Well, it has taken me a few days but I must blog about our Saturday. Let me begin by saying that Kenny is back in school and taking 2 classes, so between work and school, Jess and I don't see him a great deal. Saturday he had to spend the day, first working around the house on things he felt he had neglected and then locked in his office studying!!!! So Jess and I just spent the day together. We played around the house most of the morning, cleaning and doing laundry in between then after lunch we headed up to the last home softball game. We have been to many of these last home games before but this one has a very special meaning...Samantha played her last softball game at GCS. I have blogged about Samantha before so I won't go into a long speech, but she is very special and has been very special to Jessica-so we wanted to be there. I can't believe that she is getting ready to graduate (I know it won't be for 8 more months-but you all know how time flies!) and go to college. She had a super game and they won both of the games that puts them into the state playoffs!!!! Go Lady Generals...you are way ahead of the Braves, this year!!! The pictures are of the Sr. girls and their parents. Thanks Samantha for sharing the day with us and for all you do for us!
trying to pull it at home for several days and it just did not want to come out! So at the game on Saturday, Jessica's Aunt KA-KA pulled her tooth. No tears, very little blood and it was out!!!! Is it little wonder why Karen and Jessica have bonded so well...Ka-Ka is always there when Jess needs her! Thanks, again Karen!
One more thing...while we were at the game we were sitting in the shade with a small group that included Audrey, Avie and Amelia-part of the time! So as Audrey and Avie were relaxing in the shade-Avie sat up by her self. Well, Audrey propped her but Avie "held her own". We got a picture of that, too. GOOD JOB, AVIE! And good luck in October with your surgery-We love you!!!!
Well, I think that about takes care of Saturday. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed getting to see ALL the exciting things that happened! We did miss Louise and Leigh being here-BECAUSE THEY DID SAY THEY WERE COMING!!!!!! But we will get over that in a few days! Hope you all had a good week-end. Maybe your football team is doing like Kenny's Sooners, of course we can't all be #1 like OU but don't you think the Vols could at least get an SEC win?????! But I have to say that Saturday was topped off by a great victory from OLE MISS!!!!
I always heard the older you get, the faster time goes by...I must be getting old! Ten years ago I met, fell in love and married Kenny. It is hard for me to believe that it has been 10 years. We have been through alot but most of our life together has been wonderful. Kenny is a great father-I knew that before Jessica by just watching him with his boys. He works hard so that we have everything that we need and more and so that I don't have to work full-time outside the house! Kenny is a great husband and friend, too. We enjoy spending time together and I can't imagine my life without him now!!!
Jessica loved just playing in the water. She splashed and rolled and "dunked" herself and tried to "dunk" anyone that got close to her, usually me!
Here is one of the dolphins that came by to visit. No pictures of Jessica with the dolphins, because if I had turned her loose she would still be swimming with the dolphins-probably somewhere in China!!:)
On Sept. 11, we had a benefit dinner in downtown Atlanta for RTV. Following the dinner, Kenny's sister and brother-in-law went up the the restaurant to visit for a few minutes. Long story - short--I decided that Jessica and I would go to meet them at Hilton Head for the next week. We already knew that Kenny couldn't go and Jess couldn't stay with him because of his school and work schedule. So Sunday afternoon, we had gotten up early Sun and gone to Tallahassee for church, Kenny's mom, Jessica and I headed to Hilton Head. It took us just over 4 hours to get there and we had a great day for traveling...and I have to add that Jessica was beautiful!!! She usually is a good traveler but you know how they can make liers out of you!!!
We got to the house and began to relax!! It was so nice. A friend of Chris' let him use the house for the last 3 summers for a week! It has 3 bedrooms and 3 baths, kitchen, living room, sun porch and a boardwalk right down to the beach! Jessica had a BLAST! She took to the water, just like her pool!!! We did not even leave the house until Tuesday afternoon! Went out and did some shopping and out for dinner. It was so nice just to be able to completely relax! Thanks to my sister, Karen, for getting a sub for the sub, we were able to stay over until Friday-we had originally planned on coming home on Wed.
On Thursday evening Toni got a call from her 19 year old daughter. Her dad, Toni's X, had been taken to hospice and they were not sure he was going to make it. He had been sick and we had all been "sitting on pins and needles" wondering how long he COULD last! Toni and Chris got up Friday morning and left for Atlanta as we left for Valdosta. Tom did make it until this morning at around 5. Please keep Abbe in your prayers, as this has been a very difficult time for her.
We returned home on Friday and Kenny and I had a rehearsal dinner for a wedding he was performing on Sat. Saturday morning I got up and went to a "Ladies' Day" at Forrest Park and got home just in time to get ready for the wedding! It was pretty but I was glad when it was all over! I sure don't really enjoy busy week-ends-I like to just lay around and catch up on laundry and cleaning!
Jessica's class at school is going to be participating in Special Olympics this year. In the winter games, they do bowling and basketball. I went to school today to help with their practice! They are so cute! If any of you have an opportunity to get involved, you should try it! I will try and take pictures next week and share them.
I will try tomorrow to download some of our beach pictures, Jessica was swimming with the dolphins! They would swim right by us!!!
After spending the week-end having to watch every other team get started,I am really excited about the Vols getting on the field tonight! Hopefully I will be as excited when it is over! Not ranked #1 or #4 but you never know what is going to happen in the SEC!
For a while the world has been hearing ominous reports about China extending its military power over the South China Sea and threatening Taiwan. By comparison we hear little about life inside China. But this week Freedom House, an independent think tank in Washington, has published The Battle for China’s Spirit, an extensive and convincing report containing dire news about religious freedom, or the lack of it, under the current regime.
Freedom House’s investigators have concluded that controls over religion in China have been increasing since 2012, seeping into new areas of daily life and triggering growing resistance from believers. At least 100 million people — nearly one-third of estimated believers in China — belong to four religious groups facing high levels of persecution: Protestant Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims and Falun Gong.
In one paragraph Freedom House sprinkles a few facts about recent developments: “Tibetan monks are forced to learn reinterpretations of Buddhist doctrine during a ‘patriotic re-education’ session. Dozens of Christians are barred from celebrating Christmas together. A Uighur Muslim farmer is sentenced to nine years in prison for praying in a field. And a 45-year-old father in northeastern China dies in custody days after being detained for practising Falun Gong.”
The Freedom House report says that Falun Gong is still heavily persecuted. Why should it be? It’s a spiritual movement that depends on meditation and constant moral self-searching. When it surfaced in the early 1990s, Chinese officialdom seemed to like it. By the late 1990s, however, the Communist Party saw it as a threat.
When it reached 70 million practitioners it began looking like a force independent of the state. Beijing, like any tyranny, cannot tolerate a competitor. It started a cruel, heartless campaign of propaganda, re-education, imprisonment and torture to eradicate Falun Gong. Hundreds of thousands (maybe a million) practitioners were sent to labour camps where many died (2,000, it is said) and many remain.
The constitution of China provides freedom of religion, with one crucial stipulation: Those taking advantage of this freedom must do so in the course of “normal religious activity.” The government, of course, defines “normal,” which means that congregations worship within state-sanctioned religious organizations in duly registered places of worship.
In the accepted opinion of Beijing, religion is potentially destabilizing, especially in a nation with half a dozen popular religions and many lesser forms of belief. The freedom in the constitution turns out to be the government’s freedom to supervise religion so that it makes as little trouble as possible.
Preaching to potential converts is allowed only in private, or in registered houses of worship. There are many “house churches,” where religious services take place in defiance of occasional harassment.
The Beijing bureau of religious affairs may favour one organization over another for the sake of national unity, even if both share the same beliefs and the same name.
Hui Muslims, for example, are much better treated than Uyghurs, who are also Muslims. The Hui can build mosques and pass on their beliefs to their children through their own schools; after secondary school, the young can study under an imam.
The Uyghurs are not given any such privileges. They are watched constantly by the authorities, and sometimes harassed. Most of them live in China’s western Xinjiang province, where they are 8-million of the province’s 19-million people. Xinjiang is bordered by eight countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Many Uyghurs hope to separate from China, if necessary through violence.
The Hui, on the other hand, see China as their home and rarely cause trouble. They fit within the state-run Islamic Association of China, which oversees the practice of Islam and regulates the content of sermons and scripture. Hui Muslims employed by the state are allowed to fast during Ramadan, unlike Uyghurs in the same jobs. Hui women can wear veils, a practice discouraged for Uyghur women.
The spectre of mandatory atheism has hung over China since 1949, when the revolution brought to power the Communist Party and its rule that party members must not practice any religion. The Cultural Revolution, from 1966 till 1976, was also a bitter period of suppression for believers. Tradition-hating mobs destroyed thousands of monasteries, churches and mosques. But Deng Xiaoping’s time in power, from 1978 until his retirement in 1989, brought relative tolerance. While opening China to the world economy, Deng relaxed tensions between the state and the various religions.
Under Deng, Christianity experienced a resurgence. By 2011, about 60 million Chinese were said to be practising as Protestants or Catholics. The Catholics are divided between the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) and the Vatican-approved version, with more of the latter than the former. The Patriotic Association’s chairman says its members should “fervently love the socialist motherland.”
Freedom House dates the current wave of oppression from the beginning of Xi Jinping’s first five-year term in November, 2012. (He is expected to be given a second term this autumn.) Xi is sometimes compared to Deng Xiaoping. Like Deng, he knows how to control the party but he’s so far failed to rejuvenate the nation, as he promised to do.
He’s intensified censorship, increasing the paranoia of everyone who disagrees with him or his circle of supporters. And he’s reduced religious freedom, reminding the population every day that there is only one centre of power in China.
Thank you for visiting our web site. On behalf of our entire parish family I extend to you the warmest welcome. It is my prayer that you will discover the love, joy, hope, and peace that come with knowing Jesus Christ through our Catholic faith.
Max Lucado: After the California bar shooting, our country is mourning – we must love our neighbors more
The Catechesis is an experience of the Christian journey to uncover the true meaning of our Baptism.
The Hoy Trinity Youth Group presents: Freedom of Religion. Youth, their parents and all parishioners are invited to the Parish Hall. Don’t miss what your children are learning in school.