Snowball Fight!

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An Open Letter to Congress

GLENN BECK  got a letter from a woman in Arizona . She wrote an open letter to our nation's leadership.  Here are some of her complaints (to read the entire letter go to http://letterreadonglennbeckshow.blogspot.com)


The STIMULUS bill. I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you No, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Czars. I want the circumvention of our constitutional checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution, and honor it.

Universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision that will burden me, my children, and grandchildren. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night without even reading it. Slow down!  Fix only what is broken -- we have the best health care system in the world -- and test any new program in one or two states first.

Growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty  fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more.

I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes -- how did they pull that one off?  Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations.

Redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs -- and that is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. And, what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Every company must sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.
Take a breath. Listen to the people. Slow down and get some input from nonpoliticians and experts on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed-reading our bills into law.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened?

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long. 


Note:  If you agree, make a copy of this letter and send it to your congressmen. (And when the next election rolls around, DON'T VOTE FOR THE INCUMBENTS! - unless you know they are working for US)

Obamacare

Happy Thanksgiving

"Gratitude is of the very essence of worship. … When you walk with gratitude, you do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to you and will bless your lives”.
--Gordan B Hinckley

Oh Happy Day

Now that's what I'm talking about.  I got this card from my daughter, Jennifer.  Just because she's thankful that I'm her mom. (The inside note was even sweeter than the message on the outside).  Lucky me.

Welcome Ainsley!

Welcome to the World!

Ainsley Elizabeth - 7 lbs. 14 oz.

(number three for Amy and Kyle!)

Thanksgiving Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,
As we sit down at our Thanksgiving table once again, we want to thank Thee for all our many blessings.

We thank Thee for meeting our needs every day - for food and shelter and clothing, and for the many extras Thou hast provided that we so often take for granted.

We thank Thee for our family and friends who enrich our lives.

We thank Thee that we are blessed to live in a country where we are free to worship Thee and to read Thy word.

Most of all, we thank Thee for Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who is the 'light of the world.' We are grateful for His sacrifice for our sake.

We ask Thee to bless this food of which we are about to partake, that it may strengthen our bodies so we may have more energy to serve those around us in need - thereby showing our love to Thee.

We say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

Happy Thanksgiving

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have never a lump.  
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs! 
Happy Thanksgiving!

What I'm Thankful for

1. Health
2. Eyesight
3. Hearing
4. Speech (I added this one when my sister’s husband had his vocal chords removed due to cancer – I had taken it for granted until then)
5. Husband, children, parents, great son-in-laws, grandchildren
6. Health of family members (husband, children, grandchildren, parents, siblings)
7. Friends
8. Home (not just a beautiful house, but a place everyone enjoys spending time together)
9. Employment (and ability to live on income)
10. Freedom (of Religion, of speech, to pursue individual dreams, free agency, etc.)
11. Living in a peaceful neighborhood (in these days of “drive-by shootings” it’s really a blessing to live in a peaceful neighborhood)
12. The ability to travel (and the fascinating cultures and beauty you find when you do travel)
13. Food (the abundance of it and its variety)
14. Beauty of the earth (sunsets, dawn, trees, flowers, meadows, mountains, rivers, streams, etc.)
15. Memories (What a wonderful gift it is to be able to remember the fun times of our lives.What it we had no memory?)
16. Holidays (great family bonding times)
17. Good books to read
18. Good music to listen to
19. Professions that contribute to the quality of our lives:
20. Authors, poets, musicians, artists
21. Scientists, doctors, surgeons
22. Teachers,
23. Inventions that have improved the quality of our lives
24. Automobiles, airplanes
25. Washing machines, electric dryers, ovens, vacuum cleaners,
26. Telephones, (I’ve added cell phones, ipods, and computers)
27. Recreational facilities for our use: National Parks, Disneyland, Legoland, etc.
28. Resorts, golf courses, tennis
29. Television (My husband added Monday night football)
30. Movies, Videos (I’ve added DVD’s)
31. Live Theatre, Concerts, etc.
32. Talents (not just art, music, and dance – which I love, but the qualities we each have that make us special: Compassion, Ability to negotiate, Thoughtfulness, Being good in a crisis, Patience, Tolerance, Flexibility, Ability to get along well with people, Leadership, Organization, (I’m also grateful for Jennifer’s songwriting talent – I really enjoy listening to her music.)
33. I’m grateful for the callings I’ve had in the church – they’ve made me a better person.
34. I’m grateful for the restoration of the gospel and that we always have a prophet to guide us.
35. And, I’m grateful that there is a God who lives, watches over us, CARES about each one of us and wants to help us with our problems. All we have to do is ASK.

Last, but not least, I'm grateful that I realize all the things I have to be grateful for.

For some ideas of what you can do around your Thanksgiving Table, 
click  HERE

Lincoln and Emmy at the Pumpkin Patch

 

Now THEY are certainly something worth being THANKFUL for!

(and their little sister is due any day now - Lucky Gramma J)

[photos by Jessica Davis Photography]

Thanksgiving ...All Year

Myspace Graphics, Thanksgiving Graphics at WishAFriend.com

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and appreciate the many blessings we have recieved.  But let's not forget these feelings of gratitude when the season is over.  We need to learn to live in DAILY thanksgiving.

We cannot be bitter, resentful, or mean-spirited when we are grateful.

President Monson said, "While there are some things wrong in the world today, there are many things right.  We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude.  If ingratitude be numbered among the serious of sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues."

Elder Wirthlin adds this, "Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character.  We like to be around those who are grateful.  They tend to brighten all around them.  They make others feel better about themselves.  They tend to be more humble, more joyful, more likable."

How can we get ourselves in the habit of daily gratitude?  Elder Wirthlin suggests three things:

1.  Open our eyes.  See the beauty of this world.
2.  Open our hearts.  Let go of negative emotions and self-pity
3.  Open our arms.  When was the last time you reached out to someone in need?

The Lord said, "He who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious."

Gratitude

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” –Melody Beattie

Jennifer at the Blue Bird Cafe

Here we are at the Blue Bird Cafe in Nashville after Jennifer's performance last night.  Video to be posted soon.  Watch for it.

On the flight home I was reading a book and I ran across the following paragraph about flying – we’ve probably all had these thoughts:

“ When the captain announces we’re beginning our descent, and we’re still pretty high above the city, I’ll think.  If the plane went down now, we would definitely not be okay.  A bit lower, and no, we still wouldn’t be okay. Maybe now, now we might be low enough that if it crashed, we might be okay.” Amy Krouse Rosenthal

She made another observation about travelling that I found thought provoking:

“You Say:                                                        How It Sounds:

I’m going overseas                                          Sounds like you’re going to the Orient, or

                                                                        Somewhere really far away.

I’m going abroad                                            Has junior-year-in-college undertones

I’ll be out of the country                                  Sounds like you’re a spy. Mysterious,

                                                                        Ambiguous.

I’m going to Europe                                        Well, la-di-da, good for you. Pretentious

I’m going to France                                        Fine, but compels people to say, ‘I see

                                                                        London, I see France, I see___’s underpants.’”                    

Apparently you can’t win.  I guess you’re not supposed to tell people when you go overseas/abroad/Europe…. ‘cause you’ll tick them off.  So if I ever go again, I’ll just say I’m going on vacation.

Nashville Rental

This is the house Jen is renting.  Cute huh?

I'm Thankful for GUILT

I love guilt. I wanted my kids to feel guilty when they lied, or disobeyed. Guilt is a good thing. It keeps you on the track to doing what you should be doing, and becoming who you should become.

Where I draw the line is feeling guilty about everything I’m not doing. I refuse to feel guilty if I miss visiting teaching for a month or two. But if I don’t go for a year, yes, I feel guilty and I deserve to feel guilty. I do genealogy, but I don’t do it all the time. I go in spurts. I don’t feel guilty when I’m not doing it, because I know I have done a good job and will continue to do so. There are bigger things to feel guilty about.

My kids happen to be perfect (in my unbiased opinion), but if they weren’t, I wouldn’t feel guilty about it. You can’t feel guilty for things you can’t completely control. When there are other forces working against you, and free agency in the mix, you have to do your best and hope for the best, but the cards will fall where they may and you are not to blame.

The good thing about feeling guilty is that it validates your belief system. If you don’t believe what you’re doing is wrong, you don’t feel guilty. So when you do feel guilty, do something about it.

"No Cigars or Giorgio perfume!"

I’m almost finished with my Christmas shopping and I’m down to buying perfumes.  There are sooo many to choose from.  But someone suggested that you think about who your favorite designer is, and pick their fragrance – if you admire their taste in clothes, there is a good chance you’ll like their fragrance.  I immediately thought, “yes, I’ve always admired Chanel and Chanel No. 5 was my favorite fragrance for years.”  The trouble is, nobody I know buys designer clothes.  So I started thinking about what designer clothes my friends would look best in.  The problem, I discovered, was that designers don’t design for normal people.   The clothes we actually wear would look ridiculous on a catwalk – and the last time I checked,  Coldwater Creek and Marshall’s don’t have signature scents.  So I went to Sephora and just started sniffing the bottles I thought looked attractive and would like to see on my own vanity.  I was drawn to “The One” by Dolce and Gabbana.  One sniff and I felt like I was on my way to Heaven.  Would I ever wear Dolce and Gabbana? (fat chance – even if they designed a plus size line they are too too out there for my taste.) I finally just pictured the person I was shopping for, and imagined them smelling like the fragrance I was testing.  That was fun.

One thing I kept in mind was that the fragrance shouldn't be too overpowering.  It wasn't long ago that there were actually signs posted in fine restaurants saying, "No cigars or Giorgio perfume!" (and I'm sure we've all been in an elevator with someone who was on perfume overload).

Faith, Hope, & Charity

November is here and I start thinking seriously about things of the spirit, and things I am thankful for. Today I'm thankful for the blessings that come from "faith," "hope," and "charity."

Faith: “Faith is defined as, ‘an attitude of confidence in the reality and trustworthiness of something that cannot be absolutely proved; as faith in the victory of a righteous cause or in the existence of God.’ Faith is not the same as knowledge, else it would not be faith. One of the great definitions of faith is in the Epistle to the Hebrews: ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ (Hebrews 11:1) In this Epistle, faith is conceived as ‘…a vision of the eternal realities of the unseen world – God, His righteousness, His salvation, the better country' – the vision of these realities and the conviction that they are more enduring than the things we see and touch.”
(from Christ’s Ideals for Living by Obert C. Tanner)
.
Hope: “Hope is one leg of a three-legged stool, together with faith and charity. These three stabilize our lives regardless of the rough or uneven surfaces we might encounter at the time. The scriptures are clear and certain about the importance of hope. The Apostle Paul taught that the scriptures were written to the end that we ‘might have hope’….Hope is critical to both faith and charity. When disobedience, disappointment, and procrastination erode faith, hope is there to uphold our faith. When frustration and impatience challenge charity, hope braces our resolve and urges us to care for our fellowmen even without expectation of reward. The brighter our hope, the greater our faith. The stronger our hope, the purer our charity.” President Dieter F. Uchtdorf Second Counselor in the First Presidency
.
Charity: Charity and service are often used interchangeably, however there are differences. Charity is a noun. It is described in the Bible as “the pure love of Christ.” Service is a verb. It requires action. Service is the natural consequence of charity. When you love someone, you have a natural desire to serve them.