Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

 

So here is another collage! I love how easy it is to put a group of photos together, I just wish it would let me specify what photos I want in certain positions. One of the fun things for us, but maybe not for everyone is that most holidays include celebrating with both sides of the family since we have both parents around here and siblings as well. So this year was the year to be with Tim's side but we actually didn't celebrate until Friday since Tim's sister was involved in helping give dinner to those in need in her neighborhood. My parents and sister went on a little excursion to Daniel's Summit and didn't know if they would be back on Thanksgiving in time for dinner so they tentatively planned to go to one of my brother's (which they were able to do in the end). So we had a family meeting and got input on what to do. Some wanted to go to Golden Corral, another JCWs or In and Out (both are delicous hamburger places)and others suggested pizza. I suggested having steak, since we had done it one year in Chico where it's nice enough to BBQ in November! Pizza won out so that's what we did in the end. We decided to go totally low maintenance since we were eating pizza and I bought paper plates etc. It was a very relaxing day. All the kids and Tim (except for Gwen) went to the elementary school to play football, the annual neighborhood Turkey Bowl. Zane asked where the turkeys were when they got there. The little kids played a game and the men and teenagers played a game. I guess Emily was the only girl. Then they came home and watched football. Gwen mostly rode her bike and we did read some books, Thanksgiving ones besides her favorite Princess stories. Tim also had rented a bunch of movies so she watched Barbie and the 3 Musketeers. The kids also watched Sponge Bob Christmas, which they laughed a lot about! Tim took a break from football to put up the Christmas lights on the house. Besides pizza I did make pumpkin pie and Emily made a chocolate cream pie. After our pizza feast we watched Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs which had it's moments. I personally liked it more than number 2, I fell asleep in the theater watching it. After we got the little kids to bed Tim and I played In a Pickle with Taran and Emily. I am not sure if it was the game that was fun or just our funny personalities but we had a lot of laughs playing it. Timo was not willing to try it since he had heard it was a dumb game. Owell, his loss! Friday we got together with Tim's family for the official feast. It was delicious and we enjoyed playing some new games: Idiot and 6. Of course football was on the TV as well and the little kids watched Aladdin in the family room in the basement. The Emily and Maddie organized some other game for the kids around their age to play which they did for awhile. We also enjoyed listening to Jim Gaffigan and Brian Regan too, my cheeks hurt so bad after that! We also celebrated all the November birthdays which was fun and I'll include photos in the birthday collage I will do for Timo and Zane! We got home late as you can tell by the photo of Gwen asleep on the couch when it was time to leave! Not only were Tim's sisters and their families there but our niece from Idaho who is doing an intership with the Humanitarian Department at the church and our nephew from Texas who is at BYU. It was a great time and I am grateful we have such great gatherings without drama or weird stuff that sometimes happends! So thankful for these great people in my life!
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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Being Thankful...


for family, friends, Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I saved the best for last. What would my life be without my family, without friends, without the knowledge of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice and a loving Heavenly Father who put them all in my life? I have many material blessings to be thankful for but these I know I can live without. I am so grateful for a patient and loving husband who thinks my quarks are charming. I am grateful for good kids who try their best and are examples to me in many ways. I am grateful for parents who love me despite my shortcomings and support me in my crazy life--as in busy! I am grateful for siblings who inspire and humor me in many ways. For in-laws who are easy to love and accept me for who I am and love me anyway. For extended family on both sides who are so amazingly talented and creative and accepting. For friends who pray for me, help me and are examples to me in so many ways. For Jesus Christ for loving me and you and everyone enough to sacrifice it all for our choice to return to our Heavenly Father or not, we choose. For the peace He can give if we seek it, for love we can feel if we desire it and mercy freely given when we don't deserve it. For a loving Heavenly Father who sent His son and provided a great plan of happiness not just for later but for now. He lets us choose, He lets us make mistakes and He patiently understands our concerns and weakness. I love having Thanksgiving before Christmas as it brings Christ to the center before the holiday starts and set the tone for the whole month, if we let it. Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Being Thankful...





for inspirational books...I was going to try to make these photos into a collage but it was just taking too long. These are only some of the books I have found over the years that have changed my heart in one way or another. They have inspired me to do better at being me and have inspired me to change how I treat others, in a more kind and loving way. They give me hope in myself and others. I know that if I put into practice those things that I have read I will be a happier and more fulfilled person. (They are: The Book of Mormon, Three Cups of Tea, Left to Tell and The Peacegiver). I love to read and these are just a few of the books at the top of my inspired list but I have many favorites that are fantasy and children's literature that I enjoy and that inspire me through their characters who over come evil and/or different challenges to become better and keep their virtue intact.

Hopefully we take time each day to be uplifted by good literature but especially scriptural literature. The Book of Mormon has been a boon of strength for me in many a trial for over 20 years. It testifies of Jesus Christ and his ministry and works with the Bible to testify of His divinity as the Son of God. If you haven't read it, try it, pray about it and you will come to know as I have and many others that it is a true book. We are so blessed in this country to have so much literature at our finger tips so many in other countries can not afford books. I can't imagine my life without them and so I am very grateful for what they have done for me.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Happy 6th Birthday Zane!


As I mentioned last week on Timo's birthday that I wrote about their births last year so I will by pass that today and just talk about how our grumpy, old man is growing up! We call him that because he wasn't this jolly little guy. He is reserved in his affections and he can be downright grumpy! But he also is very sweet. He gives me hugs every day when he comes home or when I have been gone or Tim. He is a great big brother to Gwen. He is animated about what she is doing and is genuinely interested in her. He doesn't try to make her hug and she is very protective of him because his treatment of her! He is diligent in waiting to eat until we have prayed which he puts the rest of us to shame on that point! He also likes praying too. He loves super heroes and is starting to enjoy playing sports with his older brothers and going to sporting events. Soon he won't be a little kid. We are so glad he joined our family 6 years ago and hope he has many more years ahead with us!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Being Thankful...



for the beauty of nature. This collage is a compilation of places in Utah (mostly near our home) including my mom's yard! As you see I've included our ducks and geese we feed at a pond close by that we go to almost every week. If you look closely at the collage there is one I got when they were flying in when they knew where there to feed them, very cool! I just took that one on Friday. I took all the photos with my simple point and shoot and some day I hope to have a nice camera and learn to take the photos I imagine! (I wish I could place the photos in the collage--maybe you can but I haven't figured it out!).

We are so blessed because the world is a beautiful place. Yes, there are ugly and terrible places. But I know God's intent is for us to enjoy this world and to be good stewards of it. He loves us and intends for us to enjoy the diversity of not just the human race but this planet we live on. My photos are just of this desert state, Utah yet it has great beauty! You can see some of it's desert qualities in some of the photos but southern Utah has the beautiful redrock canyons.


We can all think of beautiful places we love where we live. I feel we should take advantage, take care of and appreciate the very best of where we live. That is being grateful.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Freedom Friday

Okay people tomorrow they are voting on another health care reform bill. It's time to call your senators and let them know how you feel. No time to waste. Why do I think we shouldn't have these two reform bills (senate and congress)?

1. the cost

I am not just talking about the GUZILLIONS amount of money it is going to cost to fund these reforms. But the human cost. We can see it start already, for example this week: they are suggesting women under 50 NOT do self breast examinations and that women 40-50 not have routine mammograms. What in the !@#$ ???? I have 2 friends who were in their 30's who found their own breast cancer due to self examinations! This is just a small sample of things to come. And how are they are going to come up with the GUZILLIONS of money? Taxes, you say. WHO is going to have the money to tax? 250, 000 people lost their jobs last month. What taxes are they going to pay? I'm sorry but you can't count on money that just isn't there. They are going to HAVE to ration health care. This isn't a political party issue this is a people issue, we must all unite and let them know, no WAY!!!! If you don't want this we don't want it either!!!! We need reform that reforms and helps all the people.

2. constitutionality

I am NOT an expert by any means about the Constitution but I do know that health care is not a right nor is it a responsibility of the government according to our current Constitution. If you have read the bills being presented you will be required BY LAW to have health insurance. You will be illegal if you don't. That is unconstitutional. If we don't like our constitution let's change it but don't present a bill that is a waste of time and money. I have heard people (lawyers) are preparing to take the bills to court over it's Constitutionality.

3. practicality

In your heart you know there is no way the government could do a better job at handling our health care system than we have today. If you know anyone who uses Medicaid and Medicare they can tell you the run around and problems with it. These reforms don't take over the system at the get go but it is common knowledge they will bankrupt private health insurance companies making the government sponsored health insurance the only option and you can't opt out of that. We need health care reform but not this, it needs to be a patient centered reform.

I read about another reform bill by a congressman or senator from Florida who was a doctor for 25 years. He seems to be on the right track. I thought i'd book marked it so I'll have to find the link for you!

If you want more info on the health care debate check out these:
Washington Post and
Wall Street Journal Article and
Save our Country, Reverse the Vote

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Happy 15th Birthday Timo!


Today our second child and son was born 15 years ago! Wow! Where does the time go? Last year I posted the birth story so if you are interested look in my 2008 posts. Timo has weathered being the second child pretty good. He is not perfect, I know but I see him developing some maturity here and there, in things I did not as soon when I was a teenager. He is hardworking and competitive which helps him do well in most things but I am afraid he might be slacking a little this year since things have always come easy to him in school. We'll see. But I have many things that I am proud of him. He comes to me when he has a problem and confides in me, this is huge. Even if he thinks I am weird he trusts me! He takes pride in doing his best work, he is more of a perfectionist than me. He is responsible and dependable. He helps me when I am stressed. I appreciate his many talents but I enjoy him the most when he spends time with his younger siblings who look up to him so much. Happy Birthday Timo! I hope you know how much you are loved and appreciated!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Being Thankful...


for music today...I just love Josh Groban's song Thankful--sorry no photos on this video just the lyrics which are great. I have been listening to it everyday. I think I was too drugged out to appreciate it last year! (Back surgery=pain killers). Anyway, check it out if you haven't. I love hearing Gwen and Emily sing around the house--Zane is also a cute little singer. I love hearing our church choir practice in our basement family room on Sundays. Tim is the choir director. I love hearing Taran and his friends make music in the basement or garage. I love hearing Timo play Fur Elise on the piano or Phantom of the Opera. I enjoy Izak and Micah's recent interest in the piano and practicing Christmas songs. Last year my favorite Christmas album was the MOTAB (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) with the King's Singers (the cover is one of the photos I posted)Rejoice and Be Merry. The music is just amazing--check this outhere and it's not even my favorite. And Ring Christmas Bells with Brian Stokes Mitchell is a great one too that just came out--see this! My mom got us that one. I am so excited we got tickets to see the MOTAB with Natalie Cole! They are free so it's a lottery. Music can be such an inspiration to us and lift us to great heights. If you want a good Thanksgiving Album try A Thanksgiving of American Hymns by BYU Choirs. The final song is Come Thou Fount on You Tube, one of my most favorite songs ever and they do an amazing, seriously amazing rendition.
**itunes has them and Amazon.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

October & November highlights



I decided to make a collage of pictures I forgot to include in the last 'update'. We have 2 birthdays coming so best stay on top of it all! So you can see our jack o' lanterns--boy, have they come a long way since I was a kid! Between creativity and the patterns you can use, almost makes cleaning out the pumpkin worth it! Except for Taran who decided not to carve this year. We enjoyed our annual Spooky Tales tradition with the Durtschis and some other families. It's the only time my kids get any attention, or so it seems, as they all want to tell a scary story or tell a joke. Except Taran and Timo who humor us with the other teenagers! We had a great time sharing yummy soup and fun! I took a walk with Gwen down the path by the creek near our house just before a huge storm hit and blew all the leaves off that was lucky. We had a nice quiet time. One photo is crazy hair day for the kids at school they do it during red ribbon week, not sure what exactly that has to do with saying no to drugs but they enjoy dressing up! We have been feeding the ducks and geese every Friday but last and they seem more hungry every week. We got snow this weekend so maybe we should try to feed them, I'm not sure the city park people feed them. Usually some migrate but we've had unusually warm weather overall until this weekend. It's VERY cold right now. We live in a windy area which adds to the chill. We enjoyed celebrating my sister-in-law's birthday last Sunday at my mom's. We had a Chinese feast! We hadn't seen my brother and his wife in awhile, they've been busy moving into a new house and getting settled, fun times! My sister also moved into a new place not too far from us, she is in a planned community with a pool, tennis courts etc and that should make visits even more fun! Tim and the boys have been over to help out a couple of times. Taran took the ACT. He didn't study so we will see how this first go went. He felt like he did well except for maybe some science stuff he wasn't sure about. He and his band friends are busy trying a homemade approach to recording an album. We'll see! Timo tried out for the Jr High basketball team. There were 70 boys who tried out and only 12 made it. Only one of his friends made it but he was realistic about it all. I am proud of him for trying! One of the nice things about living here is they have a recreation program for just about every sport so he can still play basketball through the Jr Jazz program, partly sponsored by the NBA team Utah Jazz. Emily and Tim enjoyed a concert with the King's Singers who came to BYU. I was going to go but it was the week Micah & Gwen had had the stomach flu and we were a little nervous leaving Taran and Timo to watch the kids when one might start throwing up. Luckily no one else got it. Gwen has become a maniac on her bike she got for her birthday and rides all around the upstairs. She has been outside a few times with it but it has gotten too cold now. Maybe by spring we can take the training wheels off! Micah and Izak are going crazy with their piano playing. They have 2 Christmas songs memorized already. Their new teacher has been just what they needed, she lets them have quite a bit of freedom in choosing a song to learn along with technique and theory stuff. We only have 2 pianos and I remember reading about the 5 Browns' (5 siblings who all play concert piano professionally and all went to Julliard) parents having to buy 5 pianos so they all could practice. One of our pianos is an antique and needs to be gutted on the inside since you can't tune it anymore. But we have fights over the piano since we do have 5 players not counting Tim! It's a good problem to have! Our niece's marching band that was in the accident last month was able to go to Grand Nationals this weekend due to another miracle but they didn't make it to the finals this year which surprises me. I am so glad they got to go and they still did really well 14th out of 91 bands! (This is what I read in today's paper anyway, Amy can correct me). Still a great part of the whole story! We made turkey and leaf sugar cookies Friday, I found a sugar cookie recipe that won a baking contest here locally so I thought we'd try it out! Very good recipe! I forgot to add that I posted some of our family photos in the collage my friend Merrily took of us last month--she took 63 so I only put a few in the collage. I ordered our Christmas cards Saturday! Friday Tim took the 3 little boys to a BYU basketball game thanks to my sister-in-law who got them for us! They had a blast. Emily went to Space Camp over night Friday and had a wonderful time with her friends--all kids from her school we involved in all the ships. One last thing if you want to try something different check the Delmonico Steak at your local butcher. I got a great deal on it last month. Googled Delmonico Steak and got a simple recipe that was delicious and it had a recipe for Delmonico Potatoes. Everyone loved the food! Sorry for the rambling update, too lazy to organize it all! That's enough, I'm off to bed!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Our Littlest Princess and her friends

 

Gwen got these adorable princess dress ups from her aunts for her birthday. She has worn them almost everyday and she is able to share them with her friends--even Max wanted to try it out but I found our Spiderman dress up. (Not sure how his dad would feel about the cross dressing!) Anyway, I just love how easy these are for Gwen and her friends to get on and off. They are such adorable little girls and we love Max too. It's just to great for her to have such cute friends in every way...
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Friday, November 13, 2009

Freedom Friday

Just a very interesting article about the upcoming Copenhagen Treaty. It's a bit long but I feel we need to be informed about this topic to maintain our freedom.

Copenhagen Climate Change Conference Could Threaten National Security
by James Jay Carafano, Ph.D.


Copenhagen Consequences

As a prelude to the upcoming Copenhagen conference of the nations participating in the Convention on Climate Change, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, introduced and passed out of committee sweeping energy reform legislation. This measure faces much tougher hurdles before the full Senate.

To promote her legislation (a companion to the Waxman-Markey "cap and trade" bill passed by the House) Boxer held a hearing at which she argued that passage of the bill was a matter of national security. She is wrong. Her legislation could actually undermine the nation's capacity to keep Americans safe, free, and prosperous. Furthermore, the dangers posed by the Senate bill are reflective of many of the national security challenges that could be raised by efforts at Copenhagen to draft a global climate treaty.

Fighting the Air up There

The premise behind Boxer's bill is that the U.S. must create a government-run program to reduce the emission of "greenhouse gases," including carbon dioxide (CO2). The bill would establish a complex energy tax scheme to penalize businesses and industries that emit these gases. Proponents of the legislation have argued that its passage is essential to U.S. national security. Without the law, proponents claim, adverse climate changes will cause nations to fail, natural disasters will yield unprecedented humanitarian crises, and states will wage war over the remaining resources.

Rather than allow the U.S. to better address the challenges of climate change, Boxer's tax scheme is likely to undermine both U.S. security and America's capacity to act as a good steward of the environment. A study by The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis found that the companion Waxman-Markey bill would make the U.S. about $9.4 trillion poorer by 2035. Much of this decline would be from reduced economic productivity and job losses. In particular, under the House legislation there would be 1.15 million fewer jobs on average than without a cap-and-trade bill. Other economic concerns include rising deficits and continued devaluing of the dollar.

A sharp decline in economic productivity would likely have a deleterious impact on U.S. security. A decrease in U.S. economic growth would result in even more draconian cuts to the defense budget. Likewise, a steep drop in American economic growth would lengthen and deepen the global recession, thereby increasing the number of failed states.

On to Copenhagen

The wrongheaded approach taken by Boxer is likely to be mirrored in the deliberations at Copenhagen, where efforts to restrict greenhouse gas emissions could undermine both the global economy and worldwide security--outcomes that would lead to a more fragile environment and greater human misery.

Without question, the greatest security threat of an international climate treaty is that it would make the economies of the U.S. and its allies less competitive, depriving them of the capacity to defend themselves and aid other nations.

Additionally, advocates of the treaty insist that it not include a clause that allows emissions reductions to be subject to "conformity with domestic law." In other words, even if U.S. laws included an exemption for emissions by the military, such an opt-out could potentially be trumped by an international treaty.

The U.S. military is the nation's largest consumer of fossil fuels. As Major General (ret.) Robert Scales testified in Boxer's hearing, despite any innovations in new energy technologies made in the foreseeable future, most military forces will continue to be powered by fossil fuels. Thus, mandated fossil fuel reductions could severely limit the capacity of the U.S. to defend itself and its allies and conduct humanitarian and security-assistance missions worldwide.

In addition, since the military has no choice other than to rely on fossil fuels for the foreseeable future, any tax scheme that makes carbon-based fuels more expensive will mean the Pentagon will have to spend more on fuel and less on everything else that America's men and women in uniform need. Regardless of how the climate changes or the status of energy supplies, the U.S. will need a military that has sufficient resources to conduct current operations, maintain a trained and ready force, and prepare for future challenges. Long-term levels of defense spending are already too low to prevent the military from becoming a hollow force. A steep rise in carbon-fuel costs will exacerbate this decline.

Finally, an international climate treaty is likely to disadvantage the U.S. and other democracies that sign the convention in competing with authoritarian regimes that could care less about the environment. As General Scales noted in his testimony, U.S. refining capacity would likely evaporate and move offshore--making America more, not less, dependent on foreign countries. Furthermore, since oil is a global commodity, as the price rises, foreign oil producers that wish America ill would still find ready buyers for their product. Thus, they would fill their coffers even as the U.S. becomes less competitive.

Countering the Consequences of Copenhagen

Advocates of an international climate treaty have little hope that a convention with stringent, binding, and enforceable emissions reduction targets will be signed in Copenhagen, but they have every intention in continuing to shape the provisions of a draft instrument that could constrain the ability of the U.S. to direct its own energy future--and ultimately look after the security of its citizens.

The U.S. should deal responsibly with the challenges of global climate change, but the road to Copenhagen is a dead end. Rather, Washington should seek an alternate path to ensure a future where America is a worldwide leader in the stewardship of the global environment, a champion for the advancement of freedom and justice, and an engine of sustainable growth. Specifically, the U.S. Government should:

* Ensure that any effort to reduce reliance on foreign oil is grounded in policies that are best for the economy. Reducing oil imports from unstable or unfriendly regimes should be done in a way that minimizes the economic cost to Americans. Policies such as raising taxes on gasoline while mandating or subsidizing expensive or unproven alternative fuels and vehicles lead to large costs with marginal--or even negative--results. The first steps in reducing reliance on foreign oil are to make full use of domestic petroleum reserves and to remove disincentives to investment in oil production from friendly nations. These should be coupled with efforts to encourage diversification away from petroleum, which will be best achieved not by government fiat but by the private sector-led development of alternatives that can compete in their own right. Domestically, the federal role should be limited to conducting basic research and removing regulatory and tax barriers that impede private-sector innovation. In addition, restrictions on international growth in alternatives, such as the tariffs that limit ethanol imports into the U.S., should be eliminated.
* Provide leadership for the international expansion of commercial nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is the only emissions-free energy source available today that can provide large amounts of energy. Unfortunately, regulatory barriers and protectionism stand in the way of the safe expansion of this technology. The U.S. could provide needed leadership by establishing a path forward that addresses these problems. While reforming its onerous regulatory regime and developing a workable system for nuclear waste management are domestic priorities, internationally, the U.S. must work to advance free and open markets. Moving the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage forward is critical to this effort. Parties to the convention operate under common liability rules for nuclear activities. This is important to U.S. companies who do not enjoy the national liability protection that most foreign firms enjoy, thus putting them at a competitive disadvantage. While the U.S. has ratified the convention, additional nations must ratify before it comes into force. Once in force, U.S. companies would be better able to compete in overseas nuclear markets, which would advance both economic and environmental agendas.
* Use free markets to advance a green energy and environment agenda. Trade measures in carbon-control legislation may appear necessary for protecting U.S. competitiveness and promoting broader international participation in such schemes. However, in reality, such measures will likely create a more hostile trade environment that costs U.S. firms access to global markets. Rather than using trade policy as a weapon, America should keep markets open. Policymakers should maintain the integrity and freedom of global markets as a means to transfer clean technologies, keep international investment flowing, and promote economic growth and prosperity in the U.S. and around the world.

These measures would provide real security to the American people by not hamstringing the military's ability to protect its citizens and ensuring sustainable growth based on clean and abundant green energy.

James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., is Deputy Director of Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies and Director of the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Davis Institute, at The Heritage Foundation.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Veteran's Day

This is a photo from Meuse-Argonne, France the cemetery contains the largest number of American military dead in Europe (14,246). We have over 100,000 buried in Europe, not counting the others whose bodies were not found. Thank you to our veterans and their families. Thank you to our military and their families. Happy Veteran's Day! Freedom isn't free!

Some inspirational videos: apologize?

Do I Make You Proud?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Being Thankful...


It may seem to some that lately I've been thinking a lot about what is wrong around me, as in our government. But as we changed months, I like to think of November as the Thankful Month. Not just Thanksgiving Day but take the month to think more about what I am grateful for each day. Last year I posted several different things I was thankful for over the month. So I am behind in that regard but it is because I am so grateful for this country for those for those who founded it and those who have and continue to fight for our freedom that I am concerned for our country. For that reason I try to get the word out about what is going on. I want my children to have a future for their children, not strapped by high taxes and legislation so they can't own a home, earn a living or worship as they please.

I am grateful for the opportunities the United States of America allows. No other system has created so much for so many and not just in our country. All other systems have failed to provide so many with so much. Is it perfect? no but it's not the system it's the people. But if people live moral lives then it works. Our society is modern but we have lost so much in the technological advancements in civility and humanity. Therein lies the flaw of our system that people would self regulate so now we need government to do it and I don't think they are very good either!

So back to being thankful. I am ever so grateful to be an American. We enjoy so much that so many dream about, we are the hope of everyone. I lived in Argentina for a while and as much as they dog our country they also feel a desire to come here. I am grateful for the freedom this country allows not just in action but in thought. My father, who is from South Africa, said that coming here he began to believe for the first time in his life he could be whatever he set out to be. He felt hope that his station in life did not define what he could be come and his possibilities endless.

Those who have grown up in this atmosphere may take for granted the blessing this is in our own happiness and prosperity. That's what God wants, he wants us all to feel hope, joy and love. One of my friends posted a photo of her in Germany and she was there when the wall came down. Amazing. I am sure this would not have happened without the influence of the United States. 20 years has passed since then and we find ourselves grappling to hold on to our own freedoms!

I am thankful for this country with all it's troubles it is the hope of the world and the hope of each of us.

I end with a quote from Thomas Jefferson: Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

The Health Care Bill Passes...

but I am not done yet. This was a slim win. So it's time to focus on the senate and maybe, just maybe, we will have a miracle and they won't pass it. This is not what we need to help people. Why would we want what THEY (our elected reps) won't use themselves. If this is going to be so great then they should use it, right? But they voted down a bill that required them to have the same health care program they pass...telling isn't? Please don't give up, keep in touch with your senators...find out how your congressman/person voted thank those who voted against it especially Democrats who faced great opposition from their party and the President. We can do this, we must. God Bless America!

Climate Change Expert

This is an excerpt from a speech given that has IMPORTANT information about the Copenhagen Treaty that our president wants to sign. Please take time to watch it and pass on the information. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmgsmRIKKno&feature=rec-LGOUT-exp_fresh+div-HM

Friday, November 6, 2009

Freedom Friday

My dad passed this important information on to me from a lawyer who has read the original Health Care bill and if you go to his link at the very end of this post he has read the newest version. His conclusions confirm many of my own. Please contact your representatives TODAY if you have not since they are planning on a vote tomorrow. I promise you that you will kick yourself if you don't do something and this bill passes.


Michael Connelly of Carrollton, Texas is a Constitutional lawyer and has read the entire health care bill and has some comments, not about the bill, but about the effects on our Constitution.



THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HEALTH CARE BILLS

Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200:
The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with
particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was
frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed
might be unconstitutional What I found was far worse than what I had
heard or expected.

To begin
with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact
true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for rationing of health care, particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are involved, free health care for illegal immigrants,free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the
medical profession.

The Bill
will also eventually force private insurance companies out of business and put everyone into a government run system. All decisions about personal health
care will ultimately be made by federal bureaucrats and most of them will not
be health care professionals. Hospital admissions, payments to physicians, and allocations of necessary medical devices will be strictly controlled.

However, as scary as all of that is, it just scratches the surface. In fact, I have
concluded that this legislation really has no intention of providing
affordable health care choices. Instead, it is a convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated. If this law or a similar one is adopted, major
portions of the Constitution of the United States will effectively have been
destroyed.

The first thing to go will be the masterfully crafted balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the U.S. Government. The Congress will be transferring to the Obama Administration authority in a number of different
areas over the lives of the American people and the businesses they own. The irony is that the Congress doesn't have any authority to legislate in most of those areas to begin with. I defy anyone to read the text of the U.S. Constitution and find any authority granted to the members of Congress to regulate health care.

This legislation also provides for access by the appointees of the Obama administration of all of your personal healthcare information, your personal financial information, and the information of your employer, physician, and hospital. All of this is a direct violation of the specific provisions of the 4th
Amendment to the Constitution protecting against unreasonable searches and
seizures. You can also forget about the right to privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion regardless of what the 3rd and 4th Amendments may provide.

If you decide not to have healthcare insurance or if you have private insurance that is not deemed "acceptable" to the "Health Choices Administrator" appointed by Obama there will be a tax imposed on you. It is called a "tax" instead of a fine because of the intent to avoid application of the due process clause of the 5th Amendment. However,that doesn't work because since there is nothing in the law that allows you to contest or appeal the imposition of the tax, it is definitely depriving
someone of property without the "due process of law.

So, there are three of those pesky amendments that the far left hate so much out of the original ten in the Bill of Rights that are effectively nullified by this law.
It doesn't stop there though. The 9th Amendment that provides: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." The 10th Amendment states: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are preserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Under the provisions of this piece of Congressional handiwork neither the people nor the states are going to have any rights or powers at all in many areas that once were theirs to control.

I could write many more pages about this legislation, but I think you get the idea. This is not about health care; it is about seizing power and limiting rights.
Article 6 of the Constitution requires the members of both houses of Congress to "be bound by oath or affirmation" to support the Constitution.

If I was a member of Congress, I would not be able to vote for
this legislation or anything like it without feeling I was violating that
sacred oath or affirmation. If I voted for it anyway, I would hope the
American people would hold me accountable.

For those who might doubt the nature of this threat I suggest they consult the source.
Here is a link to the Constitution:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html

And another to the Bill of Rights: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html


There you can see exactly what we are about to have taken from us.

Michael Connelly Retired Attorney, Constitutional Law Instructor Carrollton, Texas
http://michaelconnelly.viviti.com/http://michaelconnelly.viviti.com/

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Health Care Reform

Normally I would have waited until Friday to post this but since Speaker Pelosi wants a vote Friday I thought I'd post some interesting articles about the Health Care Bill. I had planned to post them in there entirety but thought that might be too overwhelming.

The Heritage Foundation http://www.heritage.org/LeadershipForAmerica/health-care.cfm

Read a great article about this subject by Thomas Sowell here: http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/11/03/the_costs_of_medical_care

Folks this Health Care Bill is not really about reforming our health care system but taking it over. For a lot less money we could pay for health care insurance for those who want it but can't afford it. It isn't about helping people but extending the arm of the government into one major part of our economy and our lives. NO ONE IS GOING TO WIN IN THIS SCENARIO BUT those who want power. So don't stand there, take a stand and let them know this is not the kind of reform you and your family want! https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml AND http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
This needs to be about people not power and politics.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween 2009



So I realized this year I don't like Halloween on Saturdays. One reason is that the kids HAVE to dress up Friday for school AND Saturday. Yes, better mileage on those expensive or amazing costumes that took forever to make. But I kind of like getting all done in a day. Especially make up and hair coloring...my kids were so beat today after 2 days of partying. So I say we petition for the last Friday of October to be our day to commemorate Halloween and if it falls on the the 31st fantastic!

So the festivities began Friday. Gwen and I went over for the Halloween Parade, it was really cute and fun. I loved seeing all my little neighbor kids and my kids' friends dressed up. Gwen enjoyed it as well. But I have a confession. It was my first time attending. Yep, I have had 10 previous opportunities and never went. I tell you I am a lazy soul. 6 of those years I had a baby and that just seemed like too much and I know my limits. Besides I usually had some other monkey at home with the baby and sometimes 2 monkeys and I just could not get the ambition to get us all over there. I feel bad I missed because I saw how much it meant to my two kids I actually saw in the parade (only K-3rd grades do it). So take my advice and try to go! Later Friday Tim's work had trick-or-treating, only the 5 younger kids went. It was fun and they even treated us to donuts, bagels and muffins and drinks. Taran and his friends went to a party that night. Timo was wherever and I think he is bummed we didn't do a party this year. I had offered and it is just as well we didn't since we had the stomach flu this week at our house--Micah and then Gwen.

Saturday the kids wanted to get dressed up from the get-go but we had chores nand other things to do. We went to the baptism of some of the kids' friends and the older boys played in a flag football game. Unfortunately two boys did not get to go trick-or-treating because they caused a bunch of trouble getting their chores done. We went to my mom's for dinner and met up with my siblings there as well. My niece and nephew were a lion and a lamb--very cute! Tim took some of the kids trick-or-treating and Emily went with a friend and I stayed with the delinquents. One of them handed out candy for me which was nice so I could work on getting the laundry put away. A family in our neighborhood does a haunted creek behind their house since they border the creek. Tim took all the little boys and I stayed with Gwen. Timo and his friends were everywhere but not trick-or-treating because not all of them can trick-or-treat anymore. Taran was at a friend's and they watched Private Eyes--classic with Tim Conway and Don Knotts. We have that movie too. Tim's sisters came over later with their kids and the cousins had fun together playing. Emily took our niece with her and her friend trick-or-treating, and Izak took his 2 boys cousins to the haunted creek--he waited for them. My kids are scaredy cats like me! The weather was beautiful, you can see in the collage how the kids were playing outside at my mom's. Friday had been ugly so it was such a nice surprise that the weather was so nice for Halloween it usually isn't the case.

Overall it was a great holiday even though we had some meltdowns both days. We did miss Tim's parents who were in Idaho at his brother's play--his brother was playing Cogsworth in Beauty in the Beast. Next year I think we will all be robbers--simple and easy. I made Zane's zebra costume from Family Fun magazine, it turned out to be more work than I thought of course but it turned out really cute. Emily and Izak went through 4 or 5 ideas--Izak was actually 2 things one at school a basketball player and someone who had been in an accident on Saturday. Taran had me straighten his hair for a totally different look for him. Some of his friends didn't know who he was at first. Timo and his buddies were Qwambly which I have no idea what it means so I trusted him when he made the t-shirts. Emily ended up as Medusa and wore my old prom dress! The kids had fun and I guess that means it was a success and worth the discomforts!
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