't going into Wright State, but just working on the computer!  I am guessing they made that option to reduce number of people in buildings because... COVID.

Of course it is nice he has his license, but ha ha ha!  All that worry and anxiety for nothing!  There is a lesson there, I guess.  It is really good he can drive though.  He does have to go in for exams.

Naomi has a new job as of last Monday and her company is a government contractor; they were officially informed that they are dealing with a Public Health Emergency (again) but it isn't clear how that will all pan out for her.

Lots of people have to make hard decisions during this season.  I respect that people look at this whole thing in a variety of ways.  Some people are worried about the vaccine because it hasn't been tested really well yet.  I understand their concerns, especially with kids who are PRETTY safe if they get COVID. Of course there are exceptions but MOST kids don't have rough cases of COVID.  Is it valid to give them a vaccine that is new when there are known side effects of the vaccine (rare but happening)?

But, some people who have COVID and survive it also have long term effects down the road.  Might kids have those problems?

We took our time on having our four teens vaccinated but with delta sweeping the country, we decided it was time.  Other families will make different choices.

It has been a hard week with the news (Afghanistan, Hurricane Ida) and a dear extended family member is very sick with COVID.  I have found when I get worried and anxious I need to turn off the news and turn to God.  This world is a sick place in many ways, but God loves me, he loves us all, and I pray for his mercy on our family, our friends, our nation, and our world.

Update

 This week has been quite tiring. Kevin and his four children and I and my four kids all had a great time on vacation last week. We got home from Michigan on Sunday, and I picked Kevin and the boys and Naomi up at midnight on Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning.

Naturally, it has taken some extra energy and work to get the house and our lives kind of back in place.  The pool got really messed up while we were gone, and we are still throwing chlorine in and battling it into submission. It is swimmable, but not gorgeous.

On the emotional side of things, COVID-19 finally hit hard.  A close relation is in the hospital on a ventilator with COVID.  Thankfully, he is only a little older than I am so his age is in his favor.  But still, it is really upsetting and scary.  Obviously we are praying and praying for him and his family.

This thing in Afghanistan is also upsetting.  We know a lot because the media is showing us.  It is bad.  It is sad. It is scary.  It is tragic. Lots of people are suffering.  Americans and Afghanis are in a lot of danger.

I know the evacuation of Vietnam was also messy and tragic.  Politics and wars and the Taliban are overwhelmingly difficult and complicated and all I can do is pray.

So I am praying a lot.  In the middle of things outside my control are the kids and Kevin and our lives and yes, even our pool.

Isaac starts in person classes next week at a local university.  Today he drove there and we figured out where his classrooms are.  He is still a new driver so yes, another area for prayer!  At least it isn't far and it isn't a difficult drive. We are blessed that we rarely cope with lots of bad traffic.

Lydia got a new job, and Naomi starts her new job on Monday.  Hooray!

A lot is going on. A lot.  Lord, have mercy on our relative, and on Afghanistan, and give wisdom to our leaders, and work in the hearts of the leaders of the Taliban.

Thursday

 

1 Timothy 2:1-4 ESV

 

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Like most people, I am not fond of uncertainty.  As of this moment, it seems almost certain that Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States but it isn't quite over yet so yes, we will see.

And I am disappointed since I don't like his political views, or those of his VP Harris.

Yesterday as I was trying not to be anxious, I remembered the verse above. What can I do, Laraba, about our country's future?  I can pray for our leaders.  I can do the job I am supposed to do, which is to raise my children to love God, serve him, and serve other people.  I am just a midwestern woman with a passel of children. I am not a world changer and I won't be.  There is no point in freaking out about a future I cannot change, but there is every reason to pray.

I am finishing up another Pride and Prejudice book; this one is called Darcy Sails After Her.  I have found that most of my books have themes; this particular one is about love and devotion, and recognizing that one cannot fix everything that is wrong around us.  We all have tasks and we all have seasons in our lives.  During one season we may be at home a lot (well -- that describes most of us through COVID-19!) and another season we might be singing worship on stage at church or feeding the homeless in the streets.

I am, I admit, quite passionate about this issue which is no doubt why it has popped up in my writing. There seems to be a general feeling in the Church of Jesus Christ that the only true way to serve Jesus is to serve within the church community. Simplistically, that seems right. Of course you have to serve God's children if you are a Christian?

But what if the children in question are YOUR children.  I have had littles ones for literally decades now.  Rose, who is 6, is not happy when Mama is gone a lot.  Balancing the needs of 9 children is like a tightrope.  There are days when my brain is whirling much of the morning with trying to help 9 kids with this and that.

If I tried to add on an outside ministry, I would neglect my primary calling during this season, which is my family. I am very certain of this.    

Tired

 It has been a busy and hard week.  I am still mourning our cat Steve, who died recently of an upper respiratory infection. The other 4 kittens are in the sun room and all are on antibiotics now. The girls seemed Ok until yesterday, when Peach (our all orange one) started looking lethargic.  We have enough meds for them all so I decided to just cut to the chase and start dosing the girls as well.

Of course, the cats are not ecstatic with having antibiotics forced down their throats but we know they need it.

Here they are ALL piled in one box.

I am also stressed over the presidential election.  It sure seems like Biden will win but they thought that about Clinton. I do not want Biden to win; I am an ardent pro lifer and Biden's pledge to push abortion right up to full term is horrifying to me. 

Having said that, God is on his throne. I realize that many people I like loathe Trump for different reasons. Some of them are pro-life but to them, it is not the major issue; they are more concerned about immigration and women's rights issues and so on.

Whatever happens, God is on His Throne. I believe sometimes nations get it wrong (we do have free will as voters) but He can work even with a really horrible leader.  Hitler comes to mind.  The dude was actually ELECTED by the German people, which must go down in history as one of the worst democratic election decisions in history. The Holocaust is one of the worst things that ever happened but in the midst of it were people like Corrie Ten Boom and other brave souls who risked their lives for the freedom of others.  

Thankfully we do live in a republic so even if it is a sweep for the Democrats, the Republicans will be able to provide the brakes on occasion. 

And vice versa. If the Republicans do pull out a win, then the Democrats will provide the brakes on occasion.

I think I will be happier on Wednesday just knowing which way it is going to go, one way or the other.

Kids have had a lot of doctor, dental, eye, and orthodontist appointments lately. That is one oddball thing about having a huge family; there are just a lot of random appointments.  Of course, we could just not go to them but we are responsible parents.  Teeth are important. Eyes are important.

So I go.  But it is stressful to be gone a lot from home.

But what a blessing to be able to have my kids cared for well by medical people!  Every time I get whiny, I remind myself of that!

Racism

On a national level, many people are protesting and rioting over the death of George Floyd at the brutal hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I haven't watched the video of his death. I know that what happened was unconscionable. It was murder.  Of course, many people are legitimately horrified and outraged at his death. Regrettably, while many people are protesting peacefully, others have turned their anger into an excuse for looting and violence.  Or maybe some people aren't really outraged, they are just thinking this is a good excuse to steal stuff.

I have been unsettled about what went down.  If I saw someone attacking someone else, I hope I'd have the courage to intervene.  But what about when it is a police officer? We are supposed to be able to trust the police. Not that I do, entirely.  There are bad people in every profession.  It's just a struggle to know what the onlookers should have done.  3 other cops were there.  A crowd of people apparently was telling the police officer to let up on Floyd and he refused. So what were the onlookers supposed to do? Try to wrestle a cop off a man?  And get pepper sprayed or arrested?  Because a policeman (or woman) has societal authority, he or she has extra responsibility to be careful.  Thankfully, I am certain most police are far better than this man. 

Really, it was flat out murder, though not first degree murder. I'm guessing the cop didn't intend to kill him, but he used brutal force.

It is horrifying and very, very sad. 

We live out in the country and away from the rioting.  We are very removed from it all in a geographic sense but it does break my heart that something like this happened.

The Election

I definitely don't do politics much in this blog, and I promise it will stay that way.

I didn't stay up late on Tuesday night. I have Littles who wake up early, and I thought it was a foregone conclusion that Clinton would win.

Like many Americans who woke up on Wednesday morning, and opened Facebook (or a news source), my mouth gaped open as I read that Trump is our new president elect.

Wow, I totally didn't see that one coming.

And I was happy. Yes, I voted for Trump.

I am not a very "political" creature. I don't know much about trade deals and the economy.  I am a smart person and I could figure it out, but I realize that I don't have any way of influencing these kinds of things (except for the occasional election, when realistically 1 vote doesn't matter much anyway) and I am super busy raising and educating my children.  So I don't read a lot about politics.

When I voted for Trump, it was basically an "anti Clinton" vote. I don't like Trump's personality. He is a jerk.  He has not treated at least his first 2 wives well. He had an affair.  He has said some rotten stuff.

But Clinton pushes my one litmus test button (mixed metaphor, perhaps?) and that is the issue of abortion.  I am ardently pro life. And Clinton is not just a pro abortion person, but a fanatically pro abortion person. I think even many pro abortion people quail at partial birth abortion, but Clinton was very open that she thinks this procedure (which is a few inches from infanticide) is a wonderful right for women.

I also found Clinton's comments about "the village raising the child" very alarming. She has cited in a book "wonderful" programs (in other countries) where the government has people going into homes from birth on to "help" the parents raise their kids. That makes my skin crawl.  There are countries like Germany where homeschooling is illegal, and in Sweden children have been snatched by the government when their parents tried to homeschool them.  It does happen, and the "government knows best" mentality is unnerving to me.

And then there was the rigging of the primary against Sanders.

And the email server thing. OH MY.  My husband knows a lot about such things, as he has clearances for classified information.  He is outraged Clinton wasn't charged or even disciplined for the private email server.  People have been stripped of rank, and some have been jailed, for much less.

And the Clinton Foundation and its ties to some foreign countries supporting ISIS.  Ugh.

So yeah, Anti Clinton vote here.

It occurred to me far too late, on Wednesday morning after I learned Trump had won, that a lot of people must actually LIKE Trump and his message.

And that told me once again that people are complicated.  I have read a few articles since the election painting all Trump supporters as sexist, racist, homophobes.  People, it is WAY more complicated than that. Most of the evangelical women on my FB feed were anti Clinton because of the pro life issue and (for some) concerns about her views on homeschooling.  And the email server stuff. And the Clinton foundation.

Many many people were apparently stressed and upset about Obamacare premiums and stagnant wages and illegal immigration.

On the other hand, people I know, love, and respect supported Clinton because they believe that her views are kinder and better.  Some are even pro life people, but consider that her abortion views aren't incredibly important.

So yeah, people are complicated.

I do confess to major curiosity about how the media and the polls were SO WRONG.  Everyone showed Clinton winning, and winning handily.

The pro Clinton bias was very overt to the point that we stopped even reading CNN, which focused exclusively on Trump's sins and almost completely ignored Clinton's issues.

Most other news organizations were the same.

Journalists are people too. They tend to be on average liberal, and I think to some degree they stuck their heads in the sand.

But how were the polls wrong?  Again, a good question.  Were, as Trump's campaign manager said, there a bunch of undercover Trump voters who just didn't want to be hassled, so they didn't tell the truth?

Maybe.  Likely even.  I also know polls can be overtly or accidentally designed to give a wrong answer.

Another big question to me is how did Clinton even get the Democratic nomination, much less how did the DNC basically rig it in her favor?  She had SO much baggage.  I think she was a very poor nominee.

At the end of the day, all of this is mostly academic to me. I get up in the morning, and I care for my children, and I pray for our country. And that is what I am doing now.  I don't know what a Trump presidency will be like. I think it has the potential to be way better than a Clinton presidency.  I can't do anything but pray for him and our government, and I will.

I will also do this. I respect people who are sad that Clinton lost.  I was stressed and nervous when I thought Clinton was a shoe in. I understand being nervous about Trump winning. He does seem like a loose cannon in many ways.

In the end, we can't do much but live our lives, love others, and pray.  That's what I'm going to do.

Bill Nye Pro Abortion Rant

Bill Nye is a tall, lanky guy who, in the past, made a bunch of science videos, complete with frenetic music and a fair amount of ardent evolutionary propaganda.  I had the kids watch a couple of them, but didn't like them all that much partly because they were over the top loud, with lots of sudden visual shifts, and partly because he was so ardently evolutionist.  At least once, I caught a weird scientific error about planetary orbits.

In the past couple of weeks, Nye posted a video that supposedly "debunked" pro life arguments using "science."  Our eldest child came across it first. She chuckled her way through it, then showed it to our next 2 children. All 3 had fun pointing out the truly stunning logical fallacies.  Wow.  I had a hard time watching it because it enraged me so much, which just goes to show that sometimes my kids are more mature than I am :-).

There is a pro life conservative blogger named Matt Walsh who wrote a rebuttal, which is fairly good.  It is here, with both the Nye commentary and Walsh's point by point discussion.

http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/abortion-fans-are-bad-at-science-and-even-worse-at-making-rational-arguments/

I will say that while I agree with Walsh most of the time, I don't prefer his use of sarcasm as I don't think it leads to open, constructive discussion. However, in the case of this Nye diatribe, sarcasm is very tempting. Nye really makes no sense, while being extremely condescending and pretentious.

Walsh did miss one very obvious issue, and that is this stellar quote from Nye:

Sorry, you guys. I know it was written, or your interpretation of a book written 5,000 years ago, 50 centuries ago, makes you think that when a man and a woman have sexual intercourse they always have a baby. That’s wrong, and so to pass laws based on that belief is inconsistent with nature. I mean it’s hard not to get frustrated with this, everybody.

Nye seriously said that. He said that all pro lifers believe that every time a man and woman have sex, they will have a baby.  Huh?  Walsh didn't address that.  I believe that is the "straw man fallacy"--- where you claim your opposition believes something stupid, and then you "debunk it."  Sorry, sweet Mr. Nye, but most of us actually do understand the human reproductive cycle. I assure you, I know that sex does not lead, 100% of the time, to a pregnancy. Honestly, dude. That's just dumb.

But let me address a more fundamental issue.

Nye doesn't say it straight out, but he implies it very heavily-- he, as a "scientist" is a logical, rational human being, as are all scientists. All rational scientists, of course, agree with him about everything.  Those of us in the pro life camp are stupid religious zealots without 2 brain cells to rub together. Therefore, he is right and we are stupid (and wrong.)  

Kevin and I looked up Bill Nye's credentials.  He has a mechanical engineering degree, a bachelor's. So...yes, he studied some science, along with thousands of other engineers and scientists throughout the world.

News flash to Nye, and indeed everyone. Scientists are people.

Scientists are not all 100% rational all the time.
Scientists make mistakes.
Scientists are affected by their world view.  This is to say that their beliefs about God, and humans, and the value of human life, WILL affect their scientific beliefs and the way they interpret data.  

I find it very annoying that one of the favorite arguments of pro evolutionary, pro abortion, pro global warming advocates is that "all scientists" agree with them.

That is obviously not true. Kevin and I are PhD. level scientists, with 10 years of science training in college under each of our belts, and we don't believe in Darwinian macroevolution (though we believe in microevolution), we're pro life, and we're dubious about global manmade climate warming.

One of the current presidential candidates, Ben Carson, is a renowned neurosurgeon who spent years studying the human body, and has done some research along with separating conjoined twins and the like.  I think you could successfully argue he is a bona fide scientist, and he is pro life, doesn't believe in macro evolution, and is dubious about global warming.

The reality is that not all scientists, and not all people, agree about everything.  That is fine, that is normal.  It is reasonable to come to different interpretations about data, and I have no problem with someone honestly coming to a particular viewpoint.

It does bother me a lot when someone pulls the "science card" and dishonestly uses it to try to beat someone over the head with their world view.  Nye did that.  He should be ashamed of himself, but I'm guessing he's carrying his smug superiority into the future and will "bless us" with something else idiotic in the not too distant future.

Words Matter

So yesterday was the Supreme Court ruling making gay marriage the law of the land.  I was not surprised by the decision, as that is the way our country is moving.

I'm not going to talk a lot about the ruling itself except to say that I profoundly disagree with it.  I won't go into why right now.

I am concerned that our government is quite broken where the courts are concerned.  I guess the court system is sort of democratic, because the judges are appointed by people we elected...but it is down the line a ways from the actual elections. And more and more, judges are overturning the will of the people by declaring (it seems arbitrarily) that a law is "unconstitutional."

All this isn't a huge surprise.  Our Founding Fathers managed to put together an amazing government for its time, but people are people, and sin is sin, and power is power.  Power tends to corrupt.  When a black cloaked judge can decide in his or her own wisdom that a law passed by the people is wrong -- well, that's a lot of power!  And often judges use that power to advance their own agenda (both the conservatives AND the liberals.)  The checks and balances have gotten whacked out.

  Anyway, back to my blog post title. Words matter.

  How EASILY we are affected by words.

  On my Facebook page, on the right side, is a set of 3 headlines every time I open the page.  The current top one is:

 #MarriageEquality  Supreme Court rules same-sex marriage legal nationwide in landmark decision.

  Now Facebook doesn't pretend to be a balanced news reporting site and indeed many of its headlines are so short on actual news that it is funny (the next headline today is about a handsome gorilla at some zoo.)

 BUT...the wording of that headline is SO meant to skew our perceptions positively towards the Supreme Court decision.

  Equality...we LOVE that word.  We are all about equality. We are all about being fair.  Right?

 Landmark decision:  that sounds good too, doesn't it?  We aren't maintaining the status quo.  We are new, and adventurous, and progressive in our country. That is something to be proud of, right?

What would a neutral headline read?

Maybe something like:  Supreme Court rules in favor of gay marriage.

What would a headline read that opposed the ruling?  Maybe...

Supreme Court arbitrarily overturns centuries of human history in ruling that same sex couples can be "married."

I will confess I don't even bother reading the news very much anymore, because stuff like this annoys me regardless of who is writing it.  Most news sites lean liberal, but conservatives are guilty of rhetoric as well.

Kevin and I vote Republican almost all the time.  I know there are plenty of lousy Republicans (power corrupts, sin is there, etc.) but as I've said in a previous blog post, the abortion issue is my litmus test issue.  Show me a pro life Democrat (and they do exist) and I would likely vote for him or her.  Show me a pro abortion Republican (and they exist) and I will vote against him or her.

Since we vote Republican, we get Republican mailings (especially around election time.) We periodically get these stupid surveys from the Republican party.  I say they are stupid because supposedly they are to engage conservative voters to find out what said voters believe about various issues. But oh, those surveys are SLANTED.

Things like...

Do you believe that the Obama administration should force the American workers to pay for the health care costs of lower income and uninsured workers, including illegal immigrants?

Not that that is a verbatim quote.  I'm just giving that as an example of the KIND of verbiage in the surveys.  Words like "force".  Words like "illegal immigrants." Those sway us against the proposal. The survey is not meant to really figure out what we believe.  The survey is meant to tally up an impressive percentage of people agreeing with the Republican party's position on various topics.

The Democrats similar survey might say something like:

Do you support President Obama's desire to provide quality health care for all Americans, regardless of their income and racial status?

Oooh, that sounds GOOD.  "Quality".  "Equality for all regardless of income and racial status."  Buried in all that is the nuts and bolts of the current health care law, which is what we really need to think about.

It is natural for politicians to try and sway people in one direction or another with their words.  That is not going to change.  I do challenge us all to THINK about words, and to teach our children to THINK about words.

It is not easy to do this. We live in a world with a barrage of information. We have long lived in a world where people with skills in speaking have swayed large numbers of people in one direction or another.

Sometimes that has been good.  Martin Luther King AMAZES me.  I am thankful some of his speeches were recorded.  His "I Have a Dream" speech is rightly memorialized.  But even in his case, I want to analyze the WORDS. Yes, I love listening to him. I love the words that roll off his tongue in the recordings.  They sway me, and uplift me. They encourage me.  But the main point is that I actually agree with what he said.

Apparently, one of the reasons Hitler did so well politically is that he spoke incredibly well.  That is hard to believe because he looks like an idiot to me, in the recordings of his speeches that I've seen. But I don't speak German, and he was a German speaking to Germans, and the way he spoke uplifted and directed and drew them to the point that his countrymen (mostly) followed him blindly into World War II, the Holocaust, and catastrophic defeat.

So, let's think about what we read and hear.  Think about the messages.  Think about the underpinnings. Think about the words and how the author is trying to make us feel.  And let's teach our children to do the same.

Longer Attention Span...

I've mentioned how much work Daniel is.  He is great, but crazy busy and often getting into things he should not.

In the last week, it seems like he's been a LITTLE easier to care for.  I say that because he is starting to play with toys for more than 2 minutes.  This morning, he played with that marble toy for a good half hour, and then spent some time lying on the floor with his pillow pets.

He hasn't played in the toilet in at least a month.

He hasn't dumped water QUITE as often as usual.

Yes, I think he is mellowing out just a bit. Stay tuned to see if that lasts, or if this is just a phase.

Meriam Ibrahim is free

I've been praying and praying and praying for Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese woman sentenced to flogging and death for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. She's been in prison for months, and last month gave birth to a baby girl.

Yesterday she was freed!  Praise God. Praise God.

I don't read the news all the time and am not "up" on many events, nor do I let myself get emotional about all the tragic things that happen in this world.  I know that I can't solve these things, and I ask the Lord to guide me to pray for those HE puts on my heart to pray for.  Certainly, I felt called to pray for Meriam, that God would give her strength and courage in the midst of an incredibly difficult situation.

I'm sure part of my feeling of connection is that she was expecting a child just a couple of weeks before our Rose was due.  I found the end of my pregnancy fairly difficult, and I was surrounded by loving family and friends.  Meriam was chained in a jail, caring for her toddler son while very pregnant with her daughter.  I just can't imagine, and I kept praying the Lord would give her courage and strength beyond her own abilities.

Now I'm praying that Meriam and her American husband and 2 kids can get out of the Sudan as soon as possible. She is still in danger from radical Islamists; it was, indeed, her own extended family that charged her with apostasy and adultery, resulting in her imprisonment and death sentence. I pray our government will open the door wide to get her to America, where she can be free from fear of revenge.

Withdrawn!

I'm very pleased to report that the so called "Teddy's Law", Senate Bill 248, is being withdrawn by the bill's sponsor.  I am thankful the senator saw that the bill was flawed in many ways, and pray that she and other concerned lawmakers will craft a bill that WILL improve care for children in abusive situations.

Senate Bill 248

Wow.  Wow!  Ohio homeschoolers like myself are reeling in shock, and mad as wet hens.  An Ohio senator named Cafri Cafaro just proposed a law described by Home School Legal Defense Association as the worst they've ever seen in this country.  Feel free to click on the link below...

http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/oh/201312170.asp

So the basic story is this.  Recently, tragically, horrifically, a teen boy named Teddy was murdered by his mother's abusive boyfriend. Teddy had endured abuse for years, and while in the public school teachers had reported suspected abuse to Child Protective Services.  CPS did nothing useful to protect him. Eventually, Teddy's mother pulled Teddy from a normal public school and enrolled him in an e-school, and it is suggested that her motive was to avoid further investigation.  Teddy eventually died from the abuse, and mom and abusive boyfriend are in prison where I hope they stay for a very long time.

So...the logical first assumption is that some moms and live in boyfriends are evil and the second is that CPS messed up incredibly on this precious child.

 Senator Cafaro, instead of dealing with the obvious failures of CPS, instead chose to go after homeschooling as the major culprit in this tragedy.  Senate Bill 248, as it currently stands, would require every homeschool family to submit every year to interviews with a social worker.  Said social worker would not only interview the parents, he or she would interview every child separately.  And then, if the social worker decided (for whatever reason) that homeschooling would not be "in the best interests of the child", the homeschooling request would be denied.  Just like that.

I've been hopping mad for the past 24 hours about this. Hopping mad because we homeschoolers are being assumed guilty until proven innocent, according to this bill.  Hopping mad that a senator of Ohio (plus 3 Democrat colleagues) would dare to formulate this disgusting attack on our constitutional rights.  Does she really think it is good for a harassed, busy social worker, a social worker who often sees the worst in parents, to come into a home and make a quick judgment about how we choose to raise and educate our children?  What if said social worker has a prejudice against Christians?  Or large families?  Or engineers?  Or homeschoolers in general?   There is nothing in the bill that gives any kind of guidelines about what constitutes "best interest of the child" except the whims of the social worker. 

Even if there were guidelines, it would be an ugly bill.  We don't let anyone alone with our young children unless we've decided that person is a safe person.  No one.  We don't go to a pediatric dentist because locally, pediatric dentists don't allow parents to go back with the children and that is unacceptable.  We found a family dentist who is happy to have me in and out with the kids.  We don't leave our children alone with doctors.  No one.  Am I really supposed to allow some random person to come in and ask random questions, perhaps traumatizing, invasive questions, without oversight from me?  I don't think so!

And what about CPS, already strained to the limit to the point that children like Teddy are falling through the cracks and not being protected?  If the bill were passed, CPS would be required to conduct thousands of interviews every year, which would take an awe inspiring amount of time.

This bill will NOT pass as stands.  The Senator is, I think, shocked at the groundswell of outrage from homeschoolers and indeed all who see this as the clear violation of our freedom as parents and citizens. I spent part of this morning looking at Senator Cafaro's FB page, and she is now quickly backpedalling, saying that the bill needs "revision" and she knew it was "far reaching".  No, Senator, it doesn't need revision. It needs junked.

Yes, changes need to be made to protect children like Teddy. His death is a monumental tragedy. But don't blame homeschooling. Blame the mother, and the live in boyfriend, and CPS.  Not homeschooling.

The vast majority of homeschoolers, the VAST majority, are parents who love their kids fiercely and are willing to give up a lot to teach the children at home.  Homeschooling our kids is a way of life for us, but that doesn't mean it is easy.  We put in time and effort and money.  While I work very part time, I am mostly a stay at home mom and -- given that I have a PhD in engineering -- that means we're giving up a lot of potential income.  We don't regret it a bit.  It is all worth it.  But for this senator to introduce a bill saying we should be treated like likely abusers is disturbing and insulting.

Lord, have mercy on our land.  Help us to do what is right. Help us to pass laws that are good and wise, not intrusive. Have mercy on us.



 

 

American Heritage Girl Picnic

  Our 4 older girls, our 2 older boys, and I attended a picnic celebrating the end of the school year for the big girls American Heritage Girl (AHG) troop.

 This is a new troop which began a few months ago.  It has been a good experience.  The combination of me being busy, and the wonderful leadership figuring things out, has meant that I've felt in a fog some of the time. But that's fine. We're getting the basics down and next year should be fun and exciting.

 AHG is a scouting organization that is Christ centered.  It was founded some years ago by parents concerned about the liberal bent of the Girl Scouts of American organization.

  AHG HAS been affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, but with the new rules regarding homosexual members of the BSA, AHG is severing ties with BSA.  (I agree with that decision.) So there are some areas of transition for AHG right now.

 Yesterday's picnic was a final joint AHG and Cub Scout picnic.  The children had a great time.  I was totally worn out for some reason and it was kind of an effort for me to be there, but I am very glad we went. Kevin kept the home fires burning and took care of the babies.

  There was a tug of war between the Cub Scouts and the AHG girls.  The girls won (with a little help from our sons, who came along for the fun).  Actually, the Cub Scout boys didn't have a chance. There weren't as many of them, and their average age was quite a bit lower than the girls because our troop has a whole range of ages and Cub Scouts are just the young ones.

There was an old, inoperative hand pump which didn't produce WATER, but which Isaac enjoyed pumping (and pumping, and pumping.  Definitely NO water.)

  Our troop.

The kids and I took a fairly short hike and found this waterfall.  It actually took longer than we thought and I wondered if we would get lost and end up hiking the trails forever, but we did fine and found our way back to the picnic.