Daniel: Superhero!

Daniel is my eldest nephew. He just turned 7 years old. I have always thought he was the most beautiful child ever born. Even when he is being silly, his beauty is obvious. His inner beauty is even more impressive. He already shows such a tender and sincere heart. He prays deep and sincere prayers for such a young boy. He adores his younger siblings and is such an excellent helper for his mother.
Like many eldest children, he is a superachiever. One thing that was really unique about him was that from the time he was an infant, he would keep at a task until he learned it. It was a good thing he learned quickly, because he would scream with frustration until he could get it perfect. He learned to crawl, walk, talk, etc. far earlier than most children because of this determination. I remember visiting the week he turned 2. We were sitting in the back seat of a car. He was looking at a book of animals. He would point to an animal and say the name. He got them all right with one exception. When he pointed to the porcupine, he said squirrel. I said, "Oh no, that is a porcupine." But I kind of mumbled it because I realized that it was probably too advanced for him. But immediately he repeated por-cu-pine. He repeated it over and over the entire car trip. I was in shock. He will be in 3rd grade next year even though he is only 7.

What else describes Daniel? He is a fantastic baseball player. Daniel loves superheroes, transformers, Star Wars, and olives. He says the funniest things and likes to talk like his mom. He is very mature and obedient. Daniel's favorite color is red.

Featuring Family

I would like to do a series where I feature various family members. I am going to start with my sister Ruth's family. Ruth is married to James. They have 5 children: 4 boys and a princess. From eldest to youngest they are Daniel, David, Grace, Luke, and Ben. I call them my babies to which my husband always retorts: "They aren't your babies." But I love them as much as I would if they were my own. They are the best behaved bunch you'll ever meet because their parents do a fantastic job of raising them. We don't live close so I don't see them as often as I'd like. My sister homeschools them and does an excellent job.

New Poll on Mac and Cheese

Some of you may be following the mac and cheese debate in the comments for "Even Hot Dogs Deserve an Education" post. Because this has become so popular I have created a poll to the right under the "Blog Archive" section. Please vote!

Cross Motif: The “Excruciating” Psalm

Psalm 22 picks up our cross theme again with an emotional look at the physical torture of crucifixion described in detail centuries before this form of tortuous death was invented by the Persians in 300-400 B.C. It is quite possibly the most horrific death ever invented. The English word “excruciating” is derived from the word “crucifixion.”

In this Psalm, David is going on and on about his enemies (a very common theme with him because he spent so much time hiding in caves eluding Saul). But this Psalm starts out with “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” These are the same words uttered by Jesus on the cross (Matthew 27:46) so we can already see that Jesus was purposely making a parallel to Psalm 22 by quoting it. No doubt he did this to highlight the other parallels in this Psalm. He was actually living out what David described feeling.

When someone is crucified, nails are driven through both wrists damaging the median nerve. This sends constant shooting pain up the arms. When the cross is lifted, the weight of the whole body pulls down on the nailed wrists and dislocates the shoulders and elbows. It becomes difficult to breathe—especially to exhale because one must push up on the nailed feet to catch a breath (to move the diaphragm up). Because exhalation is so hard, carbon dioxide builds up in the blood. The heart beats faster to circulate oxygen. Here is an excerpt from a website describing what happens next: “The decreased oxygen (due to the difficulty in exhaling) causes damage to the tissues and the capillaries begin leaking watery fluid from the blood into the tissues. This results in a build-up of fluid around the heart (pericardial effusion) and lungs (pleural effusion). The collapsing lungs, failing heart, dehydration, and the inability to get sufficient oxygen to the tissues essentially suffocate the victim.” To read more see http://www.apu.edu/infocus/2002/03/crucifixion/

Now that you’ve seen the medical description, check out what Psalm 22 describes. In
verse 14 it says, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within me.” It mentions the bones out of joint (remember the shoulders and elbows being pulled out of joint). When the lungs fill with fluid, it would feel like one was being poured out like water. When the area around the heart filled with fluid it would feel like the heart was melting like wax. The tissues begin to dehydrate causing one to feel extreme thirst. Verse 15 says, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and you lay me in the dust of death.”

In verse 16 it says, “They pierced my hands and my feet.” You can’t get more explicit than that—crucifixion does that exactly. In verse 18 it says, “They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” In Matthew 27:35 it says, “And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots.” As you can see the parallel is unmistakable. David was prophesying about what would happen to Jesus on the cross many years later.

Passion Flower

An observant blogwatcher friend pointed out that she thinks my unidentified flower to the right is called a passion flower. I looked this up. It looks very similar and probably is it, but none of the images looked quite like it. It is definitely blue while the passion flower is usually purple. It is close enough.

The flower's name is "passion" but does not refer to love. It refers to the Passion of Christ on the cross. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries discovered this flower and adopted its unique physical structures as symbols of the Crucifixion. For example: the radial filaments which can number more than a hundred and vary from flower to flower represent the Crown of Thorns. The ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles. The top 3 stigmata represent the 3 nails and the lower 5 anthers represent the 5 wounds. I thought this was cool and wanted to pass it along.

Comments

If you have never read the comments to any of my posts you are missing out. Sometimes the funniest things are what other people are saying to add to it. You will get a peek into some of my family history as well. It is easy to do. Just click on the underlined phrase that says "2 comments" or "6 comments" at the bottom of any post. This is also what you click on to make comments of your own (even if it says "0 comments"). You will find that I usually respond to the comments so check back in a few days to see what I said in response.

Here's another tip: You can usually click on any picture to see a larger close-up.

Even Hot Dogs Deserve an Education

Anyone who has partaken of a meal with me knows I'm a slow eater. I'm the perfect match for my husband, because he takes extra time to eat due to his disability. Growing up it was definitely a sore spot with my family of scarf-it-downers. I love my great aunt Floy who whispered to me that I was the smart one because it is better for your digestive system to take your time. She had perfect timing because my persecutors were especially grating that day.


Why do I eat so slowly? Well, mostly it is because I chew very thoroughly (including mashed potatoes). But when it came to hotdogs, I had another reason. When I was young, I would cut the hotdog up into pieces, arrange them on my plate, and garnish them with ketchup and mustard. Nothing odd there. But wait! Here it comes: I would play "school" with them. The tallest one would be the teacher and then arranged in a semi-circle around her would be the students. I would think of a reason why one of the students would need to leave the classroom: Sally needed to go to the bathroom; Bobby (always the name I gave bullies) tried to trip Sally on her way out and then was sent to the principal's office; Joey got sick and had to go to the nurse; etc. As they exited the classroom (plate) they would go into my mouth. But they would not get eaten until I'd thought up a reason for them to leave class. My family members had no idea I was creating plots for my hotdogs. I guess I was off in my own little world. Did I mention that we did not have a TV? I had to create my own entertainment!

Taxes, Uggh!

My spring break is this week. So far it hasn't been too much fun. I'm trying to get the not so fun stuff out of the way first. Saturday I worked on an assignment for my online class and did laundry. Sunday after church, Dwight & I did go and see "Horton Hears a Who" (which was cute) while we put the car in for an oil change. Monday, a physical therapist and occupational therapist came over to help assess Dwight. They are going to help us get a new wheelchair. They were really nice. I cleaned and organized and read books required for my class.

Today I did taxes. It was no fun at all (took me over 7 hours) and we owe money :-( for federal taxes. We get a refund with state taxes. When you combine the 2 we come out with a loss of $150. Well, I'm glad I was in no hurry. More bad news--I registered for summer classes and the cost has gone up $500 over last summer. The fees are huge and I don't get tuition reimbursement from my job for them. What is most aggravating is that the fees are for things like parking and the athletic center. I don't use these things because I only go on campus for a couple meetings. The classes are 90% online. I do hope we get quite a bit back from the economic stimulus package. I could use some financial cheering up. I'm trying not to think about the $1,000 of dental work Dwight needs.

I'm Baaaack!

Okay, I realize that it has been close to a week and a half since my last post. Things have been crazzzy! Besides, many of you are probably just getting a chance to log on for the first time and reading the old posts. By the way--all previous posts can be viewed by going to the Archive section on the right (mid way down). Posts are listed with most recent at the top. So read from bottom to top if you want to read it in chronological order.

Where have I been? Last week I came home from work late each evening and most nights I still had work to do at home. I have been training new teachers. Thankfully, one will be taking over my 3 classes so that I'll be free to do the media center, test coordinator, high school lead teacher, and mentoring tasks I'm required to do. I've been pulled in so many directions that I have felt like I'm failing at all of it. Truth is, all of these things are new and challenging to me. I am having to take on a great deal of leadership. I am a reluctant leader, but I do enjoy mentoring. I have always preferred educating adults rather than children. I had some catching up to do to prepare for the new teacher--grading, organizing, and getting things set up for him to finish out the year. I think he is apprehensive about teaching Geography since it is out of area for him. Of course it was out of area for me as well, but it seemed like a blessing considering that I taught Biology last year. Those who know me well, know that science and math are not my forte.

This gets me to thinking about what I have taught in my past 2 years at my job: Library Skills, Study Skills, Journalism, Literature/Composition, World Literature, Biology, American Government, World Geography. If variety is the spice of life, then my job is spicy hot.