***update – the writer M**** is no longer blogging publicly and has asked that I help protect her privacy so I’ve removed her name from this post and comments and removed any links I had up to her previous site, which no longer exists but which had a URL bearing her first and last name.***
I may be a festering, Satan-worshipping vegetable, lurking under the bedsheets of Christian Beauty, but at least I’m still funny. So says M**** of “Always Thirsty.” I think this is my first official “review.” How nice.
A couple of weeks ago I was nominated for a Blogs of Beauty Award. I still do not know who nominated me. No one will admit it. I was touched and pleased and surprised that someone or someones could see through my sometimes sarcastic humor a deep and abiding love for the Savior and nominate me alongside these other excellent women.
The days went by and I tried to say I didn’t care who won. It was so cool just to be nominated. But I can’t say I wasn’t beaming when Sallie (the creator of the awards) announced on her blog yesterday that I had won. It is SO nice to be recognized for my writing and I felt honored that it was an award given by other Christians.
I do not consider this a “Mormon blog” but rather a personal blog by someone who happens to be Mormon. I want this blog to be a support group for moms, a place where people of any religion can come, laugh a little, share in the excitement, fun and heartache of parenthood and feel a touch of grace and tolerance.
You can rip on my writing all you want and it won’t make me cry. But there are two things I must ask you never to do, post angry hateful things about my most sacred core beliefs or say horrible nasty things about my family.
Number one has already been accomplished and I’m still bawling. If someone writes a blog entry about how stupid or ugly my kids are tonight, it may just send me over the edge (and we don’t like the edge. The edge involves large amounts of extra calories and way-too-long bubble baths. Well, we like the edge, but we shouldn’t stay there for long.).
I found her post as I was looking at my traffic today and noticed a lot of hits from her URL. So I went to the site to see who my new “fan” was…..WHAM! A hit to the gut.
As I was getting Laylee ready for bed tonight (complete with Christmas carols and prayers in Jesus’ name. Gasp!) I had a hard time hiding my tears. Daddy explained that I was crying because someone had written something very mean about me on the internet. When I left the room Laylee exclaimed, “Oh Daddy! I want to write something very very very nice to Mommy.” I guess I still have a couple of fans.
What really makes me sad about this is that Sallie set up these awards as a way to promote the love of Jesus Christ and she did so right during the holiday season. She is a wonderful, caring and deeply religious person who has spent hours putting this together. It makes me sick and sad to think that people are sending her bitter and hostile emails because she didn’t dig deep enough to find out “what I truly am.”
If I gave up the award and passed it on to Amy’s Humble Musings or Jeneric Jeneralities, would you stop harassing Sallie and let us pass the holidays with the true Spirit of the season?
On her site, M**** stated, “I wonder how you would react if a Jehovah’s Witness won a contest showcasing the blogs of Latter Day Saints. I’m not here to convert Mormons, but it is my duty as a Christian to make people aware of false teachers, especially those who claim the name of Christ but add to his words (the Book of Mormon) and falsify his very essence, thus stripping him of his divinity.”
Well M**** — When the Jehovah’s Witnesses stop by and offer to share a scripture with me about Christ, I invite them in. No one can strip Christ of his divinity.
A note to my well-meaning friends: I don’t want anyone else to feel like this. So, please stop the cycle and don’t give my “reviewer” a hard time. I don’t want to have to delete you when you’re just trying to make me feel better but I’ll have to if you turn my comments section into a rip-fest.
Is this Catez’s blog or DYMs?
I was wondering the same thing.
???????
Anonymous (x2),
Come on now – I think it’s obvious I was just wanting to help. I’ve replied specifically to people. I’m happy to leave it as I think it is getting resolved.
You can look at what I’ve said or you can make inferences. Me – I’m for keeping it perspective.
Wow, this post has turned into quite the discussion forum. Thanks to everyone for your comments and tons of support.
BTW – catez and I have been in email contact and I am fine with her commenting as much as she likes. She also left a very nice and thoughtful comment on another site that has mentioned me recently and I greatly appreciated it.
Wow.
It never ceases to amaze me how something so silly can be blown so out of proportion.
Regardless of the differences of doctrine that is preached between the LDS and various denominations of Christianity, all words should be spoken in love. I am sorry that you have been wounded by people over something that you didn’t even have control over.
Have a blessed day. 😮 )
DYM- I think you are wonderful and very gracious! I got a nice visit from DYD and I was honored to have him visit me! I just want to wish you all the best and please visit me whenever you get a chance! I like everybody on my blog! My best friend Ayekah and I only wish you the happiest of holidays and a peaceful rest of the year.
I dont understand whats going on as i read the comments about award and stuffs but anyway, Ma’am kathryn, thanks for blogs. me and my fiancee are now starting to read your blogs and asking others in my circle of friends too to read them and visit your site. I hope it will be okay for you if i make a link of your site to my website at http://jbsolis.tripod.com.
I am a Filipino by the way working for over a year hear in the Middle East and my fiancee and siblings are reading your post in the Philippines, that’s in Southeast Asia. Who cares about the awards they will give to you, your readers and fans are now in international arena, places and people you probably never been, never met, or never know. Thanks to you for touching our lives with humor and sense. Hope you can sign in my guestbook if you have time to visit my site. I saved all your site files and plan to send it to my friends who dont have access to the net daily!
Kenji Jb
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
I received a comment this morning from a man who introduced himself as M****’s father.
He had kind and encouraging things to say to me about LDS people he has known in the past, although he does not share my religion. I would like to thank him for his kind words and detailed comment.
I removed the comment because it seemed too personal for this public forum, but I appreciate the time he took to respond to this post. It has been a wild ride.
Douglas posted this earlier but I didn’t feel comfortable with some of the content so I have edited out certain personal information.
Well,
I guess it’s time I surfaced. Should you happen to look up M****’s birth certificate, you’ll discover that her father is Douglas Keachie.
Who he ?????
He’s me.
http://www.swaland.org
http://www.farstars.blogspot.com
and a bunch of others
Anyway, my dad was Catholic, my mom was Protestant, I grew up in Berkeley where my dad taught engineering. I was born 1/2 deaf and when they started attending church at the local Unitarian site in a Maybeck where Zellerbach Hall is now, I learned virtually nothing in Sunday school.
Then at age six my Nana was killed in a flaming car wreck. I wasn’t too happy about this God character, and at age 13, reading lots of Robert Heinlein and Asimov and others, I became, of my own volition, after considering everything, a hopeful agnostic. I’ve stayed that way ever since.
[The next section talks about personal family struggles and I have left that out.]
I have a great deal of respect for the Mormon Church, other than some of the male domination, the slaughter(?) of early non Mormon pioneers, just passing through to the west coast, and general firm hierarchal structure, much like other churches.
I was very well treated by a Mormon family who’s frozen field I crossed one winter, after my skis unexpectly fell out of the boxcar I’d hitched a ride in, back when I was 19. My girl friend in 6th grade (Kirma Lee Kenner, where are you?) was the daughter of the Mormon Church leader in Berkeley.
Anyway, I consider myself every bit as much of a Christian as [my ex-wife] ever was a Jew, and I consider that “Godly enough.”
[deleted section about how he and M**** are no longer in contact]
We only get 36,500 days here if we last till 100. When all the molecules of the body go there separate ways, I see only three possibilities: worse, the same, or better. Two out of three is not bad.
What sort of songbirds fly south of the border for winter ?
Tequila Mockingbirds !
What happened to Big Foot when he ran into a rotary snowplow ?
Sasquachamole !
M****sense of humor too. These are both my originals.