The Ant & the Grasshopper or, Chris is on Vacation

A friend e-mailed this to me, and I thought it was a fun read worth sharing.

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER: TWO VERSIONS OF A PARABLE


OLD VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building
his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and
plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Individual actions have consequences.
==================================================================================



MODERN VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building
his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and
plays the summer away..
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and
demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well
fed while others are cold and starving.
CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the
shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home
with a table filled with food.
America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country
of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and
everybody cries when they sing “It's Not Easy Being Green.”
Acorn stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the
news stations film the group singing, “We shall overcome.”
Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group kneel down to pray to God
for the grasshopper's sake.
Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry
King that the ant has gotten rich off the back
of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on
the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper
Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green
bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home
is confiscated by the Government Green Czar.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits
of the ants food while the government house he is in, which just
happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he
doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the
house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who
terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Government actions have consequences.

One More Reason My Kids Will Not Be Put in Public School:

His Life Flashed Before His Three-Year-Old Eyes

I took Donovan & Lincoln on a walk in the neighborhood yesterday after lunch, mostly to wear D out a little before naptime. Donovan wanted to ride his trike, so we strapped on his bike helmet (size: youth 8-14 years. Have I mentioned my kid has a big head?), strapped Linky in the stroller, and hit the road. We didn't go too far, just to the end of the main street that runs through our little development, and D wasn't yet ready to turn around and head home. So we turned and went down one of the courts that runs off of the main street.

I just figured we would go to the end, turn around and head back home. No problem. Right? Only this little street goes uphill, so I have to push the stroller and the trike with Donovan on it to the top. Then we go around the circle and head back . . . down.

Donovan was riding a little ahead of me and I started to notice him gaining speed as he rode down the hill. "Slow down, honey!" I yelled as I suddenly realized . . . his trike has no brakes.

"Mommmmmmmmeeeeeeeeee!" D screams, as I'm sure his life was flasing before his eyes when he realized he was going too fast and didn't know how to stop.

This is not going to end well, I thought. That's about when his front wheel turned, and he wentover the front of his trike and landed surprisingly softly hands first on the pavement. Meanwhile I'm running down the hill after him pushing the stroller, and half fearing for his safety and half laughing out loud at the ridiculousness of the situation. D was on his feet before I got to him, and I quickly checked him over. Nothing! Not even a good gooey scrape or a skinned knee. Just shaken up a bit.

I laughed the whole way home, and D kept saying, "Mommy, stop laughing! It's not funny when people crash!" But then the first thing he did when we walked in the door at home was to run up thestairs and yell, "Daddy! I crashed!" Like he scored a touchdown or something. What a boy!

"I Don't Like Repeat Offenders. I Like Dead Offenders." -- Ted Nugent

Preach it, Ted!

Pictures

September 2009

All I have time for today is posting a few pictures.

Thank You, Nana!

Nana sent Lincoln a cute new outfit for fall, and we love it!

The Birthday That Never Ends

D turned three at the end of August, but it seemed like his birthday lasted all month. The first was a shared celebration with his cousin Madi when Josh's family visited from Maryland. Madi's birthday is four days before D's, and we have been able to have a shared celebration for them every year. We also got to introduce them the little Linky. Can't wait to meet their newest addition due in January!

On D's actual birthday we met Daddy for lunch at one of our favorite BBQ restaurants, and had a special family dinner that night and opened more presents from Nana & Papa.

The Saturday after D's birthday was the Par-Tay! We had a ton of friends join us to celebrate D's third birthday at his very first party. We had about 30 people there, and everyone had a great time eating Josh's crispy hot dogs, watching D blow out the candles on his custom Batman birthday cake, and playing with friends at the park.

If you click on the picture below it will open an album of birthday pics.

D's Birthday

Interesting Article for Homeschooling Parents

I just read this article, and am outraged. All I can say is pray, people. Pray. And be involved in the political process.

Clingy

D has a birthday coming up, and my mission this morning was to go through all the toys in our house and get rid of ones that are no longer age appropriate or that he doesn't play with much. I made a pile of junk to throw away and a pile to give away. Josh & I told D at breakfast that God has blessed us with more toys than we need, so we wanted him to choose some of them to give away to kids who don't have as many. He was all excited. He was more than willing to choose toys to give away. It was such a lesson for me. I am much more clingy with my things than he seems to be with his. I am praying that God continues to create in him a giving heart.

Later D went with me to deliver invitations to our neighbors for an ice cream social. He thought we were going around to deliver the toys to the neighbor kids. It was so sweet. I explained that our neighbor kids have planty of toys, too, but I was so proud of him for wanting to share and give. I think we will take the toys to a shelter together later this week.

One Banana, Two Banana . . .

Do you like bananas? 'Cause I'm not their biggest fan. The Mayne Daddy likes them for their convenience, and D definitely likes them, especially w/ peanut butter. But whenever I buy a small bunch at the store, one or two of them invariably turns brown before the men of the house get around to eating them.

So what happens to all those brown bananas? They get thrown in my freezer. Yes, my freezer is chock-full of brown bananas! Well, there were seven brown bananas in there this morning before D & I decided to make banana bread for our new neighbors. But I also can't have my house smelling like sticky yummy warm banana bread and then just give it all away, so we doubled the recipe and made a loaf for our own snacking pleasure as well. So we thawed four bananas, and we were on our way to a yummy snack.

It's in the oven now. Can you smell it?

D helping with the mixer.

Linky offering his opinion on the morning's activities. They were not words of approval, I'll tell you that.

"Mommy, can I dip my apple in it?"

Ready to pop into the oven!

Anyone want some cheese with their banana bread?