Laws and controversy

I'm in a thinking mood right now. I've been thinking about the British government, Islam, what to do with my life as a single person, and Israel. This all started because our local Generation Joshua club is meeting tonight and I need to be prepared to discuss Constitutional Law, which through reading Blackstone's commentaries led to thinking about the British government, and then I started a pamphlet by our Pastor about Natural Law, which reminded me about the Chalcedon magazine about Islam(The perennial clash: Christianity vs. Islam, 2002), which led to Israel and thinking "I'd really like to visit Israel, what should I do with my single life?"

My mind just wanders about like a butterfly.

Anyway, here is an interview of an Israeli soldier about the short war back in July. Michael Totten always has interesting and enlightening blog posts about the middle east.

I haven't had time to read any poetry yet, but I am learning words like "promulgation" and "pusillanimous". Yes, I admit, those words were not previously in my vocabulary. Right now though, it is time for coffee break(one of the best customs of a Swedish town) and a quick trip to the library to hopefully pick up "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead man's chest" to counter-act all this thinking.

Neutrality Loathsome

God will have all, or none; serve Him, or fall
Down before Baal, Bel, or Belial.
Either be hot, or cold: God doth despise,
Abhor, and spew out all neutralities.

-By Robert Herrick

I'm not going to college and you can't make me!

So I'm back. Actually I've been home since Sunday, and I've just been lazy about posting. The week of babysitting went well- the children are very well disciplined and respectful. I caught a cold from one of the kids, as I always seem to do when I babysit. There were five kids under the age of eight, and they kept me busy, but all went well.

It snowed again last Saturday and the boys have been enjoying sledding and hot chocolate. I have been getting back into my routine and trying to get some work done before our home school co-op starts up again. On the topic of waiting at home- just the other day while I was at work one of our members came in to exercise. We chatted a bit; she asked me if I had found a job yet, then all of a sudden she said seriously,
"You know honey, you DO have to go to college."
(I do not like to be called "honey" by people who are not in my family.)
I laughed, somewhat incredulously, (What? Are you serious? Who are you to tell me what to do?) And said:
Why?
And she basically said:
"Well, you may have to support yourself if you husband is unable to, or if you need extra money someday, I mean, getting married and having kids is ok, but you should be able to get a good job."
Me:
I agree that I should have a way to support myself (in case my husband dies, or if I never get married) but I don't think college is the best way to gain a secondary education.
She just repeated what she said before. I probably shocked her terribly; she is a public school teacher and she seems to be against home schooling. But the arrogance! Telling me that I have to go to college. College is not the only way to learn a trade, to assure a good job and earn a living; and as far as art goes, it is not the most efficient or the best quality way to learn. People don't think outside the box.
So frustrating!

Another year is dawning

By Frances Ridley Havergal

Another year is dawning,
Dear Father, let it be
In working or in waiting,
Another year with Thee.

Another year of progress,
Another year of praise,
Another year of proving
Thy presence all the days

Another year is dawning,
Dear Father, let it be
On earth, or else in Heaven,
Another year for Thee.

Now that I'm out of high school, living at home, and decidedly not going to college, sometimes it seems like helping out at home just doesn't give me enough to do. So I like the part in this poem about in "working or in waiting, another year with Thee" and "proving Thy presence all the days" which is a project I can always work on.

And now Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Ps. 39:7

Oh Boy!

The boys are so excited because, as they put it, "Alaska is coming here!" Snow, freezing rain, and below freezing temperatures-ah yes, a bit of Colorado heading for our very own backyard. The boys are thrilled. I don't mind so long as the roads are cleared by Sunday morning. I have a babysitting job next week in the capitol city that I can't miss. I promise to post something good before I leave; I doubt I will have internet access where I'm going. By the way, I had Lithuanian chocolate for breakfast today and it was tasty!

He's a Pirate. 

Vacation is over.

And so we must return to our lives as they were, and struggle back into our routines of labor and all that is mundane.

Well, alright, maybe I’m just being dramatic. But it sure seems that way. This morning I read a book that I conveniently bought for Dad this Christmas- “Then sings my soul: 150 of the world’s greatest hymns”. It has many good songs in it that help to lift the spirits. I can’t read notes, so I have to remember the tunes as best I can, and sometimes I can only remember the chorus, but that’s usually the most enjoyable part anyway. If you feel gloomy about returning to a useful life now that the holidays are over, maybe these songs will perk you up a bit:

Praise:
To God be the glory, great things he hath done!
So loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
Who yielded his life an atonement for sin,
And opened the lifegate that all may go in.

Refrain:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father thru Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great things he hath done!

More Praise:
I know not why God's wondrous grace
To me he hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for his own.

Refrain:
But I know whom I have believed,
And am persuaded that he is able
To keep that which I've committed
Unto him against that day.

Get up and do something:
Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
To serve the King of kings.

Mournful but catchy, befitting to the post holiday season:
Some glad morning when this life is o'er, I'll fly away;
To a home on God's celestial shore, I'll fly away (I'll fly away).

Chorus
I'll fly away, Oh Glory
I'll fly away; (in the morning)
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by,
I'll fly away (I'll fly away).