Post Election

Probably the most significant election in my lifetime, so far, is now over.  For our family it was very disappointing.  As a family we were not exactly supporting a candidate as much as we were supporting American self-government and the candidate that we felt would best represent our christian worldview.  We involved the children as much as we ever have in an election, praying together, discussing major issues, the values of each candidate as much as we could measure them, pausing in the middle of TV ads and explaining the truth or error of them.... then praying some more.  We knew it would probably be close, but fully expected Romney to win. 

I took all the children with me to vote, not just to the polling station but all the way into the booth with me.  Showed them the ballot, explained the proposals for our state.  It was a long ballot, and they were extremely patient as I filled in all the little bubbles for about 10-15 minutes.  Little Man proudly fed my ballot into the counting machine and we were each given an "I voted!" sticker.  I got tears in my eyes as I solemnly told the children, "thousands and thousands of people have died for the right to do what I just did."  Our daughter, especially, felt the weight of that, as this is the last general election before she too will be voting.

We sat down that evening in front of the TV, each of us with our electoral college map and several blue and red crayons.  We popped popcorn and anticipated coloring huge portions of the map red.  Which of course we did, just not the most populated sections.

When Romney took an early lead the children were ecstatic!  We muted the TV in between "state calling" and played games.  When a new state was ready to be called, we un-muted the TV and ran to get our crayons.  The mood was very upbeat and fun.

By about 10:30 we realized that it was going to take much longer to count Ohio, Virginia, and Florida, so we put the boys to bed, promising to tell them first thing in the morning who had won.   We let our daughter stay up with us.... we prayed.... we watched.... we listened.... our daughter picked up on the obvious media bias toward Obama (yay for critical thinking!!).  The three of us pondered the possibility that we might not know for several more DAYS who had actually won.... and prayed that it would be decisive and we would know that night.

God answered that particular prayer with a yes, but most of the other ones with a no.  We were completely stunned when the TV commentators announced that Obama was our 44th president.  The mood in our family room was instantly deflated.  I felt myself going very rapidly through the stages of grief... first denial, then anger, then bargaining.  We watched to the bitter end to be absolutely sure.  Finally, acceptance and just an overwhelming sadness.

I was very saddened in the morning to have to tell our boys that Obama had won.  They thought at first that I was joking.  After breakfast I gathered the children together and had a very serious conversation with them about what this could mean for our country and for us, as a family.  I am not much of an alarmist, but I do not want to be unprepared, nor do I want my children to be unprepared for the trials that are sure to come.  I do not know in what form they will come, but they will come.  Each of the children prayed... such heart felt and honest and simple prayers.  How God must love the prayers of children!

Later that morning I posted this to facebook:

So, so sad for the future of our country, and for the future of Israel. As I listened to Obama's acceptance speech, so well written and delivered, it struck me how at odds his words were with the *actions* he has taken during these last 4 years as president (wanting to leave our children a country free of debt, yet wracking up the largest deficit in history, declaring we had the strongest military in the world, while actively working to dismantle it, etc..) and I was filled with profound sadness for my children. Hubby and I turned off the TV, clung to each other, and prayed like never before... begging God's forgiveness for how we as a nation have turned our backs on Him, affirming outloud the truth that HE is in control, not Obama, HE is Lord of the universe, not Obama, we put our trust in HIM, not in Obama (or any man). I went to bed, still sad, but with a less heavy heart. May the Lord help us to cling to truth, and to have the courage to stand strong for HIM during the trials that are ahead.

One of my friends, who supports Obama and his worldview, encouraged me to take heart, and said she was sad that I was sad, to which I replied:

Don't be sad that I am sad. Be sad that our country has so turned its back on the God who, by His providence and grace, allowed it to be formed in the first place. My sorrow is not over Romney's loss, nor even over Obama's win, exactly. But over what his win MEANS for our country. How he will interpret his win, and what may be irreparably done in the next four years. There will be decisions that harm us as a country that cannot be reversed. There very well may be sovereignty lost that cannot be regained. My sorrow is for my children ~ that they will grow up in, and inherit, a country far different than the one I grew up in. One that is increasingly hostile to their faith, and opposed to their deeply held, biblical beliefs. I do take heart, because my hope is in the Lord and not in any government! But in studying American history as intentionally as our family does, it is deeply saddening to see the erosion of our country from within. I am not speaking just of specific issues on which we both know that we disagree, but also on the very foundation of our government itself. I'm glad we can agree that God is in charge, and because He is, I trust that He is allowing what will come, and that He will be with His children as they go through it.

That first post-election day was a grieving day for me.  I got very little else done.  But Thursday morning, I woke up galvanized for action!  If this was, indeed, a wake up call to God's children, I heard it loud and clear.  I am awake!  God help me to be more faithful to you, more faithful to my husband, more intentional with my children.  Help me to be more aware of what my government is doing, more mindful of world events, more dedicated to sharing God's good news with the lost, more compassionate to the hurting.  Help us as a family to be prepared for financial hardship, to be prepared to defend our faith, not just in big ways but in small every day ways.  Help us to be READY for what comes next, whatever that may be.  Awake, watchful, and ready.  

And most of all, help us to be ready for our heavenly bridegroom.  "When He shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in Him be found.  Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.  On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand!  All other ground is sinking sand."

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." ~ Galatians 6:9


I have been struggling lately with knowing what to write on my blog. This is not because there is nothing going on to blog about, because there is. It is also not because I haven't taken pictures, because I have (long time readers, you know how I love to post pics!). We have been exceptionally busy with soccer season (3 playing this fall) and all of "life", but I have been going through the motions almost automatically while my heart and mind have been far, far away.

I have not been entirely sure what I was feeling, so therefore not able to describe it to others. But I finally realized where my heart and mind have been.

They have been grieving for my country.

Every day, literally, I receive emails urging me to call my Congressmen or the White House switchboard about some freedom that is being threatened by proposed legislation. Some of them I have called on. All of them I have prayed for. It requires a tremendous amount of energy to stay abreast of all the changes that are in the wind right now for our country. And all of them, without exception, are changes that will limit our freedom of speech, our freedom of choice, and even our freedom to vote for change. It is overwhelming. And it is sad.

In our homeschool we study history on a 4 year cycle with Tapestry of Grace, each time through learning at an ever deeper level. Last year we studied Year 3 - the 1800's, this year we are working through Year 4 - the 1900's. Our studies include many countries and world events, but there is a thread of U.S. history that runs throughout years 2, 3 and 4. It has been so fascinating to learn about people and events that merged together to shape the country we live in. How the Constitution was written, how the founding fathers wrestled with each article in it. How people in different regions lived, what daily life was like, the tension between states rights and a strong federal government, how technology changed our culture. How we emerged as a world power and how our relationships with other nations necessarily took on more significance. All of these things are fresh in my mind. I have gained a tremendous appreciation for how our nation was actually formed and what the founders intended when they labored through its birth. I have grown to love and be grateful for my country in deeper, more purposeful ways than ever before.

So it has been very, very sad for me to realize that while I am busy learning to cook with beans and homeschooling my children and chauffeuring them to soccer, the freedoms our founding fathers worked so hard to give us, and that countless men and women have given their lives to preserve, are quietly and systematically being stripped away.

It is not my intent in this post to bash President Obama or the Democrats as a group. I know and admire several Democrats, and they are not the enemy. Nor is it my intent to question the motives of those proposing "bad" legislation. I do, in personal moments, sometimes question this, but in the public forum of this blog that is not my intent. I am still, possibly naiively, willing to assume that they love our country too, just that their views on the best course of action are different than mine.

It is my intention to share from my heart how our current course saddens me and causes me to grieve that what was gained at such a high cost can be endangered so easily. It is also my intent in this post to encourage those of you who may also be concerned to do your own research, know the facts, and then act on the information if you feel led to do so.

Please consider the following:

The so called "hate crimes" verbage which the Senate attached to the defense authorization bill and which is probably being voted on today, would give courts an open door to prosecute preachers who publicly read God's own words about homosexuality from the Bible. This bill would also make pedophiles a protected class under federal law. But because it is attached to the defense authorization bill, which funds our military, those congressmen voting against it would be vilified for not supporting our troops.

The healthcare reform bill(s) being considered are just bad bills. If you read the House version (HR3200 - I have read parts - it's over 1,000 pages long) I think you will agree that it is just plain bad and just plain EXPENSIVE! I don't understand how any politician from any party could vote for it in its present form. Here are just a few of its problems (read more here):

It would mandate that a political appointee would decide which benefits (treatments/practitioners/drugs) were or were not essential for you as a patient (section 122).

It would set up a Healthcare Insurance Exchange (commonly referred to now as simply "the exchange") to establish federal control over the definition, amount, and type of insurance options available and to eliminate a free and thriving market in health insurance (section 201).

It would coerce physicians into participating (section 223), and also coerce employers and employees to participate or be taxed (sections 312-313).

It would control the amount that physicians can be paid for their services (sections 1121-1122) and would use private medical records for surveys and research without patient or physician consent (section 1401).

Private insurers would be taxed in order to fund a new "Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research", which tax would be passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums (sections 4375-4377).

And then there's the U.N. Climate Treaty which will be discussed in Copenhagen this December. According to this article today in the New York Times, it appears doubtful that the United States will be ready to sign a Climate Treaty this year (which is VERY good news!) but the talks will continue and its time will come. If the U.S. signs such a treaty and it is ratified, by our own law it supercedes the authority of our constitution. The President would essentially be ceding U.S. Sovereignty in order to "protect the planet". It would not be able to be undone. There would be no do-overs. How could anyone willingly sign away the rights that so many fought and debated and wrote and labored to give us?

Because U.N. treaties trump our constitution, the signing of any U.N. treaty of course bodes ill for the United States. This means that even though the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child may have been intended as a tool to protect and provide for children around the world affected by poverty and abuse every day, it is also something to fight and pray against. Can you imagine being sued by your underage child because you did something perceived as "against their best interest?" Because its language can be interpreted too broadly, and because it would supercede all federal and state laws regarding children that are currently on the books, it is a bad law. Read more about it here.

All information listed above is true and accurate and current to the best of my ability, but I am not a political or law expert, and I don't even usually write controversial posts. So please research and read and find out more for yourselves.

Freedom is precious. It is worth fighting for. I am sad and weary, but I am not ignorant and I am not beaten. It is worth every minute spent in prayer, and every phone call made to a congressman, and every vote for a person who pledges to govern according to the constitution, to preserve the freedoms that we enjoy for our children and grand-children. None of my readers are founding fathers, and probaby very few have been in the armed forces. But we are currently in a battle every bit as real as the ones fought in debate and in arms by those who came before us. Like them, let it be said of us, we did not give up. We did not back down. We did not "grow weary of doing good".

Thoughts on the Election

One of my overriding thoughts today is, "I'm so glad it's over!". No more negative campaigning, no more phone calls cluttering our voicemail, no more fliers on our door. Another overriding feeling today is one of extreme disappointment. I am not happy with the outcome. If the election had been about race alone I would be rather happy that an African American had won. I mean, how cool is that???? It is such a significant achievement and I sincerely hope it signals a healing to the black/white tensions plaguing our country for generations. But the election was NOT about race and, almost ironically, I thought of a black man's eloquent words spoken 50 years ago: that men be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. Many of us did that. We judged Obama based on the content of his character and found it lacking. I hope he will do some positive things for our country. I am praying for him to do so. But all other issues pale in comparison to the slaughter of millions of innocent children that is coming during the next 4 years. The "working together" rhetoric that both candidates spoke of last night is all well and good, but when you have a president who is actively working to expand abortion and you have others actively working to limit it, I don't see how you can really work together.

Another feeling I have today is one of gratitude for the republic we live in and our constitution that was so carefully crafted by our founding fathers. Last night we experienced the beginning of a radical shift in our government, and it was accomplished peacefully. In January there will be a transfer of power from our current administration to an opposing one, and it will be accomplished peacefully. No violence. No weapons. No military takeover, or coup. No dictator. No fear for our safety or mad scramble to evacuate the country. Wow! How thankful I am for the form of government our founding fathers saw fit to implement. Though I am not happy about the next administration, our system of government is pretty hard to beat.

And the last thought I want to share is that in God's economy, nothing has changed. He is still on the throne. He is still in control. He is still faithful, merciful, gracious, loving, slow to anger, just. He is the SAME. Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall, leaders come and leaders go, economies swing back and forth between being strong and being weak. Through it all, God is the one constant, unchanging truth. How thankful I am for Him! I told the children during our devotions this morning that our hope is not in a man or even in an office. Our hope is IN THE LORD. Then we sang this hymn, and I think it's a fitting way to end this post:

Our hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' Name.
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand!
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

Author Randy Alcorn's thoughts on Barack Obama

My friend votemom sent this to me today, and I wanted to share it with my blog readers. I think Randy does a good job of articulating his initial hopes for Obama's candidacy, and how they were dashed after examining Obama's own words and voting record on the issue of abortion. This is some of what we don't hear in the mainstream media. Well worth reading.

http://randyalcorn.blogspot.com/2008/10/not-cool-obamas-pro-abortion-stance.html

Illegal immigrants

I have struggled all week with knowing how to blog about this. Underlying all else we have done this week has been a situation involving a dear family at our church who are originally from an eastern european country that was formerly communist.

The father was forcibly removed from their apartment last Sunday night, apparently in violation of an INS ruling some time ago that basically said they had to return to their home country. They were unaware they were not in compliance with all the necessary forms, paperwork and regulations. They have 4 small children that have all been born here, they have learned conversational english very well, they love the Lord with all their heart and are in church virtually every time the doors are open. There is much more that I could say about this family and their situation. But I am tired and sad and at a loss for words (better enjoy that last one while you can, that rarely happens). It is highly probable that they will be deported in the very near future. They will be returning to a hostile environment. Meanwhile the husband sits in jail and the wife, who is trying to prepare for a major unplanned move, is not allowed to see him.

I have been struck with two major insights during this week. The first one is how little I have cared about immigration policy up until now. It's just not an issue that has affected me before. There are other issues that are more "hot button" for me and that I care deeply about. Immigration policy was not one of them. You better believe I will pay more attention to it now. Regardless of how you feel about this issue overall, to quote my friend votemom, "behind every 'illegal alien' is a story." This story has completely captivated and distracted my family this week. Their oldest daughter is in sunday school class with our son C. C sobbed yesterday, great wracking sobs, at the thought that he wouldn't see her anymore. We have prayed together as a family more this week than we ever have before.

The second thing that has struck me is how this family, after arriving in our country, has been taken advantage of at every turn. And yet they have also been loved on and ministered to by God's people at every turn. They have had crooked attorneys (which appears to be the main reason for their current situation), a landlord that would not move them out of a mold infested apartment (it got so bad that the pregnant wife vomited blood every day for weeks and the the health department finally "forced" him to move them to another unit), employers that took advantage of them.

They have also had bags of food and meals show up at their door, wrapped Christmas gifts given to them, a reading tutor work with the mom, free education for their children, play dates with other moms and children, the mom's first ever baby shower (she had never even heard of that concept!), the gift of true, deep friendship. They have, in turn, been extremely generous with what little they had. Do you remember back in October when I blogged about a young mom in our church who died unexpectedly? We collected meals for the widowed father and his young son, and this "illegal" family contributed by far the most.....two huge coolers full of food!

I am both angered by the injustice shown to them, and humbled and grateful for the love shown to them. It's like their situation is a little microcosm of the realities of living in this fallen world, yet with the reminder that God is still in control. When I encounter new friends that are from other countries, I want to be a person who shows love and not injustice. I want to be like this family, who give generously because they've been given so much.

If you feel led, please pray for this family. We know that this did not surprise God and that He is able to save, protect, nurture, and use them wherever they are. We want them to stay here, but if His plan involves them returning to their home country, they will go with our love and blessing and prayers.