Come Further Up, Come Further In!

Well, we got the new horse yesterday. We kept him in a stall last night & this morning he was let out with Casey. It was like Custer's Last Stand. Copper just wanted to eat hay, but Casey kept challenging him. So, they are separated for now, but can touch noses.

Hannah watched the rest of the kids last night while dh & I went out to dinner w/ another couple. It was really nice.

I have been alternatively sad & distraught & angry at the state of our country. The kids & I have done so much research on the founding of our country-not the boring watered-down politically correct nonsense you read in textbooks, but real stories and real people-people I wish I could meet, people I don't want to forget. People that I'm glad don't know what has happened to this great country they fought and died for.

The kids & I became intensely proud of our country after studying the Revolutionary War, and now we're starting the Civil War. What we learned, I never heard about in public school.
Recently, the kids have been learning more & more about what tax money is being used for, about freedoms that are in danger, and the intolerance, persecution & prejudices against anyone who doesn't agree with the present administration.
Jonah especially doesn't know how to reconcile what he's learned about the foundation of our great country with the present day country. He's always been fiercely proud of our country-I have not allowed any of that present day popular "ashamed of our country" drivel that seems to pervade present day culture. This country rose from poor people w/ a sacrificial love for God-and set it up in a way that everyone could worship how they wanted-not have to worship whatever church the state endorsed. I am proud that our country overcame a sin that entered this country (slavery) before the pilgrims even landed (Do you know the story of the first slaves in this country?) What a great country we've been given-handed to us by those that came before us.

I guess when you're(collective you) been given everything, you take it for granted & think you deserve more without even working for it.

Anyway, here's what some of the money for the "stimulus" package is going for:

• $20 million "for the removal of small- to medium-sized fish passage barriers." (Pg. 45 of Senate Appropriations Committee report: "20,000,000 for the removal of small- to medium-sized fish passage barriers)
  
• $400 million for STD prevention (Pg. 60 of Senate Appropriations Committee report: "CDC estimates that a proximately 19 million new STD infections occur annually in the United States ...The Committee has included $400,000,000 for testing and prevention of these conditions.")
  
• $25 million to rehabilitate off-roading (ATV) trails (Pg. 45 of Senate Appropriations Committee report: "$25,000,000 is for recreation maintenance, especially for rehabilitation of off-road vehicle routes, and $20,000,000 is for trail maintenance and restoration")
  
• $34 million to remodel the Department of Commerce HQ (Pg. 15 of Senate Appropriations Committee report: $34,000,000 for the Department of Commerce renovation and modernization")
  
• $70 million to "Support Supercomputing Activities" for climate research (Pgs. 14-15 of Senate Appropriations Committee Report: $70,000,000 is directed to specifically support supercomputing activities, especially as they relate to climate research)
  
• $150 million for honey bee insurance (Pg. 102 of Senate Appropriations Committee report: "The Secretary shall use up to $ 50,000,000 per year, and $150,000,000 in the case of 2009, from the Trust Fund to provide emergency relief to eligible producers of livestock, honey bees, and farm-raised fish to aid in the reduction of losses due to disease, adverse weather, or other conditions, such as blizzards and wildfires, as determined by the Secretary")
• here's more--other "job creating" programs
  This info is from the AFA. Here's a link you can go to to contact your senators.
  

Anyway, this morning I was holding the baby & listening to some music from a friend's blog's playlist while tidying up the sewing table (gonna get started on sewing more cloth dipes for Alyssa) and these 2 songs encouraged me greatly.
--"How Great is Our God" sung by Chris Tomlin and "In Christ Alone" sung by Travis Cottrell.
I had to stop working & just sing out loud.
It was one of those beautiful things because I stood thing holding the baby singing out loud with tears streaming down my face & Susanna pulled up a chair next to me, stood on it, put her arms around me & sang with me. And the baby sang, too-"ahhhhhh...ahhhhhh...ahhhhh." I know we made a joyful noise before the Lord. It was so worshipful for me. Then, Hannah came in from doing animal chores & she stood with us and sang, too.
Susanna (4) asked me if I was crying because the song was sad. I told her no-it's because the song is happy-God IS great and He loves us even when we SO don't deserve that love. I can't imagine what it's like to be the parent of all the people on this Earth-even those who don't even believe in Him. What a painful thing it must be to look at what we do to ourselves and to each other here.

My family was talking at dinner last week about how sad we were about current events and just events in general that have been ongoing for a long time. Jonah is sad that our country isn't anymore what he's always been so proud of-and hasn't been even since before he was born. He wishes he was alive when it was getting started. We talked about how each generation has had challenges and that God has appointed our times-that Jonah can be like those men he's so proud of-for God's good purpose.

Then we got talking about Narnia & Aslan. It's amazing how children see the correlation so easily b/w Narnia & God's kingdom.
They felt sad for the end of Narnia. Hannah felt sad that Peter, Lucy, Edward & Susan couldn't go back to Narnia. They haven't read the last book yet, but I felt I needed to tell them about the end of Narnia & it made them sad. Then I told them the best part:

"...When Aslan said you could never go back to Narnia, he meant the Narnia you were thinking of. That was not the real Narnia. That had a beginning and an end. It was only a shadow or a copy of the real Narnia, which has always been here and always will be here: just as our own world, England and all, is only a shadow or copy of something in Aslan's real world. You need not mourn over Narnia, Lucy. All of the old Narnia that mattered, all the dear creatures, have been drawn into the real Narnia...And of course it is different; as different as a real thing is from a shadow or as waking life is from a dream."

And the words of the unicorn: "...I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this...
...Come further up, come further in!"

And they were comforted. And so were Pat & I.