I really enjoyed the article “REBEL GRAY’S GOLDEN DAYS: In 1911, LR filled to the brim with Confederate veterans,” by Jake Sandlin that ran in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on May 15, 2011. It took 81 years before more people to gather in Little Rock for another event (Bill Clinton’s election to president) I will be sharing portions of it the next few days and here is the fourth part:
A Gazette headline on May 19 proclaimed that Little Rock had hosted 106,800 visitors. That figure was based on the number of train passengers and was often used as a total. Other estimates push the number to 120,000, Gurley said.
“When you include the people who rode horses in or drove in, the more accurate estimate is 140,000,” Gurley said of total reunion attendance.
An “unexpected rush,” the newspaper reported, of about 500 early arrivals came three days before the reunion’s start. Another 8,000 came the next day. The Reunion Committee had preregistered about 1,500 veterans and made arrangements for only 5,500.
“We are literally swamped,” the Arkansas Gazette quoted Judge William M. Kavanaugh, the chairman of the reunion executive committee, and for whom Little Rock’s Kavanaugh Boulevard is named. “We are confronted by a crisis.”
Kavanaugh put out a plea also through the newspapers urging residents “to open your homes.”
“They were quite surprised and quite stunned, really, by the number who came into the city,” Gurley said. “They lived up to the task, you have to give them credit. The city fathers went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure everyone’s experience in Little Rock would be quite memorable.”
Confederate veterans pose for photo with camp commander Robert G. Shaver while attending the United Confederate Veterans Reunion in Little Rock (Pulaski County); May 1911. Shaver stands third from the left in the front row.
Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life?
Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube clip above she comments:
“Like a lot of you I’m in transition: people come up to me all the time, asking, what are you doing next?” she said, adding: “It’s so stressful to not know what you are doing next when people ask what you are doing and they can’t believe you don’t know what you are doing.”
“I’d like to hear from other people who are in transition,” she said. “How did you find your transition: Personal, professional, emotional, spiritual, financial? How did you get through it?”
Mrs. Shriver has asked for spiritual input and I personally think that unless she gets the spiritual help that she needs then she will end up in the divorce court. I am starting a series on how a marriage can survive an infidelity. My first suggestion would be to attend a “Weekend to Remember” put on by the organization “Family Life” out of Little Rock, Arkansas. I actually posted this as a response to Mrs. Shriver’s request on you tube.
Doing it Differently: Rebuilding Your Own Special World
It’s difficult, especially for the spouse, to admit that her husband (or wife) started to build a special world that excluded her. It’s so repulsive that sometimes the spouse tries to ignore the infidel’s need for that world. But it’s better to look at this need squarely and take positive steps toward rebuilding your world together.
Start going out on dates again—find a baby-sitter if you need one and go romance each other again! You’ll both love it, you both need it, and you can make it fun. Try to cast off some of the old patterns (e.g., he never wanted to go to the symphony, or she never went hiking), and try doing it differently. Remember, this is a world of your own making, and you can find new freedom as you put your relationship back together again.
Surprise each other with little gifts or notes hidden in the dresser drawer or on the dashboard of the car. You can make these new ways of relating deep (late-night heartfelt talks) or playful (taking your mate on a surprise hot-air balloon ride at dawn) or sexy (fill in the blank here—this is a Christian book!)—anything you two might enjoy. Keep in mind your mate’s love language.
The idea is to rekindle the flame that you once had. With God’s help, your own creativity, and the other suggestions for rebuilding, you can rebuild that special world.
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Chip Ingram – How to Break Through Conflict (pt 3)
It’s hard to keep your objectivity when you are hurt, wounded or tired. When we lose objectivity, there are several common responses to conflict that just don’t work and can even make things worse. Here are a few more conflict resolution tools from guest speaker Tim Lundy. Download the full message for free at the Venture Christian website: http://www.venturechristian.org/files/sermons2/t032011.mp3
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The clip above has some material that originally came from a video from Family Life. I have mentioned this organization several times in this post. Contacting “Family Life” (out of Little Rock, Arkansas) would be a great place for Arnold and Maria to begin their recovering. I am hoping that Maria realizes that this family is worth saving. It will take a lot of forgiveness and she will have to turn to Christ for his supernatural help to make it happen.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver and family – “The Longest Yard” Los Angeles premiere, May 19, 2005
Prince William and Kate moved in together about a year ago. In this clip above the commentator suggested that maybe Prince Charles and Princess Diana would not have divorced if they had lived together before marriage. Actually Diana was a virgin, and it was Charles’ uncle (Louis Mountbatten) that gave him the advice that he should seek to marry a virgin.
I really do wish Kate and William success in their marriage. Nevertheless, I do not think it is best to live together before marriage like they did, and I am writing this series to help couples see how best to prepare for marriage.
Michael Foust wrote an excellent article, “‘Livingtogether‘ beforemarriage a statisticalrisk ,” March 26, 2008, Baptist Press, and I wanted share portions of that article with you the next few days. Here is the third portion:
He added that no studies have ever shown cohabitation to benefit relationships.
Harriet McManus discounted the notion that couples can go through a “trial marriage.”
“[I]t’s really more like a trial divorce,” she said at a press conference at the Family Research Council. “The only question is whether you break up before the wedding or after the wedding in a legal divorce. As one of our marriage educator friends says, you can’t practice permanence. Of 100 cohabiting couples, 85 break up before or after the wedding, leaving only 15 couples in a lasting marriage after 10 years, and who knows how many more divorces after 10 years.”
Women who cohabitate are more likely to be abused and to be depressed than women in a marriage, studies cited by the McManuses say. Additionally, men and women in a live-together arrangement are more likely to cheat on one another. But perhaps most concerning, couples who cohabitate are nearly just as likely as married couples to have children — meaning that the failed relationship has an impact beyond the man and woman.
“The children feel abandoned when one parent moves out,” Harriet McManus said. “That causes a great deal of trauma for the children, tripling the odds that the child will be expelled from school [compared to] those raised in an intact family.”
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Jason and Aerobics
(3/5) Adrian Rogers – No Other Way to Heaven Except Through Jesus
The Authenticity of the Bible – The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict – Josh McDowell Part 3
From time to time you will read articles in the Arkansas press by such writers as John Brummett, Max Brantley and Gene Lyons that poke fun at those that actually believe the Bible is historically accurate when in fact the Bible is backed up by many archaeological facts. The Book of Mormon is blindly accepted even though archaeology has disproven many of the facts that are claimed by it.
The Book of Mormon claims that the Native American populations are descended from the Lamanites, who originated from ancient Israel 2,600 years ago. This concept is stated several times throughout the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants (both of which are part of the “standard works”). Modern molecular genetics have proven that Native Americans are descended from Siberian and Asian ancestors. No evidence of Hebrew ancestry has been found in living Native Americans or in the remains of ancient Native Americans. However, other claims of Hebrew ancestry have been verified genetically in the African Lemba tribe, who left the Middle east during the same time frame found in the Book of Mormon account. In addition, no evidence for the “white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome” Nephites has ever been found in ancient American artwork.
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Stela of Baal
Could this stone monument of Baal have been the same image that many Israelites worshipped?Baal, the storm god, is seen on this Stele unleashing a storm. He is holding a club in his right hand and a spear in his left like a lightning bolt, which extends upward in the form of a tree. It was found in 1932 at the site of ancient Ugarit, known today as Ras Shamra. Baal the was supreme male deity that was worshipped by the ancient Canaanites and Phoenicians, just as Ashtoreth was their supreme female deity. In many cases Baal was identified with the sun and Ashtoreth with the moon. Baal worship was prevalent during the time of Moses, especially among the Moabites, the Midianites, and eventually spread to the Israelites. During the time of the Kings, the northern Kingdom of Israel were Baal worshippers as were many of the kings of Judah. Many Temples were erected to Baal and have been discovered by archaeologists. Places for worship of Baal were often high places in the hills consisting of an altar and a sacred tree, stone, or pillar.
1 Kings 16:30-33 “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.”
“At Ugarit, El was sovereign, but another god ran things on earth for El as his vizier. That god’s name was Baal. At Ugarit Baal was known by several titles: “king of the gods,” “the Most High,” “Prince Baal” (baal zbl), and—most importantly for our discussion—“the Rider on the Clouds.”” – Wikipedia
Stela of Baal in Biblical archaeology.
Louvre Excerpt
Stèle du “Baal au foudre”
The stela depicting the storm god Baal is the largest and the most significant of the stelae discovered at Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit). It was found, along with eight others, not far from Temple de Baal by the Schaeffer archaeological mission, 1932. Four others were discovered near the Temple of Dagon and another ten in various locations around the city. All date to the Late Bronze Age, eighteenth-fifteenth centuries BC.
The large stela bears the relief carving of a monumental male figure, towering over a much smaller figure standing on a pedestal. The bearded lion-clothed main figure is wearing a horned headdress, indicating that he is a god. He is brandishing a club in his right arm, with left outstretched carrying a spear, the head of which is stuck in the ground, while vegetation sprouts out its shaft. Today it is generally agreed that the scene depicts the god, Baal, unleashing a storm from the club in the the traditional pose of the storm gods worshiped throughout the Levant – the Greek god Zeus and the Roman god Jupiter would later take up the same pose and attributes. The metaphor of the spear sprouting a plant alludes to the beneficial effects of the rain. The small figure crouching on the small horned altar is believed to be the king of Ugarit, in ceremonial dress, his arms crossed in prayer and the recipient of divine protection. The motifs carved on the two-tiered altar on which the god stands are more difficult to interpret: is the monstrous snake who will cause the death of Baal depicted above the carved waves of the ocean? Or is it the horizon of mountains that surrounded the kingdom of Ugarit, protected by Baal, whose home is “in the innermost reaches of Mount Sapon.”
Ugarit was an ancient cosmopolitan port city, sited on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria a few kilometers north of the modern city of Latakia. Itsent tribute to Egypt and maintained trade and diplomatic connections with Cyprus (called Alashiya), documented in the archives recovered from the site and corroborated by Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery found there. The polity was at its height from ca. 1450 BC until 1200 BC.
Paris – Musée du Louvre
British Museum Excerpt:
Bronze Figure of Baal
Canaanite, about 1400-1200 BC From Syria
The god Baal with raised right arm
This figure is typical of bronzes from Syria in the second half of the second millennium BC. Although clearly broken, his pointed cap and raised right arm suggest that this is a representation of the god Baal, one of the major deities of the Canaanites. He would usually be wielding a club, but this example may have held a smaller object, perhaps a thunderbolt. The eyes were originally inlaid and the dowel and hole are modern.
The god Baal embodied royal power and authority. Much of our knowledge about Canaanite gods comes from the local Canaanite literature, particularly from the archive of cuneiform tablets from the site of Ugarit. The Canaanite gods and goddesses continued to be worshipped during the first millennium BC, though some of their functions changed. They were worshipped wherever the Canaanites (Phoenicians) established trading colonies across the Mediterranean.
I grew up listening to sermons by Adrian Rogers who was the longtime pastor of Bellevue Church in Memphis.
Adrian Rogers sermon “No other way to heaven except through Jesus” based on Romans chapter one (part 4).
There is such a powerful illustration of an agnostic that came to Christ in this previous clip that I had to give you the completion of that story in this next clip below:
Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life?
Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube clip above she comments:
“Like a lot of you I’m in transition: people come up to me all the time, asking, what are you doing next?” she said, adding: “It’s so stressful to not know what you are doing next when people ask what you are doing and they can’t believe you don’t know what you are doing.”
“I’d like to hear from other people who are in transition,” she said. “How did you find your transition: Personal, professional, emotional, spiritual, financial? How did you get through it?”
Mrs. Shriver has asked for spiritual input and I personally think that unless she gets the spiritual help that she needs then she will end up in the divorce court. I am starting a series on how a marriage can survive an infidelity. My first suggestion would be to attend a “Weekend to Remember” put on by the organization “Family Life” out of Little Rock, Arkansas. I actually posted this as a response to Mrs. Shriver’s request on you tube.
This is a time to focus on the two of you, on your special history. It’s time to get nostalgic, to remember “the good old days.”
The two of you did not have to choose each other; you were attracted to each other initially for many reasons. Explore that collection of reasons, and identify the various components. Talk about those initial experiences together—the dates you had, the places you went, the things you enjoyed. Review those, because it was during that initial dating stage that you began to trust in each other in the first place.
As you begin to rehearse and redo similar trust-building experiences (I recommend you even go to some of the old haunts again), you will find that your feelings of trust will start to return. You will find that, even though the infidel and partner built their own experience together, there is still an overwhelming amount of history that only the two of you share. This is your story.
Many things can help you get in touch with those important memories:
old pictures, photo albums, and scrapbooks
time lines (charts where you list things chronologically)
date lists (write out all the things you did that you both recall)
revisiting the old places—even journeying across the country is helpful (you can take pictures of old haunts and develop your scrapbook, which may have been neglected for a while; in fact, further developing that old book may become a metaphor for this stage of recovery: putting time and energy back into your marriage exclusively)
One of the traumas of recovering from an affair is that the spouse often thinks about the new history that the infidel and partner have built together. Even though that is true, the memories of that illicit history will dissipate over the course of time, especially as you begin to reinvest in your relationship. That is exactly why the reconciling couple needs to rehearse and remember what drew them together.
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Chip Ingram – Three Ways to Improve your Conflict Resolution Skills (pt 2)
Why is conflict so hard to resolve? Whether in your marriage or other relationships – conflict can be a huge barrier that most of us would rather avoid. I want to share with you some common mistakes in conflict resolution and three important realizations that will bring fresh perspective to even the most difficult conversations. If you want to learn more, you can listen to the full message on conflict resolution from our guest speaker Tim Lundy here: http://www.venturechristian.org/files/sermons2/t032011.mp3
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The clip above has some material that originally came from a video from Family Life. I have mentioned this organization several times in this post. Contacting them would be a great place for Arnold and Maria to begin their recovering. I am hoping that Maria realizes that this family is worth saving. It will take a lot of forgiveness and she will have to turn to Christ for his supernatural help to make it happen.
Image: Rich Pedroncelli / AP Photo
The couple’s four children—daughter Katherine, son Patrick, daughter Christina, and son Christopher—joined their parents and grandmother Eunice Kennedy Shriver onstage at Schwarzenegger’s second inauguration in 2007.
Housekeeper Mildred Baena has been named as the mother of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son. Source: MySpace
Ms Baene voluntarily left her position with the couple earlier this year after working for them for 20 years. Picture: MySpace
The mother of former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s love child was named Tuesday as 50-year-old housekeeper Mildred Baene.
After a joint investigation byRadarOnline and Star magazine, the entertainment news website also quoted an unnamed source as saying the child was a son.
Schwarzenegger, who last week announced his separation from Maria Shriver after 25 years of marriage, admitted Monday to fathering the child with a longtime employee around 10 years ago.
However, he did not name her, prompting a frenzied media effort to track down the woman.
Late Tuesday, Radar and Star named Baene, and reported she worked for Schwarzenegger and Shriver for 20 years before retiring in January.
“She’s the one,” a source said.
A second source confirmed: “They have a son together.”
In a statement to the Los Angeles Times on Monday night, Schwarzenegger said, “After leaving the governor’s office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago.
“I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry,” he added.
Schwarzenegger, 63, took financial responsibility for the child “from the start and continued to provide support,” the newspaper reported an unidentified source as saying.
On Tuesday, Shriver asked for compassion and privacy after the “heartbreaking” revelation.
“This is a painful and heartbreaking time,” she said in a statement to People. “As a mother, my concern is for the children. I ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and I try to rebuild our lives and heal.”
Shriver and the former California governor have four children together — Katherine, 21, Christina, 19, Patrick, 17, and 13-year-old Christopher.
Governor Schwarzenegger goes to cast his vote on election day with his wife Maria Shriver and their daughters Christina and Katherine (her first time voting), at the Kenter Canyon elementary school in Brentwood.
(November 4, 2008- Photo by FlynetPictures.com)
I have written many times about Arnold Schwarzenegger before. Here are just a few of the times:
I got a lot out of this article below: Adrift in Marriage:Jerry and Olivia Dugan wanted to stay married but didn’t know how by Mary May Larmoyeux When Jerry and Olivia Dugan got married, they pledged lifelong commitment to one another. After all, they each knew firsthand how divorce rips families apart. They had individually […]
Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube clip above she comments: […]
Hot Topics-Arnold’s Love Child – The View Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In […]
Schwarzenegger’s Love Child Bombshell Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube […]
Arnold Schwarzenegger: News On Woman & Love Child TMZ Scoop Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed […]
Arnold Schwarzenegger & Family Out For A Walk In Santa Monica In This Photo: Maria Shriver, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christina Schwarzenegger The Govenator Arnold Schwarzenegger takes a walk on Ocean Ave with his wife Maria Shriver and daughter Christina Schwarzenegger in Santa Monica, CA. (// May 23, 2009- Photo by FlynetPictures.com) Hot Topics-Arnold’s Love Child – […]
Arnold Schwarzenegger & Family Out For A Walk In Santa Monica In This Photo: Maria Shriver, Christina Schwarzenegger The Govenator Arnold Schwarzenegger takes a walk on Ocean Ave with his wife Maria Shriver and daughter Christina Schwarzenegger in Santa Monica, CA. (May 23, 2009- Photo by FlynetPictures.com) Schwarzenegger’s Love Child Bombshell Maria Shriver Asks – […]
California First Lady Maria Shriver (L-R) California First Lady Maria Shriver, niece of U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, her son Patrick Arnold Shriver Schwarzenegger and her husband CaliforniaGovernor Arnold Schwarzenegger attend funeral services for Senator Kennedy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts in this August 29, 2009 file photo. Former […]
The private driveway to former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s home is seen in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California May 17, 2011. Schwarzenegger,newly estranged from his wife of 25 years and seeking to resume his Hollywood career, has acknowledged fathering a child more than a decade ago with a member of his household staff ______________________________________ California Governor […]
File photo of Schwarzenegger File photo of the Schwarzenegger family: (L-R) Maria Shriver, Christina, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Patrick(AFP/Getty Images/File/Jason Merritt)… Arnold Schwarzenegger Fathers Love Child With Longtime Member Of Household Staff Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had […]
The Schwarzenegger Family Voting In This Photo: Christina Schwarzenegger Governor Schwarzenegger goes to cast his vote on election day with his wife Maria Shriver and their daughters Christina and Katherine (her first time voting), at the Kenter Canyon elementary school in Brentwood. Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold […]
___________________________________________ Arnold Schwarzenegger & Family Out For A Walk In Santa Monica In This Photo: Maria Shriver, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christina Schwarzenegger The Govenator Arnold Schwarzenegger takes a walk on Ocean Ave with his wife Maria Shriver and daughter Christina Schwarzenegger in Santa Monica, CA. (// May 23, 2009- Photo by FlynetPictures.com) Maria Shriver Asks – […]
File photo of Schwarzenegger File photo of the Schwarzenegger family: (L-R) Maria Shriver, Christina, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Patrick(AFP/Getty Images/File/Jason Merritt)… Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of […]
California First Lady Maria Shriver (L-R) California First Lady Maria Shriver, niece of U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, her son Patrick Arnold Shriver Schwarzenegger and her husband CaliforniaGovernor Arnold Schwarzenegger attend funeral services for Senator Kennedy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts in this August 29, 2009 file photo. Former […]
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, his son Christopher, 9, and his wife Maria Shriver hold hands as they walk to their vehicle after voting inthe U.S. midterm elections at the Crestwood Hills Recreation Center in Los Angeles, California, in this November 7, 2006 file photo. Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has acknowledged […]
Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube clip above she comments: […]
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In this series “Will Maria Shriver’s marriage survive Arnold Schwarzenegger’s admission of infidelity? I hope so,” there has been a great reaction to it by the public. I have included articles from “Family Life” of Little Rock, Arkansas about how to recover from an infidelity. I have also included info on how to take part in a “Weekend to Remember,” where you can hear “Family Life” speakers with your spouse. The only hope for Maria’s marriage will come from the power of Christ in her life to forgive. “A Family Life Conference” would be a great first step. Below is some info on that:
In just one November weekend, for example, more than 6,200 people attended 10 Weekend to Remember® marriage getaways around the country. Here are a couple quotes from those who went:
We are moving from a place of being ready to divorce to looking forward to growing together through Christ. This has given us important tools to do so.
We’ve been walking separate roads for many years. Infidelity was the final straw leading us to divorce. I was filling out the papers two days before we came to this event. Over the course of the weekend we found each other, wrote love letters that will be kept as reminders of our true love for each other. I granted forgiveness that my husband really needed. We are going to burn the divorce papers when we get home!
In today’s culture, the issues of marriage and family are open doors for the gospel–the Good News of Christ. Because people want their marriages and families to succeed.
Arnold Schwarzenegger: News On Woman & Love Child TMZ Scoop
Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life?
Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube clip above she comments:
“Like a lot of you I’m in transition: people come up to me all the time, asking, what are you doing next?” she said, adding: “It’s so stressful to not know what you are doing next when people ask what you are doing and they can’t believe you don’t know what you are doing.”
“I’d like to hear from other people who are in transition,” she said. “How did you find your transition: Personal, professional, emotional, spiritual, financial? How did you get through it?”
Mrs. Shriver has asked for spiritual input and I personally think that unless she gets the spiritual help that she needs then she will end up in the divorce court. I am starting a series on how a marriage can survive an infidelity. My first suggestion would be to attend a “Weekend to Remember” put on by the organization “Family Life” out of Little Rock, Arkansas. I actually posted this as a response to Mrs. Shriver’s request on you tube.
Factors both inside and outside the marriage combined to cause the affair, and it’s helpful to review them.
A special factor to review is the family tree. “Rats don’t have mice” goes a popular saying, and affairs do tend to run in families. I’d wager a guess that there have either been full-blown affairs in your family tree or at least “close calls.” It is imperative that you go back to your parents and grandparents to find out your history.
That “historical research” doesn’t excuse you or your mate’s behavior; it just helps you understand the setting in which it occurred. Knowing your family heritage can help you change it in your generation so that you do not pass it on to your kids. If teenagers (who are beginning to understand adult feelings) can see their parents grieve and rebuild their marriage following the infidelity, that will help them not repeat the cycle when they get married.
Once you’ve surfaced the information (it may take some digging), talk it over with each other. How does the infidel feel about it? The spouse? What attitudes were modeled to your young soul as a child that you can identify? Make it a matter of prayer together, and keep talking about it. Make the information yours, not just something you read in a book!
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I have mentioned above a lot about Family Life. Here is more info below that comes from Family Life originally. I am starting a series today that talks about conflict in marriage and how to resolve it.
Chip Ingram – Why Conflict is a GOOD Thing (pt 1)
We finished a five part series about marriage at Venture Christian Church this weekend. As I shared God’s plan for marriage, I could sense it stirring up a lot of questions and even some conflict among people. I’d recently heard Tim Lundy share a powerful message about resolving conflict … so I invited him to join us. The good news is that conflict in your marriage or friendships doesn’t mean the relationship is bad, it means it’s alive! When you learn to recognize conflict as an opportunity you’ll learn how to push through tough conversations and actually come out better for it! I wanted to share some of Tim’s key points about resolving conflict and invite you to listen to the full message for free at http://www.venturechristian.org/files/sermons2/t032011.mp3 – it should be available by Monday.
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I am hoping that Maria realizes that this family is worth saving. It will take a lot of forgiveness and she will have to turn to Christ for his supernatural help to make it happen.
Civil war veteran soldier footage, captured between 1913 and 1938
Civil war veteran soldier footage, captured between 1913 and 1938. Our other greatest generation. God bless both sides of this war who both tested and saved our union.
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I really enjoyed the article “REBEL GRAY’S GOLDEN DAYS: In 1911, LR filled to the brim with Confederate veterans,” by Jake Sandlin that ran in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on May 15, 2011. It took 81 years before more people to gather in Little Rock for another event (Bill Clinton’s election to president) I will be sharing portions of it the next few days and here is the third part:
Merchants directed advertisements of items and discounts specifically toward the Confederate veterans. M.M. Cohn department store advertised Confederate gray uniforms for $9-$15, plus the retailer would pay part of a customer’s railroad fare, depending on the amount of purchases made. The Optical Department at Albert Pfeifer and Brothers offered free eye exams for Confederate veterans and glasses made on-site “at reasonable prices.” Mercantile Bank touted “free ladies restrooms” newly installed for reunion visitors.
“The reunion that year was a very special time, being the 50th anniversary of the war’s start,” said Stephan McAteer, director of the
MacArthur Museum
of Arkansas Military History,
which also
features
a reunion
exhibit. “A lo t of these guys were getting up in years and would not be around much longer. There was a desire to show these veterans that their service was appreciated.”
The reunion committees prepared for months. Little Rock was decked out with Confederate flags and photos of Confederate generals, including on the outside of City Hall. Sixty white columns, 12 feet high and strung with lights, flags and red-and-white bunting, lined the way between the City Auditorium near City Hall to City Park where the veterans camped for free. A banner by the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans, displayed clasped hands to welcome the Confederate veterans.
Early arrivals signaled that the city would be pressed to meet everyone’s needs. The Arkansas Gazette reported daily train arrivals as counted by officials of three railroads. The companies supplied extra trains and fare discounts to accommodate reunion visitors.
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Camp Shaver, erected in City Park (now MacArthur Park) in Little Rock (Pulaski County) during the United Confederate Veterans Reunion; May 1911.
Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life?
Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube clip above she comments:
“Like a lot of you I’m in transition: people come up to me all the time, asking, what are you doing next?” she said, adding: “It’s so stressful to not know what you are doing next when people ask what you are doing and they can’t believe you don’t know what you are doing.”
“I’d like to hear from other people who are in transition,” she said. “How did you find your transition: Personal, professional, emotional, spiritual, financial? How did you get through it?”
Mrs. Shriver has asked for spiritual input and I personally think that unless she gets the spiritual help that she needs then she will end up in the divorce court. I am starting a series on how a marriage can survive an infidelity. My first suggestion would be to attend a “Weekend to Remember” put on by the organization “Family Life” out of Little Rock, Arkansas. I actually posted this as a response to Mrs. Shriver’s request on you tube.
I read the article ” Recovering Intimacy After an Affair – FamilyLife.com,”by Dave Carder. I got the article from Family Life’s website. The article really needs to be read in one sitting and it is quite lengthy. I really think that if this portion below could be interpreted wrongly to say that Maria was somehow responsible for causing the affair. However, that certainly is not true and if you read the whole article you will see that is not what the author is saying. Nevertheless, is the second portion:
The Recovery of Intimacy
An entangled affair is always the result of an intimacy deficit in the marital relationship. Whatever personalized components there are in the message of this affair, it still boils down to a loss of intimacy before the affair occurred.
Part of the lure of the affair for the infidel was the opportunity to be himself (herself) in his own little private world that he constructed with the partner. He desperately needed that freedom to be himself and be accepted and appreciated. He didn’t feel that he had to pretend or stay within a certain mold, since it was a brand-new world with no rules except those he chose to create with the partner.
Part of the recovery process is to identify what was missing in the marital relationship and repair that loss. You need to rebuild that own special world you had when you were dating and in the early days of the marriage. Everybody needs this special set-apart world—it’s a big part of what makes marriage special.
To continue to rebuild the trust and intimacy in the relationship you will need to integrate the message of the affair into your new way of relating. Following is a four-part integrating process designed to reestablish the intimacy that was crushed by the infidelity. Take each step as you both can handle it, adapting it to your own situation.
Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
Yesterday I emailed to this above address and I got this email back from Senator Pryor’s office:
Please note, this is not a monitored email account. Due to the sheer volume of correspondence I receive, I ask that constituents please contact me via my website with any responses or additional concerns. If you would like a specific reply to your message, please visit http://pryor.senate.gov/contact. This system ensures that I will continue to keep Arkansas First by allowing me to better organize the thousands of emails I get from Arkansans each week and ensuring that I have all the information I need to respond to your particular communication in timely manner. I appreciate you writing. I always welcome your input and suggestions. Please do not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you in the future.
Therefore, I went to the website and sent this email below:
Agency/Program Funding Level Savings % Decrease EPA $7.939 B $3.238 B 29% Since 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency has worked to enforce greenhouse gas regulations on business without Congressional approval. We have seen EPA’s budgets significantly increase in administrative costs to process and handle the regulations they write.
Even with the budget increases, EPA process for assessing and controlling toxic chemicals has continued to stay on GAO’s High-Risk List for potential waste, fraud, and abuse. From the High Risk List of 2009, “GAO recently reported that EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) – a database that contains EPA’s scientific position on the potential human health effects of exposure to more than 540 chemicals – is at serious risk of becoming obsolete because the agency has not been able to complete timely, credible assessments or decrease its backlog of 70 ongoing assessments. Overall, EPA has finalized a total of only 9 assessments in the past 3 fiscal years.”
Toxic chemicals are not the only areas EPA is falling behind. Their delay on approving mining and drilling permits has costs thousands of jobs across our country.
