Christianity

My 16 year old daughter wrote this on her facebook today and I thought it worth sharing.


What I don't understand is why Christian's are stereotyped as the hateful religion. I understand that there is a tiny minority of extremeists that will beat you over the head with a Bible and tell you you're going to hell, but what I don't understand is why this tiny minority is portrayed by nonchristians as the majority of Christians.

I'm a Christian. I will not try to "save you from hell" by telling you you're going there. I'll tell you that I believe there's someplace better, and that's where I'm going, and because I love you, I want you very much to come with me.

I'm a Christian because I believe there's a better way to live than to hold grudges, to hold hate, and to hold onto me and mine.

I am a Christian because while some may deem it illogical to believe in a God you have no proof of, I deem it illogical to believe that we as humanity are a supreme power and a supreme knowledge. There is so much we don't know that we search everyday to know, which means we believe that there is knowledge we can gain. But for knowledge to exist, someone MUST know it. Therefore I believe there is something bigger than myself, that understands what I don't and can't. I believe that there is more to the universe than I can ever explain or experience through my five senses.

I am a Christian because I believe that even though I am human and a hypocrite, my honest tries to help, comfort, and love, even though imperfect, can be made helpful, comforting, and loving through the perfection of my God.

I am not a Christian because I believe the Bible word for word. I am a Christian because I believe that the best way to live, is to live with the same unconditional, ever-forgiving love that Jesus Christ lived with. I believe in loving and cherishing absolutely everyone, and I believe that I can love someone I disagree with without agreeing with them. Jesus hung out with the worst of sinners and loved them as much as anyone "righteous". He loved them, just not what they were doing.

Thus I write this note, not out of hate, not out of spite, but in HOPE of a better way and in HOPE of opening minds. If you don't believe in my God, okay. But don't hate me because I do, because I don't hate you because you don't. I ask you to stop stereotyping Christians as hateful, but to start realizing that everyone is human, Christian or non-Christian. MOST Christians do not claim to be any better or to sin any less than a non Christian. So please stop holding us to the standards of perfection. We don't believe we are way better, we believe in a better way. If you truly want to eliminate hate, don't hate Christians who don't hate you. Let's stop being blind to any kind of hate on EITHER side, Christian or non Christian, and encourage love.

This is the video that inspired my rant. I am not trying to accuse or justify, I am simply asking you to not overlook Christians like this, the majority of Christians, and suggest that we stop uncalled for hatred on any side.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaKu1Bv3L24

A Day in the Life

For any of you interested in a day in the life of an 11th grader in public highschool, my eldest has written an amusing article about her election day experiences. Her new blog Survivor: Rome Highschool Edition is located at www.livylaine.blogspot.com .

Am I a Prude?

This is the exact illustration of the super hero Dark Phoenix that is in the level 4 DK reader Marvel Heroes Greatest Battles that I purchased at Barnes & Noble tonight. I flipped through quickly before I purchased it and thought it looked like a great book for the boys. They love super heroes. As always, I looked at it more thoroughly when I got home before giving it to the boys to read. Glad I did. I will be returning it and Marvel Heroes Amazing Powers, which also has disturbing images. Keep in mind this is a book for approximately 3rd through 5th graders. I'm used to the female super heroes being a bit more "sexy" than I would like but this is downright pornographic.

Pictures From Our Wreck

The kids and I were in an accident on Monday of this week. We were at a stop sign waiting to pull onto a divided highway when the woman in front of us pulled out to make a left turn and stopped right in the middle of the road. The GMC Sierra that was speeding toward her swerved to miss her and slammed straight into my driver's side door.

This is the last thing I saw before impact. Laine says she will never forget seeing the big, red, GMC in my widow when we finally stopped moving (he pushed us 29 ft.).

Our van at the junkyard. We ended up facing ninty degrees right from where we started.

My sister had just given me this sticker. How true it is!

One comment I heard over and over after the accident was "God was with you." I believe he was. Not because we are all o.k. but simply because I know he never abandons his children. Bryan and I are going to have a talk with the kids because I don't wan't them to think that God abandons you when bad things happen. If I had been killed the last thing I would want is the kids thinking God was not with us. He is the one I want them to turn to first in difficult situations.

I'm am so thankful for the life I've been given. This is a reminder not to take any of it for granted.

They're Onto Us

Conversation overheard between Mason and Eli;

Eli -"With mom you can ignore her 'till she actually turns off the T.V. Then you'd better get up and get ready."

Mason-"Yeah.....with dad it's when he counts to three that you'd better get going."

Like.........You Know?

Prince Caspian

I took the boys to see Prince Caspian last night. I don't take them to see movies on the big screen very often, maybe twice a year or so, so it was a treat for me. I say for me because they actually get to go quite often thanks to Aunt Heather & Miss Holly. Anyway, it is a great movie with many wonderfully presented life lessons. It's been a while since I read the book so I can't actually say how it compares. If you're interested in a good review go here.

Renaissance Festival Pictures

Here are some pics from our recent field trip to the Georgia Renaissance Festival.

The Mona Lisa.........



The Barrel Ride. This guy was hilarious. He yelled at the kids and threw water on them but they loved it. Go figure.

A Peregrine Falcon from the Birds of Prey show. This bird can fly up to 120 miles an hour. We had a front row seat and we felt a major rush of wind as he did a fly by.





Posing with a knight..........


The Junior Joust.......

Sword fighting while waiting for the Lipizzaner Stallions.........

One of the Lipizzaner Stallions........


Ice Cream before the two hour ride home......

No More Naked Men Please

So.....next Thursday we are going to Georgia's Renaissance Festival for their home school/elementary school day. I've decided that in preparation we will skip ahead about 1500 years, give or take, in our history studies and do a crash course on the time period of the Renaissance.

So far.....

• We've read an overview of the Renaissance in A Child's History of the World by Hillyer.
• We've studied the art of DaVinci and Michelangelo. (Eli says he's tired of naked men, lol)
• We've read a child's version of The Tempest by Shakespeare. Mason loved this.
• We've learned how men and women from different classes greeted each other.
• The boys learned how to "make a leg". It seems men in this time were especially proud of their calves and took every opportunity to show them off. They wore stockings and short pants and would stand with a leg forward and foot turned outward to make their calf more prominent.
• We tried to learn how to bow but still need more practice. They flat refused to kiss my hand.
• We've learned that people in this era tried to be as wordy as possible.

We've got so much more to cover. Henry VIII, knights, more Shakespeare, more Renaissance culture, King Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin.......etc. I can do anything for a week, right?

I hope that going from the uber interesting culture of Classical Greece to the just as interesting culture of The Renaissance won't make the boys' eyes glaze over when we have to study the less interesting parts of history.

I Know the Answers.........Trust Me

I had to laugh yesterday (without Mason seeing me, of course). I pulled out his math notebook to check the work I had asked him to complete from the day before and this is what I saw: the numbers 14 thru 28 each number with a check mark beside it.

The following conversation ensued:
Me: "Mason, why didn't you do the math work you were assigned?"
Mason: "I did."
Me: "Why are there only check marks here? Where are your answers?"
Mason: (Matter of factly) "I did the problems in my head and just checked them off when I was done."

Eli's 9th Birthday

Eli turned 9 on Saturday. We had a family party at my mom & dad's complete with pizza and the requested Lego Star Wars light side vs. dark side cake. He got a total of $105 plus Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium (a wonderful movie for all ages), two Lego star wars kits, and a potato gun. The potato gun was a big hit, all three boys (each with their own potato gun) spent much time outside shooting each other with potato 'pellets'.


Yesterday, Bryan took Eli to Toys R Us to spend his birthday money. He spent all of it on a 953 piece Lego Police Headquarters. Amazingly, he has spent all of his free time since he got home last night working on putting it together. I'm very impressed with his focus and skill in following the directions. I'll post a pic when he gets finished.

All in all, it was a very good birthday. I can't believe my baby is nine. Time flies. I'm trying hard to pay attention everyday so that I don't reach his 18th birthday with too many "Cat's in the Cradle" regrets.

My Baby Girl is Sweet Sixteen

I can't believe Laine turned 16 yesterday. Where have the years gone?

I can honestly say that even though I treasure each memory from her childhood, I wouldn't go back. A wise woman once told me to enjoy each stage of my children's life and not worry about missing it when it passed. Truly, God has taken care of the sadness I thought I would feel about the kids growing up and replaced it with the joy and wonder of each 'stage' seeming better than the last.

I'm amazed constantly at the mature, godly, young woman Laine is becoming. She's not perfect, of course, but she is a wonderful person with whom I would choose to spend my time even if we were not related. Many parents complain about the teenage years but I've found the joys of having this teenage girl around far outweigh the trials.

I love you Laine! Happy Birthday!

Rocky for Chill

For my dear husband. Now you can work full-time, pastor part-time, take 4 classes in seminary, AND rewatch all six Rocky movies. No need to thank me. Love you dear ;-)

Tolkien Obsession

O.k. I'll admit it. I've developed a small J.R.R.Tolkien obsession. I had never read the The Lord of the Rings Trilogy or watched the movies until the fall of last year. I had to watch the movies with the subtitles the first time just to understand what was being said. Since then, I've watched the screen version of the movies twice and the extended version once. I've read The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King and am halfway through both The Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales.

It seems that I've passed my addiction on to one of my children. Mason has read The Hobbit and is almost finished with The Fellowship of the Ring. He reads a little each night and becomes more and more enthralled with the world of Middle Earth.


I would encourage anyone who likes fantasy and has never read Tolkien to give it a try.

My New Necklace

I have a new necklace. It is a pink yarn "chain" with a key on the end. The key belongs to the new locking doorknob we put on our pantry door. The pantry holds all the "good" snacks. You know, chips, crackers, soft drinks, etc.... I've had a hard time enforcing many of our food rules, rules such as; one soft drink a day, only one snack between meals, eat at the table, and so on. I was constantly having to yell "Close the pantry door" from another room and my kids were constantly eating. I don't know how they got so food obsessed but it is time for the obsession to stop. Now I unlock the door only at snack and meal times. The change since the lock has been on is amazing. Just knowing that the door is locked seems to have helped the boys focus on things other than "let's see what is good to eat in the pantry."

Fat Tuesday

Yikes! It's Fat Tuesday already. I still haven't decided what to give up for Lent. It has been a tradition in our family, as it is in many families, to sacrifice something during Lent in remberance of the sacrifice Jesus made for us. The boys have decided to give up T.V. and Laine will give up snacks. I still don't know what to give up. It needs to be something that will cause me a good bit of discomfort. I'm thinking maybe I'll give up one of my favorite things, sleep. I'll get up an hour earlier each day. (Mason, who is reading over my shoulder and laughing, just told me that this would be impossible for me........no encouragement there.) That settles it, sleep it is. BTW, Chill still hasn't decided what he is giving up. Anyone else out there sacrificing something for Lent?

Happy Anniversary to the Man of My Dreams

11 years ago today I married the man of my dreams. I kid around alot, but you're the best husband any woman could want. Happy Anniversary Pappy B. I love you.

Shamgar's Fifteen Minutes of Fame

After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath saved Israel. Shamgar killed six hundred Philistines with a sharp stick used to guide oxen.
Judges 3:31

Wow! The boys and I are reading through the Old Testament. Today was Judges 3. After discussing Othniel and Ehud I almost missed Shamgar. Mason, who always reads ahead, said "Whoa, mom, read the next verse." He was amazed at this feat performed by Shamgar, as he knows that Philistines were usually heavily armoured and armed military men.

Should You Shelter Your Kids?

The second most annoying question home schoolers are asked (the first being 'What about socialization') is 'Aren't you afraid you are sheltering your kids from real life?'. Check out this guys answer to the question 'Should you shelter your kids'.



http://branthansen.typepad.com/letters_from_kamp_krusty/



On a side note, I was amused at his statement about not caring if you homeschool your kids or not. He obviously gets the same response I do when people find out we homeschool. If they have kids of school age, they volunteer a list of reasons they don't homeschool. I find this amusing, as I NEVER say "we homeschool, why don't you?"

Happiness

Laine wrote this in her 10th grade Literature class during a freewriting assignment. I think it is worth sharing.

"Happiness is a decision. I'm learning how true that is. Happiness is not based on circumstances, or things, or other people. It is a choice made solely on yourself. I see evidence of this everyday by coming in contact with people better off than me who are miserable but also people worse off who truely enjoy every moment of life they are granted. The question I ask is "How?" How does one go about making this lifelong, lifealtering decision of happiness. If it depends on nothing then why is it so hard to make?"

I'm Baaaaack

I can't believe it's been so long since I last blogged. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to try to blog at least a couple of times a week. I'm awful at journaling so it would be nice to be able to look back at my blog and see what has happened to us over time.

So much has happened in the last 4 months. Anyway, we are now in the process of pulling the kids out of GVA/K12 (Georgia's newly approved virtual public school) and returning to traditional homeschooling. Bryan is changing jobs. My sister and her family are moving to North Carolina. This will be especially devastating to Eli, whose best friend is his nephew Tyler. Our church is moving. So much change in so little time. My head is spinning.