1) I have a post up on WORLDMag.com right now on marriage and the governor of South Carolina.

2) Craig’s home. Yay!

3) That bit about live interactions versus virtual ones? It is still happening and getting better. I have a couple of friends getting together on Tuesday nights to watch the Institute for Excellence in Writing Structure and Style DVDs. The videos last between 80-120 minutes each night, yet our time goes from 7-11. Because we talk and talk and talk until about 9 and eventually turn on the DVD to fulfill our “purpose”. Really? The video series is fantastic. But the fellowship is even better.

4) My Classical Conversations group is growing and growing and growing. I’m getting excited and nervous.

5) We’re going to the farm tomorrow night with some friends for a little pre-July 4th fun. We’ll come back to STL Saturday afternoon and this year I AM taking the girls to see some kind of display somewhere. Last year we didn’t do that and they really wanted to and even now I can’t remember why we decided not to do that, but I don’t think it would hurt anything to do it this year so I’ll figure it out.

6) That is all for now.

Happy 4th of July weekend!!

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What does the story of a philandering governor in South Carolina have to do with a simple homeschooling mom in Missouri? Not much unless you consider that this homeschooling mom is also a married woman and takes to heart stories of vows gone awry. My heart goes out to Jenny Sanford and their four boys. My heart goes out to families everywhere experiencing grief such as this.

It was in this recent recounting of the Sanford affair I read the following: “During an emotional interview at his Statehouse office with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate, but he’s trying to fall back in love with his wife.”

I think that was the saddest thing I’ve read of this whole story. If the mistress is the true soul mate, what was the wife?

As I was driving to the store the other day, the Sanfords’ story came to mind again and I thought to myself, “Boy, am I glad Craig isn’t a politician.” And then I remembered the 2006 Ted Haggard scandal. This thought was immediately followed by, “Oh yes, and I’m also glad he isn’t a pastor.”

As if being a politician or a pastor are the only two professions in which otherwise happily married men are brought to public shame . . . as if men are the only ones to fall.

This isn’t a newsflash for any of you, but not a single one of us is immune from sexual sin—not the politician, not the pastor, not the Christian schoolteacher, not the conservative magazine writer, not the homeschooling mom—not a single one.

I can be smug in my almost 13 years of marriage feeling safe and immune, but this is foolish, as areas given the least attention tend to be the areas most prone to cracks. I’m reminded once again that I need to be the one praying for my husband, and together, we need to be praying for our marriage. Few others are going to do this for us (and isn’t it better to protect than to repair?).