62 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 3-2-20”

  2. At 7:00 this morning, I’m sitting here groggy, trying to wake up, and catching up on the weekend’s posts. Why so tired, you ask? Because hubby and I sat up until after 11:00 last night working on a jigsaw puzzle!

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  3. Unbelievable! Good morning. Sitting here, catching up on whatever, waiting for baby to want to get up. Daughter has gone for the day. Husband is snoring, children still sleeping. Not even the roosters are crowing.

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  4. Good Monday morning! It’s suppose to begin raining today and continue through Thursday. Yes, it was a good time to get the roof done. Still praising the Lord for that. Otherwise I’d be singing indoors in the rain.

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  5. Okay, now the roosters are crowing. Still no sign of the sun or the baby. But she does not usually get up until closer to eight, though sometimes she is awake and then goes back to sleep, without complaining. Like this morning.

    Daughter is still considering the Coast Guard. She is also planning to go back to the dangerous grounds to help a friend celebrate his birthday. He says the party will honor her desire to not be around alcohol or smoking or party flavor. Probably not a good choice on her part. We are not saying no, she is twenty three, but not letting her use our car to get there. Her friend plans to make the two hour drive to come get her, and bring her back. Does this sound like a poor idea to you?

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  6. I had to go to the downtown Decatur main county library yesterday to use the computer to send in the article I wrote. It’s not far but maybe three miles from home instead of one mile away like the closer library. Its down the street from where Wesley did Kindergarten. We spent a lot of time in that library when he was young. The children’s section is still basically the same. I thought there would have been more changes. The library closest to me has been renovated and expanded so now I appreciate it even more after going on the trip back in time yesterday.

    A legal firm is buying the beautiful old Methodist chapel building where Wesley went to kindergarten. The firm is suppose to keep the building in its original state so it can be used by the church for weddings and receptions. I will see if I can find a picture of it. Wesley and Karen’s daughter were fortunate to be in a wonderful classroom in that building.

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  8. Beautiful building. Second son and his wife were married in the First Methodist up in Moscow because they thought the pics would be pretty. But, isn’t the Methodist church dwindling in a lot of places? So it makes sense, to maintain the mission, let loose of some costly issues.

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  9. Mumsee, your 8:49: Does this daughter have trouble saying no to alcohol, and thus she would be tempted if it is available? If not, it seems like it could be an opportunity for friends to follow through on what they said, and if they don’t follow through, for her to learn they can’t be trusted. If she isn’t an alcoholic, then the ability to go to parties where alcohol is available (but not the focus) and take just one drink, or not drink at all, isn’t a bad one. It’s just that the “party” parties are not good places to be, and can be dangerous for young women.

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  10. Morning! Seven inches of new fallen snow on the ground and the sky is bluer than blue with sunshine everywhere in this forest! Plows are out, husband is out clearing the driveway and the high temp for the day is predicted to be 45…oh Spring where art thou?! 😊
    Squirrel!! Pesky little critters. We had to trap and relocate two last week as they were chewing on our window frames and did quite a bit of damage. They now live in the graveyard three miles away…but they are alive! 🐿

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  11. Something’s wrong
    Mumsee hasn’t defined it. But something’s wrong.
    I can’t decide exactly what it is, but:
    A two hour drive is over a hundred miles on the interstate, or across the river in Washington.
    A two hour drive and alcohol is not a good mix in any case.
    Are these long term friends, or somebody she met at a party?
    I know it’s our of your hands, Mumsee, but I would discourage this.
    I know this isn’t the prayer thread, but you have it anyhow.

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  12. The Methodist denomination seems headed for a split. I think a lot of properties are being sold off to get money before that happens.

    President Trump plans to be at the CDC on Friday. He will be in a very liberal area. I hope protests will be limited due to the nature of his visit.

    Mumsee, I was thinking of praying for a change of plans on that party. She needs to make new friends who will be edifying and encouraging her growth and current status. There is no need to test if she will fall or not. She will not be close enough if she felt the need to get someone to rescue her from a bad situation. I guess since I just watched that movie, A River Runs Through It, I feel leery about people going back to situations that brought them down. MHO

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  13. I see Chas and I feel pretty much the same, Mumsee. I did not see his post until after I finished my post. I don’t think alcohol is the major issue in the scenario. There is more to it than that. It’s the whole picture, like Chas said. There is something not right. People often don’t have control over who and what shows up at parties.

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  14. Monday.

    Squirrel — Eeeeee.

    1899 church building — so beautiful; I hate seeing church buildings sold off, but Janice is right, the Methodists are splitting up and shrinking.

    Interesting how so many of the stalwart denominations that were so prominent during my growing up years are splintered now.

    The libraries out here are gathering spots for the homeless.

    I have a development story I’m writing for tomorrow and am hoping I can work from home. Our LB reporter should be back today.

    But editor may want me to do something else. I have a feeling we’ll all be doing coronavirus stories in the weeks to come. But today’s the day before the big election so it’ll maybe be quiet. We have a 72-hour blackout period for running anything political before local election days. Used to be the favorite time for candidates to level last-minute charges that opponents didn’t have time to respond to.

    Reminds me, too, though, that I need to drop off my ballot today.

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  15. Who else here lives in a “Super Tuesday” state?

    So interesting to watch how the Democratic primary race is unfolding (unraveling?). I suspect there’s a major push behind the scenes to derail Bernie before it’s too late. But it already may be too late. Either way, it could be a pretty wild convention.

    On the other side, the economic fallout from coronavirus has to be giving the Trump administration some sleepless nights.

    Guess that should be on the political thread, sorry. Carry on.

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  17. The Party: thanks for your comments, I agree with all of them. Cheryl, parties are evidently how she came to bring us a granddaughter. She has no resistance as she deeply wants to be liked. Though claiming to have no taste for alcohol, she has stories of much excessive drinking as well as drugs. She did have access to alcohol as a young child and that may have tainted her ability to resist as well. We are trying to help her develop better relationships and a protective feeling for her daughter.

    As far as if she goes, and things go awry: she will be in the adjoining state with legal drug use. Which she claims to be done with. If she is in the group that is busted (she is still on probation for a driving incident), her baby will go into foster care in the adjoining state. No idea if they will be willing to let us take her. It is a huge risk to be taking. The birthday boy, in our view, is likely the baby dad as baby has certain Asian characteristics that do not match her Norwegian features. But she claims he is not possible and runs in different circles than the party group. Though other of our children claim to have seen social media pics with him clearly partying.

    We are praying that good sense would rule and the desire to protect her baby would win.

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  18. We won’t be voting, but Georgia is in Super Tues. We will be using new voting machines that have paper ballots to insure accuracy. The machines must use old world combined with new tech. Now to see if Stacy Abrams will cry ‘Foul’ again at her next chance!

    And Hillary and Trump in Decatur all in the same week? Humm . . . I thought Decatur only had fireworks on the 4th of July.

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  19. I would never attend a party that I can’t leave at will.
    I suspect I would be more convinced of that if I were female.
    If I had daughters, I would teach them,

    “Never attend a party you can’t walk our of”…

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  22. Chas, we did teach them that. But then they grew up. And though, we did not have that problem with our bio children, it seems to have been true of every adopted child. I suspect, a lot of that was introduced in childhood and is hard to step away from. We tried to teach them who they are in Christ. After the initial dip, several have appeared to return to that Truth. We pray.

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  23. I’m in a “Tuesday after Super Tuesday” state. It will be interesting to see who’s left in the race by then.

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  24. Janice, did you already vote by mail?

    Heard from editor, turns out I will have to do what we call some “laydowns” — pre-election race stories we already have done lead-up stories on to post first thing tomorrow morning — then those can be updated all throughout election night. I’ll be working from home today but will have to go into LB tomorrow for the day shift. Just grateful i’m getting out of the late-late-late night ordeal, even if there will be pizza.

    So I’ll have an LA school board race to pre-write by 1 today and a county supervisor race.

    Gardener comes today. And they’re saying we may get more rain by next weekend. We’re desperate, and so are our flowers, grass and trees.

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  25. Kevin, Bloomberg supposedly is going to blow a billion on this quest. That alone is such a turnoff for most voters, I think. But he’ll probably still be “around” a while, in time for your primary.

    Warren may be next to bow out?

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  26. Mumsee, I figured that was probably the case. Among my friends, if someone said there wouldn’t be alcohol at this party, it would mean there wouldn’t be (and a guest wouldn’t be welcome to bring it, either), but I know that isn’t her world. And the friend who is driving is indeed a big part of the factor.

    I’ve only been at a few parties in which alcohol was present. One, I was about 20 and with a friend who was 15 years older. Neither of us drank, and both of us were uncomfortable to be there. (She was there because of her husband, whom she ended up divorcing. She told me her husband wanted her to go, but she didn’t particularly want to. I think she wanted to use me as an excuse to say no, but I told her we could go if her husband wanted her to, and once we got there it just felt awkward, a smoking and drinking party and no one there we knew.)

    The second time, it was a New Year’s Eve party with friends from church, and guests were told they could bring alcohol if they wanted it. It was all very low key, with alcohol decidedly not the main purpose of the gathering. I didn’t have any (and wasn’t offered any) until champagne at midnight. Other than that, any time I’ve been where people are drinking alcohol, it’s simply one or two glasses along with a meal.

    No, I take that back–I also went to a party with some roommates (a really bad roommate situation), and I worked at a place where I had committed not to drink, and so did one of my roommates–but she drank anyway, whenever it was available, which made me quite uncomfortable. (I don’t mean she had an alcohol problem; a far as I know she didn’t. She just ignored that she had promised not to drink.) And we were getting a ride home from someone else, and on the way home it occurred to me that I had no idea whether our driver had had any alcohol, or how much. The only time in my life I’ve ever been in that situation, and it wasn’t pleasant. (For me, I’d never touched alcohol, and working there didn’t change anything, though by the time I finished working there I had decided I wasn’t a teetotaler by conviction anymore. I did continue to honor my commitment, and never tasted alcohol till my late 30s.)

    But yeah, having friends who can be counted on to keep their word is a big part of that, and in any other situation it’s a dangerous situation for a young woman. Praying that somehow she won’t go.

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  27. We could pull the “our house, our rules” law as we have several times in the past. but we do want her to start taking responsibility. It may come down to it. Pray.

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  28. DJ, our state is a Super Tuesday state for the first time. We will not be voting early. I asked a relative how one would vote early in our area and she had no idea. She is an election judge.

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  29. Mumsee, I think the problem with “our house, our rules” is that she’s doing something outside the house; if she is not coming home drunk, she isn’t doing anything at your house. Also, if the friend said there wouldn’t be any such stuff at the party, you’re in effect telling her she can’t go to any parties at all, even ones with no drinking.

    But a conversation as to whether she finds his word “enough” to trust him might be in order. Or is there a way to give her a gracious way out? For instance, if she has something that she does to help your husband, could he find a way to “need” her this weekend and ask if it’s possible that she could help him? That would give her an out if she’s on the fence herself. Something along that line?

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  30. Cheryl, the big thing is that she is planning to take baby with her. That may help her to stay on track or it may endanger the baby. House rules can include: don’t plan to return if this is your desired course of action. We do not want to go there. She and the baby are too important.

    She is actually willing for us to say no, you can’t go. She would abide by that. But, it is not helping her to start making her own decisions. When she is not working, she is supposed to be caring for her baby, not relying on me so she can go outside and do chores, etc. So we try not to call on her for anything. She is more than happy to hand over baby so she can go dig a hole or build a fence or feed the rabbits or whatever.

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  32. Mumsee, if she is willing for you to say no, she can’t go, then I think I would be inclined to move close to that line. In other words, don’t tell her she can’t go, but talk through the decision with her and help her work it out. Or, put it a different way, if she would listen if you said no, and you don’t say no and she or the baby suffers, can you live with that? It really is her decision, but would you feel like you should have said no?

    Sometimes even with fellow adults (unrelated) there are times we need a sounding board. (That’s part of what we have here.) It seems to me that if she respects you enough to listen if you say no, then she respects you enough to transition from a “no” to a “let’s work this out together” sounding-board conversation, with (if possible) her being guided to list her own concerns and understand the issues. Maybe ask her what she would be advising someone else in her situation.

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  34. I just checked. Georgia’s primary is March 24th so not Super Tues. I think in the past we’ve voted on Super Tues. I was assuming we would not need to vote in the Republican primary, but I guess we might. It’s just hard to do during tax season.

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  35. Hi everyone, I can’t really say I’m a part of this community anymore since I only post every couple of years, but I know you guys remember me, so I still feel like I can drop in whenever I feel like it. I hope that’s the case, anyway. I actually come by and see what people are up to every now and then even though I rarely post.

    I’m here now because my 23-year-old daughter might be looking for a chance to do some short term ministry for about six weeks from the beginning of July to the middle of August. This is the same daughter who went to college at Furman and you guys gave me advice about how she should dress for her scholarship interview. She wasn’t a Christian then, but a year and a half ago, God gloriously saved her!

    Right now, she’s finishing up a contract job at Facebook at the end of June and then planning on grad school in the fall, so those six weeks or so are the time she has in between. She’s open to an opportunity in this country or another country. She’s spent time in India with family (my husband is from India, as you might remember) and she and her brother went on a trip around Viet Nam last year, so she’d be able to manage fine in a developing country. Anyway, her PCA church has no opportunities for her to do anything like this in that time frame, and she doesn’t know how to even look for such opportunities, so I offered to keep my eyes open for her, and it occurred to me that you guys might be among the people I should ask since you’re spread out all over and doing all kinds of things. Despite my obvious bias, I can honestly vouch for her character and her warmth and her work ethic and her enthusiastic faith, and I know that she would be a help and a blessing wherever she goes. If anyone has any thoughts or ideas, I’d love to hear them.

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  36. We don’t have an R&R thread, so

    One way to lose a customer is to interrupt a search with a car ad with lots of loud music.
    I say “lose a customer”. Not so. I deleted it before I notice the name of the culprit.

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  38. Ree, the obvious first question is “why” does she want this opportunity? Does she have six weeks to fill, and she’d like to do something useful? Does she need it for academic credit? Is she looking to “taste” something she might want to do full-time in the future?

    My own recommendation (especially if the answer is #1) is that if she is looking to do something short-term, especially as limited as six weeks, that she looks locally to where she lives, or if nothing is available there, locally to a relative or someone who can host her. The primary reason for this suggestion (based on the excellent book on ministry entitled When Helping Hurts–disclaimer: I edited it, though I didn’t really have to do much) is that it is generally a much better use of resources, as well as more likely to do good in the long run, to help locally where one can get to know the people one helps and potentially continue the relationship, and at a fraction of the cost. The money that might have been raised to send someone to another country can be used for missions or charity giving, and thus go much farther. If a person has specialized skills to offer–skills not adequately available where one is going–then that is a different matter. But if she doesn’t have specialized skills, but is willing to work hard for six weeks, then there must be a local ministry, housebound widow who could use companionship and errands and help with housework, mother with three children under two, or similar local need where she could be of great help now, and possibly offer follow-up connection and/or help in the future.

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  39. Hi, Ree! Great news about your daughter! When our son had a time of waiting like that, he did two things. He helped with tutoring refugee children after school over in Clarkston, GA and he helped a friend who was working with ESL through another church. It was all local so he lived at home.

    Since she is PCA, she could check with Covenant College to see if they know of any mission trips she might get involved with.

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  41. Sonoma County Public Health has now declared our community as being in a Public Health Emergency state.

    Still not concerned but I am wondering about my Bible study ladies–most of whom are over 75.

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  42. Hi Ree! Wonderful to hear about your daughter.

    In other news, daughter here is reconsidering. Seems the coronavirus is too close for comfort, though I think other things have entered her thoughts as well and she is looking for a way out. I reminded her that we had lots of reasons for her to not go, but it was her decision, and she had asked because she wanted our thoughts . Keep praying with praise!

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  43. I am concerned about my friend, Karen. She is a bit unhinged over the Corona virus as related to Tramp’s response. Because her health is so poor I think she is blaming him for putting her at risk of dying. I have been trying to reach her all day with no luck. I feel like she thinks she is going to die so she is withdrawing from me. It is all very sad.

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  44. Art asked that I get some hand sanitizer for each desk at the office. I tromped around in the rain in search today but everywhere I checked was all sold out. Publix may get an order in by tomorrow night. This might be a good year to tell everyone to drop their work through the door slot.

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  45. Hi Ree! Always fun when someone pops in again 🙂

    I have a new-found sympathy for Joe Biden. In a story today on the homeless shelter that just opened (we had the tour today) I said there were 60 million homeless people on the streets — that should be 60,000. Easy and quick to fix, but sheesh.

    Guess I might as well run for president now.

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  48. How come we are not hearing about the flu this year? Did it stop? Or is all this wave of illness crossing the world just some sort of fill in the news reporting?

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  49. Hi all, and it’s always nice to be welcomed back when I pop in. Yes, Kizzie, I do remember you as Karen O.

    Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Karen, I’ll have her take a look at the Camp Kadesh site. Cheryl, I’d say her main goal is to do something useful, but I think she’d like to go someplace away from home to do it. I do get the concept that some short term missions can be a waste of resources and not that helpful. But I suspect she’ll use those six weeks for travel of some sort, either in the country or out of the country, while hopefully doing something useful at the same time. She’s definitely not considering trying to raise the funds for her expenses.

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  51. This past weekend, when Nightingale worked both days, with a double on Saturday, X did not have a visitation because he was away at some kind of retreat. So I did not have that four-hour break I was looking forward to, but it was okay. Boy was able to play outside with Gabby for a few hours on Sunday afternoon, which was good for him, as he was missing his mommy from all those shifts she’s been working. (Tuesday had also been a double, and then Wednesday through Friday, although only working first shift each of those days, she got home quite late each day for different reasons.)

    Boy let me sleep in both days, which was sweet, and much needed!

    As for that retreat X went to, Nightingale thinks it may have been something suggested by the social worker that is involved with him for some reason, to make him look good or something. X’s Mom told me that she, X’s sister, and this social worker wrote letters to the judge to ask for leniency, saying that the stealing was out of character for him. Baloney.

    Maybe Nightingale and I should write to the judge to point out that X has quite a record of crimes, some petty, some not, yet has never gone to jail. (You all know from what I’ve written before that this is not out of vengeance.)

    Nightingale mentioned today that, back when he had attacked her, she was told that the fact that he had his hands on her throat and was choking her should have earned him a charge of attempted murder.

    Still, I pray for this man’s salvation, deliverance, and healing, and that God would do an amazing work in his heart and life.

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  60. Flu is rampant this year in NM. Flu B has been mostly children, with flu A hitting adults. We have also seen RSV in elderly pts. Usually it is just young children.

    There is a good meme on the corona virus if I can figure out how to post.

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