Monday Memories--The Tennessee Reunions of Northern Illinois

I’ve written at this blog about the Tennessee connections based on the memories of my father.  After my great-grandfather moved to Illinois, he helped a number of families come north and get settled.  They would meet for picnics when a visiting relative was in the area, and it came to be known as the Tennessee Reunion.  The first my dad remembered was around 1924.  All the people who attended (with the exception of the children born in Illinois) had known each other back in Tennessee--Martins, Millers, Ballards, Corbetts, Biggs, Vessers, and Willifords and some others.  Most were related by blood or marriage.
Today I received a photo, too long for my scanner of the reunion held at Lawrence Park, Sterling, Illinois on July 14, 1929.  As near as I can tell, the Ballards and Corbetts are at the left.  Since I didn’t know any of these people when they were this young, I haven’t identified all of them. 

I think the two girls with dark hair sitting with the children, about 6 people from the left, might be Dorothy and Gladys Corbett, with possibly their cousin Phil Ballard between them.  Their mother Bessie is directly behind them, and maybe her mother Leanor Ballard is next to her.  It’s possible that Roy and Helen Ballard are next to Art and Myrtle Ballard. I can’t pick out my great-grandfather, but he was usually the tallest one.
Imagine being so dressed up for a picnic? People had some pride in appearances in those days.

What does it take for a congregation to grow?

Mainline churches are losing ground and evangelicals are stalled, according to this interfaith report which I saw in the NALC newsletter. Aside from all the attention to worship style (contemporary, innovative, traditional) it seems that there does need to be a reason for existing. Many churches have forgotten that. It helps to stand for something. If you're a service club or just supporting your denomination's history and traditions, you probably won't grow. http://faithcommunitiestoday.org/decade-change

And I think this is reported in most church growth surveys—“The primary way people first connect with a congregation is through someone who is already involved.”  Indirectly, that’s how we got to UALC.  In 1974 I heard about a program on the radio which was at a church I’d never seen (after 7 years in Upper Arlington, I’d never been on that street).  I attended, was invited to a Bible study, and then to attend a service.  We were confirmed on Palm Sunday 1976.

Children of Sandy Hook getting help from Comfort Dogs

Lutheran Church Charities Comfort Dogs have Been at Newtown, CT since mid-December and have been requested to stay through January at Sandy Hook Elementary and Newtown High School.

Our Lutheran Synod, North American Lutheran Church (NALC, which is U.S., Canada and Mexico) works cooperatively with other Lutheran groups and agencies for disasters.  The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod has an innovative “first responder” team of dogs (from the photos I’m guessing they are all Goldens).

The charity was created in 2008, and has been used after the tornadoes in Joplin, Mo., and after Hurricane Sandy.

“On New Year's Day - at 3 am - 20 handlers and 10 LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs left the LCC offices in Addison, Illinois to travel to Newtown, Connecticut to be with the people of the town. Their first stop will be the high school. Visit plans for the week will include all those public servants who gave so much these past weeks (fire, police, public officials) and the often forgotten residents of senior centers and nursing homes. We will also be available for any staff, faculty, families and students of the elementary schools in the area. “

Story here.

Walk for Life in San Francisco

Watching Rev. Clenard Childress, Jr. address the pro-lifers of the west coast on Jan 26, 4:30 (EST).  He is outraged at the decimation of the black population of America by abortion.

       

Notice the proposed cuts—of both parties

Happy birthday Robert Burns

We’re going to a Bobby Burns dinner party tonight (his birthday was January 25).  Not sure we will have haggis, neeps and tatties, but our hostess is quite well known for her skills in the kitchen.  The guests are supposed to read, recite or sing something Scottish, so I may read the Bruce tartan story from this book.

The Bruces originated in France and after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 ended up with a lot of land. Sir Robert de Brus, a Norman knight came to England with William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy.  The Duke a distant cousin of the English king  had claimed the English throne when the King had died. After the conquest, the Norman French eventually took over the Anglo-Saxon culture, land and language.

The son of Robert the Brus, Robert went to Scotland and was made Lord of Annandale by David I, whose great-granddaughter Isabella married Robert Bruce, 5th Lord of Annandale.  Through this marriage their son Robert, 6th Lord of Annandale, Regent of Scotland, inherited a right to the Crown to which he was nominated by Alexander III.  Robert, 7th Lord, married the Celtic Countess of Carrick and their son became that Earl of Carrick who was to wear the Scottish Crown, complete the liberation of Scotland, and be familiarly known as Robert the Bruce (1272-1329). 

               

Negro “weeds” and Obama

Obama was still a candidate when this video was made.  Not enough people thought killing black babies was a tragedy.

Are you really a liberal?

Speaking for the most vilified in our society

Watched a public service announcement this morning by a young man adopted in 1971--bi-racial, a result of a rape in 1970. He became an outstanding student and athlete, successful adult, B.A., M.A. now married with a beautiful family. He thanked his bio-mom for giving him life and not letting the circumstances of his conception destroy the person he became.

The March for Life, January 25, 2013, in Washington, DC.  About 500,000, the largest human rights march in history, attended. Many inspiring speakers—I watched on EWTN.

Richard Cohen — Washington Post, October 19, 2005
“[T]he very basis of the Roe v. Wade decision — the one that grounds abortion rights in the Constitution — strikes many people now as faintly ridiculous. Whatever abortion may be, it cannot simply be a matter of privacy.”

Yesterday at the coffee shop I asked a Catholic acquaintance if his parish was sending a bus to DC for the March for Life. He looked at me as if I'd just asked if Armstrong had landed on the moon. "Of course, we send one every year." If our local Protestant churches can't organize a van or bus, maybe they could contribute to the transportation costs of the Catholics? Or, how about a sermon?

Some cuts need to be for show--like removing Planned Parenthood from the national teat. The cut won't do much in terms of the national debt--but Planned Parenthood performed 333,964 abortions on unborn children during the 2011-2012 fiscal year; those abortions were estimated to have generated $150 million dollars for the “nonprofit” organization. It generated $1.2 BILLION in income. Our share for ...2011-2012 was $542.4 million, which represents 45.2 percent of the group’s total annual budget. Increasingly, abortions are for the poor and minorities, whose children are aborted at a much higher rate than white middle class. PP appears to have a very strong business model with well paid executives and a very loyal following who will donate, so let it be on their conscience.

Some links for todays March for Life in Washington, DC

1) Listen to the voice of an American President, and You WILL Know His Heart! In 2001, then IL State Sen. Barack Obama, for the 2nd Year in a Row, was the SOLE Senator OPPOSING Born ALIVE Infant Bills on the State Senate Floor.
Listen and SHARE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUkbuhXzbvI&feature=player_embedded

2) "'October Baby'" is the story of Hannah, a 19-year-old girl, beautiful girl, who learns that she is adopted and never told because she is the survivor of an abortion," Jon Erwin, the film's co-director, told CBN News.
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2012/March/October-Baby-Tale-of-an-Abortion-Survivor/

3) Nurse Talks About Live Birth Abortion: Watch and SHARE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDX52pEC7_w&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL4585408DA22C01BB

4) Babies Left to Die: Read and SHARE: http://www.mcclpac.org/about_obama_baipa.htm

5) Norma McCorvey of Roe v. Wade: Watch and SHARE: http://www.lifenews.com/2012/10/24/norma-mccorvey-of-roe-v-wade-dont-vote-for-obama-he-kills-babies/

6) TRUE Story behind Roe v. Wade: https://www.facebook.com/notes/rebecca-kiessling/women-who-cried-wolf-the-illegitimate-rape-claim-behind-roe-v-wade/10151362984373154

7) Every 30 seconds a legal American child - our future - is slaughtered because he/she is an inconvenience to his/her mother...and father. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151265701499482&set=a.392255169481.169550.73881494481&type=1&theater 

8) On the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, pro-lifers have something to celebrate: the closure of 1,500 abortion clinics over the past 22 years. http://www.lifenews.com/2013/01/21/report-1500-abortion-clinics-have-closed-since-1991/

9) Shocking Graph: Euthanasia isn't for the elderly only. These are America's children who never were born. Abortions at Planned Parenthood: LifeNews.com  www.lifenews.com Here are Planned Parenthood’s own numbers. They reflect their activity in the abortion arena. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/11/abortions-at-planned-parenthood-done-in-record-numbers/

10) Abortion ISN'T Health Care! The Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in St. Louis has botched yet another abortion — its fourth recently. http://www.lifenews.com/2013/01/21/planned-parenthood-botches-abortion-tries-to-hide-victim/

11) President Obama sang the praises of Roe v. Wade. On one level, that's not surprising -- he's the most pro-choice President ever. But Obama is also a Harvard Law School alumnus, and he used to teach Constitutional law, and so you would think he would see Roe for the embarrassing bit of ideologically motivated junk it is. Lest you think I'm just showing my bias, read the collection of pro-choice scholars and journalists slamming the decision." http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/139828#.UP7SUifO0iH

12) Heal NOT Kill! WHO wants to be an abortionist? http://www.lifesitenews.com/blog/accomplishment-8-most-doctors-now-refuse-to-do-abortions

Children in poverty

In 1965, 24 percent of black infants and 3.1 percent of white infants were born to single mothers. Then came the War on Poverty, legalized abortion and lots of free sex (contraception).  The values of marriage were tossed out the window by our culture.  By 1990 the rates had risen to 64 percent for black infants, 18 percent for whites. By 2009 it was more than 70% for blacks, more than 50% for Hispanics, and 30% for whites. (For some reason the CDC can’t seem to get birth or abortion rates out in a timely fashion.)  Marriage of her parents is the best anti-poverty program a girl can have.  Uncle Sam is just a disastrous step-dad, regardless of the Julia lies Obama floated during the campaign.

John Francis Regis (d. 1640) is the patron saint of children whose parents aren’t married, and he’s also the patron saint of social workers.

Cute puppy photo

How I remember learning about abortion

The pro-life movement is a much younger crowd than pro-abortion, now graying and cranky. It was so wonderful today to hear all those high school girls speaking out at the March for Life in Washington, DC.

I'm not sure I knew or understood what abortion was when I was in high school, and maybe not even in college.  It might have been  the Sherry Finkbine case of thalidomide (1962) that first brought it to my attention.  That drug (a teratogenic sedative like alcohol) was not legal in the U.S., but she had gotten it in Europe for her 5th pregnancy. So her story was on all the news (3 channels, at that time). Therapeutic abortion was legal in the U.S., but the hospital feared bad publicity and backed out after it was scheduled, so she went to Sweden.

Here's an article written by a Thalidomide survivor, Frederick Dove. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15536544

There have been law suits and spotty compensation from the chemical companies, but as they age, they require more care for their disabilities, and their parents are either dead, or need care themselves.

Obama and fiscal responsibility

“But I am absolutely committed to fiscal responsibility, which is why I’ve already proposed freezing all discretionary spending unrelated to national security for the next three years. And once the bipartisan fiscal commission finishes its work, I’ll spend the next year making the tough choices necessary to further reduce our deficit and lower our debt — whether I get help from the other side or not.” (President Barack Obama at Cuyahoga Community College, Parma, OH, 9/8/10)

1952-2012: U.S. Government Debt vs. Household Debt

The wrong diner

No one died during the National Anthem

Backwards, March!

“When one hears the President of the United States use his inaugural address to favorably cite the most infamous phrase associated with the disastrous Neville Chamberlain — that would be “peace in our time” — there can only be trouble ahead.

The mechanics for this march backwards to failure are already in place.

First and foremost is the Orwellian use of his language. Tyranny is freedom. Collectivism is liberty. “Together” is shorthand for government control.”

American Spectator

I’m sure it’s nutritious, but. . .

From World’s Healthiest Foods Newsletter

Quote of the Day—Red Flag News

“Other than the fact that none of it was my fault, I take full  responsibility.”  - Hillary Clinton

(A note from our attorneys: This is not a real quote.)

Don’t be fooled

She’s trying to distract you from the lies about Benghazi, where the survivors are, why Rice was sent out to lie for her, and why she shouldn’t be your next president.  Don’t be fooled.  She learned it all from Bill.  And frankly, size does matter, and this is bigger than Bill’s.