In his speech to the West Point Academy graduates Saturday, President Obama touted a "new international order" that will . . . take care of people in disasters and emergencies, alleviate poverty and sickness, and create peace.
Applause was tepid.
But what should I expect from our president who not only gave a foreign leader a soapbox from which to trash one of our states for trying to protect itself from invaders, but also implied his full agreement?
The United States seems to be but a stepping stone to the height of King of the World (aka the New International Order!)
Monday, May 24, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
One of Those Seasons
Have you ever had one of those days, when little things happen, irritating things that slow you down, take you away from your tasks, get in your way?
I've had one of those seasons.
In my last post, I detailed some of those things. Since then, my 22-year-old son, so frustrated with his love life, his inability so far to get a job, in an impulsive fit, tried to commit suicide by drinking a couple of bottles of wine and taking a bunch of Tylenols. He came very close to succeeding. He was online with someone, had mentioned what he had done, and when he stopped responding, the person online (in Chicago, IL) called our local EMS. When they found Boone, he was already jaundiced, which they said meant he was from 30 minutes to 2 hours away from death. Thank God for that online angel.
Now this isn't a little thing, but I feel guilty for complaining. I mean, Boone's alive! But the event -- his nearness to death, how close we came to losing him -- dealt me an emotional blow I'm not recovering from very quickly. And then I feel guilty because I'm so focused on how that has affected me. (I would focus on how it's affected Boone, but he won't let me.)
I can look at this spate of "bad luck" in several ways. First, I can just consider it bad luck. Just a matter of living life, of having children who are just now becoming adults and on their own to make their own mistakes, of living in a rough economy. But the sheer number of negative events makes me doubt that they are a result of normal bad luck.
Mike pointed out that all this stuff started happening right after I began tithing ten percent of the grocery budget to my church. I had asked Mike if he thought we could tithe our income, but he didn't feel we were able, so I'm just tithing what I have in my control. It's my way of saying, "I trust you, God. You have given us what we have; I can show my faith in you by giving back a tenth."
If there is some connection to the time that I began tithing, it could be from one of two possibilities.
It could be that Satan is attacking us because of my renewed faith, trying to separate me from my Lord. Or it could be as a friend put it, that God is winnowing us. However, I believe the Bible's promises, that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and God will not test us more than we can bear.
All this is just making me more of a clinger! Either way, it's been an interesting time. I wonder what next?
I've had one of those seasons.
In my last post, I detailed some of those things. Since then, my 22-year-old son, so frustrated with his love life, his inability so far to get a job, in an impulsive fit, tried to commit suicide by drinking a couple of bottles of wine and taking a bunch of Tylenols. He came very close to succeeding. He was online with someone, had mentioned what he had done, and when he stopped responding, the person online (in Chicago, IL) called our local EMS. When they found Boone, he was already jaundiced, which they said meant he was from 30 minutes to 2 hours away from death. Thank God for that online angel.
Now this isn't a little thing, but I feel guilty for complaining. I mean, Boone's alive! But the event -- his nearness to death, how close we came to losing him -- dealt me an emotional blow I'm not recovering from very quickly. And then I feel guilty because I'm so focused on how that has affected me. (I would focus on how it's affected Boone, but he won't let me.)
I can look at this spate of "bad luck" in several ways. First, I can just consider it bad luck. Just a matter of living life, of having children who are just now becoming adults and on their own to make their own mistakes, of living in a rough economy. But the sheer number of negative events makes me doubt that they are a result of normal bad luck.
Mike pointed out that all this stuff started happening right after I began tithing ten percent of the grocery budget to my church. I had asked Mike if he thought we could tithe our income, but he didn't feel we were able, so I'm just tithing what I have in my control. It's my way of saying, "I trust you, God. You have given us what we have; I can show my faith in you by giving back a tenth."
If there is some connection to the time that I began tithing, it could be from one of two possibilities.
It could be that Satan is attacking us because of my renewed faith, trying to separate me from my Lord. Or it could be as a friend put it, that God is winnowing us. However, I believe the Bible's promises, that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and God will not test us more than we can bear.
All this is just making me more of a clinger! Either way, it's been an interesting time. I wonder what next?
Friday, March 19, 2010
Life Happens
Wow, I've been very remiss with this blog. Last summer, I spent most of my free time politicking, going to townhalls, community meetings, etc. Then in the winter, I just sort of hibernated. The multiple heavy snowstorms made it easy for me to stay home and sleep. I don't think I was depressed or had SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) although I did seem to perk up about February when the length of the winter nights began shortening. Might have been just getting old -- I read that fatigue does accompany menopause, and I have been dealing with hot flashes.
But then, life started getting interesting. (It's a Chinese curse, I've heard: May you live in interesting times.)
1. MidFeb -- my daughter was arrested for driving on a revoked license and probation violation. (She had gotten a DUI at a checkpoint and neglected -- for several reasons, not the least of which was the multiple snows -- to get the interlock device on her car.)
1.a. She was put on a 72-hour hold. After that, I was the go-to person for contacting her lawyer and Probation Officer, getting her money out of her account ($200/day) to pay her bail ($500) for one of the charges, and navigating the extremely confusing justice system to post bail.
1.b. The 72-hour hold was automatically extended with $10,000 cash only bail on the other charge.
1.c. She would have been released within 3 more days (6 days total) except her lawyer was out of state for the whole week. And the next time the judge would be available for her kind of hearing was two weeks after the lawyer was back! (The judge does some other kind of work twice a year, and this was that time.) Because of coincidences (if you believe in coincidence) she was facing three weeks in jail for something that carries a max penalty of 6 days.
1.d. She actually spent 16 days in jail. Her lawyer managed to set an earlier hearing and she was released that day.
2. The same day Shelli had her hearing and was released, our water well died.
2.a. The well-service man (a man of few words) said there's no water in the well. Just a bump in the road of life, I thought, our having had our well go dry multiple times. We just wait three days and let the water replenish. (Sigh -- and we had to pay $400 to find that out.)
2.b. Three days later, still no response. I started looking more carefully at the well. There were wires and piping all over the place (i.e., outside of the well). I called the well-service guys and asked about it. The boss explained that because there was no water, our pump burned up, and I could see the expanded pipe from the heat.
3. Mike quit his job of 10 years.
3.a. That's not quite accurate. He's an independent contractor for a courier company and the company has been nickle and diming him to the point that he's not making anything above expenses. He had words with a prick of a boss, and they decided that within two weeks, the company would replace him.
3.b. Another boss said, "Wait a minute . . . we can't lose you." This is good for the kids since they have been subcontracting routes from Mike, and they can continue. However, Mike is determined he needs to get another job. The way he describes the situation is it's an armistice like the armistice after WWI that led to WWII.
4. Spring break -- I have been putting off grading assignments for this time. But I had either a really bad cold or the flu (my joints hurt.)
5. That Monday -- Mike had a wreck.
5.a. He spun out on an icy bridge in his 4-wheel drive truck, took out several metal posts holding cable to divide the two directions of I-25. Tore up the front end, the shell went flying along with packages and totes. Another vehicle separated his truck from the cable by sliding (both vehicles moving backwards) between them and side swiping the passenger side of the truck.
5. b. I dug our 2-wheel drive truck out of the snow and took it to meet him so he could continue the route.
5.c. I spent the rest of the day with him on his two routes. (His normal workday is 14 hours.) I just kinda sat there and vegged.
6. Mike got stuck on the snow trying to get out on Tuesday (it's the 2-wheel drive truck, but driving in, he thought it would be fine.) It took us an hour to get him out, and it was only God that got him out.
7. Mike got stuck in the mud on Thursday. After an hour, we gave up and I drove him in my little front-wheel drive car to pick up a Tercel at our mechanic's shop.
2.c. The well-service guys are refurbishing our poor little well, connecting it with an outer tank. We've been almost two weeks with no running water. Mud is everywhere. I don't care. I just want to sleep!
It's Friday of Spring Break and I've have managed to do nothing of my grading. I'm so sorry. (I'm wondering if I can catch up once classes start back?) I'm seriously considering just doing a half-hearted job on the grading, not really reading the stuff, just looking at it. . . nah, I can't do that. :-(
Addendum: Tuesday after Spring Break
Well, Sunday my car wouldn't start. It's the fuel pump we think. So I'm having to schlep around in my husband's two-wheel drive truck and tomorrow we're supposed to have snow. . .
But then, life started getting interesting. (It's a Chinese curse, I've heard: May you live in interesting times.)
1. MidFeb -- my daughter was arrested for driving on a revoked license and probation violation. (She had gotten a DUI at a checkpoint and neglected -- for several reasons, not the least of which was the multiple snows -- to get the interlock device on her car.)
1.a. She was put on a 72-hour hold. After that, I was the go-to person for contacting her lawyer and Probation Officer, getting her money out of her account ($200/day) to pay her bail ($500) for one of the charges, and navigating the extremely confusing justice system to post bail.
1.b. The 72-hour hold was automatically extended with $10,000 cash only bail on the other charge.
1.c. She would have been released within 3 more days (6 days total) except her lawyer was out of state for the whole week. And the next time the judge would be available for her kind of hearing was two weeks after the lawyer was back! (The judge does some other kind of work twice a year, and this was that time.) Because of coincidences (if you believe in coincidence) she was facing three weeks in jail for something that carries a max penalty of 6 days.
1.d. She actually spent 16 days in jail. Her lawyer managed to set an earlier hearing and she was released that day.
2. The same day Shelli had her hearing and was released, our water well died.
2.a. The well-service man (a man of few words) said there's no water in the well. Just a bump in the road of life, I thought, our having had our well go dry multiple times. We just wait three days and let the water replenish. (Sigh -- and we had to pay $400 to find that out.)
2.b. Three days later, still no response. I started looking more carefully at the well. There were wires and piping all over the place (i.e., outside of the well). I called the well-service guys and asked about it. The boss explained that because there was no water, our pump burned up, and I could see the expanded pipe from the heat.
3. Mike quit his job of 10 years.
3.a. That's not quite accurate. He's an independent contractor for a courier company and the company has been nickle and diming him to the point that he's not making anything above expenses. He had words with a prick of a boss, and they decided that within two weeks, the company would replace him.
3.b. Another boss said, "Wait a minute . . . we can't lose you." This is good for the kids since they have been subcontracting routes from Mike, and they can continue. However, Mike is determined he needs to get another job. The way he describes the situation is it's an armistice like the armistice after WWI that led to WWII.
4. Spring break -- I have been putting off grading assignments for this time. But I had either a really bad cold or the flu (my joints hurt.)
5. That Monday -- Mike had a wreck.
5.a. He spun out on an icy bridge in his 4-wheel drive truck, took out several metal posts holding cable to divide the two directions of I-25. Tore up the front end, the shell went flying along with packages and totes. Another vehicle separated his truck from the cable by sliding (both vehicles moving backwards) between them and side swiping the passenger side of the truck.
5. b. I dug our 2-wheel drive truck out of the snow and took it to meet him so he could continue the route.
5.c. I spent the rest of the day with him on his two routes. (His normal workday is 14 hours.) I just kinda sat there and vegged.
6. Mike got stuck on the snow trying to get out on Tuesday (it's the 2-wheel drive truck, but driving in, he thought it would be fine.) It took us an hour to get him out, and it was only God that got him out.
7. Mike got stuck in the mud on Thursday. After an hour, we gave up and I drove him in my little front-wheel drive car to pick up a Tercel at our mechanic's shop.
2.c. The well-service guys are refurbishing our poor little well, connecting it with an outer tank. We've been almost two weeks with no running water. Mud is everywhere. I don't care. I just want to sleep!
It's Friday of Spring Break and I've have managed to do nothing of my grading. I'm so sorry. (I'm wondering if I can catch up once classes start back?) I'm seriously considering just doing a half-hearted job on the grading, not really reading the stuff, just looking at it. . . nah, I can't do that. :-(
Addendum: Tuesday after Spring Break
Well, Sunday my car wouldn't start. It's the fuel pump we think. So I'm having to schlep around in my husband's two-wheel drive truck and tomorrow we're supposed to have snow. . .
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