Jury Duty / Election Day

I received a card in the mail a while back that summoned me to jury duty this week. When my children were younger, that was not an option, but this time, since my husband and my 23 yr. old son would be home for most of the day to keep school running and a friend could watch the younger ones after that, I knew it was high time I reported for jury duty. I ended up being there the entire day, and I discovered there were at least several others who were first-timers as well. The process of weeding out the ones who couldn't serve took well over an hour, then the rest of us were divided up and assigned a time and court to appear in for the next stage.

In the courtroom where I was assigned to appear, there were over 40 that had to be narrowed down to 12, so each attorney got to grill us with questions designed to do just that. After over three hours of it, with a couple short breaks, those that weren't chosen were allowed to leave.

I think, in the end, though I was willing to serve, that I was rather relieved to be dismissed with the others to go home. Due to the nature of the case, I was so glad to come home and hug my children close. Whether boys or girls, children are precious and their safety should not be taken for granted. When you are used to living in a less than perfect subdivision, you learn to trust God and the instinct he has given you.

I remember the first year or two that we lived here, some guys with knives threatened my oldest three boys (teens) at the park. I was so proud of them for not backing down. They were a little nervous and smaller than those big mean boys, but they had been playing ball, so they were "armed" with a bat. They simply told them that they weren't "scared" of them because they knew they were going to heaven so their threats didn't matter. They never touched them and finally went away. Still, I was so glad that they never went alone to the park.

On a happier note, The results of Election 2010 were excellent!! How good to know that so many Americans are standing up for good, conservative family values and a common sense approach to the economy! I was especially excited to learn that Michigan now has a Republican governor. Real jobs and better roads will make a comeback soon! And the stock market has automatically risen with the hope for an American return to constitutional principles in government. God bless the U.S.A. !!

Melanie Lippert