Christianity and racism

Great article in the Town Talk! I regret the ignorant comments that were made on the TT’s website. 

This world has a problem. Should we be conformed to this perverted world or should we be transformed by the renewing of our minds? Consider the following: God gave Moses an Ethiopian woman to be his wife. He gave Sarah’s Egyptian maid, Hagar, to Abraham. King Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, was of a different race. Even Rahab the harlot, who helped the Israelites capture Jericho, was of a different race.

God see people, he does not see race. In fact, God did not create race. He did not create black and white. The Bible said, “…so God created man.” Gen. 1:27)

One day, there will be no more race, just one people, and at that point no one will have a reason to be racist, for we will be one people.

For more, click on the link above.  In a previous post, I commented on racism and, through my experiences living here, note that the perpetrators of racism are not always white.  At my garage sale two weeks ago, a man came through with flyers and handed one to all of the African-American customers.  I put my hand out twice to receive a flyer, and he skipped over me twice.  The customers noticed and came over and gave me a flyer.  It was an invitation to attend their church.  I guess since I was white, I was not invited.

Anyway, thumbs up for this article

Andrea

My Week

I was able to go and visit my new nephew last weekend.  Skyler.  He is sweet, sweet and definitely a Wilson.

Proud Cousin

Sleepy bugs

Proud Aunty

I also had a chance to go out with three old friends of mine. What tonic for the soul!  We laughed and talked until we were almost kicked out of the restaurant, then we went over to one of my friend’s house and sat and talked for almost two hours after that.  I had a great time…Thanks Heather and Jessica!  I wish we did not live in four different cities across two states…. 😦

I came home for one day, then left out for West Monroe.  The National Deaf Evangelism Ministry conference was being held at Bro. Foster’s church in West Monroe and me and a friend decided to go up Wednesday through Saturday.  We met new interpreter friends and made plans to go shopping in Baton Rouge in August!  What fun!  I was liking West Monroe already!

Then, Rebecca’s battery died.  We took separate cars because she leaving the conference on Friday, and I planned to leave on Saturday.  You should have seen two girls trying to hook up jumper cables!  🙂  I am not one to ask for help, and I figured I could do it just as good as anyone else.  I had the directions and jumper cables…that’s all I needed.  Well, I couldn’t find the latch to open her hood and she had never ventured under the hood of her car before, so I had to break out the instruction manual for her car.  It had a thumb latch.

Hidden thumb latch

Ok, over one hurdle.  I read the instructions and hooked up the cables according to directions, but I could not figure out where to put the last negative cable.  It said to put it on the engine block or at least 18 inches away from the battery.   Hmmm…..  I could not find the engine block.  So, I got her car manual out again to find a picture of it.  Nothing under the hood looked like the picture.  So, I called my husband and her husband trying to figure out where in the world to put the thing.

Where do I put this one?

 We called Rebecca’s husband and he told us to do exactly what both sets of directions said NOT to do…hook the negative cable to the battery.  I didn’t argue with him, after all, it was his car.  So I hooked it to the battery.  He told me to stay on the phone in case I had any trouble. 

The girls looking innocent

Well, in the mean time, the two girls are in my car waiting on us to get finished.  I did not know it, but one of them shoved a piece of a cottonball into the keyhole of my ignition.  I did not discover it until I put my key in and shoved it all the way into the ignition. 

Discovering the cotton

Trying to get the cotton out

The cotton

The tools

So, after all that, I was able to crank my car up and charge her battery.

Then, a bizarre thing happened.  We parked our cars, cleaned up, dressed and left for church.  As I was removing Vivian’s  booster seat from my car and trying to put it in Rebecca’s car, a man came out of his hotel room.  We stayed in room 120, he was in 121.  He came out and said “I don’t know which room you are staying in, but I am in room 121 and you are parked in my space”.  I looked at him perplexed, I did not remember them saying anything about parking assignments at the front desk, nor did I see any numbers on the spaces.  So, I said “We are in room 120, right next to you and we parked here to be close to our room”.  He said that he parked in room 122’s spot and explained to me that you were supposed to park directly in front of your room (If I did that, my car would be in the pool).  I thought maybe HE was confused, so I pointed out that there were not any numbers painted on the parking spaces and that he was allowed to park wherever he wanted.  This made him angry and he stomped off saying that he was going to contact the front desk.  he told me I needed to move to in front of my hotel room.  I stood there completely astounded.  I was not trying to be ugly, I was explaining to him that he should not be worried and that he could park wherever he wanted.  I guess he wanted me to move.  He was really angry when I got in Rebecca’s car to go to church and left mine parked in front of his room.

Parked as close to my room as I could get

Is this where I was supposed to park it?

Now, if I was to park in front of my room, then I would have had to park on top of the stairs or in the pool.  What about room 221?  On the second floor.  Were they supposed to park their car on top of his?  I did not understand his reasoning.  He seemed to be a little off anyway.  Rebecca asked me why I always manage to attract weird people….I dunno….

The conference was well planned and we had a great time.  Here is a picture of one of the sign choirs.  I am very glad to be home. I have been to three of the four corners of the state this week.

The Beginner Sign Language Class

Happy Saturday!

Andrea

Billboard in town

I saw this billboard a couple months ago and was struck by the glaring discord of the message vs. the picture. I am sure this is a nice man and everything, but if you were excited about Holy Ghost Revival, wouldn’t you at least smile a little?

Progress

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him. The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself. All progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

Bernard Shaw

Same Drum, Different Beats

Like the crazed madwoman I am, last night I decided to have a garage sale this morning. So, I got up at 6:30, tossed everything outside on the tables, put out my signs and waited on customers.  I love to people watch.  If I could go back to school for leisure, I would study the human brain, psychology, sociology and why we do what we do.  I find it interesting that you can present a problem to two people and they would come up with completely diverse solutions to that same problem.

Before I start, I would like to say, like I have before, that I am white.  If you want to be technical about it, right now I am actually red (from the sun) and purple (bruises received from setting up tables).   You are probably wondering why in the world I am making this absurd declaration.  Read further and you will understand.  I live in a melting pot of a neighborhood.  There are a lot of African-American people, a few Asian and a few white.  Today, at my garage sale, I met a man who was well dressed, well spoken, classy and very polite.  He invited me to the Shriner’s parade and told me all that was going on.  Recently, I read that donations for the Shriner’s hospitals have been dwindling, so I perked up when he was speaking and told him what a great cause he supported and I wished him well.

I also met several ladies who were polite, considerate, thoughtful and conversational.  Some of them even invited me to church.  If I had not already had a church I attended, I might have been compelled to accept their invitation.  All of them were African-American.

Some had causes, some had families, some had churches….all of them were the wonderful diverse people I call neighbor.  I find it interesting that most of the people I refer to above who had beautiful manners and whom invited me to Shriner’s events were not your typical average joe white person.  Nope, they were ALL African-American.  To all the backwards racist people who live in Alexandria, I would like you to meet these people.  These are the faces of the African-American community.  They are not drug dealers, they are not con artists, they are not out to eat you for dinner.  These wonderful people march to the same drum of life, as do all of us, just with a different beat.  I find it a sad injustice to lump a whole race into a negative category, based on a few bad apples.

Incidentally, I find it nonsensical when reading the recent story the Town Talk did about the car vandalism wherein persons of low intelligence are commenting and using racial slurs and putting all the blame on a certain ethnicity in Alexandria.  Rubbish!  The persons behind all of the vandalism in Tennyson Oaks and West Point is probably some Momma’s precious little baby who is bored, spoiled rotten and thinks that daddy’s pockets are deep enough to take care of his little messes.  

I am so tired of racial profiling and all of the ignorant stuff I hear out of Alexandrian’s mouths.  It is time to grow up and stop using daddy’s opinion and get your own educated opinion from firsthand experience!  Further, I find it interesting that people have a whole lot to say about things they know nothing about.  The people who criticize me for living here go on and on about the crime…have never lived here.  What crime?  My car was not vandalized.  My house has never been broken into.  So, does that mean that all the people in Tennyson Oaks need to move because of the crime that happened there?  Crime is not a respecter of persons or race, nor is it a predisposition of one race over another.  Nor does it only happen in poor areas of town and skip over the well-to-do areas of town.  I just find it absolutely ridiculous the things people say to me.  I don’t know if it is steeped in ignorance, stupidity or if some people just lack tact.  Might be a combination of all.  

I find it so funny when the insurance inspector recently visited my house, his reaction, which was not completely different from other tradesmen and other people who visit, was to inform me of how bad an area I live in and how bad the crime is…blah blah blah.  What does he expect me to do?  Thank him profusely?  Sometimes when people start in on their speeches, you know — to “save” me, I want so bad to emphatically shake their hand and pat them on the back and say “Thank you so much for telling me that!  You know, I have lived here for three years now, but I needed YOU to tell me how bad it is here…you know what, I am going to go pack my bags now and move…thank you so much for your kindness and for telling me about my neighborhood.  Gosh, I just didn’t know!”   How absurd.  They don’t even live here!  It is just as annoying as people who don’t have kids who think it is their job to dole out parenting tips….oxymoron anyone?  I respect my neighbors for the different people that they are and respect that they have a different beat to play on their drum than I.  Their beat might not always make sense to me, but who am I to judge what is good or what is bad, what is right or what is wrong?  It is just different.

Anyway, off my soapbox and in to bed! 

Andrea

Found some pictures

I found a roll of film in my purse.  I didn’t know what it was from.  I got them developed, then I remembered that my digi cam was going haywire around Easter time, so I drug out my faithful minolta camera.  Here are a couple pictures from that roll. 

Steven and Vivian...Easter 2009

In front of the Magnolia

Andrea

Purse Snatching in Alexandria

“A 29-year-old Pineville woman told police someone grabbed her purse from her arms as she was walking into an Alexandria store Tuesday.

The woman told Alexandria Police that around 3 p.m. she left her car to go inside Big Lots, 3200 Monroe St., when a man came up from behind her, hitting her in the head and knocking her down. The man grabbed her purse and took off in a white car.
A witness to the incident told officers that he saw the man get into a vehicle with several other men, wait for several minutes and then he got out and grabbed the woman’s purse and took off.”

Wow! I witnessed that. It looked more like a domestic dispute than a purse snatching. I almost parked next to her, but her truck was parked so crooked and across two spaces that I didn’t. I parked across. They were talking, then all of sudden her scarf went flying and she started dialing on her phone. I figured it was an argument and that she was calling the police. I didn’t realize her purse was snatched!

Andrea

***I called the police and gave them what I saw.  The woman was supposed to go in for two days now to make a full report and to list what was in her purse.  As of today, she has not done so.  Maybe it was a domestic dispute…it seems like the officer had similar thoughts to mine.  Sure didn’t look like a purse snatching to me.  Especially since she got up, jumped in her crooked parked truck and sped off like a demon without waiting for the police to come to the scene.  I did not see a purse on her shoulder or arm when they were talking.  I grabbed my phone to call police, saw her dialing and thought she had already called.  I got out to see if she needed help, but she had already jumped in her truck to leave.  It is interesting though, what is reported in the paper makes people feel unsafe, when the truth is, there probably was not a purse snatching at all…..anyway…..

Welcome Skyler!

Skyler was born yesterday evening.  8lbs 4 oz.  Congratulations Melanie!  Welcome new little nephew!

Sklyer

Sklyer...a few minutes old

Andrea

Love this eclectic look

20 Ways to Refresh with Color: Accessorize with Color

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Creative Reuse: Recycling things around the house

I would not label myself a packrat, no…not by any means, but I do like to reuse materials, packaging, boxes and bags whenever I can.  I, like many others, flip through magazines and ooh and ahh over the color coordinated and decorative organizers and dream of having a place for everything!  In many prominent areas of my house, I do use decorative organizers, or baskets, but in places that it really does not matter, I try to recycle different store packaging to suit my needs.  Today, for example, I was looking for a needle and thread and was annoyed when , out of my sewing bag, I pulled out tangled thread, bits of fabric, notions, sewing machine parts, how-to books, etc.  I could not find what I wanted quickly.  So, I pulled out my box of store packaging that I keep.  When I say store packaging, I am talking about those plastic bags that comforters, sheets and curtains come in, or altoids tins, Folgers plastic coffee cans, or anything that I might be able to recycle into something useful.  Today, the plastic bags that misc. curtains came in, the bag that my sheets came in, two altoid tins and a Flash drive box and a couple of labels became organizers for my sewing bag.  The sewing bag itself is a New Orleans conference goodie bag that I rescued from the trash at work.  Yes, I know, pathetic huh?

Anyway, this is how I reused the packaging:

ta-da!

I guess you can tell that I am not a serious sewer.  My sewing is limited to curtains, potholders, finger puppets, doll dresses and light embroidery.  This method would probably offend some serious sewers, but since I am not inhibited with the title of “serious”, this works for me!  I will try to post often on some more creative use/recycling tips.  Recycling does not have to be limited to newspaper or cans.  There are many every day objects that people throw away that can be reused.  I recycle a lot in my scrapbooking too.  I will have to show you different items I use from packaging to make cute tags.  Recycling does not have to be ugly.  If you do it in the right way, you can take something that was going to be thrown away and give it a new purpose.

Check this out, it is a house in New York that was completely remodeled using reclaimed lumber, thrift store and Craig’s List finds, as well as furniture picked up from the curb!  I love it!

Andrea