"Shades of Blue" by Karen Kingsbury

This is fantastic fiction.

I've never read Karen Kingsbury before and I know I will be reading more from her.

Her record of the effects of Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS) are incredibly accurate.  I had trouble believing that she hadn't suffered through it herself.  She also was able to write about such a dark and depressing subject in a really non-depressing way.  She was thorough in regard to the effects of abortion to all  possibly involved or affected.  Amazing.

This has to be one of my very favorite books.  Read it!  Buy a few copies and give them as gifts.  This not only is a great story, but there is a deeper, more noble cause and it is that the truth of abortion must be exposed and women must find healing.  Sharing this book is a really casual, non-condemning, non-judgmental way to do it.

"I don't know karate, but I do know ka-razy ...and I will use it." ~Owen Wilson, Shanghai Noon

I recently discussed with a family member the subject of movies and their agendas.  One comes to mind:  A stunning creation but so densely saturated with ridiculous agenda that I couldn't ever actually purchase the movie and show it in my home to support such nonsense or to feed the idiotic ideas into the minds of my children.

Uh, no.

Anywho...this person says to me that he doesn't care about the agenda, he just enjoys the film.

I'm an uncompromising, activist type so just enjoying stuff and ignoring agenda doesn't really work for me.  Actually, it totally doesn't work for me.

This isn't to condemn or affirm your movie-watching habits, I'm just babbling my personal weirdness.

I was having an emotional breakdown over the ills of society the other day and was so upset over a particular issue near and dear to my heart, that it seemed abnormal to be so impassioned over it.  I mean who thinks this hard about the things that I do!?!?  I looked at my husband (who patiently listened to every fervent word) and told him how sorry I was that he's married to a crazy woman.  LOL!  He assured me that I wasn't crazy and imparted to me his wisdom and encouragement.

In a life where several in my family think I am a total freak-of-nature and think my uncompromising standards are absurd, it sure is nice to know that the one who knows me best (my precious hubby) validates my heartfelt ideals.

Now, how in the world did I end up with him?  He's SO logical.  Weird that he doesn't have me taken away in a straight jacket.  There must be some purpose for someone like me.

To quote Sally Clarkson (again): "God uses each of us within the limitations of our own personalities...it is Him in me that will reach the world."  This brings me great comfort.  Especially since I know I can easily drive people nuts with my wild views and boldness to actually say what I think.  There are so many "limitations to my personality," but it's me.  Lord, may I take my numerous weaknesses under the control of the Holy Spirit. Help me!!! :)

Bless you and your personality "limitations",

Lessons from Horton

"Should I put this speck down?..."  Horton thought with alarm.

"If I do, these small persons may come to great harm.

I can't put it down!  And I won't!  After all

A person's a person no matter how small."

~Horton Hears A Who

How I connect with Horton...no, not because I view myself as an elephant (at least not in this case), but because of his passion to protect the innocent and to secure their survival.

Reading this story twice through with my boys tonight for the first time and I wonder what the great Dr. Seuss was alluding to.  Obviously some innocent, helpless being.  

To the Mayor:  "Don't give up!  I believe in you all!

A person's a person no matter how small!

And you very small persons will not have to die

If you make yourselves heard!  So come on, now, and TRY!"

"...I'll not be silent..." Psalm 30:12

I've spent the last week captivated in the pages of Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury.  I cried and prayed my way all the way through the story.  I relate to the author's heart to expose abortion for what it really is and what it really does, and to do so without condemnation or judgment.  How important it is to get the word out; to uncover the truth.  Don't be silent.  Spread the truth!  Share my story.  Talk about the in-womb babies as the little people they truly are.  Rejoice with a pregnant mom over the miracle being created within her.  Give someone this beautiful piece of fiction - read it yourself.  It is wonderful!

Last week the boys and I spent some time learning about Martin Luther King, Jr.  I was struck at his passion for freedom for his people, for ALL people.  Upon learning about his four children, and understanding that he was determined to peacefully bring about a change in culture even if it meant pain, imprisonment, and even death.  I wonder if Martin Luther King realized the cost to sacrifice himself for his children or even generations beyond his own immediate family...should it have taken that long.  And now, how he would be stunned that a black man is in the White House (though we may disagree vehemently with his policies).  Certainly, such a feat is a result of the great Martin Luther King, Jr.  

Like Moses, the Pilgrims, our Revolutionaries, and our Founding Fathers who fought for a life of freedom knowing they may never actually acquire it for themselves, but kept their eyes on the hope that freedom might come to "their posterity."  Martin Luther King, Jr. is no less a hero than these great ones.  Do we have that revolutionary spirit within us today for the sake of the unborn?  A significant part of culture refused to recognize blacks as people - seeing them only as property or "lesser" people.  There is no difference in how much of culture views the unborn: "a mass of cells", "tissue", not a whole person.  When the reality is that there are 10 fingers and 10 toes, brainwaves, and a heartbeat for every baby aborted.  An abortion will not occur earlier than 7 weeks.  The above-mentioned developments are well underway by then.  How deceived we have allowed ourselves to become.  

You have a voice.  Please, use it for those who do not.  Be as bold or as subtle as you feel comfortable but do something.

I exhort you -"Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." ~James 4:17

"Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die." ~Proverbs 31:8 (emphasis mine)

 

You just may be able to influence another to see the truth too!

"How true!  Yes, how true," said the big kangaroo.

"And, from now on, you know what I'm planning to do?...

From now on, I'm going to protect them with you!"

And the young kangaroo in her pouch said...

"ME, TOO!"

You have a voice and you have influence.  Use it and be deeply and overwhelmingly blessed!  And stay tuned for more lessons from Horton.  This book is filled with them. ;)

Much love to you, 

Happy Birthday, Jame!

I have a real-live hero living under my roof.  He catches bad guys.  Helps those in need.  Comforts those who suffer loss.  Brings peace to hostility.

Who's the hero?
My husband, of course!

Jamie is a fantastic officer.  Trustworthy, just, compassionate, kind, firm.  Well-balanced.
Jamie is an awesome dad.  Loving the boys.  Tickle monster to them.  Creator of squeals from little lungs.  Counselor.  Corrector.  Hugger.
Jamie is a considerate husband.  Thoughtful.  Sacrificing.  Preferring.  A servant, leader.  Generous.  Kind.  Selflessly loving.

He's funny and fun.  Quiet and wise.  Sarcastic and practical.

And I totally don't deserve him.  Poor guy!  He could've done so much better. ;)

Happy Birthday, Sweetie.

Happy Birthday, Grams

83...she would have been, but she made it only to 76.  I wish she would have been with us until she was 100 because she was the best grandma and the kindest woman I ever knew or ever will know.  She was firm, but loving.  Full of laughter and rarely without a smile.  I am quite sure she trained herself to always have a smile on her face.  I asked her about it once when I was very young and she didn't even realize she was smiling.

I was a lucky one.  My parents divorced when I was five and because of that, I live with my grandparents for a couple of years.  No, I'm not an advocate of divorce.  But, I know a blessing when I see one and being in my Grandma's presence as much as I was was one of those "good" things that God made out of bad. (Romans 8:28)

She was a wise and beautiful woman.  Hardworking.  Dependable.

Wonderful.

It seems such a cruelty that she left this earth the way she did.  Cancer is a wicked and horrid thief that rips loved ones, treasured ones away - out of our arms and far away from us.  And it doesn't care how it takes my beloved ones:  peacefully, violently, painfully, sleepily.  Cancer is not a respecter of life.

"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18)  

How often that verse played over and over in my mind 

and on my lips her final days.  

Two days before my beautiful Grandma slipped out of this life, I stood at the foot of her bed.  The hospice chaplain holding her left hand.  She hadn't woken in a day or so, but when we entered the room to see if we could pray with her, her eyes were open.  A conscious moment!  ...And at the very minute we approached her about eternity.  We were amazed...yet we ought never to be surprised at the tenderness of the Lord.

I will always treasure in my heart the hours rubbing her legs.  I will always treasure the dozens of short walks around the house close behind her so she wouldn't fall.  I will always treasure surrounding her, my arms around her to hold her up as she brushed her teeth.  Lifting her out of the chair and being so grateful for my dancer's strength so I could be strong for her when she needed me.  How many times had she been strong for me?

I will always treasure that the last words I recall her saying were, "Hi, sweetie pie," when I set 5-month-old Brandon on her bed days before she died.  

I will treasure her stubborn sass over how to scramble an egg or do the dishes.  Never mind that I was helping her.  Haha! :)  She always knew the proper way to do everything.

So, that Tuesday, as I stood at the foot of her bed, I told her what a good person she was and how I know she believed that good people went to Heaven.  "But, Gramma, that isn't the truth.  Grams," I pleaded, "Jesus died on the cross.  He wouldn't have done that if we could find our own way to Heaven.  Jesus is the only way.  And we must invite Him to be the center of our lives.  Gramma, squeeze the man's hand if you want to pray to ask Jesus to come to you."

After days of lethargy and zero response, 

she turned her head to the chaplain 

and squeezed his hand.

Thank You, Jesus!

"When someone you love becomes a memory,

That memory becomes a treasure."

Is your name written in Heaven?

2 Peter 3:3-7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth are held in store for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.  

The Greek word for destruction is apoleia which means "losing, loss, the state after death wherein exclusion from salvation is a realized fact."  That definition sends chills up my spine.  A moment will come, at the ushering in of eternity, when every lost man and woman will be confronted with the staggering loss of his or her salvation. Remember, Philippians 2:10 says that "every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."  The lost will suffer a horrible threefold realization:  they will realize that He is LORD, that they are LOST, and that it's too LATE.  Another definition of the word apoleia is just one sobering word: waste.  Their lives will have been a total waste.  A life without Christ is a wasted life.  All the energy, all the pain - for absolutely nothing.  Praise God, with reverence, that your name is written in the "book of life."  (Beth Moore, Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit)

This has stunned me today.  And brought to mind many names of people I love dearly who do not know God and are not saved.  Beth goes on with the reminder that our life is a vapor, here for a moment and vanishing quickly.  But eternity....  How long is eternity?  From our death to forever.  Where will you be?  You will not just cease to exist.  You will exist and it can either be in the lake of fire or in the presence of God.  Please, know that I do not say this so matter-of-fact-ly with no emotion.  I am deeply grateful that mine and my children's names are written in that book, but I know of dear family who are not in that book and it is devastating me right now.  How can I reach them?  How can I communicate to them the severity of an eternity apart from God where they will suffer endlessly?  How my heart breaks at the thought.

knowledge abounds

In the last days knowledge will abound.

And so, here we are.

I don't know why but this verse has come to mind frequently in recent weeks, maybe months.  Knowledge abounds and increases.  Every t.v. show I turn on is full of information.  Most of it very interesting albeit useless in the long run for one individual to be required to know...unless you want to go for the gold in Jeopardy.

I attempt to plan my school day with the boys and find that I don't know where to start...or actually, I do know where to start but I don't know where to end and I certainly don't want to overload them with a bunch of information just for the sake of information.  What really matters?

Reading,
Writing,
Math?

Of course these are fabulous subjects but I am a woman of passion (have you noticed?!) and I want a cause to pursue and I want the necessary info to just naturally come with it.  Is that too much to ask?

It seems it would be too much to ask.  But if I have learned anything from home schooling, it's that God can make great lessons out of the most unplanned circumstances.  So, why don't I just relax and let things happen as they may?

Because occasionally I feel as if I have someone peering over my shoulder comparing my children to the products of the public school system and then I feel pressure, pressure, pressure.  When I really shouldn't since they are doing just fine.  And so am I.  Most of the time.  As long as I take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

So what is that verse really?
"Many will go here and there to increase knowledge." ~Daniel 12:4  The context is that of the end times.  A time of distress.  Deliverance for everyone written in the book (yes, that book).

Well, knowledge is certainly on the rise.  And pride along with it.  And pressure.  When everyone knows everything, then what makes knowledge special?
We must observe our children and their gifts and we must depend on the Lord to guide us in our children's education.  And we must not allow the ridiculous influence and expectations of the world to intimidate us.

"Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up." ~1Corinthians 8:1

Don't you wish wisdom would abound instead?  And perhaps character?

"In Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden." ~Colossians 2:3

I'd rather impart to my children the treasures of wisdom and knowledge than just the pride of knowing random facts.

Relax, Kori.  

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge..."  (Proverbs 1:7)

"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you." ~Matthew 6:33

I sure can analyze circles around something when I ought to just start at the most obvious point, God, and remain there and let Him guide our educational course.