a bullet list

• Thursday night will be my last class to teach for the 2019 elections. Then there will be 2 days of madness in October and 2 in November, then about a week in December to prepare for the new materials in January 2020 when we start the cycle again.
• While the American  media complained about the President skipping climate control meetings, they have almost totally ignored his speech at a special called meeting with 60+ countries dealing with the humanitarian crisis in China. In the last several years, over 1 million Muslim minorities have been imprisoned, tortured, and some even executed. This past year the "re-education camps" have started spreading to include Christians, Falan-Gang, and devout Buddhists. Our US Senate unanimously passed a bi-partisan bill denouncing the crimes. And our media is almost silent.
• A former colleague and dear brother has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. He will be facing a very intense surgery, several months to heal, followed by six months of chemotherapy. I have cried and prayed on behalf of this dear family. Please remember the Bachmanns, as well as all they come in contact with. God is moving mountains, but I'd also love for Him to miraculously heal Ron.
• I'm trying to slowly regain control over our schedule and certain aspects of life. I know it means letting go of some things I dearly enjoy doing, but I think it has to be done. 
• Since the end of August we've had 10 biddies hatch. 3 of 4 remain from the first batch, 1 of 4 remain from the 2nd, the only one of batch 3 died within 2 days, and the 4th one born today got kicked around pecked quite badly tonight. Not sure if it will last or not and quite aggravated that its Mama did not get off the nest to defend it. She's still on eggs, as is another hen. I think at the end of October everything is coming off nests whether it wants to or not!!

Hopefully there will be updates and further explanations, with pictures, in the days to come.

Dorian

The last few days I've spent a little more time than normal on social media, and some of the things I've seen have really made me pause.

Hurricane Dorian flattened the Bahamas. Some weather stations listed it hitting the islands as a category five; others side a severe four. Either way, the winds hit the islands with a very intense force and stayed there for more than a day.  People died. The homes they lost were not their summer homes, but the only location they had containing everything they owned. Any emergency food or clothing they had was swept away in the waters that sent them scrambling to the attic, sometimes pushing out air vents or attempting to punch holes in the roof so they could actually climb on the roof of the house to escape the waters rushing into the attic.

A few days pass, and hurricane Dorian arrives on the East Coast, after what felt like an eternity of warnings. Even though the hurricane had weakened all the way to a category two, the way the media cancelled everything to do non-stop hurricane coverage seemed a bit over the top, but I suppose being over-informed is better than being under-informed.

But then I go on social media and see comments like "Oh, pray for my sister-in-law's family. They lost their beach house."

Would it be a difficult thing to have spent years saving up money for something opulent like a beach house (even if it's a trailer) only to see it washed or blown away? Yes. It would. But when you put that in comparison to the person who lost their home, not a vacation home, but the place they sleep every single night of the year, losing something that is a luxury item seems almost trivial. Is losing electricity difficult, especially in the south? Absolutely. But that is nothing to compare to the parents who watched the waters sweep their children away as they attempted to get out of a collapsing house and make it to a safe location. Or the families who have absolutely no food to eat at all because the waters washed it all away. I also know many people who live on the coast, and they are just now getting back into their homes from Hurricane Florence...Dorian was a very real concern. This was their daily life that was disrupted, not just their vacation spot.

I am thankful for all the cruise lines who are going in to serve the people of the Bahamas or who have donated millions of dollars to help rebuild the islands. But some of the posts I've seen that derisively say the cruise lines made their money off of the Bahamas so they owe it to the people are forgetting some very important details. One, they made their money off rich tourists. The Bahamas are just one of many locations that benefit from tourists wishing to visit the paradise the locals have made. Two, the chefs and stewards and the captain of that ship are neither slaves nor volunteers.  If the ships go to the Bahamas to feed and house the locals, who is going to pay the salaries of the people who run the kitchen, clean the rooms, and perform maintenance on the ship? Those workers have bills to pay and financial responsibilities the same way we do. I don't know of many people who could afford to send all their employees or the family members to a disaster area and still pay them their work salary if they are not actually performing the company business. It's simply not feasible.  Yes, cruise lines probably make a lot of money, but it also costs an incredible amount of money to keep the ship afloat, much less make it desirable. If you think about all the employees who work for the cruise line, add up the cost of fuel for a boat that size, how much of your cruise ticket is actually profit?  Probably not as much as you think. I'm sure the cruise lines could take a week or two and go to the Bahamas to assist people. Workers who want to volunteer their time could; the others - are they laid off for the week? Mandatory unpaid time? Forced vacation time which means the company has to pay for the time they are off? But what happens after 2-3 weeks? The cruise lines have a responsibility to their employees, and the islanders will still need a place to live and sleep, a place to eat, clothes to wear, etc. It's a great idea and many cruise lines have already stepped up to the plate, but the reality of implementing ideas are not always as simple or easy as people seem to think.

So if you really want to help, instead of ranting on social media, donate to an organization that is prepared to handle disaster relief aid. Here's a few to consider:

Samaritan's Purse

American Red Cross

NC Baptist Men- Disaster Relief Team