Preserve the Republic!

If you've ever been tempted, by popular opinion, to say, "We should do away with the electoral college and just go with the National Popular Vote!" please, please take time to watch this video.  Also, check out Tara Ross's website, as she has been very articulately defending the electoral college and its merits for years.  The electoral college is by far the most ingenious election system in the world.  It separates us from all other free nations in its wisdom, and it protects our country from mob rule.

Take time to understand and defend it, because (surprise!), IT'S UNDER ATTACK!

The Last Time

"The Last Time"

The above article, posted by one of my Facebook friends, has made me cry and really think about how quickly this season of motherhood truly passes by.  My KK turned 15 this month, and watching him grow into a young man has made me very emotional lately.  I can truly say that I love this stage of his life, just like I have all the others, but the brevity of it all has become such a reality to me!  The article is by a mother who has diligently recorded all the "first" (as I have), but it struggling to remember the "lasts".

When was the last time he wore a toy watch?

When was the last time he had all his baby teeth?

When was the last time he sat in Jason's lap?

When was the last time he wore cute pajamas?

When was the last time I tied a blanket on him for a cape?

When was the last time he gave me a thumb's up?

When was the last time he kissed his sister goodbye?

When was the last time he drank from a sippy cup?

When was the last time he dressed like an Indian?

When was the last time my boy posed in a completely undignified, silly way for me?

I am going to treasure every second of these next few years with my KK

Who knows when I'll wash his clothes and prepare his meals for the last time, before handing him over to a young woman, who will take over my duties?  (pass the Kleenex!)

:-)

Here are some videos of the kids playing at the assisted living home. Lots of fun!

The Greatest Evil

"The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" that Dickens loved to paint.  It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps.  In those we see its final result.  But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices."

C.S. Lewis, Preface to THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS

Now THIS is taking dominion!

"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Gen. 1:28

Some people think space exploration is outside the scope of the dominion mandate.  I strongly disagree.  How can you subdue the earth if you don't study the universe in which it hangs?  Psalm 111:2 says, "The works of the Lord are great, sought out [studied by] of all them that have pleasure therein."  And though most of the scientists who work at NASA are atheists and evolutionists, our country has still benefited from their dominion work.  (Read Henry Morris "God and the Nations" for an amazing teaching on this!)

It's a shame that Obama's budget cuts 20% of NASA funding to pay for Sandra Fluke's birth control and convicted killer Robert Kosilek's sex change surgery [BOTH OF WHICH ARE THE OPPOSITE OF THE DOMINION MANDATE TO MULTIPLY AND FILL THE EARTH, I MIGHT ADD].  Of the course, the question begs to be asked, "How many people has Kenya put on the moon?"  Imposter-in-Chief has pretty much assured that American excellence will soon come to an end.

But for right now, pull up the kiddies and enjoy this absolutely awesome video!  I sat last week just fascinated by the images being sent by the the Mars rover Curiosity, and I kept wondering...How did it get there?  Well, here's the amazing explanation.

"When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet."  Psalm 8:3-6

Hypocrites....STUPID Hypocrites

A Little Girl and Her Camera Roll

You can tell a lot about a person by scrolling her iPod camera roll.  

The girl loves Band-Aids.  I laughed out loud when I found this pic.  I had no clue she had taken it at Wal-Mart

She loves her "Seb"

She calls wrapping her wet hair up in a towel her "Smurf hat"

Smile, Baby!

This is not a horror movie.  It's her rainbow night light, a Mobi Tyke Light

Spooky!

"Mama, take a picture of me singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow"

  

The girl loves her Poppie

And she loves eyes

Her baby rabbit

She also loves feet

More feet

  

She loves her friends

Um, she has brothers.

Can you guess?
(It's Raggedy Ann's eye LOL)

I love how my "baby" is growing and developing her own unique personality.  I miss her being a baby, but I feel so privileged to be allowed to watch firsthand the amazing transformation of all my children from little infants into young people.  I love being a mother!

My Sweetheart

Jason and I were just thinking this evening how it was 18 years ago today that he asked me to marry him (and I excitedly said yes!).  Those 2 kids sitting on the bank of that lake that Saturday night didn't have a clue where all life would take them, but they knew without a doubt that God had put them together.

What an incredible life we're sharing together!  All this...and eternity with our Lord.  I am humbly thankful for all with which the Lord has blessed me.

To Rule Them All?

For fans of both Lord of the Rings AND Ron Paul:

"Our goal is not political power…our goal is to live free, because we know that means we live better. When political power becomes the goal, we have lost the mission. Some people think that if we control the system, then we can use to our benefit. But government power is like Tolkein’s one Ring, that controls them all. Some Republicans think that we can use power only for good. We know better. We know power corrupts. Our goal is not to win elections so we can impose on people our version of what is good. Our goal is to throw the one Ring into the fire of the Constitution !"

--Marianne Stebbins, Minnesota Chair, Ron Paul 2012 Campaign, during her speech Aug 26, 2012 in Tampa, FL at the Ron Paul Rally.

Well said!  And if you missed Ron Paul's speech at the We Are the Future rally in Tampa, here it is in its entirety.  Ron Paul begins at 10 minutes in.  I have to listen to Ron Paul speeches periodically to remind me that there still are honorable and sensible people in the world.  Ron Paul will go down in history as a hero....a "Christian Thomas Jefferson".

Pepper Stringer

Seth will be 9 years old in a couple of weeks.  All that boy has had on his mind for many months now is DOGS!  Using his filtered iPod browser, he researched and learned all about different dog breeds.  He took screen shots of different dogs and decided what he would name each one if he could get one of that breed.  Then, one day, a lady in the pet store let him hold a miniature Australian shepherd.  That was it.  The boy eats, breathes, and sleeps miniature Australian shepherds.  And so, the search began.

 Finally, we came across this 12 week old Blue merle, who is now part of the family.  Seth named her Pepper, and she's just precious!

 You can see her beautiful eyes.  Her left eye is half black/half blue.  Pretty wild looking!

 A puppy?  Really? Am I up to this?  We don't really need it! 

But, it's for my sweet boy.  

And I'm sure she'll fit in fine with our coon dog, 40+ chickens, a dozen or so rabbits, 2 cats, tree frog, 2 jellybean frogs, and beta fish.

Wise Advice

“One reason we are so harried and hurried is that we make yesterday and tomorrow our business, when all that legitimately concerns us is today. If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there. Let us submit the list to Him and ask Him to indicate which items we must delete. There is always time to do the will of God. If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy.”

― Elisabeth Elliot,
"Secure in the Everlasting Arms"

- Posted using my iPhone

Perpetual Youth

I had an experience recently that was a real eye-opener.  I would love to be able to share all the details, but in consideration of the fact that my blog is open to the public, I feel it would be best not to do so.  I certainly have no desire to hurt anyone's feelings.

To be brief, the experience involved me speaking (on behalf of LMO) at a youth rally.  I took my 2 daughters with me.  What we encountered was just downright embarrassing.  The 2 rock bands were a disgrace to the Holy God about Whom they claimed to be singing.  It was so loud it scared my baby girl and shocked my 12 yr old.  Adults made fools of themselves in the name of doing anything for Christ.  When the Bible speaks of the foolishness of the gospel, I feel pretty confident in not interpreting that to mean getting up on a comfortable, air-conditioned stage and acting like an ape.  Whatever I have said in the past about youth groups, let me just say that I was much too nice about it.

I have taken a lot of heat about this subject through the years, but time has shown us that we have done a grave disservice to our kids by inventing a new way of evangelizing them.  By "reinventing the wheel", we have completely departed from New Testament faith.  We've lost confidence in the glorious gospel and the power of Holy Spirit preaching, and put our trust in recreation and psychological games.  We mock a Spirit-filled man of God and flock to metrosexual dudes with holes in their jeans and untucked shirts.  We've traded the "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs" for (....I'm trying to be nice here...give me a minute...) generic, mediocre, chants to the beat of a pagan drum.  And our children are lost.

My 12 year old, one of the church pianists who plays beautifully from the Church Hymnal and carries herself with a mature grace and charm well beyond her years, was dumbfounded.  "Mom, do they not realize how silly they look?  I'm embarrassed for them."  It grieved me to see the "dumbing down" that was taking place. Where is the challenge to embrace a serious walk with Christ?  What can be gained by encouraging perpetual youth?

And our children are lost.

As I was discussing this with a friend yesterday, her daughter shared this video with me.  I LOVE the Blimey Cow guys!  They're a perfect testimony to homeschooling, and the ability it gives people to think outside the box of mainstream mania.  This video sums up the futility of youth groups, as well as why they draw so many kids, most of whom sadly do not make the cross-over into grown-up church. (Of course, the Bible NEVER makes a distinction!  When Paul wrote to the Colossians and the Ephesians, addressing the children and the parents, he never paused for the youth pastor to bring his group in to hear the reading of the letter.  He expected they were all sitting together in the congregation listening as a family!)

You Either Love Him, Or You Don't Understand Him

Today is the birthday of possibly the most loved (by patriots) and most hated (by politicians) man in our modern U.S. history, Dr. Ron Paul.

The one and only "politician" who has been 100% consistent throughout his career, whether it's running a wildly successful OB/GYN practice (personally delivering 4,000 babies) while not accepting MedicAid, to refusing a government pension and returning his Congressional budget balance to the treasury each year.  Ron Paul has been a lone voice in heralding Christian principles such as

• sound money vs. fiat currency 
• just war; non-interventionism (PLEASE, PEOPLE, DON'T CALL HIM A PACIFIST.  HE SERVED IN THE U.S. AIR FORCE AS WELL AS THE NATIONAL GUARD.  THERE'S A DIFFERENCE.  LOOK IT UP)
• limited government that doesn't regulate the righteous, but instead only restrains the wicked (I Tim. 1:9; Romans 13:3)
• the sanctity of human life
• marriage as a sacred institution, not a government institution
• The Golden Rule (spoken by Jesus originally, not Ron Paul!) as foreign policy

Ron Paul has reminded us all of what made America great.

Let's all lift a glass of raw milk in honor of Dr. Paul's 77th birthday!

Tara...with Energy!

She's back. New and improved. Version 3.7 with all malware and viruses removed. Increased battery life and speed.

For my blog readers that may not know, I have been sick for months (since Christmas!) with what I now know to be a 1.2 cm infected kidney stone. After months of fever and pain and drug reactions, it finally came to a head a few weeks ago with a blockage. Hospitals, ambulance ride (NOT fun!), outpatient surgeries, stent, lithotripsy....long story short, I am finally better and so thankful to be feeling great!
I'm anxious to get back to blogging, and of course...it's election season, so I've got plenty to say LOL.

Thanks for your patience with my "blahg", and here's a shout-out to my faithful friend, Angela, who actually notices when I'm not blogging and is sweet to call and see what's wrong. (Thanks, friend!)

And here's a funny for the day:

- Posted using my iPhone

Sing a Happy Song!

With all the rain we've had lately in our neck of the woods, several mushroom gardens have sprung up all over our yard.  Tuesday, I was cooking supper and heard a loud scream and ran out the door to find Summer Rose sobbing in the front yard, with Seth standing there with that "innocent" look on his face, holding a mushroom.  

 ...or should I say, holding a Smurf house.  Whenever Summer and I walk in the yard, every time we find a mushroom, I'll say, "Shhhhhhh!  Listen carefully," and we'll lean down and I'll quietly sing, "La la la la la la, sing a happy song.  La la la la la la, sing the whole day long."  She just loves that, and I guess has taken it a little more seriously than I thought.  She was truly heartbroken that Seth had carelessly destroyed a Smurf village!

I just love little girls!  And though I am working on making her less of a "cry baby", I love it that she can still get so upset over something so cute.

I Bow My Knees

Having a child who's nearly 15 years old has brought me to a new stage in my parenting life.  I find that I cannot micro-manage every area of my children's lives, at least their thought life, at this point.  I've always been very protective of them and their outside influences, and I still am.  Unlike conventional wisdom, I am NOT going to loosen the reigns at my teenager's critical stage of life; however, I am realizing more and more how small I am, and how dependent I must be on the work of the Holy Spirit of God to do anything good and lasting in their lives.

This post has nothing to do with me being more lenient on what kind of friends they have, or what kind of movies they watch, or what kind of books they read.  I am determined now more than ever to keep their minds pure and clean.  I will be more careful than I've ever been about those things!  I've never understood the strategy of shielding children during their young years, and then exposing them to sensual media during their hormonal teenage years in the name of "giving them space".  But because my children don't have access to computers and television and friends outside of my watchful eye, they've never even asked to watch or go anywhere inappropriate.  Thank the Lord, that's never been an issue here!

What I mean, is that I'm quickly realizing that teaching my children the ways of God and keeping them innocent....will not save them.  I am helpless to do this, and I humbly throw myself at the mercy of God on behalf of their little souls.  As I've prayed over them earnestly, God has laid a Scripture on my heart that has been such a blessing to me, and I wanted to share it:

"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God."

Ephesians 3:14-19

This was Paul's prayer for his beloved congregation at Ephesus, and it is my prayer for my children.

Dorothy and the Militia

Let the games commence!



- Posted using my iPhone

The Fruits of Yesterday's Labors

...or should I say the vegetables; although, tomatoes are technically a fruit....
:-)

With what I kept in the refrigerator, I made the equivalent of 18 pints of salsa!  That should last a couple months around here.



- Posted using my iPhone

Total Security or Freedom?

- Posted using my iPhone

Canned Salsa

I'll share my recipe for delicious, fresh, homemade canned salsa.  It has jalapeno peppers, but when they are seeded, it's pretty mild.  This is a lot of work (chopping, that is), but definitely worth it!  AND PLEASE, wear GLOVES!  I learned that lesson the hard way. Enjoy!

Canned Salsa
Yield:  9 pints

15 c. tomatoes, chopped, seeded, cored, pealed* (about 20 large)
4 1/2 c. sweet peppers, chopped and seeded  (about 4 lg bell peppers or several lg banana peppers)
5 c. onion, chopped (about 5-6 large)
1 c. hot peppers, chopped and seeded (about 10-12 jalapenos)
18 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped (not minced)
1 c. lime juice
4 1/2 Tbsp. sea salt
2 c. cut fresh corn (or 16 oz. can white shoepeg corn)
2 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 c. fresh cilantro, chopped, stems discarded (measure lightly pressed down in measuring cup before chopping with kitchen shears)


Bring to boil; Simmer 40 minutes.  Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headpace.  Process 15 minutes in water bath canner.

*Peeling large amounts of tomatoes can be a chore!  To make it quick, just bring a pot of water to a boil.  Drop the tomatoes in for 30 seconds, then straight into ice water for 30 seconds, and the skins just peel right off by hand.