Happy Halloween

Pictures from around the neighborhood.

Happy Halloween.

Tomatos

Home grown and tasty.

This one I got from Lowes already full of these beauties. Now I just have to keep them coming.

In Spirit and in Truth

God's acceptance and forgiveness does not say that everything we have done and left undone is all right. It says that we can pick up from here and move on. Freed from the burden of guilt, we can live with our real, sinful sleves, accepting ourselves because God accepts us and esteeming ourselves because if God prizes us, how can we do otherwise?
- Martha Graybeal Rowlett, from her book In Spirit and in Truth

The best kept secret

We had our first exposure to the Corona del Sol's Band program last night.

The Percussion concert and the Orange Men Group were phenomenal.

And you can't beat the $5 admission price.

Riveting!

Can you tell I reallllllyyy liked this experience? :-)

And the Stick Men were perfect too.

Just because

I have so many words but none for here.

I like images of Halloween.

Fall in the desert

In the middle of October the temperature reached 100 again. Mind you, this is Phoenix, the below sea level city in the desert.

This is what I saw this weekend.

Fruit grows here too. The senior citizens at this place will enjoy some watermelon soon.

GR Herberger Park

I can name a bunch of reasons why go here for a little bit...

Here is GR Herberger Park in Phoenix.

It is the site of a station in the Arizona Canal.

It has a bunch of waterfall features.

And it has shells, not featured here, for picking by 2 little girls.

So, if you are on Fall Break and are bored with staying home, take a drive here to get to know your city.

Boo to you too

In these hot again Arizona parts we are getting ready for Halloween.

Snowden and Grasshopper are having fun.

Remember my name

If necessary, much resolution with parents happens when they are gone.

I find the need to capture her as I saw her, as I loved her, and place her in my space where compassion, understanding, and life exist.

Becky Saratoga

She is my newest friend. A comfy bike that I have ridden plenty since her arrival on Saturday.

She is Becky and Saratoga for its model name.

So far us three girls can't get enough of her. She is a smooth rider... and the color rocks!

Music Girl

Snowden's school band performed the other day.

The room was neatly layed out, with a PowerPoint going reminding parents of things like practice slips and the need for music stands.

Mrs. W. believes they help with posture. The percussion kids of which Snowden is one, were moving around in the back. They must take turns at all the percussion instruments. These 6th graders were spectacular at this their first concert.

Parenting 101

I totally engage books in my quest to be an informed, open, understanding parent.

I see my job as a steward of God's intent for their lives.

Choices

I just read some one's view on how to best help middle school kids choose a career. This teacher simply said that kids who want to do everything can be reassured that it is possible to do just that but that it may take a few years to accomplish it.

This is so good to see because I have often been troubled by my inability to choose just one thing and have felt unsuccessful because of that.

Combining interests is even more fascinating...

She is crafty

When you have more than one child, and you are always on the lookout for individual interests in them, and you are (I am) always amazed and their skills and propensities.

Grasshopper likes to craft more than Snowden. She helped me iron these strips of fabric that are on their way of becoming a new quilt. She is delighted with the experience of making a crinkly piece of fabric nice and smooth with the hot iron.

She showed me how she starts on the right and slowly flattens the fabric as she moves the iron to the left.

I totally get that. Ironing is one activity I find to be fun.

Check out this article on religious activism

Activists on left, right share faith but little else


By Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service
Published: September 25, 2009


WASHINGTON (RNS)—A new report confirmed long-held assumptions about religious activists from the left and right. The only thing both sides seem to have in common: faith is a more important part of their lives than among the general public.
But beyond that, the two poles differ dramatically on political priorities and biblical interpretation.
If you’re a conservative religious activist, you’re likely a male evangelical who reads the Bible literally and views fighting abortion and same-sex marriage as the top political priorities.
On the other hand, if you’re a woman who attends a mainline Protestant church, hold an expansive view of Scripture and think health care and poverty are top priorities, you’re more likely to be labeled a progressive religious activist.

Anti-war protesters marched from the National Cathedral to the White House last year. At center is Sojourners/Call to Renewal founder Jim Wallis (in hat) and National Council of Churches General Secretary Bob Edgar (with clergy stole). (RNS FILE PHOTO/Courtesy of Ryan Beiler/Sojourners)
John C. Green, one of the co-authors of Faithful, Engaged and Divergent, said the surveys depict two groups that aren’t just “at loggerheads” with each other, but rather take wildly different views of hot-button political issues.
“What this suggests is that these groups are talking past each other,” said Green, director of the Bliss Institute for Applied Politics in Akron, Ohio. “They have, really, very different priorities. ... A lot of what’s going on is an argument about what the political agenda ought to be.”
Robert P. Jones, another author of the report, said the surveys also indicate differences in the ways the two groups mobilize their activism.
For example, progressive religious activists are more wired, engaging in online activism, while conservative religious activists are more involved in state campaigns and ballot initiatives. But no matter what their rate of activity, religious activists on both ends of the ideological spectrum said their faith was an important driver of their work.
“Both religious activist groups cite faith as an important factor in their voting decision,” said Jones, president of Public Religion Research. “But conservative activists were more likely to say that their faith was the most important factor in their voting decision.”
Although the findings clearly delineated differences between the groups, the authors said it showed at least one challenge for both groups—the age of activists. Close to 50 percent of both groups—49 percent of conservatives and 43 percent of progressives—were older than 65.
Researchers mailed surveys to random samples of participants of major activist organizations. The margin of error for the 1,886 usable responses from the progressive organizations was plus or minus 2.3 percentage points and the margin of error for the 1,123 usable responses from conservative organizations was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Some participating groups chose to remain anonymous, but progressive groups included Interfaith Alliance and Sojourners, and conservative groups included Concerned Women for America and the National Right to Life Committee.
The report is significant, in part, because it reflects dramatic changes in the nation’s faith-based activism, said E.J. Dionne, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who was invited to comment on the findings.
“I don’t think this project would have occurred to anyone 10 years ago because I don’t think people took the idea of progressive religious activism seriously 10 years ago,” said Dionne, a Washington Post columnist.
Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics & Public Policy Center, said the report answers questions about whether Democrats could succeed in narrowing the so-called “God gap” that had seen religious voters flocking to the GOP.

“Clearly, from this data, it’s not only closing,” he said. “It’s closed.”

Record breaking

181 women did just that on September 26, 2009 when they skydived in formation for Jump for the Cause. They helped raise almost 1 million dollars for breast cancer research.

Jump for the Cause, held three times since 1999, featured 181 women from 26 countries who jumped in formation out of nine planes at 17,000 feet.