On a Mini-Rant

Have you ever felt that people were attacking your beliefs and therefore attacking you? Yeah, I'm in that place. Politics is upon us, but the twist is that now religion has come into play. Who I am politically is more of a surface issue. Who I am religiously is a "real me" issue.

Why are they mixed? Most of you know that I am a Latter Day Saint belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka Mormons. And with Mitt Romney running for president, the Mormons are in the news - a lot.

But I have 3 things to say concerning his run for office:

1. Just because he is of my faith, does not mean I am for him. I may be. I may not be. Once I've made up my mind, it will not be because of his religion any more than I would vote for a candidate because of their race or their sex. I vote my conscience.

2. Our church does not sponsor candidates. They occasionally take a stance on a moral issue that is being politicized, but they have never, and will never, have a candidate they espouse. Each member of the church is encouraged to make their own informed decision.

3. Just because Mitt is a Mormon does not mean that everything he does reflects the church guidelines. He has voted in ways that, to me, seem to be against church teachings. He may very well do so again. He is no better than any of the rest of us trying to live out our religious views in the face of a society that no longer relishes those views. He is not perfect. I am not perfect. Don't hold his imperfections against his religion unless you are willing to do so to all candidates against their religions.

Done ranting.

Funny of the week:

A sign in my grocery store that reads:

Machine out of order
_______
Sorry
Management

I guess sorry management may have played a role here?

Other News:

Finally got a car! 2001 Buick LeSabre. Yeah! We got it for a tad under the amount the insurance company paid us for the wrecked car. I'm so glad that escapade is over!

Katherine's soccer practice started this week. She felt discouraged after Wednesday's practice. She is the most inexperienced player on the team. I told her she just needs to practice!

Quote of the Week:

Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

I'm Legible - Are You?

My email server, gmail, is pretty good about relegating spam to the spam folder. However, on rare occasion, something slips through. This happened on Friday. And with it, came an idea for an English assignment. Clearly, the writer of the document was not an "English as a first language" writer. Clearly. In fact, in the first sentence, I was told that I was a legible person. Oh really? Apparently, I'm clear enough to read. That will be a great relief to my husband and children. I guess there really is no need for that communication's class after all.

Back to the assignment. I think I am going to give the document to my kids and have them find the word usage errors, the run on sentence errors, the verb usage errors, and the punctuation errors. Then I will have them rewrite the document in persuasive way. Out of this little piece of spam, we will get English grammar AND a creative writing assignment. What do you think? I just love homeschooling!

Just so you can laugh along with me, here is the first sentence of the letter: "I got your contact information from a reputable business/professional directory of your country which gives me assurance of your legibility as a person." As I said, whew. I've been worried about this for a LONG time!

Other news:

Kimberly is going to Florida at the end of the month to visit a family she had grown very close to. She's very excited to be flying for the first time.

Rebekah has been busy with her Temple Teens - teen ambassadors for the Temple Theatre. They are a singing and dancing troupe. I saw one of her Valentine's Day performances and she is really good, if I do say so myself.

Katherine and Rebekah have created a writing contest. First person to write a novel of at least 50 pages (and it must be finished and NOT a fan fiction) will get a Barnes and Noble gift card from the other. I love contests that go along with one of my school goals - writing, writing, and writing!

I've been working on my website. Take a look and tell me what you think. I really am looking for critique, so be honest with me: www.teribclark.com

One of my latest photos for my 365 Day Photo Challenge

The first dandelion of the year. It may be a weed, but it is yellow and flowering and a promise of Spring. I'll take it however I get it!