Happy Fathers Day weekend

This week flew by like most of them do. Last Saturday we drove for four hours taking Kristina to Camp Agape up in Batesburg SC. This is a camp that is sponsored by the state offices of the Church of God of Prophecy church in SC. Our kids have been going to this camp for the last 8 years. I am glad that they have the opportunity to attend this camp because it gives them something fun to do and hopefully provides them with an environment to be with kids their age and to experience faith based activities designed to encourage them and build their faith.

In the last two weeks our weather in the evenings has been very active with some intense pop up thunderstorms. I am thankful we live in a brick and mortar house vs a double wide trailer. As I listened to the heavy rains, hail popping off of the skylights in our living room and the flashes of lightning I had flashbacks of having to load the wife and kids in the Durango and make a mad dash to the church in Goose Creek. I am so thankful we no longer have to do that.

One of the funny things that happened was President Obama killed a pesky fly on national tv and was reprimanded for doing that by PETA. PETA stated that Obama is not Buddha and that he should be more thoughtful and respectful of lower life forms. Peta is even going to send Obama a fly catcher so he can catch these lower life forms and set them free outside. Do we really want our commander and chief focusing on catching flies and setting them free? Ok, I suppose one of his staff members will wind up with the menial chore. I am wondering if Peta realizes that while the staff member is setting the captured flies free that all of the “other” flies outside will now be “inside” the Whitehouse.
I thought that the president taking the time to wrap the lifeless form of the fly in a napkin and handing him off to the staffer was a nice touch.

South Carolina seems to be in the news quite a bit however the reasons we are in the news does not seem very positive. The latest news out of South Carolina is the unemployment rate which is going through the roof. I think we have gone up to 12 percent which is one of the highest in the nation. I know that my wife has been looking for part time work in the last month or two but has not had any luck getting interviews. I am sure the school kids out for the summer and all the rest of the unemployed folks are battling it out for any work they can find. I looked at Craigs list the other day and it seems as if there were plenty of commission only sales jobs out there but not that many jobs worth mentioning.

One of the negatives to our moving out of Berkeley county into Charleston County and Johns Island is that the schools in Johns Island are not known for their scholastic excellence. My 14 year old son did some research the other day and wrote me a 2 page e-mail begging me not to send him to Haut Gap Middle school which is 10 minutes walk from our house. I looked at the scores that school has received and how they match up with other schools statewide and they are absolutely horrible. We are investigating sending Justin to a James Island school but we have been told by one of the principals that they are no longer taking traditional transfers out of district. The Charleston County School District has been slashing their budget which equates to fewer teachers in the classroom. We were also told about the No Kids Left Behind iniative which we can apply for from the Johns Island school board and if approved Justin could transfer to James Island tha way and then the principal would be guaranteed some extra teachers through that act.

As I was writing this I listened to a news report on channel two who highlighted a town hall meeting where President Obama had a panel of fathers present. President Obama said that fathers need to step up and be there for the children past the point of conception. He said that our children need for the men in the family to be willing to invest their time and energy into the lives of their children both in the good times and the difficult times. I would agree whole heartedly with the commander and chief. To be a father requires that we be active participants in the raising and training of our children. We should be emotionally, spiritually and intellectually engaged in the lives of our children. Our society is plagued by too many single parent families where there is no father involved. We also have families where the father is physically present but emotionally absent and not interested in any parental participation. That is the definition of a dead beat dad.

This weekend is Fathers Day weekend so I hope all of you fathers are able to enjoy this time with your families and are thankful to God for the blessing your family is to you. I am also hoping that your families will appreciate all that you do for them through the year. I always tell my children that the best gift in all the world that they could give to me is just to love me. I know that my children love me and it is always extra special to me when they take the time to demonstrate that love in some small way.


James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
chiefpropellerhead@comcast.net