Who's advice should I take?

Our family Bible reading this morning was from the Chronicles - right after Solomon died. His son, we called him "Bo," was in the process of establishing his kingdom.

A contingency from Israel who had served his father came to him and asked him to lighten their work load a bit. Bo asked his fathers advisers what he should do. They said that if you lighten their load, these people will be your grateful servants for as long as you reign.

Bo then asked his peers what he should do. They gave him the opposite advice. Make these people work harder and make their punishment even more severe.

Bo listened to his peers. The kingdom was soon divided and Bo only got to reign over a small fraction of the kingdom that his father had established.

Imagine that you are offered advice from the advisers to the "wisest man that ever lived." Lets just say that it is financial advice. Then you go out on the street, find a homeless man and ask his advice. Whose advice to you take?

Answer: You take the advice of the person that told you what you wanted to hear.

Problem: No matter what type of lifestyle you want to lead, no matter what choices you make with your time, money, resources, relationships, etc... you can always find someone to affirm your choices. A quick read through the ads in Atlanta's "Creative Loafing" confirms that you can find a support group for ANYTHING. I mean Anything.


I believe that every generation is guilty of Bo's folly. We ignore the advice of our elders and seek counsel from our peers or from people who tell us what we have already decided is right. What do we do with this baby? Do you ask your grandmother? Or do you ask your friend with the 2 month old?

Should I marry this person? You find the ONE friend that affirms you and you tune out the 20 that say no.

So what is the wise thing to do?

Somewhere else in the Bible it says that if you walk with the wise, you will become wise. The next sentence says that a companion of fools will be destroyed.

In Bo's case, he chose to be the companion of fools and his kingdom was nearly obliterated.

So, what is our challenge?

I think that our challenge is to identify the wise people in our lives. People, like Solomon's advisers, who have the "fruit on the tree" to prove their wisdom. People who care about us and do not have a "stake" in the decision.

The harder challenge is to put aside our biases and to somehow make ourselves receptive to advice that is the opposite of what we want to hear.

The even harder challenge is follow the advice of the wise, even when all of your peers are doing just the opposite.

Its been over a year

Blogging was such good therapy after the loss of our little Grace. I appreciate the few readers that came this way!

When we found out that Evelyn was pregnant again, I quit blogging for a while.

Now Abigail is almost 7 months old!

So why blog now?

I was reading back over my posts and I have forgotten so many little things that happened with our family.

This blog is for me...to help me remember. You are welcome to come along for the ride.

Here we go again

We went to the doctor yesterday and we were surprised to find out that Evelyn is 13 weeks pregnant.

We were not surprised that she was pregnant. Just that she was that far along.

For those of you that are bad at month math, that is about 3 months and it puts the due date in the middle of March.

The baby is an expert swimmer and has all its fingers and toes.

Another high-tech photo session is scheduled in 7 weeks so that we can give him/her a good look over.

At this point there were no problems apparent. Everything looks normal.

Evelyn cried.

Is this the kind of nanny that you want?

Here is story in today's news about Barak Obama's lost brother.
Barak Obama's 'lost' brother found in Kenya

George Hussein Onyango Obama, Obama's half brother, was found living in a shanty in Keyna.

Something about the brother of a very successful and wealthy senator living in abject poverty struck me as very wrong.

I am sure that there are unknown facts that would give a more balanced perspective to this story, but even so, the man's 26 year old brother is getting by on a dollar a month. He has to "take what he needs" to survive. He has been living this way for at least 10 years. That means that he was homeless and destitute at 16. A very different fate than his "American" brother.

A couple of bible verses immediately come to mind:

1 Timothy 5:8 "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."

James 1:27 "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world."

This story bothers me because it speaks of Obama's character, but it also bothers me because it speaks to his core beliefs.

As the leftist darling, he is running for the position of "nanny-in-chief." He will be expected to use the resources of the federal government to make sure that every person's need (womb to tomb) is taken care of by the state. This is a noble endeavor for sure, but what kind of nanny is Obama going to be if he will not even take care of his own brother?

If history is any indication, I think we all know who Obama is going to take care of.

More inconvenient truths

This article compares Algores house to Dubya's house.

Guess which one is the most environmentally friendly - by a HUGE margin.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp

I think that this is interesting because it highlights the fact that the leftist environmentalists have an agenda that (judging by how they live their lives) is very far removed from an actual concern for the environment.

I think that the agenda has more to do with crippling capitalism that it does about protecting the environment. For example, if you read the Green Party platform it is pretty much just a communist manifesto.

Things and people are not what they seem to be... are they?

Detox update

Day 9: No Starbucks yet, but I did have 1 medium glass if iced tea (no refills) for lunch - my reward for a week off. Feeling better all the time. I am sleeping better than I have in months.

Day 10: Nothing.

Day 11: A glass of tea for lunch. Feeling good. My pants feel loose.

Day 12 (Friday): I had a small glass of tea for breakfast. No refill. I am feeling good and sleeping good. I have spent a whole week staring at Starbucks. I go in - get a "venti" ice water...smell the coffee... and leave. I have done that every day this week. No cravings. No shakes.

Hillary is not done

Prediction:

Hillary Clinton will win the Democrat presidential nomination.

I don't know how. This is just a hunch, but she seems to be circling like a buzzard, waiting for Obama to make a mistake.

I would not be surprised if her people already have that "mistake" in the works.

I would not be surprised if Obama was suddenly too ill (or worse) to accept the nomination.

She did not give up her delegates.
She (nor her husband) have done much to support the Obama campaign.

She won a concession to have her name on the ballot at the convention.

She has asked her delegates to vote for her on the first vote - as a show of respect for all of their efforts - they want to be heard. The normal (gracious) thing to do in these circumstances is to ask your delegates to support the candidate that beat you.

I'll bet her minions are still trying to woo Obama delegates and super delegates into her camp.

She, her husband, and her daughter are all speaking at the convention. Why do the Clintons get more air time than the Obamas?

Hillary will try (is trying) to wrestle the nomination away from Obama.

That's my prediction.

What do you think?

The New Enemy

Mommy is wrestling with how to do school this year. One option involves a Friday afternoon program that focuses on American history. The teacher is always in costume. They go on camping trips in covered wagons. They learn vocabulary, writing, history, geography, etc - everything except math and science. Lots of homework, lots of public speaking, etc. It has a reputation for excellence. Everyone in the community that has done it just gushes on and on about it. I think it would challenge the boy genius. His younger brother is probably too young.

Mommy is telling the children about it. She is going over all the wonderful things that they will learn. Then she throws in, "Benjamin (a boy from their Sunday School class) is going to do it."

Andrew (8 - who would ALWAYS rather be fishing): "I don't care if every single person in Sunday School is doing it. I'm not going.

"School is the enemy!"

Jonathan (10 - a man of few words): "Ditto."

Honesty is the best policy

My five year old is so yummy. You just want to snatch him up and give him a big squeeze. He has an infectious laugh and a little dimple that is so cute when he smiles his little mischievous smile. Everything is a big adventure. And he's so kind to his little sister - a great big brother.

Matthew is full of fun and mischief, but he has his limits on what he will take.

The other day, Mommy was in the process of disciplining him and she was trying to get the order of events straight. "now when you said ..... she said... then you did this and she did that....then she said and you said... etc." You know how it goes. You are trying to get to the root problem of the conflict.

Finally Matthew was DONE with the inquisition - he had had his limit of "he said, she said, she did, he did, then what happened..." A little brain can only take so much.

"I've had enough of this foolishness," he exclaimed - and he walks off.

Mommy is sitting there in stunned silence. It took her a second to realize that the "foolishness" that he was referring to was HER inquisition.

When she finally got her wits back, she tracked him down and confronted him.

"Were you talking about what *I* was saying," she asks?

His standard defense mechanism kicks in -

"I do not want to tell you."

When he is confronted with his bad behavior, he never lies - he just pleads the 5th.

"I do not want to tell you."

No admission of guilt, no untruth to worry about covering up later. A totally clear conscience.

No wonder he sleeps so good at night.

Day 6, 7, 8

I don't know what to do with my hands.

I usually have a glass or a cup of something going.

I thought the caffeine detox was just about a chemical dependence, but I am realizing that its a whole lifestyle. The pleasure of boiling the tea bags, stirring in just the right amount of cream and sugar, lingering over the smell, or just plain carrying the coffee cup around.

It is kind of awkward to just let the coffee cup hand just dangle in mid air with nothing to do.

Day 6: Our drive home. I was nodding at the wheel. I had to let Evelyn drive part of the way. I crashed hard for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. A little irritable (Evelyn said no more than usual).

Day 7: Church day - my MUST HAVE COFFEE day. I didn't. I fell asleep in church. How embarrassing. Long nap after church. A little foggy, but mostly ok.

Day 8: (Monday) First day back to work. This should be interesting. I feel GOOD this morning. Let's see if I can figure out what to do with my hands. I hope I can stay awake all day.