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Our Daily Thread 1-7-15

Good Morning!

 Today’s header photo is from Janice.

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On this day in 1558 Calais, the last English possession on mainland France, was recaptured by the French. 

In 1789 Americans voted for the electors that would choose George Washington to be the first U.S. president. 

In 1904 the distress signal “CQD” was established. Two years later “SOS” became the radio distress signal because it was quicker to send by wireless radio.

And in 1926 George Burns and Gracie Allen were married. 

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Quote of the Day

“May God save the country, for it is evident that the people will not.”

Millard Fillmore

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 On this day in 1924, at the age of 26, George Gershwin completed this song.

And it’s Rick Elias’ birthday. From Rick Elias

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Anyone have a QoD?

71 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-7-15”

  1. Good morning, and as Chas labeled the weather yesterday, “dog park cold,” in Atlanta.

    I would comment on the header photo, but for whatever odd reason, the header photos are still not showing up. I miss seeing them.

    Our son has commented about how talkative Miss Bosley has been since she returned from boarding. She also spent an hour in his lap while I went to the library and grocery shopping yesterday. Before she was in his lap she was crying for me. I guess she is still a baby…after all, she is only a one-year-old.

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  4. Good morning, AJ, Janice, Chas & Kare. Pretty water in the header photo — looks so peaceful there. Thanks for submitting that one, Janice. Sorry you can’t see the headers, though.

    Try to stay warm, Kare!

    Day two of our new schedule was yesterday, and was a near flop. I have trouble on Tuesdays. I guess I should have asked for prayer that day, too, as I did on Monday!

    Interesting, though, to listen to a webinar last night on the topic of owning one’s life, taking responsibility for the choices we make, being good stewards of the gift of time God has given us, to think about how we can leave a legacy that matters, calling on God for guidance in ordering our lives according to His priorities, etc.

    There was something one person in the group who was doing the talk said that really spoke to me, especially after my thoughts at that time of the evening had been about all the things I didn’t accomplish yesterday.

    I think she was quoting someone else (not sure whom), but she said, “Your children don’t need your productivity as much as they need your presence.”

    Wow. My presence.

    Forget about scratching every thing off the to-do list.

    I want to live that out. Think less about the things and more about the people. Just be with them. Draw them alongside me to do the necessary things, but joy in their presence at the same time.

    Prayers again for us? Thank you, all, and have a blessed day!

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  6. Schools aaround here cancelled classes today, because it is colder than an LA dog park at night. The air temp is 2°, with wind at 20+mph, causing wind chills between -25° and -30°, so they didn’t want the little ones getting frostbite while waiting for the bus. That wind can really bite, especially in the flat lands which have nothing to block the wind.

    So I’ll be around the house today without much to do other than read and bother you guys.

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  7. Sorry I am late to the party. Grandpa, Miss Em, and I just woke up about 30 minutes ago. We paid for all that goodness last night when someone, (I’m not saying who) wanted to stay up until midnight. Her mommy left us with strict instructions to wake her at 9am if she didn’t wake up on her own. We have been cuddling and playing for the last 30 minutes and now Grampy pa is giving her a bottle and I am checking in with you.
    We did manage to get to the park and to the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue yesterday. The park is on a lake and they have the most amazing dog park and dog swimming area. I was amazed at how many people were there with their dogs in the middle of the day. Oh, and it wasn’t fenced! Very few dogs were on leashes. They must put something in that lake water!
    We had birthday lunch/dinner about 3:30 so there was no need for anything else. We had decided that when daughter in law got back from the Women’s (in her field) Dinner we would go downstairs and have a snack and drink in the lounge —Didn’t happen—the old people were tired.
    Once again, today the goal is to make it to at least one of the several museums within walking distance.

    Oh, and just in case you haven’t had the opportunity to find out, these dad gum new fangled car seats are complicated, not to mention the strollers. I finally got the car seat strapped in to the back seat of the truck and then got her in, but neither of us could figure out how to collapse the stroller so “Jed Clampett” bungee corded it into the back bed of the truck. I bet we looked a sight with Alabama plates on the truck and a stroller strapped to the side wall. Thus has been our adventures so far…

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  10. Laughing…with you, of course, Kim. I have this picture in mind punctuated with an AL tag. Does the truck have a shotgun in the back window displaying the threat to anyone who would dare try to mess with that stroller?

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  16. mumsee, you’re in a “high inbound” state.

    Kim, thanks for the mental picture of the bungee-corded stroller & pickup truck.

    That dog park sounds great. Bet it wasn’t even cold.

    I’m having a clumsy morning, in the middle of my devotions I spilled coffee … been cleaning that up ever since. Argh. I’m such a klutz sometimes. Crazy thing is I knew the coffee was on an unstable spot on an ottoman, but did I move it as a precaution? No.

    I was not shocked when it spilled, just aggravated at myself.

    OK, the day HAS to get better.

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  17. Good quote of the day, AJ — and a good reminder that God’s hand is behind all the nations, kings and presidents, bringing history to its final culmination, step by step, exactly according to plan.

    But on a humorous note, my favorite picture from yesterday was the ever bronze-hued John Boehner holding that gigantic mallet in one hand and grabbing a very reluctant Nancy Pelosi with the other, kissing her as she appeared to be really trying so hard to push him away. Another great moment captured for the ages.

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  18. Good, on the fledgling– always a little poignant.

    Love Gershwin. He wrote one of the UCLA fight songs. Great clarinet lover, of course.

    Drought warnings are back in full force. :-(. Grim for parts of CA, we probably got enough rain last month to have drinking water, if little else.

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  19. Forrest is hanging out with his Mimi & Papa today, as his mommy is studying for her classes tonight. He loves when Papa is home during the day (on his days off – Sunday & Wednesday). Now, as Papa is taking a shower, Forrest is enjoying the treat of watching a video on Papa’s computer, sitting in Papa’s desk chair. So cute.

    Have I mentioned lately how adorable & sweet my little guy is? ❤

    This evening & tomorrow morning, Chrissy & I will be babysitting. Forrest loves hanging out with his Auntie & Mimi. And we love him. There are times while we babysit that he is challenging & frustrating, but in general, he's a cute sweetie.

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  20. We’re heading up to an 80ish degree day again today … Should I wear sandals? My house still gets cold overnight so I’m always overdressing in the morning, then I am hit with that warm air as soon as I step out onto the front porch and have to start peeling off the layers.

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  21. A couple days ago, I wrote a comment that included this:

    “Sadly, tragically really, we are now at the point where if you don’t fully believe & accept that homosexuals were “born that way”, that homosexuality is is as much a part of a person as their hair & eye color, then you can’t really say you love them or accept them as individuals. If you can’t accept this very important, integral part of who they are, then you don’t accept them at all.”

    Not long after writing that, I read part of an article a friend shared, about the suicide death of a teenage boy who was trying to live as a girl. This paragraph underscored what I had just written (emphasis mine)…

    “Leelah Alcorn’s parents say they loved their son “unconditionally.” This is, of course, a lie. Loving Leelah unconditionally would have involved accepting Leelah as she was, not trying to “fix” her. Loving Leelah unconditionally would have involved not setting the condition that Leelah accept the role of son. Love is incompatible with denying the nature of what you love. If you cannot accept a gay person as gay, a trans woman as a woman, a trans man as a man, you cannot love them. You do not love them.“

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  22. OK I confess I am acting like a grandmother—
    This baby lives in Maryland and doesn’t own any undershirt onesies. Do babies not wear them anymore. BG always had undershirts until she graduated to can a soles (camisoles). She wouldn’t go anywhere without one.
    We do have our wardrobe planned for today’s outing. She is wearing jeans to make her grandpa happy. He has already played dress up with her this morning putting her in all of her Officially Sanctioned Collegiate Product University of Alabama dress, cheerleading outfit, hounds tooth dress and onesie. Thank goodness this is all on his cell phone and we don’t actually have to pay to develop film!

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  23. Karen, I read that same article and even made a comment on the link. Society is tarring and feathering the parents, threatening to protest at the funeral, and completely overlooking the fact that these parents LOST THEIR CHILD. How’s that for tolerance?
    As you all know I have two best friends who are gay, a gay nephew, a gay cousin, and a gay stepbrother (and probably have left someone out). With the exception of the stepbrother who was an officer in the military I don’t think any of them ever had to hide the fact they are gay. I often tell the story of my mother in law telling my nephew upon learning he had come out as gay (like we all didn’t know). She went in his room (he was living with her) at 6am, told him to get out of bed and come to the kitchen, she needed to talk to him. She told him that she had always taught him there was a difference between white people and white trash and that there was a difference between black people and n-i- double grrrs. “Now, I am telling you there is a difference between a gay man and a fag. Don’t be a fag.” That was the end of the story. My other gays are jealous they didn’t have that experience.

    I have battled depression most of my life and I had a hellacious childhood with no good memories of my mother. Have I thought of suicide? Unfortunately yes. Obviously I haven’t acted on it yet. If someone kills themselves there is more going on that “bad parenting”. These parents did the best they could, they sought councelling, and I am 99% certain they loved their child.

    Back to my nephew…he went through a stage where he hated his mother and still doesn’t like his father. He spoke to both of them in a manner that should have gotten his teeth slapped down his throat. He cursed his mother one day to the point that his stepfather told him he wasn’t going to live under his roof and speak to his mother in that manner–thus the reason he was living with his Nana. None of us, not even once mistreated him for being gay.

    Just as with the race baiters I am convinced there are those in the gay community who enjoy being offended and keep the pot stirred.

    Ask yourself what you would do if Chrissy came home to tell you she was a lesbian. Would you love her any less? Any more? That is your test as to whether you hate gay people or not.

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  24. Kim, Re: car seats — Whenever we are going to take the grandchildren anywhere, we just trade cars with my daughter so we don’t have to mess with the seats.

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  27. Kindle book for guys:
    Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
    free on Amazon, but you have to scroll down past other copies to find the free version. Looks like an oldie but goodie that had influence on Churchill. Ladies may enjoy it, too (thinking of Michelle in particular).

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  28. Has anyone here ever purchased one of “The Great Courses”? Any comments on their subject matter, the perspective from which they are taught, their cost/benefit ratio, or other thoughts you may have? Thanks.

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  29. Kim, you just need a little collard greens stuck between your teeth.

    We are called by God to love all people, and that means ALL. But it does not mean that we have to be in agreement or promote their behaviors that go against God’s will and how he designed humans to physically function. Many hate us when we side with God’s way to do life, then they twist the situation aron and say we hate them. I have never hated a gay person. I always hope for what is best for them, and that is that they follow God’s path.I grant that they have freedom to do so or not. That is their God given freedom. But they can not take away my religious freedom to view behavior based on God’s standards.

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  30. I have purchased several Great Courses.
    They can be worthwhile. I took a couple of history courses. They are useful in that you can go back and review the lectures if you wish. You can also pass them on.
    I avoid the religious oriented courses taught by Bart T. Eheman of UNC chapel Hill. He teaches things like the historical Jesus, He has a course named “Lost Christianities”
    The perspective from which they are taught, like most college courses, depends on the lecturer.
    You get a guidebook to go with the course.
    Some I have.
    “The life and Writings of C.S. Lewis”
    “Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age”
    “The Medieval World”
    “Science Wars” What Scientists Know and how they Know It.

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  31. 6 Arrows, we have used some for homeschooling if it is the same I am thinking of. I was careful to not get those that appeared to be from very liberal minded instructors. One of our favorites was Dr.Patrick Allit, from Emory (I think that is his name). His are excellent. He is British so you get to sit in on lectures enhanced with his rich accent. He’s the best in MHO. Do you have a particular course in mind?

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  37. Here is a book recommendation: Tread Upon the Lion: The Story of Tommie Titcombe. He was a missionary to Nigeria from 1908-1930 or so, one of the first white men in the interior. Here is a blurb form the description:
    Tommie Titcombe was small in stature physically, but spiritually he was a giant. Saved in his early twenties, he soon felt called of God to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who had never heard the good news of salvation. Twice he applied to the Sudan Interior Mission, and twice he was refused. He told the director, Rowland Bingham, that he was going to Africa anyway. Upon being asked what board he was going under, Tommie replied, “I don’t know, Mr. Bingham. It may be some old woman’s wash board, but I’m going to Africa!” … His story is … the record of how God used a very ordinary man to break into an animistic society and start a movement that produced a large and healthy church. Tommie Titcombe’s spiritual insights and personal courage have made his name a legend among the many Christians of Yagbaland. His story also provides us with an extremely relevant case history of sound missionary principles at work.

    I am half-way through the ~170 easy-to-read pages. Quite a blessing, especially, perhaps, for Roscuro and Jo, or anyone else interested in Third World missions.

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  38. It’s freezin’ here too. We’re hovering in the teens now, but down below zero tonight. With the wind chill, around 20 below. Maybe I’ll call school tomorrow too, if the locals ones do. 🙂

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  40. Misten is out in the snow, regretting her misspent youth (living in the South as a housepet, instead of in snow country as a gen-u-ine-ly wild dog enduring blizzards and arctic wind chills).

    Just a moment. It’s too cold out there, and Misten is asking to come back in. . . .

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  41. Thanks for the Great Courses feedback!

    Chas, I tend to avoid religious-oriented material from secular companies, too. I see the catalog that I got today mentions a course called “The New Testament”, taught by the UNC-Chapel Hill professor you mentioned, Bart D. Ehrman.

    “The Life and Writings of C. S. Lewis” sounds good. Did that mention his conversion to Christ?

    Janice, thanks for mentioning Dr. Patrick Allitt. Good to know you found his teaching balanced.

    I didn’t have any particular course in mind, but saw a number of different ones in the sale catalog that caught my eye: on music, the brain, the joy of mathematics, even “The Everyday Guide to Wine.” 😉 (I had read recently about some of the positive effects of regular and moderate consumption of wine, and have taken to drinking a little wine each evening, if I remember. Lot of times I don’t, as it had never been a routine thing for me, and I almost completely gave up drinking alcohol during all the years of having babies and nursing, which was about twenty years straight.)

    Anyway, I hardly know anything about the different kinds of wine out there, so this course looks rather interesting to me. There’s probably a lot of free stuff on the internet, though, that I could read and get myself a decent enough education on the subject.

    If I had the time to do that, that is. 😉

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  43. One other question — I can’t remember if it was here (I thought it was, but I can’t find it now), but someone recently was talking about the question of why so many youth are leaving the church these days. I thought someone had posted a link about a study that said, essentially, that it all boils down to hypocrisy causing their departure.

    Does anyone remember a recent posting about that? Or have any other links or comments on the subject?

    Thank you once again for the treasure trove of information you all are. 🙂

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  44. It is cold here today…the past two days have been gloriously spring like…the pines are flocked with ice crystals and we had some snowflakes fall from time to time….a motley crew of four dogs just meandered through our property…a golden retriever, a shih tzu, a rat terrier and a genuine big ol’ mutt…not certain who they may belong to but they proceeded to the neighbor’s property and now I don’t see them…hope they find “home” real soon…(I cannot let my dogs out yet for fear of an altercation!)

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  45. We made it to the Blanton Museum and Museum Store. There were quite a few Old Masters Religious paintings. The circa was 13th through 18th century. There were several paintings of The Adoration of the Magi which were in agreement with the Marco Polo story of the Magi that Roscuro shared with us.
    Recently somewhere I read that it would make sense that Joseph had been married before and likely had children from a first marriage with the evidence being that he was making the decision whether or not to put Mary aside when she became pregnant and his parents were not making the decision. In all the paintings of the Adoration of the Magi and the Holy Family Joseph was painted as an old man.
    Several of the descriptions of the paintings made mention of The Golden Legend which was published very early on. Not sure when. I will have to research all of that. There was a Presentation of the Virgin that was supposed to depict the Virgin Mary as a 3 year old in the Temple (The Golden Legend).
    I bought the book that the museum had about the displays so perhaps I won’t forget everything I intend to look into.

    Just thought these things were interesting in light of Roscuro’s post and the blog posts that Michelle has been posting.

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  46. We enjoy Great Courses but only when they are marked way down. We have watched several history and physics and such. The children enjoy them. They followed one on trigonometry to go along with their school work.

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  47. As I have been rereading the volumes of assessments on our daughter we had done by the psychologist a few years ago, I am doubting my thoughts of turning her over to the school for a bit. Over and over according to the doctor, the thing that was best for her in her life was the fact that we were home schooling her. I have to remember that that was a couple of years ago and things change. But I still hesitate to do it unless it clearly can help her. There are so many setbacks that will come with it….

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  49. She has reached an impasse with me. She was working on sixth grade level for months and then deteriorated over a couple of months to not even doing fourth grade material. This could be hormonal related, we will be getting that tested as well, or it may be some of her other issues. She is considered mentally challenged as well as at high risk of schizo activity. Since we don’t know, I am willing to take her there an hour a day or most of the day or whatever if it appears the benefits she reaps exceed the negatives. We want her to have as much education as she can attain and if third grade is it, that is fine, but if a different teaching style might help, I am willing to try.

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  50. While I take Wellbutrin to make me happy I would hate for the teachers to ask that she be medicated into a stupor. I obviously am not opposed to treating things with modern medicine but I am opposed to lazy teachers who don’t want to deal with a problem so they ask that the child be assessed and medicated.
    You are the parents and you will make the best decision whatever it is.

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  63. Media fast tomorrow. Not just for me, but for the children, too. They don’t know yet, or that with the new schedule, I plan on having every Thursday be a screen-free day.

    Or if they do know, somehow (if they saw it written on the schedule which was on the top of the piano the other day), they haven’t complained about it.

    Which would be wonderful.

    Have a thrilling Thursday, fellow wanderers! 🙂

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  65. Kim – Of course you know that I would love Chrissy just as much as ever even if she did believe she was a lesbian. Unfortunately, according to the current thinking, & according to her dearest friends, not agreeing with her being a lesbian, even if I never even discussed it with her or said anything negative to her, would mean that I didn’t “really” love her.

    It’s like some kind of emotional blackmail – Completely accept our homosexuality, or we will shame you as unloving, & reject the love you try to give us.

    Fortunately, I’m pretty sure that Chrissy is straight, & even though she seemed to go through a time when she wasn’t sure she was 100% female, her crushes have always been – & still are – men. And although she is usually a very casual dresser, she likes to wear pretty dresses sometimes.

    As for “Leelah’s” parents, I feel so sorry for them.

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  66. Not much warmth around Atlanta, Jo! Just thanking God that our heater is working. And Miss Bosley brings her warmth when she cuddles.

    I always got the Great Courses when on a good sale, 75% and sometimes 80% off, or sometimes they bundle them for a good deal. Also, our library system has a good selection of them. Check with your system and see if they can get them from another library or check out used curriculum fairs and Amazon Marketplace, etc. to find them at good prices. We used some on CDs and others on DVD depending on the subject and need for illustration of the subject matter.

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  68. Roscuro – I forgot to say thank you for sharing that article.

    Unfortunately, YF & others like her would say that God really did make “Leelah”, for example, as a female, but somehow “she” wound up in a male body, like some babies are born without arms or legs or with ambiguous genitals, & that Jesus supports “her” efforts to become a female.

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  69. Horrible news in France today.

    But I’m wondering if this event also is growing into something of a tipping point as crowds gather with one voice in Europe to speak out in solidarity (“Enough”).

    The terrorist war against free speech perhaps has (finally) gone a step too far for all of us.

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