Boston dreaming....

It ain't over till the ArchAngel sings

2011-01-13T19:31:00.000-05:00

A note from Paul.

Years ago when I worked at a mission for the homeless, one of my regular guys attempted suicide. In the hospital with him that night, and trying to decipher what his reasons were for the attempt, we decided I would sit in on his meetings with his psychologist. One of the roots to confusion for him had been taking in what the psychologist was telling him, and then taking in what Christianity spoke to him. The two clashed in his mind. It became my Job to review the terms used by the medical, and the spiritual, and produce a harmony between the two.

I found myself again in this endeavor, when I reviewed the stages of grief. The five stages of grief according to psychologists are:

■ shock followed by initial denial;
■ denial replaced by anger, rage, envy, and resentment;
■ bargaining (with God);
■ depression;
■ ultimate acceptance

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

True psychology is a science. Science is basically the discovery of our world through observation and experimentation. There is nothing wrong with science and it can give us many keys to understanding our world. A very compassionate woman named Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, who worked extensively with the dying and their survivors, first recorded these “stages of grief” in her book, On Death and Dying, in 1969. They are a simple observation of the emotions and states of mind that people encounter, when faced with a loss of any kind.

Elisabeth herself did not remain in the realm of science. She expanded her studies deeply into spiritualism. Science can only go so far until it hits a wall, and can proceed no further. Like watching an old black and white movie, there comes a time when you look away and remember the world is really full of color, not just shades of grey. The emotions outlined above are only a record of observations. They can be helpful in knowing what we will face, but any good psych will tell you, they are not hard and fast rules.

True Christianity adds the color. While there are no “stages of grief” in the Bible, all of the emotions are there and quite real. That’s because Christianity enters the realms where science must stop. It brings answers to the demanding questions that only the heart can bring to the table.

The first addition of color which Christianity brings is the idea that we are not alone in our grief. If you look again at the list above you will see God mentioned, but not with any kind of actual faith. He’s just an idea, as if he was just a quirky mental reflex.

Christianity will agree that God is not a tool for us to control the world, or to avoid an honest dealing with reality. Yet there is a true saying; “there are no atheists in foxholes.” The heart speaks truth and it knows where it must turn, to God. When it’s someone else, we say it’s “the bargaining with God stage.” When it’s us, and the pain has cleared out all the intellectual garbage, it all very quickly turns to “please help me.”

That is a true problem with the “stages of grief” for anyone; it can tell you how a human reacts but in the end our hearts couldn’t give a damn. When the gut speaks, it puts up with zero foolishness. It speaks truth loud and clear, not facts; the heart cares not a bit about facts, it goes beyond them to what’s real.

When I buried a friend named Tommy, my heart, in midst of a beat, erupted. We were driving away from the grave site and from the back seat of the car, I turned wanting to crawl through the rear window with the cry in my throat “NO! We CAN’T leave him there!” In that instant I really wanted to dig him back up, I wanted him to be alive. The action would have been fruitless, but the desire is not unreasonable, in fact it is the only sane desire; to have a return to life.

As C.S. Lewis remarked, “There are moments, most unexpectedly, when something inside me tries to assure me that I don't really mind so much, not so very much, after all. Love is not the whole of a man's life. I was happy before I ever met H. I've plenty of what are called "resources." People get over these things. Come, I shan't do so badly. One is ashamed to listen to this voice but it seems for a little to be making out a good case. Then comes a sudden job of red-hot memory and all this "commonsense" vanishes like an ant in the mouth of a furnace.”

Which brings us to that all desired “stage” of resignation, er, I mean acceptance. The Bible actually talks of two types of sorrow, one with hope and one without.

1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

A Christian is not to sorrow as if there was not a good God who has plans. We do accept the things we cannot change, as the death of a loved one or another loss, and pick up and bear our cross. It is not however by abandoning God’s cry for restoration that rings from our hearts. He intends not only to bring a restoration, but to deliver one with a miraculous passion. That is what all the small and temporary miracles we read of and experience are a witness to. They are his promise of things to come, and why many times they are seen in the midst of loss, they are set beautifully “in spite of.”

There is in the book of Revelation two passages, one which states that God shall wipe from our eyes EVERY tear. That is our tender Father, on bended knee, remembering each of our woes that he stood by us in. Then there is also Jesus, the warrior, who intently and deliberately places each prayer ever uttered into an incense burner. He adds fire to them (can you feel the passion) swings it around like a weapon and casts it to the earth, ready to take vengeance for the cries of pain he has endured in his ears.

The promises he has given match the intensity of our loss’s, babies shall be held in once empty arms, cries of joy shall be heard as friends once again see each other, the faces of our loved ones no longer will be creased with constant pain, and yes, the dead shall be raised to life again.

With all the grief’s that have assaulted in the last month, past and present, there is still a voice deep in my heart to which I bend my knee in thanks:

Ro 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

photo credits: morguefile.com, Wikipedia.

Celebration Time!

2010-11-30T12:42:00.000-05:00

NaNoWriMo

Today is the last day of NaNoWriMo! We’ve all raced, sweated and slogged water, food and chocolate on the run - and now, now we are at the finish line with words in tow! Yeah! Don’t forget to validate your word count on the website so you can collect your special prizes. By the way, you can still add to your word count after validation in case you’re waiting to eek out that last little phrase.

Congratulations, NaNo’ers!

This is no small feat!

If you have won by passing 50,000 words, you must be elated! If you have not passed 50K don’t fret – as every writer knows, having some word count is far better than no word count. It’s just that those over 50K now have more work ahead of us in editing, lol!

Celebration Giveaway!

To celebrate my household skating over the finish line for NaNoWriMo (me and my teens have won!) and to celebrate MuseItUp Publishing’s December Launch, I’m offering a giveaway through the good folks at CSN stores!

One lucky winner will receive a $35.00 gift certificate. All you have to do is join my blog and leave a comment on this blog post. Also, optionally, if you’d like to be on my email list for my writing newsletter, please leave your email with your comment like so: avidreader-at-gmail-dot-com. That way spammers can’t grab your email off the internet and I can send you the newsletter when it comes out. You can join my blog through Facebook on Networked Blogs or through Blogger. Through Blogger you’ll need a gmail account which is fast, easy and free. If you have already joined this blog or my homeschool blog, just leave a comment on this post on this site or the other.

This will run from today through Thursday night at midnight and then Molly will pick a name out of a hat which I’ll announce on Friday in this blog post.

As some of you know, I carry my backpack with me everywhere, yes, even to fancy social events. I always have my notebook and pen handy and more often than not, my netbook as well. My teen authors-in-training are carrying notepads and pens with them everywhere in their own backpacks now – it’s becoming a family tradition...or quirk, lol! It’s never too early to encourage a budding writer and CSN has an amazing selection of children’s backpacks if you have a child who would like their very own writing kit - it would make a lovely Christmas and/or Chanukkah gift.

MuseItUp Publishing Launch!

Hope to see you at the party tomorrow for MuseItUp Publishing and for Boston Wrimo’s, I’ll see you at the TGIO party in the Hub!

And at this turning point, MuseItUp Publishing is having our launch party all day tomorrow! Please join the readers group (this is mainstream) to be eligible for spectacular door prizes! It gets even better… we’re having a sale in the bookstore.

Holiday Special: Get 25% off any purchase from today until December 10th.
Use code: HC2010D at checkout in the discount code box before going to Paypal.

Write on!

photo credits: morguefile.com

Happy Thanksgiving & An Invitation!

2010-11-22T15:07:00.000-05:00

Launch Party!

As many of you know, I work for MuseItUp Publishing as an editor and an author. December 1st we're having our Grand Opening! All the details are on my writing blog. I hope you can join us!

I have edited several of the YA books that are releasing and they are excellent. If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email.

December 1st we'll have fun and games for everyone, and now the two houses have two reader's groups as well. The mainstream line is family friendly and I daresay children can go online for the contests. I'll check that out with my publisher but since there's no adult content, it should be fine!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's our family tradition to stay home on Thanksgiving. I love getting up early to put the bird in the oven and pad around in my slippers setting out breakfast for when my sleepy heads get up. In the next few days, me and the girls will bake cranberry bread, apple and pumpkin pie and prepare vegetables ahead of time. Our fat turkey is thawing now on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.

If this is a difficult time for you due to illness or the economy, or you know of a single person who is alone for the holidays, there are several local churches who are serving Thanksgiving dinner to families in their areas. Pick a few in your town and give them a call. Chances are that if that one isn't, they know which ones are.

Kell's Restaurant in Allston is serving a free Thanksgiving meal (Christmas, too).

Here are some places on the North Shore.

A country club in Halifax, you need to call ahead of time.

I tried to get a Boston listing but couldn't find any online. If you know of a church nearby, or other facility, be sure to leave it in the comments section for others. And you know, if you burn the bird on Thursday, you can go have dinner there, too!

Sneak preview, I'm hostessing another CNS gift certificate giveaway in honor of finishing NaNoWriMo on November 31st and the launch of MuseItUp Publishing. Details to follow!

photo credits: morguefile.com & MuseItUp Publishing

Who are you sleeping with tonight?

2010-11-09T17:17:00.000-05:00

How scandalous! Especially for a devotional homeschool blog.

I can assure you, it's much worse than it sounds.

A number of years ago Paul and I decided to have no chat about other people or non family situations in our bedroom. We were tired of having our room populated with other people and their stuff. This has kept the sanctuary of our bedroom a place of peace and rest. I really don't want to think about politicians or anyone else when I'm going to sleep, thank you so much.

Aren't we spiritual?! We'd never have an adultery problem. Or would we?

Many folks think adultery is cheating on your spouse. They aren't wrong. I think it goes deeper than that, however. I think adultery is also cheating on God. Recently I read this verse as I was thinking about keeping our sanctuary free from unwanted visitors and nearly fell on the floor.

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Ephesians 4:26

Right before this verse God says to put away lying and right after he says to not give place to the devil. The following verses refer to lying again, then evil communication, then to grieving the Holy Spirit. A clear repeated pattern of ABC-ABC, which draws attention to the points in these verses. Lying with lying, wrath with evil communication, giving place to the devil with grieving the Holy Spirit.

I began to think about Wrath taking a seat in my room before going to sleep at night. Hmm... Not pleasant, eh? I didn't relish the thought of waking up to Wrath in the rocking chair either...or getting dressed in front of him.

While most preachers will tell you this verse means not to go to bed angry, there are a number of other ways to take this. Sundown began the Jewish day in the First Century chuch, so another interpretation can be to not let wrath travel into the next day. Don't welcome Wrath into your bedroom, whether between you and your spouse or anyone else. But also don't let the light go out on your wrath, don't bury wrath so it can't be lit up by truth, don't hide it in the dark, which reminds me of another scripture.

Men don't come to the light because their deeds are evil. Paraphrased from John 3:20.

Ever meet a thief who wants to hear you tell them how to stop stealing? Umm, no. They want to steal so they don't want to hear you say it's wrong. They refuse to come to the light.

Wrath stems from unforgiveness and if left unchecked by the light of the Word, it will morph - into murder.

Are you a murderer? I don't know. Have you ever spoken evil about someone? God links that to murder because it steals the person's reputation and can shut them off from a community. Some aptly describe it as murder with the tongue. Have you ever cut someone out of your heart? There are times when it's godly not to have contact with some people, and the scriptures are clear on when those times are. But not having contact and cutting them out of your heart are two different things. God doesn't look well on this, dear ones. Not because he wants to punish us, but because he looks after our well being and if we're not in his playground, we're playing in someone else's and become easy prey.

Maybe it's your brother who irritates you to no end. Maybe it's your spouse. Maybe it's your pastor. Maybe it's yourself. Maybe it's your congregation or your neighbor.

Whomever it is, they are sleeping with you.

The sun is going down on your wrath and it's sitting in the chair in the corner of your room when you wake up - pretty soon you will ignore it and be flabbergasted when someone points it out to you.

God does know what he's talking about and his way will work. Of course it seems counter intuitive, his ways are not our ways. But when we try to protect ourselves, from anyone or anything, what we're really saying is that God isn't able to. Forgiveness cures you from taking Jesus' place.

Peter asked Jesus how many times he had to forgive someone suggesting seven times. I read a commentary recently that said the Children of Israel had a rule that you forgive someone three times but not the fourth. Doesn't that sound like "Screw me once shame on you, screw me twice shame on me."? Apparently Peter thought seven times was right because obviously three times wasn't.

He was in for the shock of the century. Jesus told him seventy times seven which is 490 times. I can just hear Peter stuttering "Wh-wh-what?!"

That is an Orientalism meaning we are to forgive always. Stiff consequences come to us when we don't. Some of those consequences are tormentors who refuse to leave your bedroom, figuratively speaking. Ever think something was one way and it turned out it was completely the opposite? Unforgiveness blinds you to what's really going on.

Unforgiveness left unchecked in your heart will come out of your mouth and lead to murder. Murder with the tongue, murder in the heart and sometimes physical murder. This is how that nice guy down the street can come home from work one day and kill his family, shocking the neighborhood. Unforgiveness took up residence in that house long before murder did.

What's the way out? Repent. That amazing five letter word! Repent for unforgiveness. It will change your life.

Proverbs 29:8 says scornful men bring a city into a snare: but wise men turn away wrath.

Want to bless your city? Repent for scorn and turn away wrath with wisdom. Your city will prosper and you'll be taking spiritual responsibility. God will reward you for such things. What we do in secret he rewards us for openly.

I wonder what it would be like if we all repented for unforgiveness. I think mountains would shift across the universe. I for one try to do it routinely. In 2004 I had a revelation of repentance and forgiveness that irrevocably changed my life and I haven't stopped preaching it yet. I have lived my life at the butt end of many men's sins. I'm not alone, we all do in one way or another and all of us have suffered from Adam's sin.

Whose sin affects you? Everyone's. Forgiving them changes it all and opens up the miraculous to you from God Almighty. Give it a whirl and be sure to share the miracle reports. Jesus paid it all at the Cross for us. What have we got to lose, except some unwanted visitors in our bedrooms?

So, who are you sleeping with tonight?

Make it God and your spouse only and you will have a restful sanctuary and live a protected life. He's not slack concerning his promises.

photo credits: morguefile.com

Do You Need A Writing Program?

2010-11-02T08:36:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year, with my teens for homeschool. I've seen a lot of the writing programs that are out there and each have their merits but NaNo offers something more valuable, I think. It gives you experience. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month.

The goal is to write a 50K word novel in thirty days. Of course it won't be perfect, it will obviously be a first draft but it wll actually be a draft instead of a wish in the back of your mind. That boils down to 1667 words per day of fiction. And you do this for 30 days. Editing is not allowed so once that word is on the paper, you may not erase it until December!

Last year Elizabeth and I stayed up until midnight on October 31st and had a NaNo party with hot chocolate and our trusty pens and keyboard. Each of us, Molly, too, finished our novels by the end of November. Molly's was done and only needed editing. Her's was a horror romance. Elizabeth is still working on that novel at 114.K words now. It's a YA fantasy. I added another 16K to the original 52K and spruced it up to submit and it will be published in the spring by MuseItUp Publishing. So much good came out of that month long lesson on writing!

This year, we planned our midnight madness writing party and Molly joined us. After almost 2000 words, I fell asleep on my keyboard as did Molly; but Elizabeth decided to stay up all night and clocked in at 13K words yesterday! That's almost a week's worth of NaNo!

What's the draw? I think it's the experience. You can study anything forever, until you're actually applying it you can't really know it. There's nothing like writing to teach you how to write better. Every word is an improvement.

The best part for homeschooling moms is the workbooks. If you sign up at the Young Writer's Program site for NaNo, you can download worksbooks for all grade levels. And these are free. Each one is excellent in how to craft a novel. For the YWP you can have your own virtual classroom, track everyone's progress together and post fun things and writing tips. You can also change the word count necessary to win. So if you have a first grader, you, as their teacher, can set their goal at 10K words. You can also order a school packet (first packet is free) that has NaNo buttons, a poster, a chart where students can sign in their word counts and stickers.

Whether you use the YWP site or the adult NaNo site, or both like we do, each participant can make their own author pages and share a bit about their book. You can even upload cover art for your novels.

This is a wonderful thing for homeschoolers! There's still time to sign up! Enjoy!

NaNoWriMo & NaNoWriMo Young Writer's Program (13 - 18)

Harvest Party or Halloween?

2010-10-23T14:22:00.000-04:00

This is a hot topic these days in light of Halloween. Are you worshipping Satan by going trick or treating? Are you a good Christian if you hand out tracts instead of candy? Many churches are doing alternative things for October 31st. If you go trick or treating are you hurting someone who is weak in the faith and thinks doing anything like that is pagan? What are you doing?

My understanding is that God looks on your heart. God healed an Assyrian pagan who came to him with leprosy. Then He sent Naaman right back into the pagan temple to walk the King of Assyria to his favored seat in the middle of that worship service and... Naaman was a baby Christian.

God really is Lord of all.

What do you do on October 31st and why do you do it?

You won't get any judgment here from me so please feel free to post. And we all may find some new things to do. You do have to be careful about hurting a brother or sister who thinks anything associated with Halloween is evil. You are not evil but they may assume you are. If you have such a brother in your midst, ask God how to speak to him, understanding he is weak in the faith as the scriptures say. And ask Jesus to shore him up so he can walk free from fear.

Our tradition is to visit our neighborhood. We don't do this to celebrate Halloween but to take advantage of the time when the community has their doors open to visit and our children know the difference.

Many of the people we live with see us only at this time of year. With all of our busyness, it's not always convenient or prudent to have coffee together. Halloween is a time to chat for a minute. The children get candy and we make a point of praying for each of our neighbors as we walk by their homes. The girls dress up but not as anything scary. I wouldn't get too upset by that if they did (as long as they weren't scaring someone else) because it can be a safe way of processing fear; it takes the power out of it. We also teach them about the wiles of the Devil and how to avoid his religious and not so religious traps.

I've just finished publishing two horror stories for the Muse blog. One is a tween story that is a helpful way of processing fear, as I mentioned earlier. That really is the fascination with scary stories. It takes fear that can paralyze us sometimes and makes it larger than life so we see how powerless it is. The other story I wrote is a memoir story that is about a time a devilish entity tried to attack me and my friends and shows others how to deal with such a thing. Reading the Bible is far more scary than most people realize because God educates His people about evil spirits and how to handle them.

Practicing Halloween as a pagan holiday, of course, is not appropriate for us as Christians, and we don't do that. We also don't play Tarot cards, gaze into crystal balls or read tea leaves. Our oracles come from God, not these other things. But would I speak to someone who practices devination? Yes, in order to bless them, not follow their craft.

I'd love to hear what you do on October 31st. Please post anonymously if you'd like to.

Thanks everyone!

Giveaway!

2010-10-06T15:33:00.000-04:00

Last week the good folks at CSN Stores in Boston gave me a shout and offered us a giveaway on this blog. Cool, eh?! I’ve been looking through their website and it’s full of treasures and lots of useful things like dining room chairs and binoculars.

The winner will receive a $35.00 gift certificate; a great way to get out of the “winter is coming” blues. Shopping therapy is under-rated. International shipping charges may apply for orders outside the US, fyi.

They even have baby furniture and shoes and weathervanes. Have a look and see what you think.

Here's what you have to do to participate in the giveaway.

1. Join one of my blogs if you haven’t already and mention which blog you joined so I can find you. This is a homeschool and devotional blog. My writing blog is http://karenmcgrathauthor.blogspot.com/

2. Comment on this post on this blog.

            Examples: Anything at all… or…
                           “I want to win!”

            And say: I joined the writing blog, or…
                         I joined this blog.

3. Leave your email like so; thisisme(at)gmail(dot)com, so I can contact you when you win –or- private message me (Karen) on Facebook with your email. My Facebook profile link is in the sidebar here. The private message link is under my profile picture on Facebook.

4. Optional, sign up for my personal email list for a newsletter about homeschool or one about writing and the publishing industry. These will have occasional free short stories and writing tips, or recipes, homeschool management and teaching tips and the like.

             Example: homeschool newsletter – yes, or…
                           writing newsletter – yes

5. That’s it!

Here’s what your comment will look like with whatever your choices are.

             I want to win!

             I joined the writing blog.

             My email is parent(at)gmail(dot)com

             I want the homeschool or writing newsletter.
             (optional)

We’ll put the commenters names in a hat and Molly will choose one. I’ll post who the winner is next week and CSN will send you a nifty gift certificate. Better than chocolate, well, maybe not as delicious as that, but fun, nonetheless!

Happy Wednesday!

photo credits: CSNStores.com

It's Not About What That's About...

2010-09-29T11:15:00.000-04:00

There’s been an educational brouhaha across the nation lately. I’ve held off blogging about it until I had more facts but I think it’s important to present you with what I have so far.

First, a little background. Online schools are just that, a school online. It’s like going to the local public or private school except your child sits at your computer desk. They sign in to homeroom and go to classes online. They have teachers for different subjects or maybe one overall to monitor their progress. Someone other than the parent teaches them, tests them and keeps records of their progress. Some of these online schools are accredited, meaning they “count” as bonafide schools in the state you live in.

Are they homeschools?

Technically no, because the parent isn’t teaching the child and keeping their records. They are, however, considered alternative homeschools because the child is at home. They’re handy if the primary homeschooling parent (PHP) is ill and can’t keep up with lessons, or if the PHP has to care for ill or aging parents. In some cases the PHP may feel unqualified to teach a certain grade or class (I can help with that, let me know if you have that situation). There are times when an online school is God’s answer, but it’s alternative homeschool.

Government (state) schools have become more than a little miffed by the homeschooling movement. There are always the snide comments that homeschool isn’t real school and other insults but as we’ve grown, government schools have had to concede our viability. One of the reasons they aren’t keen on us isn’t because they think we have inferior schools, it’s because they lose tax dollars for every seat that isn’t filled with a child. Approximately 10K per child - give or take a few thousand depending on which state it is. Add up the number of current homeschoolers, multiply by 10K and you’ll see how much potential Federal cash they’re losing - you’ll understand their whine better.

Some schools cover this by enrolling local homeschoolers in the public school anyway, either without the parent’s knowledge (which happened to us in Boston) or by telling the parents this is necessary which is a lie. Control has been the name of the game from day one. Who’s minding the children? Surely not the parents!

Is it any wonder someone’s gotten savvy lately in the public school system? The latest gig is a public state-funded, state-accredited online school that you can do in your home. Yeah, you’re a homeschooler now! Yeah, that’s the ticket!

This new program called K-12 is apparently available in every state but gets renamed as it’s adopted, sort of like the MCAS was. It’s public school online. And you don’t even need internet access or a computer, the state will give you that for free. Aren’t you interested yet? I hear bureaucrats sneezing into their hands at my breakfast table, “Get with the program, damn it.” It’s not intrusion if you let them in the door.

Here's the link to the news story about the Pennsylvania school that used their school issued computers to spy on families.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/19/earlyshow/leisure/gamesgadgetsgizmos/main6223044.shtml

Is the free curriculum and computer deal attractive? To those of us who’ve given our life blood to fight for homeschool freedom for the last two decades, this is repulsive. The state will have control, not the parent, which is what homeschool circumvents. To those of us who have sacrificed that second income to protect and nurture our own, this sounds like the deal of the century. How many times have I thought if there was a decent public school around, I wouldn’t mind sending my children? (Usually in the heat of agonizing over a difficult math problem or yet another day of slogging through grammar when we all want to be at the park.)

But the truth is, if there was a decent public school around I still wouldn’t send my children because I am their teacher. I homeschool so I can teach them. They had the chance to go to an exclusive private school for free. We refused, because it’s not about what that’s about.

Recently a friend told me she read a letter sent home from a public school. It told parents they were homeschoolers because they helped their children with homework and took an active part in their child’s learning. It said they had every right to call themselves homeschoolers and enjoy the respect that homeschoolers receive. Besides being an outright fabrication, it would have been laughable if it wasn’t such a con. Public school parents are not homeschoolers, even if they help their children with homework. I'm not a politician if I give a speech. And homeschoolers get very little respect even after decades of proven academic and life skill accomplishments.

So why are they blurring the lines?

For every child they get in public school at home, they'll get that Federal money and then again for the physical seat that is filled at the actual school. That’s a lotta dough, folks, and apparently enough to have some using emotional manipulation and telling lies.

I don’t know about you but I don’t spend 10K on one child’s curriculum per year and guess what? They don't either, nor will they. Never mind the student gets a free computer for the school year… those are less than $500. now and at bulk rate for a state order, probably less than $200. each, where's all the rest of the money going?

And what will the parent get? That's easy, the same public school control, I mean, headaches, minus the social interaction everyone’s been screaming about homeschoolers losing out on all these years. Funny how they aren’t worried about that anymore since they found a way to use homeschool to their advantage.

Here are three links you’ll find very interesting. The second one is a sad state of affairs for that family, but of course things would go that route, it’s the government school. Unsuspecting parents have no idea until they are ensnared by the system. And sadder still, some of those implementing these things really think they are good ideas.

For Massachusetts: http://axiomqa.k12.com/mava/who-we-are

An Idaho family: http://www.iche-idaho.org/issues/19/

HSLDA's info: http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/issues/c/charterschools.asp

I seriously doubt online public schools will go far. Many public school parents want others watching their children for them so they can get that second income. Who will babysit the children while the parents are at work? Law enforcement officials will not be happy with public homeschool children playing on the streets after school, that is if they sit down at the computer while their parents are away. It’s a disaster waiting in the wings. And then what? The public school will send someone to the home to make sure they are sitting at the computer? The new slogan will be "A social worker for every home!"

It’s interesting to me that the two systems in most disrepair in the US are the school system and the church system. The minute you start institutionalizing family, you’ve got a problem. Jesus didn’t send his disciples to Temple to get an education. He taught them the kingdom himself. And he didn’t send them to church either, he fellowshipped with them on hillsides, in gardens, and homes, wherever he was. I guess we’ve all been blurring the lines for a very long time. Home schools and home churches were the norm in the First Century and they worked. How and why we’ve gotten so far off course is not as important as getting back on course. Parents hanging out with their children is really what it is about.

photo credits: morguefile.com

Another Good Reason to Homeschool

2010-09-17T22:29:00.000-04:00

Last week we started our homeschool for 2010/2011. I love summer but it sure is fun to pull out the books and study again. I look forward to it almost as much as my teens. They have a great writing book they’re using this year, I’ll be doing the exercises with them. I dug through some boxes in the basement and found an old standby. Erica liked it so much, she stashed with her things rather than put it away in the school boxes when she went to college. The Writer’s Toolbox – you guessed it, another grammar book to feed my English addiction. We’ll be making good use of that this year.

As we got down to business, the girls asked me for their schedule. They’re old enough to know what they need to do so I had them make it themselves. They were thrilled and came up with great plans. Per usual, we have music and art. I don’t think we’d survive without those. Molly’s got a great watercolor book that I’ll be doing with her this year. Did I say we homeschool? Sometimes I think it’s Mom school or Mom’s re-school!

With our schedules in place and time for reading and good movies and field trips and homeschool group events, I remembered the reason I love to do school at home. We can design it the way we want to. Molly had a chorus retreat last weekend that she gets school credit for. She’s also singing with the highest choir this year in the Boston Children’s Chorus. Another good reason to homeschool; we have time to do the extras and still get some sleep!

Today we drove Erica to the airport; she’s on a photography trip out of state. We left the house at 6:30, dropped Paul off at work, and drove to Erica’s apartment where we all had breakfast. Then we leisurely drove to the airport. We got back around 10:00. The girls were concerned about finishing all of their subjects with less time to study, normally we start at 7:30, so I gave them the day off from math cutting out about an hour from their work for the day. Two little faces beamed at me. This is the beauty of homeschool, we can rearrange things to have more family time. When all is said and done, they may not remember the formula for an area of a circle or how to find the vanishing point in a painting, but they will remember having bagels at their sister’s house on a rainy Friday morning and dropping her off at the airport for her first traveling photography gig, and then coming home to have decaf coffee with Mom and not having to do math for one day out of the year.

These are the things that make my heart sing.

Every homeschool day and week isn’t as glorious as these have been. I have my off days and so do the girls. But all in all, we wouldn’t trade homeschool for anything. I’m a selfish mom. It’s just not enough for me to see my babies take their first steps and say their first words. I have to be there for all their moments as long as I can. Eighteen years is a very short time to hang out with my favorite people in the world.

Wishing you all another wonderful homeschool year!

photo credits: morguefile.com & http://www.ericascottmcgrath.com/

Herds of Cash Cows

2010-09-08T15:20:00.000-04:00

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I suppose it was inevitable. Homeschool is growing, but more importantly to business, homeschoolers are buying. And we are buying quite a bit. In the last few years, many companies have branched out of their fields to try to eat in our pastures.

Last year on Facebook there was a savvy ad about how to get your child to learn better with big letters “FOR HOMESCHOOLERS.” At first I laughed, that’s why we stay away from programs and schools - we want our children to learn better and we believe that happens at home with parents teaching their own children.

I laughed until one of my friends, who was unsure about her ability to teach her children, thought this was a good idea. I pointed out to her that it was nothing more than clever marketing playing on her fears. This year her children are not in homeschool. Those fears ate them up.

It’s a jungle out there.

If you aren’t convinced that homeschool is the way to go, there are many programs that will try to come into your home and teach your children for you, for a price and one that isn’t always monetary.

Sometimes that’s ok. Online schools (also considered alternative homeschools) like the one I mentioned last week, work well if a parent feels they want someone with more knowledge to help out in a subject or if there is a crisis in the family. Personally, though, I’ve homeschooled through crisis, it’s not that hard, and there’s nothing wrong with learning alongside your child, in fact there might be a lot of right in it. We each have to walk with God on what is the best for our own families remembering that we ourselves are homeschooled by the Almighty.

In the last year I’ve had several companies contact me wanting the email list of my homeschool group families. As bizarre as this might sound, most of them are Christian. I’ve refused to give it out. If they want to advertise, they’ll have to do it on their own time and pay for it. It was pretty nervy to ask me. First off, they simply expected me to hand it to them because they said they had a great product. I heard Jesus overturning the money changing tables in the temple, believe me!

The following has happened within the past year:

o A local company wanted to design classes saying they were doing a favor for us and charge us a lot of money. They are non-Christian and non-homeschooling.

o People offered to tutor our children and balked when I say no. Many tutors are not Christian nor do they necessarily agree with homeschooling, not to mention I do the tutoring here.

o Non-homeschooled and non-homeschooling speakers are trying to infiltrate homeschool conventions and are making mega bucks on us.

o I looked into a very expensive curriculum program for writing that is popular with homeschoolers. It’s written by a non-Christian non-homeschooler and designed to be a cash cow - the curriculum can’t be reused by siblings even. And the owner was less than courteous to me when I emailed about the program.

o I researched a program claiming to make my children smarter, designed especially for homeschoolers that is very expensive and taught by non-Christian non-homeschoolers.

o I was contacted several times by a business who asked me to give them my group email list and promised me freebies for doing so, supposedly Christian.

o A new business has cropped up called Homeschool Consulting. People are charging mucho dinero to help families design curriculum, lesson plans and to encourage them to grow. This is what I do for free as a fellow homeschooler. Many of these people are non-Christian and non-homeschoolers.

Why are all these people trying to get our money? Homeschoolers have become a financial force. If one homeschooler likes something, we tell a friend and so on. There’s a lot of cash to be made on us and they want to lap it up.

They will come up with any gimmick to get our interest so they are busy researching us. I even read an online ad offering to train people to write articles for homeschool magazines. Writers don’t have to be homeschoolers or homeschooled, just act like it.

Maybe we should start designing some criteria for what we’ll buy and what we won’t buy. Here’s some of mine:

1. Do we really need it? If so, I move on to the next one…

2. Is their marketing wholesome, doesn’t prey on fears, etc.

3. Is it Christian? It doesn’t always have to be, but if it isn’t, is it worth it in another way to make up for the lack of spirituality? And if it isn’t Christian, will it be detrimental to our children because of that? Some things are ok, others aren’t.

4. If it’s a classroom, it’s anti-homeschool in my book unless it’s a homeschool co-op. Can I teach what they are teaching? If not, is it really a need? If I can teach it on my own, why bother with it? This is why we left public and private schools so we wouldn’t have strangers teaching our children.

5. What is the price? This includes the non-tangible cost. I can enroll my children in the local park program that is free for the summer but they won’t be with children of similar values.

6. Will it support and enhance our Christian homeschool values? If not, what are we doing it for? Is it really necessary to drive all over town, spend extra hard earned money and time away from home just to get that art class that maybe a book and a half hour a day with our children might be just as good if not better?

Just a side note on that: I met a retired art teacher this summer who gave me some great resources to use in my homeschool. She mentioned a book she thought was excellent. I’ve been using it for fifteen years now.

We don’t realize the gift we’ve been given. Don’t let the draw of the world suck you in.

I don’t give out our email list but I’ve had people tell me it’s ok to do that. Be wise, research the companies you do business with. You have choices. We have Christians who write textbooks now so we don’t have to buy from secular companies.

Check the fruit under the label.

A number of years ago a supposedly Christian man wrote a text book. Because there was a dearth in the homeschool field in that subject, it took off like wildfire. I contacted him because his book was so poorly written my daughter had a hard time understanding it and I suggested he hire an editor (I wasn’t one at the time!). He wrote back furious with me and said he didn’t have to fix anything because people were buying his book anyway. He lost a lot of customers that day. Now we use BJU Press for Science; they are thorough, easy to understand and well written.

You need to know who you’re dealing with, and numbers don’t help. The next time you think popularity can tell you if something is good or not, consider the pornography industry. Their numbers are through the roof and they aren’t godly by a long shot.

You can’t mass produce homeschool, because the heart of it is love. Satan knows love can’t be bought or sold so he wants to repackage his wares, slap a familiar name on it for you and get you to bite. Don’t feed his cash cows.

Love your spouses and your babies and guess what? If you don’t have the coolest lesson plans or the latest fad curriculum in the world, that’s a good thing because you do have the best Teacher and His Curriculum is priceless.

This concludes my two-part sharing on Christian Homeschool marketing. If you have any questions, please email me! And stay tuned, Paul is writing a post on the subject for you as well.

photo credit: morguefile.com

Still Homeschooling the Old-Fashioned Way? You betcha...

2010-08-25T13:56:00.000-04:00

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In the last month or two, I’ve been receiving emails - at least one per week - from a well known and popular homeschool magazine. The emails are from the president of the magazine, advertising a new way to homeschool. The subject line of the email reads. “Are you still homeschooling the old-fashioned way?”

Wrong inbox to send to…

I’m Christian, I homeschool, and I so some marketing.

This one broke all my rules.

First of all, here’s a short marketing lesson: There are several kinds of marketing. One is clean, in my opinion, it doesn’t make the customer feel bad or pressured, it simply gives them a choice banking on their intelligence to choose correctly for their particular purposes. Another kind is dirty marketing, in my opinion. It plays on negative emotions and creates need in your life.

Here’s a few examples we're all familiar with:

One advertisement you’ll recognize easily is a commercial for dentists. Not all of them, but many say things like “Avoid cavities, see your dentist every three months!” This implies that you will get cavities if you don’t go to your dentist often. For some people with unusual dental issues, this is true; but for the majority of the population, this is a created need and the fear motivator is you will suffer if you don’t.

Another marketing ploy is to play on someone’s lust. They create a situation making you feel like you don’t have something and then supply the fix for a price. You see a mild version of this in commercials for bubble bath. They show a harried woman with children and laundry surrounding her. The created need is for more time to herself free from responsibility. The answer is the bubble bath to give her some time in that magic land of me, myself and I. It says you aren’t getting enough time alone and then it supplies the bubble bath to give it to you.

Another plays on self worth; you need this hair color because you are worth it. This plays on pride. So if you are worth it, you’ll use that product and the implication is everyone who doesn’t, isn’t feeding their self-worth.

Imagine my surprise when this sort of dirty marketing, arrived in my inbox from a respected Christian homeschool magazine? And about homeschool itself!

I expect Christian homeschool products to be free from worldly influence as much as possible without nitpicking. This was definitely glaring.

Before I even opened the first email so many alarms went off in my brain.

1. I must be homeschooling the old-fashioned way (whatever that is)
2. I must be tired of it
3. I’m somehow not caught up with the times or other homeschoolers because I’m “still” homeschooling the old fashioned way…whatever that is.

This created the fictional situation that I’m homeschooling badly, that I’m probably tired of it and why the heck don’t I catch up to everyone else, which plays on a person’s fear of comparison, not keeping up with the Jones’ and fear of inadequacy. Comparison is rooted in jealousy which is rooted in adultery according to scripture.

Then I opened this email to find out what the old-fashioned way actually is… not a happy moment for this 18 year homeschool advocate veteran.

And an even bigger surprise coming from a Christian homeschool magazine whose market branding supposedly is to support traditional Biblical values and Biblical homeschooling.

What the email said is old-fashioned, implying out-dated, is actually anti-biblical…big surprise there after the dirty marketing.

The advertisement is for an online homeschool designed by a Christian homeschooling family and for so many dollars a month I can homeschool the NEW way, keep up with the Jones’ and not be tired of homeschooling, oh and get results I never could get using the old way…

as if I was tired or inadequate or lacking good results in my old homeschool…

and hundreds of my fellow co-laboring parents are enjoying the NEW homeschool and having marvelous results.

I bet they are...

I wrote the president a polite note reminding her a homeschool is defined by the parents teaching their children, not some other parents teaching their children, according to the Bible. I’m not tired of homeschooling and I don’t need the new way of homeschooling which is just a thinly veiled disguise for a private school. It’s no different than the public or private schools I’m avoiding by teaching my children myself. The only thing different for this school is they don’t have to look at my children and perhaps deal with behavioral issues. The only thing different for me if I put them in this online school is I wouldn’t have to cart them around to any building except my own.

It’s a win-lose, they get my money and I get my children a private education and a much needed nap for myself which are things I gladly gave up long ago for the joy of teaching my children myself at home.

So many things that say they are Christian, aren’t. So many companies that say they are promoting traditional Christian homeschool values are being infiltrated by the desire to make more money and recently specifically geared to grabbing the homeschool dollar. Why else would a homeschooling magazine promoting homeschool buy into this false advertising and false homeschool?

It’s bizarre.

Now I’m sure there’s a place for an online school for some families. But let’s not call it homeschool or the new homeschool. Yes, it’s school at home but it’s not homeschool as defined by the Bible. Does that make it wrong, maybe not for some. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

I haven't received a return email. Let's hope it's because repentance is taking place and the emails are getting pulled. This same woman was quick to answer a friend's concerns about other questionable things a few years ago. We'll see if she's maintaining her previous or rather old-fashioned standards.

Next week I'll give my opinion on the homeschool dollar, the companies who lust after it, and what they are doing to get you to feed their cravings.

photo credits: morguefile.com

Custody Battle

2010-08-07T09:57:00.000-04:00

The pagan god Justice

I know what you’re thinking, whose kids are in the crossfire now? Even in our modern day we understand someone is fighting for control and someone is resisting. Two parents.

There’s the general topic of Satan vs. Jesus in the classic custody battle. We were the children of darkness, now we are the children of light and Satan wants us back. But this is not about that battle, well, not directly. This is about another that rages in the hearts of men, far more insidious and cruel, carrying greater consequences. This is the custody battle we have with God when we want control over someone else. It doesn’t sound pretty does it? And right about now you’re probably chuckling to yourself thinking, Aha, this isn’t about me, I never have this problem.

Hmm, said the new man to the old man nature…it’s time to kill the beast.

Have you ever noticed that God is big on boundaries? Many people don’t realize just how many boundaries he has. The greatest of these is parentage. God is parent. You step over his parentage and you’ll be wishing you could turn back the hands of Time. The problem comes when you receive consequences and don’t know why. I’m willing to bet a lot of folks get burnt who never even saw the electrical fence they busted through. The meaning of ‘lacking understanding’ becomes clear in those instances. It’s always a question of lordship in one way or another. It’s still the same lie the enemy promoted to Eve way back when.

There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t hear about some authority figure doing something wrong. This is not new; it’s all over the Bible starting with Genesis. And Ezekiel 34 practically screams off the pages these days. Plug in any political figure you can think of. So what does God say about these bad puppies? David had Saul. Saul wanted to kill him, for crying out loud. I used to think David was so brave and compassionate, so utterly righteous that he didn’t kill Saul when he had the chance. I don’t feel that way anymore. Now I think it was David’s penchant for lordship that made him cut Saul’s garment and lord it over the King of Israel. So, does this mean we are relegated to knuckling under the Saul’s in our lives? How can we lessen that sentence?

I think the answer is in David’s blunder. He took vengeance in that act. Oh, it wasn’t the vengeance due him, the old man nature cries, so it was ok to take a little vengeance, right? Hell, no… David took custody when custody belongs to the parent. Was David Saul’s parent or his king? No. Perhaps his time in flight and the caves of Israel would have been much shorter if he handed custody over to God where it belonged in the first place. It was that act of taking lordship over Saul when he cut his robe, that finally made him realize his sin, that he was stretching his hand against the Lord’s own. Nothing like waking up in vomit…

Maybe then he stopped talking bad about the king to his entourage of criminals, who had their own authority issues. Maybe then he stopped pitying himself and felt compassion for Saul, the human plagued by an evil spirit that David originally tried to heal. Maybe then he stopped thinking of all the ways he could do it better and tried to see what God wrought in his mentor for him. Maybe then he stopped relishing the thought that the man’s own ally (son) betrayed him and David chose to stop betraying God.

It was absolutely then that he finally understood the lesson. Custody belongs to God. Man, I’d like to have been privy to his prayers that night.

Don’t we love all those things about David when we’re in the throes of bitterness?! Of course we do, they justify our position. After all, David was supposed to be king, and, ugh, Saul should get out of the way! Makes you wonder if David’s later problems stemmed from all that. Not that he wasn’t a great guy, a phenomenal leader, but his mistakes teach us to avoid his errors.

Do you have an authority figure trying to kill you? Let him do it, spiritually speaking. Die to self. Give custody back to God. I’ve seen errant husbands and wicked pastors wake up quickly when Jesus visited them, once everyone else got out of the way. It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Be aware, God will keep you in that relationship or another equally irritating one until you get your spiritual ducks in a row. Find out what he’s trying to teach you. There’s nothing like an unrighteous leader to expose the weakness in your own soul. Submit to the lessons and you’ll be rewarded for a lifetime. Resist God and you’ll be complaining for the rest of your life about someone somewhere.

Is the custody battle between you and God rather than Satan and God? It means you bought the lordship lie somewhere. You aren’t alone, we all do it sometime. God will rescue you when he feels the need to do so, but if you keep trying to be him, he can’t do a thing. Here’s the way out. Give up the custody battle. Step back and let God be the parent. You’ll be happy you did and free from all the junk that goes with trying to control. Here’s to your freedom, not from the awful authority figure in your life, God will take care of that, but from the tyranny of your old man nature. Aren’t you glad that beast is dead now?

Wickedness, when you examine it, turns out to be the pursuit of some good in the wrong way. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, page 50.

photo credits: morguefile.com

It's Here! Autism Epidemic: Shaking the System

2010-08-05T21:22:00.000-04:00

Autism Epidemic: Shaking the System

by Lea Schizas & Litsa Kamatero

Cover Art by Delilah K. Stephans

Ebook
$3.99 in the US
$5.99 outside the US

Click the title to go to an ordering page.

If you don't have a Kindle (very expensive.. although recently they came out with a less expensive version) go to Amazon's Kindle page. There you can download their "Kindle for PC" for free. No cost at all. It installs on your pc, laptop, and/or netbook in seconds. There are downloads available for other apps as well. Unfortunately Kindle keeps a corner on the market by only allowing their own books on it, sigh... but the other ereader companies also have free ereaders for pc's and you can read a number of files on them. Nook is Barnes & Noble's ereader. They also have the free ereader for pc and they use universal ereader files so you can put other downloads on it and you're not limited to Barnes & Noble content. Other ereaders use universal files as well. Some others to research if you're planning to buy one, Kobo, Borders, Sony Ereader, Nook and Jetbook.

Enjoy, everyone, and thank you, Lea and Litsa for putting your time and effort into this for all of us.

From Lea Schizas:

Autism Epidemic, Shaking the system is an inspirational book with personal stories and helpful information, not only for families affected by autism but as an autism awareness platform to sensitize the general public and offer them an insight as to what autism is and its impact on families.

Table of Contents

Out of the Wild–Poem by Litsa Kamateros

Introduction

Authors’ Note

Foreword: Sarah Lalla Moyal, BSc, CCN

A Mother’s Reflection

Chapter One: Lost in Bureaucratic Red Tape

A Parent’s Ray of Hope

Brittany’s Story

Chapter Two: Guide for Parents

What is Autism?

Speculations Abound

Early Warning Signs

Understanding Autism and Its Symptoms

In the Meantime

Chapter Three: Therapies

ABA

RDI

Diet

Social Skills

TEACCH

Hybabaric Oxygen Therapy

Chelation Therapy

Packing

Medication

Occupational Therapy (OT)

Floortime Therapy

‘Miracle Cures’ Helpful Tips

Tiny Soldiers 21st Century Battle

Anderson’s Story

Chapter Four: Parental Motivational Guide

Reminders

It’s Time for School

The Isolated Sibling

Ten Signs To Look For in Autism

She’s All I’ve Got

Chapter Five: Ongoing Research & Controversies

Mitochondrial Dysfunction

Vaccinations

Biomedical Intervention

Environmental Factors

Genetics

The One – The Only One

Jackson’s Story

Chapter Six: Coping Stresses

Diagnosis: Shock, Grief, Denial

Waiting List: What Do I Do Next?

Social Stigmas

Parental Determination

Matthew’s Story

My Brother…My Soul

Lucas’s Story – A Grandparent’s Perspective

Chapter Seven: Educational Value

Questions from Parents

Spencer’s Story – A Grandparent’s Perspective

Chapter Eight: Personal Reflections from the Authors

Victor’s Story

Shaking the System Autism Oath

Medical Professionals & Government Officials Oath

There Will Come A Day

List of Resources

Have a Mary day...

2010-07-29T02:20:00.000-04:00

My middle daughter will soon be sixteen. Wasn't it yesterday she raced around the living room in her slippered sleeper? I am joyful and sad at the same time. My beautiful girl is smart, funny and compassionate. But my baby, my baby is left to my precious memories and photographs.

When she was a toddler, I strapped her into the cart at the drugstore so I could look through the birthday cards. Soon she grabbed every card on the racks, opening them up, quickly shutting them and stuffing them back into their slots, not very neatly I might add. I was mortified wondering how many cards were ruined and what was she thinking? As I went to scold her, God flashed me some understanding and I realized she was copying me. I stopped myself from berating her and simply watched in amazement. She was having a great time doing what her mom was doing, and he spared me from ruining her moment of joy.

Another time I brought the laundry upstairs and placed the neat pile on a chair in the living room. Within minutes my little cherub was shaking the folded towels, and throwing them into piles on the floor. Acting up? Deliberately undoing what Mom had done? No, not any of these things, she was copying her mother doing laundry. All she’d ever seem me do was separate the clothing. She displayed a great amount of intelligence – here was a pile of clothing and that meant time to sort it. Copying, imitating, mimicking are all so very necessary to growing up. I wonder how many times we berate our children for doing things that seem wrong, when all they are doing is trying to follow in our footsteps?

One time I found a friend of mine scrubbing my bathroom sink. I asked if my sink was really all that bad. Sheepishly he told me his mom insisted the sink be cleaned after every visit to the washroom and now as an adult, he couldn’t seem to let the habit go, even when it wasn’t necessary. It was a cruel reminder of the damage I can do as a parent. No wonder God advises us to be temperate in all things. There’s nothing wrong with a clean sink but this person was slammed to the point they relived the childhood incident continuously as an adult.

I cringe to think I almost berated my precious baby for jamming cards into store racks or messing up my laundry pile. At some point I had my wits about me long enough to realize it was my driveness trying to replicate my sin in my children and I was able to stop it with God's help. It's only by the Grace of God we can see these things because they masquerade as such worthy goals like peace in your home, or training your children to be good Christians, or godly discipline; you often see this with bible memory verses... need I say more? Little Johnny knows every verse in the book of Psalms but he flinches when it's his turn to recite and he can't keep his eyes off the floor or mom's wooden spoon.

The old man is dead and beating him into submission makes, well, a mess. Oh, the floor will be clean enough to use as a dinner plate, and you can have guests over unexpectedly and even bible studies and pass the religious cleanliness test, but the mess is still there... on the inside... in the heart. You can scrub the outside till it sparkles like the sun but the heart will out, there's a few verses about that.

There's actually a saying in Christian circles about training the heart. I didn't realize how insidious that is until tonight as I'm writing this blog post. We really have to let God give us discernment, and quit trying to do it all ourselves. Chapter and verse for training the heart? No folks, there isn't one. Guard the heart, prepare the heart to worship but even our worship is not our own, he has to help us. The best we can do is believe unto; he has to bridge the gap.

So if the dishes didn't get washed today, and you didn't train little Johnny to take out the trash on time, and you forgot to have devotions, I think it's ok. We've been delivered from the god who whips us all into shape. Jesus busted his act 2000 years ago.

If your house is falling apart, it may be a sure sign that your heart isn't - because only Mary's will spend time at the feet of Jesus, while Martha's insist that everyone DO something.

You go ahead and have a Mary day. She chose the "needful" or necessary thing, he says, because nothing else matters.

photo credits: morguefile.com

Hey everyone, it's snowing... what?!

2010-07-20T15:48:00.000-04:00

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Seems like yesterday we ended organized school work. That's a relative term for homeschoolers. We do school all the time, everything is learning related so organized school is with books, non-organized school is everything else. Non-sympathizers gasp and accuse us of pushing our children over the edge in the same breath saying we can't possibly teach them as well or enough as the government schools. Sigh, it's such a different life we live!

I was in a super store the other day and the aisles were sectioned off with large blaring signs of "Back To School!" It was July 15th. About three weeks after most schools stopped for summer. I nearly choked on my bottled water. And the panic was palpable as I counted up the weeks I have before getting it all together for high school for both my girls now. Then I realized I have SIX weeks to do this. Plenty of time. Back to school, arghh... but I had to wonder, I'm sure some parents were happy to see the signs, maybe even some children as well. And the aisles were a mess, they'd been thoroughly rifled... It's mid July, folks.

Homeschool is a very different concept in today's society. The idea of having your children with you 24/7 is distasteful to many parents because of our social conditioning, I think. Most of us are trying to get the baby away from us as soon as birth, by following well meaning advice of self comforting rules and the almighty time for yourself as a human being. I think my time to myself is with my children. Granted the occaisional hour or two to read a book or go out with my husband to a movie is nice, but days and weeks to myself, no..., that constitutes neglect. And the self comforting thing really drives me wild. If we were supposed to learn to self comfort ourselves from birth, why did God give us parents? He calls himself the God of all comfort in Corinthians, so don't we as parents, following God's nature, have an obligation to comfort our charges? That's not going to happen by banishing the children to another room or a camp or someone else's house or someone else's school. We've become long distance caretakers.

No, it's not back to school time or that most wonderful time of the year as that funny commercial suggests. That happens for some children in about six weeks but not for mine. Mine are in school all the time because they are engaged in life learning. But in September we pull out the books. My me time is spent with my children, how else will they learn to do what I do. If they aren't learning it from me, they're learning it from someone. They need me and I need them and it's ok to need people, especially those who are your own flesh and blood.

Our society is weird, I think, and warping at dark speed into a robotic orphan generation. No wonder the child crime stats are up and parents feel hassled, harried and overwhelmed. Who wouldn't with the media constantly telling us we need more time to ourselves and guess what, it's back to school time even though it's six weeks away. That's called gaslighting in some circles.

Guess what?! It's Easter! NOT... Someone's gotta tell this market driven society to cut it out. I don't want to be led around by whether or not I have enough notebooks I won't even need until next September. But the vendors are probably freaking because the market place is losing a lot of lovely spenders since homeschool is taking off like wildfire, and we're not buying all the school commercialism anymore. We're content to stay at home with our children and don't need the mega paychecks to pay for mega clothes and fancy cars and power lunches. We're letting our children grow up in a natural way, with Mom and Dad loving them and taking care of them and teaching them about life and their abc's.

I don't need Calgon to take me away because I don't want to leave. :)

photo credits: morguefile.com

Get down & funky, change is in the air!

2010-07-10T17:58:00.000-04:00

For a few months now I've been comtemplating a new blog/website. This first one started out late last December as a writing/homeschool/devotional blog. I know some of you prefer reading more about writing while others prefer reading more about the homeschool journey with God. So... what's a writer to do? Twist my arm, why don't ya! ;) By the way, Get Down, Get Funky is a country western line dance, who knew?! Little bit of trivia to brighten up your day.

photo: http://www.morguefile.com/

This post is the official blog announcement of my new blog Boston daydreaming... You will notice the name is very similar. When Paul and I chose the title for Boston dreaming..., we had in mind that God reveals things to us in our every day lives because he loves us and wants to communicate with us. Since my writing is naturally an extension of that, I wanted to keep in the same line and keep the branding united.

photo: http://www.wikipedia.com/

I love C.S. Lewis' answer when someone asked about his writing process. He said he saw a faun in his mind one day and wrote about it on paper. From that we have the Chronicles of Narnia and the world is far richer for it. If I can take dictation half as well as he did, I'll be so thrilled when I stand before the Lord.

So what does this mean? This blog will continue as is minus the writing tips which will be on the writing blog. We'd like to get some of you homeschooling pros on here for interviews sometime soon. It's human nature to be curious about others, we are social creatures at heart, so please share. Send us an email if you'd like to participate, or comment on this post. Paul and I will continue blogging here about the highs and lows and political happenings in the homeschool community. We will also continue blogging about Jesus and the myriad ways he makes himself the Hero in our lives.

photo: http://www.hslda.org/

We've added a few things that we think are kind of cool. There is a news feed with information on taglines for homeschool, including HSLDA, which, as you know, is helping that Swedish boy reunite with his parents. There's a Facebook page for updates on what's going on in the courts if you want to stay connected with that.

photo: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

The other thing we've added is a National Geographic vidio gadget at the bottom of this page. Very fun! You'll see at the top, under the Boston photo, there some new pages. The "About Us" will eventually have our contact information. Also we've added a page for my published works and a page for my editorial services. The links page is divided up into categories so you can find things easier. If there's a category you'd like to see, please let us know.

If you'd like to exchange links with us (our link on your page/yours on our page), we're happy to do that. We also have a section for the Dedham Area Homeschool Group's websites.

That's the scoop, mi amigos! Have a great week! many blessings, Karen :)
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Testing One, Two, Three, Can You Hear Me?

2010-07-07T16:42:00.000-04:00

I've heard a lot of people talk about writing voice lately and thought I'd throw my two cents in. It's not as complicated as you might think.

I lived in Kentucky for awhile when I was in my twenties, doing missionary work. One day I needed to call the operator to get a local phone number for someone named Chris. I have a Rhode Island accent, more Bostonized now that I've lived here longer than anywhere else. I told the man on the line that I needed the number for Chirs So and So, pronounced Kris. He didn't understand me. So I said it again. No recognition... Finally feeling stranded in another country, I realized it was my accent he didn't get, so I put on my Southern drawl and asked him if he could please give me the number for Kree-iss So and So. Immediately he relaxed, apologized and gave me the number. It was a great lesson in communication for me. He couldn't understand my voice, although he knew for sure that I had one.

The next time you are thinking about your writers voice, try inserting the word accent instead. What's your writing accent? If someone had to compare your work with someone else, like one of those soda tasting commercials, would they know it was you if you didn't sign your name? This is what you are aiming for. It's the way you use your grammar unconsciously, the way you describe a mountain or an ocean or a prisoner.

You can't run away from your voice, it follows you wherever you go. When editors or publishers tell you you voice is not developed, they don't mean you can't write well, what we mean is your writing needs more time to evolve from the mechanics of writing to the point where writing becomes the tool used to communicate your writing speak. Keep writing is an old mantra but it's so true. The more you write, the more your voice will spill out onto your pages. Kind of like your home. The more you decorate the more your style evolves. Some people have that Victorian look going on, others are eclectic. Some are minimalists and some aren't. One thing is for certain, none of us is exactly like another.

Can you tell a Stephen King novel from Tolkien? Most people will say yes, maily because of the genre. Can you tell King from Poe? If you studied Poe in high school, I bet you can tell the difference. That is voice. The genre, horror, is the same but the writing and description and tones are very different. You can't hide your voice but you can obscure by trying to write like someone else. Give that up quick. You are you and only you can write like you. So let the world hear your voice. If it's an abrupt voice, that's fine. If you tend to be flowery, go ahead. If you don't like your voice, do it anyway and you may find the reason you don't like it is because you've never heard anyone else similar before. That just means your voice is unique. So go for it.

Testing one, two, three, Ok, your turn to speak on paper. Go for it!

I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America

2010-07-04T19:36:00.000-04:00

The other day we were driving in Quincy near John Quincy Adam’s house. The streets were lined with American flags in anticipation of today, the 4th of July. Each lamp post had one. The wind was whipping that day and when we stopped at a red light, one of the flags plummeted to the gutter.

We were pressed for time but Paul pulled over in the dense traffic to pick it up out of the street. He didn’t lay it on the sidewalk or place it on the electrical box nearby which was perhaps the easier thing to do; he wrapped it carefully around its pole and jammed the pole in the ground so it would stand, leaning it against the box. A passerby offered to take it to the bus station but it was fine where we left it, standing. We didn’t get to our appointment on time but I can’t think of a finer reason to be late.

There were people stuck at the lights watching us and I happened to notice some were from another country. I wondered what they were thinking as they stared us but I shudder wondering what they may have thought if we’d passed it by. It was inconvenient to stop but we considered it more inconvenient not to.

When I was a child we pledged allegiance to the flag every morning before school. We hung up our coats and hats and quickly hushed while the principal turned on the PA system. We each placed our hands over our hearts and said the pledge of allegiance facing the American flag that stood next to our teacher’s desk. Not one child failed to do so. It was a social embarrassment if we didn’t, this was, after all, the land we lived in by our parent’s choice. The words sunk into our hearts, this land is blessed by God. As children we realized the flag means something, we are a nation under God, there is liberty here, and justice…our lives became larger than just our own families and we felt a responsibility to carry on in like manner.

When I was a teen I was invited to participate in the Color Guard for the town of Wakefield, RI. I considered it a great honor and practiced marching once a week at the library making sure I was available regardless of my summer plans or school activities. I carried the RI flag in parades all summer long. I wore a navy skirt with a white blouse and a navy hat and white gloves. Those of us in the Color Guard were told it wasn’t an option to drop the flag, unless, of course, we were fainting and in that case we were instructed, not to help, but, to keep the flag off the ground so that it wouldn’t get trampled. Our instructor watched over the fallen.

Of course there are some people who live here who do not understand this and will wonder why it matters, it’s just a piece of colored fabric but it’s the significance. The flag is our standard of faith for our country, our symbol of freedom. If the flag is flying we are a free nation. If the flag falls, we give our lives to save it and our country. God watches over our fallen. I cannot fathom children not learning patriotism. I suppose if I lived in a country I disagreed with, I certainly wouldn’t pledge but then I’d move. Why stay in a land you don’t agree with? No one is forced to live here because it’s America.

Today, I had an overwhelming urge to get some coffee while picking up burgers for the grill. I ran to a local Dunkin Donuts and a man yelled to me about my hat, he wanted to know if I could see anything with it on. I laughed and told him sometimes, and then he laughed. He said he hasn’t seen a hat like mine since the rice patties in Vietnam, to which I asked if he’s a Vet and he replied “Yes, ma’am.” I said, “Thank you for serving.” His jaw dropped open and easily twenty years fell away from his face as he relaxed and his blue eyes shined. He wanted to know where I’m from. He said not many people around here thank him for serving.

So let this Bostonian now say that if you’re a relative of John Quincy Adams, any of our founding fathers, or a member of our Armed Forces or a relative to one, thank you for serving. Thank you for standing up for American ideals that allow non-Americans to flourish here as well. Thank you for guarding my freedom and my children’s freedom with your lives. Thank you for teaching us by your stand that this 4th of July day is so important that you’d risk everything for it. I hear you.

Others went to the beaches and the cook-outs and lined the streets to eat their popcorn as we walked by, but this little girl was more than happy to put on her gloves and sweat in the summer sun for the opportunity to carry the standards of freedom and hope, and I still am.

To every citizen of this great country, thank you for not dropping the Flag.

Happy Birthday, America.

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation, under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.

Let Freedom Ring.

Photo credits: www.morguefile.com

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-02T20:09:00.000-04:00

This is one of my more emotional holidays, this and Memorial Day. It's a time when I reflect on the liberties we have, the meaning our forefathers tried to convey hundreds of years ago when they first came to America for religious freedom, and what I am doing to contribute to that freedom. Prayer is one of my contributions, for our nation and for the families who have sacrificed to safeguard our freedoms and our sovereignty.

Freedom of worship is the single most important social issue to me as a believer. That means I will also fight for others to worship as they choose. It just never seems to be an issue if someone wants to believe in something other than Christianity, why is that? The god of this world doesn't seem to mind worship of anything else... Thank God this world is not our home.

Two years ago the girls had a concert with the Boston Children's Chorus in a church where the congregation was encouraged to worship in the style they chose. I knew they frowned on certain denominations but it was their motto. As the children were singing a beautiful song in Hebrew, I was so inspired to raise my hands in worship. It was not a Jewish congregation, by the way. We are Christians who have learned we are Jewish but that’s another post. As a guest, I didn't want to offend, but I quickly remembered they encouraged freedom of worship. As I stood and held up my hands in silent praise to the Lord, a wave of whispering swept behind me. I had to fight the peer pressure I felt and realized how strong that can be.

I had a choice in those moments, to accept my status as an American and express my worship or cave to the surprise and perhaps chagrin of some of those around me. I chose to worship because I live on free soil. Others stood as well and it was a moving time for me personally because I fought for my freedom to worship internally and that is where it all begins.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,

and into his courts with praise:

be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

Psalm 100:4 KJV

We live in these United States; this is still a free country regardless of her many enemies within and without. If I enter a building here, I am not changing allegiance to my country or my God. Of course, I will abide by the rules of my hosts, but if those rules offend me, I don’t have to visit.

On this 4rh of July, I will be expressing my worship on the streets of Boston and thanking God for my forefathers who had the wisdom and foresight to create a country around the most important nucleus of the heart, freedom of religion. I will never forget what they have done for my family and my children will never forget either.

You are free to worship the Lord as you choose in this country. No wonder we’re such a target and no wonder we are so bountifully blessed.

God Bless You, America.

I have a special post for Sunday. Please stop in if you have a moment. Many blessings, Karen

Photo credit: morguefile.com

2010-06-29T11:38:00.000-04:00

Hey, everyone, Kylie's visiting MuseItUp Publishing's blog today. She's planning her trip to Brazil for the memorial service for her celeb missionary parents and she's chatting it up in her haste. She's promised to answer questions... please leave a comment!

Primordial Sun, the Heart of the Amazon

April 2011

Photo by: Brazil beach by morguefile.com

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T22:36:00.000-04:00

Every man is a father at some time in his life, whether it's for his own children, someone else's children or mentoring someone fortunate enough to receive his care.

Thank you for sharing your lives!

Photo credit: morguefile.com

Who do you want to hear from?

2010-06-14T11:30:00.000-04:00

Greetings, everyone!

How do you like the new banner? Elizabeth made this using Photoshop. I think it came out great, thanks, Bean! When we get the cover art in, she'll make more.

In two weeks I'm writing a character piece for my publisher's blog. The character will make an "appearance" and you can ask her/him questions in the comments section if you like at that time.

Is there any one in particular you want to hear from?

Primordial Sun, the Heart of the Amazon is a paranormal romantic mystery. Kylie Watson is a twenty-something lawyer living in Boston when her missionary parents are killed in an unexpected plane crash. Realizing she's altogether too emotionally dependent on her childhood pals, she returns by herself to the land she rejected as a teen in order to mourn. In Brazil she's caught up in a whirlwind of family secrets, church corruption and international espionage. Will she break through her self-delusion in time to prevent disaster and save lives? Does she want the truth, or something she can live with?

I'm taking votes on which character will visit the blog on June 29th. Here are your choices:

Kylie - our heroine.

Chris - Kylie's childhood guy friend who's just a little too elusive.

Matthew - Kylie's handsome new colleague who's just a little too rude most of the time.

Jose - Kylie's former high school sweet heart who's just a little too demanding that she wake up.

Please post a comment, send me an email or leave a note on Facebook for your choice by the end of the week. I'll announce who our blog visitor will be on Friday.

Thanks everyone, have a great week!

Dr. Patrick Heron, author of The Return of the Antichrist - Part Two of interview

2010-06-05T11:16:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, this is Part Two of the interview with Dr. Patrick Heron. Links for Patrick are below with his email. Please feel free to post questions here for everyone else to read as well. Patrick will stop in and answer them this weekend. Thanks for joining us! Enjoy!

ksm: It’s interesting that you mentioned in the last answer that we are being desensitized to abnormal beings by different media in preparation for the End Times. There are many books like Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series and the Harry Potter series that have made sizeable impact in bookstores and movie theaters specifically targeted to youth. Did you anticipate this and do you think they are written from fact or purely coincidental?

Patrick: It is not surprising that there are books becoming popular which provide half-truths and are designed to muddy the water and confuse people so that they cannot separate truth from error. Look at the Twilight books and movies and how successful they are with young readers. Vampire movies and TV programs portray evil as being good and good as evil and seem to be making vampirism mainstream. In the days of Noah, we are told by Enoch that they drank human blood. So it is again coming full-circle.

This is another prophecy coming to pass as we are expressly told that in the Last Days, evil will be viewed as good and good will be seen as evil. Further proof, as if we needed it, that we are indeed in the end game of this particular age.

ksm: One of our reader questions is “How should we as Christians prepare for the coming events in your research?”

Patrick: I don’t know if there is anything to prepare for. No point in packing bags. We won’t be taking our belongings and possessions with us. I guess we just wait patiently for the Lord from heaven and do our bit to fulfill our potential in the meantime. We all have our part to play so just get busy doing it. I can’t do your job and you can’t do mine. So use the talent God gave you as you will have to account for it very soon. All one needs to do is ask for a ‘door of utterance’ to speak the word to someone. Then you will find yourself chatting before you know it. It works for me all the time. And it is great to have a book you can give to someone knowing that the Word therein might cause them to become a believer. So you cast your bread upon the waters, and the Word never comes back void. Anyone can do this. Try it.

ksm: What do you want readers to take from your writing? What do you want us to understand and why?

Patrick: Long story short, you cannot give the flu to someone else unless you have it. I want folks to read this material first. Then when you see what’s about to unfold, you will share it with others because you will want to save them from the horrendous events that will pertain in the near coming Apocalypse. I believe my books make this stuff real and as a result you cannot but want to warn others about it. We can save as many as possible before the gathering together of the Church, but then there are those believers who will come to Christ during the Tribulation. I want my writings to be a legacy for those who are left behind. In my recent eBook, I point out the terrible torture and harm and death and bloodshed that will be visited on those Christians because of their faith and refusal to bow the knee to the governments in those days. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. I want to save people now while there is still time and I want to leave some hope for those who are to come after. This is the parable of the Ten Virgins. Five wise and five foolish. The Church of the Body represents the wise virgins. Those who come to God and Christ during the Tribulation are the unwise. It’s in the book.

ksm: Two questions that came in from our readers are, “What’s your take on the apostasy of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and the translation of the word ‘apostasy’”.

Patrick: Glad you asked me that. I have quite an in depth chapter on precisely this in The Return of the Antichrist. This word, apostasia, is translated “depart” in the first two Bibles translated into English. This is absolutely correct. The man of sin cannot be revealed until there is first a “departure”. This is speaking of the gathering together of the saints or what you Americans call, the Rapture. We must go before the Tribulation begins. This is why Paul told us three different times that we are ‘saved from the coming wrath.’ Jesus said the same in John 14:1-4. We are the light of the world. When the light is departed, then the darkness will emerge. We are the five wise virgins. When we enter into the marriage feast with the bridegroom, then the door is shut. But the chapter I have on this nails it big-time.

ksm: We had an email conversation a few years ago when you told me you were preparing to release an eBook, The Return of the Antichrist. At the time eBooks were considered experimental. Now, of course, there are whole companies designed around them. You are used to being a pioneer. Are you considering putting all of your books into eBook format? And if so, when will they be available?

Patrick: Well the eBook has sold quite well over the past year. About 3,000 folks downloaded it and I presume they would email it to others as well. I have no plans to put my other books out as eBooks but maybe that is something I should consider. I have had the book downloaded in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kirgizstan, Singapore, Bangkok, Jamaica, Norway, Sweden, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, several countries in Africa, Guam etc. It is amazing how the internet has helped get the Word out. But now I think I would like to publish the eBook properly as many folks have requested it. A few people, three I believe, wrote me and said they cried while reading the eBook. Some for joy and some for gladness that we will not suffer the wrath.

ksm: Do you consider yourself a full-time writer?

You: No. I run a business, too, to pay the bills although it is shrinking by the week. I am an optical cleansing technician by trade. In layman’s terms that is a window-washer! Well, I own a small window cleaning company. I have a couple of lads doing the work. But it has been a great business for me and my family and we own our house, which is a nice big one on its own land, and we have a cottage up a hill overlooking the Atlantic, on the west coast of Ireland. So God has provided for us amazingly as we returned to Dublin 25 years ago with no job, no money, no arse in my pants, a new baby and an old car that was being paid for on the ‘never, never.’ It is by the grace and mercy of God that we have prospered. For we have fallen by the way-side many times and led lives that were unworthy of being called Christian. But we have a forgiving Father and a big brother who paid for our sins. This is why I am so thankful.

ksm: Are you working on any new projects? Can you give us a short preview?

Patrick: I have recently read through the Gospels and I am extracting various verses and sections to sort of summarize them for a few folks I know who are seriously ill. I want to give them the Word to read in a shortened version that will help build their faith and perhaps help them get healed. It may also bring them to salvation as they are not yet Christians. I also need to go over my eBook and add some more material and prepare it for publishing. That’s what I am working at presently. I also did a 29 minute teaching to camera on the Return of the Antichrist which should be uploaded to YouTube by the time you receive this. So check it out and let me know what you think and forward it on to others if you feel so inclined.

ksm: Thank you, Patrick, that’s awesome. Are there related subjects you can suggest for individual study?

Patrick: There are a number of authors who write about the Nephilim. But most of them get into speculation regarding aliens in Roswell and tunnels under Colorado where the aliens are kept, or conspiracy theories regarding the government and their covert cooperation with satanic influences etc. But I am a meat and potatoes kind of person. Unless I can read something line by line in the Bible that makes perfect sense, then I am not that interested. I feel the most exciting truths are all in Scripture. And I try to keep my nose in there to see what secrets we might winkle out with the help of God. Chuck Missler is a great scholar who seems to stick to Scripture and he comes up with great studies and insights. Other than that I don’t know. There is a YouTube of me doing a talk in Nevada a couple of years back called The Return of the Nephilim. It has about 50 or so color power-point pictures and some video clips. It is pretty good and quite funny although some folks might think my jokes are a bit rude. But I’m Irish so you have to expect that. At least that’s my excuse.

ksm: LOL! How can fans find, follow and friend you?

Patrick: I spend too much time on the computer. So if I get into Facebook and Twitter, I will never see my family again. My website is quite basic and another man has kindly put up a page which is very good and has various interviews I did including the Nevada talk. Perhaps I should have a Facebook page, but I am a dinosaur on the pc and wrote my first three books longhand with pen and paper, even though we had two computers in the house. My girls still slag me about this as they were always trying to get me to use the technology. But it’s hard to put new wine into old bottles I guess!

ksm: Thanks, so much for visiting us and giving us such an in-depth look at your work. This has been an eye-opener. We appreciate your time and your research.

Patrick: Thanks a million Karen. I hope this blesses anyone who reads it.

Patrick Heron's Website

Dr. Heron's email
The Return of the Antichrist

YouTube of Dr. Heron on the Return of the Antichrist

YouTube of Dr. Heron on the Return of the Nephilim

Dr. Patrick Heron, author of The Return of the Antichrist - Part One of interview

2010-06-04T09:31:00.000-04:00

Dr. Patrick Heron was born in Dublin in 1952. When he was 24 years old, he had a "Saul on the road to Damascus" type of epiphany while reading the Bible. Thus began his Christian walk. He became interested in Bible prophecy concerning the end times around 1996.

In 1997 his first book, Apocalypse Soon, was published and became a bestseller in Ireland. It entered the Irish bestsellers list after an interview with Gareth O'Callaghan, on RTE radio, who said he "read it in one sitting and was gripped." Another book, The Apocalypse Generation, was also a success.

There has recently been amazing interest in The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse, which Patrick believes is the first book ever proving who built the pyramids and why.

Patrick has a B.Sc. and M.A. in Business Studies from Trinity College, Dublin. He also holds a degree in Theology and recently received an Honorary Doctorate in Christian Literature from the California Pacific School of Theology, Glendale, California, as a result of the research done in his book, The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse (Kensington Publishing).

Dr. Heron is the Executive Producer of a TV special entitled Apocalypse and the End Times which is a Grizzly Adams production. This has been shown all over the United States and is currently available on DVD in stores nationwide.

Patrick owns and runs his own company in Dublin, Ireland, where he lives with his family. He is not associated with any particular church or denomination.

ksm: I have the great pleasure to welcome Dr. Patrick Heron here on Boston dreaming. Patrick is making waves across the US and Europe with his work on the Nephilim and what role they will play in the near future. Patrick, thank you for visiting us today, we are delighted to have the opportunity to chat with you for a bit. It’s a blessing to have you here. Our readers are excited to learn more about you and your work.

Patrick: Thank you for inviting me, Karen. The pleasure is all mine.

ksm: Please tell me a little about your first book and subsequent works.

Patrick: For the first 20 years of being a Christian, I knew little of End Times prophecy. I was told that it was not addressed to me. Of course, this is rubbish. Read the first verse in Revelation to see who it is intended for.

“The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass and he sent and signified it by an angel unto his servant, John.” There are five different personages here; Jesus, God, servants, an angel and John. So Revelation is for his servants. If you are not one of them, then I guess it is not addressed to you. Revelation is the only book in the Bible where we are told that we are blessed if we read it and blessed if we hear it. So if you want to receive blessings from your Father, get reading and get hearing!

I got very excited when I read some books on prophecy. I wanted to make the information available to the ‘man-in-the-street’ as it were, so I wrote a short, snappy account of the prophecies and the signs that would precede them.

I managed to get on national radio in Ireland and the host said he “read the book in one sitting and was gripped”. The book went into the bestsellers after this. It was called Apocalypse Soon. A year later I wrote a longer version called The Apocalypse Generation. It did not do as well as they would not let me back on the radio. A couple of years later I started to research and write my third book entitled, The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse. Again I was not allowed on national radio here. After trying every trick in the book and knocking on many doors to try to get back on, I said to my wife; “If I was a one-legged, humped-backed transsexual drug-pushing pedophile murderer, I would have no problem getting on radio. But a Christian? No way. Too controversial.”

In 2005 I self-published this book in the States and then got invited on to Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell for a three hour interview. This is the biggest late night show in the world with about 7 million listeners and goes out from LA. The book shot to number one best-seller in the prophecy section of Amazon Books the next day and stayed there for almost two years. It sold over four thousand books in the week after that interview. It has continued to sell well and is a seminal work on the Nephilim or fallen angels, and on the mysteries of who built the Giza Pyramids and other ancient monuments around the world. A few folks have written and told me it is the best book they ever read and many non believers have come to salvation through the Word in this book. I am very proud of it and blessed that the Lord would allow me, a sinner, to write such a book.

ksm: That is quite a testimony. I have never read a book that has made such a profound change on my point of view. How did the concept for your writing come about?

Patrick: I visited many ancient sites and temples in Turkey and Greece while on holidays with my wife and three girls. I was interested in ancient buildings such as the pyramids of Giza and Mexico, the giant heads in Easter Island and the amazing temple of Ankhor Wat in Cambodia etc. I knew that these were not built by primitive humans using primitive tools. Indeed, architects and engineers today admit that, even with all the machines and technology we possess, we could not replicate the Great Pyramid. So I knew there was something else going on.

I also knew a little about the Nephilim of Genesis 6 from E.W. Bullinger’s Companion Bible. Also, I knew there was a huge appetite for information on these mysteries in the secular market (Fingerprints of the Gods sold 5.5 million copies and the author had no idea who built the pyramids). So I wanted to use the first half of The Nephilim to draw readers in talking about these ancient mysteries and who may have been behind them. Then in the second half I go into the Apocalypse and the End Times signs. Having frightened the life out of the reader with the horrific events that are to unfold, I then present the reader with the opportunity to avoid the coming wrath by gaining salvation through Jesus Christ. So many, I believe, have come to the Lord through this book. In fact, all my books are designed to lead folks to salvation. That is the whole motivation for my work. If we are not bringing people to the Lord, then what are we here for?

ksm: I want to mention that the Millenium Board is a specific forum that watches for End Times prophecies manifesting in the world. Some of these questions come from the good folks there. One of our readers wants to know how you see End Times topics affecting a Christian in his day to day walk with the Lord?

Patrick: It gets you to realize that the time is short and that very soon you will be looking Jesus in the eye and have to give an account of yourself. If you knew Jesus was coming to your house tomorrow at three for a visit, I reckon you would clean up your house, cut the grass and make the place ship-shape. The same applies to End Times studies. It gets you on-the-ball and hot for God. Besides that, it is really exciting material. The Book of Revelation still has many mysteries waiting to be unveiled. The information is chilling. It is our joy to be able to present this to folks who have ears to hear, and help save them from the wrath to come.

Also, it is pushing an open door to speak to secular people on this topic as many realize that the world is on a slippery slope. They can sense the straws in the wind from observing the news on TV and what is developing around the world. So having a knowledge of prophecy provides the answers to be able to share with those who are looking for hope. You will never be stuck for something to talk about with strangers as events in the world provide us with lots to discuss in terms of what’s coming down the tracks. Ordinary people are very scared and fearful of the future. There are no more absolutes any more. They fear for their children and how they might provide for them and if there will be any jobs and money going forward. So people are ready to listen and when you can show that all these things are written in the Word as signs of the coming Apocalypse, you have a captive audience. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.

ksm: Most people think that research is dry and dull. Did you feel this way in your initial research for this subject?

Patrick: Quite the opposite. It is rich and full and exhilarating and very few Christians are taught much about it. I think Revelation is the most exciting book in the Bible. And trying to unmask the secrets of Daniel and match these with those of the Apocalypse is a challenge which is very rewarding. We still don’t know what the mark of the beast is. And the only way we will get to understand these mysteries is if the Lord unveils them and reveals them to us. You cannot find them out by your intelligence. One must remain humble and ask and seek and knock. Then it is up to the Lord to open our eyes in His own time. It is because we are now in the Last Days that these secrets are being revealed as was prophesied in Daniel 12:8,9. Many of the topics in my books are quite novel. At least I never read them in any other book. So I am amazed that Jesus would grant me the honor to pass on this information as I am a wretch who is perhaps too fond of his Guinness! For instance, no one has ever before made the connection between the Great Pyramid of Giza and the coming city of God, the New Jerusalem. This is also prophesied in Isaiah 19:19, 20. But my book is the first ever to connect these dots and to show who built the pyramids and why.

ksm: That is extremely interesting! How has writing about the Nephilim affected you?

Patrick: Well all of the above I suppose. But something I have seen recently, and which motivated me to write my fourth book, The Return of the Antichrist, is that these guys are coming back to earth in great numbers. This has become very clear to me. One of the truths Jesus told us regarding the End Times was, ‘As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be’. Well the main thing that occurred in the days of Noah was the manifestation of the fallen angels on the earth, in the sight of man, in those bygone days. ‘As it was, so shall it be.’

The fallen angels from the time of the Flood are to be released into the earth again according to Revelation. 9. About the same time the rest of the rebel evil angels, along with Satan, will get the boot out of heaven where they still reside. You can read this in chapter 12 of Revelation. I am of the firm belief that these myriads of fallen angels will manifest on earth in the near future in full view of mankind. I even state in my eBook what two cities they will mostly infest. This information is provided in Revelation. This is why there is such proliferation of supernatural/spiritual/mystical/magical etc., movies and TV programs and books in our faces on a daily basis. The world is being conditioned and brain-washed in preparation for the manifestation of the fallen sons of God on this earth again. Look at the movies running at present in the theatres. They are mostly mystical and spiritual involving aliens, angels, extraterrestrials etc., etc. The Devil is preparing the masses for the coming invasion of these evil beings who will be led by the man John the Revelator calls, the beast who ascends out of the Abyss having seven heads and ten horns. I lay all this out in my eBook line by line. You will be amazed by the references to the USA in Revelation 17 and 18 also. It’s pretty radical material. Bottom line is; these guys are going to appear on earth in full view of the human race. The time is at hand.

This is the end of Part One. Part Two will post tomorrow morning. Please post any questions in the comment section here. Keep in mind that Patrick is on Dublin time which is five hours ahead of us on the east coast in the US. He may not get to them right away but he will check sometime this weekend. Here are some additional links:
Patrick Heron's Website

The Return of the Antichrist, by Patrick Heron

YouTube of Dr. Heron talking about The Return of the Antichrist

YouTube of Dr. Heron talking about The Return of the Nephilim

Part Two of the interview tomorrow!

Clinginess is Underrated

2010-06-01T15:00:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, Before I get to the post today, I want to let you know that this Friday Dr. Patrick Heron will visit this blog all the way from Dublin, Ireland. Dr. Heron is a friend of ours who has written several best-sellers which are the talk of the town throughout Europe and quickly spreading here in the US. His topic is end times, eschatology. Please stop in on Friday. Patrick will check the comments for questions so if you have anything you want to ask him, hop on board.

I know this topic can be quite daunting. The lines will be drawn sometime in the future and we will each be on one side or the other. Even people who don’t believe the scriptures feel the pressure building. In thinking about all of this, God reminded me of my Dad. As a small child I grabbed for my Dad’s hand whenever I walked with him. My hand was so small and his so large I could only grasp his little finger. Whenever we were in a crowd of people while camping or out and about at a carnival or in the grocery store, he held out his pinky for me and I’d hold on for dear life as the mobs whizzed by. That’s the way God is. As the future unfolds, we can grab onto God’s little finger and walk safely through with him.

This morning as I drove through Blue Hills, I feasted on the beautiful colors of the forest and enjoyed the quietness. I love to pray on that stretch of road. Sometimes it’s busy but not today. The fog wisped through the trees and birds chirped loudly, one flew right in front of me. This is not Eden, folks, yet God in his infinite wisdom and foresight has given us much on this great earth to supply our needs, oxygen, food, and water.

As I thanked him for these things I realized I’m so clingy.

I’m grateful for all He’s provided here but I want more. I’m needy. I have to talk to him and I want him to talk back. Isn’t communication systemic to relationship? It doesn’t have to be verbal, although that seems primary to us as humans at times. So I asked God to forgive me. While others are content with his provision, I’d rather have him. I reminded him I’ve always been intense and rather high maintenance. I want to know him, I don’t care what people say about him good or bad, He’s the one for me.

So I laid out the week ahead, giving it all to him. I included some repentance, which is not the same as asking forgiveness. Repentance is another post altogether. I lived without it for so long that when I finally got it I was shocked it’s not being taught on every street corner. And it’s been given a black eye by just about every church I’ve been in, no wonder people don’t talk about it much. Perhaps I’ll post on that next week. But for today I’m clingy. So I told God, yes, here I am walking on this crowded earth and I need my Daddy’s little finger to get through. The provision is nice but without him it’s meaningless to me.

I drove down the last quiet stretch where it’s still forest and some houses thinking I had to pay attention since I’d soon be surrounded by more cars, radios blaring, people jumping red lights, you know the drill. I had to change lanes ahead coming up on the intersection where city life begins to blast. My window was open just a tad so the noise wouldn’t be too annoying so early in the morning and it was a little cool out. I will admit I had the heat on, I wimp out at 63 degrees or so; pitiful, I know. I looked in the rear view noticing a few cars behind me. I checked my left side mirror, all clear. I put on my left blinker and began to ease on over.

The loud roar was more in my ear than out of it, almost like a bee had gotten in there but not a buzzing sound, just a loud roar and my ear vibrated.

Without looking, I moved back into my lane. I checked the side mirror and there was nothing. Seconds later along came a small car up on my left side. He was in my blind spot, I never saw him till he was close to my elbow. I slowed to let him pass and pulled into the left lane behind him. Then it dawned on me. It’s hard to hear a little car that doesn’t have muffler problems. It’s hard to hear through glass.

I smiled to heaven thanking God for rescuing me yet again.

I don’t know how others do it. I’m just too needy I suppose. I have to have him, I have to hear him, I have to see his little miracles throughout my day, I have to know he’s there and if I think he’s not, I drop everything and go looking for him. It’s not that I don’t believe the scriptures, I do, absolutely. I love his notes, but I love having coffee with him more. Many people read the book and that’s enough for them. Some read the book and think that’s all there is, that all the things he did back then is all he’ll ever do. That’s sad to me. Perhaps that insulates them from their fear of rejection, I’m not sure. But I do know this, I want to have breakfast lunch and dinner with my Dad and if I can fit in some more time and tea, too, all the better.

It’s ok to be clingy. I think he likes that, his little finger is always there whenever I reach up.

Photo credit: Elizabeth McGrath

2010-05-28T16:57:00.000-04:00

Again, this isn't the cover but a stand-in for now. I want to let you all know that Virginia Grenier from the Writing Mama blog interviewed me today. Here's the link:

The Writing Mama blog

Have a wonderful, safe and happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

Remembering those who have given their lives for our freedoms, now and always. Thank you.

2010-05-26T12:03:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, by now many of you have heard that my novel, Primordial Sun, the Heart of the Amazon was accepted for publication by MuseItUp Publishing. I am so thrilled! This is not the cover it will eventually have. This is the one that Elizabeth made for me when we began NaNoWriMo last November. I think she did a great job, don't you?! Way to go, Bean!

For months I've been sitting in on the Author's Group at Muse fidgeting away wanting to get in on the promo fun and now I am! I submitted to Muse under a pen name because I wanted Primordial to go through the editorial fire. Of course, after I submitted it, I found a thousand mistakes, isn't it always like that? As an editor, I know I can't edit my own work; it's next to impossible. I'm so thankful to have the editorial team working on Primordial Sun!

I want to share a little about my writing process for a moment because I know I'm not alone here. Last November I started NaNoWriMo with the intention of writing a novel and no clue where to begin. I emailed all my friends asking for prayer, it's rare that I'm clueless when writing. I was mortified. I had a few stray thoughts from a dream and decided to write them down. From there came the entire plot that kept unfolding day by day.

The beauty of NaNoWriMo is you aren't allowed to edit. I had to stuff my internal editor in the fridge, and just write. It proved to be the one thing that allowed me to write my heart out. By the time December rolled around, I had a decent story with some fun characters and a happy ending in mind if not down on paper yet. I put it away until January but got busy with other things so put it away again 'til March when I tremulously tried to edit...long story! I spruced it up and let it sit for a few weeks while I tried to come up with the ending.

By April I was restless in the Author's Group at Muse chiding myself for waiting till then to work. Now I had to coax my frost-bitten internal editor, out of the freezer with hot chocolate, of course, and beg her to fix my book. She obliged and we worked our fingers to the bone typing away on a marathon course while Paul fed the children Elio's, bless his heart.

Even with all that time immersed in the Amazon, there were still many details to research. Finally, finally it was almost ready by the end of the first week of May making me three weeks ahead of my self-imposed schedule. I took one more week to work through any more kinks, let the yeast rise, so to speak, and planned to submit on Monday, the 17th. One thing bothered me, I had no lead in to the second book but envisioned it clearly and even had a title. Monday morning a chapter came to me out of the blue, as they say, thank you God! I wrote it down, inserted it in the appropriate place and it became a decent bridge. Monday night I formatted, no small task, and submitted.

The rest of the week I sat on pins and needles waiting for the editors to look it over knowing the submission pool was full. One read it and accepted. Whew! I was elated but still quite nervous. Then another ante'd in and she accepted, too! In submissions we analyze for plot, characters, writing voice and market. I was sweating, people. I didn't think I could make it through the weekend and editors get busy, we can't always get to new subs right away. Then Friday morning I went through my email one by one instead of overviewing. I almost deleted the one from my boss by accident. Primordial Sun, the Heart of the Amazon was accepted and the contract and paperwork was attached. I put my laptop on the coffee table and burst into tears dancing around the living room. I called Paul and Erica and woke the girls up with the news. Yeah! Then I shouted across the universe!

I don't know which is better, getting it fully written or having it accepted. Two dreams came true in one week. God is wonderful!

Just before submitting I went through a terrible time of doubt. Were my characters too whiney, who cares about these people anyway and what they're doing? Did I put enough location in, was the suspense paced well, should I kill off the main character, on and on. Maybe I shouldn't submit, maybe it wasn't ready. I called Paul who said three words before he hung up. Just do it. So I told myself and all those nagging thoughts, it's a fun read, a little romance, a little mystery and some supernatural stuff to boot, if nothing else, I'd read it.

Primordial Sun, the Heart of the Amazon, book one, is releasing in April 2011 in ebook and sometime later in print. Here's the author page at Facebook so you can keep tabs on it and related happenings and also my author page at MuseItUp Publishing. A contest is underway for December I hear... but the rest, my lips are sealed until it hits the vitual bookstores, except of course for tiny teasers and character posts on the Muse blog!

If you like to write and need some fellowship or direction, send me a note. I write short stories as well and I'm always up for talking shop. I'm preparing a free download soon so check back from time to time. It will have some news about the book, some recipes and flash fiction. If there's anything you'd personally like to see, let me know.

Karen McGrath, Author page at MuseItUp Publishing

Karen McGrath, Author page on Facebook

Photo credit: Unknown, taken from a copyright free website whose url is now lost. If this belongs to you, let us know and we'll take it down immediately. Photoshop by Elizabeth McGrath. This is not the official cover for Primordial Sun, the Heart of the Amazon. That will be posted soon by the amazing cover artists at MuseItUp Publishing.

Parents of America on the Freedom Road

2010-05-20T17:51:00.000-04:00

This week I visited a blog and read about the latest trends in homeschool. Some of the items were interesting and true. As a homeschool advocate and group leader, I’ve noticed a lot more fathers doing the majority of the teaching. I admire them greatly, especially when they get involved in the homeschool group. It can’t be easy hanging around mom’s all day. We like to compare notes on baby food and YA novels; baseball and cars, not so much. Sorry guys, but, hey, we’d love to learn more about those things.

One of the trends mentioned in this article was alarming on a number of levels. It says that state laws are changing and some states are requiring homeschooling parents to have college degrees. If that doesn’t beat all, was my first reaction. That just sort of fried me. I don’t think that’s true since it’s becoming much easier to homeschool these days, even in states that have been hostile.

But true or not, the mere mention of it is enough to intimidate some families. So let me address that right now.

You do not need a college degree to educate your children. The only requirement is that you are their parent.

If your school district requires that, please contact Home School Legal Defense Association Homeschool is a right protected by the Constitution. The only thing you need to teach your children is to be their mom or dad. The government cannot tell you what to teach or how to teach. They are allowed to ascertain that you are in fact teaching them in some states, but that’s as far as it goes.

People who are not familiar with freedom will immediately say things like “Don’t you need someone watching you?” or “How will anyone know if you’re doing your job?” which really means “How will anyone know you aren’t lying?” Someone is bound to say “Sure that’s great but aren’t you ruining their future?” My personal favorite is “How will you keep up with the public school?” My children’s test scores average 3 - 5 grades above their grade level. That didn’t happen until I got them home. Someone will then ask, “Well, do you do your own testing?” implying I cheat. You can’t intelligently converse with someone who is trying to control you, it’s impossible.

Freedom is a difficult concept for some people to grasp, I’m not sure many people really know what it is because they are still operating under the delusion that they have to answer to the principal at age 30, 40, and beyond, and that you should as well.

We don’t want to believe that we can be adults, it seems. Somehow we can trust our neighbors to get a job, pay their taxes, buy a car, select a mate and feed and clothe the children, but God forbid they don’t send their kids to school, they must be up to something, be one of those radical Christians or an isolationist. That article referenced on the blog said that in the 1990’s public perception of homeschoolers was just that, conservative Christians and isolationists. I was homeschooling then. That was not public perception then. The phrasing of that language is outrageous.

The government schools don't like people homeschooling. One time my local school district told me I couldn’t promote my students to the next grade without their permission. I politely told them they were not within their legal rights and asked my lawyer to give them a call. Once they told me I had to adhere to the hours of teaching per subject they outlined for their schools. I laughed; I was in their schools and there was no way they devoted that kind of time per subject. I politely told them I wasn’t on their payroll. I believe some of them are well meaning, it’s just people sometimes think the state schools and/or it’s private sector is an educational authority and are genuinely shocked that everyone does not carry their flag.

Another time they told me my daughter had to be enrolled in their school but she could study at home. That was rather insidious as they received 7K – 10K in federal funding for her to be in their school but I never saw a dime of it as her teacher. And they could fill her physical seat with another child and receive another 7K – 10K for that child. Again, I referred them to my lawyers.

Bottom line, if the state and private schools were wonderful, we wouldn’t have an estimated 2 million children in homeschool and that figure is from 2002, eight years old at this point. Granted they can’t count us all now, we’re growing too fast.

Before I removed my child from public school, I was given an incredible amount of intimidation, disrespect and false information by bureaucrats posing as educators. It’s sad really, they didn’t want to lose their federal funding for my daughter, nor did they want to lose her test scores which collapsed their overall test percentages at that particular grade school in Boston. It’s sad they didn’t want to lose her for who she is, not the numbers and funding she represented. They should have thought about that before discussing R rated movies with 9 year olds jeopardizing their emotional well being, some states constitute that as child abuse. It’s hideous what goes on in some of those Union-ized classrooms.

If you choose to homeschool, for whatever reason, be it your faith, a desire to protect your children from negative socialization, or just because you want to, there’s a lot of free info and assistance for you; email me with 'homeschool help' in the subject line, I’ve been doing this for well over 12 years. I’ll tell you my secret, I was homeschooling my daughter while she was in public school because the curriculum they had was inadequate. I had to teach her to read. Homeschooling was a no brainer as I’d been doing it already from K – 4 as it was. My daughter is in grad school now, working full time and running a business. She was welcomed by her college with open arms and no GED with my transcripts six years ago.

By the way, colleges should not be asking homeschool children for GED’s. Homeschool transcripts are legal and binding. In fact, if a college/university asks your child to get a GED, cross them off your list; that institution is exhibiting prejudice and ignorance. Put your hard-earned money in college that really wants them.

If you need a lawyer, membership in HSLDA is around $100. per year, legal services are free to members. If you can’t afford it, help is available.

Parents of America, get out from behind the eight ball. There’s a lot of open road on this Freedom stretch. I’d love some company. morninggloryschool@hotmail.com

Photo of Erica McGrath May 2009: credit Paul McGrath

WOW! Women on Writing Fan of the Week and meet my boss, Lea Schizas

2010-05-12T11:57:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, WOW! honored me this week by making me their fan of the week. Wow! Women on Writing is a free ezine and blog that is chock full of writing advice and resources. It’s a place where writers and readers can connect. I’ve found many useful things through them and their quarterly writing contests are fun. If you have a moment please check out my bio and pics.

WOW! Women on Writing Fan of the Week; Karen McGrath

* * * *

When Lea Schizas mentioned she was looking for editors, I shot my hand up instantly. She is well known and doubly respected in Writing World as an author and mentor devoting her time and talent to helping writers. Lea's people-oriented attitude and her ethical business practices are refreshing. My colleagues are just as wonderful and our authors are superb. Please check out Lea’s interview with Rosanne Dowell.

Lea Schizas; Publisher, MuseItUp Publishing

2010-05-09T10:56:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day!

Enjoy!

Photo credits: Elizabeth McGrath

Boston Fire Department – Ladder 16 – God’s answer in time of need!

2010-05-07T21:31:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, the girls and I were running frantically. They had to catch a bus in downtown Boston to go on their New York chorus tour with the Boston Children’s Chorus. We had all morning to get last minute things done, but time slipped through our fingers like water in a seive. Instead of our planned trip to Walmart about 40 miles away, we decided to run to Walgreen’s instead since it’s down the street, saving us at least an hour and a half. God forbid we were late, they’d be left behind and I’d win the Mother of the Year Award… not!

I parked and had my list ready. Elizabeth jumped out of the back seat chattering a mile a minute and asking me four questions in a row. I reminded myself to pay attention to what I was doing but I was losing fast! I heard the beeping, really I did, but I thought that was because the door was open.

I leaned over to lock the back door and still listening to her intently, made sure my door was locked and slammed the door shut at the same time Molly locked and shut her door. Elizabeth was quizzing me waiting for an answer but I couldn’t respond realizing the car keys were in the ignition. Not just my key but Paul’s as well! Oh my gosh! It was after noon, we had to be half an hour away by 1:30. The logistics were not working here, not by a long shot.

I told Elizabeth to check the back to see if it was locked and of course, it was. My first thought, call the Fire Department. My second thought, freak out. I stood there wondering if I should go into Walgreens to use their phone and thinking how silly because I had my cell. Should I call Paul? What could he do? Even if he could get there before 1:00, his key was in the car, too!

Just then like a dream, a fire truck drove through the parking lot, in slow motion. The only thing missing was the cool music in the back ground. I didn’t even think about it, I raised my hand for help. The driver waved back and I thought, oh no, he’s going to drive away! I ran through the lot waving him down and he pulled over grinning. I blurted our dilemma and a fireman jumped out to help, while the driver pulled the truck around. God supplied our knights in shining armor. Perhaps my first thought was really God telling me the fire department was on the way, he’d met our need before we knew we had one! Within minutes they had my keys in my hand while the girls and I watched in complete awe.

The whole saving thing is quite heady. The firemen were so cool and savvy, I contemplated inviting them over for tea to meet my marriageable daughter. We got to the bus in time and the girls buzzed about it to all of their friends. We’re still glowing from the miracle of it all.

Thank you, Ladder 16, thanks for the rescue and proving to my teens that firemen are heroes. The Boston Fire Department is the best! We’ll be planning that homeschool field trip soon!

Meet the Publisher, Authors and Staff; MuseItUp Publishing Tonight

2010-05-03T12:54:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone!

This evening we are meeting at MuseItUp Publishing online for any questions you may have for anyone at Muse! I am looking forward to it, that's for sure!

Here's the skinny:

http://www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com/Year%20Round%20Schedule.html

Scroll down a post or two to find it. It has all the info you'll need. Please note, it's a good idea to do this asap and try to enter the chat room before it starts at 9:00 tonight. That way you'll work out any quirks before the event.

Hope to see you all there!

E = m(mom)c(can’t)²

2010-04-26T14:13:00.000-04:00

The theory of relativity works at our house, if it’s not relative, we don’t do it. Unfortunately this has been haunting me for the past month.

We are not very scientific oriented. I enjoy science, the Discovery channel is a household favorite. I enjoy math, too, for its logic and accuracy. But generally, we are into music, writing and other artistic endeavors. And we are stodgy in our willingness to explore outside our niches.

This week is our homeschool science fair. I’ve been reminding the girls to get their projects ready and handing off the responsibility to Paul. Paul loves science fairs. He did projects with Erica that won awards, in spite of our artistic leaning. So it came as a surprise last week when he told me we are all too stretched to do the fair. April’s had at least one planned major event a week with two or three more thrown in as unexpected challenges. Not fun, but we’ve managed on our feet. This week is holding true to this unusual form.

Due to this late change in procedure, we were stuck. One teen is insisting science is not relative to her life and I am trying to make the point it is, even if relegated to the back porch most of the time. Paul’s solution is to assign reports. I’m happy with that, no extra work for him and me, and they will do the same research.

I didn’t bring it up until we were in the car on our way to do something fun. I have to pick my moments! I briefly explained that Dad and I are up to our ears in ‘other things’ and they don’t have a project ready so we want them to write a ten page report on a science subject of their choice due the end of May. That’s fair and they have a whole month. The other homeschoolers will lose the benefit of their input but they will be off the hook this week and can help out at the fair in other ways.

There was a long silent pause. Then I almost ran a red light, their responses blew me away. One exclaimed she wanted to do her presentation, never mind the fact that she only has four days to pull it together. The other one thought for a moment and declared reports were awful so she’d do her project as well in four days. I added that Dad and I can’t help and they agreed they are fine with that.

Yes! We’re on!

Their determination is refreshing, even now they are studying on the net, taking notes and calling me over to review experiments.

Does the theory of relativity allow for the unexpected? I’m not sure but I use the scientific method frequently on non-scientific things like relationships. This time the data has come back to go with the easiest solution and be prepared to change midstream. I am thrilled to have my teens step up to the plate and take charge when they weren't so inclined to begin with. They both get A’s for amazing attitudes!

Photo credit: Erica McGrath

Announcements!

2010-04-17T15:14:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I started a job as an editor at MuseItUp Publishing. MuseItUp Publishing is an new e-publisher from Canada. It is owned and operated by Lea Schizas, famed for her online writing conference. She is an award winning author and a mentor to many writers. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with her, and my colleagues are each wonderful. Tres excellent! Please check out the website in my sidebar here.

The week after I started at MuseItUp, I received an author contract in the mail. My memoir story, An Invitation to Hope, will print in the Patchwork Path, A Christmas Stocking anthology, in October. A dream come true!

As many of you know, I’m working on several novels, non-fiction works, and short stories. I had an idea for another novel this week so I’m busy making notes, researching details, and dreaming in type again. The others are getting revised and edited and one is almost ready to submit; Primordial Sun, my NaNo novel last November. A few plot fixes and such and it will be on its way.

Does it feel good? No, it feels great! It’s sort of like giving birth. You wait forever it seems and all of a sudden, your little treasure is right there crying for attention and demanding to be fed. So enjoy the process to the birth and send me the announcement when your bundle of joy arrives!

Photo credit: Erica McGrath

Street Kid from Dorchester

2010-04-09T12:52:00.001-04:00

I’m a sucker for a purr. This is why I say no more cats in the house. I can’t take it when they die, but no one knows that. Paul and the girls just think I’m mean, and I like it that way. I don’t want them to know; it makes me too easy and I’ll lose the credibility I’ve worked so hard for through the years. So I remind them of the hundreds of dollars we spent, and countless midnight hours in the animal hospital. I pull out cat hairs from my secret collection to remind them this is why we don’t have cats anymore, too many white hairs on black pants and dander, don’t forget the dander. And the litter box, I exclaim triumphantly.

Then the street kids from Dorchester happened onto the scene… The girls’ friend found two kittens under her porch. These are miracle kittens. They survived not one, but two major week long rain storms and floods. Mom cat stayed with them until a few days ago so they are weaned. I heard bits of conversation here and there and absently stated how wonderful kittens are, foolishly letting my guard down. The girls asked if maybe we could get one of them and I said no, when we get a cat it will be from the MSPCA so we know it is sanitized. Yes, I used that word… or thought it. Sad, eh?

The girls glared at me when they thought I wasn’t looking. Paul grumbled around the house and banged a few things in passing. Something was going on and I seemed to be missing it. Finally the kettle boiled over. Paul told me about the kittens himself and claimed he sternly said no to the girls. I said I wanted ours to come from the MSPCA for germ reasons, oh, and rabies. Then he referenced the fifth piano, the nerve…and how Elizabeth was asking for a kitten and these were the second free babies to pass our way. Maybe God brought these kittens to us and we are ignoring Him. Indeed. So I stuck to my guns and refused the cute little kitten images fast-forwarding through my brain, sure I did... Even as I was shaking my head no, that small still voice in my heart was echoed by Paul’s voice word for word. “Why don’t we bring one home for a day or two and see what we think? We can bring it to the shelter ourselves if things don’t work out.”

Isn't this the most beautiful face you've ever seen?!

Here I sit now, with my arms scratched from playing kitty wrestle, a few typos in this post from getting kitty off the keyboard and holding my breath every time she leaps from the couch to the coffee table which is three times the length of her tiny body. And she meows at me in the morning because she’s mad I left her alone at night.

I know why animal lovers would rather be with their pets than people, they remind us of God. It’s the goodness of God that leads a man to repent. It’s the goodness of the pet owner that brings kitty out of hiding, but that is another post. We are trying to rescue her brother, we're even offering a reward. As you can see, no non-sanitized kittens are allowed here.

See you later, folks, I’m playing with the street kid from Dorchester now, she wants to sit and purr; I’m a goner.

Godzilla Resurrected - a note from Paul

2010-04-02T00:15:00.000-04:00

Decay and corruption can only hold power over something that is dying. That is an amazing thought to me. My entire Christian life was rocked when I heard the admonition “do not try to change the old man, he’s dead, put him off.” Yet daily my spiritual eyes grow heavy and I slip back into a comfortable dream world like being lulled to sleep by a lullaby. A place where visions of getting it all together and organized fill me with false hope and the bravado which endangers myself and others.

Or worse maybe. My head dances with the nightmare of a zombie, an animated corpse, whose desperate attempts to conduct itself as one of the living fills itself only with frustrated anger. Perhaps that is why those movies are violent, the acting out of a hidden self-loathing. Perhaps that is why we find so often in Christian circles an atmosphere of cultured and highly refined abuse. Where the individual’s worth is rejected, ever so delicately, and the group’s purity is embraced instead.

The desire for a Savior who only “instructs“ is a poison that goes down like a chocolate Easter bunny. Ears tickle with the oath “I will save the rest” but soon the whole thing sits in your belly, churning away. One more book, one more bit of new knowledge, some choice bit of info, calls out as if it could reanimate a stone heart. “Learning “ dances before our eyes enticing us with the lie that it has the breath of life to offer, but it will only leave us panting in exhaustion after the waltz.

When God enlightens the heart it is never with words void of power. The master over his creation, he gives life not with ideas or ideologies, but with words carried on the wind of his breath. That is why he said “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. ... Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ...” The true power in scripture is found in accepting the speaker, not just the spoken.

All this thought from the memory of a film clip that resurfaces from time to time in my mind. This short scene has traveled with me like a hidden message unopened until this year. A flash of a recollection that the adult in me, busy with bills and family, has time and again brushed aside. But now the seal of it was broken by some gentle breeze passing over it, or maybe by the few moments of acceptance I gave it. It wasn’t written or shot with the intention of communicating things eternal. Dear God, not at all. This is something from the world of a child, something a boy once thrilled over. Godzilla.

Not the Original black and white masterpiece with its slow and deliberate shots of the Japanese suffering from radiation sickness. Ho No, nothing so grand. It’s from the class of movies with men in rubber monster suits tramping about on a set of miniatures, dueling out. Movies complete with toy tanks and jet planes on wires and poor dubbing. They are the purely ridiculous Saturday morning creature double feature ones.

Godzilla is defeated. Two monsters completely trounce him into submission, and bury him alive beneath tons of dirt. One of the hideous beasts actually dances on his grave tamping down the earth till there is only one conclusion, Godzilla is dead. The hero of Japan is gone leaving Destruction free to roam and destroy. Time passes in the film, and with it, all hope in a childish mind … But then the earth begins to stir as if some invisible hand was reaching down to dig. A young heart skips a beat. The evil victors in their rampage pause as a grave explodes; and claws raised, Godzilla roars his challenge. His eyes levy with his foes, sand pours off his face. You know he is undefeatable now – for hell only has power over that which is dead, never over something resurrected.

I think of this clip that popped in my mind from time to time and wonder. Did an almighty God, a being of incalculable power, sit down with a young sparrow of a boy and fellowship with him watching a meaningless movie? Did he highlight an image of baptism, of redemption, and give the boy his first glimpse of the Gospel? Could it be even remotely true that God is that involved in our lives to leave a message that he has always been there?

Or is it just as the adult, intellectual, reasonable man would say, “The middle aged mind romanticizes the past” or “this is a common and misleading phenomenon produced in the psychology of a developing mind resurfacing through the trigger of stress in the adult life.”

Well …to hell with all that reasonable babble. I am tired of being lulled to sleep by a lullaby of rationality. I am tired of managing dead flesh with dead words. I want to become like a little child with my Father. I want to believe.

Tethering the Roots

2010-03-26T14:52:00.000-04:00

Lately I’ve been reminiscing. It’s dangerous really. I think things like ‘what if that had happened the way I wanted it to’ and think of things that will never be. Those things did not happen because it would disrupt the universe, it’s the only logical explanation.

I traveled to a city where I spent some time as a child. I saw the houses, walked the streets and steeped myself in nostalgia, got it out of my system. Went back to my roots…. Are my roots there? Really I think my roots are here in this life, not the one I lived in the past. I see photographs and hear stories from my old city and I remember the coziness. I walk into a room and hear the conversations just as I left them, the tones, the inflections, smell the bacon, touch the carpet. Sometimes I’d like it all back and wonder why I left in the first place. What was it that didn’t hold me there so long ago?

Those old familiar streets are walked by other children now who dream like I did years ago. Those houses have other families, someone else’s eggs in the frying pan. We must carry our roots with us. We are transient beings. Is this the lesson of the Feast of Booths? Moses led the children of Israel through the Red Sea and God commanded the feast of booths, each family dwelling in their own tent, making meals, living together. Transient dwellings for transient people. The lesson defined: Egypt, the past, is not your home, nor is the ground you pitch your tent on. Houses don’t have roots, nor do tents. Roots may be completely unbiblical, which would explain a lot.

How quickly we say someone is looking for their roots when they go home. But isn’t home where you are? If it’s not, are we all living in hotels? You may have had a home elsewhere but now your home is here. So this thing called roots might be an illusion, a guise to keep us tied to what might have been if we stayed where we were. No one can offer us the past and only one can offer us the future. Perhaps that is where my roots really are, not in my old city nor in this present one, but in eternity where it will really matter. So instead of anchoring my tent to the dirt beneath my feet, I need to anchor it to the ground above, where it has a better grab. Yes, I think that’s it, we are not trees after all and the universe is more reliable than we think.

photo credit: Erica McGrath

My Fifth Piano

2010-03-19T22:25:00.000-04:00

Townhouses are small by definition. For years I’ve wanted a piano but I could not reconcile my desire with the reality of the space we live in. One day I realized God is bigger than my townhouse. We didn’t have a few grand (pardon the pun) to toss into this strange desire for a piano that I can’t play… yet… nonetheless, my heart yearned for the lovely notes to waft through my house with the pure sound of the ivory keys.

The conversation was simple. I’d like a piano, God. Whatever kind you think is best to fit in the living room. I know you can do it. I forgot about it after that. But I did notice piano sales from time to time.
Then they started coming in. I got five of them. That’s right, five pianos.

The first one someone was giving away, an upright, and I could have it if I could move it. I asked Paul what he thought and he gave me the answer I’d given myself for so long. The house is too small for a piano. Ok, no piano.
Then the second arrived. It was well loved and on a curb. We could take it if we could move it. Again Paul gave me the sensible answer. The next one I don’t remember but the fourth one was rough. It was free and needed to be moved, of course. But the house is too small and then the clincher addition, no one can play it.

By the time the fifth one rolled around I was getting smarter asking God to open Paul’s eyes to the possibility. The piano notice went out in a church bulletin and I was enthralled. Again, Paul said no and I watched my piano dream disappear over the pews. Then no one claimed it. In a church with a lot of people who had a lot of friends with no takers on this piano after months, how can that be? I was in heaven – obviously God was holding the piano for me.

I think I snapped when Paul asked me to pray that someone would take the piano because our friend needed to move. I told Paul it was my piano and I was going to pray for me. He gave me the impossible answer and began reasoning with me and midsentence asked if I prayed for this piano. No, I prayed for a piano and God gave me five of them. He stared at me and so did the entire congregation in church that day. Don’t you love how things get quiet around you and you just don’t notice…

My husband does not embarrass easily, good thing! He loves me dearly and would give me anything I want. He didn’t realize I wanted it until I persisted. Paul’s version of this story is that he remembers one piano, he said no and was promptly ambushed by my emotional response. Aye, marital harmony!

This piano has been passed down musician to musician from our first church; a bright history. Music floats through our townhouse like summer breezes in May. We found a great piano teacher for the girls. Now that she’s graduated college, she is studying post grad at a prestigious music school – she plays beautifully. The girls love their music; they write their own lyrics and scores impressing their friends at chorus.

Daily I hear bands of music playing the most excellent notes and I am whisked away to imaginary concerts on Newport lawns and performances on the Cape in town squares. What a wonderful sound my fifth piano makes singing me a melody of my husband’s patience and God’s continual offers of love. He trumps my reason all the time.

The Answer

2010-03-10T11:05:00.000-05:00

Raising teens is hard I’ve heard. I thought that was reserved for the terrible two’s. As a ‘raiser’ of teens, it’s not especially heroic what I do each day but my girls are easy. They are kind, obedient, hard-working, just; until, of course, they have something on their list they don’t want to do. But I am like that. Aren’t we all?

The other day was one of those days for my youngest teen. She wanted to draw instead of studying her math. I wouldn’t have a problem with that if she hadn't been drawing for hours neglecting algebra completely. My girls can substitute one subject for another as long as everything is done in a day.

There I was, cracking the verbal whip, insisting she learn math and put drawing on hold. It did not go over well. Regardless, hormones or whatever, I don’t think I have to buy into the expert advice that teen years are difficult. I survived the two’s and three’s and so did they, we are professionals now, right?!

Well, my darling collapsed into tears and ran to the bathroom. After twenty minutes of listening to ever-increasing crashes of woe, I went to her aid, muttering “God give me strength”, or some such thing. Comical, I suppose in his greater scheme; what does he say when I collapse in the bathroom?!

As my foot hit the first step on the stair I heard in my heart, “You are the answer.” What was that? I am the answer? No, I said, snapping that fancy whip again, the answer is do the work, then play. I sensed the parent talk. Ok. I am the answer. The answer stood outside the bathroom door knocking and begging entrance with the enticement of a plan she would like without a clue yet what that would be... The door cracked an inch. Whew, I was IN! She was crumpled in the corner, red-faced, sobbing desperately and I wondered how I was going to fix this and did I want to? Isn’t it ok to let children cry? After all, she was not doing what she was supposed to be doing and she has to learn responsibility before she goes out into the ‘real’ world in a few short years,… the stealthy lie…

I am the answer, not the schoolwork, not the drawing, not the to-do list; me. So I hugged her. Words couldn’t have broken the sound barrier at that point, communication had to be on a different level. I relied on heart; my heart to hers, parent to child, in the depths of my spirit singing her a love song of acceptance she could feel with every beat of my heart. A hormonal storm for sure but I am the answer. I held onto her through the tempest waves until the rain let up (she stopped crying) and the sun came out once again (she smiled). “Thanks, Mom,” she gushed, “I needed that!”

Math got done, drawing got overdone and there was smooth sailing in my house for the rest of the day. Yeah!

When I am in the midst of my storms, God doesn’t crack the whip and tell me to do my math; he comforts me, chills me out, heart to heart, spirit to spirit, and helps me navigate to quiet seas again. He is the answer, his heart beat, his presence, his reality. He gives me his heart time and time again, it’s the only thing on his to-do list. The real expert is all smart.

Photo credit: Erica McGrath

Denial

2010-03-03T11:38:00.000-05:00

I walked around my house this weekend, minding my own business, doing my work, making dinner... until I stumbled into something in the living room. It stood there, large and shadowy, almost invisible. I sidestepped it and then tried to paint it different colors to fit the décor. It didn’t work. I jumped into the kitchen and stole a glance around the corner.

Finally I looked at it straight on and decided to deal with it. I had to get it out of my living room for one thing. I circled it looking for an opening or some recognizable form, wanting to challenge it. I asked God what he thought and then it came crashing back.

One year, two maybe. No three.

Three years since my niece and her baby son were martyred.

Denial is a blessing, isn’t it? It lets me continue, do my work, make dinner, function. All the while it sits in my living room covering up the beastly things.

I lift the facade and yes, terror is still there. Haven’t I dealt with it all before? When will it go away and stop claiming space in my room? I know the answer as I beg the question. It will leave when I have wrung out every last bit of the instance that is so painful, so deep and so very wounding which means maybe not in this life.

Ok, I scream, flinging off the shroud only to retch in tears for hours that become days, adding to weeks, unveiling my soul in the horror of the memories. Haven’t I forgiven it all? Haven’t I grieved every last bit? Why then is denial such a demanding visitor?

Ah, Kate. She loved animals and rude people. I chided her once for defending someone who was utterly awful and still she kept it up. Her pure heart was her downfall in this world but not in the next. There she will wear righteous robes. She witnessed evil first hand and chose to love. Today her life sings from the grave to the hearts of murderers to repent. And they hear her, somehow they hear her, death is powerless to silence her sweet lullaby.

Sing on, dear Kate, sing on.

*********************

My niece, Katherine MacDougall, was killed by her fiancé, Taylor Hurst, on March 2, 2007. She was three months pregnant. When we found out what happened, Katie was dead for several days, her body finally discovered in her apartment by the authorities after her mother made continuous pleas to them to find her.

As a family we gathered at Paul's parent’s house in Dedham and together forgave Taylor. It was the only reasonable thing we could do. Forgiveness is not to be confused with reconciliation. Forgiveness is commanded by our Heavenly Father. Reconciliation is not.

Taylor is still battling his demons. We long for the day when he will let Jesus do that for him. We also know that we will see Katie and her baby again so our sorrow is not as great as it might be for Taylor who has yet to receive salvation. Please pray for him if God puts him on your heart. Katie has only been taken from us for a short while. Taylor might be taken forever.

We do not know what a day brings, but we do know a day is coming when the Lord will make all things right. Until then, we stand in the brilliance of his gaze and offer his mercy and his redemption to those who will hear. Sometimes it's a small sacrifice and other times it's unbearable but none of it can be compared with the glory to come.

"I see you."

2010-02-24T11:14:00.000-05:00

Paul and I went to see Avatar the other night. I went kicking and screaming I have to admit. I detest the whole “capitalism kills your soul” routine. My views on capitalism are not communistic by a long shot. Although I do think capitalists must have social responsibility. In the end I was won by the lure of special effects. Ok, they were really good!

I noticed immediately that the natives all have large eyes and mild features making them seem like the good guys. And who doesn’t love a story of good versus evil even if the evil is us humans? The humans are the bad guys, inflicting pain on the harmless aliens, disrupting their lifestyles, etc. We’ve heard it all before.

The most significant thing for me was the intimacy among the natives. Jack learns to link his Avatar tail with other beings to communicate, but not with words, with his mind. That was clever, it strikes a primal chord – language has many forms as we know. And then, the greeting of intimacy, I see you.

High impact, those three monosyllabic words. I see you. It started me down a path of many thoughts. What if we saw each other the way God sees us? I know 90% of the population will cringe because they think God sees us as wicked sinners needing a savior. Yes and no. My impressions of God, since I was a very young child, have been that God sees us as his children needing a father. We’ve been orphaned on planet earth and held against our will to sin. He sent the posse, the prophets, and then sent his son to pay the jailer. Now, it’s a matter of time before we are completely redeemed after living out the rest of this earth sentence, like Jack having to live out his earthly lesser life while playing alien.

How many marriages would thrive if we simply said I see you? How many would fall apart? Some require honesty to survive and others need anonymity don’t they? How many teens long to hear those words from their parents and how many do not? Some lose their hearts to others who claim to see them while others hide all they can from those who see them and want to see them more. Children demand that we see them, no problem there, and if somehow we don’t, they wail until we do – they have it right, that yearning to be seen, to be noticed. How many a child’s heart would be quieted by those simple words, I see you. I see the drawing, I see your smile, I see your tears. Is it any wonder the small boy runs to his mother breathlessly interrupting her, risking her wrath, to exclaim, “Mom, did you SEE me?!” The little girl twirls in front of her father while he watches TV, knowing he will get annoyed, calling out to him to watch her; not to be rude, but to be seen.

The wicked say in their hearts that God is blind. The condemned say he sees and they fear. Those who answer his call rest in his forgiveness and look up to meet his gaze. God, who is always naked, says to his naked man in the garden, I see you, as he tromps around the place with his favorite couple. And isn’t that what God says to us outside the garden? I see you through those clothes you have on, covering your soul, hiding from the hand that made you, trying to fix it yourself… let me do that.

I see you, and then he adds, I want you.

Providence Strikes Again

2010-02-17T23:42:00.001-05:00

I needed the car one day last week so I got up with Paul at 5:00 am to drive him to work. We were supposed to get up by 4:00 to shovel, so we booted to the mini-van in record time.

I love driving through Blue Hills on the way. Residential Boston ends and trees surround you. The stars are brilliant as city lights fade the deeper into the forest you go. It’s deer country so I plead with them to stay off the road while I’m there. A few times I’ve seen them and eagles as well. Going through one way was easy, the return trip was a bit tricky...

After dropping Paul off at work on the other side of the Hills, the roads were still quiet. I drove slowly through the ice on the reservoir road. The salt restrictions make it slippery there. I wondered what would happen if I veered off and decided to pull back down to 20 so I didn’t find out; it would be at least another hour before anyone discovered me if I ditched. The streets were fine that were salted but then I wondered about the Hills. I hadn’t really considered it before and thought of little deer feet making crunchy salt footprints everywhere; more than likely they don’t salt for that reason.

I turned into the Hills noticing I was very much alone. By daylight that is a treasured thing, but in the frosty pre-dawn, it was a little scary. I careened down a side road and quickly looking both ways saw no on-comers so I didn’t bother stopping for the sign. I’m not sure I could have anyway, the road wasn’t safe, my traction disappeared a few times. The vehicle that came up fast behind me was a snow plow. Good, if I wrecked, he’d help. If I’d waited at the stop sign, he would have been in front of me and perhaps wouldn’t have noticed if I suddenly wasn’t there. It was wisdom to blow the stop sign, it was better with him behind me.

Quite….

We caravanned through the hills with his lights bright in my rear view. I almost turned the little knob on the mirror to lessen the glare but we were moving into civilization so I didn’t bother. I’d change lanes in a few minutes and let him pass. His headlights beamed harshly in the rear view waiting at the light because he was closer and they were forcing me to wake up more, nooooo!

The light turned green and I gunned it into the second lane ahead, certain he’d claim the first lane to pass me.

When I moved through the intersection I didn’t see any flash of light in my rearview or side mirrors nor did I hear any truck motor. I checked everywhere slowing down. He couldn’t have turned, I would have caught that in my mirrors. I stopped the van and searched the empty intersection, listening to the tiny clicks of changing signals overhead. No cars, no trucks, one van, only mine.

A truck angel, I think he was a truck angel which means the roads were a lot worse than I knew, either that or I drove through the icy hills in my sleep, dreaming about obnoxious head lights… whichever was true, it was a miracle. Way to go, God!

This Wild Valentine

2010-02-13T19:11:00.000-05:00

Why is it when we fall in love we are happy, thrilled and walking on air? When I fall in love, I can do anything, I know it, I feel it and there is nothing that stands in my way. As a friend said, it puts a spring in my step and a smile on my face.

Cleopatra risked her crown for love in spite of how politically calculated her escapades began. The kings of this world are known by their love affairs; we call them all by their first names.

Yes, love makes the world go round. Wars are waged, won and lost on romance. The greater the love affair, the greater the sacrifice. She gave up everything to join him overseas. He left his kingdom to live in exile with her. And the stories go on and on.

Why isn’t it money or fame? Anyone with either or both would trade it all for love, wouldn’t they.

Romance carries the soul into the realm of the supernatural. A place where one is treasured not for the things they bring to the table, whether beauty or dowry, but the heart. We are searching constantly to know and be known but for what? I know lots of people and I am known by many yet still my heart yearns for romance. Those who know me do not quench my thirst. This is why we have endless seminars on marriage, because the romance disappears and we want it back, don’t we? A small taste was not nearly enough and we will do anything to get it.

After many years of seeking this hidden grail, I have discovered the elixir is right before my eyes, a bit of the Divine. It’s the Divine that takes our breath away, that is too good to be true and that we are so unworthy of so that when it romances us we are at once taken, intoxicated and fearful that it will leave when it finds us to be less than who we wish ourselves to be. The most romantic words in the universe are spoken by the Divine all the time. I will never leave you nor forsake you. That is the basis of this Divine valentine, the promise of being together no matter what. It’s the echo of Jesus’ heart in the voice of my beloved that keeps me coming back again and again. I’m the one he dares enough to reveal it to, the passion that God reflects in him, untamable beneath the glossy coating of please and thank you’s.

In all of our romantic quests, we are searching for that hint of the Divine shining through another. When two become one, it is us and Him that makes us more than conquerors; that gives us that edge on life. Religion tames the Divine and dictates we must find him and conform to his ways and strive to be good enough. Romance speaks to our hearts, calling us gently to his side saying his ways are past finding out and we don’t have to be good to receive; this is the one who is ever pursuing us, not just our hearts but everything about us saying we are worth his life to him. His passion is furious.

We hide because we fear we may be consumed yet in the fire of his heart we find the truth about ourselves. He has loved us with an everlasting love. He has made us and he is providing for us. He is romancing our souls for this short time on earth and he yearns for his wedding day when water will be turned into wine at his reception. That is when our hearts will become fountains of wine, made richer, stronger, thicker as we change to eternity in the wake of our vows. He’s waiting, tapping his foot, checking his watch and smoothing his tux. Are you ready?

There's No Place Like Dad

2010-02-11T10:17:00.001-05:00

By Wednesday I am known to my children as the Wicked Witch of the West… that’s because they tire easily of the constant drone. Get out of bed… Get your school work started… Eat breakfast… Some days it’s not pretty, folks. Ah well, it’s a mother’s job and someone’s gotta do it. Never mind they may ignore me in my golden years or need therapy before 30… and I am mild, really I am!

Tonight is History Night in our homeschool group. Each child does a presentation on their current fave historical figure in costume. Fun! But last night I was no longer Mom but WWW… What’s a mother to do but call in the Principal, right? It went something like this… “I am getting nowhere quick, AGAIN. Do you think you can help them on this assignment before I confiscate electronics and threaten them with life imprisonment, AGAIN?” through clenched teeth, of course, with current read in hand ready to retreat to my room for some R & R.

Dad to the rescue, thank God.

After ten minutes there were two teen smiling faces (my husband deals in the miraculous, obviously) and he had taken their angst fueled apathy and turned their reports into the easiest thing in the world, even I was taking notes.

They are excited, thrilled, exultant even, (well almost…) to share their cool stories with their homeschool pals. They are animated and practicing, studying rigorously on the net, smiling confidently since they no longer have to spend all day today to prepare last minute…. And I get to help with outfits and play dress up, you know, the easy stuff.

Did I say my husband deals in the miraculous?

Whew. It should be a good night. I’ll have my darling Dorothy bow and ruby slippers back on by Monday. Thanks, Paul!

A Sprint in the Proverbial Park

2010-02-06T09:39:00.001-05:00

This week has gotten by me… There was much to do, of course, but I am better at eeking out reflection time than this. I ran and ran and ran and found myself so winded I had to sit for a long time. What am I doing? Why do I do it? What can I do instead? Is this really necessary?

We honed our schedule this week and are moving into greater productivity in our homeschool. But we'll burn out unless I schedule time to sit alone, quiet, thinking, not thinking, processing, knowing or unknowingly.

Then I saw the mirrors… It’s like the hall of mirrors at the amusement park. In front of you is a mirror and behind you is another and to your side it looks like a path and you stare at your reflection wondering if your eyes are playing tricks on you.

I am lost in my own personal hall of mirrors.

How do I get out? (The physical one is a walk in the park by comparison.)

I turn to God and bleakly ask for help.

In moments I’m transported above it looking down on the silly maze and see the path so clearly.

The answer isn’t in avoiding the maze but being able to duck in and out as necessary to accomplish whatever I need to and then jump out. The problem comes when I stay in mirror land and the only reflection is mine.

We all do it. It’s life. But there are secret doors in that maze, I tell you. Here’s to looking down from His heavenly view point.

True North

2010-01-30T11:21:00.000-05:00

Winter is banging my doors down. A friend emailed; Arkansas is encased in ice. Last I heard there were 130,000 people without power. Here in the US… I think we are invincible until things like this.

The wind is slamming through my street making the buildings shudder. I place my hand against the cold front door and demand the blast pass on, leave us unharmed. I pray for the homeless and hurt creatures in the woods, someone please cover them with leaves or something.

Now the temperatures have fallen. Wasn’t it the week before last that eighteen degrees was freezing? Eight degrees is in the offing now, and it will get colder the reporters say.

Suddenly I hear the words lilting in the back drop of the unsteady drum. An alto voice croons beautifully, rhythmically, “I’ll never leave you, always be with you, when you face the unknown”, as the shaking of the windows and whip of unseen force hits the doors yet again, making them reverberate in the quarter inch leeway of the jamb.

My heart melts.

How long have I been trapped in the icy depths of this life? When did I turn my gaze from the Creator to the created? I take out my spiritual compass, flicking it to find True North again. Ah, there He is, on the horizon. Warm, steady, calm; He’s sprinting now, welcoming me back to the island paradise of His Heart.

Baby, it’s cold outside.

Angels Across the Ocean

2010-01-22T13:11:00.001-05:00

Relief efforts in Haiti are intense; our nation is mobilized. It’s been many days since the first quake hit and the time is short for rescuing folks alive.

The news is heartbreaking. Twenty six fat little faces turn hopefully to the camera and I want to reach through the television and pick them all up and sing them a lullaby. They survived in an orphanage on the outskirts of Port Au Prince, now waiting for their American adoptive parents to bring them home early. Relief workers haven’t reached them yet and they are out of formula. I'm praying for them to stay chubby and smiling, at least they are unharmed. Bless the hearts of their caretakers, they are not collecting an earthly paycheck.

A friend’s husband has been called to Haiti to provide medical services, thank God and that family.

A neighbor tells us the woman I said hello to last week is on the list of the dead. She was here laughing one day and the next on a plane to her homeland, the eternal one. I remember her face so clearly; calm, confident, happy. She couldn’t have known, or perhaps she did.

It seems silly to worry about dripping faucets in my house when blood is spilling in Haiti, just down the street from us really. Wasn’t it last week I was chatting with a Facebook friend in Port Au Prince?

I have to think God is feeding the survivors and bringing them water until they are rescued. He did it for Elijah, He will do it again.

My friend's husband is with Partners in Health which I've heard is very good if you want a place to donate, also the Salvation Army. Refugees are arriving in Boston - there will be many opportunities to serve locally.

Resonant Chord

2010-01-17T14:17:00.000-05:00

I can still hear my mother weeping watching the news on television in 1968. In April it was Dr. King; eight weeks later, it was Bobby Kennedy. Gunned down men. What kind of a world did I live in? My innocence shattered with the emotional echo of a trigger held on a nation.

Years later I understood the magnitude of those moments in my childhood.

Walking through a school corridor as a young mother, my heart screamed within me as I rescued my child from a system that penalized her for thinking outside their box. The administrators thought I was insane as I did them. How could they not understand that free thought is incumbent upon following the Shepherd and not the herd?

I nabbed my darling from the bureaucrats and for one frightening moment stood in the halls listening to the other children studiously striving to achieve their own intellectual slaughter.

My heart reeled. I couldn’t save them all, but I could save one.

The principal eyed me with fury.

“Mrs. McGrath, this is the best place for your child!” She shouted.

“Martin Luther King Jr. would not have survived these walls.” I whispered to her astonished face.

She had no reply.

The death of freedom is not as immediate as a gun but it is just as horrific; seeds of indifference and resignation are sown early.

Freedom that is Bible-based and Spirit-won flourishes in my family now.

The legacy lives on.

When the Storm Comes...

2010-01-08T15:07:00.003-05:00

Today is stormy inside my heart, tears well up over silly things. That’s the clue, time to sit with the Lord for his counsel I suppose. My feet drag, I haven’t liked his answers lately. A lover’s quarrel, still I listen.

I bring all my brokenness and ask again, why? Why do I have to take inventory after the theft and be left with the empty holes that glare at me, where the pretty things were?

His voice comforts me in the sadness. The storm comes and takes with it anything that isn’t tied down. Does that mean I had to tie it down or that I didn’t tie it down? Or is it that it takes with it that which was not necessary? Some things seem so indispensable, don’t they?

He shows me the landscape charred and smoking after the fire has purged the forest. What good can come from these ashes? Yet as I step through the blackened soil, my boots catching on smoldering stumps, I know new life is just below the dying brush. The wind came through and took with it everything that wasn’t tied down, the fire raged and burned all that was left.

And deep below the surface seeds are opening that will sprout soon.

Hope in the midst of loss is always present. New life belies and lessens death. What was before will come again, changed, renewed, different. For now I survey this darkened field and mourn the loss of life and limb. Tomorrow will bring a brighter day and I will see the beginning of a new forest that has been growing secretly, readying for birth.

My tears fall on fallow field watering the future.

Pivot 2010

2010-01-04T09:24:00.000-05:00

The old year has gone out quietly if not chased out by most! General consensus holds the past year as one of grueling trials…

And now we begin anew. Hopefully the coming year will hold more good than naught!

We pivot, do we not? One moment may be bad, the next good. We wish, we dream, we hope. We fear, we scream, we mope. One moment pivots into the next. What does a moment hold? What good can come in a second?

In the twinkling of an eye the Lord will return.

Words spoken millennia ago will take shape in front of our very minds and hold eternity in its grasp, one second lost, the next everlasting.
Each moment is a pivot in time, becoming a collection of choreography making one grand ballet. A dancer takes center stage for a time and pirouettes out to another coming in, one shines bright and then fades as another lights.

Now is the time to pivot and pirouette, the finale is almost here and the party will soon begin;

may it be in 2010.

Leading a homeschool group or want to?

2009-12-30T18:36:00.005-05:00

A few months ago some homeschool blogger pals asked for advice from other group leaders. I was pleased to offer my two cents and they included it in their new and cool ebook!

If you are looking for great Bible-based information on how to lead a homeschool group, this is it folks. Kristen and Denise are veterans in their field. They write in such a refreshing manner you will love reading this. It's chock full of leadership advice.

Here's a link to purchase the ebook. You can find their blog in my list here if you'd like to visit. Tell them I sent you, it will bless them!

Enjoy!

(and if you want to start a homeschool group, email me, I'd love to help you)

One by One: Homeschool Group Leaders Guide to Motivating Members

INTERPOL, your neighborhood cop?

2009-12-29T14:32:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I heard that Executive Order 12425 was amended twelve days ago.

Executive Order 12425 was signed by President Reagan in 1983 giving INTERPOL limited access to US soil retaining sovereignty for us here. In the vernacular that means INTERPOL could not police a US citizen on our land without adhering to the Constitution and our procedures... "innocent until proven guilty" among them and "due process".

Now that it's been amended, the international police organization, INTERPOL, can operate and does already operate on our soil in a manner of their choosing without regard for our laws and Constitution. This means they have more rights over us than the FBI and have jurisdiction over the FBI, and other of our law enforcement organizations.

For homeschoolers concerned about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, this is not a good thing, not to mention all the other implications for us as Americans. We no longer retain our identity as Americans, we are no longer our own country with our own rights and our own police force.

I wonder if we'll be given handbooks about what we can and cannot do under international law in our home towns...

What say you, America?

One year closes another opens, freedom.....

2009-12-28T11:47:00.009-05:00

When I think of all the doors in my life that have opened and shut, it's quite dizzying! The best is to be true to self. Many's the time I have acquiesced only to find if I'd followed my heart, things would have been fine.

Here's to freedom. I wish you freedom to do as your heart chooses. Freedom to enjoy your dwelling place, freedom to change if you'd like. May you find freedom in thought and deed of a life lived from the inside out, not laboring to please and appease.

It is my firm belief that when we encounter the monsters in life, we also find the Hero behind them brandishing His Sword on our behalf - instead of being backed into the corner, we see we have come around the other side and working with Him have surrounded the enemy!

Carry on!