Will Wonders Never Cease....

Anne Rice has written a book about Jesus. You know, "Interview With a Vampire", "Queen of the Damned", yeah, that Anne Rice. I just finished reading a short interview with Ms. Rice in our local paper about her new book "Christ the Lord-The Road to Cena" and I must say I'm intrigued. Sure my first reaction when I read the title of the article was totally judgemental. I rolled my eyes and thought sadly, "great another blasphemous novel". But fortunately for my soul (judge not lest you be judged...) I read the interview and after reading it, I can say it sounds like Ms. Rice may have actually written a book that honors Christ.

The book explores the year before Christ's baptism. Ms Rice stated these as her reasons for choosing this time in Jesus' life to write about: "I wanted to give a sense of what was going on that last winter before His public ministry. I wanted to show his humanity and the kinds of societal pressures--the pressure for a 30-year old man to marry for instance--what was going on at that time historically". I think that's an interesting premise and I would be interested in reading a book that sets the scene for Christ's brief but beyond powerful ministry. I would assume that others have written on this topic but can they weave together a story as well as Ms. Rice? Of course her ability to write incredible fiction is my first red flag.......

Although I'm interested, I am still hesitant to read the book based on Ms. Rice's previous writings. I will admit I have never read any of her books but reading just a part of the book "Interview With a Vampire" I was convinced that her stories would not be something that would be beneficial or edifying for me to read. I think a person would have to go to and stay in a very, very dark place to invent and craft that kind of evil fiction. However, everything Ms Rice in the interview leads one to believe she is writing from a place of light now. She didn't publicly renounce her old way of writing or state bluntly "I've been redeemed". Ms. Rice said only that she "came back to Church in 1998", told Christ "Lord, I'm going to trust in You" and has no more plans to write vampire novels. Ms. Rice states she spent hours in tearful prayer asking Christ to "...let this (her new book) be art for You." She also states that she wanted the book to be as accurate as possible and used the Bible as her primary research. She stated that her book was an answer to the Da Vinci Code. Ms. Rice says she thought the Da Vinci Code was clever but "full of lies" and she couldn't believe how the "world went crazy over it". I will be intersted to see if Christian leaders give her book any notice and what they will have to say about it.

I have decided I might peruse the book the next time I'm at the bookstore. However, I don't feel confident that I have studied Biblical history well enough to know whether or not her book is honoring to Christ and truthful or a wolf in sheep's clothing. I think Ms. Rice is probably smarter than me and I wouldn't consider myself qualified to judge the accuracy of her writings. But then, I do think the Holy Spirit is more than qualified and I suppose I could rely on "the still small voice" giving me a sense of whether the book is something that honors Christ. At the very least I am glad that Ms. Rice is now writing on a more uplifting topic and it sounds as though her intentions are pure. But then again, regardless of Ms. Rice's intentions, I'm afraid that the book could still be tainted. Satan does clothe himself as an angel of light so it's possible that even without Ms. Rice knowing it, this book is more dangerous than all her others put together...........

SAHM's--Need A Boost Today?

Hey there professional SAHM's out there, want encouragement today? I think God is really speaking through this woman, Jill Savage, as she discusses and explores the profession being a SAHM. I think after hearing what she has to say, you will see your job in a new way and feel really good about the choice you have made to be at home to raise your kids. Mrs. Savage's words gave me a boost I really needed and helped me refocus on the goal I made so many years ago to raise my children full-time.

http://www.oneplace.com/Ministries/Focus_on_the_Family/Archives.asp?bcd=2008-3-4

Organizations That SHOULD Exist!

I got this from this "Sunday Funnies" a comic called "The Pajama Diaries" by Terri Libenson.

M.A.D.D "MOTHERS AGAINST DRUNK DRIVING" IS A GREAT ORGANIZATION. HERE ARE SOME OTHER ONES THAT SHOULD EXIST BUT DON'T:

M.A.S.D "MOTHERS AGAINST SEXY DOLLS"
THIS ORGANIZATION IS DETERMINED TO EXTINGUISH ALL SCANTILY DRESSED OVERGLAMERIZED DOLLS THAT HAVE MORE CLEAVAGE THAN WE DO!

M.A.I.S "MOTHERS AGAINST INTERFERING STRANGERS"
OUR GROUP IS DEDICATED TO ELIMINATING SELF-RIGHTEOUS UNWARRANTED ADVICE ON PARENTING.

M.A.M.S "MOTHERS AGAINST MARTHA STEWART"
STAMPOUT THOSE WOMEN WHO MAKE ANY MOM WHO DOESN'T MACRAME HER KID'S BEDSPREAD OR BAKE A SKYSCRAPER CAKE FROM SCRATCH FEEL ASHAMED!

M.A.S.M "MOTHERS AGAINST SKINNY MOMS"
BETWEEN GRAVITY DEFYING CHESTS AND PILATES TONED ABS THESE WOMEN SET IMPOSSIBLE STANDARDS FOR OTHER BUSY MOMS--LET'S ERADICATE THEIR YOGAFIED BUTTS!

Not Very Subtle

Am I the only one offended by this ad?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!! Am I the only one who sees blatant sexual content here in an ad obviously aimed at teen girls? If you can't see it well, that's a cherry placed seductivly in her lips. Well, it may be aimed at teen girls but I'm sure any teen boy or man who sees this ad will take a second look also. Shame on Hayden Panettiere (actress in the photo) for teaming up with Candie's to promote the sexualization of young girls! And although she's 18 years old, shame on her parents as well! Shame on Candie's and Kohl's for using sex to sell to teens and! I realize that this ad, when compared to the behavior and lifestyles of other famous young ladies who are all over the news these days, is mild but that doesn't mean just because it's not "as bad as it could be" it's not still sleezy. I just want to shake the American media and shout, "Enough! Leave our little girls alone! Stop telling them that being sexy is their ultimate goal in life!" Don't they see the damage they are doing? Do they care? I have nothing more to say, I'm simply disgusted and will think twice before shopping at Kohl's again. Honestly, I'm mad enough to write the Kohl's, Candie's and Ms. Panettiere letters letting them know what I think. I'm going to do just that...............

Kindergarten is Now R-Rated

The day I have been dreading has come. When I picked up Monkey from Kindergarten Friday afternoon these were the first words out of his mouth, "My friend told me he and his sister had sex." I was so stunned I almost started laughing. I squatted down to have a more private conversation with my son and quietly asked him to say that again, "Well, no," he corrected himself, "my friend said his sister and his brother had sex." Looking back now I think I should have made a beeline for the teacher and told her immediatly what Monkey had just told me. But I was feeling anxious about the conversation I was going to have to have with Monkey now and too wrapped up in my own thoughts. I told Monkey I was glad he told me and we'd discuss it more in the car.

On the way to the car I was wracking my brain with what I wanted to say. It felt like this was a defining moment in my child's development and in our relationship. If I botched this could I do permenant damage to my son's not yet developed sexuallity? Could I actually alienate him at age 6 in this area of discussion so he never wanted to talk to me about sex again? I was totally freaked out that I wouldn't say the right things and Monkey would be negativly effected for life. I felt totally ill equiped to have this discussion. Yeah, me the Social Worker wasn't sure what to say about this. So, I did the only thing I could do, I asked (no, I begged) God to guide me.

After all that mental drama and trauma the conversation went really well. Monkey did have questions and wanted to talk about it. Fortunalty this boy didn't tell Monkey what the act of sex was and when I asked Monkey what he thought sex was he replied "when people kiss and love". I didn't elaborate and thankfully he didn't ask. However, there was a moment of discomfort when I explained that that sex was a good thing but for married grown-ups only. Monkey didn't miss a beat and asked me " Do you and Daddy have sex?" At first I answered that it was "none of your business" but then quickly remembered that I told him he could ask me anything about sex and I wanted to keep the lines of communications "open". So I told him (trying desperatly to hide my embarrassment) that yep we do.

When Monkey asked why kids shouldn't talk about or have sex, this perfect anaolgy came to me (thank you God!) of driving a car. I told Monkey that sex was like driving a car. Kids are too young to do it and they could get hurt. I didn't really address the whole incest issue in what he had told me, (he said that it was siblings who "had sex"). I didn't see the need to go there with a 6 year old. But I did have to cover the whole good touching/bad touching stuff in case Monkey was ever faced with a kid or a grown-up wanted to do sexual things with him (oh please God no!).

All-in-all I think I got through the whole "first talk about sex" pretty well. What do you think, did I cover the important stuff? No matter how well it went I am still sad that the bloom is now falling off of Monkey's rose. If I had it my way we would be having this conversation in about 3-4 years, right around pre-puberty but I figured in this day and age it would be sooner. I am mourning the bit of Monkey's innocence that is now lost.

The Inboxer Rebellion

I'm so tired of "those" emails, aren't you? You know, the ones about the woman who died after drinking a diet coke, telling you you won the European lottery, stating that Barack Obama is a militant muslim, asking for help to find a missing kid, etc, etc, etc. Urban Legends have been around for, well, forever but the internet makes the spreading of this false information as rampant as a wildfire. This plauge of misinformation plays on peoples emotions and fears to get you to pass on their posioned info. There always seems to be some urgent reason why you MUST forward the email to as many people as possible. I used to think to myself, "This sounds kinda wacky but what if it's true? I'd better send it on just in case......." but 99% of the time these emails are full of lies and for all my good intentions I was passing on a bunch of crap to people I care about and respect.

Finally, an answer! I am a HUGE fan of http://www.snopes.com/ a website dedicated to investigating into the claims these emails make and sharing the truth.....all for free! The next time you receive one of "those" emails, BEFORE you hit your forward button, go to snopes, click on "Inboxer Rebellion", search the title of the email and find out whether it's an Urban Legand or not. You will be amazed, almost NONE of those emails have a lick of truth to them!!!! And all of the evidence which debunks the information presented in the "Urban Legend email" is included in the snopes.com articles so if you really want to go the extra mile you can find out where the people at snopes.com got their information.

One note: Just in the past couple of weeks I have found 2 emails that claimed that the information in the email was "confirmed by snopes.com". However, I took the time to go to snopes to verify that snopes had verified the info only to find out that that was a lie also!!!!! Big surprise, the authors of the email full of lies, lied again!!! So even if it says "verified by snopes" or "confirmed by snopes" still go check it out before you send it out.

Let's get rid of these stupid emails that waste our time!!!! God bless the investigators at http://www.snopes.com/!

Lockdown!

As I was walking my 8 year old (Bear) to the playground at school this morning there was a sudden, urgent message overhead announcing that students were to stay away from the playground and go directly to their classrooms. The scene around us quickly became chaotic, kids running everywhere and adults whispering the word "lockdown" all around me. I get Bear to his class, the door is locked, we knock, the teacher opens the door, smiles at me oddly, pulls Bear in and shuts the door. Yeah, I was a little freaked out. So Bear is "safe" from whatever threat there is out there but my 6 year old (Monkey), my baby girl (Gatorbaby) and I are left standing out in the open! I wasn't sure what to do, my instinct was to knock on the door of Bear's class, smile oddly at the teacher, grab my son BACK and get the heck out of dodge! I calmed myself and quickly reasoned that since the instuctions were only to the students there probably wasn't a crazy gunman rampaging around. At least I HOPE the school would help protect the parents and siblings as well as it's students! Even though I figured it most likely wasn't the worst case senerio I was still uneasy and the situation was still not just a little bit scary.

So with our kids locked away in their classrooms all of us parents are aimlessly wandering around the campus with a confused look on our faces asking each other and any staff member we can find "Do you know what's going on?" Finally, I ran into a teacher who said a student had fallen on the playground they wanted all the kids out of the way so the paramedics could get through easily. Whew! I felt momentary relief and I started walking a bit dazed towards the car but then I started thinking too much had to fight of the "what ifs". I found myself getting very angry at those little Columbine boogers and the Virginia Tech guy, that latest shooter in Indiana and every other crazy person who has shot up a campus. Of all places, schools should be safe. How dare ANYONE, mentally ill or not attack something as innocent as an institution of learning. How awful that our ELEMENTRY schools have to have a "Lockdown Policy and Procedures". I guess I should take comfort that the school is prepared but the whole experience honestly makes me want to homeschool my kids. I know, I know you can't protect them forever but they haven't even lost all of their baby teeth yet! So I pondered the mornings events for a while and I have resolved that covering my children and their school with prayer is the only thing, and frankly the best thing, I can do to protect them and save my sanity.

Heavenly Father, protect Bear and Monkey at school today. May Your hand be on them and your angels guard their schools. And may your loving Hand also be on those who are making plans to bring violence to any school or public place. Please let the proper authorites be made aware of their plans and keep them from harming anyone. In Christ's name, Amen.