* So Long to the Caseys

There are so many things percolating in my brain right now and things I want to say but my time this afternoon is limited and there is a lot of snubby floating around in my sinuses, blocking coherent thoughts processes. So I will make this quick.

The Caseys are dead and gone.

The princess has not noticed yet and I am a chicken and haven't told her.

Some may wonder who the Caseys are. About a year ago some friends gave us (actually they gave it to our daughter - a sneaky trick to run around the parents) a fish tank and suddenly we were pet owners. We had avoided pets for many reasons - not because we are evil but because we are mobile. Pets require care and we are on the go quite a bit and I didn't want to always be looking for someone to feed the dog/cat/hamster while we ran to grandmas. So now we had fish. I killed Chester within two days - a beautiful beta fish that apparently couldn't stand our family. In my hysteria of killing Chester Judah drove to the pet store and returned with two "harder-to-kill" fish - I think they may have been guppies. We allowed the princess to name these fish - she labeled the first one 'Casey' which was cute and when we asked her for another name she replied 'Casey'. Really? You want them both to have the same name? YES. So we had two identical fish with the same name in our tank. No confusion there.

An interesting side note - we have a precious older couple at our church with the last name of Casey, so I entertained myself a great deal with the notion that the Caseys lived in our fish tank.

Judah was told that these 'harder-to-kill' fish would live a year or two. Well not to skew the bell curve they lived almost precisely a year and died seemingly within a day of each other. The Caseys are gone.

Did I mention that we still have one other fish? Originally purchased with Chester - one of the 'clean-your-tank' fish. Our daughter named him too - 'Hippo" I have no idea where the names come from. Hippo has now lost three tank mates in a year - he (or she for all I know) may be needing some therapy soon.

So long Caseys.

Plans

Recently, I have been fixated on a story out of 1 Samuel. It’s the story of David and his mighty men, in the cave of Adullam. Here is a little background information. Saul has been trying to kill David, and David has been running from Saul. In chapter 24, Saul finds out that David is in the wilderness of En-gedi, and goes after him. At one point, Saul needs to take a potty break (you got to love the bible), and goes into a cave for some privacy. It just so happens that this is the same cave that David and his mighty men are hiding.
David’s men see this as a perfect opportunity to kill Saul and stop the running. To them, it makes perfect sense. Saul has been trying to kill David for so long. Obviously, God is providing an opportunity here. At one point, the men said, "This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said to you, 'I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.' They truly believed this was God’s will. However, David wouldn’t kill him. He only went so far as to cut a piece of his robe off.
A little more history behind this story: Saul was anointed by God to be king over Israel. When he went against God, and didn’t do what God wanted, God rejected him, and had David anointed as the next king (See 1 Samuel 16 for this story). Saul then lost the blessing of God, by the Spirit leaving him (1 Samuel 16:14).
So, there are 2 men that have been anointed to be king. On the surface, it seems like the obvious choice is to kill Saul. He has been rejected by God. He has been trying to kill David (chosen by God). David has been anointed to be the next king. He has God’s blessing. Why doesn’t David kill him? To me, the answer is quite powerful. Saul is anointed by God as well. Even though he has been rejected by God for not doing his will, at one point he was anointed by God. He was the chosen one. You do not go against the chosen one. David knew this. Even though his (David) life may have been easier, even though he would have been “justified” in killing Saul (at least in the eyes of David’s men, and possibly even us today???), it would still have been going against God. Saul was still the chosen one.
I think we do that today. We get these wonderful plans in our head, and don’t understand why God doesn’t “magically” make them happen. We aren’t selfish in our ambitions. We want to help people. We have others’ best interest at heart. So why doesn’t God allow our plans to take off? We ask ourselves late at night when we can’t sleep, “why doesn’t God see this plan the way I do? It is so obvious! It would help so many people. My family would be safe! We would be provided for!” We forget sometimes that God has his own plan. It may not make any sense at the time, but He has a reason for everything that He does. We get these great ideas in our head, and then get frustrated when our plans, that have no ulterior motive, won’t take off.
David could have killed Saul. He would have been king that way. But, I believe killing God’s anointed would have started a snowball effect of situations in David’s life that would have made the Bathsheba incident look like a Saturday morning cartoon series. Later on, I will write on what anointed means, and how it relates to us today as Christians.
We have to learn to listen to God. We have to learn to trust that He knows what he is doing. And, we have to learn to not step into His business. We do not know as much as He does. We cannot possibly know what is best, and think we are going to show God what the correct decision to do is.
Start listening for God. God speaks to us through other people. Don’t ignore people that may be questioning your judgment. Reflect on key events that may have prevented your plan from happening, even when the execution “was flawless”. Maybe that is God trying to quietly tell you, “not so fast.” Take time to just sit in silence for a period of time. Try not to convince God of your plans. He already knows what they are. Start asking God, “What is it you want me to do with my life? Why did you create me? Do my present plans go against your will?” We should be asking God for wisdom to know what He wants us to do. We should be asking Him to help us see when our plans conflict with His, and that He would give us the courage to change direction when conflicts arise.
We have to remember: God is God, and we are not.....

* A Day of Firsts

Along with many families in our area this morning we packed the first lunch of the school year. Apparently I had not recently shopped for school snacks so my son will trudge through his first day with less than stellar items. I was able to put in a ziploc of fresh grapes so I don't feel too bad. Besides his favorite part is the overpriced water bottle he conned out of his dad when Judah's boy instinct over rode his budgeting philosophy.

In preparation of this day my son slept in his clothes. Why? - in order to not be late. I tried to tell him that he still had to wait on his mom to get dressed but my point was not strong enough. He finally took the shirt off for temperature and comfort reasons when he found himself still awake at 11:30.

School shopping was a fun activity. Judah got to go with us since after his exit interview Friday he suddenly had no more work to do. So we all wandered through Target where we learned that everyone was out of wide ruled paper, but that dad was an easy mark for cool new water bottles. Last night we packed his bag - not a back pack this year. We recently bought some messenger bags as a gift and at that time my son decided he needed one also. Due to the leftover theory his selection was small but we settled on a black one, which is always cool. The new bag style will hopefully prolong its life. Last year's bag was a wheeled back pack which was drug everywhere and multiple holes rendered it useless by the end of the year. Holding a bag will shake up the first day of school photo which has included the wheeled backpack style the past two years.

The big boy in the house also is having a big first day. A new job that doesn't send him to China! We did not do any shopping in preparation for his first day - sad really. Anticipation was a palpable thing in our home yesterday. Judah didn't seem to sleep well either and was up early. Although I asked , he didn't feel that taking his picture was necessary.

* Summer Summary

School is around the corner. We are going to school today to see the classroom. First day is Monday. Sadly we have not gone to get school supplies yet. Payday is tomorrow so it did not align with the tax free weekend. My son will have to choose from leftovers. On the bright side we did not fight the crowds and will shop in relative emptiness in the morning. Sometimes too many choices causes children's brains to explode. I am slightly excited about the shopping as those who have been following loyally for the last year will know from my post about this time in 2008. I have come to realization that summer is over and it is time to assess whether I feel like I wasted it or not. Summer seems like a poor thing to waste. Waste asparagus not summer. What did we do this summer?

1. We had a schedule! While we did not follow it terribly well, my son did enjoy hiding it from me. Behind the speakers, behind the poker table.... Even though we did not follow it perfectly it did establish daily reading for my son who is now on the seventh book in the magic tree house series. Since they are numbered there is no way we can read them out of order. Whose son is that? :) Money bingo has also helped with our change counting. Good times! The schedule also helped me be proactive with my daughters learning. She has not yet gone to preschool since I am at home all the time and it is not an expense we want to add to the budget. So we have been working on her letter recognition. I had wanted to have the alphabet completed this summer but we are about 4-5 letters shy. Strangely we get stuck on the oddest ones, K/N/S. She has moved past K and N but S is the current stickler. She can pick all letters out if I ask her to find the 's' in a row of cards but if just asked to name it we are not yet 100%. But I can say we made measurable progress from the ~6 she could do when we started.
2. We went to the beach for a week with my family. A new activity and fun for all. Tons of pictures - later scrapbook overload. I have never been one of those folks who go to the beach every summer for a week, but I seem to have known several and this year I could casually say "oh that is the week we will be at the beach" and people would respond "oh we are going in July" or " oh really we are going the next week."
3. Judah went to China - a lot. This would probably be where we felt like the summer was wasted. With daddy gone for 6 weeks of summer we missed a lot of time at the lake. We have probably been out on the jet skis 3 times since we de-winterized them. Blgh.
4. The nieces came for a visit. I have a post for them so I won't repeat myself but it is good to keep the tradition going and have the little come for her first visit.
5. Lots of decorating time at the church. Weeks on VBS where I did one section all by myself for the first time. I will not get too depressed by the fact that the gorilla tape did not hold and caused some mid week drama and quick repair. This past week has been full of creating new sets for KidZone. I will try to get a picture on here when they are completed.
6. Judah got a new job which he starts Monday. Yeah! This means no more China! Subsequently we decided to try to sell our house and move a bit closer to his new work location. So I spent two weeks cleaning the house out and scrubbing things. It looks great - still some things to do but we are advertising it anyway and working along the way. We have had several calls and one showing last weekend. We are in no true hurry but my kids will get tired of the "no eating on the couch because mom had the carpets cleaned" rule.
7. College service days - our college group is a blessing to us and we have really felt an increase in their "groupness." This summer they served each Thursday at the inner city church and on our final Thursday we could honestly say we felt like our time there was not wasted. I loved seeing my children interact with other children not quite similar in appearance - talk about contrast - I have terribly blond children and I praise God that their eyes are currently color blind. The world can creep into our vision all too soon and its view can be quite difficult to dislodge ( a reference perhaps to the plank in our eyes Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount?). We have big plans for continued service with the college group this year and I am so proud of both them and my children.
8. Slight improvement on the family devotional time. Some weeks I really did well - others a total thumbs down. So overall I would give our improvement at a 15% increase from pre-summer levels. My statistical husband would probably like to see some hard numbers on that but I don't have any.
9. Fewer visits to the grandparents house this year - not sure how that happened. We did spend a week at the beach with grandparents but I am sure that doesn't count towards time at grandmom's house. Totally missed going to my grandmother's this summer which we have done for the past several years. However she was at my mom's twice when we saw her so we did still visit, just not at her home.
10. In order to get to the round number ten that I prefer we will now fill it with random things - like my son losing three teeth this summer and our garden being a flop after the eight squash I picked before the beach (apparently the week of the beach was hot and the teenager that watched the house was not the plant watering kind - the animals were fed though :) ). We went peach picking at the local fruit and berry patch which was awesome. Our friends from Memphis visited which was cool in many ways not least of which it meant I didn't drive to Memphis in the summer heat. Here's to the other thing that make summer the cool time that it is - sleeping late!

So long summer....

Cows

The following, is a true story. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent….

Ken and John were out riding 4-wheelers on their friend’s farm. They loved riding 4-wheelers. It was an experience that they had not enjoyed before. Their friend had a farm that was close to 300 acres. The acreage comprised of large open fields, rolling hills, creeks, and wooded areas that was full of all kinds of wild life. They saw deer, turkey, all kinds of birds, as well as livestock. It was a wonderful, quiet place, where one could clear ones mind.

On this farm, their friend had about 50 head of cattle that he raised for beef. During Ken and John’s ATV ride, they came across the cattle, and Ken was quite surprised as he had never been that close to cows before. At one point in their exploration they noticed one of the herd was standing right in the middle of the trail they were driving on.

“Wow, look at the size of that cow,” Ken said. “I didn’t know cows got that big!”

“That’s not a cow, Ken. It’s a bull,” John responded.

“A bull?! But it doesn’t have any horns…” Ken said, somewhat questioning.

“Not all bulls have horns. Besides, you don’t look at the horns to tell if it is bull.”

“How do you know it is a bull? What do you look at?”

“The massive #*#* he has!”

Chinese Buffets and Health Care

Last night, Michelle and I decided to treat the kids to some Chinese food. We noticed there was a new restaurant open, and thought we would give it a shot. The kids love going to the buffet, as they get to pick what they want to eat. We like it, because we can usually guide them to acceptable vegetables and fruits, while they still get to pick on their own.

Well, I made a rookie mistake. As we walked in, I noticed no prices posted. My gut was telling me something was eschew, as the very friendly hostess guided us to our seats. Anyway, I didn’t ask what the cost was, and I got distracted with the new look, clean appearance, and amazing lack of people in the establishment. They also had CNN playing on all the TVs: something else that should have given it away.

The buffet was your typical Chinese buffet: sesame chicken, Mongolian beef, pepper chicken, noodles, rice, garlic green beans, broccoli, those huge grapes with the seeds in them, etc. It wasn’t a huge selection, but one could easily get enough to eat. It also had a sushi buffet. Most Chinese buffets that we have gone to in the past, have a sushi bar that is separate from the buffet. If you want to have sushi, you have to order it separately from the buffet. The more I looked at it, the more I thought, “this is really nice. There is a lot to choose from.” However, the lack of people at prime eating time was still bothering me. I mean, come on: we are in the south! Southerners like their all you can eat Chinese buffet!

I got back to our booth and started talking to Michelle about how things just weren’t right. I told her, “this bill is going to be outrageous. We should have asked what the price was. Did you notice they don’t have any prices posted? Where are all the people, because this is really good food.” She agreed. Things just didn’t seem right.

Michelle and I started talking about how is it they could afford such a nice spread, with sushi and a hibachi grill, and hardly any clientele. You just don’t get things for free. And that is when it hit me: This situation reminds me a lot like what is going on with this ridiculous debate about the government wanting to provide, excuse me, force everyone in America to have healthcare. Let me explain.

The buffet choices, clean restaurant, and amazingly friendly staff is like the government (president or senators) getting in front the cameras everyday explaining how great this program is, and all the different benefits that will be available to the customers (Americans). Its kind of like smoke and mirrors in a magic show.

The buffet, specifically, is the “basic health care” that everyone keeps talking about. No one, has yet to explain to me what “basic health care” is to a point that makes any sense. Any way, the buffet allows you to eat and be somewhat nourished, to a certain extent, because it is based solely on what is provided. Let’s not forget that Chinese buffets offer pretty much the same things. It doesn’t matter what part of this country you are in (excluding places like “China towns” in San Francisco and New York).

The sushi buffet represents the unique health care programs that most people just don’t need, or even want to select. This is great stuff, but there are a lot of people that just don’t need it (or in the specific case of sushi, like it! Yuck!). Some people will want it (or need it), but these people are by far a very small minority. A good example of this situation is the following: I over heard a woman tell one of the sushi chefs, “This is really fascinating! I can’t believe you provide sushi. Oh, I don’t want to try it! I can’t see myself actually eating raw fish!” In other words, she was really surprised, but appreciative that they offered sushi. Unfortunately, she would eventually find out that she paid for it, even though she didn’t order or eat it!

As we were leaving I noticed one of the cooks, from the Chinese buffet, leaving a restaurant a couple of shops down; a sandwich shop. This represents the president and congress who have their own ridiculously “great” health care, but have told the public on numerous occasions that they were not going to participate in the program that they were trying to push through congress like a watermelon through a play-do strainer. Now, you might be quick to say something like, “how can you compare their amazing healthcare to a sandwich shop? Isn’t that a step down?” Well, you have to go back to the original analogy, and remember we are talking about a cost to choice ratio. A sandwich shop is very cheap (in comparison), you are provided what you need, you get to choose what you want, and you have some extras to spice it up a little bit (like those chocolate chip cookies that come right out of the oven! Man, those are tasty!).

And finally, the cost: After we ate, our fears were solidified when we got the bill. It was almost 60 dollars! I was completely blown away, but at the same time expecting it. I not only paid for my General Chou’s chicken, but for the fifty thousand varities of exotic sushi that they offered and I didn't actually eat myself. Of course, it was my own fault. I should have asked for the price and didn’t. That’s what I get.

And that is what America is doing right now. People are beginning to wake up to the fact that the choices for health care under a government plan are severely lacking. Along with that, there is a group of the population that actually does take care of themselves, eats right, exercises, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink alcohol excessively, and in general lives a good life style (no sexually transmitted diseases). People are beginning to question their congressmen about this ridiculous plan that will bankrupt our society, as well as, create a situation where someone else will be dictating what care we, as a society, can have (we will provide you sesame chicken, but not sweet and sour pork). For the vast majority of the population, we will pay for programs, prescriptions, and treatment for things that we will never need in our life time. We will pay for sushi we will never eat.

I want to make it clear that I do support some type of “basic health care” for those who can not take care of themselves. That might seem hypocritical, but it isn’t. My beef, is with the government thinking they have the answer to everything by “spreading the love” to everyone, to support a minor few. We should provide care for homeless, orphans, disabled, etc. But this is not something that is the right of the government to provide. There are numerous communities throughout our country that are already doing similar things on their own accord, by pooling money and providing it to those that need it. The government needs to get out of the healthcare, and the welfare business.

Now, you might be tempted to say something like, “well doesn’t the government’s plan pool resources like the communities you are talking about?” My answer to that would be something like, “you don’t rob someone to give to someone else.” What I mean by that is, the government’s plan essentially forces workers who pay taxes to support those who don’t pay taxes. It will be illegal for someone to not be a part of this program. Some of you may disagree, but there is a huge difference between forcing me to pay for a program and me choosing to support a program on my own.

Well, the analogy of the Chinese buffet and government health care may not be exact, but it is definitely interesting. So, what are your thoughts? Does everyone have a right to basic health care? What does that mean? Is it the government’s responsibility to take care of those who can not take care of themselves? If so, when did that change? Why doesn’t the church and family members provide for those people?

When are we going to stop relying on the government and take responsibility for our selves?