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Our Daily Thread 12-9-13

Good Morning!

16 Days Until Christmas!

On this day in 1803 the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. With the amendment Electors were directed to vote for a President and for a Vice-President rather than for two choices for President.

In 1854 Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” was published in England.

In 1907 Christmas Seals went on sale for the first time, in the Wilmington, DE, post office.

In 1917 Turkish troops surrendered Jerusalem to British troops led by Viscount Allenby. 

And in 1962 “Lawrence of Arabia,” by David Lean had its world premiere in London.

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Quote of the Day

“The problem with winter sports is that – follow me closely here – they generally take place in winter.”

Dave Barry

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First up today, Mercy Me.

And then BarlowGirl.

And some Casting Crowns too.

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Anyone have a QoD?

42 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-9-13”

  1. Morning all, Aj is up early today so I am still online to greet you all. Had a good day at school today and all were happy. There is a sweet feeling of contentment in a class when it is going well. In a week I will be headed homeward. Enjoy your Monday. blessings

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  4. Good Morning Everyone. I wrapped some presents yesterday afternoon. Now BG, Mr. P. Middle Son, and Youngest Son all have 2 presents each under the tree. I have one more big thing to get for Mr. P but I am finished with BG. I have to get everyone some stocking stuffers.
    I feel kind of funny about the way I got one a couple of the gift cards. I called one of my credit card companies and they sold me on the “credit insurance” you can cancel after one month. For getting the “insurance” I got a $25 dollar gift card to 3 different stores where I routinely shop. Now I just have to remember to cancel the insurance in January. I know there is a catch in there somewhere, I just don’t know where, but until then…If I don’t have a balance on the card there is no charge.

    Jo, I think I am almost as excited for you to be coming home to see your children as you are…almost, but I am sure not quite. I know you are getting anxious to be here. Safe travels to you when the time comes.

    I did have a conversation with my aunts Saturday. When my grandmother’s house was sold my one aunt “Bossy” used a real estate agent that attends her church. Her excuse was that she didn’t want me to have to go to Mobile to show it. This time around I made my case that I make my living in real estate and I would appreciate it if I were the agent of choice to sell my uncle’s house. They are seeing an attorney today about settling the estate. It is somewhat of a mess in that he died without a current will. He had left everything to his wife and her daughter the executrix, but their divorce negated the will. This time they have decided to upgrade a cousin and me and treat us as siblings to his estate, so IF things go to the family I will inherit an 11th of his estate. Ever being practical, I have not spent my portion yet. I will hold off on that until the any check clears the bank.

    It was somewhat shocking Saturday to only have 2 uncles and 5 aunts out of a family of 12 children. One aunt didn’t come from Georgia and another aunt aka the Meanest Woman on Earth is in ill health and starting to suffer the effects of dementia. Her daughter won’t bring her to anything and won’t let any of the siblings come see her. I don’t understand that. I would want all the help I could get, especially if I had aunts and uncles offering to sit with her and care for her so I could get out of the house.
    Families are strange.

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  7. Fifty three degrees here. In the house, next to the fire. Outside, after I got the snow off of the thermometer, it was one degree. Time to go out to do chores. Later, all.

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  10. Kim, elder abuse is rampant. The other siblings should not be shut out of their mother’s life. If she is that mean, though, I can understand why they may be reluctant to rock the boat.

    I could use some prayers for issues with siblings and parent’s care.

    We’re at -2 F now after having at least -25. This thermometer is just off the house, so it is sometimes warmer than further out.

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  11. I think it was 52 in my house when I got up. It was 50-something, I think it was a “2” I saw on the thermostat before flipping the heater switch back on. 🙂 We’re getting down into the 30s at night and, yes, for us that’s cold.

    So Chas will be spending his day sitting outside some store with his laptop. 😉

    I’m doing laundry, it’s a day off for me today. I also discovered that one of the dogs raided the cat’s dry food feeder, it was completely empty, not a stray piece of kibble in sight. No wonder Annie’s been acting so hungry and eating so much more of her wet food than usual.

    Can’t put it off any longer, I’ve got to send off the property tax 😦 today.

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  12. I heard the walk-though of the for-sale church went well yesterday, so our church will be putting together an offer, apparently. It would be a bit father for me to drive, but not a lot farther — and it’s 2 blocks from the beach, really a beautiful location and a cute older church.

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  13. So, Donna, do the dogs get to go hungry while you feed Annie in front of them to teach them a lesson? Or do they get away with it since you don’t know which one did it?

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  14. They basically get away with it as I don’t know which one did it — or when. The feeder was full several days ago, should have lasted quite a while, but this morning I noticed it’s empty.

    Dogs are the ultimate opportunists.

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  16. But, it looks as though the cold snap is coming to an end for us, anyway. Temps expected to be in the teens to thirties over the coming week. Outside.

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  19. I have a question that could be politically correct-challenged. I am interested in various opinions because I know some of you here either work with special needs children or have them.

    Another mother just sent me a message that her child was in the Driver’s Education car that was being driven by a mentally handicapped student when he almost hit a bridge.

    There seems to be a whole lot of liability for the school system in allowing this child to drive. I am not advocating locking the handicapped in an institution and forgetting about them but doesn’t a little common sense need to be applied. Especially where the welfare of others is concerned.

    What are your thoughts?

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  20. Special needs covers a wide range. Hopefully, the folks in charge have evaluated and decided this child is capable of driving. A lot of accidents happen with “typical” children. It is up to the people in charge to decide if the person is capable and it is up to the parents to decide if they want their children put in that situation. A lot of new drivers can almost hit a bridge, or the oncoming car, or the tree, or the curb. Hopefully, nobody is targeting somebody unnecessarily.

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  22. Well, today I conquered one of my fears — sightreading the last movement of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata #29. 😉 I’ve been on this years-long project playing through all of his sonatas for piano, and I tell you, many of his later sonatas for the instrument (there are 32 total) are monstrously long! Sonata 29 has four movements, and in my piano collection of the complete sonatas, it goes from pages 691 through 764! The fourth movement is the longest (pgs. 737-764). Today I decided, Enough of this delay; I’m tackling it, and that’s all there’s to it! 🙂

    Mission accomplished! Tomorrow I’ll start #30, and I am determined to finish the rest before the new year.

    For any interested, here is the one I played today. It took me much longer than the 13 minutes Glenn Gould takes to play it. 😉 Pretty video, too, in the opening minutes and closing minutes particularly.

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  23. You have to think it is pretty cool that George W. and Laura Bush are flying to Africa with the Obama’s on Air Force One.
    Wouldn’t you like to hear those conversations.

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  24. My friend Kelly began a 4-part series at her blog, Generation Cedar, yesterday, entitled One Woman’s Story: Addiction, Abortion, Adultery and Atonement. A reader had written to her, sharing part of her story, and gave her permission to share it on her blog, what Kelly calls a “beautiful story of God’s redemption” in Megan’s life.

    http://www.generationcedar.com/main/2013/12/one-womans-story-addiction-adultery-abortion-and-atonement.html#comments

    From Part 1:

    “Statistics like to tell us what race, age and income level of women are more likely to have abortions, as well as many other statistics. What statistics don’t tell you is that almost always the woman in that position feels her situation is hopeless and she doesn’t know Jesus as her Savior. At one point in time I was that woman. I was married, over 30, a stay at home mother to two children, who I adored, and my husband made a decent income. So how did I come to decided to abort my baby? Before I can tell how I ended up making the decision to murder my baby I need to go back in time.

    In 2007 I was so thankful to be experiencing a successful pregnancy with our second child after suffering from 3 miscarriages. My husband and I had been married for 2 years, together for 7. We loved each other, but there were problems in the marriage. He was a functioning alcoholic who would not come home many nights as well as all the financial problems that go on with alcoholism. I suspected cheating, but he was good at covering his tracks…”

    This looks to be a very good series. If you know of anyone who may be encouraged by a series like this, I’d encourage you to share the above link.

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  26. Thanks, Donna. It felt good to get through it. 🙂 Three sonatas — eight movements all together — yet to go. I’m pumped now, seeing the end in sight! It’s been a challenging and fun journey.

    I liked those L.A. snow pictures. 😉

    I see the article I linked above goes to the first comment instead of the top of the post. Just scroll up. (I’m not telling any of you anything you can’t figure out, of course.) Just mindlessly typing. 😉

    Back to work cleaning the basement.

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  27. And one quick diversion…

    While cleaning the basement, I noticed a list of things to do 6th Arrow made for herself:

    clenup
    peano
    redg
    sieis
    bible
    chak trme

    I figured out the first, second, and fifth. The others I’ll confess I needed her help translating.

    redg = reading
    sieis = science
    chak trme = check “Thermy” (Thermy is the name we affectionately call our outdoor wood burner, derived from its brand name, AquaTherm, or something like that.)

    I think I’ll add “spelig” to her list. 😉

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  29. Donna, in my childhood I heard repeatedly about the day my dad was driving the school bus, taking kids home from school, and it was snowing, the first time the Phoenix kids had gotten to see snow, and the most recent snowfall in Phoenix when I was a child (it was before I was born). I don’t think they had any accumulation, but snow in the air was an amazing sight to desert rats.

    Well, when I was 20 we had a snowfall in Phoenix, with accumulation. Three to five years later, I was at college when I called home on Christmas Eve to talk to everyone in the family (Mom would pass the phone around). My oldest brother asked, “Have you had any snow yet?” and I told him yes, we had a little bit the day before. It turns out Phoenix had had snow the day before that . . . so Phoenix’s “first” snow of the year was earlier than Chicago’s! I have no idea whether Phoenix has had any snow in the last 20 years; those were the only two snowfalls I know about in my lifetime, and I don’t think the second one brought any accumulation (though I wasn’t there to see it, and might be wrong).

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  31. Kim, I don’t think a student should EVER be in the car while another student is driving. And I would bet money that it violates their insurance policy.

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  33. Kim, when I took driver’s ed back in the dark ages….there would be 2-3 students in the car along with our instructor (who happened to also be our math teacher)…..he had a brake on his passenger side of the car….my friend Laura was at the wheel one Saturday..she went right up over the curb of an island between two avenues…we sat there like a bird on it’s nest…and we all laughed, as we were so stunned. Mr. Sweeten asked her what she could have done to prevent this situation…she just sat there and cried!
    I am hopeful the driving instructor in your situation has evaluated the “special needs” student and felt confident he/she could handle driving a car….first time I got behind with wheel with my Daddy at my side I forgot to turn the wheel back after turning a corner…I can still hear him yell.”turn the wheel, turn the wheel”….I almost hit the telephone pole…the next morning I was enrolled in drivers training…by my Daddy! 🙂

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  34. We had 1st and 2nd Arrows go through classroom driver’s training and behind-the-wheel at the usual ages, along with a bunch of other youths of that age (15-16). We rethought that philosophy with 3rd Arrow. She turned 16 earlier this year, but we aren’t going to enroll her in any class. When she turns 18, she’ll be able to take a written test to get her permit, and a driver’s test to get her license, without having to go to the expense of signing up for an entire classroom/behind-the-wheel program, and without having to ride in vehicles with other inexperienced drivers. Our DMV has books for learning the rules of the road that she would be able to study from, and we would be the ones giving her instruction on how to drive. Works for us.

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  36. Karen O, I stuff wood in the stove as fast as I can. But most of us keep so busy that we are comfortable with it and other homes feel too warm. We don’t have any other heat than our wood stove in the living room. But we have lots of blankets and hats.

    Six Arrows, we did the teach them ourselves version for the first four. This time around we enrolled two, who had quite a bit of experience driving already as farm children. They were the only children in the car with the teacher. Worked for us. And these were our fourteen and fifteen year olds. We have not put the older sixteens and seventeen in because we do not believe they are ready.

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  37. Part of our problem with the heat is that we decided to replace our cast iron stove with one that was federally approved for insurance reasons when we started getting all of these children. It is approved but less effective at heating the house.

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  38. Experience driving around the farm helps a lot, Mumsee. And children certainly all mature at different rates, so it’s understandable (to adults, anyway) that some younger children may be ready to handle the responsibilities of driving sooner than older ones. How did your sixteens and seventeen handle the decision to enroll the younger ones earlier? Not that that matters — a decision is a decision. Just curious. 😉

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  39. A neat coincidence tonight that was no coincidence at all. I reported at 4:35 that tomorrow I would begin playing through Beethoven’s Sonata #30. Guess what I just heard played on public radio? 😉

    I love it when God does stuff like that.

    Have a good night/day, all.

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  41. For a combination of reasons, I didn’t drive till I was twenty. I really wasn’t interested in driving, just saw it as something I’d “need” to do someday, and I wasn’t going to be allowed to use my parents’ car at all. So it didn’t really make sense to learn to drive until I was close to being able to buy my own car . . . and limited transportation limited my options as to what job I could get, which likewise limited my ability to save for a car. But by the time I was twenty, I had cash for a cheap used car and six months insurance, plus a little left over for possible repairs. So I got a car, and a better job, and was able to then get an apartment with my sister. But I had no desire to drive “for fun”; it has always been something I do in order to get somewhere (even if that somewhere is “fun”).

    It was helpful, though, to have one of our daughters be a responsible driver from the age 16, able to drive herself to school and to work in the family’s second car. We’ve paid gas for school transportation; she pays it for anything else, and it works for all of us.

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  42. Kare, we have a combination. We do like to get tamarack (larch) for its heat, but we mix it with red fir, white fir, walnut, lilac, and willow. We get what we have available and what the children get out in the woods.

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