5 September 2017

My blog disappeared... again.
May the internet thieves be struck with lightning bolts from GOD...

Starting over, even with a blog post is impossible... very hard, nothing can ever be the same, you have to make a new life... or blog.  There is no way to recover what I previously had written... I will just try to remember what I can. 

I don't think these things are all accidents, but I don't have control over my life these days.  I am trusting that GOD will deal with these problems, and doing my best to survive each day.  I can't control the world, so I have to find a way to deal with what comes my way, what I can deal with.  The rest belongs to GOD.  He is able to rectify what I can't... to judge rightly... to make sure consequences are dealt to those who deserve them, and mercy is felt by those who deserve it.  This is faith, this is where I strive to go when hard times happen.  It is why I believe, and how I believe.

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Smoke from nearby forest fires was the main issue today... it was terrible today.  It burns the nostrils, burns the eyes, hurts the lungs.  I went out this morning and did a little yardwork just to get it done.  It wasn't so bad in the early hours.  Later on, when I took the dogs out to do their business, exercise, and play, I spent my waiting time raking up some of the fallen apples in the yard.  The smoke was pretty bad by then, so I tried to keep my efforts low energy... not to exert too much effort and hurt my lungs.  The dogs couldn't be out too long either. 

There are chickens here, so they didn't have much choice in the matter.  I noticed they rested a lot during the day.

There are cats here also, and they seemed to disappear, hiding where they could be cooler and not breathe this difficult air.

My son has a friend who had to evacuate because of the fire.  That is a hard thing to deal with.  They recently bought their property there.  I understand the wind has calmed down, so maybe their new home will still be there when they go home.  It is so hard to lose your possessions, no matter how it happens.  We just don't realize how many little things we collect on the way through our lives... and they all cost money to replace, if they can be replaced.  Memories stay, but not forever.  Photos are the things that help us remember all the little moments.  I hate to see anyone suffer through these losses... It is just never the same again.

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I received two letters from my sons in jail/prison today.  Well, one of them was a postcard with a short message, but at least I know he is still alive.  You have no idea how difficult it is to be the parent of a child in trouble... in any correction facility.

The other letter was from my son in a California jail.  The differences between jails and prisons, between cities, counties, and states, is enormous just for writing letters.  In Oregon you can use return address stickers (at least, you use to be able to... ), which I finally had, but my letters to the CA jail were returned because I used them.  In Oregon you can send newspaper clippings, puzzles, magazine articles, small booklets... I received my letters to CA back with a notice that all printed materials need to come from the publisher.  :-(  How do you do that with a single article torn from the magazine or newspaper !?!  I had to start photocopying everything.  I received letters to CA back because I added a small "I love you" type message inside the pen-created heart I put on the back of the envelope.  I think there are more important things to focus on in the corrections systems.

In my area of Oregon, Multnomah County built a new prison and then never used it.  Millions of tax dollars are involved in this project.  Now they want to sell it.  There is a huge gang problem here.  They could use the facility to separate inmates who want to leave the gang life and focus on the things they need to accomplish that... education, job skills, tatoo removals, addiction counseling, work experience, budgeting help, family recovery, a plan to make it when they get out, and more.  If they don't want to focus on gang rehab activities, maybe they need to separate the hard-core gang members from the rest of the inmate population, or separate the people who aren't in gangs from the gang populations.  There are tons of needs for the prison facility, and no money to build a new one again.

Part of Working Together's goals is prison reforms.  Inmate Project is the program focused on that topic.  I know from my own long experiences with my two sons that there has to be a better way, with GOD as a foundation to help change the future of inmates and their families.  Information is one key to change.  I hope that I can find a way to create the support services I would like available for future families trying to deal with our corrections systems.  A monthly newspaper is the starting point for inmate communications in my plan... let me know if you want to subscribe.  It will take about $25/year for the print edition, which is necessary for inmates.  I'm working on the digital options, but may offer an email, PDF, or similar version for online/internet sharing... with different benefits and the same price.  Advertising will be limited for each edition, but it will be an important income source for the program.  Let me know if you want to subscribe... as soon as we have some funding, we can move forward.

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I am having a big problem remembering what was lost to the huge black hole in digital land...  I guess I better end here.  I will be making notes for my posts as I go forward, but having to rewrite content created "in the now" is still going to be an issue.  How to overcome this problem is something I am searching for.

Imagine life in openly oppressed countries... how do they exist?  I feel the oppression growing in America, but I don't have the resources to protect myself from it.  How do we keep our country from becoming a prison that looks like it is freedom?  The internet is changing a lot of things... including the simple act of writing your own private blog posts.  If we can be hacked from another part of the world, who will enforce our rights?  It's getting to be a new world that we don't want to see happening.

Now that I am thoroughly depressed, I will end this day's entry.

Pray for all of us... all of us.

In Christ,
Deborah Martin

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May we all find a way to be free in our good choices, protected in our kindness, loved in our outreaches, safe in our communities.