Saturday, October 06, 2007

Early morning

It's 7:30 AM this Saturday morning ... I'm up - need to hop in the shower. We have a full day ahead of us!
Daniel has a soccer game at nine, then we go to the church to bake cookies for the food bank (an AWANA thank you/serving project), then I help with flowers and go to the food bank (it's our church's week) ... then at 4:30PM the boys have a birthday party to attend. After that - it's easy sailing!! ha haha. I need to make a pumpkin pie ... and some kind of main dish for the potluck at church tomorrow, too.
Thankfully I worked last night so I don't have to go today!!

The verse of the day is ~ John 16:20, 22 ~
I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

posted by Sonja @ 7:32 AM 0 Comments

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Oh what a tangled web we weave ...

How about this?

AAFS (American Academy of Forensic Sciences) President Dr. Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal complications of a bizarre death.

Here is the story:

On March 23, 1994, the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus, and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Opus had jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commit suicide. He left a note indicating his despondency. As he fell past the ninth floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through a window, which
killed him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.

"Ordinarily," Dr Mills continued, "Someone who sets out to commit suicide and ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what he intended, is still defined as committing suicide." That Mr. Opus was shot on the way to certain death, but probably would not have been successful because of the safety net, caused the medical examiner to feel that he had a homicide on his hands.

The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing vigorously, and he was threatening her with a shotgun! The man was so upset that when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife, and the pellets went through the window, striking Mr. Opus. When one intends to kill subject "A" but kills subject "B" in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject "B."

When confronted with the murder charge, the old man and his wife were both adamant, and both said that they thought the shotgun was not loaded. The old man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her. Therefore the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, assuming the gun had been
accidentally loaded.

The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident.

It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother.

Since the loader of the gun was aware of this, he was guilty of the murder even though he didn't actually pull the trigger. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.

Now comes the exquisite twist.
Further investigation revealed that the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder. This led him to jump off the ten-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window.

The son, Ronald Opus, had actually murdered himself. So the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.

Wasn't that a great story? It's not true - the AAFS President just made it up for a meeting. However, it's funny. I especially like how it has made its way into TV! You can check out what snopes says about it here - click!

posted by Sonja @ 12:45 AM 0 Comments

Monday, October 01, 2007

little pink lids

Have you seen an ad for Yoplait yogurt recently? Have you heard about the pink lid campaign?

Recently I went to the store and I saw Yoplait was on sale. I'm trying to eat better, and so I thought getting some yogurt - pre-proportioned - would be good. Then I wouldn't eat too much. Yogurt is good for you -- helps your digestion and such. So, I thought I would get some, and I decided on Yoplait because they support breast cancer research.
Yesterday I ate one of the yogurts, and cleaned the lid. This is what it said - Yoplait will donate $.10 per lid sent in. That got me to thinking. How much money are they really sending to help breast cancer research? Wouldn't it be better if instead of buying 10 yogurts for $6, saving the lids and then sending them in (which would cost at least $.41), I just wrote out a check to the Susan G. Komen foundation??
I don't think I'll be buying Yoplait in the future - Tillamook is better. :o)

posted by Sonja @ 9:14 PM 0 Comments

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Happy Anniversary!!

Two years ago yesterday, God blessed us by having Jeff quit his job. Two years ago Wednesday, we opened JSMinch Computer System Services, which has changed to Pure Service (about four months later?).
God is faithful. He has kept all His promises. We have never been without shelter, heat, food, or any other necessities. He has blessed us with a wonderful church family and many new friends.

Tonight we get to celebrate one more blessing (which will go in our anniversary weekend in the future) --
Jonathan is being baptized tonight at 6:30PM!!

Praise the Lord for His wonderful goodness!!! God rocks!!

posted by Sonja @ 12:55 PM 0 Comments