Posts
Merry Christmas to all of you from all of us! Especially our crazy, fun kids!
A sample of the hour of my life trying to get the kids situated for a picture.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Thursday, December 20, 2012
No safe place?
"We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, of killings, of wars, of hatred. If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other."- Mother Teresa of Calcutta
I am mourning for the loss of the innocent. Yes, the children of Newtown. Yes, the shoppers in Oregon. AND Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, the unborn children who aren't even protected in their mother's womb. I mourn for them all and I hope it doesn't harden my heart! |
| Baby born into the world from the womb at 24 weeks. |
I am mourning for those people who are trapped in their minds with a false sense of reality, with fear, with depression....
I pray that hearts will be opened. I pray that no matter what our 'rights' are that people will chose NOT to execute all of them. I am sure that is not the right way to say it. But, I have a right to free speech. I am going to execute that right through this blog post. EXECUTE your right to LOVE! I have a right to carry a gun. I will never own a gun. I pray that people will see what love is. I pray that people will put the energy they are putting into gun control ALSO into rights for the unborn. Let us protect life at all stages. Let us want others. Want the unwanted!
Consider signing a petition to protect the unborn.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
My sugarplums
Friday, December 14, 2012
I probably shouldn't write this...
I shouldn't put these feelings in writing, but I cannot focus.
Lord have mercy on the souls of His departed servants. May their memories be eternal. Who could take the lives of these innocent children? How can someone do this to the children, to their families, their friends...? I think of a book my mom gave the kids about the Little's Angel. He is actually a little sad in Heaven because he misses Earth. I know it will be a blink of the eye before their whole family is with them and that the Lord, our God, and His mother is holding them today. But how can we hold their families? Its a parents worst nightmare, an aunt's worst nightmare, a sister and a brother's worst nightmare. And yes, its worse that it's right before Christmas. A time of excitement for children and now these families are mourning the loss of their children. I cannot contain my tears. I cannot contain the helplessness.
One of my friends pointed out the way to wage the war is to love.
"It is time to wage war . . . against the violence, anger, and hatred within our species. Regardless of your age, ethniticity, career, religious viewpoints, sexual orientation, monetary income, lets take this month as a starting point (regardless of religious holidays) to increase our efforts to reach out to all those in need. . . whether a family member, co-worker, friend, student, teacher, or a random stranger. My heart goes out to all those who lost someone in what seems to be a new trend of war against the "innocent". However, wouldn't it be sad to find out that those the same individuals who found it necessary to unleash their anger on the "innocent" were crying for help and support, and "us" as a society lacked to give them that care and support they desperately needed in their lives. Fight crime and atrocities with increases in love for all without restrictions."
I actually did not intend to *publish this when I did, but now 2 days later I don't have much more to say. I know these little angels and teacher angels are watching over their families from above. The families now have someone to intercede for them to their Heavenly Father.
While there are so many ways to be angry, and I see a lot of anger over this in the media and on FB. I still hold to the belief that we must pray for all involved. Showing hatred helps no one. I see so many needs that are to be addressed because of a tragedy like this. I pray that when they are addressed many, many more lives will be saved.
One final thought is to reach out to your children's teachers. Today, tomorrow, forever. We pray nightly for our children's teachers and I am going to make sure they know that. I can only imagine how difficult this has been for them. Pray for them!
Lord have mercy on the souls of His departed servants. May their memories be eternal. Who could take the lives of these innocent children? How can someone do this to the children, to their families, their friends...? I think of a book my mom gave the kids about the Little's Angel. He is actually a little sad in Heaven because he misses Earth. I know it will be a blink of the eye before their whole family is with them and that the Lord, our God, and His mother is holding them today. But how can we hold their families? Its a parents worst nightmare, an aunt's worst nightmare, a sister and a brother's worst nightmare. And yes, its worse that it's right before Christmas. A time of excitement for children and now these families are mourning the loss of their children. I cannot contain my tears. I cannot contain the helplessness.
One of my friends pointed out the way to wage the war is to love.
"It is time to wage war . . . against the violence, anger, and hatred within our species. Regardless of your age, ethniticity, career, religious viewpoints, sexual orientation, monetary income, lets take this month as a starting point (regardless of religious holidays) to increase our efforts to reach out to all those in need. . . whether a family member, co-worker, friend, student, teacher, or a random stranger. My heart goes out to all those who lost someone in what seems to be a new trend of war against the "innocent". However, wouldn't it be sad to find out that those the same individuals who found it necessary to unleash their anger on the "innocent" were crying for help and support, and "us" as a society lacked to give them that care and support they desperately needed in their lives. Fight crime and atrocities with increases in love for all without restrictions."
I actually did not intend to *publish this when I did, but now 2 days later I don't have much more to say. I know these little angels and teacher angels are watching over their families from above. The families now have someone to intercede for them to their Heavenly Father.
While there are so many ways to be angry, and I see a lot of anger over this in the media and on FB. I still hold to the belief that we must pray for all involved. Showing hatred helps no one. I see so many needs that are to be addressed because of a tragedy like this. I pray that when they are addressed many, many more lives will be saved.
One final thought is to reach out to your children's teachers. Today, tomorrow, forever. We pray nightly for our children's teachers and I am going to make sure they know that. I can only imagine how difficult this has been for them. Pray for them!
Friday, December 7, 2012
My heart is still in teaching
Pick me up of the day, "I want to let you know that you were a great lecturer and I really learned a lot in your part of the immunology course. " (Vanderbilt pre-med undergraduate)
This fall I taught 4 lectures. This spring I will teach only 3. BUT, I will also have the opportunity to teach a group of very talented youth through a program at Vanderbilt. I am excited.
My effort has been changing a little. I collaborate with others at the University and I am expected to make up almost 98% of my effort/salary from grants! This is not an easy task with the economy of grants these days, so I have sought out some opportunities to teach and have come up with some really great ideas for courses. Problem is there isn't even enough funding for teachers. Even at a well funded, expensive, private institution like Vanderbilt, they are cutting course offerings because they don't have teachers who are already salaried to teach and they don't have the money to pay someone else's salary. Sad day for me who wants to at least spend some of my time in the classroom. I am working on another opportunity within the Medical School now but that is also difficult because (as it should be) the courses are highly integrated to clinical practice and since I am not a clinician, I will need to team teach and it will require a lot of communication and time to make sure that we develop a good integrated curriculum. I am up for the challenge, but I am still seeking an infectious disease clinician who is too...
I'll leave you with these thoughts from Dr. Ken Bain.
This fall I taught 4 lectures. This spring I will teach only 3. BUT, I will also have the opportunity to teach a group of very talented youth through a program at Vanderbilt. I am excited.
My effort has been changing a little. I collaborate with others at the University and I am expected to make up almost 98% of my effort/salary from grants! This is not an easy task with the economy of grants these days, so I have sought out some opportunities to teach and have come up with some really great ideas for courses. Problem is there isn't even enough funding for teachers. Even at a well funded, expensive, private institution like Vanderbilt, they are cutting course offerings because they don't have teachers who are already salaried to teach and they don't have the money to pay someone else's salary. Sad day for me who wants to at least spend some of my time in the classroom. I am working on another opportunity within the Medical School now but that is also difficult because (as it should be) the courses are highly integrated to clinical practice and since I am not a clinician, I will need to team teach and it will require a lot of communication and time to make sure that we develop a good integrated curriculum. I am up for the challenge, but I am still seeking an infectious disease clinician who is too...
I'll leave you with these thoughts from Dr. Ken Bain.
Humans are naturally curious, as preschool children show. In school we beat it out of them. Most of us who pursue scholarly questions were drawn there by an earlier interest in other questions.
What are the big questions in your field, ones that really matter? “You have to appeal to their fundamental curiosity and the questions you care about,” he said.
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