Support Dr. Mick Zais for State Superintendent of Education

If you live in South Carolina, make sure you vote for Dr. Zais next Tuesday!

Not only is he the father of one my best friends, Ashley Zais Harper, but he is extremely qualified for the job and would be an amazing asset to the state.

A letter from Senator Lindsey Graham:

Dear Friend,

I have traveled across the country and throughout South Carolina the past several months campaigning for Republicans who could help take our state and nation in a new direction.

I believe one of our best and most qualified candidates is Dr. Mick Zais - candidate for South Carolina State Superintendent of Education.

Mick is a retired general, a former college president, and perhaps most importantly, a former classroom teacher.

Mick is ready to reform education by providing safe and clean schools with strong classroom discipline, directing resources to the classroom and away from the bureaucracy, and empowering teachers and parents.

With the election next Tuesday, Mick needs our help immediately.

Mick's opponent, a former Clinton administration official, is well funded due to his deep roots in Washington and his access to wealthy out-of-state donors.

But I am confident that Mick's campaign will be successful because the parents, teachers, and taxpayers of South Carolina are fed up with the status quo in education.

The choice in candidates could not be clearer:

Mick Zais has been a classroom teacher. His opponent has not. Mick Zais has led a school and turned it around. His opponent has not.

The education challenges we face in South Carolina have been around for many years: a high school on-time graduation rate that needs significant improvement, classrooms that are severely lacking in discipline, and taxpayer dollars wasted in bloated bureaucracies. These challenges make it difficult to train a highly skilled workforce that will attract industry and put South Carolinians back to work.

We can change this dynamic if we elect leaders with integrity, principles, and the fortitude to do what's right. And that is why we all need to step up to help elect Mick Zais.

I know Mick will apply the leadership and organizational skills that have contributed to his success in the military and higher education to the problems that plague our elementary, middle, and high schools. The job will be demanding, but Mick has never shied away from hard work. And with your support, I know he can get the job done.

Mick can win next Tuesday, but he needs your support now in order to share his message with even more South Carolina voters before Election Day. Won't you please join me in making a contribution to Mick's campaign today?

South Carolina's school children deserve the best we can offer them. I believe strongly that Dr. Mick Zais is the right leader and candidate for the job.

Please remember to vote next Tuesday.

Yours very truly,

Lindsey Graham

Full Circle

I am often questioned by people about how I like living in DC/how the people are here/is the city intimidating. I always respond by assuring them that the best thing about this "northern" city are all the southerners here and the folks that understand true friendship and live together, work together and play together.

Please take a moment to read Laine's post in Sweetwater Tales about one of my friendships here that has been through it all! I'm so thankful for her and everything she has meant to me. I'm looking forward to many more years of friendship!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Fall is in the air so what is there to do besides carve pumpkins and hold a viewing of, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" The Ladies of A Street were gracious enough to host the carving and a good time was had by all!

Friends and knives...

We also celebrated Jordan's birthday!

Everyone's favorite couple...

oops...I meant to put "Everyone's favorite couple" HERE!

Carolyn did a great job of planning the surprise!

Enthralled

Politically themed pumpkins.

L to R: GOP elephant, FIRE PELOSI, Bob Watts (future Gov. of GA),

Judy and Trudy's GOP elephant, fiscal responsibility, and Lady Liberty

Brother and Sister

Anddddd...the party is not complete unless someone gets "antiqued."

True friendship in this photo.

My Best Friend's Wedding

My best friend got married last weekend! I addressed her birthday card with her new last name and already changed it in my phone. The whole weekend was fun and a perfect reflection of Mary Jane and Greg.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I will attempt to recreate the weekend

with photos and captions.

The bridesmaid's luncheon was held on Friday at the Fairview Inn in Jackson.

This is the "Mississippi Girl"picture

Constance, Kimberly, Mary Jane, me, Jordan (and Baby Peanut), Rhymes, Sara Tyson

My mom made the wedding cake cookies. They were fantastic!

Matrons, Bride and Maid

Lizzie, Sara Tyson, Mary Jane, me

My three best friends!

So many years of friendship

The rehearsal dinner was held at Plantation Commons in Madison.

Constance, Sara Tyson, MJ and I have grown up together at First Pres and all went

to Ole Miss together.

Kern and me

Exquisite bride

My sister!

The older I get and the more weddings I am in the more I am able to grasp the true gravity of what a wedding means.

Les Newsom, my RUF campus minister, performed the homily. He read from Revelation and discussed the end times. Take a moment to see the passage here. This may seem odd to do at a wedding, but he explained that a wedding points to the end times—where God is united with his BRIDE, the CHURCH. He told Mary Jane that the reason we are all drawn to her beauty is because we hope that someone would love us and see as beautiful too. The glorious truth is that someone does. And that someone is the Creator of the Universe. The most important person that could possibly care for us. And he knows everything about us—our thoughts and actions—past, present, and future. And he rejoices in us. Marriage is meant to point us to this ultimate reality.

As I stood next to Mary Jane and Greg juggling two bouquets and trying not to drop Greg’s ring, I could not help but cry! At the reception, a friend asked me what was wrong with my eye. I replied, “Oh…I was crying!” It was such a surreal moment to watch a friend that you have gone through almost every growing pain with commit the rest of her life to someone.

Another highlight of the weekend was that Ginny Owens sang at the wedding. If you have never listed to Ginny, I recommend downloading some her albums! She sang “Be Thou My Vision.” The song was even more meaningful because Ginny has been blind her entire life.

Time for a quick touch up!

The reception was held at The Cedars--an art museum in Fondren. It was a perfect venue--half indoors and half outdoors.

Mary Jane and Greg and the groom's cake!

Outdoors at The Cedars with Kern

Liz and Hunter Maynard

My Mama and me

The garter was hard to find...but Greg persevered.

Dearest.

Off to Cancun!

Thought to ponder

One of the aspects of my job that I love is the opportunity to work with students with intellectual disabilities. Congressman Harper's son, Livingston, has Fragile X syndrome. Congressman Harper is responsible for starting a Capitol Hill internship program for students with intellectual disabilities. It has been a huge success and our office has grown and learned so much from the students we have had through the program.

I have copied an excerpt from FPC's First Epistle by Steph Hubach, the PCA's Coordinator for Special Needs Ministries, entitled "Special Needs: We all have them." She does an excellent job of bridging the gap (that really doesn't exist) that people sometimes perceive between themselves and individuals with intellectual disabilities.

"In our Christian life, we all have struggle with focus. And it often stems from focusing on the wrong things. You've probably seen the image before. It is a black and white optical illusion that reveals two totally different pictures depending on where you focus. If your eyes focus one way, you will see a vase. If they focus another way, you will see the silhouettes of two faces pointed towards each other. It all depends on your perspective. Both images are real-but only one can be the focus of the viewer.

In a similar way, our perspective on others in the body of Christ will impact what we see in them. When you focus on another individual, do you tend to see their deficits or do you tend to focus on their competencies? More often than not, we tend to view people-especially people with disabilities-from the orientation of what they cannot do. This view comes, in part, from an unbiblical worldview of disability-and therefore an inaccurate view of not only others, but also of us. The Bible teaches us that disability in the broadest sense (physical, emotional, and spiritual) is a normal part of life in an abnormal world. Brokenness occurs across a spectrum-in differences of degree for each of us-in every area of life. None of us exists in a state of complete and utter brokenness on every level. None of us exists in a state of complete and utter blessing or "wholeness" on any level. Disability is a normal part of living in a world where there is a complicated mix of the blessedness of creation and the brokenness of the fall. All of us need encouragement and supports to deal with our limitations and to build on our strengths.

Now, think about the grace of God for a moment. When the Father looks at us, does he focus on our inadequacies, or does His gaze focus only on the ultimate, beautiful competency of Christ alone on our behalf? God knows what our deficits are more fully than we do-but instead of condemning us for our inabilities He supplied the supports we needed to be successful in a relationship with Him-the perfect sacrifice of His Son, and His perfect life lived on our behalf. Can we do any less? How can we be any less than intentional about sacrificially making the Gospel-the good news of the coming of the Kingdom-accessible to all, in word and deed?

In addition, not only do we all struggle with perspective when we look at the disabilities and abilities of ourselves and of others-we also all struggle, at times, with having a sense of perspective on God's purposes in our lives too.

"By interacting with people with intellectual disabilites, we are..."

• Learning to see people with disabilities through a biblical lens, and thereby seeing ourselves more accurately as a result.
• Learning to view our life's circumstances through God's eyes, and thereby fully embracing the life that was always in His plan for us-even if it was never in ours.
• Learning to make the Gospel-the good news of the coming of the Kingdom-accessible to all of us-in word and deed.

What great lessons for all of us in every situation and every relationship."

What a great lesson! Certainly something I need to be reminded of on a daily basis.