We had a wonderful weekend. My daughter Remi, two nieces and nephew were at a church retreat (that's not why we had a wonderful weekend! We missed Remi!). Also, one of my friends had a couple of her kids at a weekend church retreat. Lael, Arden and my niece Payton filled out their application to again attend Summit this summer. My daughter Whitney and her husband Brian got home from a cruise. They had a great time, and I'm glad they're home. Even though we had a fun weekend (more on that below), I had other things weighing on my mind. Mainly, I worry about the direction our country is headed. A lot of people talk about how most college professors are so liberal and will attack kids of faith. Well, it is happening to high school and even younger kids. A teacher in one of my kids' classes has been telling our kids there is no such thing as right and wrong, because it is all relative depending on what culture you live in. It's logic like that that leads to the acceptance of honor killings of young Arab girls who don't want to live in the stone age. And we supposedly live in a conservative town!
I think part of the problem is with the church community itself. A lot of Christians have accepted the position that the Bible is not literal. Sadly, even President Bush, whom I admire very much, believes that. I was talking to a very knowledgeable Christian man this weekend and asked him, "Well how far from the Bible can you stray before you're not a Christian?" His answer was, "It is like putting your leg in a street of traffic. How far can you stick it out before it is hit by a bus."
So what worries me more than liberal teachers and professors are Christians who are confusing our kids with their messed up theology. I believe the Bible is true, and its teachings on morality are to be taken literally. But my experience these days is that if you stand up for what the Bible teaches (for example, by speaking out against gay marriage), you are labeled a "hater," and often times the people applying the label are other Christians. Just because I won't stand still while much of society tries to brainwash our kids that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle choice, doesn't mean I hate gay people. And just because I don't want my kids' schools passing out condoms or don't want to buy birth control for a law student who should probably spend more time hitting the books than the sheets, doesn't make me a woman-hater. I really hope I'm not as alone in my thinking as I sometimes feel like I am.
On a lighter note, we did have a fun weekend getting together Saturday night with several other families with kids from China. We had dinner at our usual Mexican hangout. And, as usual, we kind of took the place over. Our kids are pretty comfortable there--maybe a tad too comfortable. We got together again this morning for breakfast at Bob Evans with some great friends we don't get to see nearly often enough. Once again, we kind of took over Bob Evans (at least the section we were in). I looked up at one point, and a lady was standing facing our table just staring at us (she was facing the opposite direction from the table where her party was sitting). Our waitress asked her, "may I help you?"; and she responded, "No. I'm just standing here." Believe me, though, with eight kids from China, I'm used to getting stared it. I've learned to just roll with it.
These were taken the morning after.
I like Dennis Miller! We're trying to get tickets to see him and Bill O'Reilly when they come to town.
