Mark's Views, Perhaps — from behind my eyeballs
Happy Birthday, Trey!
Love, Grandpa and Grandma Roth
Imagine this!
You’re not going to believe this one: We were out to dinner seated at a table adjacent to a family of five and not a one of them was working a Blackberry, e-mailing or texting. And they didn’t have ear buds jammed in their ears.
It was such a flashback of days gone by, we expected to see Norman Rockwell in the corner with an easel and canvas painting the scene for a cover of The Saturday Evening Post.
And now comes something even more unbelievable — they sat there like that for an hour and a half. That’s right, 90 minutes. Who knew families could still sit together that long and not be parked in front of a television?
But wait — there’s more.
(Might be good for you to read the rest of the article.)
Guard your family time from technology!
I don’t know the words to this song; I’ll just make them up as I go along. The tune will be up to someone else.
Yesterday was our niece’s bridal shower.
Though Ruby had no formal tasks or responsibilities for the planning and execution thereof, she was very involved in the preparations.
(I’m glad we didn’t have to experience all the blown gaskets and stripped gears had she not been.)
Decorating the night before. There she was.
Doing the cinnamon rolls. There she was.
Rounding up stuff before the launch. There she was.
Cleaning up afterward. There she was.
This, that, the other, something else — she helped.
Tired? Sure.
Meals to fix otherwise? Sure.
A household to keep running? Sure.
A second Christmas family meal and afternoon to host two days before? Sure.
She gives and gives and gives. Because she’s Mom.
Not for the gratefulness. Not for the acclaim. Not for the power. Not for the reciprocating good deed. But because she’s Mom.
Because Moms put their families first. (Or should.)
No wonder she was glad to have so major a project accomplished and finished.
Three cheers aren’t enough, nor three cheerers.
Nevertheless, listen to this single cheer from this single cheerer: WooHoo!!!
That’s how the Biblical book of Proverbs ends, speaking of the virtuous woman. Look it up for yourself in your own Bible. It’s right there in Proverbs 31:31.
Here’s a story I’ve been sitting on since December 22. I wonder what Christmas was like for the Johansson’s…and what’s happening with Dominic by now. I just did several Google searches and turned up nothing new.
An appeals-level court in Sweden has affirmed the “kidnapping” of a 7-year-old boy who was snatched by police from a jetliner as it prepared to take his family to their new home in India.
The days-old decision from the Administrative Court of Stockholm affirms the state custody of Dominic Johansson, who was taken by uniformed police officers on the orders of social workers even though there was no allegation of any crime on the part of the family, nor was there any warrant, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association.
The group, the premiere homeschool advocacy association in the world today, has been alarmed by the case that developed apparently because school and social services officials in Sweden objected to the homeschool program for the child.
[…]
“HSLDA is gravely concerned about this case as it represents what can happen to other families who might wish to homeschool their children,” Donnelly said. “Furthermore, in response to inquiries from HSLDA, Swedish authorities have cited the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child to explain and defend their actions.
[…]
In a posting at the Swedish newspaper Varlen Idag, Mats Tunehag, president of the Swedish Evangelical Alliance, worried about the injury being inflicted on the family.
“Annie is from a Christian family in India, and they had planned for some time to move there to live, work and to homeschool Dominic. Due to the harassment from Swedish authorities the trip was delayed. But finally in June this year they were on their way, sitting on the plane bound for India. Then the police came rushing into the plane – as if they were to apprehend dangerous terrorists – and snatched Dominic, saying he is to be taken into care. Can anyone imagine?” Tunehag wrote.
So…what happens here in the United States if the USA becomes a signatory of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child?
Here’s the photo that we sent along with our Christmas Letter this year:
And here’s the photo we included at the end of that letter:
Yup. It happened last night.
We live on a lonely-at-night country road — up a somewhat-long, somewhat-tree-shrouded driveway.
And a car showed up. (Yeah, there were people in it.)
Unannounced.
So I gave our big black dog my special whistle to switch him from Welcome Waggin’ mode to Vicious Attack K9 mode. Then I took down the double-banger shotgun from over the back door and opened the door.Read it all
Frankly, I was astounded to read this earlier this morning.
Furthermore, it happened Saturday night. I didn’t learn about it till this morning. Lemme see — Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday — six days later. And I don’t exactly stay isolated from the news.
Has this story been buried?
President Obama delivered an unprecedented message to the Human Rights Campaign Saturday night. Sounding more like a homosexual activist than a sitting president, Obama went well beyond his expected message of “I’m here with you” on the homosexual agenda.
“My expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians — whether in the office or on the battlefield,” Obama told an estimated audience of 3,000. “You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.”
Even Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese was stunned at the breadth of Obama’s statement, calling it “something quite remarkable.”
“This was a historic night when we felt the full embrace and commitment of the President of the United States,” Solmonese said in a post-speech statement. “It’s simply unprecedented.”
Sounds like the folks at Human Rights Campaign got far more hope and change than they dared expect.
Oh, America!
“Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
“If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
“But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 1:10,16,19,20).
Here’s my source: Obama: Homosexual Relationships ‘Just as Real and Admirable’ as Heterosexual Marriage