C. S. Lewis

1. A man may have to die for our country: but no man must, in any exclusive sense, live for his country. He who surrenders himself without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation, or a party, or a class is rendering to Caesar that which, of all things, most emphatically belongs to God: himself.

2. It is easy to think the State has a lot of different objects -- military, political, economic, and what not. But in a way things are much simpler than that. The State exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging in his own garden -- that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong and protect such moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc., are simply a waste of time.

3. For who can endure a doctrine which would allow only dentists to say whether our teeth were aching, only cobblers to say whether our shoes hurt us, and only governments to tell us whether we were being well governed?

WoW this really says it. S

Rannon's B-day

Huh?
Buddies
Baptism
At the park before breakfast ;)
Helping Calvin learn how to pet the animals :)
Watching over the younger brothers while baoting :)


Lobster dinner

Part monkey

A little green around the gills
Fireworks in 2 hours!
Harry Potter glasses
Pulling his sisters all over the house.

Getting around pretty good.
At the beach with Daddy
Grandpa Kent holding him 2 days old.



Today is Rannon's Birthday. He is 16 years old and I can hardly believe it. Of course I would be lying to everyone if I didn't admit to feeling maudlin about the children's birthdays any more. They all come so much faster now that they are older and living their own lives.

Rannon was a really cute baby.
I am sorry to say that it took us a couple years to understand why he would run into walls. :(
He is pretty blind without glasses. In fairness, Jaden was born about that time and we just couldn't think about much else.

Something that is a cherished memory about Rannon is when he had to have a hernia operation. I think he was about 5. Years are fuzzing up so bear with me. I was so nervous, and that is hillarious to me since Jaden had been through so many surgeries by then. But this was Rannon, my smiling boy, happy and healthy. I was terrified something would go wrong.

Anyway when it was all over they allowed us into his recovery room, and he whispered for me to come closer. I leaned in and watched his face. He was so serious.
"Mom they messed up."
"What do you mean?"
"They messed up, I can't feel my legs."

It was everything I could do not to laugh. The poor guy was terrified that he was paralized but we assured him that it was temporary. He wouldn't budge. He just knew that we were sugar caoting the truth. Eventually I call the nurse over to verifiy everything we said.

Rannon has been a joy to my life. He is funny, smart, strong, handsome and hard working. Everything a man should be.

Happy Birthday Rannon. We love you more than Chocolate!