I got this from one of my kids awesome teachers today, women go make a difference!!
WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE
This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging through the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917,when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf
So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because--why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thoughtkept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'
HBO released the movie on video and DVD I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I thinka little shock therapy is in order.
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'
Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.
We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.History is being made today.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The Invisible Mother
I got this in an email today and it was too good not to share!!
The Invisible Mother
It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously, not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.
I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? & Can you open this?Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England.
Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'
It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe .
I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:
'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:
No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.
They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte . I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.' At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life.
It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.
The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.When I really think about it, I don't want my daughter to tell the friend she's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want her to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to her friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.'As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot see if we're doing it right.
And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.
Great Job, MOM!
The Invisible Mother
It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously, not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.
I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? & Can you open this?Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England.
Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'
It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe .
I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:
'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:
No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.
They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte . I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.' At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life.
It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.
The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.When I really think about it, I don't want my daughter to tell the friend she's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want her to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to her friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.'As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot see if we're doing it right.
And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.
Great Job, MOM!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Devotional
This was a very fitting devotional today!!
Today's Truth 3 John 1:4 "I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth." (NLT)
Friend to FriendAs I type this, my oldest daughter, Stephanie, is preparing to go off to college. She leaves in a little over two weeks. It is so bitter-sweet I can hardly stand it! They say that once you have a child, you forever wear your heart on the outside of your body. I can relate to that statement.
She made a decision a few months ago to stay home and go to a college close by. I thought it was strange at the time because she had already picked out a great Christian University to attend that was about two hours away. Of course, this change in her plans excited me as I was thrilled she would be near us! However, she began to regret her decision after awhile and I saw her entire demeanor change.
She was honest with me about three weeks ago and said she made the decision because she didn't want me to be hurt if she left. I never asked her to stay, but somehow I must have left the impression that I was going to fall apart the day she walked out the door! I was devastated that I did that to her.
Now I was ready to let her go. She is going to her original University choice and I couldn't be happier for her. Sure, I will miss her deeply but seeing her so miserable out of the will of God made me realize that I'd rather let her go than keep her here and have her walking in disobedience and misery. Who am I to stand in the way of what God has for her?
I'm realizing as my children are all growing up that letting go is hard and exciting all at the same time. Honestly, I think I'm at the place where I'm more excited for her than I am sad for me, but it's been a tough year. She's not really my child anyway -- she belongs to God. He has plans for her that are so exciting and wonderful that I can't help but be excited for her! I'm so blessed to have her in my life and as long as I point her to Him, I've done my job well.
I still have three more children in the nest to nurture for now but it's time for my Stephanie to try out those beautiful wings now. Fly, baby! Fly!
I'm reminded today of these lyrics from Find Your Wings by Mark Harris:
I pray that God would fill your heart with dreams And that faith gives you the courage To dare to do great things I'm here for you whatever this life brings So let my love give you roots And help you find your wings
It's not living if you don't reach for the sky I'll have tears as you take off But I'll cheer as you fly
Let's PrayOh, Father! You have given us such a gift in our precious children. Thank You for allowing us to be used by You to help them grow. Please give us grace as we raise them and inevitably, let them go. Thank You for the fact that they are Your children and You love them even more than we do and that even though our job is to let them go, Your job is to hold on to them for dear life! Please care for them, protect them and direct their steps. You are faithful! In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Today's Truth 3 John 1:4 "I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth." (NLT)
Friend to FriendAs I type this, my oldest daughter, Stephanie, is preparing to go off to college. She leaves in a little over two weeks. It is so bitter-sweet I can hardly stand it! They say that once you have a child, you forever wear your heart on the outside of your body. I can relate to that statement.
She made a decision a few months ago to stay home and go to a college close by. I thought it was strange at the time because she had already picked out a great Christian University to attend that was about two hours away. Of course, this change in her plans excited me as I was thrilled she would be near us! However, she began to regret her decision after awhile and I saw her entire demeanor change.
She was honest with me about three weeks ago and said she made the decision because she didn't want me to be hurt if she left. I never asked her to stay, but somehow I must have left the impression that I was going to fall apart the day she walked out the door! I was devastated that I did that to her.
Now I was ready to let her go. She is going to her original University choice and I couldn't be happier for her. Sure, I will miss her deeply but seeing her so miserable out of the will of God made me realize that I'd rather let her go than keep her here and have her walking in disobedience and misery. Who am I to stand in the way of what God has for her?
I'm realizing as my children are all growing up that letting go is hard and exciting all at the same time. Honestly, I think I'm at the place where I'm more excited for her than I am sad for me, but it's been a tough year. She's not really my child anyway -- she belongs to God. He has plans for her that are so exciting and wonderful that I can't help but be excited for her! I'm so blessed to have her in my life and as long as I point her to Him, I've done my job well.
I still have three more children in the nest to nurture for now but it's time for my Stephanie to try out those beautiful wings now. Fly, baby! Fly!
I'm reminded today of these lyrics from Find Your Wings by Mark Harris:
I pray that God would fill your heart with dreams And that faith gives you the courage To dare to do great things I'm here for you whatever this life brings So let my love give you roots And help you find your wings
It's not living if you don't reach for the sky I'll have tears as you take off But I'll cheer as you fly
Let's PrayOh, Father! You have given us such a gift in our precious children. Thank You for allowing us to be used by You to help them grow. Please give us grace as we raise them and inevitably, let them go. Thank You for the fact that they are Your children and You love them even more than we do and that even though our job is to let them go, Your job is to hold on to them for dear life! Please care for them, protect them and direct their steps. You are faithful! In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
hmm... here we go again..
So everyone here is quickly going down with a horrible cold. I can't say I am surprised with how we have been running lately. Football, and volleyball have begun the daily running :)
I have had yet another health snag... 3 ovarian cysts this time. They are wanting to wait and watch fearing I could lose both ovaries this time :( I am kinda attached to them so waiting is a great idea. So like always I have started a new supplement :) The one for the MS works so great I pray this one will too!!
We are also praying over some situations that have come up that could greatly reduce the stress in our home :)
S returned home and has much worse behavior which is what we expected. He and Q are desperate to not be in the same house, or family.
Todd is literally down with this cold so please pray he feels a lot better quickly.
A has bronchitis but won't let it slow her down. She had her first volleyball game yesterday and did great! And ran the mile Friday she is so determined and strong!
A & J both did a great job and passed hunters safety. It was a pretty rigorous class too. A few kids got kicked out for being a little late ,even on the last day. Serious stuff!
Princess even ran the 1/2 mile. She is such a big girl. She is doing great with school. It still amazes me she is 5 doing 1st grade work... Wasn't she just born yesterday?
I have had yet another health snag... 3 ovarian cysts this time. They are wanting to wait and watch fearing I could lose both ovaries this time :( I am kinda attached to them so waiting is a great idea. So like always I have started a new supplement :) The one for the MS works so great I pray this one will too!!
We are also praying over some situations that have come up that could greatly reduce the stress in our home :)
S returned home and has much worse behavior which is what we expected. He and Q are desperate to not be in the same house, or family.
Todd is literally down with this cold so please pray he feels a lot better quickly.
A has bronchitis but won't let it slow her down. She had her first volleyball game yesterday and did great! And ran the mile Friday she is so determined and strong!
A & J both did a great job and passed hunters safety. It was a pretty rigorous class too. A few kids got kicked out for being a little late ,even on the last day. Serious stuff!
Princess even ran the 1/2 mile. She is such a big girl. She is doing great with school. It still amazes me she is 5 doing 1st grade work... Wasn't she just born yesterday?
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