Jeopardy

I've been writing a lot of Jeopardy games for Lincoln Learning Solutions. It will be interesting to see if any of my kids or students end up playing them someday when they are in 8th grade.

Prayer

Deacon Steven's homily was about prayer and how God answers with Yes, No, or Not Yet. He emphasized being persistent (because of the Not Yet), which naturally made me think of our kids' education. Rumor has it that the diocesan leaders want to go to a regional system that will break up K-8 into K-4 and 5-8, which was a big reason we liked the Catholic schools more than the public schools. It keeps the junior high kids younger longer, which is a good thing. They are doing this, not to save money, but to serve a future market. Being of the current market, we have to reconsider our new options. I can't create my own charter school without my wife's permission, but we could enroll them in a cyber-charter school and coordinate with other families a way to supervise the kids during the day - even if we pitch in to hire someone with all the money we'll be saving ($3000 per kid). A class of 14 would pay a "teacher" $42,000.

Happy Birthday, John!

We celebrated John's birthday yesterday because it looked like the only day all of us had free between now and his real birthday.

On an unrelated note, I thought of this daycare dilemma: An owner has two employees that he's trying to decide who to leave in charge when he has to be away from the center. Two critical moments form the basis of his decision. One, 4-year-old Brian tries to pour his own milk and it spills. Ron, a male employee, makes fun of him for being so clumsy because he hates cleaning up messes, but helps him clean it up anyway. Jill, criticizes Ron for being so insensitive. Later, Brian is fighting with his 2-year-old sister and starts choking her. Jill ignores it as none of her business, but Ron rushes over to break them up and let Brian's sister breathe again. Who is the better person to leave in charge?

I wanted to make a metaphor to represent that the opposite of love is apathy, not hate. Ron can be insensitive on the surface, but he loves the children and takes care of them when he needs to. Jill is quick to point out other people's faults, but doesn't really do anything to take care of the children herself. Based on my thinking, I would like to think everyone would pick Ron to be in charge, but my gut tells me a lot of people relate more to Jill than Ron.

Idlewild

We've been having a great summer at Idlewild, going about once a week when Nancy has off work (and avoiding the weekend crowd). The castle opened about 2 weeks ago and they were celebrating it's 60th birthday with cake and cookies, which was a nice surprise. Since the first day when we went swimming early and got burned, we have been hanging out in the park until 3 PM and ending the day at the waterpark. The only people I've seen are Cathy and Jen Hensler (although different last names now). It's been nice.

Update

Nancy and I had another Engaged Encounter Weekend. We had Emily's birthday at the Children's Museum and Claire's birthday at Claire's. I've been thinking more about the political ads I've seen. Trump's criticized for making fun of a person with disabilities, but Clinton isn't criticized for killing unborn babies with disabilities. A Clinton supporter argued that Benghazi and a number of other common complaints about Clinton don't compare with complaints against Trump. I agree with Benghazi being trivial in comparison to her pro-choice stance and forcing workers to participate in abortions against their conscience. The things about Clinton I dislike most are all policy related. The common complaints about Trump (racist, sexist) are not policy related -- he's not going to support killing women or minorities like Clinton and her pro-choice allies support killing unborn babies. I suppose pro-choice people have hardened their hearts so they don't consider unborn babies people and can write off my arguments as irrelevant. There's nothing more I can do for them besides pray.

Annulments

While I was trying to place dates on my timeline, I asked a friend about when she first married because I remember being at her wedding, but forgot the date and knew she would know. Of course, that first marriage was annulled in record time, so it never happened (and doesn't get a place on my timeline).

Deep and Simple

In reading Deep & Simple by Bo Lozoff, I came across this prayer by Mother Teresa that I want to share:

Deliver me, O Jesus, from the desire
of being loved, of being extolled,
of being honored, of being praised,
of being preferred, of being consulted,
of being approved, of being popular,

From the fear of being humiliated, of being despised,
of suffering rebukes, of being calumniated,
of being forgotten, of being wronged,
of being ridiculed, of being suspected.

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be more esteemed than I,
That (in the opinion of the world) others may increase and I decrease,
That others be chosen, and I set aside,
That others be praised, and I unnoticed,
That others be preferred to me in everything,
That others become holier than me,
provided I become as holy as I should.