Election Day

On Election Day we spent some intentional time together, exercising our civic duty while enjoying the great privilege of voting. Our area has a large program called "Kid's Voting". Every kid is invited to cast their ballot in a separate area of the polling place on a computer, much like the real machines. John's teacher was giving a 100 % Test grade score to each student who brought in their "I Voted" sticker.

John chose not to pose for this picture perhaps because he, like me, considers voting to be a private matter. I was AMAZED by the audacity of the  telephone pollsters who called no less than four times per day for many weeks during this very important presidential campaign to ask me for whom I was planning to vote. I can tell you honestly that I never answered once, their impertinent questions, which bordered on harassment. I was taught that one's vote is very private, almost sacred, because of the millions of American soldiers who've died in order to give us this unique freedom. (Of course, being a hypocrite, I will hint at it on the Internet!)  For that reason, I expected to see a different outcome when the votes were finally tallied. I thought that many other folks who share my values had also refused to participate with these nonsensical surveys.

I was really Hoping for a Change...

However, our hope is in the Living God, who works all things together for good according to His purpose. We are living in a post-Christian country. You either choose to be one, or you don't. As for me and my house, I hope and pray that we will serve the Lord.
I realize that my argument doesn't quite hold because many fine folks who are indeed Christians saw things differently last Tuesday and everyday, apparently. That's why it is not up to me to worry about this but instead, I'm to get busy trying to do the best I can with what I've got, One Day at a Time. God is in charge- He's got it all figured out!

The next thing we did on this beautiful November afternoon was to make a visit to both nearby cemeteries. We took the opportunity to pray for our departed family members on both sides of our family like the Church asks us to in this month of The Poor Souls. Suffering souls in purgatory cannot help themselves but depend entirely upon the mercy of the Church Militant ( living members) to pray for them to be received into the Beatific Vision of God. When I was a kid we used to sing " Pray for the dead, and the dead will pray for you." It is always a pleasure to stop by to pray for our beloved family members. We don't do it often enough. The month of November reminded us to do this.
The labyrinth above is sort of "New Age-y" but the kids had fun walking around on it.

"Eternal rest grant unto them,O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
 May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.'

After all this quality patriotic and spiritual time, we argued in the car all the way to the Chick Fil A where we enjoyed a delicious late lunch by God's Grace and Dad's hard work!