7 Quick Takes Friday (Volume 21)

It's Friday..and time for 7 Quick Takes Friday!  Be sure to visit Conversion Diary to read more Quick Takes.  In the  meantime, here are 7 little notes about my life this past week.  You can read all my previous Quick Takes here.

1.  The biggest excitement in my life this week, was well...very exciting.  My Mama, Alice Hawley, got fired from her job as a high school teacher because she prays in class.  After this information was posted on Facebook, it went viral.

Within 24 hours, she was interviewed by two local television stations (stories here and here), two local radio stations, and three local newspapers (articles here, here, and here).  Be sure to watch those iterviews and read the articles for more details.  Oh, and just so you know, I used the word 'local' loosely - we live way out in the sticks, so they were all within about 100 miles.

But wait, the BIG news is that she had her job back within that same 24 hour period.  But it was crazy!   It still hasn't been 72 hours and she has more than 4000 supporters (and growing) on Facebook (the page is "Mrs. Hawley should not be fired for praying in school!").  The superintendent who fired her received hundreds, if not thousands of calls, faxes, and emails in support of her.  It was phenomenal.  I mean, you have to understand, our "town" has just over 500 residents, the whole county has around 10,000 residents. 

Mama received dozens and dozens of calls.  She spoke with senators, representatives, lawyers, parents, teachers, and many, many others.  So, if you were one of her supporters, thank you.  It was just unbelievable.  I know this post is all over the place, but the excitement is still lingering.  The battle is not over.  God is awesome!

2.  So, with a lead like #1, what else can I tell you?  My  husband brought me flowers yesterday.  Isn't this the most adorable flower arrangement ever?  He got them on the way home from work.  And... they fit into our budget.

I love that man so much!! 

3.  I know you all know that I homeschool our kids.  Well, here are two 'educational' things that happened in our house this week with my oldest child, Joshua, who's 12.  First, he knows what a triangle is and he can make one with his breakfast.  I know...astonishing for a 12 year old (ha!)...

 

With more scientific creativity, he took the guts out of an old broken clock (the casing was broken, not the innards), and managed to make his baseball cap into a clock.  It involved new batteries, duct tape, and well, some smarts, but he has a working clock...on his head.

4.  Speaking of school... it's out around here as of yesterday.  Well, at least the public school is.  Us homeschoolers sort of march to the beat of a different drum and well, we might not be "out" until it's time to start over again.  But that's okay.  Taking breaks when we want to and scheduling around family needs is one of the fantastic benefits of being a homeschool family. =)

5.  Oh wait, let me go back to the day where Mama got her job back.  Let me just say, I really, really wish I had a picture to add to this.  So, she interviews with one of the local television stations in the school parking lot.  Then, after a quick stop at the Dollar General, we all head home.  I follow her to her house to get my mail and decide to hang out and field phone calls for her for a few minutes.  In the meantime, my kids are playing in the front yard. 

At some point, my 8 year old, Caleb comes running in the house yelling... "Mommy, Mommy, there's a snake outside."  Me and Mama bolt out the door to see a 6 foot snake slithering toward the front porch.  We scream for the kids to get inside, and Mama grabs a shotgun.  I'm not kidding.  A 12 gauge shotgun.  But while she's grabbing it, I see the snake go under her car on the porch.  We tiptoe back outside (at a great distance from the car) and can. not. find. the. snake. 

So, we determine, the snake is up in the car - or underneath it, up in it.  You know?  So she backs up the car while I watch from inside the house.  I see the snake shoot out from the wheel well, so I grab the gun and run out to hand it to her.  She blows the snake's head OFF.  So, here's my Mama, standing in the front yard, with a shotgun and a snake, when my Daddy drives up.  He jokes that it's not gonna look good to be standing in the front yard with a loaded shotgun when the news crews show up.  It was a joke.  Really.

But 5 minutes after we go inside, a news guy does show up.  We laughed so hard.  Wouldn't that have been a nice addition to this interview?  A picture of 50-something year old Algebra teacher who had just been fired for praying.. standing in her front yard with a shotgun and a snake?  Can you say country?  or redneck?  I'm just sayin'.

6.  My husband made me tiramisu last night.  After he brought me the flowers.  Tiramisu is my mostest favoritest dessert in the whole wide world.  I could just kiss him!!

7.  If God brings her to your mind, please continue to pray for my Mama, Alice Hawley.  If God opens the door for her to try and make a change in this county, or country's policy on school in prayer, then she is ready to fight that battle. Getting her job back is a tremendous blessing, but it's not as important to her as praying with and for the children that she teaches.  She's passionate about Jesus and praying, and her students.  Again, I encourage you to read the articles and watch the interviews to see her heart.  I'm super-duper proud of her.  I love you, Mama!

Until next Friday... Have a happy weekend!

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