Tempus Fugit

Boy does time fly. Here is proof. Just a little while ago I was sending my baby boy off to Kindergarten and now the whole picture frame is full. I bought two of these school days frames from the Pottery Barn store at the Mall in Sacramento over a year ago, around Thanksgiving, 2004. They sat in a bag in my closet for over a year because I was busy doing a few other things. I could never quite grab block of time to devote to putting pictures in the frames. Well on New Year's Eve this year the earth shook. Both of my kids were occupied elsewhere, Chuck was busy with a football game or something and I found myself with a block of uninterrupted time to collect and frame school pictures.

I was a little concerned because during the first two years of homeschooling, I hadn't quite found a group that took school pictures. So I'm missing third and fourth grade school pictures. But I did have a little league baseball picture and an acting headshot from those years and they fit the bill nicely.

Sometime during the process of putting the pictures in order, I realized with a shock that the entire frame was full. It brought tears to my eyes. My baby boy is no longer a baby, he's a red-blooded American teenager, with the attitude and long hair to prove it. When I was growing up in the seventies, I certainly never imagined I'd be fighting my own son about haircuts. But it's happened.

It's not that I dislike long hair. When I was a teenager I only dated guys with long hair. When Eric was a toddler, I let his hair grow. The first haircut was more traumatic for me than for him. The only reason I agreed to get his hair cut was that I was tired of hearing people say, "Oh what a cute little girl". So it's not that I object to long hair. I just want him to keep it neat looking and that means a trim every now and then is a necessity.

So anyway, time does fly. Now I'm the older generation. Now my son is getting ready to enter High School. He's thinking about SATs. His school days frame which holds pictures from kindergarten to eighth grade is all filled up. Where does the time go?

Confessions of a Desperate Housewife

There’s a title that should get someone’s attention, maybe even my husband’s. No, I’m not running around jumping in bed with all my neighbors’ husbands. I think this is what the show Desperate Housewives is about. I couldn’t say for sure since I’ve never actually watched it.

Since I love words and their origins and definitions, here is the definition of desperate:
1a. Driven to or resulting from a loss of hope.
1b. Having a great desire or need.

I am not a desperate housewife in the TV show sense, or in the sense of definition 1a; although at times, especially in the last few months of 2005, I’ve been tempted with hopelessness. It’s a feeling that I resist. I have a hope and His name is Jesus. I am full of hope.

The desperation I’m talking about is the one in the dictionary definition 1b. I’m full of desire for more of God. I’m hungry for Truth and I have a great need for help from heaven. I am a Desperate Housewife.

Declining Japanese Birthrate: A Nation in Need of Hope

In an effort to put some order into my blogging efforts, I’ve decided to initiate a theme for each day of the week. I think this will encourage me to be more consistent in my postings. It’s just that I have so many ideas about what to write about, that when I actually have a few minutes to sit down and write, it takes me a while to figure out which idea to start with. Then, my brief moment of respite is interrupted, and all I’ve managed to write is a list of ideas.

So, Saturday is officially proclaimed as Karie’s Blog World and Local News day. I’d like to take one or more news items that made the biggest impression on me during the week and write about them. I have to confess though, I haven’t read the newspaper all week. I’ve only watched the news briefly, so I’m not very up on what’s going on this week. I did see the disturbing images of rioting and destruction after the Palestinian elections. I’m very concerned about Hamas terrorists gaining control through this election. This is a reminder to pray more than ever for the “peace of Jerusalem”.

I read an article in World News Magazine http://www.worldmag.com about the declining birthrate in Japan. Apparently, for the first time since World War II, the nation’s death rate outpaced its birth rate. The decline in births is attributed to several factors, including young people waiting longer to get married. The most significant factor seems to be a general feeling of pessimism about the future. Loss of hope for a brighter future is causing many Japanese couples to forego having children. Japan is a nation in need of hope.

busy weekend

I'm just not up to writing about quantum physics this morning. I'm busy getting my house ready for some very special guests tonight. My cousin and her husband are in town from New Orleans and they are coming over for dinner tonight. I haven't seen my cousin in years and I'm really looking forward to seeing her. They've had a rough few months with Katrina forcing them to evacuate their home in New Orleans and then Rita chasing them from Beaumont, Texas where they had evacuated. They are also dealing with her husband's health problems.
I'm so excited about seeing my cousin. I feel so disconnected from family members in New Orleans and I'm excited about an opportunity to reconnect. It's a real answer to prayer.
This weekend also happens to be a big gymnastics meet weekend at my daughter's gym. Team parents are required to work at the meet. The requirement is two sessions and setup or tear-down. And Aimee is competing in the meet on Sunday. It's her first meet as a "level 5" and we weren't sure if she'd be ready in time for the meet today but she got the go ahead from the head coach last night. So it's a busy weekend. Quantum physics will have to wait. But through it all God's hand is on us and both the dinner tonight and the competition are anwers to prayer. Now I have to get back to cooking and cleaning....

Things to Write About

Note to self (and anyone else who cares to read)

I got a new laptop! I'm so excited.

I have a whole list of things to write about. Here is my list:

Lessons from Harriet the Spy

BLOG THIS! What is a blog?

Battling Entropy: Progress in Organization

Homeschool Challenges

I'm a wanna be liberal

Cookbook Ministry

The Iranian Threat: Lessons from the Pianist

Arise and Shine: What I'm Learning from the Sun

I Love My Life

What's in a Name?

QED: God in Quantum Physics

Flower Girl Poetry

Puppy Love

Book Lover Update

Milestones: Aimee lost her top front tooth

(re) Dedication: It's Hanukkah all Year-Round!

Great is thy Faithfulness

Great is thy Faithfulness, O God my Father,

there is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;

As Thou has been Thou for ever will be,

Great is thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

all I have needed Thy hand hath provided,

great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Don't miss the show! That's what I hear every morning now in the pre-dawn quiet. I have the most wonderful show in the world right out of my living room window. Every morning it's there, unique and beautiful. It's God's moving picture show,and I have a front row seat right in the comfort of my living room couch. It's amazing what God is doing for me as I sit in His in presence and allow Him to minister to me and prepare me for the day. It's amazing to me how gradually the light starts to penetrate the darkness. It's a gradual awakening to a new day until the day dawns completely and the brightness of the sun overtakes the darkness.

It's A Boy!

I heard those three life-changing words exactly fourteen years ago today. There I was in the hospital after thirty-some hours of labor. It was 5:30 am on January 9, 1992. I had just delivered our first-born son.

The moment they placed him in my arms and I looked into his eyes something miraculous happened. I don't really have the earthly words to describe what transpired but I have to say it was the greatest moment of my life. I looked into that little face with those beautiful eyes and long, luscious lashes and there was a recognition, a transference and an awakening that took place in me. I saw reflected in that face a glimpse of my dearly departed mother, relatives from past generations. I saw the past and the future connected there in that tiny red face. Oh it's you.

I thank God for that moment and for all the fourteen years of moments since then since I became a mother. That tiny little body has been replaced by that of a handsome, blue-eyed, blonde haired youth. I look at pictures of that little baby and joke with my teen-aged son, "Who are you and what have you done with this little baby boy?"

Through the ups and downs of being a Mom, there is nothing else I would rather be and no-one else I would rather be Mom to than this wonderful son that God gave Chuck and me to raise in the nurture and admonition of the Lord fourteen years ago today.

Happy Birthday Eric!

More on Hanukah

The origin of the celebration of Hanukkah dates to around 165 B.C. Way back in 336 B.C. Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire which been ruling over Judea. Alexander treated the Jews in his empire with respect, allowing them to continue their worship in the temple at Jerusalem and promising he would not interfere with their religious practices.

After the death of Alexander the Great, the empire was divided between the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria. These two kingdoms battled over the territory of Judea, because it was strategically located as a gateway between the continents of Africa and Asia. Around 165 B.C. the Judean territory was under the rulership of the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes. A major objective of his rule was to transform the Jewish culture into a Hellenic or Greek culture. He wanted to make Israel like the rest of the “modern” Greek world. He outlawed:

1.Sacrifice in the Temple. Antiochus placed a statue of Zeus in the temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar of the Lord.

2. Observation of the Sabbath. Observation of the Sabbath recognizes and acknowledges God as the Creator of the world which went against the Greek belief that the world was uncreated and eternal

3. Circumcision, the sign of the covenant between the Jews and God, was antithetical to the Greek ideal of the human body as the “ultimate expression of perfection in nature.” Many Hellenized Jews worked hard to hide their circumcision from Greeks in the baths and gymnasiums who believed it desecrated the “perfection” of the body.

Earlier attempts to wipe out the Jews were recorded in Exodus when Pharoah ordered all the male Jewish babies killed at birth, and in the book of Esther when Haman plotted to have all the Jews exterminated. This attempt at eliminating the Jewish race was different. Antiochus Epiphanes did not want to kill the Jews. This was a war against the Jewish worldview, an attempt to eliminate the true God and true worship from their culture. Had the plan succeeded the Jewish religion would have been eliminated and the temple of the Lord destroyed before the promised Savior could have presented himself at the temple, as promised in the Old Testament.

Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come, says the Lord Almighty. Malachi 3:1

Many Jews consented to the new laws. Judean schools began teaching Greek philosophy. The biblical culture of Israel was being eliminated in a short period of time. A small band of rebels under Judas Maccabaeus decided to take a stand for God and His Word. “Whoever is for God and His Law, follow me!, he cried. The Maccabees put their trust in God and managed to defeat the Greeks and expel them from Jerusalem. This was indeed a great miracle.

The temple was cleansed from the desecration of idols and unclean animals. It was rededicated on the 25th of Kislev 165 B.C. When it came time to relight the Menorah only a small amount of pure oil could be found. The High Priest decided to light the Menorah anyway and according to tradition the menorah remained lit with that small amount of oil for eight days, until new purified oil could be brought in to the temple. This is why Jews today light the Menorah during the celebration of the dedication of the Temple. The Hebrew word Hanukkah means dedication.

After reading the story of Hanukkah I am struck by its relevance for believers today. The war against biblical culture is in full swing. The enemy is after: 1. our worship, 2. our recognition of God as Creator of the universe. 3. Our covenant relationship with the Father God. The “modern culture” worships the body and strives for perfection of the body.

Happy King's Day

Today, January 6, is King's Day. It's the day that tradition says the kings (otherwise known as the wise men) arrived to bring presents to the baby Jesus.
Where I grew up in New Orleans we would celebrate this day with a king cake. Growing up, king cake was one of my favorite kinds of cake. I looked forward to this time of the year when king cakes would be sold at the local bakery. It's an oval shaped bread-like cake, hollow in the middle. Each piece is marked by different colored sugar topping. The most fun thing about the king cake is the fact that hidden inside one of the pieces is a tiny plastic baby or a pecan. The person who bites into the baby or discovers it in their piece is the "king" and is supposed to provide the next king cake. I miss king cakes.

Me and Woobie on Christmas Day.

Happy New Year! It's time for rededication

Hanukkah, The Feast of (re) Dedication

Happy New Year 2006! It’s New Years Night and it’s also the last night of Hanukkah. I think it’s very significant that this year the first evening of Hanukkah fell on Christmas day and the last evening of Hanukkah falls on New Year’s Night. For me and for many other people as well) New Years is a great time to take stock of where I’m at spiritually and to set goals for the next year. It’s been a wild kind of year. Just watching the news has been wild. First the tsunami hits Asia and then Katrina hits my hometown of New Orleans. The last few months of 2005 were exhausting and I found myself very much in need of a break for the holidays and some r and r: restoration and revival.

So, I’ve been praying and asking God for direction, correction and wisdom for the New Year. I was reading up today on Hanukkah, since we’re in the season, and also because Aimee went to a sleep over-last night at a Jewish friend’s house and participated in the lighting of the Menorah. Even though I’m not Jewish, I love the Jewish holidays. I once threw a Purim party for all the kids in the neighborhood. We celebrate Passover every year. I believe that the Jewish feasts reflect God’s prophetic calendar. But I’ve never paid much attention to Hanukkah, at least until this year. When it fell on Christmas I reflected that Jesus celebrated Hanukkah, the New Testament says so in John 10:22:

And it was at Jerusalem the feast of dedication, and it was winter.

I knew Hanukkah had to do with the Maccabees, and the rededication of the temple after it had been defiled, and oil that was miraculously replenished for eight days. But after I got done reading up on the details I wanted to run out and get a menorah so we could light it for the last night of Hanukah. If I had known where I could find one on New Years Day in Santa Clarita I would have run out and got one. Well maybe we’ll get one for next year. I’ll share more about what I learned about Hanukkah tomorrow or the next time I blog. The main thing is that it’s time for rededication. So I rededicate myself to the Lord and pray for Him to miraculously replenish the oil in my lamp so I can be a light for Him.