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No one told me this is what being a grown up was like…
When I was a kid I sorta assumed that grown ups had it all worked out. I knew that my Mom and Dad worked hard, but I sorta thought they knew what the heck they were doing. Huh. They were faking it the whole time. I guess now that I am a grown up I know that now. It’s not just a matter of not really knowing what to do in any given situation (turns out you make it up as you go along) it is also that I did not anticipate how streeeeeeetched I would be at all times! Stretched financially, emotionally, and physically. Money is always tight. The knowledge that I have a wife and 4 kids depending on me is always present. This is why I work my rump off every day at work, and then several times a week I work evenings to make extra jack for my family. If that was all that was going on then it would be no big deal. But we are also people of deep faith. We love God and our Church so we do all we can to assist God in his ministry. This is why Emily is on the school board now, and why I am so involved in the youth group at Holy Trinity. I LOVE the teenagers. I LOVE planning and implementing ideas and giving talks to the teens. I love being Christs hands and voice to the youth. But my goodness it takes a lot of time. It is always on my mind and a constant topic of conversation. And when I work hard on something and it falls thru….. it is heart breaking. It makes me question why I do what I do, and if I am even the right person for the job. I try every week to spread the message that God loves us and wants a relationship with us. But when that message falls on deaf ears- it is heart wrenching. So I have work, extra work, youth group……. Plus (if you didn’t know) our house was hit by that tornado on Good Friday. So we are still trying to put everything back together from that. It is just a ton of work. Now I am not trying to complain or get sympathy here… I am blessed far more than I deserve. As I said, I have 4 WONDERFUL children and a wife I would die for. We live in a comfortable home and I have a great job. But I am often surprised…. is this what being a grown up is like? I thought there would be more go karts. I thought there were more dance parties. I thought it was all freedom to do what you want when you want. Huh. Real life is different than you picture when you are 12. I love my life, I love my busyness. I love what I spend time on. But sometimes I wish I could just call a time out. Time out on work, ministry, everything. Just stop for a while and breathe.
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Where did Summer go?
Holy fast calendar Batman! It will be Fathers day in just a week and a half!??! Then 4th of July is right after that! Jeez… where is the time going?? I remember when I was a kid Summer was filled with endless days of running thru sprinklers, water gun fights, exploring, bike riding and dreaming. Laying in the sun reading books, swimming, chasing the ice cream truck and falling in love with the neighbor girl. There were no worries, no agendas, no plans. Just doing whatever I wanted, when I wanted, and loving every moment. This year, more than any ever time it seems like I have a plan, a agenda for every day. And Summer is slipping by with out me experiencing it. When did being a grown up mean missing the fun? Between work, side jobs, youth ministry, and house work it seems like I don’t have time to just sit and relax. To swim or chase the kids. Don’t get me wrong: I am doing the Daddy thing. I read to my children and play with them- but am never fully in the moment. I seem to always be thinking about what I need to do when they go to bed. Even as I write this I am thinking of all the other things I SHOULD be doing. What is the solution? How do I live in the day and not allow myself to get over scheduled? How do you take care of the grown up things with out sacrificing summer? I don’t know. But I am ready to find out. I don’t want the kids to go back to school in August and not to have experienced a real summer with them. Chasing fireflies. Dinner on the deck. Drippy Popsicles. It is still near the beginning of the Summer. Not to late to do something about it. Now I just have to figure out what.
Reprint from justwestofcrunchy.com
I read this article and LOVED IT. I wish I had written it. So I HAVE to repost. I have additional thoughts on this subject that I will share another time. In the meanwhile, enjoy!
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Thank you for menstruating. Keep it up.
by Josh on February 11, 2011
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Okay, so as a guy, I’m probably the last person that should be writing this post. But here I am, so here it goes.
I keep seeing this commercial for hormonal birth control. I’m not even sure what the product is, because I only every notice the last little bit of the ad, when my what-the-hell-o-meter kicks in as the lady says “Did you know that there’s no medical reason to have a monthly period?”
Then she explains that if you don’t mind aggressively screwing with your hormone levels, you can trade in that silly and inconvenient monthly grind for a much more convenient four periods a year.
First of all: no medical reason? What is that supposed to mean, anyway?
Yeah, there’s no medical reason for a lot of stuff. Doesn’t mean there aren’t some damn good biological reasons for things.
Hell, I could really streamline my day if I only took a crap once a month. Is there a medical reason to do it every day? Probably not. But you know what? It just seems like a good idea. Believe it or not, it isn’t the medical community that I look to when deciding which of my basic functions are necessary and which are not.
To be clear, I’m not anti-technology or anti-medicine.
What I am opposed to is screwing with our health in radical and unnecessary ways and pretending that we have any clue what the consequences are.
So you put a bunch of women into a four-periods-a-year medical trial, take notes on the consequential oddities (occasional indiscriminate bleeding was one of them) and then –POW – let’s book some TV time, buy magazine ads, send out all the gynecologist swag and we’re up and running.
Never mind if we really, really don’t understand the long-term consequences of manipulating hormone levels for the sheer convenience of it.
The human body is a beautiful, complex, elegant way to build a life form. Your body is a million times more complex and interconnected than any Ferrari. Pumping a woman’s body full of synthetic hormones for the sake of managing a natural function is about as sophisticated a solution as shoving a banana in your tailpipe to cut down on emissions.
Every action has a reaction and it freaks me out to think about the unintended consequences that come along with tinkering around with the biology that’s at the heart of fertility and womanhood.
I love the things that make women women. Please think twice before you start medicating those things away. Even the inconvenient ones.
-Josh
Happy Memorial Day!
Just a real quick message to say Happy Memorial today to everyone! If you see anyone in uniform today- be sure to thank them for their service. If you know anyone who served and lost their life- today is a good day to pray for them. If you own a flag- fly it high and proud. Then…. enjoy your bbq, enjoy your ice cold bud light, enjoy the nice weather, enjoy family, friends, and good music. Today is the start of Summer people! I don’t know about you, but I am THRILLED. Long days filled with kids running around sticky from Popsicles, scraped up knees, water fights…. Drinking margaritas on the deck with my wife after the kids go to bed, listening to Jimmy Buffett. AAAAAAAAAHHHH….. These are my favorite days!
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5 Day Weekend??!??!
Not that anyone really cares, but I am excited therefore I will share. I have discovered that I have over 120 vacation hours saved up…….. so as much as I love my job- peace out. We have not gone on vacation in a loooooong time…. and don’t really think we can afford it right now. So today and tomorrow I am off, just spending time with the family, taking kids to school etc. I will get to go to my kids end of school concerts- which is during the work day so I can finally go! It is those little things that I miss when I am gone. Then this weekend I am going to the farm to shoot guns and have fun with my brothers. Church on Sunday, Life Night Sunday night…. then off Monday for Memorial day!! However this still leaves me with a ton of vacation time. I am stumped as to what my family can do that is affordable. Ideas???
Ken
A quick thought about the possibility of a Rapture today….
Just a brief thought for the morning. A lot of people are talking about the possibility of the Rapture being today. If you go on Facebook, nearly every status is about it. The vast majority of the talk is negative and derisive. As a Catholic, I have a very deep belief in the 2nd coming. I absolutely believe in Christ and that he will come again as he promised. That being said, as a thinking person I think that the method which this date was arrived at as the day of Judgement is bunk. It is bad theology and bad math. Is today the day of Judgement? Maybe. He could be right. Then again, it could be tomorrow. Or next week. It could be next year or in ten years or in another hundred. Only the Father knows. The point is, that while this Preacher may be making a lot of noise and creating alot of attention about a date that he arbitrarily picked out- there is no reason to believe that today ISN’T the day. It can be any day and we are called to live that way. We are called to live with our hearts and minds in communion with God- to live Christ centered. Is today a good day to go to confession? YES. Not because it is the end of days… but because that is what we are called to on a daily basis. To be in full communion and grace with the Lord everyday. Rather than mocking those that believe today is the day- pray for them. Pray that if they are wrong that their faith is not shaken and that they are reminded that they were following the words of a misguided man. Not of God. That’s all for now- see you tomorrow….. maybe. 
-Ken
Planned Parenthood/ Girl Scouts linked
New Pro-Life Web Site Links Girl Scouts With Planned Parenthood
by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 5/18/11 1:20 PM
A new pro-life website set up by two teen siblings exposes the links and connections between the Girl Scouts of America and the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
Last year, the Girl Scout organization came under fire nationally when the World Association of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides hosted a no-adults-welcome panel at the United Nations where Planned Parenthood was allowed to distribute a brochure entitled “Healthy, Happy and Hot.” The brochure, aimed at young people living with HIV, contains explicit and graphic details on sex, as well as the promotion of casual sex in many forms.
In 2004, a report from a pro-life group that monitors Planned Parenthood indicated more than one-quarter of GSA troops work with the pro-abortion group. Of the 315 Girl Scout councils in the U.S. at that time, 17 councils reported having a relationship with Planned Parenthood and its affiliates, and 49 reported they do not. The other 249 refused to disclose any relationship.
After learning of these disturbing links, teen siblings Sydney and Tess Volanski decided to leave their local Girl Scout group after eight years of involvement and they have decided to launch a new web site called “SPEAK NOW: Girl Scouts” exposing the distribution of the brochures at the UN meeting and other links between the young girls’ organization and the abortion business.
Sydney told the pro-life group Concerned Women for America, “Even though they denied this involvement … we wanted to make sure that we knew what we were supporting by being a Girl Scout, so we continued to research the connection.”
“We found shortly after this ‘Healthy, Happy, Hot’ issue, that The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts also called WAAG, which is the international organization that Girl Scouts is a part of, had a post on their website demanding safe, affordable, and accessible abortions for women as young as I am, 15,” she said.
The response from the Girl Scouts has been swift and, according to the Christian Post, a representative said, “Girl Scouts does not take a position on abortion or birth control. The national umbrella organization, Girl Scouts of the USA does not have a relationship with Planned Parenthood on a national level and does not plan to have one.”
But the teens, on their web site, say the various links from individual Girl Scout groups and the UN meeting are enough to compel pro-life scouts to disassociate from the organization.
“Leaving Girl Scouts was not a casual, easy, or convenient decision,” they state on their site. “Girl Scouts was a huge part of our lives that included a bond with our best friends. We refuse to remain silent while this organization’s unscrupulous principles mislead over 2 million girls in the United States alone. We created SpeakNowGirlScouts.com in order to spread the truth to others who have no idea what GSUSA’s [Girl Scouts of the United States of America's] true intentions are. This website is our way to speak now and we hope it encourages you to do the same.”
“While we recognized the many good things about Girl Scouts, we had to ask ourselves: Will we stand for our beliefs, for the dignity of life, the sanctity of marriage, modesty, purity? Or will we remain true to Girl Scouts? We cannot see any way to truly do both,” they said. “Their CEO proudly admitted to partnering with Planned Parenthood in 2005, and the statement has never been retracted.”
In fact, Kathy Cloninger, CEO of the Girl Scouts of America, appeared on NBC’s “Today” show many years ago and said, “We partner with many organizations. We have relationships with our church communities, with YWCAs, and with Planned Parenthood organizations across the country, to bring information-based sex education programs to girls.”
The Family Research Council has praised the creation of the Volanskis’ new website and has directed young girls to take the teens’ lead and quit Girl Scouts to join American Heritage Girls, a “nonprofit dedicated to the mission of building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country,” according to the group’s website.
ACTION: Contact the Girl Scouts at http://www.girlscouts.org/help/contact_us.asp
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Tagged Catholic, girl scouts, planned parenthood, pro-life, prolife
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Hey look! A new site!
Hey all! Check it out! A new site!!!! So yeah, it is really sparse right now. I will admit it can use some work. This will be my project for the next few weeks….give me some time and I will get it up and running! Meanwhile, enjoy the nothingness and check back later!
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