Years ago, my dh was asked to be treasurer of our church. At the same time, a gal who was the accountant for her husband's business took on the task of being bookkeeper for the church. They both wanted to see the present records, and discovered that no one had balanced the church checking account in years. (!!) The accountant tackled the pile of unopened bank statements and did her best to get things figured out. There was a huge discrepancy from one month the next, where the starting balance in the account for one month was something like $18,000 greater than the ending balance on the previous month's statement. Since this had happened years before, the bank essentially said it was our gain. I think the church board voted to put the money in a separate account because they didn't feel like it really belonged to us. We moved away shortly after that, so I never found out what happened with that money.

My dh's kids were something like 13, 15, and 18 when we met. They knew me by my first name well before we were married, so it just continued.

On my way to church this morning, I had this thought: I have seen a couple of good, articulate, thoughtful, articles that conclude that from a Christian perspective, bringing down the flag is the right thing to do. I have seen a lot of articles that conclude from a heritage or political point of view that keeping the flag up is the right thing to do. (I cannot say that I recall one that was articulate or had sufficient documentations to back up their "historical facts".) But I have not seen a single article -- well written or not -- from a Christian perspective that keeping the flag up is the right thing to do. I have seen many Christians say that it should stay up, but not in the context of "I come to this conclusion as a follower of Christ, and here is why."

My husband used to say, "I'm not lazy. I was born tired."

I enjoy ice cream, but I don't appreciate the difference between the bargain stuff and the expensive brands. I'd rather have a bowl of ice cream every evening after dinner than one little serving once a week.

I'm sorry, but coconut and chocolate together is just wrong.

If it's available, I'll choose Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough every time. I also like Moose Tracks and a few others. If the choice is just chocolate or vanilla, though, I'll go with vanilla.

Here is what I wrote Thursday evening: Throughout this week, I have heard a lot of people talk about “honoring our heritageâ€. Tomorrow morning, the Confederate Battle flag will be removed from its position flying outside the South Carolina statehouse. I feel compelled to be there, to watch this historic event. This evening, I realized that by being there, I will be honoring my heritage. No, I don’t know of any family members who fought for the Confederacy. Or the Union, either. But, here are some stories of the heritage of my family: My great-grandmother came to the United States in the late 1800s. She loved America, and was the matriarch of her family. During World War II, her family was questioned by the authorities, because someone had reported them for being spies. Her “crime†was that she kept a world map on the wall, and every evening she gathered the family together to listen to the news from the war fronts, using the map to trace the movements of our troops. This was considered suspicious activity, simply because her last name was of Italian origin. Granny was able to show that she was a loyal American, supporting our country. And she stayed loyal to her adopted country throughout her long life. Also during that same war, my grandfather spoke out against the internment of Japanese-Americans. My mother, as a little girl, stood and watched – confused -- as some of her friends and classmates were loaded onto buses and sent away. My grandfather refused to take part in the buying of his neighbors’ possessions at greatly reduced prices as they hurriedly sold what they couldn’t take with them. He turned down a lucrative business offer during the war because the reputation of his family name was more important than the money he would have made. He was a man of integrity. (He was also a great story-teller, but that’s another topic…) My father is my hero. He was raised in a small town in the middle of the country, where narrowly held views of “others†were rampant. He grew up hearing some awful things about people of different races and nationalities. He was able to overcome those prejudices as he moved away to go to college, then served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, and finally settled in another state. He taught me that we don’t judge people by the color of their skin, by their nationality or ethnicity, by their economic status, or any other such thing. He taught me to do the right thing, even if it’s not the popular thing. He taught me to treat people as I’d like to be treated. He taught me that we must use our words carefully, to build up and not tear down others. He taught me that we can disagree with someone on an issue and still be civil. He taught me that honesty and integrity were important. He taught me to take a quick inventory of myself at the end of the day, to confess any wrongdoing, and vow to do better the next day. I hope that I have done well in passing along this heritage to my three sons. I have taught them that we use the word “hate†only when referring to a sin or injustice. (Or sometimes the Dodgers or Yankees.) I trust that Granny Ida, Pa and Dad would be proud of the young men they have grown to be. I know that I am! So tomorrow, I plan to honor both my ancestors and my sons as I go to Columbia to observe that flag coming down. Joe, John, and Timothy -- please don't lose sight of your heritage.

1989 -- the Loma Prieta earthquake. I was stretched out on my couch, waiting for my husband to get home so we could watch the game together. We lived about half way between the epicenter and the ballpark, so we were hit by it and lost power before it got to San Francisco. It was days later before I saw the replays showing what you remember. I was 38 weeks pregnant with my first son. I had been to the doctor just the day before and she told me things were happening, and that I should be prepared for labor any day. My folks were freaking out because they couldn't get hold of us. We were without phone service for quite a while.

Around here, the Parks and Recreation department regulates who can sell any goods or services on the grounds of such events. When they were younger, my guys thought it would be a great money-maker to buy drinks in bulk, load them into our ice chest on wheels, and walk around the soccer fields selling them. It wasn't allowed because of the contract Parks and Rec had with the concession truck that was parked at one end of the facility.

I have begun to do so. I have shared some on Facebook, and will copy over here if you're interested. I actually wrote an "essay" the night before to explain why I felt compelled to go.

I have lived on both coasts, and have heard or used all of those terms. I don't know exactly where the lines are drawn in my mind. I remember disagreeing with my Grandmother, though, who said that she lived "in the West". She was in Kansas. When I said that we (in California) lived in the West, she said that no, we lived in the Far West.

I am still trying to take it all in. I was there when the Confederate Battle Flag was brought down from in front of the South Carolina statehouse this morning. I am so glad that I made the effort to get up early and drive down there. What an experience it was!

You're correct -- I combined two parts of the report I was hearing without thinking it through. "They" had already banned the sale of stand-alone Confederate flag items at the Gettysburg park giftshop. This had nothing to do with this amendment today. This amendment would ban the display of Confederate flags on the graves of Confederate soldiers buried in cemeteries run by the National Park service.

I think an IRL friend of mine is / was IRL friends with them.

WHOA! If I understand correctly, they are talking about including removing the confederate battle flags marking the graves of confederate soldiers at federally-maintained cemeteries, like Gettysburg. I think this is wrong!!

Thank you for sharing this.

Stumbled across CSPAN just now. There is a bill (I think) being read that would have the US House of Representatives remove any Confederate flags and state flags with any semblance of the confederate flag. Lots of yelling going on. This could get interesting.

I think I'll be heading to Columbia in the morning to witness the taking down of the flag. By the way, I know for sure that at least one BJU grad voted to bring down the flag yesterday (and today). (edited because my days have run together)

While reading Facebook posts this morning, I am struck by how hateful and illogical the pro-flaggers are. It is really sad.

Yes! I get that when speaking, it is easy to get lost in what the subject of your sentence was, so that the verb doesn't actually agree as it should. That kind of stuff I can overlook. And I've stumbled over pronunciation of words, especially when I'm impassioned about the topic. So that doesn't bother me too much. But I would have thought that, at least at the beginning of the day, these representatives would have thought through what they wanted to say, and that they would have at least made an outline or had other notes to keep their points flowing logically. I know I'm prejudiced :laugh: , but I thought that for the most part, the anti-flaggers spoke much more eloquently and logically than the pro-flaggers.

But when their kids go to college, it's not such a shock. If they end up at a state school with some state-sponsored scholarships based on GPA or test scores, they could actually being paying less out of pocket.

I lost my internet connection around midnight and fell asleep waiting to reconnect. I am so sorry I missed it. I take it they had to adjourn so they could start a new session for the 3rd reading and vote.

It's coming down!! What great news to wake up to. One of our representatives spoke last night in response to the pro-flaggers' call for the anti-flaggers to extend grace by compromising. He pointed out that grace is something given, not earned or demanded. He then went on to talk about heritage -- his family's heritage of living under slavery. It was great.

I caught the end of it -- I was wondering who that was. Thank you. Off to send her a message right now.