Since the Pledge of Allegiance and The Lord's Prayer are not allowed in most public schools anymore Because the word "God" is mentioned.... A kid in Arizona wrote the attached NEW School prayer :

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.
For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.

In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take! Amen

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I’m getting excited about the upcoming women’s retreat. I’ve only been on an overnight mini-retreat once, at someone’s home, very local. This one is 180 miles away and in a Christian Conference Center next to a beautiful beach along the Oregon coast. This beach has been voted the most beautiful beach on the Pacific coast (or on the Pacific NW coast – not sure which), so I’m expecting to be IMpressed! There are so many breath-taking beaches in the Pacific Northwest (and farther south) that I wonder how ANY of them could be called "best" – but will tell you if I agree when I get back!

Since it’s a retreat, I won’t be taking my laptop and blogging during the time away… so this is a heads up . Don’t think I’ve died on the highway because I’m not blogging Thursday through Sunday. (I won’t be gone all that time but may not be ready to blog when I get back Saturday during the day.) But if I don’t start blogging again along about Monday or Tuesday, then you MAY assume I’m dead or badly wounded… but not until then, okay? Got that?

It’s going to be fun, informative, and restful. I’m taking my favorite pillow (that’s one of the prerequisites) and my jammies (I reckon that is, too!) and a few changes of comfortable, casual clothes and a note pad and at least one Bible. (Decisions, decisions – which version?) OK and a few other necessities – toothbrush and other toiletries. MUST not forget my hairbrush. I always forget a hairbrush – but up until now have been "retreating" with biological sisters who don’t mind if I use their hair care tools. I did it in Vegas, too –thank God Billie Rae Walker had an extra comb she was willing to bequeath to me so I wouldn’t look a fright all weekend. I just dunno why I can’t remember the flippin’ hairbrush and dryer. It’s like I have a brain malfunction in this area… I remember to comb my hair every morning, so why would I forget to take a hairbrush when I travel? T’is a mystery…

A mystery that need not be solved. I will call it my primary idiosyncracy and let it go at that. (Can anyone else name my secondary ideosyncracy? I will see how close I think you come if you’ll try! But keep it fun and upbeat – ‘cause I have total control over what kind of communication sees the light of day in this blog! HA HA HA!)

I had a dental appointment this morning for a semi-annual teeth cleaning. My dental hygienist, Kim, is a total joy as it the dentist. I’m probably one of very few people on the planet who looks forward to going to the dentist! I haven’t had a bad experience in a dentist’s chair in so many years that all residual "dread" of dentistry has long since been extinguished.

One of my earliest dental experiences was just awful. My adult teeth were growing in behind my baby teeth and the dentist insisted that he didn’t need to numb me to pull the baby teeth out "because they don’t have any root." Excuse me?! What’s holding them in then – staples? WHATEVER was holding them in hurt like thunder when he started prying them out of there, so he had a screaming, crying five year old attached to his forearm and coming up out of the chair every time he trying to pry one out…

My Mom heard the racket and came in to witness this vision and told him in no uncertain terms, "That’s quite enough of that…" at which time I guess he concurred and gave me a shot of novacaine. Something like that stays with a child a long, long time.

And back in the day when I was a kid even the needles they used for novacaine were big and thick and re-sharpened – they weren’t tiny, one-use needles – so they were a trial, too. But these days dentistry – at least any I have experienced, including oral surgery – is much less traumatic, so I just don’t worry beforehand. At all. Same with getting shots. Thinking about that stuff ahead of time just extends the amount of time and energy one invests in presupposing how it will be, so I don’t do it. Sufficient unto the moment is the discomfort thereof! Why invite dread into an equation?

Not this kid! I’m freed from all that. Last year I didn’t even dread the major abdominal surgery I had. I had everybody laughing as I headed into the operation!

Pray and go – the rest is God’s domain, and I trust Him implicitly!