Thanks to Eric Novak's latest interview, I was introduced to Gianna Jessen. What an amazing testimony to Christ!  

Doing a little more research I came across BornAliveTruth.org. Now I'm not telling you who to vote for or even who to vote against. I am giving you a resource that offers information on the position of abortion for one of the candidates. I do agree with Born Alive's mission to save infants that have survived the actual abortion process.

I like British humor. The clean stuff. This video joking about getting rid of the department section of the Department of Education and Science is a total crack up. Too bad the DES man is exactly like the reality of the thinking of the NEA.  

If you have problems with the video starting and stopping, mute your volume and go do something while you let it play throught once. Come back and replay the video. It should be good.

I read daily.

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/061808/legalize-books.gif  

 People are interesting to observe and an excellent place to observe them is on a blog.  Especially a blog that can be rather controversial.  I post regularly over at Home Where They Belong where, as you can imagine, there are readers who don't agree with anything that is posted there.  It completely fascinates me that they keep returning to argue about how homeschooled children are sheltered, can't make their own decisions, and are being brainwashed.  There are days when I think brainwashing might be a heap easier then training, but I really don't want children that follow for the sake of following.  If that's what I wanted I'd put them in public school. 

Anyway, back to the point at hand which is, why do people feel the need to tell others how to run their blog, or business, or life, or club by marching into their territory and demanding that they change? 

Let me clarify my question because if I don't I know I'll get all kinds of comments saying that Home Where They Belong tells people how to educate their children.  Some even say that we are forcing our beliefs onto them. Yes, HWTB does tell people how they should be educating their children, (at home) but it does it from the HWTB blog.  It's ridiculous to say that we are forcing  our beliefs onto others.  They came to HWTB, HWTB didn't go to them.   

In the last 50-60 years or so there have been clubs that were for men only and then women come along, got all kinds of mad about it and demanded that they be allowed to enter.  The government sided with the women and men are forced to change their ways to be more acceptable to the women.  I don't get it.  Why did they want to be a part of the mens club if the club can't be what it was?  Go start your own club that includes everyone, there's room enough in this country for both clubs.  Why can't there be men only clubs? 

I subscribe to several different publications.  Some use only the KJV of the Bible, some don't.  In both cases people write in and tell the publishers how they should use the other version of the Bible.  If the readers don't like it that's fine but they don't have to subscribe.  When you subscribe to something you are paying to read the views and ideas that publisher has to offer.  Why tell the publisher how they should promote their views?  They didn't force their way into your home and demand that you read them. 

Here too is how Christians as a whole are given a bad name from those who are against Christianity.  Those "Christians" go marching into other people's lives and demand that others live by their rules.  Yes, their rules.  God doesn't demand that we live by His laws.  He gives us a choice.  It is an offer, an invitation.  You can accept it or not, it's up to you. 

Today certain organizations are taking over public schools in order to infiltrate their views into people's homes.  Which by the way has always been the purpose of public schools.  Parents who put their children into the public school system are inviting these organizations to visit them.  Maybe not literally but it is an invitation all the same.  If your child is in public school then you have subscribed to the views and opinions of the school.  You have joined the club.  If you decide that the school is no longer something you want to be a member of then back out and quit trying to change the public school system.  It isn't worth changing.  

I don't know why people do these sorts of things but control is probably a part of it.  It's certainly something to contemplate further.  If you have any ideas let me know.  

(This blog uses only the KJV Bible, discusses homeschooling and is available for subscription to only those who know how to read. If you don't like it go start your own group with your own version of moral publication, talk about some other form of education and allow non-readers to subscribe.  Oh wait, you already have, it's called public education.) 

I found this interesting report over at WND.  Birth control pills are harming the enviorment and officials are wondering how much of the hormones in birth control pills are now making it back into our drinking supply.  So far these hormones are harming fish in some intriguing ways and scientists are wondering just what it is doing to humans who are not taking birth control pills. 

In case you think WND is a right wing, nut job, news blog, then you can read it here at Seattlepi.com.  This article was written in 2003.  It's obviously a continuing problem. Do a search and you'll find several other organizations that have reported on the topic.  Not all of them are Christian. 

Doctors, drug manufacturers, and certain interest groups don't want us to know about this.  Women that do know aren't about to quit taking them because then they would have to change their lifestyle. 

Has anyone else heard anything about this and have any ideas on what drinking water is safe for us, or is that pretty much a lost cause now all things considered?

© Copyright 2005, 2006, 2007 High Desert Hi-Jinks, and Sagerat Scribbles.

Sometimes I have a deep thought or two while attempting to fall asleep.  The one that came to me last night is evidence that there is a Creator. 

We cry out to God. 

No matter who you are, no matter where you live, your ancestory, religion, background or nationality, people cry out from their hearts and souls to a being of higher power.  In times of trouble, fear, and desperation, we petition our maker to hear our prayers.  We don't all recognize the one true God, but we do understand that our lives are ultimately in someone else's hands.

If we we had truly evolved from microscopic, pond scum, organisms there would be nothing in our deepest being begging to be saved.  There wouldn't be any need for it. 

We cry out to God because He created us. 

I'm a little behind on my magazine reading.  I found the following quote in Christianity Today's January 2007 issue just today.  I cut it out and put it on my fridge.

"They say you eat healthy and you live longer. But the Bible says the earth is not our home.  So if you eat healthy, you're not being faithful.  I say have a Twinkie for Jesus." 
Thor Ramsey, a Christian comedian on the Thou Shalt Laugh stand-up tour.

I'd go eat a Twinkie but I ate all of those earlier, so I guess I'll settle for Oreos. 

While eating your Twinkie, be sure to check out The Twinkies Project. 

I've explained to you before about how my cat has no real aspirations or compassion.  I was wrong.  He has taken an interest in blogging, if for no other reason than to be sure that I am not disgracing the family by mentioning our dogs. 

Notice how this ferocious feline has pinned me to my chair and is forcing me to take dictation.

Soy has been all the rage for years now and I don't get it.  This supposed wonder food is supposed to save the world from starvation and cure us of our many ills.  It's cheap, there's a lot of it and it's in nearly every processed food.   I'm still reading about starving nations, so soy isn't doing very well in that department and I'm finding more and more information about how soy is causing more problems than it fixes.

If soy is so wonderful why are so many people allergic/food sensitive to it?  Many people are and don't even realize it, blaming it on other foods or chemicals.  My own son, Cheeko, is allergic to soy.  This we discoverd after years of feeding him Pediasure because he was a failure to thrive baby/child.  He had to be given asthma treatements three times a day, at the least, in order to keep his air ways from closing up.  Interestingly when it was decided he no longer was failure to thrive eating wise and we took away the Pediasure, his asthma problems pretty much went away except when he gets a cold or you iadvertantly give him a glass of soy milk. 

I have yet to read this book, but it has intrigued me, this article about soy being linked to cancer and then today I found this series of articles over at World Net Daily .  (At the bottom you can link to the author's archives to find the rest of this so far five part series) I'm not saying I believe everything they have to say, to be honest I don't really know, but I do know that soy isn't everything it's reported to be.  In order to be able to eat it or drink it without gagging it has to treated and mixed with other things, in other words, disguised.  In cookies, in granola bars, in sweetened cereal, the list goes on forever.  I do know people who can eat edome beans, but my guess is that like every other food it should be eaten in moderation and not consumed in great quantities. 

Just say Noy to Soy.   

Christmas is a stressful time of year, especially for Christians who desire to make Christmas a true celebration in memory of Christ's birth.  Trying to figure out how to do that can sometimes boggle the mind as much as just caving in to the commercialism.  There is even commericalism in the Christian sector with special ornaments and decorations to substitute with. 

I received an e-mail today asking me how to simplify Christmas when you have foster/adoptive children in your home who have memories of really big Christmases, santa and the whole works.  How do you really bring Christ into this "holiday"?

I'll do my best to answer here, (she said I could) but I'd really appreciate it if you would offer your thoughts as well in the comments section. 

Decoration is meant to create a certain ambiance.  If you want Christmas to be a time of quiet reflection don't clutter your house with big red things, and sparkly trinkets.

© Copyright 2005, 2006 High Desert Hi-Jinks, and Sagerat Scribbles.

More than likely, yes.  One more avenue for the Christians in China to be silenced.  Read more at NewsBusters.

© Copyright 2005, 2006 High Desert Hi-Jinks, and Sagerat Scribbles.

People today are impatient and want their lives to be supplemented with quick, tidy, little recyclable packages.  They want fast food, short waits, quick fixes and polite conversation. 

The polite conversation figures into this subject because if we would all just agree that we can live our lives any old way we want it would save time over arguing. Besides it's not tidy to be angry, or have your ideology challenged. 

With this kind of lifestyle, people expect that any war they may have supported in the beginning should be treated the same way.  I am tired of reading and hearing about people who think the war in Iraq is taking too long.  Guess what?  It's a war and wars are messy. 

When pressed to answer the question, "What do you suggest to shorten the war?" these quick war mongers say the U.S. military should pull out of Iraq and let the Iraqi people now rule themselves.  I have yet to hear anyone ask them after that, "How do you think Iraq will manage that?"  If the U.S. had just swooped in, set them free and then ran home would the Iraqi people still be free?  I don't think so. 

The real issue isn't that they want the Iraqi people to govern themselves, they just want the troops to come home so that no more will die, and the armed forces can't cause anymore deaths.  Death is messy.  Civilized people don't get messy. 

I wonder what these people would think if God was in control of this war.  (I know some people think He is, so for the sake of arguement, He is not in control like He was in the Old Testament.)  God wanted his troops to go and kill the enemy.  Every last one of them.  When He didn't command the deaths of all those that opposed His purpose, God allowed the Israelites to take the people as slaves.  It all sounds very messy, and long term.  If only the Israelites would have stuck with what God had asked of them.  It may have been brutal but in the long run it would have been so much tidier.

If you take a look at history, the shorter wars really didn't fare any better than the longer ones.  Shorter usually meant that one side was annihilated or forced to surrender, only to come back another day for another war.  

War is messy and should be avoided.  Sometimes those that govern the earth have no choice.  The civilized thing to do is to then help the people they have saved back on their feet so that they can't be knocked over by the next bully that comes along.  Otherwise those that died for the cause have died in vain.   

© Copyright 2005, 2006 High Desert Hi-Jinks, and Sagerat Scribbles.

Yet again in a local paper, residents of a neighborhood situated right next to the railroad tracks, are complaing about "all the noise."

It irritates me no end.  Let's think about this, you're out house hunting, you drive up to a house near a railroad track and you find out that the rent/mortgage is in your price range.  Do you ignore the fact that there are two metal rails running right past your backyard?  Do you think to yourself, "Hey, that must be a part of history back when there were no semi-trucks and aeroplanes!"

Unless the government has set you up in the house you are living in near that pre-existing railroad, airport or smelly facility, you chose to live there.  If you did not realize that the place was going to be so noisy or stinky, that is your own fault. 

If you are blind to reality I have a piece of property I could sell you dirt cheap.  It's located right next to a prison whose inmates run the prison dairy and hog farms as well as a tallow plant and sugar beet factory that delivers and brings in its products by train and plane.  All right there handy like.  I tell you it's paradise!

© Copyright 2005, 2006 High Desert Hi-Jinks, and Sagerat Scribbles.

I've been thinking a lot lately about captivity and freedom.  To be precise, those who have been in captivity and then become free.

The Israelites were captives in Egypt.  When they were freed by God and went into the desert they discovered that they had to sleep in tents, search for food and decide for themselves how the day would be spent if they didn't have to move on.  They complained.  It was too hard.  Life was easier, better, nicer, not so bad, back there in Egypt where certain things were provided for them.   Everyone was equal.  It was fair. 

When the U.S.S. R. fell apart, the people found themselves "free".  Not to long after we began to hear how life was hard and better before.  Certain things had been provided for them.  Everyone was equal.  It was fair. 

Today Iraq is free of a dictator.  Yes, it's still at war, and life is hard.  I haven't heard or read any stories of the people of Iraq complaining themselves, but certain interest groups have done that for them.  They say the people of Iraq no longer have certain things provided for them.  Before everyone was equal.  It was fair. 

Prisoners for centuries have found life to be hard after they have been released from prison.  At least in prison certain things are provided for them.  So they commit yet another crime because they cannot cope.  Everyone is equal.  It was fair. 

This country is based on freedom.  The pilgrims chose to free themselves from the state church.  Our founding fathers wanted for each of us to make choices for ourselves and as a group.  Today more and more of these choices are taken away from us.  It's too hard to take responsibility.  Let's blame someone else.  Let's have certain things provided for us.  We want everyone to be equal in captivity.  It will be fair.

Equal in captivity.  Not, "every man is created equal in God's sight," but equal in our oppression because that will be fair.  In order to be fair we all have to be taken care of like the least intelligent among us. 

In every case above the people put their faith in a system to take care of them.  Systems hold captives.  

Christ offers freedom.  He will take care of you if you put your faith in Him.  We are all equal in His sight.  He will be fair. We won't be treated like the least among us.  The least among us will be treated like the son of  a King. 

It is our responsibility to choose freedom or captivity.  Which will you choose? 

 Related Tags: captivity, freedom, Egypt, U.S.S.R., Iraq, prison, fathers, piligrims, fair, equal, Christ, choice, responsibility

© Copyright 2005, 2006 High Desert Hi-Jinks, and Sagerat Scribbles.

Tonight my husband came home and told me about a dumpster near his work full of tents, sleeping pads, sleeping bags and other items. 

I asked him why on earth the organization that owned the dumpster would throw all this stuff away, why didn't they just keep it for the next year?  He said that it was cheaper to throw it all away than to have it cleaned and/or to store it.  I then asked him why on earth they didn't donate these items to charity?  The response is obvious enough.  Charities don't want used items, that's degrading.

So off we went on a family field trip to dive into a dumpster!  There were probably over a 100 tents in there originally, we brought home quite a few, along with sleeping pads, goggles, rope, and a few other things.  The children were giggling and running things back and forth to the car.  They couldn't believe the treasure we had found!  While holding an item up they kept asking, "But why would they throw this away?"

We plan to give the tents and sleeping pads to the camp our girls went to this last summer.  It is a Christian camp that uses tents and this last summer many of the tents no longer zipped up, and there wasn't enough sleeping pads to go around.  The tents we rescued are in much better condition and very usable.  Many of them nearly brand new! 

The sleeping bags were all gone by the time we got back to the dumpster so others were taking advantage of someone else's trash as well. 

I can't help but wonder what God thinks of all this waste.  We are such a throw away society.  I try to live modestly and frugally, but I do like my little luxuries!  I could live without them, but for now I choose not too. 

Still, to see this kind of abuse of our blessings sickens me.  Others view the U.S. as a spoiled nation.  We are and it shames me. 

Related Tags: dumpster diving, dumpster, garbage, trash, waste, tents, pads, sleeping bags, camp, Christian, U.S.

© Copyright 2005, 2006 High Desert Hi-Jinks, and Sagerat Scribbles.

Ferdy, the Conservative Cat, really keeps up on his politics.  I don't know how I would keep up with what is going on in the world if it weren't for him.  He is so politically minded that he is even on a fast that has so far lasted 36 days.  This hunger strike is against Democrats who support the terrorists in Iraq.  What an American!  (I wonder if he can have mouse & bird smoothies from Jamba Juice?  You know, just for the protein.)

My cat on the other hand...

... has no idea what a Hezbollah is, nor does he care.  I told him that Israel was at war and he looked at me and asked, "Will this affect my food supply?"  No, your highness, it won't. 

I decided to show him that there are other highly intelligent felines in the blogosphere.  "Bandita knows how to read and blog!" I told him.  "That would cut into my nap time." was his response.

I decided to try a little reverse psychology.  "There's even a dog blogger and he thinks cats are too stupid to blog." 

"Just as long as he doesn't do it in my house."

"Don't you care that the rapture could happen at any time?  Don't you care that people are dying?  Don't you care about anything?"  I grilled him.

"I think the water level in my bowl is low, are we having a drought?" 

"We have mice in the kitchen." I informed him.

"I know."

"Then why aren't you doing your duty and evicting them?" I demanded to know.

"I might break a nail."

I give up.  I'm deeply ashamed to inform the masses that my cat is a liberal.   

© Copyright 2005, 2006 High Desert Hi-Jinks, and Sagerat Scribbles.

I own an SUV, and I love it.  So there. I challenge anyone to take away my right to have it.  It makes me angry when bleeding heart liberals rant and rave about gas guzzling SUV's and how everyone should own a Honda Civic or some equally tiny, rubber band motorized vehicle.  Either that or take the bus. 

That's all fine and dandy if you live in big cities.  I live in the country.  There isn't even a bus system within 200 miles of us.  You have to drive two miles on a gravel road to get to my house.  You won't be going to town in the winter if you don't have four wheel drive.  I choose to live here to get away from cooky people.   

I also have four children.  They won't all fit in a little economy car.  While they might all fit in a mini van, I still wouldn't be able to get to town in the winter. 

I like the look of an SUV.  Maybe it's because I grew up around them.  Nearly everyone here has one.  It's a multi-purpose vehicle, much needed in a ranching community.  I don't like Corvette's or Ferrari's.  I think they are ugly.  They also demonstrate to me wasted wealth and selfish living.  However, I don't care if anyone owns one. 

I'm not buying that the controversy of the SUV is that it wastes gas and ruins the ozone.  If that was really the concern than they should spend their energy on building a more fuel efficient SUV, instead of standing about in groups blocking traffic. 

What the ranting and raving all boils down to, is trying to control where I live, and how many children I have.  If we all lived in cities, we could take the bus and if I insist on living in the country than I should only have two children so they can fit comfortably in a compact car. 

The damage to the ozone is a false advertising line to try and get me to conform to the liberal way of life, to become dependent upon the state for my transportation needs. 

While the liberals spread the message of the Al Gorida regime, I'll still be living two miles out on a gravel road.  If they want to visit me, they'll need to be sure to do so in the summer months.  Otherwise I'll have to tow them over with my SUV. 

© Copyright 2005, 2006 High Desert Hi-Jinks, and Sagerat Scribbles.

Sheryl at TakingtheChallenge and I are working together on a modesty project.  We are interested in experiences and questions from males and females, singles, marrieds, teens to seniors on this topic.

What kinds of things have you learned in your later years that you wished you'd known as a young person?

We welcome, in fact, we're asking for your comments/shared experiences on this topic.  If you have a private experience/thought you want us to take into consideration but don't want published as a comment (or in the book/curriculum), please e-mail either or both of us and your writing will be kept confidential.