text:
Medigap Insurance in East Olympia, WA

Are you looking for the best Medigap insurance in East Olympia, WA? We can help you find affordable and quality Medicare Supplemental Insurance in Washington. You can either call 888-602-5343 or enter your Zip Code above and fill out the form. We will help you find the best East Olympia, WA Medigap insurance options.

Medicare-SupplementBuying Medigap, or Medicare Supplemental Insurance, is the key for many people over age 65 to be able to afford to use their Medicare coverage. Medigap is a separate policy that is sold by private insurance carriers that adhere to Washington laws.

For the most part, Medigap covers co-insurance, co-payments, and even includes medical coverage if faced with an emergency when traveling outside of the United States. Older Medigap plans also covered deductibles, though those were mostly phased out in 2010. Medigap covers costs seen in Medicare Part A and Part B Plans. Medicare Advantage plans are also available though not in conjunction with Medigap benefits. Likewise, be aware that it is illegal to sell a Medigap holder Medicare Savings plans.

The reason people in East Olympia, WA buy Medigap is to cover where an individual’s money will fall short. Buying a Medigap policy will require monthly premiums in addition to Part A and Part B Plan premiums. Though, the fact is that there are still ways to save on Medigap coverage.

For one, apply for policies while in the first 6 months of your Medicare Part and Part B plan policies. During this period, guarantee issuance is extended to anyone over the age of 65 within the first six months. It means that there are no denials or increases in premiums because of pre-existing conditions, based upon past medical history, or current medical problems that spring up.

If an individual waits they may pay higher rates and fees for extending past the deadline. It is better to shop around and compare quotes and do so during the open enrollment period. The majority of Medicare Supplemental insurance plans are standard and demarcated by letters A through N. Each plan covers benefits but have added benefits. For instance, part D covers prescriptions.

Some plans are decommissioned already, and others are set for being phased out by 2020. Fortunately, the unavailable policies are not marketed any longer. And, if you were concerned that you are missing, know that most of the old plans are actually more expensive because the policies have fewer subscribers than today’s active plans.

That means that while cheap Medicare Supplemental Insurance plans A through G charge higher premiums, costs that are out-of-pocket are not as expensive as for Plan K through Plan N. Those carry lower premiums and like benefits but at the trade-off of costing more at the time of service.

Employer Retiree Benefits
The next way to save money beyond following the open enrollment dates is to find out if a former or present employer has a Medigap policy of its own. In general, these will be less costly than an individual policy that you buy on your own. Though, the warning and word to the wise is to carefully consider if the company is financially stable or not.

Determining Eligibility
Whenever purchasing many types of Medicare plans, you actually cancel the old policy before instating the new policy. That is not the case where Medicare A and B are concerned. The reason, recall, is that discount Medicare Supplemental insurance plan is meant to fill the gaps of conventional original Medicare policies.

It requires still being covered under Medicare. The other benefit is to know when shopping around that the policies are the same whether you buy with Humana or Aetna or BlueCross BlueShield, for instance.

What is worth looking at is the reputation of the health insurance company, the quality of the coverage they offer, and the credit worthiness rating of the insurance company. The reason to look at the credit worthiness of the company offering up the insurance is to ensure that they are likely to have the money to pay out benefits and claims as agreed in the policy paperwork.

In addition to looking for insurance carriers that have an A or greater rating in the creditworthiness area, it is important to find out about the customer service and the customer satisfaction ratings of the companies you are comparing as well. It pays to have the company that pays claims within a timely manner, without a heroic effort on your part or the part of your doctors.

Otherwise, you will spend time having to contact the Washington insurance department or commissioner to file official complaints to get the claims paid within the acceptable two-month window.  All of the Plan C Medigap coverage will be the same as that same plan from another insurer. Look at service quality and price. Look at comparing insurance company offerings to locate a cheap medicare supplement insurance plan in East Olympia, WA .

You will also need to look for separate prescription drug coverage, which is designated by Medicare Part D. This will add in an additional premium in addition to other costs. The key is that the majority of people who qualify for cheap medicare supplemental insurance are 65 and older, and look for their Medigap during open enrollment.

In addition , the other requirements stipulate Medicare Part B and Part A participants are eligible. Once you choose a low cost Medicare Supplemental insurance it is as if it is written in stone and can not be altered.

To be eligible for cheap Medicare Supplemental insurance plans in East Olympia, WA apply for coverage offered by insurers within your state. All policies are available in each state, though most states will have one single policy available for Medicaid plan holders.

Everyone at age 65 and older and who is also  enrolled in the Medicare Parts A and B is eligible to purchase a supplemental plan. It is advisable to decide on a plan during the 6 months of open enrollment to pay the most favorable policy premiums. When comparing costs during the open enrollment, it means pre-existing conditions are not factored into the pricing for the premiums. It is the hands-down best way to save money on a Medigap Supplemental plan in East Olympia, WA .

Always find out the Washington laws prior to shopping. They can vary a bit, though it is important to recall that the policies are uniform across states. Use online free quotes searches to find all of the options available to you. Narrow it down based upon credit worthiness of each of the insurers, along with their quality of care and their speed of paying out claims.

More Washington Cities We Cover:

  • Medigap Insurance in Westport, WA
  • Medigap Insurance in Cowiche, WA
  • Medigap Insurance in Matlock, WA
  • Medigap Insurance in Ariel, WA
  • Medigap Insurance in Toppenish, WA
  • Medigap Insurance in Outlook, WA
  • Medigap Insurance in Cusick, WA
  • Medigap Insurance in Buena, WA
  • Medigap Insurance in Farmington, WA
  • Medigap Insurance in Mabton, WA

  • More Tips About East Olympia, WA Medicare Supplemental Insurance

    Occasionally, the well being insurance marketplace can feel like a minefield. It isn't going to have to come to feel that way, even though. There is a lot of guidance obtainable that can assist you get the greatest discounts and the ideal remedy out of the income and time you place into dealing with health insurance policy businesses. Read through on for some handy guidelines.

    When you have determined on buying private health insurance coverage, you must get a duplicate of just what the program will seem like ahead of you make the closing acquire. Make confident that you study all of the wonderful print, exceptions and clauses, so that you will know what just you're receiving and what coverage you may stop up currently being denied.

    Your prescription coverage ought to be checked every year. Often, insurance companies modify which prescription drugs they protect. When re-enrollment time arrives about, you must always check to make certain your medication is coated. If a prescription medicine that you need to get routinely is not protected by your insurance policy, it really is time for you to uncover a new overall health insurance policies organization.

    When considering a health treatment insurance policy program from your employer, be weary of certain incentive based plans that endeavor to entice you. These might seem attractive at initial, but there may be concealed fees or reduction of earlier advantages. Often read through the contract thoroughly and do not be frightened to inquire concerns about something you are uncertain about.

    Comprehend you and your households health status when searching for insurance policy. If you are a single healthy individual, you can just take the danger and go for a low-cost, tremendous-higher, deductible plan, as the odds are that you will not want to use it as often. If there is a history of ailment or if you have children, you will want to pay out a little much more for every month for a decrease deductible.

    Use the sources offered to you. There are several web sites on the internet that let you to privately enter your family's information, and use it to assess health insurance guidelines and rates. This can be incredibly advantageous to individuals who may not have the time to store all around for this details on their own.

    Your employer may offer you a overall health insurance program but it might not be the strategy that is likely to be the greatest 1 for you and your family. Be confident to check the restrictions of the plans prior to enrolling for it. Just simply because your employer has chosen this policy to offer does not indicate that it is very best for you.

    Read your health insurance coverage policy meticulously before you go out and buy eyeglasses or get your tooth fastened. Most health care insurers offer you dental as a independent plan, and several do not supply vision insurance coverage at all. Far better to know up front whether your eyesight treatment is covered than to be greeted with a monthly bill from the eye medical doctor and not be able to spend it.

    If you never have a credit history card, question if you can spend for your pet wellness insurance with a debit card, by examine, or by getting monthly payments deducted from your checking or cost savings account. Just as with human health insurance coverage, you may get a price reduction if you can shell out for several months or a 12 months in progress.

    Contemplate the information you have just study and apply it to your search for wellness insurance coverage. With all the various plans available it would be straightforward to become perplexed without assist. Use the ideas whilst buying and do not give up until finally you have the proper program that fits your wants.


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text:
New cheats, hacks Blitz Brigade Rival Tactics: secrets, apk mode 2017

. Android game Blitz Brigade Rival Tactics cheat hack code - gold, medals, unlimited energy, crystal gems, level up, upgrade, speed up (New York, Unated state).

Wipe out the enemy base. Complete training in order to unlock multiplayer battles! Deployment costs energy. Rifle grunts – boot camp newbs armed with assault rifles. Strength in numbers, boys! Whistler (tactical support) – makes a telltale sound when it's dropping. Also makes a telltale sound when it explodes. Fabulous Fabio- the world's most eligible bachelor returns to the field, with his trusty rifle and signature stare. Hawk strike – an air drone that will take care of all small enemy threats. Just make the call. Engineer – neve do for yourself what a couple of crawlers can do for you. Famous engineering proverb. Siegemaster – goes through buildings like a hot knife through butter. Cannot attack anything else.

Blitz Brigade cheats android, ios hack codes

Blitz Brigade Rival Tactics – hack codes
Pyro Chem – fires explosive napalm gablets at enemies. Has never been called cool in his life. Crawler swarm – a truckload of crawlers thrown in the dield and programmed to harass anyone in their path. Slasher Satoru – decades of martial arts training have culminated into one simple strategy: spin to win. Breacher Duncan – buggy is legendary. His moustache is also legendary. The buggy itself is equipped with a "rush" accelerator. Blizzard squadron – bought from drones-r-us by the ton. Enough of them to turn the skies block. Commandettes – if you ever thought war is a man's game, please allow these ladies to change your mind.

Blitz Brigade Rival Tactics - secret code hack tips

 Blitz Brigade Rival Tactics – secret code
Buzzards – cheap to build drones armed with tiny guns. Ordered in bulk and deployed willy-nilly. Grunts – battle hungry rookies straight out of the academy. Have only completed CQC training. Spider saw – a small metal spider body a big laser-sharp sow. No doubt about it – it's dangerous.  Blitz Brigade Rival Tactics – cheats bug mode

how to enter hack cheats Blitz Brigade Rival Tactics.

1. U1IZo5L9rn – gold coins
2. qQXUZXXQDF - medals
3. xw6h5DZ7tE – speed up
4. MfiXbzcrh9 – unlimited energy
5. wNuQIo4pat – crystal gems
6. b4jysbUJ6f – level up
7. 8spkano7Yu - upgrade

how and where enter
Author: Solarka
Published contact: 228 Park Ave S, New York, NY 10003-1502, US

warcinfo:
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2019-04
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for January 2019
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-145-104-113.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.15 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 0.11-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
What is Child Alert?

Child Alert is a messaging system to notify citizens that a child has disappeared and finds itself in a life-threatening situation. It allows to call on witnesses who may have any information to come forward so that the child may be found back quickly.

The decision to launch a Child Alert will only be made by the magistrate (the public prosecutor or the examining magistrate) in charge of the disappearance case.

Every citizen and organization wishing to participate can register on the Child Alert website.

The Child Alert communication-platform is managed by Child Focus, in collaboration with the Belgian Federal Police and the judicial authorities.
•The Child Alert objectives
•When is a Child Alert launched?
•Child alert is not the only search method used
•How quickly will a Child Alert be launched and how long does it remain active?

The Child Alert objectives

•Enhancing children’s protection

•Allowing investigators in charge of a particularly worrying disappearance case to launch a call for witnesses very quickly through a whole range of communication tools, among which road signs, radio and television stations, mobile telephone providers, Internet, electronic billboards, company networks.

•Alerting citizens quickly (at work, on the road, at home…) and asking them to remain on the lookout and encouraging witnesses to provide information.

•Gathering any clues citizens may have within hours of the disappearance, any piece of information that may lead to the child being found. Thanks to the Child Alert message, any person who may have information that may lead to the child being located or who who sees the child - or the vehicle involved in the disappearance -can immediately dial 116000 or 0800 30 300. Child Alert is an appeal to citizen solidarity.

•Enhancing the compatibility between the existing child alert systems within the European Union Member States with a view to resolving cross-border child abduction cases more efficiently and strengthening international collaboration.

•Of course, citizens should on no account be asked to intervene themselves.

When is a Child Alert launched?

The criteria to launch a Child Alert must be extremely well defined: this is an alert plan which mobilizes exceptional tools for exceptional situations

The criteria have been defined in the ministerial directive concerning the tracing of missing persons.

Among the six criteria which define the various degrees of concern in disappearance cases, the 4th criterion (concerning situations that may indicate that the missing person may be in a life-threatening situation) is of prime importance.

Before a Child Alert can be launched, certain elements in the disappearance case must indicate that the child’s life is at immediate risk. But even when all the criteria are met, it does not automatically lead to a Child Alert being activated. The decision to launch a Child Alert must only be made by the magistrate in charge of the file. He will reach his decision following consultation with the investigators and the Missing Persons Unit of the Federal Police.

On the other hand, in some cases which do meet all the criteria, a Child Alert will not be launched if the broadcasting of the message may endanger the child even further or if it may compromise the ongoing investigation.

Child Alert is not the only search method used.

The Child Alert system is first and foremost a continuation of all the measures that have already been implemented to search for missing children.It is not a substitute for any of the existing tools but it is a tool that can be deployed in cases of extreme urgence, i.e., in situations where it can be reasonably assumed that the missing minor’s life is in immediate danger.

In other words, it is not because no Child Alert has been launched that nothing is done to find the missing child. In these situations, other tried and tested investigative methods are deployed. The Child Alert tool therefore complements the search methods used to find missing persons (e.g. poster/vignette campaigns; calls for witnesses/TV flashes, the Schengen information system, international circulation of information via Interpol…).

How quickly will a Child Alert be launched and how long does it remain active?

Child Alerts are launched as quickly as possible, and always on the basis of a well-considered decision and when the necessary information is available (accurate and recent photograph, a description of the missing child, etc.)

A Child Alert normally remains active for a period of 6 hours, and may be renewed up to 3 times. In other words, any Child Alert can remain active for up to 24 hours.

At the end of every Child Alert, a message announcing the end of the alert will be distributed.


text:
Chinchilla Love

thumb-general-baby_boxChinTubeHD was founded in April 2011 as a YouTube Channel, and has since expanded to a number of social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter. was launched in 2013 to provide animal lovers and chinchilla owners with the best possible experience in chinchilla entertainment and education, and to build a dynamic and vibrant chinchilla community.

%d bloggers like this:


text:
CH James Cafe Sustainability Embraces Fairfield Community Garden

The World Loves Melbourne recently visited CH James and the Fairfield Community Garden to see our sustainability project in action. Here is the article: "CH James is setting the pace when it comes to cafe sustainability, storing up its weekly coffee grinds and food scraps for the last 2 years, and giving them to the fabulous Fairfield Community Garden. The World Loves Melbourne caught up with Kat from CH James and Ken and Annette from the Fairfield Community Garden to see how it all works, and go on a tour of the garden.

FairfieldCommunityGarden 3

CH James, a leading cafe in Melbourne with restaurant quality food in a cafe (as well as great functions), is passionate about sustainability. CH James stores its food scraps in a bin (above), for the purpose of giving them to the Fairfield Community garden. These are excellent scraps full of nutrients for the community garden.

FairfieldCommunityGarden 5

Also stored in a bin at the back of CH James are large bags of used coffee grinds. CH James uses Small Batch coffee, a premium roaster in Melbourne. With CH James producing more used coffee grind in recent times, the Fairfield Community Garden is able to use the grinds not just for compost but as surplus for the rest of the garden.

FairfieldCommunityGarden 1

Ken and Annette are passionate volunteers who spend many hours tendering the Fairfield Community Garden. We took the food scraps and used coffee grinds around to the nearby Fairfield Community Garden.

FairfieldCommunityGarden 9

The garden is staffed by dedicated volunteers who work a roster. Locals are able to rent a plot and some of the produce finds it's way to Farmers Markets.

FairfieldCommunityGarden 11

The Fairfield Community Garden is located at the end of Hamilton Street Fairfield in between the train line and walkway to Station Street. The community garden was established approximately 14 years ago and is an initiative of Interact Fairfield Disability Services. It is a dynamic work space, all the time developing according to the energies and interests of participants. It has recently begun a new phase of consolidation and development.

The Fairfield Community Garden is comprised of approximately 28 plots that are rented out annually by individuals or families who reside in the local area, or by community groups engaged in sustainable activities and which are able to contribute consistently to the garden culture. Just part of the Fairfield Community Garden (below). We were impressed by the herb and citrus garden beds, as well as veggies planted.

FairfieldCommunityGarden 15

Here is Ken (below) pouring the CH James food scraps into one of the large compost bins. Fairfield Community Garden encourages the public to contribute your veggie scraps to our composting initiative and have a blue container outside the gate. In the interests of keeping the Fairfield Community Garden litter-free the public is encouraged to empty scraps into a blue container at the gate and to take your bags or reusable containers home with you.  If you have compostable plastic bags, these are fine to leave in the blue container as they will break down in the compost heap.

FairfieldCommunityGarden 18

Annette (below) adding some of the CH James used coffee grinds to the compost.

The gardeners have been experimenting with,  and refining a layering system in the compost bays to speed up the decomposition of garden waste, including the very pesky Kikuyu and couch grasses found on the site, and this of course this  means maximising the environmental conditions for the microbes and worms to do their job (oxygen, carbon, green waste, warmth and moisture).  Ken and Annette have even fed some of the mature compost back through to CH James cafe for their planter boxes.

FairfieldCommunityGarden 23

 Here is an example of the health of the soil - Annette pokes a stick into the ground and many worms appear!

FairfieldCommunityGarden 29

FairfieldCommunityGarden 32

One of the products at the Fairfield Community Garden is worm juice! See the collection at the tap coming from the converted bath! Milk cartons are broken up, wetted with a hose, and used to bring oxygen to improve the compost as it breaks down.

FairfieldCommunityGarden 33

Great produce abounds - if you're living in say an apartment with not a large yard - the community garden is a brilliant solution to grow your own!

FairfieldCommunityGarden 31

 Ken and Annette from the community garden with Kat from CH James. Often Fairfield Community garden has working bees, for example for mulching, general weeding and cleaning up the paths.

FairfieldCommunityGarden 36

Another great initiative is the NDIS scheme where CH James is providing it's grinds and food scraps for participants in the adjacent garden associated with the Alphington Community Hub. Participants in the scheme benefit from learning new skills around food production and preparation, wellbeing of the garden, cohesion bringing diverse groups together and sustainability. Please see theInteract Australia website.

Cool signage along the fence!"

FairfieldCommunityGarden 48


text:
Pilgrim Pleasure 1

Follow Pilgrim in his discovery of forbidden pleasure. And just maybe you will see something of your own journey over the years. For, as we shall see, pleasure has a power of its own that Pilgrims should treat with care……

Pilgrim paused at the junction and considered what lay before him. His “Do Right” trail had thrown up many hurdles, yet he always found sufficient resolve to cross them all.

The trail stretched before him, austere and narrow, straight toward dark, thankless mountains. Foreboding echoed from every crag. It was a Pilgrim’s lot to scale such heights and grow by doing so. Pilgrim’s shoulders slumped at the thought of what awaited him ahead.

pilgrims progress

To the left, down a short path spread a lush and leafy pasture, where the sun shed mottled patches through leafy trees. The path was marked, “Please Yourself”, and pleaded to his weary senses.

The Path to Pleasure

“I was warned of such a path”, he spoke to himself. Yet he paused and longed for the relief so near.

Even though Pilgrim kept away from self-indulgence he had enjoyed life so far. Overcoming a daunting obstacle, bringing joy to others, helping his friends and doing right all brought a reward that nourished him.

But at times he just longed for the freedom to do as he pleased. And now, as he thought, the meadow was so close. “Surely I could suffer no harm to pause for a moment.” Without further word he eased his load from aching shoulders and moved tentatively toward the inviting pasture.

Falling into the soft grass brought celebration to his senses. Muscles rested as a smile came to his lips. Surely this could not be bad, since the Lord Himself commended rest.

Breezes swept sweet scents to his nostrils and birds chirped happy music to his ears.

Sleep came readily in the sweet comforts of the meadow.

Call to Return

He woke to the cries of a friend. A companion he oft walked with called him back to the trail. “You are not to go to such a place.”

“It’s fine. I suffer no harm. Come, see for yourself.”

The companion stood firm, so the pilgrim rolled in the grass to show how harmless the meadow was. “Come. See for yourself!” As the companion remained resolute the pilgrim laughed at him.

“This is great fun. And it makes me feel so good.”

“But you are not supposed to be there. Now hurry up and get back on track. Others are coming and they will see you.”

With that the pilgrim returned to the “Do Right” trail, looking longingly back to the meadow.

The “Please Yourself” path crossed the trail many times and each time it did the pilgrim was drawn to it. His companion did not notice the various delights laid up close to the trail, and did not seem to care even when they were pointed out. But the pilgrim felt a new ache for them.

His short pause in the pasture remained with him and pulled at him in ways he could not explain. If he had been alone he would gladly have sampled more of the treats he saw along the way.

Finally he discovered a case for venturing to the “Please Yourself” path again. Since that path kept intersecting with the “Do Right” trail, there was clearly no harm in taking it as an alternative route, at least for a good part of the journey. Since he had resolved to go the right way and “Do Right” there could be no harm if he were to enjoy himself while doing so.

When his companion needed rest, pilgrim decided to press ahead, hoping to find the pleasure path while alone and free to explore it without censure.

As You Please

When pilgrim came again to the “Please Yourself” path there was a man standing at the intersection. Pilgrim was eager to see what pleasures the path afforded, but held back, unsure of this new acquaintance.

“I see you like my path”, the stranger spoke.

“Is this path yours?” Pilgrim enquired.

“Yes. And it’s a fine path too.” The stranger watched Pilgrim’s eyes.

“Do you mind if I use your path?”

“Please yourself.” They both laughed at that witty answer.

“Well, should I go to the left or the right?” “As you please.” The stranger smiled.

“Can I stay close to the “Do Right” trail?” “If you wish.”

“Can I still be a pilgrim?” “If that’s what you wish.”

“Are there no rules, then?” “Yes. That you ‘Please Yourself’. There is nothing else you need worry about.”

Please Yourself

If life could be divided into two kingdoms they would have to be the Kingdom of “Do Right” and the Kingdom of “Please Yourself”. While enjoying life is by no means a bad thing, the issue is a matter of heart intention.

When you set out to do what is right your heart operates under a moral imperative, in the fear of God, recognising that you are not here for yourself, but to fulfil the purposes for which God, your Creator, placed you here. That becomes your joy, and joy is much richer than “pleasure”.

When you set out to please yourself your heart has chosen to elevate self above God. You love pleasure more than God (2Timothy 3:4). Moral responsibility takes second place and you see every situation, challenge and relationship as something to exploit for personal benefit.

Moral responsibility leads to self-sacrifice, self-discipline, character, inner strength, resolve, authority, moral might, leadership, ability to bless others, social fabric and security, and God’s grace on lives and communities.

Selfishness leads to irresponsibility, abuse of others, indulgence, moral weakness, exploitation, vulnerability, lack of care for others, and God’s wrath upon lives and communities.

Choose Your Way

We each choose our way. We either walk the way of life, or of death. Western culture advertises the merits of “Please Yourself” as if it is the only logical choice. We are told to “Just Do It!” and “If it feels good, Do It!” We are encouraged to have our way, do our own thing, and insist on our personally crafted notion of what is best for us.

God calls us to fear God, love Him, obey Him and glorify Him. As we do that we receive blessings that are beyond anything our natural senses can deliver.

I call you to choose “Life”! Choose the way of holiness in the fear of God. So you can truly enjoy the life in your hand.

The next lesson follows Pilgrim into his adventure, exploring the pleasures his heart craves.

Ghost Driver 3

It took fifteen years for the two to meet again. He was now a middle aged man, running a business and raising a family. Walking home from a meeting, with his wife at his side, he saw the familiar carriage approaching from the distance.

The carriage showed signs of a hard life. It had traversed many miles, at break-neck speed, and crashed its way through many a barrier in its time. The mad drivers did not care for maintenance or for the welfare of the passengers, just that they vent their passion with full force and let fly their energies at a whim.

The carriage creaked its way toward the man and wife as they walked the dusty road. Finally it stopped just short of them. They saw the reins drop from the hands of the invisible driver. The door opened and a woman stepped out.

We Meet Again

The man approached slowly.

She was still beautiful to behold, but up close her face was painted and her eyes hard. She cast her scorning gaze upon the man and back to the wife waiting at a distance. The wife, plain in the way of country women, was no match for her own arrogant beauty and crafted image and appeal. The air was crisp in the silence of their meeting.

“You have not changed”, he said. “Thank you”, she oozed as she turned her cheek toward him.

“I mean, you have not become free.” She scowled at him with angry eyes.

“I see you have settled for second best”, she said with contempt as she glared at the wife, dressed in plain linen and face browned by the sun.

“Freedom is always better than slavery”, he said simply. “Ha!” She scorned.

Meet the Next Generation

Then another person stepped from the carriage. The woman’s baby had grown to a lovely young lady and looked even more beautiful than her mother ever had.

“This is the man I told you of”, mother said to her girl. “I’m very pleased to meet you”. The girl spoke with sincerity. The man nodded.

The girl then stepped past him and went to greet the wife standing at a distance.

“She is beautiful, isn’t she?” The woman urged.

“It is a tragedy she must endure your fate.” He spoke honestly, not as one taunting another.

Mutual Contempt

“You know nothing of life and its wonders. You have not seen what I have seen or been where I have been. You have strangled your life in this dull valley, with a woman who knows nothing of how to really live!”

“And what do you have to show for your wild adventures?” He asked.

She pointed her chin toward her lovely daughter. “Every man we meet wishes he was passenger with us. We are the envy of the whole world.”

“Yet your husband never returned for your life of wild abandon.” At this she turned her head and snorted.

What is Freedom?

“I have the freedom to go as I will and do as I please!” She declared.

“You have no freedom at all. You are a slave to every passion you ever yielded to. You have been trampled by every thing you thought would enrich you.”

She snarled at him. The hardness in her eyes and on her face made her beauty brittle. She had the beauty of an image painted on glass. There was no softness or life in it. His own wife, much more modest in demeanour and tempered in nature, did not have the hardened beauty of this painted woman, but she had a genuine radiance that was deeper than beauty, which glowed from the very depths of her being.

“I am not trapped by your civilities, laws and expectations. People know to let me have my head and to step out of my way. I am free to do what you would never allow yourself to do!”

“Yet you have no power to say ‘No’ to your own enslaving impulses. Not only must people get out of your way, but you, too, must rush with the impulse that throws you this way and that.”

She stared him down in defiance, unable to think what else to throw at him.

“I am free to say ‘No’ to you. Your husband was free to walk away. But you are the sorriest slave of all, for you cannot get free, even from yourself!”

The Appeal

As this exchange took its course the young lass spoke quietly to the plain wife with the sun-browned skin. She had longed for his moment for many years and even anticipated such a conversation.

“Is it true you can free us from this curse?” The woman squeezed her hand and nodded. “Yes, and we’d love to help you.”

“I’m afraid mother will never let me be free while she is still alive, but one day…”, she paused to gain courage for what she wanted to say. “One day I will come this way again and ask you to help me.”

“We will be here waiting. I promise.”

Ghost Drivers Take Charge Again

Suddenly a raucous “Cumalongnow!” growled from unseen voices and the horses reared up ready for a charge.

The woman stepped toward the carriage, head held high and rage in her sparkling eyes. She had sought the man out to mock him, but now he had stood his ground and everything within her whirled in a torrent of contempt and rage.

But the daughter gripped the wife’s hand with all her might. Invisible cords pulled relentlessly at the young body, tearing her back to the waiting vehicle. “Cum! Cum!” the mad voices demanded.

In an instant the daughter was pulled inside with her mother and whisked away in a fury of stamping hooves.

Two faces looked back through the swirling dust. One bore mocking defiance and the stubborn insistence of her own self-will. The other looked longingly for the day they would meet again and the road to freedom would be traversed.

Generational Curse

Have you trapped your children into a life controlled by your Ghost Drivers? Are you raising the next generation to the same slavery which has dogged your life?

Or have you broken the curses passed down from generations, so your own descendents can live in true freedom?

The Ghost Drivers are linked to your self-will. If you will to be a slave they will gladly fulfil your wish. If you will to be free, then you must use your will to humble yourself before God and allow Him to set you free.

True freedom awaits you. True beauty of soul is waiting to be seen from within you.

Come free today, through the finished work of the Cross of Christ.

To read the earlier instalments in this important story of slavery and freedom click the following links:

Part One: http://chrisfieldblog.com/ministry/ghost-driver

Part Two: http://chrisfieldblog.com/ministry/ghost-driver-2

Ghost Driver Allegory

This allegory is an attempt to open up a subject for your consideration. Often matters of our heart and inner life are hard to describe. I like to create language, pictures and allegory that open up our understanding of internal processes and empower us to take some leadership in our own lives.

I trust that this allegorical effort does that for you.

This is Part One of a story to illustrate what can happen in people’s lives, when they come under the power of unseen forces that function as a driver in their life.

The Beautiful Girl

The young man noticed her at once. She was beautiful to his eyes, so he watched her from a distance. The coach stood still in the market and the lovely young lady hung out the window drinking in the sounds and senses of the bustling crowd.

As she stepped out onto the pavement the young man hurried to greet her. She smiled and he stammered to make meaningful conversation. Both were delighted by the meeting. She was just passing through and he hardly caught her name before the coach driver called his “Cumalongnow” cry and she stepped onto the running board.

As the coach began to move she swung herself into the coach and waved to him from the window. As he waved back he saw there was no driver steering the horses, yet the whip cracked and the carriage sped away. The boy ran after them, crying for the carriage to stop, but it passed out of sight, with the young lady waving still.

Second Meeting

Two full years passed before he saw her again. It was early morning and the village streets had hardly sprung to life. The coach was there again. He walked quickly to it and peered through the window. She was there, resting. He tapped and caught her attention. She quickly sprang out to meet him, smiling broadly. It was the same chemistry they had enjoyed on their first meeting.

They had barely gotten past a few pleasantries when the “Cumalongnow” made her step back into the carriage. The young man only had eyes for her sparkling smile, but something tugged at his attention. As the coach moved away he recalled the missing driver from their first meeting and glancing to the front of the coach he again saw that there was no-one holding the reins. He ran after the coach and shouted, “There’s no driver!” She simply smiled and waved back as the coach gained speed and moved away.

From then on he always kept an eye to the road, in case she should pass that way again. It was a full two years again before they met once more. He was riding a country track when he came upon the coach. The young lady was sitting in the pasture as the horses took their rest.

His fascination for her was now cautioned by his questions. They stood silently for a time before he spoke.

“There is no driver”, he said simply. She nodded.

“How can that be?” She shrugged.

“So, what do you do?” He was totally lost for understanding.

She kept her eyes on the grass as she answered. “When he cries, I get aboard.” And that was all she said.

“But where is he taking you?”

She held her reply for an intolerable time, then said, “They take me where they will.”

“There is more than one?” He was incredulous. “Who are they?”

She turned away. When she looked back toward him she could see he was resolute upon an answer.

Naming the Drivers

“One is called Ambition. Another is Rage.” He kept his gaze fixed upon her.

“Then there is Jealousy. Greed takes his turn. There are others.”

He stood stock still, unsatisfied.

“They take the reins and drive me where they will and I must stay on board. One time I am driven by rage, then by ambition, other times by self-justification. At any moment one of them can jump to the lead and dash me off in a hasty venture.”

“Where do they come from?”

“My mother and father had them before me. As a child I was carried about in this coach until it became normal for me to live under such unexpected and inexplicable whim. The ghosts have owned me since childhood. I am their pawn.”

“Then come away with me. I will ride you far from this coach and these demented masters.”

“But it will not work. They have power over me. If you try to take me away I will be torn apart, since each of them owns a handful of my being.”

A Proposal

She reached out her hand to him. “But you can come with me in the coach. We can be happy together, no matter where these riders take us.”

It was a delightful prospect, but the young man was held in check by his fear of the unseen drivers.

“I do not want to spend my life in uncertainty of the whim of Ghost Drivers. While I am delighted to be with you, I do not want to become a slave to your ghosts.”

“But my parents made a life in such a coach as this.” Her eyes appealed to him.

“No”, he said finally. “I will not be slave to another man’s masters.”

With that a multiple of voices cried, “Cumalongnow!” and she dashed into the carriage as it began to move away. Rage was almost visible as he cracked the whip. Defiance shook his fist at the man left standing. Pride lifted his head and looked away. Spite spat in his direction.

A lovely face looked back toward him, without expression, except the resignation of a slave.

Do You Recognise This?

Do you know people whose lives are upset at times by uncontrolled urges, impulses, reactions, obsessions, distractions, ventures, exploits, rages, campaigns, and the like?

Most of us have come under the power of some “Ghost Driver” or other. We are vulnerable to distraction or disruption when something triggers some internal switch and sets us off on an almost uncontrollable direction.

I have seen people spoil a social event because of their obsessive need to justify themselves, gain respect, clear up a misunderstanding, prove their worth, and so on. Romantic moments in marriages have been turned into arguments. Business ventures have come unglued. Friendships, committees, fellowships and events have all been impacted at times by someone or other whose “Ghost Driver” called “Cumalongnow” and pulled them off on some unfortunate process.

What is Going on?

I guess you’d like to know what this Ghost Driver process is all about. So that’s what we’ll look at as the story continues. The story of this young man and woman does go a little further, so keep an eye out for the next instalment of the Ghost Driver Story.

Honouring the Pine Tree

There was once a lovely valley filled with pine trees, deep in the forest. Magnificent trunks reached from the valley floor and spread their glorious boughs in elegant grace such as eye rarely saw. In fact the valley was so beautiful that people from around the world made the difficult trip to be able to photograph this amazing sight.

But there was a problem with the valley. While all the trees in the valley, whether large or small, were of the most perfect shape and richest colour, creating mottled shades of green as they swept from one side to the other, there was one ugly tree which spoiled every vantage point.

Where the valley reached its height, just below the mountain ridge that circled it, there was a rocky outcrop. Suspended at the edge of those rocks, and hanging on precariously, was a runty and withered little tree which hardly ever had leaves. Its distorted trunk, if that is what you could call its short and twisted stump, was dried and poorly nourished. There was little water among those rocks and this ugly little excuse for a tree had never been more than an insult to all the others below it. Word had it that this tree had only ever produced one pine cone in its entire life.

The other trees often spoke in ugly tones about the runty bit of wood suspended above their glorious valley. They knew that the stunted tree insulted their kind and had to be the ugliest pine tree that had ever grown.

One day when the master Forester came by, the beautiful pine trees complained to him about the ugly tree.

“Why did you let such an ugly tree grow above our beautiful valley? We do not want that ugly tree there at all. We wish he had never even existed.”

“Is that your wish? The Forester asked. “Yes. Yes!” The trees answered.

“Well then”, said the Forester, “I can make it just as if that tree had never taken root. Would you like that?”

“Oh yes!” They rejoiced.

“Fine. I shall start cutting you down today.”

The trees were shocked. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, if that tree did not exist, then none of you would be here either. So I will have to cut you down.”

All the trees began to quake in horror and pulled their branches back from the Forester.

“Let me tell you what happened” the Forester continued.

“Many, many years ago there was a terrible fire that scorched this entire land. It killed all the trees as far as the eye could see. Every tree was burned to ash and this valley looked black and terrible. Only one tree could survive the inferno. It was just a tender shoot at the time, born with one small root pushing into a crack between huge boulders, high above the fire.

“I watched over that tiny plant and encouraged it to survive, but it was desperately lonely and afraid. There was little water and so it could not grow. Instead it twisted this way and that as it stretched to see the sun and to feel a few drops of rain on its face.

“After many years and many struggles that stunted little pine tree came to full growth. But its full height was less than your young plants here in the valley. With just one branch that lonely tree produced just one pine cone, on just one season, in all its many years above the valley.

“When the pine cone was ripe, the tree tossed it down into the valley below and pleaded with me to make sure that the seeds would grow. He so longed to have other pine trees to talk to and he knew it was his destiny to start that new generation.

“The one pine cone, thrown into the valley so many years ago, produced a few new trees, which produced many seeds to produce more and then more beautiful pines. So that first single pine cone led to every one of you trees that now stand so tall and grand. And it’s all thanks to that one lonely old pine tree who did the little bit he could.

All the trees turned and looked up to that stunted trunk at the top of their valley. They were silent. They had despised that old gnarled survivor, when they owed him their very life. One of the tallest and most beautiful trees leaned over as close as he could to that ancient old pine, and whispered, “Thanks.”

With that a whisper went through all the branches in the valley. “Thanks! Thankyou! Forgive me. Good job!” and “Praise God that you were there for us all!”

The old tree smiled a wrinkled smile of embarrassment. He didn’t want attention, but he did appreciate being given the honour that he was due. He shrank back toward the rocks and went on enjoying the view of all he had achieved in his limited and struggling life.

From that time on, when ever photographers came to the valley, the trees would pull their lovely branches out of the way to make sure every photo caught a glimpse of the twisted old tree at the top of the valley. And as people stood in the cool shade of the pine they often thought they could hear a whisper in the breeze that flowed up the valley to the rocky crags above. The whisper sounded like, “Thanks”.

The Song, an Allegory

I try to teach the chant from time to time. I always sing it and share it around.

It’s just a chant. Quite tuneless, especially from my lips. It just drones its weary course, like the muddy depths of an ancient river.

When enthusiasm flares and I press men to try my tune, they look at me, suspicious. Only the polite accede. But soon they too find reason to be off, leaving me to my lonely tuneless tune.

I shan’t blame them. I was unimpressed at first. And beyond that, too…..

“We shall sing.” he had announced. “Song shall bind us together.”

And so he made us sing. He sang as if the dirge were a gift from heaven. Our voices barely heard, he made us sing again and again.

The several instruments amid his piles of stuff spoke of his love for music. But we had come for other things. Lessons to redeem our future.

The song displaced many a class, to our great dismay. Moon upon new moon greeted a dwindling band, as mutinous murmurs whispered anger at the song, until but half remained.

This fool sang, with nowhere to flee and soul suborned by force of another’s will. So I sang on.

My voice, unskilled for worthy use, droned on this doleful dirge until its notes oozed from my every pore.

Other lessons long forgot, this song still invades my waking thought. Insidious and strong its cords control my every move. I am slave to the song.

In time but a handful remained. A handful of handsome voices drilled and strengthened by aeons with the chorus. Powerful voices, agile and clear. To those faithful voices the song was given.

Arrogant souls were long away. Untamed hearts had run their restless retreat to lesser things. Fools had found yet other fools to follow. And a handful remained to sing.

And so the song began. To one he gave a harmony, simple and safe. To another a stuttering stagger that stumbled along the dirge which my humble voice held firm. And so the voices met in blend.

I cried the first time; my doleful dirge undergirding such happy collision of chorus. And we discovered the truth, that “Song shall bind us together.”

Many happy days were charged with this song, pitched with gusto, as we celebrated sounds we had dared not imagine. Oh the joy of each new part, as complicitous intricacies wove themselves into an ever more vibrant tapestry. We were transfixed and transformed. Nothing was ever the same again.

Our joy was to sing. Our life was to sing this song of ever increasing intricacy. We were born to sing and mundane things were readily thrown aside for the chance to blend voice again. And so it was, days without number.

The course complete we finally faced our future. Each packed for disparate ways we stood to raise one rousing last rendition, then fell upon each neck and cried. How could we survive without the song? How could life be lived without the chorus? How could we go on without each line, each lip, each lung?

He turned from his wagon, piled high with tomes and trinkets, and bade us sing again. And so we did. Intoning the dirge, I brought the song to birth. Then a simple harmony eddied in. Another current here and a stone skipping there, with birds and breezes skimming the waves until our hearts would burst with celebration of sound.

Then, when all that our voices could muster rang in glorious cascading collusion the song finally roused to life. He had a fiddle in his hand and it soared upon our voices like a creature risen from the dead. Our song was but air to the nostrils of this wild majestic thing. What we had called song was trampled under foot by the glorious arrogant creature brought to life by the old man’s hands on string and bow.

We dared not stop for breath, but exulted on the triumph of true song birthed on voices, built on dirges from captured, raptured souls.

And then he was gone.

We hugged again and drifted apart, to the dreams we had each brought with us.

So now I sing my song. And I cry. And at times I run when I hear voices joined, to see if the teacher is there.

I met a man who knew my song and he brought a harmony I had never heard, which he assures me the teacher taught him. “He plays flute, you know”, he said. Oh, if only I could hear him play.

Notes: I wrote this piece on December 8, 2007, to invoke something of the wonder of a life yielded to God, able to taste glories that selfish men never know. The dirge is the discipline of yieldedness, sifting those who will kneel from those who fight for their rights. With that dirge comes the unexpected and undervalued discipline which empowers us to achieve what we did not even know was important.

Then, once our hearts have been tamed and a communion established between us, we mere mortals can work with heavenly things for which we were once disqualified. The rapture of such service to heavenly cause, sounding forth a harmony and unity extremely rare, is worth every minute of the mundane path which leads us there.

But that is not all. The Master is able to transform even that which has been transformed and turn our glories into the mere clacking of sticks, upon which rhythm His heavenly purpose soars all the more resplendent.

Once touched by unity in divine service and tasting of the heavenly glories yet to come, we are spoiled for the ordinary and find ourselves searching for those who know of what we speak. Our hearts are set on heaven and we long for the courts of the Lord.


text:
Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Homeward Bound

So, we are only about 3 weeks from our very first visit back to the States from living in Thailand for almost 2 years now, and I cannot even begin to fully describe all the thoughts and feelings running through my head right now.  But I figured blogging might be a good way to get it all out there and process through what the next few months will bring... Lots of random thoughts but here goes...

First of all, I am extremely excited.  I can't wait to see my family and friends.  I can't wait for our boys to be reunited with their cousins and grandparents.  I can't wait for our family to return to the city our boys were born in and visit some of the places that we frequented during their first few years of life.  I can't wait for our boys to spend time "out in the country" helping grandma with the chores and having hot chocolate with her in the morning (Clay has been talking about this for MONTHS).  I can't wait to go to Target!  AHH! I can't wait to go shopping for clothes that actually fit me!  And all the western food we will get to eat!    Our boys are going to LOVE cheese sticks and all the cereals!! I'm excited to speak to churches and with partners about the past 2 years, tell them about Thailand, what life is like here, what things are happening here and what God is doing in our lives. Oh the list can go on and on.  There is so much to be excited about.
But with all this excitement, to be honest, there is some apprehension.  How will my boys deal with reverse culture shock?  Zeke had just turned 2 when we left and doesn't even remember America.  Soon, both my boys will have lived in Thailand more of their life than in America.  How will Zeke (our more emotional child) deal with all the transition?  Should we even put him in the nursery at the churches we attend since I know it will stress him out?  What are people's expectations of us?  We are just ordinary people, doing what God has called us to do, not some super-christian.  Have we accomplished enough in the past 2 years to make our partners investment worth it? (Please, read this statement with an understanding that this is a pressure I put on myself, not something I think is right or I should feel this way, just simply, the way I do feel at times, and I think most feel at times in our line of work).  How will people respond to us?  What kinds of questions will they ask?  Maybe they won't ask any questions?  While we are in America will they even realize that this is not just some vacation for us, this is actually a part of our work?  I have heard so many people say that furlough is NOT a vacation, in fact, they say you might need a vacation from your furlough!  ;)
Humm, so much to think about, and now, off to go pack and get our house ready for leaving it for 2 and a half months ;)

September 2013 on the way to Thailand

April 2015 from our recent trip to Bangkok

Friday, August 22, 2014

Summer Days

 Well, I figured I should take this opportunity to share with you some of the happenings of the Johnson family.  We are so very grateful for so many of you who love our family, miss our family, pray for our family, support our family, and ask about our family.  This blog is for you, and especially for the grandparents who love to see pics of all of us;) This is purely the fun stuff that we have done or celebrated in the past few months.

 On May 30th, we celebrated Clay's 5th birthday! I can hardly believe it!  Here Clay is Skyping with Gammie and Mimie.  I think our kids are going to grow up thinking that opening presents on skype is just a part of every birthday and Christmas celebration!  Having lived overseas for almost a year now, we are INCREDIBLY grateful for technology like Skype, especially for our kids to have an ongoing relationship with our family even though they will only "see" them every 2 years!

Happy 5th Birthday my smiley Clay!

Chiang Mai is surrounded by mountains.  I have never lived by the mountains before. There are many cool places to visit around here! Here we are at a look out on the side of a mountain with Chiang Mai in the background.

 One of the most popular attractions here in Chiang Mai, for Thai and farangs (foreigners), Doi Sutep mountain

Now that's a Big bell!!

Thailand is a VERY HOT place!  Though I can't say it was too much of a change from New Orleans summers, but imagine going through NOLA summers without having your AC on all day.  Yep, it gets very hot and humid.  So, this hot season we have enjoyed some special frozen treats.  The popsicle Zeke is eating here, I think was coconut favored with red Kidney beans!  Zeke is one of our more adventurous eaters.  I think it's because he was only 2 when we arrived here.

One of the things we are required to do in order to keep our VISA to live in Thailand is that we have to leave the country every 90 days.  The cheapest way to do this is to drive 5 hours north through the mountains and cross the border into Myanmar.  This was fun and adventurous at first but has become quite the daunting task now!  The boys do a really great job.  Their favorite part is that we stay at a hotel by the border.  Here they are in the slippers the hotel provided. I'm pretty sure they wore them the entire time we were there and Clay even wore them to bed ;)  In the next couple of months we are planning on applying for a Visa that does not require us to actually leave the country every 90 days, but just check into the immigration office here in Chiang Mai.  PLEASE pray with us that we are able to get this Visa.

 One Saturday morning we decided to try out the aquarium here.  It was quite interesting seeing some of the sea creatures that we have never seen before!  And anywhere you go that has animals, you can feed something.  Here you could feed the fish with a baby bottle!!  Yes, you read that right, a baby bottle! They would come up stick their heads out of the water and suck for a few seconds!  It was quite the experience.

 In July, Rob celebrated his 32nd Birthday!   Also in July Rob and I celebrated our 9th anniversary!

In July, we were blessed to be invited to go to Phuket, Thailand with my sister-in-laws family and parents!  Phuket is on the south of Thailand, on the beach!  This was such a relaxing and fun time for our family.  We have gone through a lot in the past year and were grateful to have this time to refresh and spend some quality time with our family before the kids started school in August.  what a blessing!

 YAY!  Nina and Pops (my sis-in-laws parents) came to Thailand!  here we are having a Thai dinner in Phuket!

 On August 2nd, our little Zeke turned 3! Oh this boy!  He is a challenge to raise, but the most cuddly, lovable, silly little man!  We love him dearly!  He was sure to tell me exactly what he wanted on his birthday cake, blue icing  (blue is his "favorite" color), m&ms, gummy bears, a car and Pocky sticks (a sign my kids are becoming third-cultured kids, wanting Pocky sticks on his cake!!)

We celebrated with a friend, whose 2nd birthday was the day after Zeke's!

Well, we had quite the cultural experience when Clay fell in our "yard", which is really just a strip of concrete around our house.  He cried quite a bit when it happened, but it took us 24 hours before we decided that maybe we should go to the hospital to get an x-ray.  It was quite overwhelming to have to deal with a hospital in another culture, but all went well, and come to find out, he had broken his arm.  The only problem came when they decided to only put a splint on it instead of a hard cast.  The ace bandage was falling off the very next day, so after about a week, we decided to return to the hospital to have them put a hard cast on, which they did!  It only takes about 3 weeks (i guess) for a child's bone to heal.  So, get got his cast taken off on Monday.

And here are our two little guys on the first day of school.  Clay is now in kindergarten and Zeke started Pre-K 3!  They are attending an international school here that has students from all around the world!  It is a great school and we are so grateful that our kids have such a wonderful place to attend!  Clay absolutely LOVES it and wants to "sleep there too." Zeke is adjusting.  He is only going 2 days a week (Tues and Fridays) and is getting use to being away from mommy, Zeke is now on his 3rd day and each day seems to get better and better.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Oh the Places You will Go...

I know it's been a long time since I last blogged and for that I apologize.  I honestly wasn't even sure what to write about, and well, I guess I'm still not sure. But here goes...
Life has been stressful lately.  My duration as a mother has consisted solely of being a stay-at-home mom.  I'm not so sure how working moms do it.  Being a stay at home mom is stressful enough.  I guess one of those things I did not really realize is once we moved here, I would become like a part time working mom.  You see, I knew that I was going to be learning Thai, but I guess I was naive to know what all that meant.  Well, it means that I am no longer just a stay-at-home mom, I'm a student of Thai as well.  Finding the balance between the two, without being too stressed is hard.  Not to mention I am a student of the Thai culture, learning how to do things here, cook here, pay bills, you know, relearning all the things I that were second nature back in America. Yeah, so between being a student of the Thai language and a student of Thai culture, I also need to squeeze in being a mom and wife.
There are times when I just want to fast forward my life about 6 months where I (hopefully) will be done with language learning (umm, please do not miss read this as I will be fluent or as I will not continue to be a student of the language, my daily life will not let me forget that I will always being a student of Thai).  In 6 months, BOTH my boys will be in school. (Ugh, not so sure how feel about this one).  And maybe just maybe I will feel more confident in the daily things I need to do here to keep my family going.
You see, I guess lately, I'm just missing the ease of a culture I know and being around people who already have a long history with me.  My mom retired last month.  She has worked full time since I was a little girl.  I hate that we are not there to enjoy her new found freedom.  And last week, my husband's entire family was together, even his sister who lives in Africa was there.  Yeah, everyone, except us.  I have to say that well, that sucked.  Yeah. I've had a few emotional breakdowns lately.
I know from reading all this you must think that I am in this horrible depressed state.  Although there are times when I have been incredibly stressed and although there have been times when missing those we will not see for at least another year has brought me to tears, I must say, I have not been this at peace in my SOUL about where I am in life in a long time.  I wish that I could describe to you in words how at peace I am with being here, but ya see, it's a peace that surpasses all understanding.  So, I simply cannot describe it. Although there are sacrifices that are very hard, somehow, someway, it's ok.
You know, I have days when I can't believe I get to live here in Thailand.  There are days when I am overwhelmingly thankful that we are giving our kids the gift of being a third-cultured kid.  There are days when what we are doing here, is so incredibly satisfying because we know we are right where He wants us to be.
So, please, although there are times when I might complain on Facebook about something that's not as easy as it is in America, or I might say that it sucks to be so far away from family and friends, please, don't feel sorry for me.  Be excited for us, pray for strength in difficult moments, pray that God would continue to give us His peace. Pray that He would lead our steps. And pray for our kids.
Although there are times when I wish those teleport (i'm sure I misspelled that;) type machines you see in TV shows were real so we could all just teleport back home for awhile, I wouldn't want to stay there. At least for now, we are right where we are suppose to be.

Friday, February 07, 2014

Welcome to Our House...

So, needless to say, our lives have changed drastically since we moved to Thailand in September.  From the food, to driving, to the language, the people, pretty much everything about our daily lives have changed.  In light of this I thought it would be fun to go around our house and show you some of the ways our daily lives have changed.  Before I do, I have a couple things to note...
One, in NO WAY am I writing this to complain about the differences in the way things are done here.  I am sharing this more to help you understand a different culture and a different way of doing things.  Maybe you're like me, and think it's fun to see how different people live their lives, none better than the other, just different.  I love that about cultures! Second, I have to tell you, I feel extremely blessed to have found the house that we did.  I never imagined I would love a house here as much as I loved our house in New Orleans, but really I feel blessed that we have found a beautiful, peaceful place, close to friends and family, and a neighborhood so quiet and calm that we let our 4 year old ride his bike around freely!  Not to mention the house has certain amenities that plenty of houses around here don't have (like a western style kitchen, instead of an outdoor Thai style kitchen) that make our transition to living here just a little bit easier and make things feel more like the homes we are use to!
Without further ado, welcome to our home!
This is how we get hot water.  There is no hot water here in any sinks, but these are installed in the showers so we don't have to take cold showers! It's a bit concerning when you see electric wires so close to your shower head!

There are no closets here.  if you want to hang your clothes, you have to get a wardrobe!

Being that Thailand has LOTS of bugs and that houses are more open here (Our windows and doors are always open, thankfully we do have screens, but plenty of bugs still get in!), the boys have their very own bug zapper/ night light to help keep the mosquito bites to a minimum!

Thailand is a pretty hot place.  There are 3 seasons, cool, hot and rainy.  There is no central air here.  We do have individual conditioning units in the bedroom (thank goodness) but we try to only turn these on at night since electricity is so expensive.  Therefore, we have lots of fans!

Gone are the days of having a DRYER.  This is one of those things I miss the most, especially when my kids are sick.  Sorry boys, no blankie you just threw up on until the sun can dry it!

All the houses here have fences around the house and big gates.

A personal change for our family is the lack of yard space.  If you knew our house in New Orleans, we were blessed with a really large yard with plenty of grass.  Now, we have a little strip of concrete that goes around our house and that's it.  No more grass to play in! Though there are some houses that have yards with grass, most are very small.  Let's just say, we have gone through a lot of band-aids since moving here!

These are spirit houses that are in the corner of our front yard.  These are everywhere in Thailand (most houses have one) and though we have asked our landlord if she could take it down, she said she cannot.  We have had to put a barrier of potted plants around them so our kids won't play with them or the things on them.  It's just a daily reminder of why we are here...

Never go in a house with your shoes on.!  Things are VERY dirty here.  It's really amazing how much dust and dirt there is and how dirty your shoes and feet get.  Most people have a shoe rack outside next to their front door for shoes.  There are even some public places and offices where you are suppose to take your shoes off before entering!  I just always try to remember to check my tennis shoes for anything that might have crawled into them before putting them on!!

Oh to have a dishwasher again. Only washing dishes my hand here! I'll tell you a secret though, I kinda don't mind this as much.  For some reason I have been finding washing dishes by hand (in cold water mind you, remember, no hot water in the sink) kind-of therapeutic, don't tell my husband though!

Umm, yes that is a ginormous propane tank in our kitchen just hanging out in it's own cabinet.  Our stove is run by propane from this tank, and when it's empty, there's no warning.  You're in the middle of dinner and all of a sudden the burner goes off.  Yep then you have to call the gas people who bring you another tank on their motorbike side car and hope that it gets there in enough time for you to finish dinner!!

This is what we affectionately call the ant cabinet.  And yes, it does what it sounds like it does.  Ants are a big problem here.  No more leaving any food on the counter or table or soon it will become a feast for your nearest any colony! You keep all your food in this cabinet, make sure it is not touching the wall or anything else.  then you get these special bowls and put baby powder in them and put the legs in the bowls.  For some reason the ants cannot crawl through the baby powder to eat all our food!
The bowls with baby powder to keep the ants out!

Yeah, we use to be one of those families that just drank the tap water, no more.  Though the water here is safe enough to shower and brush you teeth with (thankfully!) it is not safe enough to drink! Thankfully this nice water cooler keeps the water nice and cold! It's great! The hardest time to remember this is when I am cooking or baking.  Thankfully I have not made a big mistake yet and had to throw out a batch of anything because I forgot and used water from the sink!

I don't know if you can tell or not here, but refrigerators are significantly smaller here than in America (Our fridge now is probably half the size of the one we had in American and we just had a normal size fridge). Though, this really hasn't seemed to be too much of a problem for us. Food doesn't seem to have as many preservatives here as it does in America, so you cannot keep it as long.  The biggest problem is the freezer space, especially because meat even in the fridge goes bad so quickly you really have to keep it in the freezer if you want it to last more than a couple days and not to mention, we love smoothies.

Well, there you have it!

Thursday, December 26, 2013

No Matter Where You Are

As I have stated in my last blog, I've been having a hard time this holiday season saying good-bye to the way things use to be.  We are learning to have a new normal.  On top of that, our family has been continuously sick for the past month and a half.  It's become a bit ridiculous, and brought me to an emotional breaking point.  I needed a good cry anyway!  Ya know, at least for me, sometimes you need a good cry!  But, I picked myself back up, asked people to pray for us and I'm happy to say by Christmas Day we were all healthy (ish).  (Zeke has come down with a cold, but with no fever or anything, so that doesn't count!)
Christmas was actually pretty good.  We Skyped and opened presents with family!  It almost felt as though they were actually here for a moment.  That was nice.  And we have an unfair advantage in that my brother and his family live here too.  We spent the whole day together and Renee and I even made a very yummy Christmas dinner! Best meal I've had here by far! We felt very accomplished to make so many American dishes in a foreign country! Everything tasted close enough to the "real thing/"  It was great!
I think my problem with this holiday season is that I was trying to make it "feel" right.  The conclusion I have come to is that it will never "feel" right so I just need to embrace the fact that we need to establish a new "feel."  We need to make new traditions.  It will be the holidays my kids will know as normal, so we need to try and embrace and develop a new way of doing the holidays.  The skrony fake Christmas tree we have will be the Christmas tree our kids grow up putting their home made ornaments on.  They won't know any different! They will love that they get to Skype with grandparents on the TV as they open presents.  It's not how I grew up celebrating, but it's how my kids will.
 HOWEVER, when it all come down to it, Christmas is not about the presents, decorations, or Christmas tree.  It's about celebrating the birth of our Savior, and that we can do no matter where we live.  So, I choose to be thankful today, for our God has sent us a Savior!  Hallelujah! Merry Christmas!
What an incredible song, listen and be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas...

And here are a few pics from our Christmas!
 Reading the Christmas story by our Christmas tree!

 Spiderman hats and m&ms.  They were pretty happy!
 Opening presents on Skype with Mimie and Gammie
 Renee and I made Christmas dinner! Very fun and we are still eating leftovers!
 Christmas dinner!

Friday, November 29, 2013

I have to be Honest

I know Thanksgiving has come and gone and I have to be honest, I'm not feeling so thankful!  If you ask anyone who has lived overseas for an extended amount of time when did you have the hardest time?  I'm pretty sure most of them would say, the holidays.  Yep, not so fun.  Now, I have to admit, I feel a pretty bad saying this because, well, in reality, we are incredibly blessed.  You see, we have what most people who move overseas don't.  My brother and his family live here in Thailand too! What a blessing! And in no way am I brushing off the reality that having family to spend the holidays with is AMAZING!  My point is that I am surprised that even despite the fact that we have family here, it's still SO HARD.  No pumpkin patches, no hot apple cider, no hoodies in chilly weather, no grandparents, no holiday traditions, because well, you have to make new ones, nothings the same.  I mean, NOTHING.  From the weather, to the food, to the people, to the environment.  It doesn't feel like home.
We even attempted to make a new tradition.  I downloaded last year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (because we are 13 hours ahead, we can't watch this years).  It's nothing we ever really watched in America as a tradition or anything, but I figured it might help it "feel" more like Thanksgiving.  We watched it with family and I tried, really hard to just look at the TV and think about Thanksgiving and well, it didn't work.  Felt weird actually.  Like Thanksgiving parades and Thailand don't really go together.  And today we decorated for Christmas.  We put up our fake Christmas tree (we've never had a fake one before) and hung the stockings (I brought them with us) and now everything is blowing in the oscillating fan because well, I'm in shorts and a t-shirt and the windows are open because it's never winter here and there is no central AC in Thailand.  Even though I'm from New Orleans and I have had plenty of warmer Christmases, it's still so strange.  It just doesn't feel right.   I'm not so sure how to explain it.
BUT, here is what I KNOW (even though I might not be FEELING it at the moment).  I know that we have a heart for Southeast Asia.  I know that we LOVE Thailand and it's people.  I know that God has called us to move here and be here.  I know that I am incredibly blessed in SO many ways.  I know that, for the most part, we are loving living here, doing what we are doing and I have no doubt that we are suppose to be here. So, although the holidays might not feel like the holidays this year and although we don't get to eat all the traditional foods that we normally enjoy this time of the year, and although we are missing all the people we usually spend time with, we're here, doing what God has called us to do, and there is no better place to be than that.  So, although I'm not feeling so thankful right now, I'm choosing to be, well, trying anyway...

Friday, October 04, 2013

Thailand Here We... Are!

Well, we are here!  All the preparing, all the prayers, all the traveling, and we finally made it!  It's still a little hard to believe.  I know, we have been here for over a week now, you would think it has all sunk in, and well, it hasn't.  I'm not so sure it will until we are able to live our daily lives again, until we find a house to call home, until we have a more regular schedule.  Right now we are transitioning.  And tomorrow we will begin a month of training.  Training with the organization we have come here with.  Learning about the culture, meeting people within the organization, learning how to live daily life here, etc.  They do this with all the new people coming to SE Asia, we are excited to be a part of the team. To be a part of bringing the gospel to this side of the world.
For now we are staying at a retreat center as we get over jet lag and begin to start getting the basics done of establishing yourselves in a new location.  We are thankful that we have had some great progress in our search for a car and have found one! We are just waiting for it to arrive (its coming from Bangkok) and checked out, but we should have it soon!  We have also been to quite a few stores learning where to shop and what kinds of things we are (and are not) able to get here.
Our kids are doing well.  The first week of jet lag with a 2 year old and a 4 year old are, well, rough, to say the least.  There was a lot of waking in the middle of the night, a lot of crying, and a lot of eating breakfast at 4 am, but thankfully, I think they are finally almost over it.  We have actually gotten both of them to sleep through the night, well, once so far, but it was glorious and hope to have more sleeping through the night in the near future.  Our goal was to get everyone over jet lag before we starting CLI (Cultural Learning Institute), and I think we will reach that goal.  Or at least be close enough.
Our finances are well, what they are.  We are still lacking about $700 a month, which is a stretch to say the least.  We are really trying to trust God with our finances and that God would place us on the right people's hearts at the right times as we continue to do His work here.  It's all God's money anyway.  We truly believe that He will provide each month, though our human eyes have a hard time seeing.  I know He is faithful.  There is something about trusting God for your EVERY need, and not being dependent on yourself that well, brings faith to a whole new level, and, it's hard.  It's hard to not just depend on that paycheck we got very regularly when Rob was working for a contractor.  It's hard to have no clue how much money you will have to live off of each month.  Not really sure how to budget for a budget that fluctuates so much.  I guess we will figure that out.  There are seasoned missionaries that continue to affirm to us of God's provision over and over again.  Their faith is so obvious, I can only pray to have faith like that one day.  I guess that's the journey I'm on now.  There's no way I can have that kind of faith without the journey.]
Well, here are a few pics of our travels thus far...
 Good bye New Orleans!  Here we are checking in all our luggage at the New Orleans airport!
 The kids loved riding on the airplanes (all 4 of them it took us to get here!)
 We had an overnight layover in Seatlle and when we arrived we got our luggage back and one of the duffle bags had ripped and had a very large hole!  So, we duct taped it up and shipped it off to Thailand!
 Our kids with pretty much all our earthly possessions in just 10 bags! Phew..
 Our layover in Korea! One more plane to Thailand!
 And this pretty much sums up our jet lag experience. This is us the evening of our first day here.  we were a little tired to say the least!
 After staying with family for a few days, we came to a retreat center for people in ministry and have been staying here while we get over jet lag!
 Rob's first time driving here!  He's a natural!
 Here we are at a mall here.  It is normal for someone to parallel park behind you but they are suppose to leave it in neutral so you can just move the car out of the way to back up, well the people who parked behind us must have forgot.  So they had to jack the car up and push it out of the way!  It was a 45 min ordeal!
They love tigers here!


text:
Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The final bricks in the wall.

Pop quiz hotshot, what do Incredible Hulk #92, X-men #63 and Sandman Mystery Theater #66, #69 & #70 all have in common ? Give up ? I thought you would, well I got them all in a single package this week and they each were the final issues I needed to complete those three series.

It's a nice coincidence that I managed to complete three series all at once, especially considering, the X-men series took me five years, the Hulk four and the Sandman MT books have been on my want list since 2007 !!
So how come it took me this long to get them and was it pure serendipity that I managed to get them all in the same month ?

Now none of them are particularity expensive, the Overstreet Price guide has the Hulk #92 (in NM) at $5, The X-men #63 guides F/VF at $60 and the Sandman Mystery Theater are at best worth a few bucks each. The trouble was finding them in the first place and getting a decent deal in the process.

X-men #63 was easy to find, it's plentiful in any grade and never sells over guide. It's one of the better issues of the first X-men series, Neal Adams goodness and a cool Magneto cover. But for some reason it ended up the last issue I still needed to get. I really don't like paying $14.00 in shipping for a $50 book...so each time I saw one for sale I was hoping to bundle it with something else to save on shipping, but I struck out every time and passed.

By sheer chance a collector was selling a bunch of Silver Age X-men books, including this one AND some modern books..including the elusive Incredible Hulk #92.

Now Hulk #92 is the very first Planet Hulk issue, which is the best Hulk storyline of the last 20 years, so collectors have been scrambling for this book which starts it all. Last year I was able to purchase the entire Planet Hulk run...with #92 missing. Every comic book store I've been to in the last 3 years had this issue missing...Sure they were on eBay, but at 2X to 3X the guide price (and then I would have to break my rule of paying shipping for a single book as well). But like I said I finally found a seller who was selling it a reasonable price and had another book I wanted.

And then there were the Sandman Mystery Theater books. A lesser known Vertigo title, but one of the very best from the 1990's (not to be confused with Neil Gaiman's Sandman series). Sandman MT lasted for 6 years and never disappointed, if you go back to this post from May 2007 you'll see I was already raving about the series...and I was also boasting that I had completed it. Well I wasn't lying, I was only being stupid...I thought the series stopped at #65 and later found out it went on another 5 issues. Which of course,I didn't have.

So I started hunting them down which turned out very difficult. The final five issues didn't have a large print run as the series was slated for cancellation and a lot of comic book stores didn't even bother to order the final two issues.
Issues #69 and #70 were particularly difficult to find. Remember these are basic $3 books which will never appreciate or become valuable..and still Mile High comics is selling #69 for nearly $15 (5X guide) and doesn't even have a single copy of #70 for sale. The only people buying these are the idiots like me who complete series and just have to had every single issue.

But getting all of them was more than worth it, nothing beats the feeling of getting a series complete, and when you manage to do more than one in a year, not to mention a week, it's a real red letter day on my calendar.

With X-men #63 I now have X-men #1 to #250 complete, I used to have #251 - #450 as well, but I sold those in the big purge of 2010.

With Incredible Hulk #92 I now have amassed my longest and completest run ever.
* Incredible Hulk V1 #1 - #6
* Tales to Astonish #59 - #101
* Incredible Hulk V2 #102 - #474
* Incredible Hulk V3 #1 - #112

That's 544 consecutive Hulk issues from 1962 tot 2007 (when the series ended and I did as well)

And with those Sandman issues, I can finally proclaim Sandman Mystery Theater #1 - #70 complete (and yes, this time I've checked to see that #70 is really the last issue)

Labels: , , , , , , ,

Monday, April 04, 2011

A 1000 comics...the March report

March came and went, and happily brought a touch of Spring in the air. Not that I noticed much of this as I was, of course, inside..reading. I must be honest here, March wasn't as easy as January or February as there were much more distractions (damn sunshine !) but all in all the outcome was OK.

I managed to read 155 comics this month, that's 20% less than February (184) and 10% less than January (169)...but still an average of 5 comics a day. Let's be honest here, I've no doubt I'll reach the 1000 comics mark this year. I'm really enjoying this and have tons of unread stuff still to read, but here's the twist : Somebody suggested I'd try and go for 2011 comics in 2011...which is an absurdly high number. But strangely enough I'm still on target. I will need to read an average of 5.5 comics a day...every day and that's a tall order. But hey nobody said it would be easy.

Here's the list I read in March, again a nice mix of vintage and modern issues.

Eerie 23 - 27
Ultimate Captain America #3
The Boys #52
Chew #17
Annihilators #1
Marvel Zombies Supreme #1
The Eternals (Neil Gaiman) 1 - 7
Mysterious Suspense 1
More Fun Comics 101
More Fun Comics 73
Whiz Comics 2
Detective Comics 359
Sensation Comics 1
Sandman Mystery Theater #57 - #70
Captain America #301 - #350
B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth Gods #3
Captain America - Hail Hydra #3
Conan Road of Kings #3
Infamous #1.
Legion of Super Villains One-shot
Love and Capes - Ever After #2
Strange Tales (2010) #1 - #3
Startling Stories: The Megalomaniacal Spider-man
Red Sonja, Revenge of the Gods #1
Sir Edward Gray Witchfinder Lost & gone forever #1 + #2
The Walking Dead #82 + #83
Victorian Undead 2 #5
The Mighty Thor" #39-#44
Captain America and The First Thirteen one-shot
Fear Itself - Book of the Skull #1
Iron Man 2.0 #2
Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates #2
Warlord of Mars #5
Warlord of Mars - Dejah Thoris #1
Fantastic Four #536/#537/#538
Thor #1 - #12
Thor #600/#601/#602/#603
Thor Giant sized Finale
Batman The Dark Knight (2011) #1 & #2
FF #1
Daredevil reborn #3
Orson Scott Card's Speaker For The Dead #3
The New York Five #3
Caligua 1
Deus Ex 1
Sherlock Holmes - Year One #2
Criminal #1-5


text:
Pothole Patching

The city patches potholes year round. Potholes may form at any time of the year. In the winter, potholes are patched with a special type of asphalt called "winter mix". Winter mix uses a softer, stickier asphalt that can be compacted into a hole even in freezing temperatures. Winter patches are mostly temporary as the mix warms with the spring and summer temperatures, the material becomes too soft to stay in place.

In the spring, summer and fall potholes are patched with "hot mix" asphalt. It is the same asphalt that is used to build new roads. Hot mix is usually not available until May, depending on the weather conditions.

Report Potholes

  • To report a serious pothole on business days between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., you may call 320-650-2900.
  • If you encounter a pothole after regular working hours, you may report it by calling 320-650-2949. Messages are checked during regular business hours.
  • You may also report potholes by email. Please include detailed information regarding the location of the pothole. Emails are checked during regular business hours.
When calling, please be ready to report the location by listing the street or avenue the pothole is located, and the house number or cross street nearest the pothole.

Potholes on state highways must be reported to MNDOT at 320-223-6500. (Highway 23, Highway 10, Highway 15, I-94)


text:
To try to get outside my own bubble, I look for places to sit that stir questions and shift perspectives. One place I like to go is a park bench on Riverside Drive in Covington to sit next to the bronze statue of James Bradley.

The Bradley statue looks north on the Ohio River, the dividing line in American history that separated the states where slavery was legal from those that banned slavery. In his hands he holds a Bible, as a reminder that during his brief stay in Cincinnati he studied for the ministry.

James Bradley was born in Africa, enslaved at about 3 and brought to Charleston, S.C., the largest slave port in the United States. Over the next several decades, he was sold to a series of masters. Beginning at age 14, he began to dream of freedom, “my heart’s desire; I could not keep it out of my mind.” On his personal time he worked to earn money, first making and selling horse collars from cornhusks, then raising hogs and fattening them with corn he tended at night.

Over an eight-year period, Bradley earned enough to buy himself out of slavery in 1833. He immediately headed for the freedom promised north of the Ohio River. Long hoping for an opportunity for an education so “that my dark mind might see the light of knowledge,” Bradley enrolled in Lane Seminary located at the top of Gilbert Avenue in Walnut Hills.

Bradley arrived at Lane at a critical moment when the seminary would briefly find itself at the center of a new phase in the discussion of what to do about slavery. Until that time, most whites believed that the only way to end slavery was through “Colonization.” Whites could not imagine the two races could ever live together and that any slave who was manumitted would have to be repatriated to Africa. American colonizationists created Liberia in West Africa to repatriate freed slaves.

By the mid 1820s an increasing number of Americans recognized that colonization was impractical—too costly, too slow—and would never end slavery. Abolition emerged as the alternative. Abolitionists declared slavery was a moral evil that had to be abolished immediately. Colonization and Abolition reflected a deepening cultural divide among white Americans.

In February 1834, the students of Lane Seminary resolved to “debate” the merits of colonization and abolition. That debate, which stretched for almost 18 days, was more an antislavery revival than a modern debate, but its progress was widely reported in newspapers across the nation.

With one exception, everyone who spoke over the period of 45 hours was white. Many were Southerners, some were from slave-holding families. The exception was James Bradley. During his two-hour presentation (which he summarized and published after the debate), he spoke with an authority no one else could claim.

In addition to telling his own story, Bradley refuted the view actively promoted by Southern slave owners that slaves were happy and content. “I was never acquainted with a slave, however well he was treated, who did not long to be free.”

These debates also helped reveal that the real issue was not slavery, but racism. The south clung to slavery as an economic and social system, but on the north shore that Bradley can see from his bench in Covington, Ohioans were creating a system of de jure segregation through the adoption of a web of state and local Black Codes. Abolitionists may have hated slavery, but very few of them embraced the ideal that “all men are created equal.”

What was critically important about Bradley’s testimony during the Lane Seminary Debates was the simple fact that his voice was heard at all. None of the Southern students, a few of whom had even brought slaves with them, asked one of the people they “owned” to share their perspective. And no one invited any local free Blacks, whether born free, manumitted or runaways, to speak at the debate.

Bradley’s participation transformed the dynamics of the debate and stands as a challenge to us today to make sure a variety of voices are included in our public policy discourse. Too often those with power, whether because of education, wealth or office, think we have the insights and the ability to “fix” social problems experienced by others without systematically incorporating those who are living with the challenges in the discussion.

Before the 1920s, women were told they deserved no voice. Before 1964, African Americans were told to be thankful slavery was ended, but not to expect a seat at tables of influence. Before the last 15 years, openly gay and lesbian Americans were excluded from shaping the agenda.

It was easier to run a place like Cincinnati, much less America, “back then,” but by excluding voices today, we are simply more impoverished, not greater.

To receive more articles from Cincy Magazine sign-up for a complimentary subscription here: