Hodge Podge

Last week I gave the girls more school work than they could possibly finish. And in the end they did not finish it all. What I wanted to see was just how much could they do with constant supervision and support. I now feel as if I have a baseline of how they can perform under "normal" conditions. Now the goal is to realistically set the goal to increase their output while at the same time retaining the information that they have learned. With that being the case, the lesson plan for this week and next will be toned down a little bit. I think that I not only overloaded them, but in the end I overloaded myself. I truly had a very difficult time keeping up with the pace that I had them on. So, it's still a work in progress. I'll keep ya posted.

I titled this post "Hodge Podge" because that is what's going on in my head. It is a hodge podge of ideas and topics that are jumbling up my mind. Home school, marriage, morality, prayer, catechism(both personal and my teaching it to my kids as well as the 9th grade at church), Inauguration, MLK day.... All of this in my head is probably the cause of my huge headache. So, I will attempt to get some of it out.

Marriage news: This is not exactly a news flash but I love my wife! She is my compass and my thermometer. And she is good at being both of those and so much more.

Morality and the rest of my RSI classes: I am in the middle of my school year and am just starting to think of writing my final papers that are due in April. I pray that I not procrastinate as usual. I do have a smaller paper due in my morality class that is due in a few weeks, so I will get that done and then I can focus on these final papers. We do have a retreat this coming weekend where we will visit the St Josephs abbey and seminary college in Covington LA. I am looking forward to that one.

Inauguration and MLK day: I am at a point in my life and faith where I can appreciate the meaning behind Martin Luther King Jr day. It is not just a day off of school or work anymore. It is a celebration of a civil rights leader who was slain for speaking out. This reminds me of another great role model, Jesus. He confronted the Sanhedrin, pharisees, sagucees and pretty much anyone else who held some power and spoke up for the less fortunate, the anawim of the time. We all know how he was put to death.

Now, I would never say that MLK is on this same level, and I am fairly certain that he(mlk) would not want me to either. However Their lives and deaths do bare a similarity in that certain way.

All of this seems to culminate in the inauguration that will happen in a few hours from now of the nations first African-American President. I judge that I don't fully understand the significance of this historical moment in our country's history, mainly because I am white and didn't feel first hand the prejudice against people of color in this country. At least that is the lessons I have learned from all the media coverage this weekend. CBS, NBC, CNN, in fact every media outlet in the country has made this inauguration solely about race. I am not sure from the feel good pieces they have been running if the country is gonna really do well because of our new president. The fact that he is not white will be a big story for a couple of weeks, however I think that the substance of the presidency transcends the individual who is president, he still has to do the job, at least for 4 years, if he wants to get rehired. I heard this weekend on one of those feel good stories where someone equated the Obama election to a courtship. and that is how I like to think of it as well. It fits into the way that I see marriage. They said that the election was like the engagement, where thinking about the future is limitless and everything is fun and feels good. Everyone wants to see the engagement ring and pat your back and say congratulations. The inauguration is like the wedding day. The wedding is only 1 day, and the celebration is fun and there are always cheers and dancing... The tough part is the marriage. that is everyday after the wedding. And this is the true test that we all must either pass or fail. This is not easy, the engagement and wedding stages give us a sometimes false sense of confidence that marriage will be easy. We all know that it is not, especially those of us who have been married, whether it has failed or is still a work in progress.
So today's inauguration is like the wedding, everything will look good and impressive today. the tough part will start tomorrow. President Obama will take off the training wheels and pilot the ship as president. The future is bright and I pray that he will succeed and do a great job for our country. Just like I prayed for Bush, Clinton, Reagan, etc...I may not always agree with his plans, but he was elected by the country and now I just pray that he always has the best interest of our country in mind in all decisions and not just the best interest of any particular group or lobbyist firm.