Thought Police

My husband sent me a link to an article he found this morning. I decided to allow his words to be my blog entry this morning:

The internet needs a way to help people separate rumour from real science, says the creator of the World Wide Web. ~ Warning sounded on web’s future

My husband’s thoughts upon reading this article:

What’s wrong with getting a decent education and figuring out for yourself if you can trust a website or not? Are they gonna start thinking for us now? ~ Ron

Conventional wisdom tells us that opposites attract. Ron and I are not opposites. We score almost identically on all personality tests except that he generally scores higher than I do on scores measuring how introverted you are. I am an introvert; my husband could live in isolation. However, he chooses to be in a family because we teach him about unconditional love. In our imperfection we teach him to love the unlovely. We make him more Christ like. I like being married to someone who thinks more like me.

Who is going to be a part of the intellectual elite who get to decide which sites contain good information? I wonder what grade Christian sites or sites advocating intelligent design would get? How can the world wide web “remain neutral” and apply any kind of system that classifies information as good and worthy of reading and just plain trash?

And, I can see it now. Some Christian group will decide that the the secular humanists are right and their rules are superior to freedom of thought and being led by the Holy Spirit. We will develop a parallel “Christian” system. Good Christians will only go to the sites which express “Christian” thoughts and ideas. The people developing the list will need a salary, operating expenses, a place to do business. Our tithes and offerings will be diverted to this new effort and instead of visiting the fatherless and the widows, meeting their needs in a real, tangible way, we will step it up a notch in our effort to win the culture war.

Ugh! I am already annoyed.

Field Trip!

Okay, we have been back to school exactly three weeks. We took the second week off for personal reasons. And, this week? Well, my husband took three days off to keep our house in order while Marissa and I took care of a few doctor’s appointments. But, on Thursday, we had a fun family day. We went to the State Fair.

Marissa had an agenda. She wanted to try the weirdest fair food she could find. She skipped the Chocolate Covered Bacon, too fattening. But, she found her “dream food” at Bayou Bob’s Gator Shack. Yes, she is eating alligator sauteed in garlic olive oil and served on a bed of alligator shaped french fries. I tried it after Marissa told me it tasted like chicken. It kind of tasted like chicken in a rubbery, calamari-chewy kind of way. I’ll pass from now on.

David mostly ate his way through the fair. He had a pronto pup, strawberries and cream, cotton candy and cheese curds. Mmmm! Good stuff. He also entertained the crowd at the X-Zone by dancing and playing his air guitar. We were waiting to watch the 3rd Lair Skate Park Exhibition.

Beverly learned about working on a farm. She traded in her “goods” for a can of green beans at the end of her journey. Too funny! I think every other kid got a sticky, sweet cereal sample. Beverly didn’t know what those were but she knows we eat green beans.

But, the highlight of our day had to be the Skyscraper. I married Ron just so I didn’t have to do things like this with my children. This thing spins you around at 55-mph so that you are suspended upside down 160 feet above the ground.

I tried to get a photo of the whole thing, but it didn’t work that well. You can virtually experience the ride on this video I found on youtube.

A good time was had by all. (And, yes my son’s face is dirty in this photo. Truthfully, he is only clean from about 8:00 at night until about 8 the next morning. As soon as he wakes up, he starts making a mess. I have given up on trying to keep him looking put together. I think that his face is covered in cotton candy.)

Week in Review

Well, I can’t seem to blog and manage a 3- and 4-year old at the same time. But, I did get other things done last week. First, I visited many of your blogs and caught up on what I have been missing in your life. Second, I cleaned a majority of the house in preparation for starting school tomorrow. The public schools in our area don’t start until September 2, but I couldn’t stand the lack of structure associated summer one minute longer. I laminated (with clear contact paper) a bunch of pages from activity books so that Beverly can have a quiet activity while I work with Marissa and David naps (hopefully). Beverly practiced with her dry erase pens last week. I need to look up how to say the directions in Creole. She didn’t really understand them in English but loved writing and erasing! I ordered Before Five in a Row for Beverly and David’s preschool activities. We are going to concentrate on learning English, pencil control and number recognition. I thought a program that incorporated a lot of reading of stories, coloring, cutting with safety scissors and gluing was right up our alley. Besides, it is a wonderful way to use up all the scrapbook supplies that I purchased and haven’t used. Since there is no way our order will be here before we start school, I made up a lap book for a night time prayer that I can begin teaching the kids and then incorporate it in our bedtime routine.

Finally, I tried to finish the assignment given to me by our adoption agency’s Social Worker. You see, we have our next post placement visit on August 15th and I am supposed to have 18-20 photos of the kids by then to send in with the report. We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa on the farm and I brought my camera.

David did not really cooperate with the photos, but you can tell he is healthy. I hope that is all the people in Haiti are hoping to see!

In May Marissa planted the sweet corn that serves as a backdrop for this photo. She stayed on the farm while we were in Haiti.

David always looks to Beverly to see how he is supposed to act. His gaze says, “Beverly did we like the fresh beans from the garden?”

This photo was so funny. The kids wanted to go see the cows. They were peeking in and Beverly yelled, “Pa look at me!” Apparently, even if she was looking at them, the cows were not supposed to be checking her out too. Too funny!

And, yes, Marissa really did ask, “Can we keep her?” Uh, your father is allergic to cats. He is already taking four different kinds of medicines to try to control his symptoms so he can tolerate the two cats we already have. NO!

Family Man

Seven years ago today, my husband was still a single man looking forward to changing that on the next morning. Yes, we have been married seven years. Tomorrow is the first day of our eighth year of marriage. Today, my husband is married with a teenage daughter and two preschoolers. He spends his free time doing projects for his family. I wonder, “If he had a crystal ball would he have left me crying at the church?” I would have been there for sure. He has been a wonderful life partner and friend. Besides, he has the bluest eyes!

I know I have already given you a sneak peak, but after four truckloads of sand:

And, just because I recently learned how to make short videos on my camera: (And, yes, I realize my son is singing the Creole word for stool at the top of his little lungs. What can I say? He is way into potty humor.)

UPDATES:

Beverly did very well on Thursday during her liver biopsy. She is so proud of herself, “Pa crye, no?” (I didn’t cry, no?) Her interpreter, Luigi, did a superb job. Beverly was given general anesthesia. She woke up well and didn’t have any complications. She left the hospital the same day with a small dressing over the puncture site. When I took off the dressing, you couldn’t even tell where the needle entered her abdomen. We have not gotten the results of the test.

You may notice that David has a large bandage on his hand. I am not sure what happened. I heard a loud, ear splitting scream and found David in my husband’s work area. My husband has a small table top lathe. The lathe was on. The belt that drives the lathe was not connected to the lathe; it was on the floor. The knuckles on the top of David’s left hand were abraded. He quieted with just a hug and a freezer pop. I cleaned and dressed the wound and gave him some pediatric Motrin. Lathe won! David got a big lesson in not touching and has been telling Beverly quite sternly not to touch almost everything in the house. I have a feeling we will be making a trip to the clinic tomorrow. He seems to be okay, but there is quite a bit of swelling. This is his second clinic appointment for an injury. The first time he scratched the cornea of his eye.

Continue to pray for Marissa. I remember the teen years. I was tough to parent during that time too. But, I also know that the consequences for the choices you make during that emotionally turbulent time can have life long impact.

Guess Who’s Three

The Good

I loved, loved getting presents just, “Pou me!” (And, yes, I do speak sentences in half Creole and half English now. I make my mom and dad sort out what I am saying.)

The Bad

Can you believe it? What kind of parents are these guys? Don’t they know that fire is dangerous? They lit a flame and left it burning right next to a three-year-old. I could get hurt!

And, if you think this look is bad, you should have seen what I did when my mom cut MY cake and shared it with the entire family. I didn’t want to share my birthday cake!