Do you ever have one of those days...

when you really want to blog about it, but you know you can't because you don't really need to go airing the dirty laundry for the neighbors to see?

That's pretty much how our Sunday morning went.

So, forgive the cryptic post, but it would be totally cool to see how all this is going to fit together someday. Right now, it's just painful to watch.

May I rant about language... just a little?

I guess by definition a rant isn't "just a little" anything. Oh well.

This is purely an English teacher rant and has NOTHING to do with my school. NOTHING.

It does have everything to do with a linguistic approach to grammar, though. At my beloved alma mater, I had THE linguistics professor as my grammar teacher for both undergrad grammar and grad school grammar. I loved her.

She made grammar come alive, and yes, we covered traditional grammar and diagrammed the socks out of a gazillion sentences. I have climbed Mt. Traditional Grammar and staked a flag in its peak. But it wasn't traditional grammar that made me go "Woo Ha." It was the underlying linguist's approach to teaching language.

You see, a linguist studies language as it is and not so much as it SHOULD be. Language is dynamic... growing and changing. When it stops growing and changing, it dies, like just about everything else in this world.

Latin is fixed because it is a dead language. There are no more living native speakers of the language. That's one reason it's such a great tool for teaching -- the rules don't change.

English is another story. A year ago "LOL" was cutting edge in slang. Today if you say "LOL," you're old. A month ago you said, "haha." Today, you say "LOLs" or "LOLz." A year ago "stalking" was the term you used if you visited someone else's profile on Facebook. Today you say, "creeping." If the forefront of language (slang) has changed that much in a year, imagine what the whole language has done in 400 years.

I just finished teaching Shakespeare. We read a modern translation of Merchant of Venice because my plans got a little off and we had only two weeks to read, analyze, and test on the play. Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English. We speak Modern English. There's a gap. Are the students stupid because they can't read Early Modern English as well as they can Modern English? Not at all. Modern English is their native language. They get it.

But Shakespeare (and for that matter, the writers of our historical founding documents) was working with vocabulary and syntax that differs from what we use today. So what does that mean? Well, it means we have to do a little historical native language teaching and a little translating before we can get to the ideas they communicate.

I teach journalism. We are all about connecting with our audience. Today's writing is short. Sound bites. Sentence fragments. Conversational. It's that way because it's more accessible to more people, and believe it or not, the objective of being a journalist is to get ideas/events/news out there to the people. Getting read is a good thing.

Does that mean that thought-provoking, intellectually deep articles are a waste of time. Absolutely not. However, like everything else, there is a time and a place. Different types of writing are appropriate at different times.

It's all about connecting the message with the audience. To do that, sometimes we have to write the message in the audience's language, and other times, we have to teach a few language lessons before the audience "gets" the writer's point. And you know what? Either way, it's OK.

Dear Parents...

Dear Parents... (not MY parents, but the parents of all those teens and tweens running around this country):

Remember how from the 1970's and into the early 1990's women were sold the line that you can have it all? Career. Husband. Kids. Friends. Hobbies. Showcase home. Somewhere in there it went from can have it all to must have it all.

And then sometime in the mid-1990's as I recall, more and more of my friends started hopping off of the career ladder and into full time wife and mom status. We got burned out. We realized that we were holding many titles and delegating most of our duties, including the most sacred... taking care of our husbands and kids and homes.

We came to peace with the fact that we couldn't have it all because we couldn't do it all. Having our lives spread a mile wide and an inch deep stinked, stank, stunk.

Remember that?

OK...

We're doing the same thing to our kids. Here's an excerpt from an article we ran in the first issue of our school magazine. It describes the typical day of an average middle or high school student.

Today’s youth are under unprecedented stress due to the
intensity of their school assignments, extracurricular activities
and social lives. The typical [****] high school student wakes
up at 5:30 a.m. Those who choose to take zero hour classes and
those who participate in morning practices with the marching
band or workouts with sports teams arrive at school in time for a
7:00 a.m. start. School runs until 3:05 p.m. and athletic practices
go for a minimum of two hours, lasting usually until 5:30 p.m.
Then students head home or to work or to volunteer commitments
or to church or to other practices or lessons. After grabbing a
quick dinner on the run, they start homework, often beginning
their assignments at 10:00 p.m. or later, with hours of work to
complete before going to bed. They wrap up homework (and
Facebook) well after midnight, fall asleep for a few short hours,
and wake early the next morning to do it all over again.

I feel comfortable quoting that information because even though the student got the byline, I actually wrote that paragraph. Why ? After trying and trying to get him to elaborate on the idea of teen stress management, I finally gave up. He couldn't string together anything remotely coherent; he was too tired.

Would you care to guess just how many emails I've gotten complaining that having to study for a test or complete a routine homework assignment is interfering with the time the parents have committed their kids to attend dance class - soccer practice - piano lessons - art lessons - voice lessons - play rehearsals - hunting season - whateverelsesomeonehasfiguredtheycanchargeparentsfor? More than I care to count. Every single time I get a complaint, it is linked to how little time the kids have after school for homework because of extracurricular commitments.

I would guess that about 30% of my middle school students and about 80% of my high school students get five or fewer hours of sleep a night. These kids are 12-18 years old! If a generation of well-educated career women couldn't handle "having it all," what on earth makes us think our kids can?

Moms and dads... step up to the plate and be the grown ups. Let the kids be kids. Give them some white space on their calendars. Let them taste new things... don't let them get eaten alive by those things. What we thought were our fun activities are someone else's business. True story. Some great salesmen have convinced us that our kids have to have outside instruction on how to play and be creative and express themselves. They have brainwashed us into thinking our kids need to be doing something away from home constantly and that we need to pay experts to help them do it. They have built an industry out of parental fear and guilt.

At what price? Our kids are exhausted... burned out. We have no family time anymore. We barely know where are kids are at any given moment, much less WHO they are, deep down... where it counts. Our church youth groups are shrinking at alarming rates. Our family budgets are stretched beyond the limits and our credit cards maxed out because we pay THOUSANDS of dollars for our kids to go to "the next level" in... whatever.

Please... for the love of all that is rational... and good... stop. Be a trendsetter in the opposite direction. Reclaim your freedom. Reclaim your family. Reclaim your life.

Pink Elephant...

Recently a friend said, "Hey, check out this blog. You'll like it."

So I checked it out.

And I liked it. This chick makes me think.

I've been WAAAYYY too apathetic. I don't like the direction our country is headed in. I don't like the logical conclusion of the economic policies I see floating around. I think the stimulus plan ... ok ALL the stimulus planS ... are a HUGE mistake! I believe we are quickly creating an entire nation of people who will sit in a Superdome for days, enduring hurricanes and squalid living conditions because they do not know how to take care of themselves. I cannot fathom that the kind, most loving thing we can do is to make as many people as possible dependent on government.

I am tired of quietly trying not to offend others with my political views. You see... here's the thing: way too many of us Christians have fallen for the secular humanist worldview's line of thinking that everyone should determine Truth for him/herself. You know what? You can pick and choose YOUR truth. But nothing changes THE Truth. Or the consequences of rejecting it.

I am not a political blogger. Not in the least. But I'm hoping that the Pink Elephant Pundit will keep right on blogging. And holding me accountable. And making me think.

Can't we all just... stay at home?

It's so simple... so brilliant. Yet no one ever does it. OK... people rarely ever do it.

I'm talkin' 'bout stayin' home when you're sick. Or keeping your kids home when they're sick.

I remember sitting in the pediatrician's office one day, getting one of my children's ears checked for the dreaded acute otitis media, when she announced...

"Yep... we've got an infection."

"Is it contagious?" I asked.

"An ear infection? No," she replied. Then she added, "Of course that cold he has is. So try to limit his exposure to other kids and the elderly. And practice good hygiene... wash hands frequently, make sure he's sneezing into a tissue that he throws away immediately or teach him to sneeze into the bend in his elbow, and separate his toothbrush from his siblings'."

"When the fever's gone, can he get around other kids, then?"

"If his nose is runny and he's still sneezing and coughing, he's still contagious."

"But it says on the nursery sheet to keep him out if he has had a fever within 24 hours."

"I bet it mentions no runny noses and no coughing too. And, oh, by the way, rhinoviruses in children can go on for 2-3 weeks easily."

Gulp.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I had a doozy of a case of OCD a few years back. Left me in my house for weeks at a time for fear of germs. No shoes inside. Scrubbed down with Clorox every item that entered my house. Made my husband take a shower before he could touch the kids. It was ugly. So I can appreciate balance.

But I also know people for whom getting a cold isn't just getting a cold. My mom is older. She has asthma and diabetes. When she gets a cold, sometimes it goes away quickly. But sometimes it stays for a very long time... like the year she ended up with bronchitis that lasted more than 2 months.

And my husband works in the medical device industry where he sees pacemakers and ICD's implanted every day. A cold could be a life-threatening complication for someone with a heart condition or lung ailment or undergoing chemo or a transplant recipient. Add to that infants and the elderly and those with HIV.

Oh a little rhinovirus is generally not a problem at all. But the other opportunistic infections that spring up as a result of an overloaded immune system... they are highly problematic.

I get so frustrated with people who don't stay home when they're sick. I stood in line last winter at the Harris Teeter and the lady bagging my groceries looked horrible. Like she could collapse at any moment. Listening to the chit chat between her and the cashier I found out the lady bagging groceries had the flu. Not flu-like symptoms. The real flu. There she stood, coughing into her hands and then touching all my food as she put it in the bag. I felt bad for her... she didn't want to take off work because she didn't get paid if she didn't work and her family desperately needed the money. So instead, she stood there being Typhoid Mary for the whole city. (I didn't buy those groceries. I know. I felt ugly. But I asked her if she really had the flu and she said, "Yes," and I apologized and told her I just couldn't bring THAT home to my family from the grocery store.)

And of course, corporate America's only-the-strong-survive mentality makes taking a sick day round out the list of Seven Deadly Business Sins. And even in schools, where you'd think they'd be most interested in protecting children, they have exam exemption policies that reward students who come to school sick in order not to accrue more than the allotted number of absences they can have and still not take final exams. Speaking of schools, I can remember one time when I was running a fever of 102 and the Assistant Principal in Charge of Subs asked me when I called in sick if I thought I could come on in because he was having a hard time covering classes for all the sick teachers.

Seriously. Schools (and businesses) are like Infectious Disease Incubation Zones.

So here's my plea... stay home people! If you or your kids are sneezing and coughing and generally spraying mucus all over, just stay home. Get a box of Kleenex. Get a bottle of Purell. Get some chicken soup and some vitamin C and STAY HOME!

And if you HAVE TO be in the public mix, please take a good cold medicine to alleviate the symptoms so you don't shoot the virus all over town in aerosol form. And take along your tissues and your hand sanitizer!

Here's a good article on 12 Ways to Prevent a Cold.

Done.

I am done with blogging about this election. Done.

I'm thinking that the best use of my time at the moment would be in prayer for the election.

Won't you join me?

Economic Crisis...

This video is worth the time. It makes you think. Please watch it. Don't just rest on what you're hearing in the media. Shoot... don't even rest on what you see here. Take the challenge. Google the facts. Think for yourself. You have only one vote to cast. Cast it with passion and prayer.

(This video isn't available on YouTube anymore. Copyright issues with soundtrack songs between video producers and Warner Music... hummm... wonder if this happens to everyone...)

That's it! Go to your rooms!!!

That is the last straw. I want you both to shut up and go to your rooms until you can sit in the same space together and say something nice and mean it.

I have listened to you go back and forth saying ugly things about each other until I have a headache that might last me into the next decade.

I find it hard to fathom that you have been brought up in the same place and dwell in the same house and you can't manage to have one encouraging, cooperative thing to say to each other -- or even about each other, for that matter.

For once in your lives will you stop putting yourselves and your own agendas first and do something...anything...bigger than you are that will help other people. I can't remember the last time you did anything together, went anywhere together, without fighting.

I don't want to hear anymore of your excuses. Not one single, "But I just..." or "But he/she/they..."
Shhh! Be quiet. Don't speak. Go to your rooms!

AND IF THE BRETHREN CAN'T LEARN TO DWELL TOGETHER IN HARMONY BY MORNING, WE'RE GOING TO PUT YOU IN A ROOM TOGETHER AND LEAVE YOU THERE UNTIL YOU EITHER AGREE ON SOMETHING SELFLESS OR UNTIL YOU BEAT THE SNOT OUT OF EACH OTHER.

You choose.

But you're not going to destroy the rest of us in the process. Go on... get in your rooms... not a peep!

Democrats...
Republicans...

Shame on you!

Have you ever seen one of these?

I hadn't until I went out into Pepper's courtyard the other day.

It's a five-leaf clover. Four-leaf clovers... sure. I have a seven year old. We're all about finding four-leaf clovers. But FIVE???

You know I'm married to Mr. Biology (aka... Mr. Walkipedia... a,aka... Mr. Google... he knows stuff... lots of stuff about...lots of stuff). So the lesson we got out of this one was about genetics.

Now usually when he starts talking about the science behind anything at all, my totally non-scientific mind drifts to other topics, like cute furry bunnies and squirrels running through the yard.

But this time my mind landed in one of the "grrr" places instead. As he went on about genetics, I thought, hummm... here we are, thrilled enough about this genetic anomaly in a weed that I'm fighting back the dog and the seven year old so that they don't step on it before one of the big kids can run inside and get the camera so that I can take a picture.

I would have to file this one under extreme irony. I'm guessing that anyone, just about, would be thrilled to find a five-leaf clover in their yard. What are the odds?

And yet... I've had so many dear women in my life recently who have had to deal with doctors and genetic counselors and ultrasound technicians and amnio procedures and myriads of other specialists and therapists because something genetic or developmental didn't go according to "normal." And the sad thing to me is that almost all these women and their husbands had to fight their own battle with the medical profession not to clear the slate and start all over again. How sad for the medical profession.

But how amazing these families are... to choose life over convenience. And to share their sweet little ones with us. They're not mistakes to be trampled. They're blessings to be treasured. All for His glory.

Questions...

As I toodle through the day I realize that there are grand and not-so-grand questions that pop into my mind. Below are a few of them from this morning. If you have answers, please share. Or if you have the same questions, I'd dearly love to know I'm not alone!

1. Why are there so many dead cicadas in our yard?

2. Why can Blogger not remember my user name and password even though I click "remember me" each time I log on?

3. Why can Facebook always remember Kelsey's email and password but never mine?

4. Why has our dog been throwing up once a day for the past week since she had a tummy bug?

5. Why does our dog throw up when I'm the only adult in the house to clean it up?

6. Why do men not notice stinky smells?

7. How do males in general navigate their way through a totally trashed house and not notice it's totally trashed?

8. How is it that an adolescent male can shoot repeatedly 2" wads of paper into an 8" trashcan and never miss, but the same male can fling dirty laundry towards a 24"x24" laundry basket and never hit it?

9. Why does the soap always magically divide into two pieces whenever the youngest boy uses it?

10. How come, no matter how closely you follow the Lego directions, there's always a piece left over when you build a Lego Racer?

11. Why is it a teenager on a school trip calls only once and it's when you're in a place with no cell phone reception?

12. Why is our society all thumbs-up about "spirituality," ambivalent towards "religion," and fired-up against Jesus?

13. How is it that the same people who champion the glass-shattering role of SuperMoms can declare a tough, energetic, bright wife and mother to be unfit for public office because she's a wife and mother?

14. How can you dust an entire house in an hour and by the time you get back to where you started, there's already a light coating of dust again?

15. Why does eveyone ignore Mommy until she starts to blog, answers the phone or closes the bathroom door?

16. Why can't they make zebra-patterned croc flats?

17. Whose idea was it to put blueberries into a Krispy Kreme doughnut?! And if they weren't blueberries, what were they?

18. What makes boys think that girls want to sword fight? And where are all the other boys who could be swordfighting with them?

19. Why would a 7 year old slice a popsicle with a sword? On the carpet? In the bonus room?

20. What makes Christian school teachers who advocate family values give so much homework that, to complete it, the students have no time to spend with their families?

21. Why is the fact that there have been no further known terrorist attacks on US soil since 9/11/01 proof that we can let down our guard instead of proof that what we've been doing for the past 7 years is working?

22. How does Charlie Gibson know what the Bush Doctrine is when the guy who first introduced it says there's not a clear-cut definition?

23. Why do pictures upload to Facebook quicker from a mobile phone than a desktop computer?

24. Can is possibly get MORE humid?

25. Where is Tracey's blogspot?

OK... that's enough for now. Otherwise I'll have to add #26. (Why is blogging and Facebook inherently more interesting when you're supposed to be going to the gym to work out?)

Why I like Sarah Palin

(You're going to have to humor me on the picture. I'm not a hockey mom, but I have been a soccer mom, so I'm going with the closest thing I've got!)

I like Sarah Palin. As several of my more politically astute friends have pointed out... now I have someone to vote FOR and not just someone to vote against. Don't get me wrong, I totally respect John McCain for his service to our country. But he's done about as many things that I don't like as he has things that I do like. So where do you go with that? Please don't get me started about Barak Obama. I think the less said, the better for me on that one. Joe Biden? Remember I'm an English teacher at heart. I still can't get past the plagiarism thing.

So... hummm.... since Huckabee suspended his campaign, I haven't felt the call to bumper-sticker-up my car for any one candidate. Until now.

See... since we live in a representative Republic, our leaders are supposed to represent us. Mike could have represented me well, but John McCain went out and found someone who may even represent me better. Goodness gracious... she could have been one of my BFFs in high school.

I can't even begin to tell you how many pictures of her there are on the Internet, but I can say that I had the same haircut she did in high school and even wore some t-shirts with equally funny-but-not-if-you're-the-candidate-for-vice-president-funny sayings on them.

She has convictions about the sanctity of life. Not the kind of convenient never-happened-to-me convictions, but the kind that you follow when you get an abnormal amnio result and the theoretical "What would you do?" becomes your reality.

When she announced Bristol's pregnancy, the focus wasn't on how many voters she would win or lose, but on the heart of her daughter and her daughter's fiance.

By her own accounts and backed up by those who know her well in Alaska, she is very much in love with her husband, Todd, and looks to him as her hero.

She stands toe to toe with special interests and fights for what is right. Her constituents in Alaska love her for it. That fighting spirit appeals to my maternal instincts, for some reason.

When she took office as governor of Alaska, she led by example. Who on earth has a cook in their house to fix their meals for them... except maybe Oprah? She let the cook go. And part of her security detail. And the fact that she sold the governor's jet on eBay... rock on Sarah Palin!

You know, I won't presume to say I know exactly what path the Lord has for our country. He hasn't given me any divine revelation or special insight. But what I do know is that I am sick of partisan politics and ugly spins. And my prayer for this election hasn't been for one party or the other to win, but for Truth to shine forth and deception to be revealed. I long for a candidate to stand up and say, "This is how it is. Parts are lovely. Parts are ugly. But this is it. And this is what we're going to do."

And somehow, in my heart of hearts as I listened to her speak the day John McCain announced she was his choice for vice presidential running mate, I couldn't help but think of the phrase, "for such a time as this."

Dress Code Mom

Humility is a good thing, but learning to be humble isn't particularly fun.

For the past three years I been involved with the dress code assembly at our kids' (Christian) school. At one point, I would walk down the halls and hear girls yell, "Hey... Dress Code Mom!" It became sort of a running joke. The first year was wildly fun. The second, moderately fun. Last year, ugh...

Last year I was in charge of the whole deal. Now, I don't have a whole lot of sense, but what little sense I do have, I used to ask my sweet friend and fellow crusader-for-girls-to-make-wise-choices, Jenn, to talk about modesty. I stuck with two other tasks... producing a video of a panel of guys who gave their candid opinions of modest and immodest fashions and directing the fashion show of modest, dress-code-friendly fashion trends for the year.

Somewhere along the way I got the brilliant idea of asking the moms to stay after for a little devotional and discussion of the dress code. In my dreams, I'd seen it as a giant encouragement session where moms would share and hug and agree to treasure their little princesses all the days of their lives. In reality... not so much. But more on that later.

The video rocked. Props to my bud, Jason. If you are one of the micro-numbers of people I've not bugged to watch it yet, you can see it by clicking here. (And if you are one of the mega-numbers of people I've asked to watch it, but you've blown me off each time: 1) Shame on you; and 2) The link will work for you too.)

The fashion show was amazing. The girls wore their own clothes, but they dressed in a variety of super-cute, super-fashionable, modest outfits. I wrote the script. And there's where the ugliness started.

When I first started to prepare for the fashion show, I had a question about one point in the dress code. In the school handbook, it says that girls may wear capri pants that are at least mid-calf in length. Mid-calf, huh? Wonder what they consider mid-calf, I pondered. Better safe than sorry, I thought, so I had Kelsey put on a pair of capris that were borderline. I snapped a digital photo and emailed it to the principal in charge of dress code for girls. She said "NOT dress code. NOT mid-calf." Okee Dokee.

We worked it into the script and one model had a pair of capris that were cuffed. With the cuffs turned up, the pants were out of dress code. Turned down, they were fine. That's what the script said.

Once the fashion show was over, Jenn spoke about choosing to be royalty as opposed of opting for being "common." After all, we are daughters of the King. She rocked. Always does.

Then the middle and high school girls headed out for the last of their opening day assemblies and we stayed in the Fine Arts Center with the moms. Remember, I thought it was going to be a love fest. With that in mind, I thought the best thing to do would be have a little devotional to encourage the moms with God's Word. Sadly, the dress code principal had to leave to attend another meeting, so when question time came around.... Whoa! That was intense. I had NO idea capri length was so controversial.

I was floored by the sense of entitlement I was hearing. The outright questioning of authority. The lack of submission to the rules of the school that existed before any of the families applied to attend the school.

And then I was humbled. I heard my own voice saying almost exactly the same things that the other moms were saying. Only instead of it being my actual voice in the moment, it was an echo of my voice from the past, when I sat across the desk from a principal, explaining how ridiculous the dress code was at our previous school. Right there in that moment, I repented in my heart for my lack of respect for the leaders of our last school.

Thankfully, Jenn was there to bail me out. She jumped in and pointed out what an excellent reputation the school has and how many people who want to be there can't go there, for whatever reason. I am so grateful the Lord put Jenn there at that moment to be the voice of reason, reminding us of the privilege of Christian education and our duty as believers to submit to authority. It was way cool.

I have since learned that the way to change something is through prayer. Without fail, either the Lord intervenes and changes the situation or...even greater... He graciously changes my heart. He is so good.

So... Dress Code Mom is now officially retired from her former duties. Tomorrow morning I will step into a school classroom for the first time in 14 years to teach students how to write about the world from a Christian world view.

Emily P will speak about modesty to the mothers and daughters. Pray for her.

And pray for me too. I am so very excited about the new adventure and eager to see what awesome things... beyond all I can ask or imagine... the Lord is going to do.

Getting political again...

(OK... this is about cows and this is a picture of herd of buffalo/bison/whatever. I didn't have a cow picture on my computer. Use your imagination! BTW... my dad sent me this picture too!)

My dad sent this little analysis of American politics to me in an email. It is just too true not to share...

DEMOCRAT

You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.

You feel guilty for being successful.

You push for higher taxes so the government can provide cows for everyone.

REPUBLICAN

You have two cows.

Your neighbor has none.

So?

SOCIALIST

You have two cows.

The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.

You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

COMMUNIST

You have two cows.

The government seizes both and provides you with milk.

You wait in line for hours to get it.

It is expensive and sour.

CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE

You have two cows.

You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE

You have two cows.

Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the milk down the drain.

AMERICAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.

You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows.

You are surprised when one cow drops dead.

You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses.

Your stock goes up.

It just ain't right...

We went to Lyon's Farm yesterday with Zack's kindergarten class. Gramma gave us some money and asked us to do four things: 1) Buy some strawberries for her to freeze; 2) Buy some peas, if they were in yet; 3) Find out what kind of green beans they'd planted; and 4) Find out where they're going to have their veggie stand in the city limits this year... still @ Asbury Methodist?

1) Got 22 lbs of strawberries (which Gramma froze into 16 quarts).
2) They didn't have peas ready yet.
3) The lady at the cash register didn't know what kind of beans were planted, but she did know they weren't white half-runners, so it didn't really matter.
4) There will be no farm fresh local produce stands in the city limits this summer.

I had a little conversation with Mr. Lyon about the produce stand. Seems that the same world-class city council that brought residents the joys of banned garbage disposals has also made it so that local farmers cannot set up roadside produce stands this year.

I had to stop and ponder that. Hummm... Fresh fruits and veggies are much healthier for my family to eat. Check. Gas costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.60 per gallon. Check. We have an issue with ozone/ air pollution in the summer, so we're supposed to drive as little as possible. Check. Buying locally grown produce is not only healthier for my family, but it's healthier for our local economy and our environment. Check.

Our city won't issue permits to local produce vendors, so I'm either going to have to buy non-locally-grown produce at the grocery store or drive to the other side of town to go to the farmer's market or haul everyone into the next county to Lyon's Farm. Either way it's a 15-20 mile drive and instead of having one truck come to town, you have scores of cars driving all over the place. Consumers pay even MORE in gas and food costs. Local farmers get even less for their crops.

Yep... that's about typical for our brilliant city council. Problem is... it just ain't right.

What people don't get about the "Religious Right"...

I liked Mike. I still do. I wish he hadn't suspended his campaign.

A week from Tuesday is Primary Day, here in sunny NC, so I'm thinking politics. I've decided I'm going to vote for Mike, even though he's not technically running the presidential race anymore.

Don't get me wrong... I WILL vote for John McCain in the general election. I think he's a hero... a true leader. I like the way he follows his values and doesn't fit neatly into anyone's pocket. But in the NC primary, I'm going to darken a bubble for Mike Huckabee.

Mike represents me. He holds sacred the things I hold sacred... God, life, freedom, family, compassion... I even like his national sales tax idea. It makes total sense to me. Everyone gets taxed. People who are legal residents of this nation and below a certain income level get tax relief. I'm good with that. People who are illegally in our beautiful country either pay up or go home. Goodness... why doesn't everyone else see the perfect simplicity of this plan?

Anyway... here's a little bit about where I'm coming from. I understand that I'm in the demographic that will determine this election. I am a woman. I am a mom. I am married. I am in my 40's. Currently, I am a homemaker and blogger, but I have my real estate license and a teaching degree and have worked for pay in both fields and plan to return to working for pay in both fields when the time is right. It'll likely be sooner than later because our family is feeling the pain of rising gas and food prices.

I have a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree. I attend church weekly and serve in both student ministry and women's ministry leadership. I drive a gas-guzzling Suburban because it was the only vehicle on the market that would hold all the kids in our carpool to... you guessed it, Christian school. I would love to buy a hybrid, but can't afford one because: 1) They are outrageously expensive; 2) We pay a huge portion of our income in taxes every month; and 3) We pay mondo-gigantico tuition at a Christian school, which is NOT tax deductible. I will have a hybrid... someday!

I'm part of the so-called "Religious Right" in that I am conservative because my core values come directly from the Bible. I actually believe that The Book is true. All of it. Literally. Six days of Creation. Virgin birth. Crucifixion and bodily resurrection. The whole thing.

I come from NC Democrat stock. Jesse-crats. My Grandma Baker registered to vote as a Democrat and voted a straight ticket until the day she died, one month shy of her 103rd birthday. Although I was only 16 when Reagan ran for his first term, I was terrified when he got elected. Everyone was saying he was going to get us into World War 3. So, when I turned 18, I registered to vote as a Democrat.

I went to college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The one Jesse said to build a fence around and call it the NC Zoo. Bastion of liberalism. My history TA told us that the US was the aggressor and had bullied all the nations of the world into submission. That's how we became the #1 World Power. I thought he was a snotty TA. He seemed to hate the USA. I loved my country. So... in my first presidential election, I voted to re-elect Reagan, probably more as a vote against my liberal TA's views than as an affirmation of the direction in which our nation was headed at the end of Reagan's first term.

Just before my senior year at UNC, I had to make a life-changing decision. It was about my faith. I came to a crisis in my life... my parents were divorcing, my boyfriend broke up with me, my sorority (I was the president of the chapter) was under scrutiny from National because our numbers were low, my best friend was mad because I'd moved out of our shared room and into the President's Room... pretty much everything I'd built my security on was crumbling under me.

So I had to choose a landing spot. I could have landed in the world and denounced the faith in which I was raised. I'd pretty much given it only lip-service for the past few years. Or I could get real with the faith my parents taught me and truly commit my life to the Lord God Almighty of the Bible through faith in His only Son, Jesus Christ. I chose the latter.

With that choice came a whole new view of the world... and of politics. I started listening to what politicians were saying and figured out, very quickly, that the liberal side didn't match my values.

I am pro-life. If you don't start with that concept, the rest doesn't really matter. I don't think bombing abortion clinics is the answer. I think educating hearts is. Full disclosure, people. I haven't had an abortion, but friends I dearly love have, and years later, they all come to the same conclusion that they wouldn't have done it if they'd have known they were killing a baby. Mass of tissue, my foot. It's a life.

[Incidentally, I'm wrestling with the death penalty. I don't think I could ever be on a jury that would sentence anyone to die. If I couldn't do it, how could I expect others to do it? I don't think that the death penalty is against biblical teaching either, though. It's an issue the Lord and I are working through.]

Being pro-life pretty much negates being a Democrat for me. And voting for one too. Period. The End. I switched my party affiliation just after I got married. I was 23.

Then in 2000, I worked for the Republican party, making calls to get-out-the-vote. I was highly motivated to make certain a Republican was elected President because it disturbed me the way the courts were starting to legislate. I wanted judges appointed who had some sense and would quit re-writing law to fit the liberal bias.

As for the Republicans... at the moment, I have to admit I'm not too thrilled with them either.

During the election of 2004, I volunteered to make phone calls for the Republican party. The folks down at headquarters on Hillsborough Street gave us a script to read. We were calling only registered Republicans, so it was supposed to be a friendly crowd. For the most part, it was. But the script told us to say that we were taking a survey. The coordinator explained that even though we weren't actually taking a survey for statistical purposes, we were technically "surveying" them by asking them if they planned to vote. Hummm... That didn't feel right. I think I used that script for one or two calls and then I just couldn't do it anymore. I felt like I was lying. I finished my phone calling time without reading the first paragraph of the script. I don't think I ever went back. I just couldn't stick to that script.

Values matter. In both of the big parties. And all the little ones too. I vote values.

I would have LOVED to support Rudy. He is a strong leader. I can forgive him for mistakes in his personal life. Goodness... not voting for him for that reason would be like casting the first stone. But I can't vote for someone who holds personal choice to end an unborn life above the right to life. I just can't.

Don't get me wrong... I'm fiscally conservative too. My husband and I both worked hard getting an education. We work hard in our jobs. We would really love not to have our income re-distributed to those who don't work or who are in our country illegally and receiving benefits of citizenship without chipping in to help foot the bill. We would love the chance to give more to our church and other ministries that help the poor. It's one of the mandates in our Handbook... help the poor. Not an option. A command. We wish we could do more, but unfortunately, we can't. Nearly half of what we make goes to Caesar. Jesus said to pay taxes and move on... "Render unto Caesar..."

Values. They matter. Have I said that before?

To those of us in the "religious right" movement... and I have to say I'm good with "right" but the word "religious" isn't even the correct term for us... values are more important that towing the party line. Our loyalty is to the One Who gave His life as an atoning sacrifice for sin.

If we ever see values vs. our "pocketbook," we will vote values. Sorry, Ann. I think you are one of the most brilliant women in the history of our wonderful country, but you are wrong about Mike Huckabee. Sorry, Rush. You've done so much to bring to light the silliness of liberalism, but you are wrong about Mike Huckabee, too. And Dr. Dobson... where were you? Why didn't you support the guy earlier? Why were you quiet until Romney dropped out of the race? If you were torn, why didn't you say, "Either of these two would be great?" You know, I admire you all... Ann, Rush, Dr. Dobson... but the bottom line is that my vote's not between me and you all. It's between me and Jesus. So, I've figured this one out in prayer.

We have a little more than a week until our primary. Not that I need any more time. I'm voting my values. I know it's a "lost cause," but if you read The Book, you'll notice we sort of expect that kind of battle, at least for a little while longer. Still, that doesn't negate the need for us to cast our votes with all our hearts.

And that, I'm gonna do.