PARENTING FREEDOM

carol | August 30, 2010

My husband, two oldest sons, and I watched Glenn Beck’s Kennedy Center service on Friday evening, as well as the Restoring Honor rally on Saturday. Both events were very encouraging and inspiring. We loved hearing Dave Roever at the Kennedy Center. My husband and I heard him speak on abstinence when we were teenagers. I knew Chuck Norris would be speaking (homeschooling parent). He was so nervous.  It was nice to see video of Glenn Beck’s wife, Tania, on his website. Sarah Palin (mom of soldier) was awesome at the Restoring Honor rally. I loved hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece, Dr. Alveda King speak at the rally. She is a strong, brave, pro-life advocate. I appreciated the prayers at the Kennedy Center and the singing at the Lincoln Memorial – both things they were warned about. The bagpipes playing Amazing Grace was touching. It was encouraging to see all the people of different faiths and backgrounds come together.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Watch Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor (3 hours)
http://www.therightscoop.com/watch-glenn-becks-restoring-honor

You can’t tell from the aerial photos, but people were standing under all those trees, right around the tree trunks. I will update the crowd estimate when Glenn gets the final numbers, but the number is most likely 650,000 people. Wow. (They only had a permit for 300,000, so I hope they don’t have to pay more if they admit there were more people.)

Photos from Restoring Honor Rally
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/44980/
http://www.therightscoop.com/photos-glenn-becks-restoring-honor-rally
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/08/28/GA2010082800047.html

[This must have been exciting:] Geese Fly By Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally

Edited to add this note and two more geese videos:
I LOVED that they said that it was a military flyover (planned by the King of Kings). Before the event, Glenn asked all around for some kind of military representation (cannons, etc.), but everyone refused, so that is why he got the boyscout (which was better anyway.) (Note the kids’ conversation in the second video below.)

Honor Rally Geese Flyover

Geese Fly-Over at beginning of Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally

‘Restoring Honor’: The Day After Wrap-Up & Whitewash
http://michellemalkin.com/2010/08/29/restoring-honor-the-day-after-wrap-up-whitewash/

“Now for some ‘compare & contrast’ as far as cleanliness goes. Here’s the National Mall, post Restoring Honor rally, where hundreds of thousands of anti-environment, non-green, polluting right wingers had been gathered:”

On the Mall after the Restoring Honor Rally

“And here’s the Mall after Obama’s inauguration — the ironic aftermath of a party consisting of a million environmentally conscious progressives who voted in 2008 in part for a cleaner planet in order to fight climate change:”

Random Acts of Citizenship: Pickin’ Up Trash After Inauguration

Category: Christianity, Freedom, Inspiration, Media Bias Exposed, Media Glenn Beck, Politics Barack Obama, Politics Sarah Palin | 2 Comments »
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carol | August 26, 2010

A Blessing for One who is Exhausted

John O’Donohue

When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,
Time takes on the strain until it breaks;
Then all the unattended stress falls in
On the mind like an endless, increasing weight,

The light in the mind becomes dim.
Things you could take in your stride before
Now become laborsome events of will.

Weariness invades your spirit.
Gravity begins falling inside you,
Dragging down every bone.

The ride you never valued has gone out.
And you are marooned on unsure ground.
Something within you has closed down;
And you cannot push yourself back to life.

You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken for the race of days.

At first your thinking will darken
And sadness take over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.

You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.

Hat Tip: http://mollysabourin.typepad.com/molly-sabourin/2010/08/sweet-dreams-little-one——a-blessing-for-one-who-isexhausted–john-odonohue–when-the-rhythm-of-the-heart-becomes-hecti.html

Category: Depression, Health, Inspiration, Miscarriage, Parenting Pregnancy | No Comments »
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carol | August 16, 2010

The Joy of Watercolors
http://ponderedinmyheart.typepad.com/pondered_in_my_heart/2010/06/watercolor-year.html

We have all the watercolor supplies and recommended DVD ready to go.

Mila’s Daydreams
http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

We bought some new colored blankets and are planning to do this during the next few months. This is the hat tip for the idea, but I hope I will be creative in coming up with my own baby landscapes. (Most pictures will likely be for registered readers.)

Water Ballet
http://www.elizabethesther.com/threes_a_crowd/2010/08/water-ballet.html

And pretty much every post by http://www.kellehampton.com/

Category: Homeschooling Activities, Inspiration, Parenting General | 1 Comment »
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carol | August 9, 2010

Rush Monologue: Life is Not Fair
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_080510/content/01125113.guest.html

Listen here instead of reading:
WMP http://mfile.akamai.com/5020/wma/rushlimb.download.akamai.com/5020/clips/10/08/080510_6_life_is_not_fair.asx
REAL http://mfile.akamai.com/5020/rm/rushlimb.download.akamai.com/5020/clips/10/08/080510_6_life_is_not_fair.ram

Category: Inspiration, Media Bias Exposed, Politics | No Comments »
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carol | June 29, 2010

Mrs. M. was most definitely greeted by our Lord with,

“Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
Matthew 25:21

We knew Mrs. M. and her family since my parents first began homeschooling my sister in the early eighties. She was a professional teacher who homeschooled her own three children, and then she began to educate other children who needed her until she had a full-fledged private Christian school. When running her school, she continued to be very supportive of homeschoolers and even offered her school for art/music/sports, etc. every Friday. My children and I visited there on Fridays for almost three years. We have many memories of those years.

Mrs. M.’s school was home to a variety of children from various circumstances and backgrounds. There were Christian children, doctors’ children, poor children, children too smart for the system, challenged children, previously bullied children, children given up on by the public schools, etc. There were even children of other religions (like Muslim) whose parents wanted something better for their children than the public school system. Mrs. M. was a loving servant to each one.

“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Matthew 25:40

When I think of how Mrs. M. loved, helped, and encouraged the many children who went to her school over the years, she reminds me of Lady Liberty.

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)

And this was the way it was at Mrs. M.’s school,

“Even the people that you reject can make it here.”
Glenn Beck

Mrs. M. passed away at the age of 63. She has three grown children (late 20′s, early 30′s) and a little grandson. Their father also died just a few years ago. May God bless them.

Category: Christianity, Homeschooling Activities, Homeschooling Controversy, Inspiration, Public School | 2 Comments »
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carol | May 15, 2010

Video: Glenn Beck’s Liberty University Commencement Address
http://www.therightscoop.com/video-glenn-becks-liberty-university-commencement-address/

Category: Christianity, Inspiration, Media Glenn Beck | 1 Comment »
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carol | March 23, 2010

“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
Thomas Paine

“We should never despair, our situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new exertions and proportion our efforts to the exigency of the times.”
George Washington

Category: Depression, Health, Inspiration, Miscarriage, Politics Barack Obama, Quotes | No Comments »
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carol | March 10, 2010

“Believer, you are not exempt from trials, but you have sufficient grace for any trouble. God’s choicest love letters are sent in black-edged envelopes. The envelope frightens us, but if we know how to break the seal we will find riches for our soul. Great trials are the clouds from which God showers great mercies. Frequently, when the Lord has an extraordinary mercy to send, He employs His rough and grizzled horses to drag it to our door. The smooth rivers of ease are usually navigated by little vessels filled with common commodities, but a huge ship loaded with treasure crosses deep seas.” Charles Spurgeon

Thanks for the quote, thatmom!
http://www.thatmom.com/

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

Category: Christianity, Depression, Inspiration, Miscarriage, Quotes | No Comments »
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carol | February 7, 2010

Category: Abortion, Inspiration, Politics Sarah Palin, Special Needs | 1 Comment »
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carol | January 18, 2010

“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

http://parentingfreedom.com/2009/02/20/rev-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-against-spanking/

Category: Freedom, Inspiration, Parenting Discipline, Quotes | 1 Comment »
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carol | December 21, 2009

Sean Stephenson addresses a crowd about an interesting date!

“What other people say and think about you is none of your business. It’s not even about you. It’s about them and what they’re comfortable with.” Sean Stephenson

Category: Christianity, Depression, Health, Inspiration, Marriage | No Comments »
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carol | December 18, 2009

“If we discover a desire within us that nothing in this world can satisfy, also we should begin to wonder if perhaps we were created for another world.”
C. S. Lewis

“You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.”
C.S. Lewis

Category: Christianity, Depression, Inspiration, Quotes | No Comments »
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carol | December 8, 2009

“You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.”
Charles Buxton

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
Charles R. Swindoll

“Are you upset little friend? Have you been lying awake worrying? Well, don’t worry, I’m here. The flood waters will recede, the famine will end, the sun will shine tomorrow, and I will always be here to take care of you.”
Charlie Brown to Snoopy

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Let us dream of tomorrow where we can truly love from the soul, and know love as the ultimate truth at the heart of all creation.”
Michael Jackson

Category: Christianity, Inspiration, Quotes | No Comments »
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carol | December 7, 2009

William and Rush Pt 1 of 3

“I hated school because it’s what everybody else had to do. I hated being locked up from the second grade on in a room…”

“Eight years old is when I knew I wanted to go into radio because I’m sitting there getting ready to go to school I don’t want to go to. My mother’s fixing breakfast. She’s got the radio on. The guy on the radio’s having fun. And I know, nine or ten o’clock, he’s finished and he’s not going to some room, having to learn to paste.”

“My childhood was spent in duress and in silent protest.”

“Every year I wanted to be older. When I was ten, I wanted to be 20, when I was 20, I wanted to be 25… ‘Cause I knew it was going to get better. I was going to have more freedom. I was going to have more opportunity. I was going to be treated different because I was an adult. And it’s been true. Every year of my life has been better.”
Rush Limbaugh

William and Rush Pt 2 of 3

William and Rush Pt 3 of 3

“I no longer keep everything inside… Having the freedom to trust them [people] without fear that they’re going to not like you.”

“I even quit the Boy’s Scouts and the Cub Scouts. I was a quitter. I quit everything conformist.” Rush Limbaugh

Category: Freedom, Inspiration, Media Bias Exposed, Parenting Discipline, Politics, Public School | 2 Comments »
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carol | December 5, 2009

“Live not in yesterdays, look back and you may sorrow. Live precisely for today, look forward to tomorrow.”
J. J. Hulsgen

“Love…does not take into account a wrong suffered.”
1 Corinthians 13:5 NASB

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Mark 11:25-26

Tim McGraw: Let It Go

Let it Go ~ Tim McGraw
I’ve been caught sideways out here on the crossroads
Trying to buy back the pieces I lost of my soul
It’s hard when the devil won’t get off your back
It’s like carrying around the past in a hundred pound sack

[Chorus]
Today I’m gonna keep on walking
I’m gonna hold my head up high
I’m gonna leave it all behind
Today I’m gonna stand out in the rain
Let it wash it all away Yeah wash it all away
I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah
I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah

Skeletons and Ghosts are hiding in the shadows
Threatening me with all the things that they know
Choices and mistakes, they all know my name
But I’m through holding in and holding onto all that pain

Today I’m gonna keep on walking
I’m gonna hold my head up high
Got No more tears to cry
Today I’m gonna stand out in the rain
Let it wash it all away Yeah wash it all away
I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah
I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah

And I know I know I know I know I’ve been forgiven
I know I know I know I’m gonna start living
Today I’m gonna keep on walking
I’m gonna hold my head up high
I’m gonna leave it all behind
Today I’m gonna stand out in the rain
Let it wash it all away Yeah wash it all away
I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah
I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah
I’m gonna let it go Oh yeah
Oh yeah

LUBA let it go live canadian music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSFqcBswcjQ

Let it Go ~ LUBA
Too many doubts
Too much fear
Too much danger
When society constructs
Our human nature
Live by the rules
Live by the laws
Live by commandments
Notions preconceived
Can lead to utter madness

[chorus]
Let it go
Let it go
Let it free your body
Let it move your soul
We are made
We are not born

Learn to convert
Learn to assert
Learn to abandon
Ideologies and
Disciplines at random
Lay down the rules
Lay down the laws
Lay down commandments
Lift the sanctions
That restrict this woman’s madness

Uniformity
Conventionality
Is the fate of our existence
Keep it safely at a distance
Nonconformity
Unconventionality
Is the fate to be
Let your hair down
Can’t you say

Category: Christianity, Health, Inspiration, Music, Quotes | 1 Comment »
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carol | December 3, 2009

“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
1 John 2:1

“I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”
C.S. Lewis

Consider this Lewis quote with my little adaptation: “I think that if God forgives us we must forgive..” our children “…Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

“God pardons like a mother, who kisses the offense into everlasting forgiveness.”
Henry Ward Beecher

“The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.”
Honoré de Balzac

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
Ephesians 1:7

“You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin.”
Psalm 85:2

“For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.”
Psalm 86:5

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
Romans 8:1

“The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Psalm 103:8-12

“I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”
Matthew 18:22

“Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’”
Luke 23:34

“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
Colossians 3:12-13

“We find that the work of forgiveness has to be done over and over again. We, forgive, we mortify our resentment; a week later some chain of thought carries us back to the original offense and we discover the old resentment blazing away if nothing had been done about it at all. We need to forgive our brother seventy times seven not only for 490 offenses but for one offense.”
C.S. Lewis

“We must forgive all our enemies or be damned.”
C.S. Lewis

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”
Mark Twain

“He who is devoid of the power to forgive, is devoid of the power to love.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.”
Saint Augustine

“I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note–torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.”
Henry Ward Beecher

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.”
Unknown

“The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.”
William Blake

“You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.”
Lewis B. Smedes

Category: Christianity, Holidays, Inspiration, Parenting Discipline, Quotes | No Comments »
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carol | December 3, 2009

Give up on being perfect
http://catholicherald.com/opinions/detail.html?sub_id=11672

Category: Holidays, Inspiration, Parenting Attachment, Parenting General | No Comments »
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carol | December 1, 2009

Into Each Life

INTO EACH LIFE SOME RAIN MUST FALL
Ella Fitzgerald & The Ink Spots – 1944

Into each life some rain must fall
But too much is falling in mine
Into each heart some tears must fall
But some day the sun will shine

Some folks can lose the blues in their hearts
But when I think of you another shower starts
Into each life some rain must fall
But too much is falling in mine

SPOKEN (Ink Spots Version):
Into each and every life some rain has got to fall
But too much of that stuff is fallin’ into mine
And into each heart some tears gotta fall
And I know that someday that sun is bound to shine

Some folks can lose the blues in their heart
But when I think of you another shower starts
Into each life some rain must fall
But too much is fallin’ in mine

Category: Depression, Inspiration, Music | No Comments »
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