Who Says Animals Don't Remember?

Confession Tuesday

What?  It's Tuesday already?  I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep this up.

Here are my confessions for this week.

1.  My husband is out of town for business and as usual I have made myself a list of things to accomplish before he returns that is a mile long.  Seriously, I'm not sure why I find it necessary to load myself down with more things to do when he's away, but I always try to get to some long neglected projects.  For now, the top things on my list are:  catch up with the bookkeeping (BORING!!), attempt to organize and clean my office, water seal our deck (I was hoping for rain this week so I could put it off), work on some landscaping (hmm, probably wishful thinking),  and get the kids curriculum for school in order!

2.  I am such a wimp.  I have blisters on my hands from mowing the lawn the other day.  If I want to survive living on that farm I've been dreaming about, I guess I better start working in the yard a little more.

3.  Havilah and I had a salon day last week.  It was our first time going together.  I neglected to warn her how long it takes to get my hair done.  She was bored within 15 minutes (and of course she let me know).  She did get an adorable new haircut out of it though.  I'm sure we'll enjoy salon days more as she gets older.  She is growing into a beautiful young lady that is for sure.  Look out world!

4.  We have basic cable (gasp!).  Everybody I know has all the bells and whistles on their televisions.   DVR, Tivo, Digital Cable and Radio and big flat screens - everybody has them - even my parents.  Not us - though I'm sure we'll catch up one day soon.  I really prefer to watch dvds anyway.  I had heard so many positive comments on the John Adams HBO series that I bought the dvd set yesterday.  I'm looking forward to starting it.

Well, that's it for now.  Tune in next week when we discuss the many excellent reasons why I haven't accomplished anything on my list yet!  See you then!

A Poem By Havilah

Joseph went out of town for a few weeks.  Before he left Havilah handed him a book that she made with pictures that she had colored for him.  She is nine years old.  The last page of the book had the following poem:

You are the best

When you are gone I am sad

as a pinecone on a winter's day

I love you and I'll miss you

I wish you could stay.

Confession Tuesday

Wow, here it is already one week since my last confession.  I'm not sure I like the fact that writing something on a specific day each week causes you to realize just how fast the weeks are going by.  For this week I would like to confess that:

1.)  I keep a dream journal.  I have been having some really interesting dreams lately.  I have always had vivid dreams, but lately some of them have been noteworthy.  I sometimes have dreams about people that I haven't seen or even thought of in years.  I usually know that this is a prompting to pray for them and whatever they may be going through currently.

2.)  I have no extra time on my hands, but I am starting a couple of other websites/blogs this week.  I will be working on a political website and a family activity website.  I'll post links to those soon.

3.)  My husband and I are perpetual visionaries and I love it!  Most people who hear us talk about our future plans and dreams would shake their heads and wonder how we can think so big!  We started our business together over 16 years ago when we were very young and very stupid (19 and 24).  Yet, somehow we managed to survive and stay in business for all these years.  Believe me, we have had some major swings.  But even when things are going great, we have always looked at our business as a growing, living, creature (a beast actually).  It never grows up fully, and we are always looking for ways to prune, fertilize and cultivate it for optimum growth.  It is truly the looking towards the future goals that helps keep us going.

4.)  The fantasy that I have of owning a farm is on hold temporarily.  My husband decided to pressure wash our deck Sunday.  I asked him if he would do it so I could go ahead and seal it (about 13 months late) before it is damaged beyond repair.  From the deck, he used the pressure washer on the driveway, the sidewalk, the walkway stairs,the front porch, the entire exterior of the house, then the windows, and finally the gutters!   

The house looks great!  However, this is how things seem to go for us - in giant spurts - all or nothing, feast or famine.  When we finally start on a project, it turns into an entire day of projects.  How much worse would this be if we had our 30 acres with animals?  He would never have any free time.  Hmmm, would we ever sleep?

5.)  I think my knees are betraying me!  Yes, I said my knees.  I have always loved to walk.  I usually walk and spend time praying and contemplating.  There have been seasons when I have walked 5 miles a day.  Lately, when I move them, my knees sound like two rough grain pieces of sandpaper being rubbed together.  They are aching and popping a lot too.  I am not very happy to admit this, since I'm only 34, but I may actually need to do something about it.  Well, they say admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.....

Are You Kidding Me?

I ran across this vintage ad today on the internet. I just had to post it. God knew what he was doing by placing me in this era, rather than the time when this ad would have been acceptable.

I would venture to say that: 1) This ad was designed by a man. 2) This ad might be acceptable in some locations in the world today if the woman were in a burka (sorry but it's true) 3) This ad caused a lot of little boys to wish they could grow up faster and become a husband.

Hard to believe isn't it?

The Power of Prayer

Last night, my best friend Lori and I were chatting online.  She mentioned that her 9 year old daughter Kelsie was sick with a very high fever.  We were chatting about her other symptoms and how miserable poor Kelsie was.  Her daughter Kelsie and my daughter Havilah were born just four weeks apart and are best friends as she and I are.  We live about an hour apart, but we all see each other fairly often.

I felt worried for Kelsie and said a quick prayer that God would heal her and help her to feel better soon.  A couple of minutes later, Lori messaged me that Kelsie had just come out of her room sleepwalking and talking.  Kelsie said "I thought she was just in my room but now she's gone".  Lori asked her who she was talking about and Kelsie said "Vicki".

Perhaps the Holy Spirit carried my simple, but heartfelt prayer all the way to Kelsie.  It was a great reminder that our prayers actually have power and that God really does perform miracles even today.  So, keep praying and expecting answers!

Confession Tuesday

It is sometimes difficult to find inspiration for blog topics.  Some days I just can't think of anything interesting to say.  So, I have borrowed this idea from my friend Krisit's blog www.goodnightmom.blogspot.com who borrowed it from somebody else.  On Tuesday's (if I can remember) I'll try to have a little confession time.  I hear that confession is good for the soul and I hope that proves to be true.  So here goes:

1.  Hmmm....I don't really have anything to confess.  I am a perfect angel and my life is perfect too!!

2.  Number 1 was a total lie.

3.  I am totally enjoying Facebook.  It has been so much fun for me to reconnect with old and new friends.  I also love the word games, because I like to win! 

4.  I am going to be 35 next month.  I am in total denial that in five years I will be 40.  I still feel like I did in High School and I really don't feel much older.  Granted, the responsibilities of life and motherhood keep my feet firmly planted on the ground, but I still feel YOUNG.  Dear God, please help me stay young at heart.

5.  I hate mini-vans.  I had to take my Jeep Commander into the dealer to have the tires rotated, oil change, and a little bit of warranty work.  I was given a loaner vehicle to drive.  They gave me a Chrysler Town and Country van.  No offense to those who own a mini-van.  I used to have one, I also used to own a full sized van as well and they are very useful.  However, I could not wait to turn that thing back in and retrieve my gas guzzler.  I can't explain my aversion to the mini van. Perhaps it has something to do with number 4?

6.  I have a fantasy that we will one day own a farm with lots of animals and a large garden.  Somedays I actually think it could happen and that we could enjoy it.  Then other days, when doing a load of laundry seems like a giant accomplishment, I wonder......

7. I love having a daughter.  I am not a feminist, but I am a firm believer in girls being free to be whatever they want to be.  I hope that I will be a good example for her and help her to fulfill her God given dreams.

8.  I asked my son Gabriel (the comedian) for some ideas for my confession list and his suggestions were to confess that:  I have one eye, and that his older brother Josh has a third nipple.  Of course, neither of these is true, but they were too funny not to write!

Thanks for reading!

The Declaration of Independence

In honor of Independence Day, take a moment to read the Declaration of Independence again and be sure to read the previous post too.  God bless you and yours this day!

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

    He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

    He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

    He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

    He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

    He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

    He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

    He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

    He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

    He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

    He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

    He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

    He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

    He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

    For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

    For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

    For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

    For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

    For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

    For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

    For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

    For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

    For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

    He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

    He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

    He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

    He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

    He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Independence Day

Growing up in a military town and having family with military backgrounds, I have always appreciated our blessed nation.  I am trying to instill in my children the same love for God and Country.

I realize that America isn't perfect.  Now that I am older I have a firm grip on the reality that "government" doesn't always have our best interests in mind, nor do they always do the right thing.  However, no matter what, we are blessed to live in the absolute best nation on the earth.  I would gladly debate that point with anyone.

Independence Day (not the 4th of July as it has come to be called lately) is on my top 3 list of favorite holidays after Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I love it!  I love it not only for the wonderful cookouts and fireworks, but I really love that we are able to celebrate another year of freedom and independence.  So many in our nation have absolutely no appreciation or understanding of just how precious our independence and freedom are.  

Yes, America has made some serious mistakes and yes, America will make more I am certain.  But where else in the world would you rather have been born and raised? Where else can you be born with no Father, move around with your Mother, get sent to be raised by your Grandparents, attend Harvard and eventually be a candidate for President?  

Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't matter what color or nationality you are in America, the opportunities for success are there for everyone.  The evidence is all around us.  It requires hard work and the motivation to get there.  Nothing is perfect and some people's experiences have been more difficult than others, but the opportunities are there for the taking nonetheless.  Let's not forget that it is out of our hard work and determination that our true character is able to shine through.

The following clip disturbed me deeply.   The clip is from the Denver Mayor's State of the City address the other day.  Denver is going to be the host of the upcoming Democratic National Convention where Barack Obama will be crowned the official candidate.  

Keep in mind that this woman was asked to sing the National Anthem at an official city address.  Instead she sang her "interpretation" which was a song deemed the black national anthem sung to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner. There was a day in America where this would have been so offensive that the woman would have never even considered doing it, and nobody would have stood by and listened.   They would have booed, yelled, or walked out.  Not now.  Now, we just stand there and listen. Some people actually clapped at the end.  I would venture to say that this woman will be made out to be some sort of hero in some circles.  Pathetic.  

This Independence Day I hope that all Americans, regardless of race, original nationality, or religion, will face those beautiful stars and stripes and sing the National Anthem LOUDLY, with hand on heart, and truly reflect upon how blessed we are to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.