My father-in-law said

"Een lopende hond 

vindt altijd een bot." *

* loose translation: "A walking dog always finds a bone."

My birthday

Oh Sovereign King of the rulers of the earth: "You alone are my Strength and Shield. To You alone will my spirit yield. You alone are the King of Glory. I will worship only You." ... Sola.

Repost from Facebook

"Before the throne of God above I have one strong & perfect plea. A great High Priest whose name is Love; who ever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on his hands; my name is written on his heart. I know that while in heaven he stands no tongue can bid me thence depart."

Speaking for the Disenfranchised

I hope that I am old enough, and that society has become tolerant enough, that it will not adversely affect my father and my mother for me to publicly confess that I was born illegitimate.  As a 1952 unplanned pregnancy to an unwed mother, before Roe v. Wade, I would like to speak for the unplanned children of today, please, if I may.

To quote my grandmother (she told me this is what she told my mother):

"You made one mistake.  Now don't make another one."

I realize that abortion is now legal.  Before it was legal, it was available, and it was dangerous to the mother.  It has always been dangerous to the child.  Legalized abortion has not changed that fact.  Abortion is dangerous to the child.  Her life is snatched before a breath is drawn.  Her voice will never be heard.  She cannot do any evil.  She cannot do any good.

My new president, for whom I voted, and in whose vision I see hope, has made two bold acts during his first days in office, to reverse the decisions of our former president.

He has ordered the closing of Guantanamo within a year, and ordered the trials be stopped for 90 days so he can review the situation.

I wish he would have attached a 90 day window to his decision to lift the ban on embryonic stem cell research.  Polarizing voices of the pro-life movement have never, to my knowledge, bothered to table their passion long enough to persuade as though they expected the so-called pro-abortion camp to be open to reason.

I believe, and am convinced, that the "liberal" people I know personally are open to reason.  Have some respect, my conservative friends, and talk without acting all injured self-righteous.  Get your pious pride out of the way of actually making a difference.  There is fresh air blowing.  Add your breath to it.  If you'd get the chip off your shoulder, you might be surprised to discover real human beings who are willing to listen to your reasons for believing embryonic stem cell research is a bad choice.

The same ethics that demand legal advocacy for our presumed enemies, demand a voice for the unborn. 

I'd just like to quote from David McCullough's 2001 biography of John Adams, and then open the floor for discussion.

" 'Do you expect he should behave like a stoic philosopher, lost in apathy?' Adams asked.  Self-defense was the primary canon of the law of nature.  Better that many guilty persons escape unpunished than one innocent person should be punished.  'The reason is, because it's of more importance to community, that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt should be punished.'

" 'Facts are stubborn things,' he told the jury, 'and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictums of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.'"

 

America Does This Really Well

"... and you know what? 
America does this really well -- the transfer of power."

-- David Gregory, on NBC Nightly News

If a dog was the teacher (snagged from Kira)

If a dog was the teacher you would learn stuff like:

* When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

* Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.

* When it's in your best interest, practice obedience.

*Let others know when they've invaded your territory.

* Take naps. Stretch before rising.  Run, romp, and play daily!

* Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

* Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

* On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.

* On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

* When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

* No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout. Run right back and make friends.

* Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

* Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Stop when you have had enough.

* Be loyal. Never pretend to be something you're not.

* If what you want what lies buried, dig until you find it.

* When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

Quote du Jour

"Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance."

Quoted from the end of a round-robin email posted on my friend, Missy's page: http://cherokeemis.multiply.com/journal/item/81

Joke du Jour

Looking for something else in old emails from one of my cousins, I found this just now:

A 7 year old and a 4 year old are upstairs in their bedroom.

"You know what?" says the 7 year old, "I think it's about time we started swearing."

The 4 year old nods his head in approval.

"When we go downstairs for breakfast I'm gonna swear first, then you swear after me, ok?"

"Ok" the 4 year old agrees with enthusiasm.

The mother walks into the kitchen and asks the 7 year old what he wants for breakfast.

"Oh, S**t mum, I guess I'll have some Coco Pops".

WHACK!! He flew out of his chair, tumbled across the kitchen floor, got up, and ran upstairs crying his eyes out.

She looked at the 4 year old and asked with a stern voice, "And what do YOU want for breakfast, young man?

"I don't know," he blubbers, "but it won't be f**king Coco Pops".

Prayer for the first three

"Hear, O heavens!
Listen, O earth!
       For the LORD has spoken:
       'I reared children and brought them up,
       but they have rebelled against me.'" 

-- Isaiah 1:2 NIV

 

 

 

Before my youngest son was born, I adopted and raised three others:

 

Jamie was born in 1973, but I did not meet him until 1982.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scott was born in 1978, but I did not meet him until 1983.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael was born in 1975, but I did not meet him until 1984.

 

From The Lutheran Book of Prayer:

"Lord Jesus, You came into the world to seek and to save those who were separated from Your love.  It is with a heavy and aching heart that I come to You, the Savior of sinners, imploring You to restore to saving faith my erring children.  O Lord, my heart is breaking as I realize that my sons are following the way of unrepentant sinners, which always leads to condemnation.  Save them, O Lord, save them.  You have, in Your vast mercy performed many wonders, and I pray that You would lead back all the erring lambs who have wandered away from Your fold.

"O Lord, if by any fault or neglect of my own I have caused them to have strayed from You, I beg of Your mercy that you would forgive me.  Guide me by Your Holy Word, and show me how to share Your love, mercy, and forgiveness.  Draw all of us closer to You in faith.  If it be Your will, let these erring children be returned so that our hearts are filled again with Your peace and Your joy.  Unite us with You in faith, and abide in our hearts both now and forevermore as our loving, compassionate, and forgiving Savior.  In Your holy name I pray.  Amen."

 

Romper Room

"Romper, bomper, stomper, boo,
Tell me, tell me, tell me true.
Magic Mirror, tell me today,
Did our friends have fun with us at play?"

Miss Jean, 1955, WOOD TV, Grand Rapids, Michigan

 

I wanted to be on "Romper Room" in the worst way!  On the morning of my 3rd birthday, I ran to my parents' bedroom to wake them up and inform them I was now old enough to be on Romper Room.  (The reason, of course, was because it was a "school" ... and I wanted very badly to go to school.  Because I wanted to learn to read.)

I've had fun "playing" on Multiply today!  And I finished my laundry.  And my son DID get his hair cut.

Now it's time to say my prayers and go to bed.  It's back to work tomorrow after a 4-day weekend.  (Unless we get a Snow Day -- which is slightly possible and I know of probably 300 children who are praying for it LOL)

Goodnight, friends.  Sweet dreams.

If I Stand

There’s more that rises in the morning than the sun,

And more that shines in the night than just the moon.

There’s more than just this fire, here, that keeps me warm,

And a shelter that is larger than this room.

There’s a loyalty that’s deeper than mere sentiment,

And a music higher than the songs that I can sing.

The stuff of earth competes for the allegiance

That I owe only to the Giver of all good things

So if I stand, let me stand on the promise

That You will pull me through;

And if I can’t, then let me fall

On the grace that first brought me to You.

 

Rich Mullins

 

 

 

 

Quondam Quote du Noir

"This life here and now was never intended to be fair.  In fact, the frustrations of this life are intended to make you long for something more."

Pastor Bob Coy

Quote du Jour

"Whatever is received, is received according to the nature of the recipient."

-- Thomas Aquinas

Wednesday Note to Self

Re: Email from Marcia at ACCESS -- remember to watch WGVU tonight at 8 p.m.

Marcia wrote:

"Thanksgiving wishes to all of you.  Despite the media focus on how difficult things are, I am hoping each of you has something you can think of to be thankful for.  There is so much positive we can focus on that will help direct our energy in a more optimistic fashion. 

 

"Despite the increased numbers of individuals visiting the food pantries, we are still receiving calls and emails from families wanting to provide a holiday food basket.  Our pantry volunteers and directors are stepping up to the increased need but if you get a chance to visit any of the pantries, please let them know how much we appreciate their willingness to give of themselves.

 

"Every day, our mail brings us surprised and welcomed donations that will help ACCESS continue to provide the services for the community and it's congregations.  We continue to hear God stories of those who offer to help and are surprised when they find themselves receiving as much satisfaction as the individual they are working with.  God continues to work through the people of our community and it is for that we are very thankful.

 

"I saw the premier of a locally produced film called, The Gift of All: A Community of Givers.  It will be shown on WGVU this Wednesday, Nov 26 @ 8pm.  In 2004, the Chronicle of Philanthropy recognized Grand Rapids, Michigan as the nation's second most generous city, per capita, next to Salt Lake City, Utah, with Grand Rapids residents giving 10 percent of their income to a variety of charitable causes. The Gift of All was a researched, written and produced by a group of local citizens to learn from and honor a generation of givers as well as to inspire everybody by showing the history and potential of giving and voluntarism in our community.

 

"We have so much to be thankful for..... May God continue to bless you and your family with grateful hearts."

Picture Perfect -- Worn

November 22nd, 1963

From the scrapbook I made when I was eleven years old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following poem is on the last page of my scrapbook.  It is an adaptation of the eulogy given by Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield.  The adaptation was written by Rudolph Umland.  My apologies in advance, but I do not know what newspaper or magazine I clipped this from.  I had just celebrated my eleventh birthday days before President Kennedy was assassinated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a sound of laughter; in a moment, it was no more.
And so she took a ring from her finger and placed it in his hands.
There was a wit in a man neither young nor old, but a wit
Full of an old man's wisdom and of a child's wisdom,
And, then, in a moment it was no more.
And so she took a ring from her finger and placed it in his hands.

There was a man marked with the scars of his love of country,
A body active with the surge of a life far, far from spent
And, in a moment, it was no more.
And so she took a ring from her finger and placed it in his hands.
There was a father with a little boy, a little girl,
And a joy of each in the other.  In a moment, it was no more,
And so she took a ring from her finger and placed it in his hands.

There was a husband who asked much and gave much, and
Out of the giving and the asking wove with a woman what could not
Be broken in life, and in a moment it was no more.
And so she took a ring from her finger and placed it in his hands,
And kissed him and closed the lid of a coffin.
A piece of each of us died at that moment.

Yet, in death he gave of himself to us.
He gave us of a good heart from which the laughter came.
He gave us of a profound wit, from which a great leadership emerged.
He gave us of a kindness and a strength fused into a human courage
To seek peace without fear.

He gave us of his love that we, too, in turn, might give.
He gave that we might give of ourselves, that we might give
To one another until there would be no room, no room at all,
For the bigotry, the hatred, prejudice and the arrogance
Which converged in that moment of horror to strike him down.

-- Senator Mike Mansfield
prose adapted to poetry by Rudolph Umland

I'm Yours

Before the cool done run out I'll be giving it my bestest
And nothing's gonna stop me but divine intervention
I guess that it's again my turn
To win some, or learn some

So I won't hesitate
No more, no more
This is our fate
I'm yours

-- Jason Mraz

OKAY, I will write the story, if YOU will watch the video!  It's posted in My Videos on my page!

Heard it on the radio ONCE, while driving in my car.  The lyrics grabbed me.  Hurried home to do a google search for the song.  I was lucky that the title turned out to be "I'm Yours" because the radio announcer did not give the name of the artist or the title of the song.

Now please, go hear this one.  I think you might like it.

The Words My Mama Taught Me and The Songs My Grandma Sang

Music is an outstanding gift of God and next to theology ... I would not give up my slight knowledge of music for a great consideration ... and youth should be taught this art ... for it makes fine skillful people ... I would certainly like to praise music with all my heart as the excellent gift of God which it is and to commend it to everyone.

-- Martin Luther

I woke up this morning to the music in my memory:

My mommy told me something
A little girl should know
It's all about the devil and I've learned to hate him so
He'll only give you trouble if you let him in the room
He will never, ever leave you if your heart is filled with gloom, so:

Let the sun shine in
Face it with a grin
Smilers never lose
And frowners never win

So let the sun shine in
Face it with a grin
Open up your heart and let the sun shine in

Does anybody else know this to be the first verse to Rock-a-bye Baby? --

Rock a bye baby, your cradle is green
Daddy's a nobleman, Mommy's a queen
Sister's a young lady who wears a gold ring
And Johnny's a drummer who drums for the king

Rock a bye baby
In the tree top
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
And down will come baby, cradle and all

In adulthood, I heard that some think that cradle falls and crashes to the ground, injuring or killing the baby ... but by the time I heard that interpretation it was too late to stick that ugly picture in my memory because I already saw it floating gently to the softest of landings on the notes my grandma sang to me as she rocked me in her arms.

Remember to sing to your children

Have a joyful day, my friends!

Quondam Quote du Jour (Okay, so I'm quoting myself again)

Here's another Rani-Kaye-ism for ya'll:

"Sometimes the best place to hide something is in plain sight."  -- Rani Kaye

Zuiderzee

"Take me down to the banks of the ocean, where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee.  Long ago, I used to be a young man; and Margaret still remembers that for me." 

 

from "The Dutchman"
by Robert James Waller
(a song I have tried to add to MyMusic, without success)

http://www.lorentz.leidenuniv.nl/history/zuiderzee/zuiderzee.html

http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/second_world_war/clip/11425/

The Wonderful One Hoss Shay by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Deacon's Masterpiece; or The Wonderful "One-Hoss Shay" by Oliver Wendell Holmes:

A Logical Story

Have you heard of the wonderful one-horse shay,
That was built in such a logical way
It ran a hundred years to a day,
And then, of a sudden, it--ah but stay,
I'll tell you what happened without delay,
Scaring the parson into fits,
Frightening people out of their wits,
Have you ever heard of that, I say?

Seventeen hundred and fifty-five,
Georgius Secundus was then alive,
Snuffy old drone from the German hive.
That was the year when Lisbon-town
Saw the earth open and gulp her down
And Braddock's army was done so brown,
Left without a scalp to its crown.
It was on the terrible Earthquake-day
That the Deacon finished the one-hoss shay.

Now in building of chaises, I tell you what,
There is always somewhere a weakest spot, -
In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill,
In panel, or crossbar, or floor, or sill,
In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace,--lurking still,
Find it somewhere you must and will,--
Above or below, or within or without,--
And that's the reason, beyond a doubt,
That a chaise breaks down, but doesn't wear out.

But the Deacon swore (as Deacons do,
With an "I dew vum," or an "I tell yeou,")
He would build one shay to beat the taown
'n' the keounty 'n' all the kentry raoun';
It should be so built that it couldn' break daown,
"Fur," said the Deacon, "It's mighty plain
Thut the weakes' place mus' Stan' the strain;
'n' the way t' fix it, uz I maintain,
Is only jest
T' make that place uz strong uz the rest."

So the Deacon inquired of the village folk
Where he could find the strongest oak,
That couldn't be split nor bent nor broke,
That was for spokes and floor and sills;
He sent for lancewood to make the thins;
The crossbars were ash, from the straightest trees.
The panels of white-wood, that cuts like cheese,
But lasts like iron for things like these;
The hubs of logs from the "Settler's ellum,"--

Last of its timber,--they couldn't sell 'em,
Never an axe had seen their chips,
And the wedges flew from between their lips,
Their blunt ends frizzled like celery-tips;
Step and prop-iron, bolt and screw,
Spring, tire, axle, and linchpin too,
Steel of the finest, bright and blue;
Thoroughbrace bison-skin, thick and wide;
Boot, top, dasher, from tough old hide
Found in the pit when the tanner died.
That was the way he "put her through."
"There!" said the Deacon, "naow she'll dew!"

Do! I tell you, I rather guess
She was a wonder, and nothing less!
Colts grew horses, beards turned gray,
Deacon and deaconess dropped away,
Children and grandchildren--where were they?
But there stood the stout old one-hoss shay
As fresh as on Lisbon-earthquake-day

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED; -it came and found
The Deacon's masterpiece strong and sound.
Eighteen hundred increased by ten;--
"Hahnsum kerridge" they called it then.
Eighteen hundred and twenty came;--
Running as usual; much the same.
Thirty and forty at last arrive,
And then come fifty, and FIFTY-FIVE.

Little of all we value here
Wakes on the morn of its hundredth year
Without both feeling and looking queer.
In fact, there's nothing that keeps its youth,
So far as I know but a tree and truth.
(This is a moral that runs at large;
Take it.--You're welcome.--No extra charge.)

FIRST of NOVEMBER,--the Earthquake-day--
There are traces of age in the one-hoss shay,
A general flavor of mild decay,
But nothing local, as one may say.
There couldn't be,--for the Deacon's art
Had made it so like in every part
That there wasn't a chance for one to start.
For the wheels were just as strong as the thins,
And the floor was just as strong as the sills,
And the panels just as strong as the floors
And the whipple-tree neither less nor more,
And the back-crossbar as strong as the fore,
And spring and axle and hub encore.
And yet, as a whole, it is past a doubt
In another hour it will be worn out!

First of November, 'Fifty-five!
This morning the parson takes a drive.
Now, small boys, get out of the way!
Here comes the wonderful one-hoss shay,
Drawn by a rat-tailed, ewe-necked bay.
"Huddup!" said the parson.--Off went they.
The parson was working his Sunday's text,--
Had got to fifthly, and stopped perplexed
At what the--Moses--was coming next.

All at once the horse stood still,
Close by the meet'n'-house on the hill.
First a shiver, and then a thrill,
Then something decidedly like a spill,--
And the parson was sitting upon a rock,
At half past nine by the meet'n'-house clock--
Just the hour of the Earthquake shock!

What do you think the parson found,
When he got up and stared around?
The poor old chaise in a heap or mound,
As if it had been to the mill and ground!
You see, of course, if you're not a dunce,
How it went to pieces all at once,
All at once, and nothing first,
Just as bubbles do when they burst.

End of the wonderful one-boss shay.
Logic is logic. That's all I say.

-THE END-