On Gay Marriage.....

On August 4th a judge ruled that California's ban on same sex marriage was unconstitutional. "Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license," wrote U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker in a 136-page decision. "Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples.".........."Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians. The evidence shows conclusively that Proposition 8 enacts, without reason, a private moral view that same-sex couples are inferior to opposite-sex couples," wrote Judge Walker.

I could talk about how he had no right to overturn the votes of over 7 million state wide voters, how has a judge he made a legislative ruling which is NOT within his rights to do. I could talk about how as one of the few openly homosexual judges on the bench he should have recused himself from this decision because of an inability to be un-biased. If you think perhaps I am being unfair on his bias you should read more of his ruling.

" The ban on gay marriage, for example, "exists as an artifact of a time when the genders were seen as having distinct roles in society and in marriage." "That time," the court declared, "has passed." According to the court, "gender no longer forms an essential part of marriage; marriage under law is a union of equals." The plaintiffs in Perry "do not seek recognition of a new right," but instead simply the existing fundamental right of marriage.

So are ALL laws based on morality unconstitutional?

The voters should be allowed to make the decision, and those who don't like it can move to a state that satisfies their preferences. During the Constitution's ratification, Alexander Hamilton assured New Yorkers that the Constitution would never permit the federal government to "alter or abrogate" a state's "civil and criminal institutions [or] penetrate the recesses of domestic life, and control, in all respects, the private conduct of individuals." (insert your own LOL here!)

All that said that is not my main basis for being opposed to what the judge did. I am opposed to gay marriage whether it is handed to us by a judge over stepping his bounds or by a vote of the people. I am morally opposed to homosexuality and I think that the ramifications of it becoming mainstream are harmful to me and my family, and my children. Marriage is not a 'right' that we have to fight for, it's not a "social contract that we can re-negotiate based on changing social trends". It IS something set up and established by God, and to suggest that we can in any way change his laws is somewhat prideful of us. Gen 1:27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Matthew 19:4, Mark 10:6...Whenever Jesus was asked about marriage he went back to the passage defining it as between a man and a woman. Romans 1:26-27, 1 Cor 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:9-10.

There is more that I can say but part of why I felt compelled to write is because a lot of the response I am hearing from Christians is about how we are to be loving, and that how others live their lives shouldn't affect us at all. I agree COMPLETELY that we have to respond in love, only ever condemning the sin, always loving the sinner. However a quote in Martin Luther's biography got my attention and I couldn't shake it.

"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the Word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking. I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."

WOW! So if the enemy has been revealed, perhaps it is time for us to reconsider where we pick our spiritual battles!

Books

I would be most content if my children grew up to be
the kind of people who think decorating
consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.
~ Anna Quindlen ~

I have always enjoyed reading to my kids. Ever since Kaity was born practically, she has never been more content than to be curled up in someone's lap having them read to her. She also picked favorites pretty early on. By the time she was not much older than two she had "Curious George goes to the Hospital" memorized word for word. Rodney took a little longer but the love of reading is in his blood and now he has come to enjoy a good book as well as the next one.

We get our books from all kinds of sources. Some have been passed down, some we borrow from the library, some we purchase from the Book Barn. Some become instant favorites like "Click Clack Moo, cows that type". Some only get read once and never looked at again. Others......

Well others give you the chance to share ......wow share what? Recently a child's version of "Anne of Green Gables" made it's way to our house! There are almost no words to describe what reading it to Kaity is like. For those of you who have never looked on a book as one of your closest friends you won't understand. But for those of you who are kindred spirits and "of the race that knows Joseph" I am sure you can relate.

Most of the Anne of Green Gable books I had read to me. I was older than Kaity is now, but after dinner in Ecuador we would all go into my mom's room and she would read the books out loud to us. We went through the whole series that way. Laughing at Anne's antics together, crying through Matthew's death, cheering with her through her joys and triumphs and feeling for her through her struggles. As I sat down to read the book to Kaity for the first time I could not believe how quickly I was transported back to that room, every detail in vivid memory in my head, I could see us all lying on the bed, I swear even the smell came back to me.

I LOVE the Anne of Green Gables books. In a way they really are part of my childhood and life in a way that a dear childhood friend would be. I LOVE being able to introduce that old dear wonderful friend to my daughter and start to see them have a relationship.

I am getting a new roof!

Sometimes that face that projects on a house seem to be never ending can be a bit frustrating. Sometimes, I have to admit I find the projects exciting. This spring my house is getting quite the face lift because are getting a new roof! And not just any new roof a standing seam metal roof. It is apparently very green and eco-friendly which means we get a $1500 tax credit for installing it. It also lasts for 50 years which is roughly 3x longer than your average shingle roof. Other huge things that it had going in it's favor was that my husband can install it, AND we got most of the material for free. :-) Some of the things that it had NOT going in it's favor was that since we are installing it ourselves I have had to find myself on the top of a fairly high roof, leaning out over the edge in order to hold a piece of metal on while my husband attaches it. *shudders* that is not exactly my favorite but what are you going to do? I will keep posting pictures as more of the final picture emerges but here are some pictures of the first real day of roofing.

Beyond Belief

I pull up yahoo.com this morning in order the check my e-mail and the headline that is staring at me is " Evangelist's invitation stirs controversy" . A watchdog group is objecting to Franklin Graham coming to speak at the National Day of Prayer event at the pentagon because his past description of Islam as "evil" is offensive.

Sort of makes sense doesn't it? I mean we have a president who bows to the Saudi king, he shakes hands with Chavez. He has well documented ties to anti-american anti-Semitic terrorist like Rashid Khalidi, Ali Abunimah, Bill Ayers , Bernardine Dohrn, the Rev. Bill Wright. Also, lets not forget that when Netanyahu came to visit the white house the president would not allow them to be photographed together. I think we all know that while he might not say it out loud Obama is a little offended by the fact that someone like Franklin Graham has been invited to speak at the pentagon.

The story only gets scarier as you keep reading. Weinstein the head of the watchdog group that is objecting to Graham goes on to stay that he objects to the pentagon working with the National Day of Prayer task force. He said that he doesn't object to a national day of prayer he just doesn't want them to endorse the task force because they organize "Christian events" for the day and that is preferential treatment.

A federal judge in Wisconsin agrees. She called the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional because it "amounts to a call for religious action". She did postpone enforcement of the decision until all appeals are exhausted.

Phew *breathes sigh of relief*. Well I guess that last part is good news. I guess at least THIS year I can still gather at my local Christian school or church for a National Day of Prayer without being shut down. My church can hand out brochures about the day without being in fear of losing their tax-exempt status....for now.

You know in an attempt to be fair and balanced lets look at this from the other sides point of view for a minute. Imagine how relieved they are. I mean after all these years of being brow beaten and forced to participate in something that they didn't want to participate in, now they have been offered the religious freedom to do .......what they always had the right to do.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

part of the journey

I am taking a break from exercising. Starting this morning. When else would you start this kind of 'diet' if not on a Monday morning? My leg is not getting better. After finally going for an MRI it was diagnosed as a stress fracture. However, even as a stress fracture and not shin splints it should be almost completely healed by now and it's not. Since going to the Dr. almost two months ago I have for the most part done no running of any kind, but I've done the elliptical, and swimming, and biking, and weight training. I have honestly spent no less time exercising than I did before I've just avoided running (for the most part ;-) ). Did I mention the leg is not really showing many signs of healing?

I actually came to this conclusion Thursday night after talking to a close friend of mine. I was in a lot of pain, and very frustrated that this long after my original injury I was still dealing with this much pain so I realized I needed to do something more drastic, I was going to have to actually rest the leg. As if to verify my decision I woke up Friday morning to my leg actually in fairly painful spasms. Sooo I did what any rational person would do. I got up, put a phone call in to my physical therapist put on my sweats and tank top, laced up my sneakers and headed to the gym. Actually had to cut my work out short by about half an hour because after an hour on the elliptical, I was having a hard time putting any weight on my right leg during my upper body workout.

That night I mentioned to two of the people closest to me that I had come to the conclusion that this was a spiritual battle. God was trying to teach me something, there was a reason why He had taken running away from me and I was not going to learn it by replacing it with other exercises I was going to have to take a serious step back. That night the decision did not seem like a hard one as I laid in bed icing my leg with tears pouring down my face from the pain. So the next morning I did what any rational human being would do. I got up put, on my helmet and gloves, laced up my sneakers and headed off for a 20 mile bike ride. To be fair by that point I had decided that it made the most sense to start the 'fast' on Monday.

Yesterday morning on my bike ride (yes I biked again...but again I had decided to start on Monday so it really did make sense...honest). I spent most of the time trying to 'convince' God that I didn't really need the time off and if He would just heal my leg I was pretty certain that I could learn what it was He was trying to teach me while still exercising and running. He wasn't buying it.

I am planning to spend this time as a fast of sorts. The time that I would have spent working out I am going to focus on spending with God. I'll probably have more time to blog since I usually spend as much time at the gym as most people spend on a part time job. So lets see what He is trying to teach me!

Spring

I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become, I will always plant a large garden in the spring. Who can resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from participating in nature's rebirth? ~Edward Giobbi

Is there ANYTHING better than knowing that spring is here? Maybe actively participating in it by planting seeds and watching them grow! Or having kids old enough to 'help' you plant seeds and be as excited as you are to watch them pop up through the ground. WHen Rodney saw the first seedlings pop up his eyes got huge, his grin was even bigger and he said "daddy can we show everybody?" Or to be able to use the opportunity as a chance to share with them the wonder of God's creation and that He is soo generous to allow us to participate with Him in helping things grow.

While talking to Kaity it became on object lesson for myself. IF I didn't plan a garden would the world be any less beautiful? Does God need me to plant HIs flowers for Him? Clearly no. BUT oh the joy that He allows me to be a tiny part even of His creative process.

Sometimes having the kids participate is a rough definition of the term 'help'. It would be easier to do it by myself at some point when they were out of the room. BUT it would hold less joy, less significance then doing the task together, watching them learn, seeing their joy at being part of the larger process.

I couldn't help but think that God must feel the same way most of the time about letting us participate in His master plan. Oh it would probably be soo much easier for Him to do it all while we were 'out of the room'. Much like my kids I find that I don't have patience for doing EVERY part of His plan, I want to skip to the fun part, I get distracted half way through by something shiny, I take my eyes off the goal .

Sometimes I just want to play in the dirt.

I am grateful that His patience is greater than my own. I am grateful for the promise of spring!

Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer. ~Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

Quote of the day

"Daddy there's snow all over your blow snower" _ Rodney

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. ~Hal Borland

in honor of Valentines Day...

"The truth about love, I think, is that it is indeed a profound comfort, but it is also a monumental challenge. Love immediately challenges me to break the fixation I have with myself." - John Powell

*ouch*

I run. I don't know if I would say "I'm a runner". I'm slow, I don't race. I run. It relieves my stress, works out the kinks. It is what makes the world make sense. Sometimes when I am running I think things through. Sometimes when I am running outside rather than on a treadmill in a crowded gym I will actually talk things through out loud. Most of the time I don't. I focus on each footstep, I listen to my breathing. I listen to big hair 80's rock and roll. Doesn't matter, the effect is the same. At the end of a good run I feel like superwoman, and I'm relaxed and ready to take on the world.

About four weeks ago I hurt myself. Kind of a stupid rookie mistake. I did a hard sprint workout on a Wednesday followed by an 8 mile run on a Thurs. My legs were sore after the sprint workout. That is to be expected. My legs were KILLING me after the 8 miler, again not entirely unexpected. WHat was unexpected was that the pain wouldn't go away. I was sure that a couple of days off running would help. Any other pain that my running has caused in the last 10 years has gone away with a couple of days cross training. This didn't.

Three weeks of not running later, I was at my wits end and decided to see a doctor. Turns out I have shin splints...or strained a muscle...or something. Who cares? Looks I am looking at at least another couple of weeks of not running. I know those of you who don't run are thinking; "whats the big deal? do something else for exercise". Those of you who do run....thank you for understanding.

You have probably heard the quote "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional". I have felt pain before. Now I am suffering.

Out of the mouth of babes.....

Sitting in church service last night we started singing "Mighty to Save" by Hillsong. Kaity who was sitting in church with me full of enthusiasm broke into singing during the chorus: "Savior He can move the mountains, MY God is mighty to save He is mighty to save........"

Yes He is Kaity, yes He is. <

Experience

"Experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn. My God do you learn.

-C. S. Lewis

Happy New Years

New Years. Frankly, I tend to find it pretty depressing. A friend of mine put it fairly well when she said "it's like a birthday but without presents". It's just a stark reminder that another year of your life is now behind you. Forces you to reflect back. If it was a good year, you are sad to see it go, if it was a bad year...you're just sad. Plus, at least when I "celebrate" a birthday it's in May so around the corner is June...summer....fun in the sun...etc. When I "celebrate" the New Years all I have to look forward to is January and February. yuck.

2009 was not a banner year. New President, new policies, new economy, new worries, new struggles ....and as always marching constantly closer to my inevitable mid-life crisis. Here is hoping 2010 shapes up a little better.

FOr the most part I don't 'do' resolutions. Why 'resolve' to do something? Way to start the new year by setting yourself up for failure. I figure either do something or don't. I confess I am approaching this year a little differently. I think partly because last year was not a great year, I am ready to put it in the history books. If I want 2010 to be better I think that I am going to take a more pro-active approach. Rather than assuming that life is going to happen to more, I am going to work to get what I want out of this year. Do you suppose that if I am more disciplined I will find life less overwhelming and out of my control? Perhaps if I make time to have a quiet time I will wonder less why my relationship with God seems to be stagnating. Hmmm....time will tell.

One of my resolutions is to blog more. Shouldn't be hard to succeed there since I think I blogged roughly 6 times last year. But my kids are growing up soo fast (*sniffles*) and more of that has to be documented and reflected on before it slips away. So ....for starters....here is the birdhouse that my gorgeous goose made with her father this long Holiday weekend. Do you think she had a good time? :-) I will have to upload more pics later because it's not really done...it's going to be pink.

Thank You Paige

This is 4 year old Paige Bennethum saying good-bye to her daddy before he leaves for deployment to Iraq. I guess more accurately this is Paige Bennethum NOT saying goodbye to her daddy.

I have a four year old. She doesn't like daddy going to work in the morning. She REALLy doesn't like it if daddy goes away for the weekend. So I wanted to take the time to say "thank-you" to Paige, thank-you Paige's mommy. We DO understand your sacrifice, we understand what you are fighting for and you have our undying appreciation. You also have our daily prayers for your daddy's safety.

Kaity's first day of school

Yes you read that collection my sweet baby girl is starting school. *sighs*. Well Pre-K home-schooling.
But when you are the mother of said sweet, baby girl. That is starting school. She has been asking me about going to school since she was 2. Ever since then she has been counting the years, thats right counting the years until she was five and could go to school.

Needless to say she is a LOT more excited about this change in her life than I was! I actually had to put school off for about a week because her curriculum books had not arrived by the time that I had told her we would start, this did NOT go over well. We have been going for a week now and every day I have to come up with more work for her to do because there is no way that she is ready to be done by the time that we are done going through what the curriculum says we are supposed to cover for that day. Now granted the curriculum isn' t quite as ambitious as I was thinking it was going to be. IN the first SIX weeks of her math curriculum I am supposed to teach her how to count to 10 and how to write the number one. (woah). IN the second SIX weeks I am supposed to teach her how to count to 20 and how to write the number two. Now to be fair writing the number two is tricky for a four year old, but somehow I think we might be able to cover that in twelve weeks of trying since she already knows how to count to 29. After 29 she thinks it's 100. I'll deal with that week 13 of school.

As for me, I don't deal with change well. I can hear the gasps now coming from those who have known me for so long and are shocked to hear that. I don't deal with my kids growing up well, and well I am not a very organized, routine oriented person. I know some shocking revelations this morning but honesty is the best policy and I have heard that admitting you have a problem is the first step towards fixing said problem.

It has been fun. It is exciting to see the passion she has for learning, oh how I pray that I can help her keep that passion for learning. We have been learning Bible verses as part of her Bible curriculum. If you are a parent I can NOT stress enough how much I wish that I had started this with her earlier. Being able to memorize something and quote it back to me is something that I always assumed she would find frustrating and something that we would do 'later'. Well it is one of her favorite parts of school. It is so tangible for her, when she quotes back a verse to me from memory she knows that she has really learned something that she didn't know before. She can rattle it off to anyone that she happens to come across in her life and thereby show them that she has learned something. In doing so she has effectively taught her brother her memory verse. So now I know that I am at least two years later teaching her scripture memorization than I could have been.

Oh well, no looking back we move forward. So the next time you see one of my kids, ask them what Genesis 1:1 says. You won't be sorry. :-)

Have YOU forgotten?

"They say, time heals everything. But I'm still waiting.".

Where is my mission field?

This post could also be  titled "African Mission Trip Part II".   OR "somewhere in the middle" 

 Tim and I went to Africa to work with TIMO.  It's a mission that places teams with un-reached people groups on the continent of Africa.  We went because we were both feeling like God was possibly calling us to full time ministry and some doors opened for us to visit Africa.  Before we went we prayed that God would make His will clear to us before we came home, and we prayed that Tim and I would both be on the same page.  I couldn't imagine much harder than one of us flying home wondering how soon we could get back and the other flying home wondering how we could ever  face going back.  

  God answered our prayers....my fingers are aching to write "sort of".   But that would be unfair and blatantly untrue.  God answered our prayers.  Flying home we both felt that God had made it clear to us that we were not being called to the ministry in Africa we thought we were being called to.  Both of us....same answer.   Isn't that what we prayed?  Then why is the answer so hard to accept?   Honestly because it's not the answer we expected or really wanted to hear.  We both went on the short term trip assuming that all was going to fall into place for us to go back full time as soon as possible.

  So now we are back to my original question.  Where is the mission field that God is calling us to?  Something that God seemed to talk to both of us about while we were in Africa was that we were not doing enough HERE.  In a lot of ways Africa is a far more open country to hearing about the word of God than the USA is.   In a town meeting we went to they opened with "WE greet you in the name of our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ", THAT would NEVER happen here.  In a lot of ways I think we have found more effective ways of sharing the gospel with the un-reached in Africa than we have of sharing with 'over-reached' here.   

  Here's the problem.  For me personally, sharing the gospel seemed a lot easier over there.   

So what now?  I don't know.  I wish I did.  We are back in the United States and back to working and living and I sooo don't want to find that we have put our hands to the plow and then turned back,  I don't want to have "reckless abandon wrapped in common sense".  

Have you heard Casting Crowns song "somewhere in the middle"?  

Somewhere between my heart and my hands

Somewhere between my faith and my plans
Somewhere between the safety of the boat and the crashing waves

Somewhere between a whisper and a roar
Somewhere between the altar and the door
Somewhere between contented peace and always wanting more
Somewhere in the middle You'll find me

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control

Lord, I feel You in this place and I know You're by my side
Loving me even on these nights when I'm caught in the middle

Do you ever feel like a song was written for RIGHT where YOU are in life? 

  

I'm leaving on a jet plane....

Well this is it.  It's really here.  Tomorrow afternoon I am going to be getting on a plane for a 22 hour trip to Tanzania Africa.  I can't begin to share the excitement, and anxiety I am feeling.  We have a pretty good idea of what our itinerary is going to be when we get there which makes it nice to prepare, but at the same time there can be no doubt that there will be so much that we are unprepared for.  IT is a culture and a language that we have NO familiarity with and although we have been told and are trying to just focus on the two weeks before us, you really can't stop yourself from thinking that we are doing this in order to prepare for possibly  spending a lot longer portion of our lives here, for raising our kids here.  What are you looking for in a country and culture when you are wondering if this can be 'home'.? 

  Please keep us in  your prayers,  keep our babies in your prayers the thought of leaving them is becoming unbearable.

  Alright well since in just about 24 hours I am going to be getting on a plane I think that I should probably go and start thinking about packing...

   Oh come on don't act surprised anyone who knows me had to know that I hadn't packed yet. 

 

The Point of No Return...

All right the title is a litttle dramatic but after a lot of talk and discussion and prayer,  it is weird to have hard evidence that this trip to Africa is going to happen.  WE bought our tickets this morning!!! There is no turning back...We are leaving April 21st and returning May 5th.   We are flying into Mt. Kilimanjaro airport.

 We will be spending the first few days to a week in En Gedi.  The Timo-aim headquarters in Tanzania.  That will give us time to learn all about how Timo works and to get our bodies adjusted to Africa time.  They are 8 hours ahead of us and our flight to get there is about 22 hours all told so I am thinking they know what they are doing when they don't throw us right into working! 

  After that, there were several options as to where we would be going for the actual work site but it is looking like we are going to be going into Southern Sudan.   Our  missions pastor said it was 'interesting'  to fly into the airport in Southern Sudan because you fly in going up the mountain to slow the plane down and you leave the airport flying downhill to get up enough speed for flight!  I am thinking  interesting might be the understatement of the year! 

    Our goal while we are there is to get as far as we can in building accommodations for a timo missionary who will be living there full time to minister to the people of Southern Sudan. 

  I can't begin to tell you how exciting it is to even THINK about being a part of something like this! 

THe two weeks by themselves are exciting enough and for most of us a once in a lifetime opportunity.  But for me and Tim as we look around to see if maybe this is something that we are looking to commit to long term the stakes go even a little higher! 

  The hardest part right now is thinking of leaving my kids stateside while we go over there.  We have never been away from them for more than two NIGHTS at at time and now we are looking at two WEEKS! 

  Alright well....keep us in your thoughts and prayers PLEASE...we leave two weeks from tomorrow.!!!! TANZANIA HERE WE COME. 

Rome is burning!! hmmm...where did I put my fiddle...

Two hundred years ago, Thomas Jefferson said:  "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." 

"President Obama on Monday  signed an order to life restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research,  a move he said rejects the "false choice" between science and morality"

"Warren Buffet says the economy has 'fallen off a cliff" 

I am SURE that allowing federal funding for stem cell research is definitely what we need to get the economy going!

Beantown

Every year my mom and my sister go away for a girl's weekend away.   Usually, Ok pretty much every year we go to Lancaster, PA for shopping.  WE go to the outlet stores and find all the local consignment shops.  Well this year we decided to do something different and we headed to Boston, MA for the weekend.  Why we didn't head south I am not sure I will ever understand, but for some reason we thought it would make sense to head North towards colder weather.  

  What a great weekend.  We stayed in the Hilton which is a beautiful hotel.  For Friday and Saturday we bought trolley passes to get around Boston.  It was perfect.  Our tour guides were great, very informative and it was a great way to see Boston.  We hopped off when there was something we wanted to see, or when we suspected that their might be a consignment shop near by, then we hopped back on to learn more about the great history of that town.  

  We had some GREAT seafood.  For the record an 'oyster shot' is not a clever way to sell you one raw oyster.  It actually involves beer...and a LOT of hot sauce.  Do NOT recommend.  However, the actual raw oysters were delicious....you know the ones without the Sam Adams and tabasco sauce.  I am not sure that the lack of that stuff made it more appealing to my sister who still shuddered every time I put one of them in my mouth but I thought they were delicious.  

  We found a 'tapas' bar with $5 tapas,  and a consignment shop with $12.50 red coach shoes in MY size!! 

  We sat in the hot top, watched chick flicks and just generally had a great time. ....till next year ladies....Saratoga perhaps?