Watered Garden

And the little Brussels Griffon from the movie "As Good As It Gets!" What a face! My friend has Schipperkes and loves them. They are good with kids as I understand. WG

Belle - what a cute face that pup has! I agree the Jack in question has had very little training in manners. He is even allowed to hop up on the dining room chairs, and thence to the table itself to graze around. Sadly, these folks had a truly awesome chocolate lab who was about 13-14 years old. She was a faithful companion, a wonderful friend, but as she got older, she had a cough that was never satisfactorily explained, and then, horror or horrors, she peed by the back door at 5:30 in the morning after failing to arouse anyone to let her out! This happened twice and that was it. SIL insisted the dog be put down, and they dropped her off and left her at the vet because it would be so painful for THEM to watch her die! Let me tell you something: If Sophie had not been in pain, I would be thankfully cleaning up after her to this day. But they already had the Jack. He has the run of the house. Once last year when I had to stay there overnight I came into the room and he was going through my luggage. We had a very hard staring contest over that one, which I won. I just think he is hardheaded and used to getting his own way. It is odd to me that someone could have two dogs of such different breeds. Labs and cockers are at least both friendly, sweet natured dogs. Another breed I like is the golden retriever. My cousin has had several. They are good, kind, sweet dogs. I like the looks of German Shepherd dogs but I would never have the stamina to keep up with them or the alpha tendencies to train them properly. WG

I probably won't get to watch, too much work to do, but hopefully some of y'all who do with give us a recap in the AM. WG

Oh, Nero I am so sorry for your loss. I will be praying for you and yours. WG

I felt like that puppy looks when I was in FLO, at least a time or two. I think the main problem with that Jack is that he is not very disciplined, and very very very attached to one person, to the extent he will growl at her husband if he touches his wife. This would earn Bucks a smack upside the head or at least a very very stern NO!. I do think it is unusual for an adult dog to attack a puppy and even more unusual for a male to attack a female puppy. She's only 4 months old. She wasn't hurt, didn't try to defend herself particularly just yelped and moved closer to me. I picked her up and got his leash from around her. She didn't growl but she didn't whimper and shake either. I thought she did pretty well. Nobody tried that with the first dog, Brandy, and only one or two tried it with Sophie. When Brandy was threatened by a snapping, snarling mini-dog, he just turned around and peed on them! WG

When we lived in town, a fellow in the other end of the subdivision had one of these fellows. A big, calm, friendly dog he said was great at hunting. Got along okay with Sophie, too, and she was not always crazy about other dogs.

I was just thinking about this topic as many of us own dogs. We have had a mixed breed, half Lab and half Irish setter, a cocker spaniel, a wonderful yellow Lab and now another cocker spaniel, Miss Bodacious Buckeye. I love labs also but right now cannot manage the size, hair, etc. Cockers used to be more popular than they are today, got inbred to a faretheewell, cross, health problems, the whole nine yards. Now some responsible breeders like the one I got Bucks from are breeding them back to health and good temperament. Wish I could post a picture but I'm real lame at that. I got her from Pearson's Lexington cockers and she has a brother and a sister on the web page if you want to see sort of what she looks like. She's not a roan, though, a black and white tricolor, with peanut butter eyebrows and a true Buckeye attitude! My least favorite is the Jack Russell terrier, because my sister-in-law has one that attacked Buckeye last weekend. WG

I'm pretty sure Ch*** Z*** ran a VDRL to test for syphilis when he did our FWC physicals. They did draw blood, and could have tested for AIDS. This was in 1993. This whole topic makes me think of how eager VP/LCM were to have physicians in TWI who could treat folks at HQ. No doubt this was so their dirty little secrets would not be revealed. Isn't a physician diagnosing an STD supposed to report it to the county health department so they can follow up, testing the patient's sex partners? Well maybe a well indoctrinated doctor could be persuaded to overlook that little detail. Probably my own personal horror was with the above mentioned physician, who was not my doctor, only a friend or so I thought at the time, called me up in WA a few months after I was diagnosed with IDDM at the hospital in St. Mary's during ROA 1994 and demanded to know if that was indeed me. He said "they" gave all the records of anyone treated for anything who had come from the ROA to him for followup. I to this day do not know if the hospitals gave him the information or as I suspect, TWI somehow got hold of it and gave it to him for followup, so they could check who was weak and spineless enough to have a phsyical illness in the ministry and watch them more closely. I do know I was watched closely after my diagnosis and straitly threatened not to talk about being diabetic to anyone, especially anyone outside the Household they were trying to lure on board the train to hell. I do know for a certainty that I never signed off on giving TWI or CZ my medical records, so someone had to lie to get them. WG

I was told the Sprout was possessed and should be kicked out like a mad dog. Some of the coldest hardest hearts that ever lived flourish in TWI. WG

How good to hear from you! Enjoy the wedding! My son got married 7/26 and it was awesome! Casual, fun, a big potluck for the reception. (everybody liked MY shredded chicken the best!) Don't be a stranger, now, y'hear!

One really neat thing, though, that is so typical of this wonderful woman, is that she is concerned that not only her wishes be honored but those of her children. She has four surviving children, one very Catholic, one Methodist, one Grace Brethren, and us, The Journey Fellowship, which is nondenominational, Bible-based. She asked them to select the readings and Scriptural-related stuff to be used. John will speak. It may well be that the six grandsons will be pallbearers. I am rethinking my initial horror at funeral planning. I think it would be easier on Mr. Garden, the Sprout, and the Sprout's Sprouts if I did it well in advance (I hope) of my eventual demise. WG

I KNOW it wasn't in PFAL. Those sacred words issued from from the lips of the 18th WC grad who was The Man of God for that city. From the portentious way he said them, I expect he learned at the feet of LCM. And also it's not in the Bible either. Romans 8:35-39. You apparently had the good fortune to not be around LCM's teachings very much. WG

Thanks, Shellon. TWI really screwed up everything they touched, didn't they/ WG

I posted on the prayer thread that my mother-in-law has terminal cancer. She is now in hospice care. The rules are very strict. If there are breathing or any other problems, DO NOT dial 9-1-1. They are required to attempt resuscitation and transport if they deem necessary. You enroll in hospice just to help you die more comfortably with less strain on those around you or something. Today my one sister-in-law was there while the hospice nurse helped my mother-in-law plan her funeral. She was quite cheerful and specific about it, which ministers from which churches, music, what dress she wants to be buried in, etc. My husband called me up with these details and I just about gagged. I don't intend to plan my own funeral. I don't want a funeral and I don't want a memorial service. Just dig a big hole somewhere, throw in my rotting carcass, shovel back the dirt, walk away and forget you ever knew me. When we left TWI in 1994, we had freshly been taught that at the moment one leaves, whether of one's own volition or the leadership decides you are no longer worthy of the privilege of fellowshipping with TWI, AT THAT VERY MOMENT the spirit (Christ) within you dies. You are no longer born again. You are a natural man of body and soul, without God and without hope in this world. And you can't get born again, again. So according to those teachings, I'm just screwed. Choosing between my son and TWI was choosing my son over God. Then we move along to "Secrets of the Vine" where Bruce Wilkinson teaches that God wants nothing to do with those who do not produce MUCH fruit in their lives, becoming Christ-like in their thinking and performing many good works which bring glory to God. Screwed again. My mother-in-law doesn't want any second opinions, biopsies, treatment options. She just wants a peaceful death. I cannot imagine being that way. I was taught for 23 years that death is the ultimate failure because it is available to believe God for perfect health every day of one's life. I knew people who disciplined their children for getting sick or getting injured. I want my faith back, dammit! WG WG

deleted by WG who is just not very nice right now.

They should have sued their azzes off! I remember in the 1980's hearing several people speak of the "spoils" system, that when the army of Israel conquered another country, city, whatever, they took everything, and how that was God rewarding them for being His people and doing His will. Never mind that Saul got in deep dang for doing the same, and there are other incidents in the OT where Israel was took to keep their hands off, "flew upon the spoil" and got very negative results! I definitely got the impression that God doesn't like that sort of behavior. And yes, TWI, He is keeping track of all this. How great their sorrow will be when they learn of God's judgment of their socalled righteousness. WG

Personally, when I look at the Blue Angels, I just thank God for men like these, and for technology and weapons like these to defend my freedom. I don't appreciate being compared to a dirty Commie. I don't appreciate the men and women of the United States military being derided, either. Those jets don't carry armaments. They don't carry so much as a BB gun; it would be too much extra weight. Lighten up; will ya? WG

My husband told me our first year of marriage that he already knew what HIS opinions were, he was interested in MINE. If he wanted to hear his own opinion all over again, he'd just talk to himself! What a guy!

And this is probably the big reason why women were taught so diligently to submit to their own husbands, to leadership, to submit-subject-obey. If you are brainwashed to never ever say "no" in any way to your own husband, it just gets more normal to say "yes" to any leadership that comes along. I distinctly remember DLM in their stupid "principles of a believer's family" class saying that "As a wife, I try to not have very many opinions. I find out what my husband's opinion is and line my thinking up with his." So that must make her a Mini-Me for her husband. Gag!

Makes sense to me.' It was fairly obvious after we had been out a while that M&A was simply a means to shut off the dissenters from the masses, and then used as a threat to shut anyone else up. WG

We got to go see the Blue Angels in Seattle over Elliott Bay. They had been practicing a couple of days, very low over Magnolia Hill and greatly annoyed some of the uppity housewives who live there. Yeah, right, honey, go grab your peace sign and parade in protest! If it weren't for men like these, you might be locked in your house or worse. I love the maneuver where the one guy is flying along peacefully all by himself and then WHOOSH! comes a fellow from the opposite direction, fast as can be, missing him by inches. They do fly only a couple feet from each other, by the way. Also where the guy sort of dances across the sky, his nose up at a severe angle, close to stalling out. I am not much of a Tom Cruise fan, but I loved "Top Gun" for the Navy flying scenes. If a Blue Angel offered to take me up for a spin, I'd go in a minute if it was my last act on earth! Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung My eager craft through footless halls of air. Up, up the long delirious, burning blue, I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace Where never lark, or even eagle flew - And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod The high untresspassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand and touched the face of God. Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee No 412 squadron, RCAF Killed 11 December 1941

Probably the scariest thing I saw, and right before we went in FWC at that, was at the ROA. This family, one I've mentioned before anonymously of course on child abuse threads (he wanted us to hit our son with a 2x4) had a 2-year-old daughter. We were going to eat lunch together at the big top and had met them at a camper they were sharing with someone. It was one of those where the electrical boxes had little white stones around them. The daughter, we'll call her Jane because that is not her name, started playing with the stones. Eventually she tossed a couple at The Sprout. He asked her politely to stop. She was 2 so she continued to toss the pebbles at him. "Come on, Jane, knock it off!" he said, but not much louder - The Sprout is real gentle with little ones. About that time, Momma saw what was going on. "Jane! Stop that!" she cried. She went over and got her daughter by the hand. "Now, Jane, tell Sprout you're sorry." Jane, who has undoubtedly been taught not to lie, and is unhappy that her game is interrupted, sticks out her lower lip and says nothing. "Jane! Say you are sorry!" Nothing. Out comes the wooden spoon. BAM! BAM! BAM1 "AAAAHHHHHHH!" "Jane, tell the Sprout you are sorry you threw stones at him!" Silence, except for sobbing. BAM! BAM! BAM! "Jane! Say you are sorry!" Sobbing. BAM! BAM! (Well, you get the picture.) This went on for a couple of minutes. I was getting uncomfortable, but my son even more so. 'Hey that's okay, she's just a little kid." he said. "IT IS NOT ALL RIGHT! SHE MUST OBEY!" BAMBAMBAMBAMBAM! Now Daddy takes over. He is about 6', obese, and very danged off! "JANE! YOU APOLOGIZE RIGHT NOW!" Takes child from mother. BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!!!!! "AAAAAAHHHHHGGG!" For about 10 minutes Daddy beat the living daylights out of that little girl, hitting her as hard as he could. All of us were stunned. How many of us said "Hey! That's enough, V***!" Nobody. That was his child. He had the God-given right and responsibility to discipline his child as he saw fit. That is what we were taught. Finally, between sobs, she breathlessly murmured an apology. Afterward in the meal tent, the mom showed me her daughter's legs. They were red and swollen and I could actually see the blood running under her skin. 'Do you think he hit her a little too hard?" she asked me. "A lot too hard. If the police saw you you'd be arrested." I told her. Of course she didn't say anything to her husband, not because he was the head, but because she believed that all in all IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Now this couple were WC. I'm not saying all WC were like that; a lot of them had much more common sense and loved their kids more than the "ministry". But the teaching was that the children must always without except listen-remember-obey. It's the locked-step goosestep obedience that bothers me. Oh and the beatings also. That bothers me a lot. Cake, you shared a chilling story. I hope you can forgive your parents, because the adults were taught a couple of wrong, erroneous, bad things. First of all, we were taught if our children did not obey, they could easily become possessed with evil spirits. So every blow that was struck on a child was a blow against The Adversary. That is also why children were not supposed to be allowed to cry much, even when they were being soundly thrashed. Their emotions could very easily get out of control, and then WHAMMO! in comes a spirit to possess their little mind! We were also taught by LCM that we were held responsible before God at the Judgment Seat for our children's stand on God's Wonderful Matchless Word, and that included what the child did AS AN ADULT. And in oder to keep that child from getting possessed and walking away from God's Wonderful Ministry, that child must be disciplined, and forced to obey. We poor saps actually thought we were saving your lives! How dumb is THAT! I've apologized about ten million times to The Sprout for putting him through 3 months of hell in FWC then 3 years in hell under these peoples' socalled leadership. He is very forgiving, and surprisingly considering the statistics, is not an abusive parent himself, but an excellent wonderful daddy to my precious grandson - and another is on the way! God is good and I pray he protects the hearts and minds of children who are exposed to the evil of TWI and delivers them from this evil, as well as their parents. WG PS: I'm not saying I believed any of the above, but I wanted to express the kind of BS they were teaching. I have often wondered if the Martindale kids were beaten, whipped, flogged, thrashed, screamed at and made to feel lower than worm spit like the masses were taught to do with their kids.

Equikent that is priceless! As far as written documentation that severe and prolonged, painful physical punishment is the norm, not even the idiots at TWI are that stupid. If that policy were in writing, every kid who ever went through Family Corps, not to mention some of us parents, would have TWI in a court of law. They aren't that dumb. My son described it several years ago: "It was like they (Rome City staff) were the Nazis and you were the Jews. Touch a wall and BAM! you were hit with a spoon. Speak while in line and WHAP! hit again." I had no idea this was going on. I often wonder if some of the reason FWC adults are kept somewhat isolated from their kids is so they won't have a chance to say "Mom, dad, they are beating the hell out of me." While I am not totally adverse to a smack on the butt (1, lightly) on occasion, I strongly object to beating, thrashing, kicking, whipping etc. I would just love for some sadist like Moneyhands to come after my grandson. See, my son isn't a skinny little kid any more. He's 6'2", and about 200 lb of muscle and grit. That spoon would find a new home on the wielder's person in a very dark place. More later. WG

Oh, I wish I could help you; we lived there for a year or so, back in "the day." But I'm extremely curious about which restaurants. There was a Japanese restaurant downtown in a seedy area that was awesome.... WG

I think the only rule we all need to follow is "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." It's in every major religion in the world and also a lot of common sense. And be willing to learn from others' experience. Sometimes we all sound like the little kiddie poem about the six blind men and the elephant. The one where one guy runs into the side of the elephant and decides it's like a wall, one grabs the trunk and thinks elephants are some type of snake, etc. Be ye kind. That's all I'm sayin'. WG