Of Course...

 I realized this morning I have not written, no more like not posted, anything on the blog of late. Certainly, I have written some thoughts but I don't know if I will ever post them on the SBC coverups and on the Uvalde school shooting. Even at a distance in both cases it is hard to put our minds around the lack of happenings and the happenings. 

Around here the Feral Fam has taken a lot of attention of late. Spring brings kittens and the dynamics have been a mix of happiness, tenseness and a few deaths as a result of mamas and aunties fighting over a litter and one or two are forgotten along the way. It is sad and difficult. I feel I am observing what happens out there on the gravel road as they continually move from place to place and it seems a couple of mamas lose interest. Fortunately, some of the moms take over nursing duties. Two kitten groups dominate our attention, the Bs, Barney, Beanie and Benny, and the Moes, one of whom is Mo-Nay. Two of the Moes succumbed to the eye/upper respiratory thing. Mo-Nay was the third kitten of that litter who had it but she has recovered very nicely. The special antibiotic cream for cats and kittens helped tremendously. It is a joy to watch Mo-nay running and playing these days. She has a very hearty appetite. 

Just in time for the Platinum Jubilee for the Queen, as a Monarch I celebrated getting a new crown fitted Wednesday at the dentist office. God Save the Tooth! It has been kind of interesting watching all the festivities this morning in London. Our festivities for the day is planting everything I have gotten the past few days at TJs and Reems Creek. 

Because of recent tragedies and gun violence we have been forced to come face to face with the realities of our world. It is easy to jump on a bandwagon and then do nothing. I have contemplated and prayed over what in my tiny world I can do to make a difference? I can easily jump in agreement with well thought out articles and news, but I don't think that is going to change a thing. Our attention spans have become so short that as these shootings happen all over the country, we are onto the next newsworthy issue. New gun laws and raising the age of being able to buy a gun seem reasonable to help curb violence, especially in young men. So much of the anger is "girl" problems and it just seems to fester into such hatred to lash out and hurt and kill. All these questions and fears, they are going to take our guns, we are loosing our right of free speech. Then when you add your faith and worship, all the complexities of the hurt, violence and abuse whelm and overwhelm our minds and our hearts in churches of all denominations but especially now the attention being on the SBC. On a personal level I was overwhelmed in thought once again with gun violence in how it relates to our lives. In the early 80s, the oil business tanked thus people lost jobs and lost homes. Neither one of us lost our jobs but in a sense we lost our home. Our neighborhood tanked and quickly turned into the hood. It could have been a whole lot worse but our neighborhood and a few surrounding us had probably 60% orthodox Jews and their synagogue was in walking distance. So many of the dangers I encountered were by myself because Roy was in law school during the late 80s. He went to work and then went to classes at night at U of H. He would arrive home very late. On Saturdays and Sundays he was with his study group or intensely studying at home. I was harassed by men just hanging around and their comments included violence and violence in a sexual nature. My parents kept our dog for two weeks to give me a break from the men but my father told me to come and get Tiff and getting raped or not raped was just a chance I was going to have to take. The last year before we moved, we had riots and shootings in the streets. A man threw his gun in our yard while he was chased and then captured by police. Bullets sprayed everywhere. There were attempted break ins but the straw that broke me was the attempted car jacking when I was getting the mail. I saw the two young men and so the element of surprise didn't work for them. One slapped the back of the car with his hand, for surprise, while the other one reached into the window and began strangling me with my seatbelt. The cut into my throat was deep. I gunned my car and nearly took his arm off but he finally let go. In hindsight, I was driving a stick shift, so they probably couldn't even drive it. In that period of time, God and only God, intervened as my friend and I were going to be robbed in the Galleria parking garage. I will tell the story another time of what stopped the attempted robbery at gunpoint. There are other stories that go with this season of living in fear because criminals had guns. Then of course the granddaddy of them all, Roy being robbed at gunpoint in Mobile and left with nothing, but of course he was left with the greatest gift, he wasn't shot or killed.   

 Roy has been doing some research on reactions from the CoVid shot along with booster. The all over the place symptoms I've been experiencing and the timing of them certainly seem to be in agreement of side effects and issues. Couple that with heart meds that slowed my pulse down to 44 and it seems to be a recipe for health issues. The meds got regulated and the science of treatment with those meds is changing. I have a couple of appointments coming up and hopefully we will get some answers. I have been feeling much better these past two weeks but still I don't feel 100%. 

We began studying I Kings yesterday. One of my favorite books in the Bible. The lesson kind of plopped us down in chapter 3 with just a bit of context. I decided to look a little ways back at Absalom to set the stage of Adonijah wanting to make himself king and even after getting mercy from Solomon, he still goes to Solomon's mother to ask for the girl who took care of David to be his wife. I love how after he tells Bathsheba he comes in peace, he says as you know I should have been king...no more mercy for Adonijah. In chapter 3 Solomon asks for wisdom to rule the people and God gives him that and so much more. David in his blessing and advice to Solomon personalizes it all with "you" Solomon must do these things. Just one little detail, Solomon doesn't ask for wisdom to govern himself and thus his decisions and heavy tax burdens on the people lead to the divided kingdom. 

It does feel like we are living in a divided kingdom now somewhat with our eyes as a nation focused on the division. Opinions and op-eds, news channels, and social media keeps us in our respective corners. Our pastor preached on Proverbs 3 yesterday and the need for wisdom. He will preach two more weeks on the third chapter to finish it out. Looking forward to that.