Thanks

I'm feeling quite joyful lately - maybe it's the intoxication of existence that Chesterton refers to. Why? Because God's there always no matter my mood, my ability to sense His Presence, my circumstances, the economy, etc. That's wonderful.

Plus, Mary's home for Thanksgiving and I'm so enjoying having her home. AND all five kiddos are coming home for Christmas for about 2 weeks.

Love is what matters. And that's what I'm most thankful for.

Have a wonderful Turkey Day, all you readers out there. Remember Who to thank!

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God...

...No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands (LIZZY!), to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. (Abraham Lincoln, 1863)

Mary and Vegetarian Vampires

Mary's home. Last night we ate pizza and watched the OU football game (which was won handily by the Sooners). Today we went to church, then to TGIF's for lunch, then the three of us were going to go to the movie Twilight, but it was sold out. So Chris dropped Mary and I at Barnes and Noble til the next movie. That was fun - browsing the books til 4, then we went to the movie. It's good Chris didn't go because it was definitely a chick flick (with dark action). I wasn't a big fan of these books and movies for young teens until I heard that the books were written by a Mormon mom. The good vampires are "vegetarians" (they don't devour humans) and the teen couple can only go so far physically so that he doesn't, well, let's just say it takes a lot of discipline to be a vegetarian. It's a neat way to show a pure, selfless love.

I'm on vacation at work - even though I'm showing up for 3 days this week, I'm on vacation mode because lots of folks are off and no meetings are scheduled. Sarah said I should take a Pina Colada with me. Instead I took my little fuzzy pipe cleaner man-on-a-lawn-chair that I made during a very boring day-long meeting a few years ago. I'll post a picture if I can.

Sorry about the comments not being on the last post - hopefully they'll show up this time.

Love y'all!

Love and Not

This is the SWEETEST article about an amazing Tulsa family.

Also, for any who may have thought it an exaggeration that Obama could make much difference regarding abortion, a quote from today's Tulsa World:

"There's a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we'll see the president do that," Podesta said. "I think that he feels like he has a real mandate for change. We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set."….Presidents long have used executive orders to impose policy and set priorities. One of Bush's first acts was to reinstate full abortion restrictions on U.S. overseas aid. The restrictions were first ordered by President Reagan and the first President Bush followed suit. President Clinton lifted them soon after he entered the Oval Office, and it wouldn't be surprising if Obama did the same.”

Stomach (and Emotions) Churning

In looking for a picture to put on my last post, I came across a picture of an aborted baby. My God.

N.O.W. and the media have led us to believe that only radical (translate violent - what a paradox) pro-lifers would make people look at these pictures. Good Lord! No American of conscience should take a stand for abortion WITHOUT looking at these pictures. Don't look if you can't stand it.

A Message to Our President

I don't know why I keep writing emails to people with my thoughts on things. Somehow it makes me feel better, even though I know they won't be read. In this case it helped me to sort out my strong and conflicting emotions about the election. SOOOO, here's what I posted on www.barackobama.com:

I was a strong McCain supporter. I've been drawn to your passion for social issues. But as a mother I cannot deny the urgency of the pro-life issues. I cried Tuesday night, first from sorrow and later from joy as I watched African Americans celebrating in the street.

We know now that abortion is not a good thing. Surveys indicate the innate revulsion by young people, demographics show the skewing of God-given balances, and devastated women cause us to wonder how removing a blob of cells can cause 30 years of pain.

More is required than working to reduce the number of abortions. Our legal and cultural foundations were radically changed when we ranked the right to privacy over the right to life.

What will you do to ensure future government actions are based upon today's reality of abortion rather than the fantasy that was created by radicals 35 years ago? With an enormous amount of political power in your hands, what will you do to ensure that your decisions reflect unvarnished, unadulterated facts? Are you willing to, for instance, look at data or pictures? Are you willing to be the one to answer Malia or Sasha when they ask, "What is abortion, daddy?" Are you willing to select Supreme Court justices without litmus tests?

As Archbishop Chaput said in explaining what we should consider in making decisions related to this critical topic, "And what would a proportionate reason look like? It would be a reason we could, with an honest heart, expect the unborn victims of abortion to accept when we meet them and need to explain our actions as we someday will."

VOTE!

Chaput

I tried to quote from Archbishop Chaput's (American Indian Bishop of Denver) book when I was talking to Sarah this morning and realized I mangled it quite a bit. Here's the accurate quote, which was his response to how we can morally justify a pro-choice vote.

"And what would a proportionate reason look like? It would be a reason we could, with an honest heart, expect the unborn victims of abortion to accept when we meet them and need to explain our actions as we someday will.”

I love this statement. It clarifies the gravity of abortion, indicating that these "blobs of tissue" are human souls that will exist in heaven. Yet it truly allows for another choice. We could justify another vote to them, but when looked at from this perspective, it would have to be major.

BXVI and Stephen Hawking

Scientists were invited to the Vatican to discuss Evolution. The entire content of the Pope's speech is here

My favorite part:

To “evolve” literally means “to unroll a scroll”, that is, to read a book. The imagery of nature as a book has its roots in Christianity and has been held dear by many scientists. Galileo saw nature as a book whose author is God in the same way that Scripture has God as its author. It is a book whose history, whose evolution, whose “writing” and meaning, we “read” according to the different approaches of the sciences, while all the time presupposing the foundational presence of the author who has wished to reveal himself therein. This image also helps us to understand that the world, far from originating out of chaos, resembles an ordered book; it is a cosmos. Notwithstanding elements of the irrational, chaotic and the destructive in the long processes of change in the cosmos, matter as such is “legible”. It has an inbuilt “mathematics”. The human mind therefore can engage not only in a “cosmography” studying measurable phenomena but also in a “cosmology” discerning the visible inner logic of the cosmos. We may not at first be able to see the harmony both of the whole and of the relations of the individual parts, or their relationship to the whole. Yet, there always remains a broad range of intelligible events, and the process is rational in that it reveals an order of evident correspondences and undeniable finalities: in the inorganic world, between microstructure and macrostructure; in the organic and animal world, between structure and function; and in the spiritual world, between knowledge of the truth and the aspiration to freedom. Experimental and philosophical inquiry gradually discovers these orders; it perceives them working to maintain themselves in being, defending themselves against imbalances, and overcoming obstacles. And thanks to the natural sciences we have greatly increased our understanding of the uniqueness of humanity’s place in the cosmos.

2nd Experience I'd Like to Describe

Damn - I forgot what it was!