Cute Mitten Ornament

Isn't this fun? Directions at http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com/2007/10/mitten-ornament-tutorial.html

My Own Little World

Here's a great video to the amazing song, "My Own Little World." Please watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP5mYOzOvCs

Meet the CEDAW

    I just read the scariest thing I have read in a very long time. No, it’s not another Frank Peretti novel. I’ve learned my lesson in regards to those. Actually, I just finished reading the text of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The purpose of this treaty is to end discrimination and degredation of women. The problem is that it is being dealt with in a very humanistic manner and that legal force will be used to ensure the equality of both sexes in all spheres. Translation: governments will force man and women to abandon traditional roles. This is stated very clearly in the Preamble: “A change in the traditional role of men as well as the role of women in society and in the family is needed to achieve full equality between men and women (CEDAW, Preamble, par 16).”  What does this mean? I will allow the CEDAW to explain:

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures:

(a) To modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women;

(b) To ensure that family education includes a proper understanding of maternity as a social function and the recognition of the common responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and development of their children, it being understood that the interest of the children is the primordial consideration in all cases (CEDAW, Article 5).
     In other words, the goal of the CEDAW is to abolish traditional roles. How will this affect you and me? I plan to eventually marry, have children, and stay at home to raise and educate them while my husband acts as the head of household and primary breadwinner. According to CEDAW, my husband would be treating me as an inferior being, taking advantage, of me, and discriminating against me. I would be a victim of a tyrannical spouse, and my children would be labeled as “abused,” and probably removed from our home (most certainly, if the Convention on the Rights of the Child passes). I don’t know about you, but the freedom to embrace my femininity is more important to me than this so-called equality. I feel more degraded at the thought of being forced to follow a humanistic pattern for my life than I do at the thought of staying at home.
     What makes me seriously offended by the CEDAW is the concept that I will be forced to follow what the United Nations thinks is a good plan for my life. I don’t even have any say! It will be illegal for me to say that I am submissive to my husband. Yet it will be permissible and even condoned for a woman to badmouth her husband at every opportunity. I really don’t care if some other woman wants to pursue a career, run the household, and give her husband no say in family planning. Really! It’s no skin off my nose. So why on earth does that woman care whether or not I stay home and raise my kids? It’s none of her business, it’s none of Hilary Clinton’s, and it’s none of the United Nation’s business what I do in my personal life.
     Indoctrination of children is written into this treaty. You are probably already aware that the feminist movement is highly lauded and thoroughly covered in public school text books. The CEDAW wants to go one step further:
“The elimination of any stereotyped concept of the roles of men and women at all levels and in all forms of education by encouraging coeducation and other types of education which will help to achieve this aim and, in particular, by the revision of textbooks and school programmes and the adaptation of teaching methods (Article 10, section c. Emphasis added).”
     Yet another reason to homeschool. However, I have reason to suspect that homeschooling will not be sanctioned under the CEDAW, as a woman’s place will no longer be in the home, but in the office.
     What does the Bible have to say about this? We know that to God, men and women are already equal. We are different, but we are equal, as stated in Galatians 3:28 – “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God has different plans for men and women. The head of the woman is the man (1 Cor. 11:3), or as the New Living Translation puts it, “A woman is responsible to her husband.” This does not mean that a man is better, more important, superior to a woman (as anti-Christian disputers proclaim), it is simple the God-appointed way to keep order in the home, the church, and in the world. Pastor, Bible commentator, and writer Chuck Smith writes,

“I do not believe that the Bible has ever taught that God favors the man over the woman. The Bible does teach that God made man first, and then from man formed the woman. When God looked at man and said, ‘It is not good that man should live alone,’ and so He made the woman from man that she might be a helpmeet for him.

Now, some people misinterpret that. The helpmeet, the word meet is an old English word fit, a help that is fit for him, created for him. No way does it signify a subservient position. God saw that man by himself could never make it, and thus, the woman created, as God said, ‘for the man.’”

     We don’t need any new laws to make men and women equal. Do you want to feel worth and purpose? Follow God’s plan for your life. Not the United Nations’.

Find out more from Michael Farris

Remembering

To all those who have laid down their lives

To those who have lost a loved one

To the wounded

To the soldiers who have healed

To those who did not

To fathers and mothers who had to leave their children

To sons and daughters who had to leave their parents

To the men and women who are far away

To the ones who may leave at any time
To those who have returned

To those who direct them

To those who train them

To those who treat them

To those who feed them

To those who minister to them

To those who love them

To those who pray over them

Thank you

Let us never forget.

National Socialism?

For a school project, I have to define about a dozen forms of what Gary North refers to as “philosophies of organized envy.” Good description.

While doing research on National Socialism (Nazism), I stumbled across a National Socialist forum. Here I got the best definition of what National Socialism is and began to watch a very screwy video about why Nazism is great and the Holocaust was a lie and a bunch of cruddy bologna like that. It took me about 2 minutes to see that the video was not going to profit me in the least. As I scrolled up to click out of this messed-up site full of ethnocentric weirdoes, I caught site of the site’s slogan:

“White Pride, World-Wide.”

I felt tears stinging my eyes. These people are missing the whole point of humanity! I believe in one race: the human race. Who cares about pigment? Why does that even matter to people? It shouldn’t; to use a wise quote, “Our blood runs the same red.”

     Don’t get caught up in racism, bigotry and ethnocentricism. Don’t be a fool.

My Dog Stalks Ceramic Bunnies

...But don’t we all do the same thing? At one time or another, haven’t we all chased after an illusion? The world presents so many things that are unattainable. It shows us the “American Dream,” flawless skin, perfect friendships, happily-ever-afters. These things are plastered all over television, the internet, books, magazines… you name it. We sing about true teenage love in songs. We read all of Demi Lovato’s skin-care tips. We watch Mr. Rich Marries Miss Gorgeous. And yet we know we will never attain this perfection. We know that high-school dating normally ends in heartbreak after a few weeks. We know Demi’s pretty photo is electronically airbrushed. We know that every marriage has ups and downs and that the guy who dies with the most toys… still dies. Even with this knowledge of the facts, we still spend way too much time and brainpower trying to catch the eye of that cute guy or girl. We still stand in Wal-Mart trying to decide if we’re ivory or light peach, or if Miracle Cream will really get rid of that dad-gum red bump.  We still overspend on the latest electronic device and shoes and covet all the cool stuff we can’t afford.

      I was puzzling over this. I wonder why I often trust advertisements over common sense? Why I stress out in front of the mirror? Why I get bummed whenever I see the Joneses drive by with their speedboat? I’m reminded of a quote that’s on the wall where I get my hair trimmed: “A beautiful thing is never perfect.” It’s true. A beautiful life is never perfect. A beautiful painting is never perfect. A beautiful person is never perfect. If we could achieve perfection… well, somebody in advertising would come up with the “new perfection” so we’d still have to buy the Overpricedandoverrated Brand of whatever to feel adequate. Maybe it’s time to be content with what we have and focus on God’s bigger picture instead.  

Beautiful YOU

I just felt like I ought to post this video. Hope it makes someone's day. It sure makes mine!
For some reason, the video does not want to play on this website. It's too good a video to pass up, though, so go ahead and watch it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXSkd8apbWM