What you need to know

"Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives."
-John Adams

Memorial Day is for remembering those American soldiers who have served and are serving today. The American people also need to remember they too have a duty to their country, to be vigilant and fight to keep their freedom. Who will be a John Adams for my generation? I want to do my part to keep America free, and I hope to inspire others to do the same.

Frustrations

Last August Dad became an Elder in our Church. Becoming an Elder in our church is a lot harder than it is in most churches, I would guess. Dad had to study for months to take a big long test before he could be approved. He was rushed through the process because our Church needed another Elder. Then just a short while after Dad was ordained, our church decided to switch denominations from the PCA to a much smaller, more conservative denomination. Dad had to immediately start studying for a much longer, harder test to be completed in a shorter time space.

Dad is in Tennessee this week for the church conference of our soon-to-be new denomination, and yesterday he was questioned for three hours by a panel of six men to see if he met the standards to continue to be an Elder when we switch denominations. He wasn't approved, but he is a candidate, which means another interview in the fall.

I guess I am slightly frustrated, though I'm trying not to be, at this whole process. It's been maybe a year since we started down this road. To require so much of Dad in such a short time frame when he has a family still at home, a full time job, a business on the side and an acreage, seems a lot to ask. If you haven't been studying this theology for years and years, it's hard to cram enough of it in your head to be able to answer surprise questions under pressure! Dad is willing to serve, but the standards are so high.


This post has been my opinion on the affair. I needed to vent. I hope you understand.

My Hobby

In another attempt to make people see how enjoyable it can be to visit cemeteries, here is another bunch of pictures. I stopped at two different cemeteries on my way home from Lincoln last week, and now I'm out of cemeteries to visit on the route home. The first cemetery was the beautiful Swedish cemetery of Fridhem off of highway 77 near Ceresco. It was on a hill with a beautiful view; there were lilacs and flowering trees, cute benches, very well kept-up.

Ok, if you still don't get it, here are the reasons I enjoy visiting cemeteries:

• They are peaceful. There's just peace and quit. I prize that! It's very relaxing. I am not an extrovert. So, I love the quiet.
  
• They are beautiful- both the landscaping and the stones themselves are a form of artwork! I enjoy art.
  
• They are historic. Nebraska's pioneers are buried in these places. I respect them, and it is good to look back and think of those people who came before us. I get excited over history.

Cemetery number two was Elim Lutheran-I think- near Hooper. Not as pretty as Fridhem, but it has some really old stones. The older the stone, the better. I just became a member of Find-a-Grave, which is similar to USGenWeb's Tombstone Transcription Project. Since I am also interested in genealogy, contributing to these projects makes sense to me, and I hope to do more tombstone transcription over the summer.






Well, I guess I've talked enough about cemeteries for one post. I just wanted to share with you my love of cemetery visiting. My family thinks it's kind of strange, and I'm guessing most people think the same.

Who's the Number one best State Senator?

(Hint: It's not Coash- sorry, Coash aides)

Yes, I'm biased.

Always Learning

The Capitol building.
South side, taken by the Governor's Mansion while walking on the way to the office.
(There's a really weird "modern art" Lincoln bicycle on the Mansion lawn, checkered black and white with checkered monkeys hanging on it. Modern art- bleh!)

Jen and I have been taking turns driving to Lincoln every week to Volunteer at the Capitol. The work is slightly mundane and not very useful(at least, sometimes I feel like I'm not being very useful), but it's been a great learning experience just being in the State Capitol. I'll only be going one more time and then session will be over, but I am grateful that I have been able to learn more about our Nebraska Legislature.

This past week was my week to go to Lincoln. On Wednesday I spent the day writing letters of response to those people who contacted the Senator's office; and when I got done with that I did an overview of LB 218, which was about county aid. I'm pretty sure LB 218 was voted through yesterday. You know, interesting things happen in the city. I hate parallel parking, so I always end up parking far away from the capitol in the easy parking places, usually in the same spot-across from the pink house with purple trim. I am really trying to remember this is the city, so lock the car- but I worry that it might get stolen anyway. I worry too much.

On Thursday I spent the day searching online for the phone numbers of people in the district who have unclaimed property. Thankfully there were other things going on so I had a few good breaks!

So there's a quick picture of what my week was like. How was yours?

Old Curiosity Shop on PBS

This past Sunday we hustled the boys to bed by eight and watched the new Masterpiece Classic version of Charles Dickens "Old Curiosity Shop". Over the past month we girls really enjoyed watching "Little Dorrit" as a treat every Sunday evening. We even drove on dangerous roads to watch it at our business when the power was out at home. In February we saw a little of Oliver Twist, but at that point we were in the throes of switching to digital TV so the reception went out every ten minutes or so, which made Jen very irritated. Masterpiece does such an excellent job of adapting Dickens works into film; so accurate and true to the story. We were very pleased with the acting and the overall quality of the Masterpiece Dickens series- except- in making "Old Curiosity Shop" and squeezing the whole story into 90 minutes, a large part of the story was cut out. The sweetest part, where Mr. Swiveller gets sick and the Marchioness nurses him back to health- gone. The section where when Kit, grown up, falls in love with Barbra, gone. Cutting out so much of the Marchioness, especially, was a blow. I guess if you haven't read the book you might not notice that everything moves so quickly in the movie, but I was looking forward to seeing my blog's title character. Anyway, if you still aren't sure who I named my blog after, you can go to here and watch "Old Curiosity Shop" online. Just don't blink, or you might miss me(The Marchioness).

I Have Returned

Finally, finally, we have high-speed internet again. Almost a month ago there was a bad storm, mentioned in my last post, which knocked down power lines in our area. When that happened, our business computer here in town got fried and so we have been without high-speed internet for what seems to be a very long time. There's not a whole lot you can do on dial-up internet. It's hard to check email, much less post on a blog.

I was shocked to see that people have actually been visiting my blog, and on closer examination it seems the reason is that Anna(my sister's twin and long-distance friend) has linked to me. It's very humbling to be known as "Jennifer's sister" or "the sister of Anna's friend Jennifer" if that even makes sense. But that's what comes of being the less talkative one in the family, I guess. I get called Jennifer a lot more than Jen gets called Emily. Anyway, thanks a lot Anna for linking to me! I hope a few people stick around and comment.

Since our computer here got wiped clean, I lost all my blog links and favorites(along with all my typed out genealogy documents and pictures). So if anyone has a suggestion of a good blog to read or would like to to read their blog, leave a comment. I'm working on building up my links again.