Passion, it lies in all of us, sleeping… waiting… and though unwanted… unbidden… it will stir… open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us… guides us… passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love… the clarity of hatred… and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion maybe we`d know some kind of peace… but we would be hollow… Empty rooms shuttered and dank. Without passion we`d be truly dead.

Joss Whedon

I am reading The Screwtape Letters for a second time. I am reading it slowly, intentionally, and precisely. Having finished chapter seven, I believe C.S. Lewis to be one of the most honest and open writers. His writings are so transparent I cannot believe that he did not battle most of the things he wrote about. Based on other books, i.e. A Grief Observed, I know Lewis battled with skepticism. That is the theme I have decided to focus on while reading this book again.

For many years, I have battled with the concept of agnosticism in my own life. According to Lewis, the demons want it this way and are battling my mind and accosting me. I have asked if God is real and God is great, then why do so many bad things happen, mainly why do they happen to children or good people? Why would God create us just to watch us live painful lives? I realize it is sin’s fault, it is the Devil, but God knows everything and He knew it would be this way so why would he knowingly put people, he loves through this? I came to learn through the Bible and other literature that we must choose who to have faith in. We either believe the Bible is true and God is real or it is just a good book and we are here for different reasons or no reason at all. So far, The Screwtape Letters, shines a light on the many flaws a human has and whether we believe in the oppression of demons or not, it is important for us to realize the habits, ideals, etc that cause us to be less than our best.

One of the most interesting sections, so far, in this book is the paragraph on extremism (p.32).
“All extremes, except extreme devotion to the Enemy [God], are to be encouraged. Not always, of course, but at this period. Some ages are lukewarm and complacent, and then it is our business to soothe them yet faster asleep. Other ages, of which the present is on, are unbalanced and prone to faction, and it is our business to inflame them…Even when the little group exists originally for
the Enemy’s own purposes, this remains true. We want the Church to be small not only that fewer men may know the Enemy, but also that those who do may acquire the uneasy intensity and the defensive self-righteousness of a secret society or a clique.”

Those words are so true concerning the church today. There are so many churchgoers who judge everyone who is remotely different than them and stick with their four and no more. They are the reason people stop going to church, people never come to church and the reason people laugh at the church. The Sunday school class that smiles to your face and gossips about you behind your back are far worse than anything else at keeping people out of church and away from God.

Now, on to chapter eight.

I love, love, love this article. It is so true. Let’s hear what you think

Home-making
By Laurel Shelton
http://www.mothersmovement.org/essays/06/11/l_shelton.html

I want to live, more than anything, in my life, not be formed and framed. I don’t want to match; I don’t want to dust useless treasures, and I don’t want to pretend my family is something they are not.

“Contemporary family problems do not originate with the behavior of mothers, as is often claimed by the media and some scholars; rather, they originate with our failure to support the caretaking work that mothers do, which remains virtually unrecognized in our social policies.”

– Demie Kurz, from Doing Parenting: Mothers, Care Work and Policy, 1997

Dispatches From a Not-So-Perfect Life,
or How I Learned to Love the House, the Man, the Child
Faulkner Fox, 2003. A highly personal and offbeat account from a writer who approaches her journey into and through motherhood with a determination to preserve a satisfactory sense of self

The Mask of Motherhood: How Becoming a Mother
Changes Our Lives and Why We Never Talk about It
Susan Maushart, 2000. Maushart investigates the personal, psychological and practical conflicts women typically experience when they enter the realm of motherhood, and she examines cultural conditions that contribute to maternal stress.

The Mommy Myth:
The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Undermines Women
Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels, 2004. Douglas and Michaels use examples of media portrayals of motherhood as the springboard for a lively discussion of the ascendancy of an intensely idealized version of motherhood they dub “the new momism.” The Mommy Myth also links the rise of the new momism to the steady rightward drift of U.S. politics and explores the range of social problems that follow in its wake.

Mother Shock:
Loving Every (Other) Minute of It
Andrea Buchanan, 2003. Mother Shock compares the plunge into motherhood to the experience of culture shock; all the familiar landmarks of a woman’s life are replaced by unknown territory and a new set of rules about how she is supposed to think, feel and act. Buchanan suggests that greater authenticity about the experience of motherhood is in order — both to change social attitudes about mothers and mothering and to prepare first-time mothers for the disorientation and self-doubt they are likely to feel.

The Price of Motherhood:
Why the Most Important Job in the World is Still the Least Valued
by Ann Crittenden, 2001. Economics journalist Crittenden details how prevailing practices and existing policies undermine the economic well-being of mothers, and proposes progressive solutions.

I love that Colby loves to read. I love that he absorbs knowledge like a little sponge. He loves to read anything and has been listening to me read Little House on the Prairie. A year ago I read him The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. He asks questions, he actually understood the correlation between Aslan and Jesus. We are watching the movie and he is enthralled that CS Lewis created these characters and story lines. I can’t wait to share more timeless and classic literature with him as he grows and matures. He is in first grade but reads and understands well beyond a fourth grader. I honestly believe Ben and I genetically passed our love for books to him. He has a vivid imagination and it is a wonderful asset to his life. I love that he is who is and sometimes that is weird, but he is the same, even as a six year old. He thrives dressing up as a warrior and pretending to fight evil spirits and bad guys. I see great passion in him and I know his future is wide open, no matter what direction he goes in. He already knows what social justice is and believes he can help others. He has the gift of compassion and encouragement and the intelligence to bring it about!

There is a church not too far from us that recently added a $25 million addition to their building. Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago about a study revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty. This is a book about those two numbers.

“It’s a book about faith and fear, wealth and war, poverty, power, safety, terror, Bibles, bombs, and homeland insecurity, It’s about empty empires and the truth that everybody’s a priest, it’s about oppression, occupation, and what happens when Christians support, animate and participate in the very things Jesus came to set people free from. It’s about what it means to be a part of the church of Jesus.”

http://www.jesuswantstosavechristians.com/

I have not read this book, but find myself interested. It shocks me to think of poverty stricken people in close proximity to a church spending $25 million on an addition. How about a less presumptuous addition and food, clothes and shelter for the poor who live in the shadow of your church?

Uh… Which Peace was that Nobel Prize For?
By LTC. Carolyn Abell, US Army, Retired

Well, now, doesn’t the prospect of world peace resulting from the many peaceful efforts of our peace-loving, Nobel prize-winning President just give you a warm glow all over?

Seriously, do you suppose the Nobel peace prize committee lives on a different planet? How on God’s green earth can they declare that Barack Obama has been instrumental in the furtherance of world peace? Someone should establish a committee to nominate the world’s biggest fools, and start by honoring the Nobel crew.

They could sit in company with that famous trio of peace-loving Nobel-winning morons from the United States – Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, and now the charismatic Barack Obama—otherwise known as the axis of appeasement.

With Iran’s jihad-driven Ahmadinejad blatantly threatening to launch a nuclear holocaust, while Obama flaunts his charisma toward the Olympic committee (unsuccessfully) and hams it up on Saturday Night Live, anyone with the brains of a parsnip must wonder how he has contributed to world peace. As Ahmadinejad’s arsenal grows, so does his alliance with Russia, Iran’s primary source of arms and equipment for mass destruction. And now Sean Penn’s buddy, Hugo Chavez, is negotiating with Iran to help him acquire nukes for Venezuela, so he can add to the threat against “the Big Satan.” (That’s jihadist code language for the good old U.S.A.)

Meanwhile, Nobel-winning, peace-loving Obama still believes his charms will result in worldwide nuclear disarmament. Proudly toting his new prize, he’s happily humming that old John Lennon tune, “Give Peace a Chance.”

People blessed with common sense and better acquainted with signs of unpeace, are cancelling trips to Israel next year because of indications that, unlike Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu recognizes the enemy and is preparing to defend that nation’s existence.

American and allied soldiers and Marines are dying in Afghanistan because the peace-loving, hubristic Obama believes he is smarter and knows more about wartime strategy than the four-star generals who have spent the better part of their lives preparing for, training for, and participating in war. Rules of engagement devised and imposed by peace-loving liberals who have never worn a uniform or even visited a battlefield, are insuring that our courageous warriors are sitting ducks for the Taliban, who are guided by no rules other than to win at any cost.

How many presidents in the past half century have had over a million people marching in protest in front of the nation’s capital, to demonstrate their discontent with a leader who is out of touch with the rest of the country? Perhaps the fact that this 9/12 demonstration was such a clean and peaceful protest convinced the Nobel committee that only Obama’s peace-loving charisma kept them from rioting.

With eschatologists like Joel Rosenberg giving frequent warnings about threats to Israel from every side, and our own peace-loving Obama’s unsupportive and condescending attitude toward that country, it seems more and more credible that a world catastrophe of cataclysmic proportions could occur before long. I know people who are already stockpiling food for such an event.

When the nuclear missiles start flying toward this country, I guess the peace-loving Nobel winners will be huddled in a bunker somewhere, clutching their prizes, and shaking their heads in bewilderment.

Just for the record, if I could have nominated a Nobel peace prize recipient, it would have been General David Petraus. He understood what Aristotle said more than two thousand years ago, “We make war that we may live in peace.”

I have been missing in action and I deeply apologize. We have moved, temporarily, from Colorado to Georgia while the patriarch of the family is in the Middle East. We are staying with my parents, which is a huge blessing. They are easy going, love the kids and gone most of the time.
I’ll start updating and et back in the groove with all the fun and fabulous stories that are mine! Please forgive me and tell your friends to start reading this blog if they need multiple laughs! Peace and love to you all.

Colby lost his first tooth recently and it was exciting! However, he decided he was not going to sell his tooth to the tooth fairy because he wanted to keep it. We laid in the bed discussing ways he could still get money without selling the tooth. He is saving money to buy a Bakugan (yuck, I hate those little things).
Colby says to me, “You could just give me the money.”
I say, “I don’t have money for Bakugans.”
Colby, “How about Dad?”
Me, “Nope, not for those things.”
Colby, “Doesn’t anybody in this house have any money?”
After I finished laughing in my head, “No, Colby, the only way to get money is do your chores or sell your tooth.”

That night the wheels started turning in his brain. He was intent on getting the tooth fairy’s money without giving her his tooth. Every night we would ask if he was ready to sell his tooth, he always answered, “NO,” until last night.

Ben was teaching the boys how to make a snare and Colby came up with an idea.
Colby, “Let’s catch the tooth fairy and take all her money.”
Ben, “That’s not a good idea, she has to give that money to other kids for their teeth. By the way, when he wanted to know what the tooth fairy did with the teeth she bought, we told him she recycles them and gives them to babies so they can have their first teeth.
So, Colby says, “Let’s set a snare in my bed and try to catch her tonight. I’ll sell her my tooth and when she comes for it, she’ll get caught and we can see what she looks like.”
Ben and I agreed that would be a good idea, but there was always the chance she wouldn’t get caught and she’d just leave money. Colby agreed and the trap was set.

Late last night, I took the tooth, left five dollars and a note, from the tooth fairy, thanking him for the tooth. She added that her legs were sore from getting out of the trap and that she needed a band aid.

This morning he woke up, came into our room and said the trap had gone off and the tooth was gone, but the tooth fairy didn’t leave anything…he rolled over on the envelope in his sleep, so I showed it to him. He was excited about the $5 and laughed that the snare almost caught the tooth fairy.

It will be interesting to see what happens next time he loses a tooth.

We have had a LONG month and it isn’t even June 15!

Colby graduated from kindergarten!!!

Benji is finally potty trained!!!

We took the best family vacation ever to Trail West, in Buena Vista, CO, which is a Young Life camp. It was very relaxing and first class. We have never had a better family vacation.

We are smack dab in the middle of renovating the kitchen and that is taking ALL our spare time.

We are in the countdown for Ben’s leaving for the sandbox again. The last month is always the most difficult. There is lots to do, lots of stress on our relationship, and the blahs of knowing we’ll be separated for at least six months.

Thankfully our in-laws are coming in tomorrow and that will give us a chance to have a kidless date!!!

The boys and I will be headed to Georgia after Ben leaves and checking in on friends along the way. Even though Ben will be gone I am very excited to catch up with friends I haven’t seen lately. I think the boys will also prefer this over staying in a hotel each night.

We are fostering a baby basset hound, Flash Gordon. He is adorable and sweet as can be, but we are NOT keeping him! It is tempting though.

The boys have been doing great since Colby’s last day of school. They are getting along as well as can be expected. They love being able to spend the day together. When it is nice we do a bit of hiking or head to the nature center to look for turtles, snakes, deer, etc. It has been yucky since we came home from vacation so we are reading more!

So there ya have it! We are super busy, but I will try and update as much as possible.