Working with my kid...

Last night and tonight have been interesting. You have to understand that up till a few years ago I was always very active in working with my children. Even though I worked nights, most of that time I worked from home.
That changed a few years ago. My job was airline related, I did technical assistance for technicians fixing airline ticketing equipment. When 9/11 happened my office go downsized a few people at a time . I was lucky and held on longer than others, but in the end I was let go.
I took a job at a community college fixing computers but I worked nights. Eventuality I went to days but along with my part time job of teaching them, I had to take on a job at a major retail store. So I was basically home maybe one a week.
This not good because my youngest son has Asburgers, a high functioning form of Autism. He has really needed a dad and I have not been emotionally or physically there. We were loosening connection.
In school he was needing to write a narrative essay, but he was drawing a blank on how to do it. It was passed the due date but they would take it if we could get it done soon. Now I am not the best writer but I have learned how to write bettthan many so even though I was tired, as he was to, I got to help him write his paper.
The result I do not care if he gets a good grade on. We had connected again in ways we haven't done in years. I think he enjoyed it as well. He was relaxed as he climbed into bed as if he once again knew he had a dad who loved him.
In my Wednesday night co-dependency group, I am a facilitator of a group going over the book, The Father Heart of God. I have learned in the past two days just what a joy it is for me to be part of my sons life again. How much more does it mean to the Father God to be part of my life if I will just let Him be a part of it? 

Retail workers sign petition to “Save Thanksgiving” | SFGate Blog | an SFGate.com blog

Retail workers sign petition to “Save Thanksgiving” | SFGate Blog | an SFGate.com blog

So let me see if I understand this correctly.

More and more stores, from Target to Best Buy, are pledging to start the Black Friday shopping extravaganza’s early — like after dinner on Thanksgiving night. And they’ll stay open all night long.

That upsets a lot of workers, including Anthony Hardwick of Omaha, Neb., who says he’d rather be at home with his family than stocking shelves or working a register at Target. Plus to make it though the night he’ll have to sleep most of the day, he told CNNMoney.com.

Hardwick started an online petition called “Tell Target to Save Thanksgiving” calling for Target to open later that quickly attracted 157,000 signatures.

Here is a guy who has a job in an economy that is not doing very well so he starts a protest so he does not have to work on Thanksgiving. I would think that the man would be thankful that he has a job and can work on that day. I would think that he would be thankful that he is not in a soup kitchen with his family. Nope, the protest is there, and he is upset he has to work. While I do not care to work on the day, someone has to and the Walmart that I work at will take care of the people that work there. We will have some food set out for us to eat during breaks. We will get holiday pay based on the average hours we worked. And more important, my family will have 8 hours more of pay from my part time job, maybe being able to get some presents for each other.

Get your priorities correct people.

Church tweets protest of Steve Jobs funeral via iPhone | News To Me with George Mathis

Church tweets protest of Steve Jobs funeral via iPhone | News To Me with George Mathis

This has got to be what I consider the ultimate in irrational behavior. If you look up irony in the dictionary, this news article should be found there.

Westboro Baptist, those of the protest the military funereals because America is going to Hades in a hand-basket fame, have decided to protest the funereal of Steve Jobs. Why, because he did not use technology for God...

Religious leader Margie J. Phelps, in responding to an Associated Press headline on Twitter concerning Jobs’ death, said the group would picket the funeral because Jobs had “a huge platform; gave God no glory and taught sin.”

I never knew he taught sin... must have been one of those things I missed because I am not an Apple fanboy. (and I am not putting down Apple or Jobs, just the religious fanatics that the fanboys are). What is ironic is how they put this message up on Twitter:

Yes, that is right, they protested Jobs, and his lifestyle, on a phone that he helped to create. I am a Christian. I can honestly say that if I thought that Jobs represented Satan and all that stand with him, I would not be using the tools he created to talk about how I would protest his lifestyle.

School Surveys 7th-Graders on Oral Sex - FoxNews.com

School Surveys 7th-Graders on Oral Sex - FoxNews.com

Was this really necessary?

Tessitore said her daughters, both students at Memorial Middle School, were told they had to complete a Youth Risk Behavior Study.

“Kids were actually told to sit down and take them,” said John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “The parents here are very upset.”

Whitehead said the girls were deeply disturbed by the subject matter of the study – including questions about suicide, drug use and sexual behavior.

“One of the questions is, ‘have you ever had oral sex,’” Whitehead said. “You’re talking about kids who probably don’t even know what oral sex is.”

But in stead of accepting responsibility the principal passes the buck:

Principal Fran Thomas told Fox News Radio that students were indeed given the survey – and admits it was graphic. But Thomas said the school has nothing to do with the content and they were required to administer the survey to fulfill a grant requirement.

“I can take no responsibility for what’s on that survey,” Thomas said. “It’s not generated by the school system.”

So in stead of saying that I could have stopped this if I had not applied for the grant, he says that it was mandated by the grant and I had no control over it. Then they wonder why the kids do not take responsibility for their own actions!

Travel Time

Will have to be going to another campus for the next few weeks.  Could be interesting, it is one of the ones that I used to work at.  Not sure why they need me, call load does not look too bad.  I was told that we have a number of projects that need to be done, so I will be up there for a little bit.  It is between semesters so I will not have the commute between the two campuses to teach.

Now, if I could only get to the point that I did not have to work the third job.  I enjoy Walmart, but 3 jobs is a bit too much.  Each weekend drains me so much.

Well, here goes .....

Osama, who? Ask clueless teenagers - Hindustan Times

Osama, who? Ask clueless teenagers - Hindustan Times

My daughter was four years old when 9/11 happened. She kind of remembers me watching TV for hours trying to make sense of it all. She kind of remembers seeing a big plane crashing into tall buildings in New York. But while she may remember those things and we have talked about them over the years, I do not think that something that we talked about who was who was responsible for doing it. It does not surprise me these facts:

According to Yahoo!, 40% of searches on Sunday for 'who killed Osama bin laden' were from people aged 13-20.

But teenagers aged 13-17 made up 66% of searches for the question 'who is Osama bin Laden?'

Why would't this be the truth. We teach our children all sorts of things, but then do not teach them about others. And then call them clueless when they do not know about something? I can understand the questions they asked desperately, flooding internet, confused and clueless as they were about the man who ran the world's largest terrorist network and whose manhunt of 10 years had finally culminated in his killing in a Pakistani city, the Daily Mail reported.

Scores more turned to Twitter to pose the question and get the answer, before they were quickly embarrassed by other users for their lack of knowledge.

One youngster wrote: 'Who is Osama Bin Laden and why should I care?'. Another asked: 'Is he famous?'

A young Twitter user wrote: 'Who is Osama? And why is it so good he died?'. Another poster referred to the terrorist leader as 'Ben' Laden.

What bothers me is that they did not ask their parents. We as a culture have grown cold to what our kids need and let them surf the web for answers. And then we wonder why they are messed up.

When I get time to visit with my kids tonight, I think I have to ask them if they understand exactly what happened Sunday night, and why they should care.

An American family in London watches and worries | Commentary | Minnesota Public Radio News

An American family in London watches and worries | Commentary | Minnesota Public Radio News

I wrote to my friend what I said to my daughter. "Christians do not celebrate the death of anyone."

As a Christian I value all life. Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies. Proverbs 24:17 teaches, "Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble." It's not easy, but that's what Jesus has asked me to do.

I guess this sums up what I felt last night as I typed those words. I cannot celebrate the death of anyone. I wish he could have come to know Jesus. On the other hand, a moral evil is gone and we no longer have to put up with it. In that respect, the world is a little safer. But my life will still go on.