The Threesome at the Capitol

Halley in one of the giant urns behind the Governor's portico

Mary in the Governor's garden

Sarah in the Governor's garden

As the years have passed at the Capitol, I have wanted to quit lobbying for midwifery in Missouri and move on with my life. I complained to a friend one day, "My idea was not to be 60 and still running around as a lobbyist! This was so not what I planned to do with my life!"
And yet, there was something that needed to be done, and someone needed to do it.
So, I went back, year after year.

I would come home at the end of session and tell my family that "next year will be different... I won't be at the Capitol all the time..." But the replacement I prayed for didn't appear. So I kept going back. That is till this year.

When session ended in 2008, I knew that I had to get away from the Capitol for a good long time to maintain my sanity, my heart, my vision, my morality. I vowed not to be there full time in 2009, and I meant it completely. But I had no idea who would be there to keep tabs on things and make sure that the law we had worked so long to pass wasn't instantly repealed...

The Lord provided in such an amazing way that I was shocked...
"If God should open the windows of heaven, might this thing be?"
Yes.

My replacement came in the form of two very dear friends, Halley and Sarah.
They have been there day in and day out this year and I have only occasionally popped in for a few days when something more than usual was going on.

Last week was the last week of the 2009 legislative session. I spent part of it at the Capitol with Sarah and Halley, so thankful that they were shouldering the work and I was just tagging along!
On Thursday afternoon, we left the building for a couple of hours while the Senate went into recess and had a lot of fun posing for pictures all around the Capitol.

Thank you, Sarah and Halley!

Wading in the fountain in front of the Capitol.
The sign didn't say, "Don't wade in the fountains";
it only said, "Please don't step on the tulips..."
So, we pulled off our pumps and pantyhose and went wading!

The door at the top of the front Capitol steps
leading to the third floor rotunda must be about 20 feet high.
Here, we do a symbolic pose: "Free the midwives!" :)

The Capitol as it overlooks the Missouri River.
The Governor's office is located inside the high arched windows on the second floor.

The Capitol from the front...

Day is done... Caucusing in our favorite office hang-out.
The Representative who resides in this office went home hours ago.
But for us, there's still the House and Senate Journal
and various bills to finish reading,
strategy to figure out, and plans to make for tomorrow...


Thank you to my sister, Ruth, for spending her day chasing us with the camera! :)

Presidential Debate in Our Home!

Joanna (13) has had the opportunity of doing her schoolwork with our homeschooling neighbors this year. Being the sociable creature that she is, she's always wanted to do school with other people in more of a group setting, so we are all happy for her chance to work together with a couple other girls around her age.
The other girls' mother, Julianna, does a great job of teaching them together and making school interesting. Back in October (yes, I'm a little late posting pictures!), she decided that they would have a presidential debate at our house. She assigned them each girl to be one of the presidential candidates and then the girls spent hours researching the platforms of the candidates and studying their mannerisms and pet words. Then (with some help from several speech writers) they wrote up their speeches and delivered them. Afterwards they took questions from the audience and attempted to out-do one another with their answers!

Joanna as Barack Obama, Azarina as Ralph Nader, and Julia as John McCain

Nader gets a bit of help from his presidential speechwriter.
Obama appears to be busy with his Blackberry in the background!

John McCain (left) is stumped for a minute on the economy and gets a bit of advice
from his chief policy adviser on how to answer the question.
Obama (right) appears to be confident of his next answer.

We didn't always agree with their positions on issues, but applauded when possible! : )

Camels and Needles on Election Day

This past month it seems that God has been trying to show me that He specializes in impossibilities....

It was Election Day. I was driving across town, praying for the souls of two men who I have come to care about deeply. This year they were running against each other for a top state government position. Their character left much to be desired. But in getting to know them, I had become more and more convicted of their need for a Savior -- far greater than my need for either one of them win or loose in the election. Sure, their election would affect my temporary, earthly life in some small way. But what about their never-dying souls?

They were both people in "high places" who I felt would be less likely to humble themselves before a Holy God than for "a camel to go through the eye of a needle." I prayed for it daily, but I really couldn't picture it happening.

This day their names were on every ballot across the state. I didn't even know anymore who should win that position. The whole situation was a confusing mess.

"God," I cried out, "They seem impossible to reach. Will they ever come to the end of themselves and cry out for mercy? Will they ever see what wretched souls they are before You? Will they ever see their desperate need for God?"

These men have flippantly joked about "Christian fanatics" and about people who get too serious about religion, the one making it especially clear that he thinks that religion and prayer and God are for grannies, not intelligent, educated, powerful men like him.

So, as my heart was heavy for him, I prayed, feeling useless and senseless and without any direction of what to even pray for him.

And then I got a text... from him. It said (among other things), "If you have any spare moments today, would you stop and pray for me?"

Pray for me?!

That was a weird statement, to be made by a man who doesn't believe in prayer. Why would he bother on the biggest day of his life to ask me to pray for him if he didn't think it would do some good?

Maybe he was starting to believe that God really does rule over the affairs of men. I remembered with gratefulness how this man had a few months earlier heard a powerful and moving testimony of an answer to prayer. I had thought that he couldn't have possibly forgot the story he heard, and I had prayed for months that God would use that story in his heart to remind him again and again of the greatness, justice, and holiness of God.

I replied that I was praying for him, and would continue to do so. But I didn't pray that he would win or loose the election. I prayed that God would use whatever it would take in his life and that of his opponent - winning or loosing (for both of them), to bring them both to an awareness of their need for a Saviour. It was hard not to tell God which one I wanted to win for my own comfort. Instead I asked God to use the election in the lives of these politicians to bring them to Himself. And then I left the results up to God.

The day after the election, the same man (who ended up winning) sent me another message. He sounded so different... humble... not like himself. "Thank you," it said, "For continuing to pray for me. I can't tell you what it means to me."

Wow. The man who didn't believe in prayer was now acknowledging his need for prayer. He has a lot of friends who are powerful and rich and pompous and clever . But he seemed to think that a little nobody like me might have a connection to the God he ought to know? I smiled. There was a glimmer of hope. Maybe a camel would go through the eye of a needle after all!

Once again, I was reminded that God is not limited by the limits of MY imagination or human possibilities.

I'm still praying for him, and asking God to continue bring the Truth of the Gospel before this man who lives in a world of the false pretense of politics. But his sincere requests for prayer have left me with a glimmer of hope that, yes, God can change the hearts of kings and rulers and He can bring them to their knees.

My only job is to be faithful to speak the truth and pray and let God work in their hearts. God can do what I can't imagine, and that is my prayer for both of these men.

"The Bank's About Out of Cash. Ma'am"

Our family has been closely following the happenings on Wall Street and in Congress over the past few days. It's not like we personally have much to loose in a financial crisis like this... except maybe a stable country and happy neighbors. That would be a bigger deal that some of the investments and stocks people are gnashing their teeth about.

I've been wondering just where this is going to go, knowing that whatever happens, God is in control. I also can't tell you how many times I've breathed a sigh of relief that my parents have been happy to go without over the years to remain debt-free and instill in all of their kids the principle of only buying what you can pay for! The peace of mind certainly pays off!

For years, I've known that our government and our financial system is only living on borrowed time. We have a lot of "money" but in reality, most of it is only worth the paper it's printed on.

Today that reality hit a little close to home. I stopped by our local small-town bank to cash a couple of (small) checks. As I attempted a left turn into the bank parking lot, I realized that the cars at the drive-up were all the way out onto the street waiting in line. So, I waited in line for a long time, not thinking much of it. When I finally pulled up to the window, I saw that my favorite teller, an old family friend was working. I smiled a pleasant hello. Her usual cheery greeting was only a sigh and a, "What do you need today?"

I assumed she was just tired, and trying to think of something friendly and sympathetic to say, remarked, "You must be overworked today! I can't believe the line-up you have here! The cars are still all the way out onto the street!"

Another sigh. "Yeah," she replied. "___ told me to just go ahead and close this window down after a few more cars. We're gonna run out of money here."

I laughed at what I thought was a joke. "Yeah, tell them to go home, 'cause the bank's out of money, huh?"

"No laugh," she retorted. "I was serious. We've had so much money taken out today that I AM going to run out of cash if I get even a few more checks. I really meant that." And then she raised her eyebrows and motioned towards the pickup pulling away, "I just cashed a BIG check for somebody who's getting his money out. Bigger than I ever do normally."

As I drove away, I shook my head. "The bank's running out of money...The bank's running out of money..." It sounded like something out of a history book.

And then I reminded myself... maybe this will be in my childrens' history book some day.

On Sarah Palin

I have had so many people ask me what I think of Sarah Palin. Although I haven't said much, I have plenty of opinions going in all directions!

I don't intend to tell who you should vote for on the presidential ticket. Honestly, I'm not sure what I will do myself.

But I have read probably close to a hundred articles on her since she appeared on the scene about a week ago. It seems that there are two reactions among the Christian community - either rip her to shreds because "she should be staying home with her babies and being a good mother" or people promoting her as though she is the Messiah and will completely turn our country around and stop every evil practice. I've been sad to see how rashly and harshly some people have responded with their opinions. Blogs have filled up with hundreds, even thousands of comments as people discuss every detail of her life and decide what is God's will for Sarah Palin and what isn't.

I found Douglas Wilson's piece on Sarah Palin to be a breath of fresh air. Not because I necessarily agree with every point he makes, but because he takes a thoughtful approach to the whole matter and doesn't declare to know God's will. He simply gives us all a lot of things to think about. Feel free to leave your thoughts on my blog, but please, let's keep the comments respectful!

You'll find Douglas Wilson's thoughts here.

2008 Quotes from Politicians and Lobbyists in the Missouri Capitol

My good friend, Sarah Greek, who has spent a lot of time helping me lobby at the Capitol for the past two years is much more careful than I am to document the daily happenings there. She also has this penchant for keeping a log of all the funny quotes she hears each day. Some of them have been priceless!

In her latest post to the family blog, she has listed some of the best quotes she heard last month at the capitol. I'm so glad she wrote them down. In reading through her post, I was transported back to many days and conversations that happened a few short weeks ago. Check them out here