"Gun Control"

I had a dream last night. Our 9 year old niece, Bethany, came to visit. When she came into the house, she had a contemplative look on her face. I asked her, "What's wrong, Bethany?"

"Who controls guns?" she said.

I knew where this question had come from. She had been watching the news or heard her parents talking about it. The subject most likely had come up during school. It's something she has heard a lot about lately.

I said, "Do you see this rocking chair?"

"Yes," she said.

"Can a rocking chair rock by itself?"

"No," she said.

"What about a book? Can it open itself and read itself?"

"No," she giggled.

"How does a rocking chair rock?" I asked.

"A person has to be in it," she said.

"Correct. And what about a book?"

"Someone has to open and read it," she said.

"Well there's nothing wrong with someone rocking a rocking chair, and there's nothing wrong with someone reading a book. And there's nothing wrong with guns. They can't shoot themselves, right?" I asked.

"No," she said, thoughtfully.

"So who controls the guns?" I asked.

"People do," she said.

"That's right. There's nothing wrong with owning a gun and learning how to use it. The problem comes when someone uses a gun to harm or kill another person. Unless, of course, they are a police officer or in the military where part of their job is to protect people. Do you know what the Constitution is?" I asked.

"I think so," she said, uncertainly.

"Well, the Constitution is the law of the United States. It says in the Second Amendment that we, as citizens, have the right to "bear arms." Now do you think that means we're allowed to wear sleeveless shirts?"

"No. That's silly. We can wear those anytime we want to," she giggled.

"To 'bear arms' means we can own guns in the United States. The main reason why they put that in the Constitution is to give us freedom to protect our own property and lives. If a bad person came into our house and we had a gun to protect ourselves, then the bad person would be the loser. Now we do have police, and if one were living right next door to you, you could call them to come take care of the bad guy. Unfortunately, the police cannot be everywhere at the same time. So the people who wrote the Constitution knew that and made a way for us to be able to own guns." I said.

I woke up about that time, so I don't know how the dream ended. She probably fell asleep sometime during that last paragraph. She is 9 after all. But my concern is for all the children who hear about guns and this issue, either at home or at school. There's a lot of confusion out there over this issue. But it's really quite simple, as I've explained above. Guns don't control themselves. It's people who control them. I think most of us are pretty smart and can figure out that if we have guns, we need to keep them safely in our homes and practice using them safely. We need to use them responsibly and take gun safety classes if needed. We need to abide by the laws of our state when we carry them.

Now I don't know about this whole idea of who can and who can't own a gun. I know those who have committed a felon are not allowed to own them, and with good reason. But those are the only ones I know of who can't own a gun. Some people higher up in government say that "crazy" people shouldn't own a gun. How do you determine that? I don't know. All I know is that when the government starts "regulating" guns, it hurts our freedoms because it gets harder and harder to exercise those freedoms.

Which brings me to another topic... But that's for another day.

Bible-reading Adventure

Today is our first day of reading the Bible through on a chronological plan. We are using the book, Reader's Guide to the Bible by George H. Guthrie. The passage is Genesis 1 and 2.

The first question asks me to identify the order and rhythm of rest in my weekly patterns. Mine can be a little messed up sometimes because my job as a children's minister has me "working" on Sunday. So I do my best to take Friday and Saturday away from the office. That doesn't mean I don't do my job on those days. Some weekends I'm on the phone trying to find subs for classes, or I might have KidStuf rehearsal on a Saturday. It seems Sunday is the apex of the week. When Sunday afternoon rolls around, I don't do a lot. I mostly read, watch TV or take a nap. When Monday comes around, everything starts to build once again to Sunday.

The next question asks how God is the hero of Genesis 2, the creation of man and woman. All the other animals, birds and sea creatures had a mate, but the man didn't have a mate. God saw this and said it was not good, so He used the man to make the woman. He brought her to the man. God is the hero because He provided the mate for Adam.

The last question asks what the passage says about the nature and beauty of marriage as God designed it. God designed the man and woman to be united and become one flesh. The man is to leave his parents' home to establish his own home with his wife, be united to her, and become one with her.

Wild West Vagabond Vacation Week 1

This is a trip log/photo album of our vacation.

Sunday, June 10, we left the rain in Gulfport, MS and headed up to Memphis, TN where we met Mom and Dad. We stayed overnight at T. O. Fuller State Park. It was a nice park close to the state line. We didn't see much of it, though, because it was dark when we got there, and we left early the next morning.

Monday, June 11, we started west. We went through Arkansas and Oklahoma on the I-40.

We stopped for the night at Red Rock Canyon State Park which is on the west side of Oklahoma City. It was an interesting place because when we pulled into the park, we were thinking, "Where are all the campers?" After we passed the guard gate, suddenly the road was leading us down into a canyon whose walls were carved from red rock. The road was steep and full of hairpin turns. We were wondering if campers who go down in here ever get out. And indeed we did see some campers that looked as if they had been down there for a long time.

Tuesday, June 12, we left Red Rock Canyon State Park. We had to call the office at the top of the canyon to tell them we were on our way up. They have to stop traffic because it is a one-way road. Once we got out of the canyon, we headed west toward Amarillo, TX and Raton, NM. Once we got into New Mexico, we saw a volcano before we got to the interstate.

We crossed over the Raton Pass in Raton, NM, then we were into Colorado.

We spent the night at Trinidad Lake State Park. We had an interesting time getting to the campground. Apparently there is more than one entrance into the park. I had put the south entrance into the GPS. Well, when we got there, it turns out that was the primitive camping, and we were on a gravel road at one point. Getting two campers turned around took some doing, but we got it done. We drove to the other entrance, and got to the campground, finally. We found our campsites and set up for the night. No water, just electrical hookups. And we had a great view of the lake. However, I soon discovered that I had gotten chiggers at Red Rock Canyon. Twenty-one bites all over my ankles and legs. :(

Wednesday, June 13, we left Trinidad Lake State Park and immediately got lost in Trinidad trying to get to the interstate. After meandering around and getting into impossible situations, we got on the interstate heading to Loveland, CO.

On the way, we stopped at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. We were considering going through it, but decided against it. We had all been there before, and we didn't want to take the campers in there, so we pressed on to Denver.

We drove straight through Denver, then to Loveland to Boyd Lake State Park. We found the park okay, but had problems finding campsites because they were all marked "reserved". The camp host suggested looking at the dates on the posts to find the ones that weren't reserved for the next couple of days. We were fortunate to find two sites together. This was the second place we stayed where we had electricity, but no water hookups. We had to use the water in our camper's tank.

Many people have asked if we saw any of the fires where we were. We did see the fire in Ft. Collins from a distance.

Thursday, June 14, was Flag Day, so we put up our flag at the campsite. We unhooked Dad's truck and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park, our first National Park for this trip. It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed many of the sites. We were a bit disappointed not to see any of the elk we had seen the last time we came here, but the scenery was wonderful. We ate dinner in Estes Park, and enjoyed our ride through the Big Thompson River Canyon on our way up and back to Loveland.

 From Alpine Visitor Center

 One of the trails at Rocky Mountain National Park

Alluvial Fan at Rocky Mountain National Park

Friday, June 15, we packed up and left Boyd Lake State Park in Loveland and headed to Cheyenne, WY. The gas was much cheaper in Wyoming than it was in Colorado. We pressed on until we got to Casper. We stayed at the Casper KOA where the kids got to swim, and Mom and I washed clothes. Woohoo! Clean clothes!!

Saturday, June 16, we left Casper and headed to Cody. We got there at a decent time and stopped at the Wal-mart to replenish supplies. Vince and Nathan went on ahead of us and found that Buffalo Bill State Park had plenty of campsites. We found them and got campsites close together. These had water and electric, thank goodness. There were no bath houses, so we had to shower in the campers. We had a gorgeous view of the mountains, and a visit from a grouse who liked greeting new campers as they arrived.

Anna Marie actually got to set up her hammock for the first time at this campground. Believe it or not, she is lying in it in this picture. :)

Homeschool Planning

This morning, I've been working on ordering all the books and supplies we need for school this fall. I did fairly well and got some good deals. When the books arrive, the fun will begin. That's when lesson plans go down on paper, and the march begins to our first day of school which will be August 6. I'm sure the munchkins can't wait. Haha!

We've Been Traveling

On June 10, we left Gulfport to travel the West. I call it our Wild West Vagabond Vacation. We returned to Gulfport on Sunday, July 1. Let's just say that I'm glad we're home, but it was fun while it lasted, and we had a blast. I love the West, and it was so good to be there again. I have many fond memories of the places we've visited in the past, and it was great to see many of these places again. We also got to see some places we had not been to before. We had many adventures along the way. Tomorrow I'll detail those adventures for you. Right now, I've got to finish editing my pictures, so I'll see you tomorrow.