"Despite what some among us would like to believe it is not because of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we care about children and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power....

This is not to say that the concern of NEA and its affiliates with closing achievement gaps, reducing dropout rates, improving teacher quality and the like are unimportant or inappropriate. To the contrary. These are the goals that guide the work we do. But they need not and must not be achieved at the expense of due process, employee rights and collective bargaining. That simply is too high a price to pay.

I've been sharing my family's favorite Thanksgiving recipes on the HomesteadBlogger Front Porch .  Stop by to see how our Texas family celebrates Thanksgiving.  I've invited the other bloggers to share their family favorites as well, so you are certain to find many delicious recipes posted throughout the community. 

Here's a link to a great sounding Mandarin & Cranberry Relish at Nourished Kitchen, a blog I visit often for healthy, delicious recipes. 

I pray your family has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We truly have much to be thankful for.  And now, I must get back to my own Thanksgiving preparations ... some last minute shopping,  a little baking, a bit of  holiday decorating, and lots of family fun!

Blessings,

Catherine

Catherine Love lives in the heart of Texas with her husband Carl, and their 3 daughters, Sarah, Hannah, and Cana.  They enjoy cooking, gardening, and learning new things as they pursue a lifestyle of learning together as a family.  You can read Catherine's Kitchen Adventures and more on her blog- Seeds of Love.

Here's Chapter two-this one might be a bit better.

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  I woke up to the sound of rain. It was a nice sound, pitter, patter, pitter patter, rain rain rain-
   Rain?
   I sat streight up in bed and looked out the window. Yes, it was storming-thunderclouds booming, lightning flashing. That was impossible! It never rained on the Castle of Lights, or anywhere in Mohagia! Not since that gnome had cast that wicked, wicked spell.  I leaped out of bed, completaly ignoring the servant that was sleeping in on of her armchairs, "watching" me, and ran outside.
                                  *  *  *
   There were already quite a few people outside watching it, my father, for one. he was surrounded by servants holding dusty old umbralla's over his head that they had somehow managed to dig up. The other people outside-servants, dukes, Jennie and my little brother Adley-had sun umbrellas over their heads. They were all laughing, smileing, enjoying thecool freshness, but for some reason the King was frowning deeply.
 "If he frowned any lower, his neck would dissapear and anyone who saw him would burst out laughing." I said. Of course, I didn't actually say this out loud, but I may as well have because nobody was paying any attention to me. They didn't realize that I'm out there soaking wet, in my pajama's without a coat, and freezing cold. Sure, I was excited-the first rain ever since I was born! But its breakfast time! It can wait!
   The Queen came out, and echoed my thoughts. "Fredrick, can't watching the rain wait? Look at poor Gwenny here, she's not even dressed!"
   I nodded, trying to look sad and cold and pathetic, which wasn't hard. Jenny stared at me; she was barely dressed either and holding an umbrella over dad's head. They plain ignored her.
   Dad sighed, and turned around without speaking to Mom or me and walked back to the castle. The servants made a flurry of movement trying not to let a single raindrop touch him. Mom followed him, along with the other servants, and pretty soon it was just me and the rain. 
   "You know, rain," I said sadly. "Maybe we should get together sometime. You're the only one who stayed with me. That must mean you like me, right?"
   It rained harder.
   I went in.

                            * *  *
   "But whyyy dooo I have toooo eat them?" Adley protested in his four year old voice.
   I rolled my eyes. Adley would do anything for attention. Jennie crooned softly, "Adley, sweetums, just eat your toast and we can play in the rain, okay?"
   "Okay," Adley's expression softened, and he started eating. I stabbed at my food, and then looked at mom. "Why is it raining?"
   Mom stared at her waffle. "Now...now is not the time for questions, Gwen. Why don't you go to...to your room?"
   I slammed my fork on the table and sat up. "Fine!" I said, and walked to my room.
                                        *  *  *
   18 of December, in the year Yam
Its raining! Can you believe it? Rain! It hasn't rained since that gnome gave a prophecy. I only know a bit of it, because I sneeked a quick peek at fathers diary. It was, "Rain to not come 'till...and that's all I saw before Mom dragged me away before I could read the rest. Well, I'm going to go read a book now, about fish. Fish are my favorite animal, did you know that?
Bye.

Here is the first chapter of Optio et Pietas. I was calling the story Doom, and posted the first chapter as such, but now I've decided to make that the prolude, so if you want to read that, just look at my last post, it'll be titled as "Optio et Pietas prolude". The title of the story is Latin for "Choice and Duty"- the reason it's in Latin will be clearer further on in the story.

By the way, this story is really, really unpolished, and the first bit involves a lot of personal conversation, which I'm not very good at. If you have any corrections or better ideas, that would be really great!

HOMER

Casey stirred herself. Admittedly, Geometry was never the most stimulating of subjects, but it was only 7:00, she shouldn’t be falling asleep. Cursing and muttering, she gripped her pencil tighter and tried to focus her mind on the mysteries of math. Still her mind wandered over the dreams that were interrupting her sleep. It’d been three days since the thunderstorm, and yet variations of her wild nightmare were still rupturing her sleep. None of these dreams were as potent or clear (last night’s had been purely ridiculous and absurd) as the first, yet they all seemed to rotate around the same theme. Worst of all, they were depriving her of sleep.

When the dreams awoke her, she would lie in her bed for hours, at first because of the sense of terror that was still surging through her mind, but even after the panic rescinded she couldn’t fall asleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she could feel the clammy mist crawling up her body, ready to pounce if she didn’t awake. The night after the storm, after lying in bed for three hours, she decided to take a sleeping pill. That night was perhaps the worst of all.

The pill took affect all right, and Casey fell into a deep sleep. Too deep. Drugged by her medicine, the dream ensnared her, terrifying and tormenting her mind. All sorts of variations of her dream would repeat themselves over and over like a scratched record, and the medicine prevented her from waking and ending the agony. After that ordeal Casey felt exhausted- she never was one for much physical exercise, but this sleep left her utterly drained. So it was that Casey felt there was no solution- warm milk, leaping sheep or sleeping pills were unable to ease her disturbed slumber.

Hopefully the dreams would go away. Casey remembered what one of her friends had said about sleep-deprivation self-help books in the library, and made a mental note to pick one out tomorrow, while she researched her debate topic. But for the moment, Euclid called.

In the quieted hush of the library, Casey spun round her computer chair and wandered off to the aisle with “A Good Night’s Sleep- How To Solve Problematical Sleep Disorders in You and Your Child”, which was among the self-help books.  She was most surprised when she walked into the aisle, and found Damien Barque, a black-haired boy of about seventeen scouring the pages of “A Good Night’s Sleep” as if his life depended on it. Completely enraptured by his curious reading material, Damien hadn’t noticed Casey’s approach, an opportunity Casey was all too happy to exploit.