To My Fellow Americans:

I posted the following on a former blog in the fall of 2008.  For some reason, I thought of it today and decided to find it and read it.   Yep, most of it still applies!

Dear friends,

I'm not normally one to purposely become involved in controversial issues, especially politics.  I enjoy harmony and have usually chosen to allow "argumentative people" to. . . well . . .argue!  But I've come to realize that I don't have to argue or have an argumentative spirit in order to state what is true.  Some things have been on my heart for awhile and I feel the need to express them.

Therefore, I am writing this with the knowledge that not every person will agree with me.  If you think there is any value in it, feel free to send it on to whomever you wish.

Every American citizen has some influence in this country, if he/she chooses to use it.  We may think our circle of influence is small or non-existent, but the truth of the matter is that the scope of our individual influence is exactly what God deemed it to be.  No matter what God gives us (money, home, family, material possessions, authority, intellect, etc.), He expects us to do our very best with it.  That includes our "influence."

If not even one person will listen to your audible words, or read your written thoughts, you still have a "voice" on November 4, 2008 [Nov. 6, 2012]!  You will find it at your designated voting station!  Don't sit on the sidelines and let someone else "talk" for you!  Go, and be heard.  Even if the result is not to your liking, at least no one can point a finger at you and say, "Why didn't you do your part?"  More importantly, you won't be thumbing your nose at this God-given privilege.

Speaking of God . . . as much as we like to think we're all that, as individuals and as a nation, we would be nothing without Him!  He made us in His image and breathed the very life into us.  Should we not, then, consult Him about how He would like the country He gave us to be run?  There are few these days who care to enlighten us on the truth of how our nation began but if you listen to people who actually know what they are talking about, or look into it yourself (hint:  the older the source, the less "adulterated" the information is likely to be), you will find that the founders of our country loved God and wanted to run our country based on what was pleasing to Him (they were imperfect humans who made mistakes, but in general they had THE firm foundation).  Now we want to run it, not to mention our own lives, all by ourselves, and look where that has gotten us!

Do you like it when people lie to you?  I sure don't!  But what is truth anyway?  Is it whatever I want it to be?  Is it what a candidate for office says it is?  Is it whatever "the majority" decides it is?  The answers are:  no, no and no.

So, is there anywhere truth can be found?  Yes, indeed!  I think most of us know in our heart of hearts where to find it.  But to acknowledge and search the Word of God is life-changing and sometimes even scary.  It shows us just how far we've strayed.  Believe me, I know from experience!

Some may say, "I don't believe the Bible is any more than an interesting story book.  I don't even believe in God!  Why should I read His supposed words?"  Thanks to the gentlemanly ways of God, you have the choice to think that way!  God never forces anyone to believe or live for Him.

But not believing doesn't make Him any less real, or any less the Source of Truth.  Truth is truth.  We can't change that by believing or denying the truth.  I can choose to believe that my eyes won't be damaged if I look into the sun for an extended period of time.  I can believe it with all my heart, just because I want it to be that way.  If I believe enough, will the truth (and the consequences) change?  I could choose to believe that 2 + 2 = 5.  The fact that I believe it (or don't believe that it equals 4) doesn't change the truth of the matter.

As much as God is a gentleman, He is also a judge.  He does become angry at whole nations!  These two characteristics of God do not conflict or cancel each other out, because He is God!  The older I become, the more I realize that God's ways are so beyond me, His thoughts are so beyond mine, His love is beyond anything I'm capable of and His understanding is beyond the wisest of men. 

I was reading in Isaiah the other day and was struck by how much the story of our country is similar to Israel.  I don't mean they're the same, just that there are some parallels--the new beginning in a new land, fighting for land and freedom, God's evident hand in the starting of a nation.  Just like Israel did time and time again, we are turning our backs on God and all that He stands for.  We want to live our own way.  We want what we want.  We don't want to stand up for what's right, for fear of being labeled "intolerant."  We have ceased from seeking Truth so much that we are easily swayed by utter foolishness. 

Do we want to be a nation of fools?  I urge you to read Isaiah and see the devastation God allows on nations who choose foolishness (as well as the redemption He offers--what great reading Isaiah is!).  If you like reading stuff online, you can go to http://www.biblegateway.com and look up Isaiah.  The entire Bible is on that site.

Will God allow our consequences to be like other nations that have turned against Him?  I can't tell you that for sure.  But we can be sure there will continue to be consequences if we don't get our act together!

Now I'm going to get to the nitty-gritty--the part where I actually start naming names.  If this part is still intact by the time you receive it, you can be assured it's only because the Lord has worked on my heart to keep it in here.  I don't want to do this!  I hate politics!  Even worse, I hate knowing I could cause someone to be angry, or to alienate themselves from me.  Just know that by expressing my thoughts here, I'm not saying you have to agree with me or I'll never speak to you again.  But I can't have peace in my heart until I lay it on the line.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  This is NOT a student council election!  The welfare of our country is at stake!  It's not time to vote for the best-looking candidate or the most eloquent speaker.  We need to look behind the eyes, behind the words.  What does the person's life reflect?  It's not the time to vote for "change" (whatever that's supposed to mean) just to see what "change" might be like.  We don't have time to waste on an experiment like that!

Barack Obama is not who he presents himself to be.  The evidence is all around us (see links below, for starters).  I'm completely baffled as to why (if the polls can be trusted, which is an entirely different issue) approximately half the country chooses to turn a blind eye to the obvious!  Do I hate him?  I will answer that with a question:  Does God hate him?  No!  God definitely hates most of what the guy stands for (or doesn't stand for?), but somehow loves the man (more perfectly than anyone else could). 

And let's just get this out of the way, since people who don't know me well but find out I'm not supporting Obama tend to ask it:  It has nothing to do with the color of his skin.  If he was purple and stood for something worthwhile, he would have my vote.  Race has absolutely nothing to do with anything, or shouldn't anyway.  Anyone who knows my family knows what I mean by that.  End of story.

And, no, John McCain is not the perfect candidate either.  Certainly not who I wanted as a breath-of-fresh-air alternative (though Sarah Palin makes him "smell" quite a bit better!). 

But these are the two viable options we have.  God is the one who raises up rulers.  He has allowed this.  I just hope and pray He has mercy on us!

John McCain, with all his faults and mistakes, has still proven his overall integrity so much better than Barack Obama.  How can we sit back and allow a man with proven terrorist ties be the leader of our country?  Where is the wisdom in this?  What makes this okay?  How can someone like this even be a candidate?  He's a great speaker, except that he doesn't say much.  I should say that he's great at making nothing appear to be something.  Is that who we want leading our country?  A manipulator of words, not to mention people?  I hate to say this, I mean I really do, but the way he speaks and people are mesmerized by him reminds me of Adolf Hitler.  It's a scary, scary thing.

Let's not let the "powers that be" make idiots of us!  Oh, how the liberal media twists and edits things to feed into that manipulation.  If that's all we watch/listen to/read, it's easy to be deceived.  Even conservative media doesn't always offer the right answer.

Are we even supposed to be swayed by the media?  What is supposed to be our measure of what is right and wise to vote for?  Again, we come back to the Bible.  Are McCain's and Obama's names written in Scripture?  Not that I'm aware of.  But their stances are.

Let's take abortion for example.  According to the Bible, it's not a "choice" that's pleasing to the Lord.  I honestly have nothing but love and compassion for every girl or woman who has been wounded by that choice, and I know God offers the ultimate grace and mercy to these dear ones.  Many are persuaded by people they trust, or by society, or by the abortionists themselves, to have this "procedure" done, and they feel they have nowhere else to turn.  Oh, how my heart goes out to you, sister, whoever you may be, if your heart still hurts or if you've suffered physically because of the lies told to you.  Any anger I have is not directed at you, but at those who fight so hard to keep abortion legal, knowing full well the trauma and devastation it can bring and trying to keep that aspect of it hidden, for their own selfish gain, whether it be monetary, political, social, or just plain foolishness. 

As if that's not bad enough, Obama is for infanticide--allowing tiny babies who "somehow" survive an abortion, to be neglected until they die.  It's criminal!  It's abominable!  And many Americans don't even know about it because they aren't told!  Are we going to stand for this?!

Do we DARE elect into office any more people who spit in the face of God and His creation by supporting and fighting for this atrocity?  How much longer will God be patient with us?  Can we see that maybe His patient phase is gradually coming to an end?  He tells us He is slow to anger but not that He will never become angry!

We need to care about what is near and dear to God's heart!  He is not nearly as concerned about money and our economy as He is about lives and how they are protected and lived.  The economy stinks right now and He knows that.  But the economy cycles every several years and, though it's not fun right now, it doesn't HAVE to end on a bad note.  God tells us in His Word that if we seek HIM first, He will provide.  Wouldn't you love to be provided for by the God of the universe, rather than babysat by the government?  We CANNOT base our votes on our wallets!  It's wrong!  It's dangerous! 

Do we really want socialized medicine?  We ought to to ask the people from countries who do that now, who come HERE when they need something serious done, so it will be done well and safely.  Hmmm. . . .

I'm also VERY concerned about Obama's stance on the war.  As far as going into Iraq, there were valid reasons for doing this.  By everyone's admission, including former President Clinton, Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.  He had used chemical warfare within the borders of his own country and there was no reason to suspect that he wouldn't use them outside of his borders.  Within the last year, they uncovered a cache of yellow cake uranium which is some of the raw material used for a nuclear bomb.  Bet you didn't hear about that in the mainstream media!  There's no arguing that mistakes have been made in how we have fought the war in Iraq but the Surge has worked to bring increased stability.  We as Americans have extremely short historical attention spans.  Not so in the Middle East.  Some of their rivalries go back millennia, so they can be extremely patient in plotting revenge.  To publish an arbitrary date for withdrawal in their eyes would be a sign of weakness which would embolden them to plot an assault as soon as we were gone.  Only by announcing that we will stay until the job is done will they understand that we are serious.

And meeting with these leaders without pre-conditions is just plain foolish.  It does nothing but give them "street cred," and is a slap in the face to Israel, one of our strongest allies in the region.  There needs to be dialog with these terrorist organizations and nations, but it needs to be with the goal of helping them understand that we will not stand idly by while they commit atrocities.  In any case, if anyone meets with anyone, the guidelines should fall within the already established protocol.  For the president himself to meet with terrorists is completely inappropriate, as he rarely has time to meet personally even with leaders of peaceful countries.  He has his "underlings" do it.

It's naive and ridiculous on Obama's part!  The fact that he actually thinks these things should be cause for people not to see him as a credible candidate.  The guy refused to even salute the flag or wear a flag pin on his lapel, at least for awhile!  Sorry, but I'm not convinced he's completely loyal to our country at all.  I know it's difficult having our loved ones in harm's way on our account.  But God has been asking people to take a stand in this way for millennia, and most feel honored to do it.  I myself dread the day my son enlists--and he's the type of guy that will likely do it--but we can't let our emotions get in the way of what's right.  God isn't asking us to do anything He didn't do--He sent His Son to earth, knowing without a doubt that His innocent Son was going to die on behalf of others.

Wake up, America!  We have GOT to wake up!  I am not an alarmist--it's completely against my usual personality.  Writing this, and actually sending it, is something I consider bold, for me anyway.  If I've made anyone out there angry, that was not my intention.  My hope is only that it will stir your heart.  Truth is truth.  At this time next year, or two or three years from now, let's not look back and WISH we had voted to please God and trusted Him to protect and provide for us, rather than trying to take matters into our own hands by voting in someone who will not fight for the things God cares about!

I urge you to do your research about the issues at stake.  Find out what you haven't been told, and ask yourself why that would be.  I can't make up your mind for you.  You have the right and the privilege to do that yourself.  But please make sure you have all the facts first!  And we need to pray that God would see fit to raise up the man who will best lead our country!

Here are a few links to websites that will tell us the whole story:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com

http://www.michaelmedved.com/

http://www.onenewsnow.com/

And some individual articles, for starters:

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=221300

http://onenewsnow.com/Election2008/Default.aspx?id=283050

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77998

If you've made it to the end of this, thank you for taking the time to read. 

Most sincerely,
Laurie

Can You Imagine Not Being Free? Maybe We Should!

Voting.  It seems so simple.  So basic.  It's a right.  Right?

Well, it is for me as an American (for the time being anyway) and, depending on where you are from, it might be for you, too.  But it's not as basic as automatically being a right just because one is born into the human race.

Not everyone is free like I am or you might be.  Can you imagine not being free?

In school, Little Mister and I have been studying the process of voting in our country.  In one book we read, there was a photo of voting in El Salvador, where, at the publication date of the book, people were required to vote, and were watched by armed guards to make sure they did so.  I wouldn't call that a "right" to vote, but a mandate, and it would be difficult to convince me that in a setup like that, there wouldn't be some coercion for particular votes going on.

Today we watched a documentary called, Please Vote for Me,  about a 3rd grade class in the communist country of China who were allowed to experience democracy and vote for their classroom monitor.  These children had no idea what voting or democracy meant until it was explained to them how it would work in their classroom.  My heart was saddened as I thought about how the right I took for granted for many years is a freedom many will never experience.

These kids fell apart at times and, misguided by their parents, stooped to the same nasty tactics we see politicians use here in the States, the third grade version of them anyway.

It was interesting, but still heart-wrenching to think of living a life never knowing anything but dictatorship.

And it makes me sad to know that if things don't change here in America (and soon!), my future grandchildren could live that existence. 

And my own son may someday only remember what it was like to be free.

The Sane Thing

School Room Whispers and Heart Whispers (combined today):

I was so angry.  And disappointed.  And feeling incapable of knowing what to do about the situation.

Sometimes I just can't seem to think of the best thing to do.  Or even a good thing.  I very much dislike being in that situation.

But such is sometimes the life of this homeschool mom.  I have, even as recently as this morning, sat and stared at my son and thought, "Why am I doing this?"

Yes, I love home education and all the benefits of it, but I'm still human.  I still have inklings of thoughts about how much more "free" I could be regarding my time, my emotions, my few un-realized dreams . . . AND it would be someone else's responsibility to figure out what to do in those trying moments.

Snap!  What are you thinking, Laurie?!

I look at my precious 5th grader, still a little boy in some ways, yet fighting to be manly beyond his years, and, even if he's glaring at me, his "unreasonable" mom/teacher, I know that God has ordained this moment to be who and where and when it is.  No, it is not of Him when I am disobeyed or disrespected.  It is not of Him when I disrespect or become impatient.

But the Who and the Where and the When are as He wills.  And the Whys remain the same.

Because it is He who has put it on my heart to teach my son at home:

• There is no better way I could be spending my time.
• There is no better way to invest my emotions during school hours.
• There are no dreams-fulfilled that would bring more satisfaction than the living of this one.

This isn't true for everyone.  Many moms obey the Lord's plan for their families by sending their kids to school.  This has its own challenges and rewards.

Whatever the Lord has us doing during our days, the most sane thing we can do is keep our eyes on Him and the truth of what He has asked of us, no matter what tries to woo us away.


Kitchen Whispers
My young friend Ella helped me make cornbread this afternoon to be wolfed down by herself, her brother and Little Mister at snack time.  It might be more accurate to say I helped her make it.  She did a spectacular job. :)

 
It's Little Mister's night to plan the menu and cook.  He chose what we simply call "Thai," and it is a most favorite of his.  The official name of the recipe is Thai Beef with Chilis and Basil over Coconut Rice.  You can find it here if you're interested.  We do things a bit differently, such as leaving out the fish oil and just using some extra soy sauce.  We can't seem to find the pepper it calls for, so we us jalapeno instead.  Um, I will be cutting up said jalapeno tonight.  Not quite ready for LM to tackle that yet, since some of the seeds need to be removed and it needs to cut into pretty small pieces. :)  We all like this recipe, and that coconut jasmine rice is soooo easy and smells and tastes divine! :)

TV Whispers
I finished a Cary Grant movie, His Girl Friday, the other night.  What is it about Cary Grant movies?  I mean, he's not the best actor ever.  His timing's a bit off sometimes or something.  But the charm draws you in, and he's funny.  Gotta like a sense of humor.

I started Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn, but haven't finished it yet.  I just love Audrey's quirky elegance.  I've seen this movie before, of course, but it's been years.  It's almost like watching it for the first time.  Again.  ;)

At the library I checked out You've Got Mail (why don't I own that?), but haven't watched it yet.  That's another one I haven't seen in a long time.

When I can't sleep at night, many times if I get up and settle on the couch and turn the TV on, it lulls me to sleep.  Thankfully, I haven't had to do that as much lately, but when I do, The Dick Van Dyke Show is a favorite.  Do you ever wonder what the colors of the set actually were on a black-and-white show?

Computer Whispers
I'm enjoying this new blog, but still feeling strangely like a fish out of water.  I'll settle in, I suppose. :)

Blessings!
Laurie 

Rainy Days and Mondays

Heart Whispers
It was gray and rainy outside when I awoke this morning.  For a second, I wondered if my mood might match the day, but then I remembered I didn't have to choose that.  The decision was mine.  It's nice to have choices, isn't it?

As I gazed out the large windows in our school room, my memory took me back to my own elementary school.  I don't know how it is now, but back then it was a great school.  Most of the classrooms looked very similar to one another, with huge windows which were divided into sections.  There was a lower section that opened (if I'm recalling correctly), a middle part that did not open, and a high section which required a long pole with a hook to open and close.

Thick gray drapes closed to cover the windows during filmstrips or reel-to-reel movies (yes, that's what I said. lol) and opened to let the daylight in most other times.  What I found myself thinking about most this morning were the times it would storm while we were in school.  Not the dangerous storms when we would have to go out in the hallway and sit with our heads down toward the wall, covering our necks/heads with our hands, but the kind of storm that darkened the sky and made the lights inside seem all the brighter.  I remember feeling so safe and content in the warm, dry, bright classroom inside while looking out at the dark, stormy outside.

As an adult, spiritually speaking, I'm in the safety of God's family--not because of any good thing I've done, but because of my faith in Jesus Christ who is good for me.  I'm more secure than I ever was in any classroom at Carl A. Sward Elementary school as a child.  Yet I don't always feel that way when I look out at the darkness, the injustice, the utter disregard for God and His ways, the rebellion, the storm if you will.  When I turn my eyes in those directions and lose sight of the One I'm supposed to be following, I panic.  Big time panic!  Panic attack sometimes!

It's fine and good to feel concern for the darkness and especially the people who choose to walk in it, but not to be blinded by it.  Once again, I have a choice.  Sometimes I forget and feel imprisoned.  But I am free!  I need to walk in that freedom!

School Room Whispers
Today began our 2nd week!  We are talking about money management, and LM "made" 3 banks today--one for saving, one for spending, and one for "sharing" (tithing).  I just gave him some disposable containers and he decorated them with stickers (don't tell anyone, but I think he enjoyed using stickers again, which he hadn't done in awhile.  wink, wink).

 

 Also, we talked about erosion and the effects of Noah's Flood on the earth.  He liked the demonstration involving soil, gravel, and a plant (ok, a weed!) in a jar, followed by a bunch of water and, with the lid tight, lots of shaking of said jar and observing what happened.  It's amazing when  you really study how the Flood changed the earth (think Grand Canyon and fun things like that!).  The power of God is amazing!

For Creative Writing, he wrote an imaginative itinerary for Noah and their family for when they exited the ark. lol

He is currently reading King of the Wind for reading "class."  I let him start out with something easy. ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_the_Wind

Besides social studies, penmanship, spelling, vocabulary, and typing, he is also keeping a Nature Notebook and a Writer's Notebook each day.  A busy boy (and mom!) indeed! :)

The butterfly bush outside a schoolroom window appears to be dying down for the season, yet is still attracting lots of humming birds!  We love to watch them but haven't yet caught them on camera.

Kitchen Whispers
Not much going on in the kitchen tonight.  I need to get to the grocery store!  Tonight it will be pancakes.  Breakfast for dinner.  Nobody minds. :)

Blessings!
Laurie

PS--If you like this new blog and want to follow it, "join" over on the right side, toward the top. :)  I may be having a giveaway at some point for followers! :)

Something New: The Whispers of Our Walls. :)

One of my fave wall hangings. Reminds me of one of my fave movies! :)

It's time for something new.  Sometimes you just know that, right?

Yes, it's time to start a new blog.

While not nearly as heart-wrenching, I do feel a bit like I'm uprooting myself from an established home (my blog, Rekindled Heart), and re-planting myself in a new territory.

WHY would I do that?

This saying is above a mirror. The wall color is showing up a bit darker than it is, but I do love that saying! :)

Well, just like moving a household, sometimes you know it's the thing to do, but don't fully understand all the reasons you're led to do so until you get there and settle in.

God has His reasons for the leading.  Sometimes we know them as we follow, and other times we just follow.  Trust.

The shield on Little Mister's door.  It's SO him. ;)

At least this is just a blog.  Not a huge risk by any means. :)

As I've been thinking about this new blog, an old song keeps running through my mind.  It's such a lovely song, and it's absolutely a perfectly appropriate (and easy! ha ha) way to begin my new blog.  The video isn't much to look at, but the song is so very pretty and poignant.  Enjoy!  Oh, and don't forget to "follow" this blog somewhere over there on the right side of the page if you wish.  :)  ------------------------------>