I Never Thought of That (continued)

Franklepea: You know, if you see a big mountain, you could just go up to it, throw your lasso around it, and climb up it.

Mommy: Then what?

Franklepea: Then, you can slide down the other side.

(Lesson: If you're gonna dream -- dream big.)

Lessons from the Kids

What lessons can be learned from this picture?

That losing a shoe doesn't mean the fun has to stop. Only grown-ups worry about such trivial things.

That, in the absence of toys, a good spatula can fit the bill for hours.

That a big brother is still the best playmate, even if you are likely to get hurt in the fun.

That a little sister will still play with you, even if you've hit her with a spatula.

Franklepea's Glossary of Terms (updated)

magni-finding glass (n.): magnifying glass
remembries (n.): memories
crouton grabbers (n.): tongs
scratch-backer (n.): back scratcher
buckin' otters (n.): binoculars
armpit sugar (n.): deoderant
mo-tro (n.): remote control
beezow (interj.): used to express a futuristic shooting sound as heard in some video games

I Never Thought of That

Maybe it's because the regular toys don't stay new and exciting for very long, but the kids come up with things that I would never think to do...

Like putting the unpopped popcorn kernels in that little hole inside the doorjam. Apparently Heimer thought that was a perfectly reasonable place to put the little duds because she installed several more today even though the last batch was removed a week ago...

Like using the hollow handle of my smallest skillet as a scabbard for the plastic serving fork, uh, "sword" that happened to fit so well inside. The foam blade has been torn from Franklepea's toy sword twice now, so it is in toy jail until the repairman (Daddy) is willing to glue it back...

Like finding out that spatulas make great golf clubs; you just have to bend down farther...

Like discovering that the size and heft of a wooden rolling pin feels just like a rifle in a 4-year-old's hands, even if you have to make your own sound effects to complete the illusion...

Like pulling your sister's plastic bead necklace hand-over-hand on a doorknob because it looks just like when real sailors pull up anchor or hoist a sail.

Someone tell me why it is we're buying toys for the kids again this Christmas?

Anyone Else Believe in Miracles?

Mooster at 6 months old. Was there life before this beauty?

There's a Reason They're So Cute

The evening we planned to celebrate Daddy's birthday with cake, Heimer picked over her dinner plate as if she suspected it had been poisoned.

Mommy: You have to eat your supper if you want to eat birthday cake when Daddy gets home.

Heimer: (staring at her full plate)

Mommy: Are you all done? You won't get any birthday cake.

Heimer: Me done.

Daddy walked in the front door and we shouted, "Happy Birthday!" I lit the candles and began the song. Heimer, now sitting in Daddy's lap, sang in her sweetest baby-girl voice:

"Berf - day - Da - dee - Berf - day - Da - dee..."

Franklepea: (upon song's end) Heimer doesn't get any cake; she didn't eat her dinner.

Mommy: That's right. I told her she had to eat supper to get cake.

Daddy: I'll decide who gets cake. She can have cake.

(How naive to think I could compete with the disarming power of a two-year-old, red-haired, heart-melting songstress. I should have known.)

Now We Know

I had often wondered what was going on in Heimer's head. Now, after losing her binkies in a battle royale with Daddy, the plug that impeded the flow of words is gone. And so is any hope I had that her tongue would be easier to tame than Franklepea's (or mine, for that matter).

Heimer (hitting Franklepea): You go 'way!

Mommy: Kate, no hitting! You can NOT hurt your brother.

Heimer: No, mommy! You bad girl!

Mommy: *gasp* (deer in headlights)

Separate and unequal

One of the most critical values my husband and I try to teach our three teenagers is the importance and joy of marriage.
After my desire for my children to be at peace and have a personal relationship with their Creator, my second greatest desire is that they would one day be happily married and raise children of their own.
Why? Because I know the joy of this great blessing, and because I've seen the pain and heartache of divorce, out-of-wedlock births and single parenting. Yet our modern culture refuses to spread the truth because it is politically incorrect.
But the truth is clear: God's design is for children to be born of and raised by two married parents. Sadly, we know that many people cannot help the fact that they're raising their children alone. But many others actually make the choice to raise children by themselves – and the children are the ones who suffer.

Read the entire article at http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed020207a.cfm

Church-going In-tact Families Raise Good Kids

Even if you don't know the 'why' behind these statistics, it is clear that children raised by married, biological parents who attend church often turn out best...

If you care about your kids, stay married and go to church. They will be less likely to do drugs, run away, be promiscuous, steal, and will have higher grades. View the entire article at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Family/Map_of_Religion.pdf

Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age

In the 1960s, Americans began a radical, historically unique experiment. Marriage and childbearing were really two separate life phenomena. Marriage was about adult happiness. People started saying, "Don't stay together for the sake of kids.” Meanwhile, the question occurred to many: Why do you need to be married when you have children?

Read the entire article at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Family/hl1005.cfm

Brave Newark World

The University of Delaware has just become one of the most Orwellian campuses in America. Students in its residence halls are now being subjected to a re-education program that is actually dubbed - in the university’s own tax-payer funded materials - as “treatment” for students who have incorrect attitudes and beliefs.

Read the entire article at http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MikeSAdams/2007/10/31/brave_newark_world

Abstainers Are Killers?

The lesson from the anything-goes crowd is so illogical it borders on the obscene. In order to "protect the youth" from unsavory sexual messages, we should provide them will all the technology so they can have "safe sex" -- even at age 11. But who is responsible for this bombardment of sexual messaging in our culture that's fueling this fire?

Read the entire article at http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrentBozellIII/2007/10/19/abstainers_are_killers

School Board Approves Birth Control Prescriptions at Maine Middle School

PORTLAND, Maine — Pupils at a city middle school will be able to get birth control pills and patches at their student health center after the local school board approved the proposal Wednesday evening.
The plan, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades 6 through 8, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
There are no national figures on how many middle schools, where most students range in age from 11 to 13, provide such services.

Read the entire article at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303058,00.html.

Higher Education

Mommy: What comes after 6?

Franklepea: 7!

Mommy: Good. Now what comes after 7?

Franklepea: 8!

Mommy: Good. Now what comes after 8?

Franklepea: H!

Mommy: No. Try again. What comes after 8?

Franklepea: L!

Mommy: *groan*

Time to Bring an End to the DREAM Act

The American people rose up out of their usual apathy and soundly defeated the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 that would have given amnesty to illegal immigrants. Now, some senators are trying to get Congress to pass a backdoor amnesty by calling it the DREAM Act, and it's really a nightmare for Americans.
The cutesy title DREAM, which is meant to be a double-entendre, is an acronym for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors.
The DREAM Act would allow any illegal immigrant of any age who entered the United States before age 16 and has a high school diploma or equivalent to enroll in any state university and pay only the in-state tuition rate. Being an illegal immigrant is the prerequisite to getting this preferential treatment, which is denied to legal aliens with valid student visas.

Read the entire article at http://www.townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2007/10/15/time_to_bring_an_end_to_the_dream_act

EU: The Beast of Revelation?

Official symbols adopted by the European Union, including the EU flag, the Euro, a poster comparing the EU to the tower of Babel, a statue outside the EU Assembly building, and the EU stamp:

Rev. 17:3-18 ...And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

5 And on her forehead a name was written:
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

7 But the angel said to me, "Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

9 "Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10 There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. 11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.

12 "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful."

15 Then he said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth."

Appeal of torture-slaying conviction could set U.N. law over U.S.

At issue is the death penalty verdict for Jose Medellin, who confessed in 1993 to participating in the rape and murder of two Houston teenagers. Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena were sodomized and strangled with their shoe laces. Medellin then boasted of keeping one girl's Mickey Mouse watch as a souvenir of the crime.

The Bush administration is before the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn the death penalty, at the behest of the International Court of Justice, a division of the United Nations.

"This is going to be a watershed case," he said, "which could bring the U.S. criminal justice system into a brave new world, subordinated to United Nations regulations and issuances."

Read the entire article at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58063

Ex-Mexican prez: 'Amero' on the way

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox confirmed the existence of a plan conceived with President Bush to create a new regional currency in the Americas, in an interview last night on CNN's "Larry King Live."
It possibly was the first time a leader of Mexico, Canada or the U.S. openly confirmed a plan for a regional currency. Fox explained the current regional trade agreement that encompasses the Western Hemisphere is intended to evolve into other previously hidden aspects of integration.

Read the entire article at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58052

Muslims Leaders Warn Pope 'Survival of World' at Stake

The "survival of the world" is at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace with each other, leaders of the Muslim world will warn the Pope and other Christian leaders today.
In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders "to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions" and spell out the similarities between passages of the Bible and the Koran.
The scholars state: "As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them - so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes."

Read the entire article at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,301116,00.html

Personal note:
John 14:6 says, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

The United Nations' Abortion Dilemma

Let's briefly review two contradictory United Nations (U.N.) talking points. (1) Abortion is a matter of "women's rights;" (2) Killing a "girl child" in the womb is "the most extreme form of violence against women." To hold both of these beliefs at the same time means to live with constant cognitive dissonance.

Read the entire article at http://www.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=12441&department=BLI&categoryid=reports

Another Lesson In Selective Tolerance

People who don't think the radical homosexual lobby is trying to force its views on society probably aren't paying close attention. Increasingly, in various parts of this nation, if you express traditional views on traditional marriage, you risk being branded a bigot and your speech being muzzled.For the radical homosexual lobby, it isn't enough that its views are guaranteed full protection, even special protection by the state. They also want to ensure that those disagreeing with them are demonized and denied their First Amendment rights.

Read the entire article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=21099

Confusion Everywhere

No matter what "conventional wisdom" purports to tell us about the dominance of the Christian worldview in our culture, recent headlines illustrate the formidable challenges confronting Christian conservatives from inside and outside the church.

On ABC's "The View," Whoopie Goldberg dressed down the program's lone conservative, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, for daring to air her pro-life views. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama appeared at a megachurch in South Carolina calling for the creation of an earthly kingdom. And President Bush reportedly said, "All religions pray to the same God." Let's consider each story...

Read the entire article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22757

Law of the Sea treaty Doesn't Hold Water

The Law of the Sea Treaty is the globalists' dream bill. It would put the United States in a de facto world government that rules all the world's oceans under the pretense that they belong to "the common heritage of mankind." That's global-speak for allowing the United Nations and its affiliated organizations to carry out a massive, unprecedented redistribution of wealth from the United States to other countries.

Read the entire article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22536

U.S. Self-Government is in Peril

It's now leaking out that there was more going on than met the eye at the Security and Prosperity Partnership Summit in Montebello, Canada, in August. The three amigos - President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon - finalized and released the "North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza."
The "Plan" - that's what they call it, with a capital P - is to use the excuse of a major flu epidemic to shift powers from U.S. legislatures to unelected, unaccountable "North American" bureaucrats.

Read the entire article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22310

Scholars explain president's plan for a North American Union

Those who seek to understand what's behind the chatter about President George W. Bush's Security and Prosperity Partnership as a possible prelude to a North American Union, similar to the European Union, should read the 35-page White Paper published recently by the Hudson Institute called "Negotiating North America: The Security and Prosperity Partnership."

Read the entire article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22744

The Same God?

The president is the most openly evangelical Christian and faithful churchgoer since Jimmy Carter. And the evangelical community has mostly embraced him and twice voted for him in overwhelming numbers. But that constituency is likely to be troubled over something the president said in an interview with Al Arabiya television. In an official transcript released by the White House, the president said, “…I believe in an almighty God, and I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God.”

Read the entire article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22748

Who Gets To Shape Your Kids' Values?

Here's a guy running for president of the United States. He wants to make all kinds of decisions that will impact your life, the lives of your children, your neighbors and people around the world, but he doesn't want to make decisions about the moral education of his own children?

Read the entire article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22678

Are You Ready for Your North American Union ID Card?

Human Events Online has been leading the coverage of the so-called “Security and Prosperity Partnership,” a unilateral program implemented by the Bush Administration designed to set the course for a North American Union that would subsume our national sovereignty. A de facto treaty signed by the leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., the agreement was never submitted to the Senate for ratification. Now it can be revealed that plans for the North American Union include a tri-national “North American Union” ID card...

Read the entire article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=16058

Education! What Education?!

C.S. Lewis said it best...

"What I want to fix your attention on is the vast overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence -- moral, cultural, social or intellectual. And is it not pretty to notice how 'democracy' (in the incantatory sense) is now doing for us the work that was once done by the most ancient dictatorships, and by the same methods? The basic proposal of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils. That would be 'undemocratic.' Children who are fit to proceed may be artificially kept back, because the others would get a trauma by being left behind. The bright pupil thus remains democratically fettered to his own age group throughout his school career, and a boy who would be capable of tackling Aeschylus or Dante sits listening to his coeval's [of the same age] attempts to spell out A CAT SAT ON A MAT. We may reasonably hope for the virtual abolition of education when 'I'm as good as you' has fully had its way. All incentives to learn and all penalties for not learning will vanish. The few who might want to learn will be prevented; who are they to overtop their fellows? And anyway, the teachers -- or should I say nurses? -- will be far too busy reassuring the dunces and patting them on the back to waste any time on real teaching. We shall no longer have to plan and toil to spread imperturbable conceit and incurable ignorance among men."

C. S. Lewis

Gardasil Kills

October 6, 2007

Another eight deaths in just the past few months are being connected to Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s vaccine that targets the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus and is being considered by many states as mandatory for all schoolgirls, according to documents released by Judicial Watch...

View the complete article at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58004

This Blessed Restlessness

I have obsessed for so long over the enormity of the job of parenting, my inadequacy to that task, the shortcomings of my marriage, and my longings for more than this.

Like Peter, I believe that the Lord can work miracles, that He can choose to calm the storm or choose to simply carry me through it, but I get distracted by the raging storm and I begin to drown.

Then the Holy Spirit whispers in my ear, “Do you trust Me?” followed by His gentle reminder…
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

Is my anxiety evidence of my distrust? Do I know the God of all creation well enough to rest in His sovereignty moment by moment? Is it even possible to leave off our human-ness long enough to really find that elusive rest?

God alone can provide the comfort that comes in knowing that even the painful things in life can and will be used for my own good. True to His character, God plans for my life that which is better for me beyond my human understanding or imagination. But what is God’s best for me? Not a promise for health and wealth and entertainment. These are temporary diversions at most and God’s best for me may or may not include any of these things. His ultimate goal is to glorify Himself in making me Christlike, and His ultimate reward for me is Himself – the things that moth and rust cannot destroy and thief cannot steal. Indeed, the things that last forever.

Lord, grant that I might find real rest in you, moment by moment, and know in my gut that it is not up to me to make my marriage into one of Your design, make my children into godly people, make my home a place of perfect serenity and order. But if I might be a tool in your hands, Lord, work through me (and in spite of me) to accomplish these things.

And when in your plan You have ordained NOT to accomplish these things, may it be to drive each of us to the end of ourselves at the foot of the Cross, to point our gaze Heaven-ward, heightening our God-given thirst for You and for eternity with You. Remind us then in our restlessness that we are not made for the here and now, although we are temporarily and irresistibly distracted by it and bound to it. Show us our longing for Heaven where we will know You as we are known by You. Cause us to persevere through this day of battle and make us mindful of the day coming quickly on us when we will finally and joyfully bound home like school children into Your waiting arms.

Finally, Father, make me to keep a loose grip on all these lesser things so that nothing can take Your place of supremacy in my heart. In Christ, I have all I need. Make it so that You are all I want.

Nearer, My God, to Thee

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
Refrain

Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee!
Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, my rest a stone.
Yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God, to Thee.
Refrain

There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;
All that Thou sendest me, in mercy given;
Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.
Refrain

Then, with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise;
So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee.
Refrain

Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I’ll fly,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
Refrain

There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest,
There in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest;
Age after age to be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
Refrain

Be Still My Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.

This hymn was re­port­ed­ly the fav­or­ite of Er­ic Lid­dell, the ath­lete who be­came fa­mous in the 1924 Olym­pics for re­fus­ing to run on the Sab­bath (see the mo­vie Char­i­ots of Fire). Lid­dell lat­er be­came a mis­sion­ary in Chi­na, and was im­pris­oned dur­ing World War II. He is said to have taught this hymn to others in the pri­son camp (where he event­u­al­ly died of a brain tu­mor).

O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day may brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red life that shall endless be.

George Matheson (this hymn's author) said of it:
"My hymn was com­posed in the manse of In­ne­lan [Ar­gyle­shire, Scot­land] on the ev­en­ing of the 6th of June, 1882, when I was 40 years of age. I was alone in the manse at that time. It was the night of my sister’s mar­ri­age, and the rest of the fam­i­ly were stay­ing over­night in Glas­gow. Some­thing hap­pened to me, which was known only to my­self, and which caused me the most se­vere men­tal suf­fer­ing. The hymn was the fruit of that suf­fer­ing. It was the quick­est bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the im­press­ion of hav­ing it dic­tat­ed to me by some in­ward voice ra­ther than of work­ing it out my­self. I am quite sure that the whole work was com­plet­ed in five min­utes, and equal­ly sure that it ne­ver re­ceived at my hands any re­touch­ing or cor­rect­ion. I have no na­tur­al gift of rhy­thm. All the other vers­es I have ever writ­ten are man­u­fact­ured ar­ti­cles; this came like a day­spring from on high."

For Lack of a Better Word

Recent Quotables...

Franklepea: (watching TV) Goofy the Great!
Mommy: Who is Goofy the Great?
Franklepea: That's what they call Goofy when he's "magicky" -- you know, a "magic-tricker".
________________________________

(thunder claps)
Mommy: Ooh, did you hear that?
Franklepea: Was that thunder, or is someone firing cracker-nuts?
________________________________

Franklepea (watching a commercial): Ooh, I want to see that movie.
Mommy: What movie is that?
Franklepea: The Little Wormaid.

Jungle Bugs

Our team of "Tumble Bugs" by way of one misunderstanding became more appropriately named "Jungle Bugs." Their domain, a Lord of the Flies-esque upstairs play area where small people reign and grown people struggle for dominance. Their language, incomprehensible to grown people and a tool for clandestine communication. Here is the tribe's current chief (under constant threat of mutiny by the smaller members) and the tribe at the entrance to their lair...

I Need Thee Every Hour

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

Refrain
I need Thee, O I need Thee
Every hour I need Thee
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby
Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.
Refrain

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain
Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain.
Refrain

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.
Refrain

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One
O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessèd Son.
Refrain

Annie Hawks (this hymn's author) wrote:
One day as a young wife and mo­ther of 37 years of age, I was bu­sy with my reg­u­lar house­hold tasks. Sud­den­ly, I be­came so filled with the sense of near­ness to the Mast­er that, won­der­ing how one could live with­out Him, ei­ther in joy or pain, these words, “I Need Thee Ev­e­ry Hour,” were ush­ered in­to my mind, the thought at once tak­ing full pos­sess­ion of me.

After writ­ing the lyr­ics, Hawks gave them to her pas­tor, Ro­bert Low­ry, who add­ed the tune and re­frain. The hymn was first pub­lished at the Na­tion­al Bap­tist Sun­day School Con­ven­tion in Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio, in No­vem­ber 1872. Some years lat­er, af­ter the death of her hus­band, Hawks wrote:

I did not un­der­stand at first why this hymn had touched the great throb­bing heart of hu­man­i­ty. It was not un­til long af­ter, when the sha­dow fell over my way, the sha­dow of a great loss, that I un­der­stood some­thing of the com­fort­ing pow­er in the words which I had been per­mit­ted to give out to others in my hour of sweet se­ren­i­ty and peace.

Tez's Glossary of Terms

goggly-goggly (interj.): usually said in repetition as an exclamation signifying happiness or excitedness; "Goggly-goggly-ga!"

babuwhabu (interj.): an exclamation signifying happiness or excitedness; often said upon entering a room post-naptime so as to announce one's presence to others

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art

High King of Heaven, my victory won
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all

Words: Dallan Forgail (8th Century)

Heimer's Glossary of Terms

golly-ga (interj.): an exclamation derived from the interjection 'goggly-goggly' as an expression of happiness or excitedness; often used in repetition. "Golly-golly-ga! Golly-golly-ga!"

voof (n.): juice

The Wonder of Midwifery

When I tell people that Mooster was a homebirth, the reaction I get most often (spoken or not) puzzles, "...on purpose?"

This suggests to me that modern medicine has convinced women that birthing a baby into the world is somehow less natural than the means by which that child was conceived and now requires the aid of doctors and nurses to find its way out. O, ye of little faith!

I was also reluctant (at first) to consider a homebirth, but that was before I had my first two babies, both of which were midwife-assisted waterbirths. Let me explain...

I began my first pregnancy with a conventional OB/Gyn. Like most first-time expectant women, I devoured as much information as I could about pregnancy and birth. I wondered why there were so many women retelling their birth stories like war stories as if they barely made it out in one piece? This was not the experience I wanted. A friend loaned me a copy of Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon-Rosegg, and the rest is history.

To avoid the interventions imposed on laboring women (most of them unnecessary), I would have to rethink the impending hospital birth. We decided to switch to a midwife at 34 weeks! Our son was born at 39 weeks, and I wouldn't have changed a thing. Except perhaps to have had the entire pregnancy under my midwife's care.

Do your own research, read up on the statistics, talk to women who have done it, and read that book! For the vast majority of healthy women, birthing with a midwife is not only safe, but a sweet and wonderfully memorable experience.

Franklepea's Glossary of Terms

crouton grabbers (n.): tongs

scratch-backer (n.): back scratcher

buckin' otters (n.): binoculars

armpit sugar (n.): deoderant

mo-tro (n.): remote control

beezow (interj.): used to express a futuristic shooting sound as heard in some video games

Purpose for Pain

There is purpose for pain.

Do you ever wonder at how easily (or at least seemingly so) Noah submitted to God's will? Or about Abraham when God told him to sacrifice Isaac on the mountain? Does the Bible record any anguish in these men? "But God, I have a five- and ten-year plan for my career." "But God, everyone's going to think I'm crazy." "But God, that doesn't make sense to me." "But God, WHY?!"

Scripture is full of examples of people whom God instructed without giving palatable, human-sized explanations. God doesn't need our understanding or our approval for His plans. He expects our obedience because He is God.

Isaiah 29:16 says, "Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, 'He did not make me'? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'?"

Isaiah 64:8 says, "But now, O LORD, You [are] our Father; We [are] the clay, and You our potter; And all we [are] the work of Your hand."

Maybe the best example of a man "dying to self" (other than Christ's own submission) is Job, who was "blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil." God loved and was pleased with Job, but God used Job's suffering to prove something to the Enemy and to present a lesson to us. Job refused to curse God even in the midst of enormous pain and loss, and God blessed Job abundantly for his steadfastness and faithfulness.

Job 1:22 says, "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."

Job didn't suffer because he did something wrong (even though many of us do suffer because of our own sin); Job was part of something much larger than himself that he couldn't see. But, because he knew God and trusted Him, Job was able to persevere. Now, because he was just like us, he did ask for explanations -- ok, he demanded answers. "WHY is this happening to ME!?" Have you ever read God's reply? (It's LONG.)

Read it for yourself in Job chapter 38. http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Job/Job038.html

In a nutshell, God says, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding."

In other words, "I am God, and you are not. I keep the stars on course and the waters in the seas; trust me, I know what I'm doing."

Have you been obedient? Are you suffering some soul-ache, some heartache, some physical pain? Do you know that the God who made the heavens and the earth, and who made you, knows even the number of the hairs on your head and the number of your days before there was as yet one of them? Do you know that God also knows when even a tiny sparrow falls to the ground? Do you doubt that he cares for you?

Trust Him:

(Romans 8:28-29) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

(Romans 8:32) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

To trust Him, you must KNOW Him. To know Him, read His Word and talk to Him. God is not in the business of hiding from people who earnestly seek Him. There is purpose for your pain.

The Little Girl in Me

There is an 11-year-old girl inside me that has a huge crush on Kevin Arnold from the Wonder Years. He is my kindred spirit... my junior high, one-generation-removed, fictional kindred spirit.

When Life Hurts

Today I am reminded that it doesn't really matter what happens tomorrow. I know who holds the future and I know that God is faithful to keep His promises. He gives purpose to life's pain: to mold us into Christlikeness, to minister to others, to teach us how much we need Him. I am His and He is mine.

I Corinthians 6:19-20 says, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

Romans 12:1 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

I and my life are not my own. May God be glorified in how He chooses to use me.