WHich would you choose?

Protestant HEaven or Catholic (according to Marge anyway)?

ANd This Will Last How Long?

For the last week or so we have had a great helper. WEll 2 of them in fact.

Every night at suppertime the girls insist that they have to set the table. ANd they do it very well too (we carry the breakable stuff to the table but they set it all out). Not to mention that they insist that they want to wash the dishes (we haven't actually had them try that yet). Oh and they are problem-solvers too! Sarah wanted to put the light on upstairs so she carefully ran donwn and brought up the stool. THen when it wasn't high enough to reach the book she wanted mom found her at the bottom of the stairs with the ottoman trying to figure out how to get it up the stairs too!

Wish I was still that cute. Or that I was ever that cute.

Random Thoughts while Walking the Dog

FOr some reason (I honestly have no idea why) the following question came to my mind while walking the dog this afternoon:

How much do economics determine what is considered best for our children?

THere are 2 aspects that I mulled to this question.
1. Immunizations. Now don't get me wrong, I am an advocate of immunizing children. Who wants to see mumps and measles and polio make a return? BUt as more and more vaccines get brought to market and pushed to be made part of the "standard package" I wonder. Chicken pox and flu in particular. Yes I know that severe complications are possible for these bugs. BUt is part of the urgency to have these fairly standard illnesses stpped a joint economic push to both sell the drug (on the pharmeceutical company's behalf) and to limit time off work by the parents? AFter all lost time due to illness is lost productivity--and that costs.
2. Schooling. More precisely, the age at which school starts. Here we have the opportunity to have kids start school half-time in the year they turn 4 (they can actually start at 3 as long as their birthday is before December 31). And in this town senior kindergarten in full-time from October onward. Why the push to get kids into school? Is it because they need to learn so much faster or is it because (as has been expressed by some people I have heard) school is cheaper than daycare. For what it is worth, I think 4 is too young for school, I think 5 is too soon for full-time, and I think that the school system in general is pushing kids to do too much (both in school and as homework) at too young an age.

Taking it as a given that economics shapes "best practices" in all aspects of life, including child-care, I wonder how often we stop to ask what makes something the best way to go.

Friday Five--Word Association

Below you will find five words. Tell us the first thing you think of on reading each one. Your response might be simply another word, or it might be a sentence, a poem or a story.

• whirlwind -- Dust Devil, Taz, Tornado
• foundation -- Basement
• lightning -- fast. Frankenstein
• den -- computer room
• prey -- an old editorial cartoon of Ayatollah Khomeini saying "Let Us Prey" with folded hands with arms and legs sticking out from between the fingers and blood dripping....

(Yes, they're all from Job 38.) -- and my answers are most decidedly NOT

A Piece of the Newsletter that Never Was

Back in August we were planning to put out a newsletter in September. SO before leaving on holidays I wrote my little bit.

But as it happened the newsletter got submerged with a pile of other tasks and didn't happen. We are going to do one in the next couple weeks but the old piece is not seasonally appropriate. So I put it on the church blog. You can read it here.

And Throw away the key??

IN Canadian Law we have a designation of dangerous offender. A person so designated is subject to a jail term of indefinite length. Currently the onus is on the Crown to prove that a person is worthy of such a sentence. But that may change.

THe federal government has introduced new legislation which is essentially a 3-strikes-you're-out approach to dangerous offender status. And one of the points in it is:

Under the bill, the onus would be put on convicted criminals to prove they should not be declared dangerous offenders, otherwise they would be designated as dangerous and be given an indeterminate jail sentence, with no eligibility for parole for seven years.

NOw is it just me or does this turn things backward? In essence it assumes that a person is dangerous and beyond rehabilitation and they have to prove otherwise.

There is a reason there is more pressure on prosecuters to prove a case. It is a safeguard. I am sure that if one did a study you would learn that a large percentage of persons designated a dangerous offender come from underprivileged groups in our society--those who have fewer resources to mount a legal defence.

I understand the concept of protecting society. But this approach to doing so stinks.

NO Matter What Happens, I have Done SOmething!

Started this morning to do some early Advent Planning. ANd I have found a Candle liturgy (in Gathering -- the "Two-Minute Advent Candle Lighting"--sorry to say but it appears that the liturgy is only available for those who get the magazine. Darn the luck (although it does help keep the subscriber base up).) to use and the liturgy gave me provisional sermon ideas. Here Are the titles thus far:

• December 3: Look For the Signs! (this title may get adapted after I next listen to Dead Dog in the City to match their sayings at the end)
• December 10: Wake Up, Wash Up (using the Malachi text as the base)
• December 17: Christmas Pageant Yet to be determined
• December 24 (am): Presents and Presence (a look at gifts)
• December 31: Endings, Beginnings, Resolutions (using the New Year's readings in the Lectionary)
• January 7: God Revealed (Epiphany story -- not going to do Baptism of Jesus this year)

Of course this still leaves the looming question of what to do on Christmas Eve... BUt then again, it is only mid-October.

(ADD: THis afternoon I completed until the end of this page on my planner. WEll other than the big service.)

1st SNow

AS soon as it started snowing in earnest on THursday afternoon the girls started talking about making a 'nowman. Friday before supper mommy took them out to make one -- a first for either of them since we didn't get one made last winter.

And BTW, October 13 is FAR FAR too early in the year to be able to make a snowperson.

CHristmas Angels

We had CHristmas pictures taken this week. Here is the collage.

A COmforting Friday 5

(From RGBP)

1. Comfort beverage Hot Chocolate with a touch of mint. (It is a cold snowy day here).
2. Comfort chair Well our recliner is broken :( So we are limited to couch or love seat. But I generally stretch out on the couch anyway. (IT isn't a chair and so doesn't count for the question but a nice warm tub can't be beat lots of times)
3. Comfort read This one varies. It really depends on my mood.
4. Comfort television/DVD/music Hmmmmmmmm, this too depends on my mood.
5. Comfort companion(s) Surrounded by my girls and the dog, what else? Of course such comfort companions aren't always quiet and relaxing :)