Friday, November 28, 2008

I sit beside the fire....

I sit beside the fire and think

of all that I have seen,

of meadow-flowers and butterflies

in summers that have been;

~
of Yellow and gossamer

in autumns that there were,

with morning mist and sliver sun

and wind upon my hair.
~

I sit beside the fire and think

of how the world will be

when winter comes without a spring

that I shall never see.

~
For still there are so many things

that I have never seen:

in every wood in every spring

there is a different green.

~
I sit beside the fire and think

of people long ago,

and people who will see a world

that I shall never know.
~

But all the while I sit and think

of times that were before,

I listen for returning feet

and voices at the door.
~

-Bilbo Baggins

Fellowship of the Ring

by J.R.R. Tolkien

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Gettysburg Address...145 years ago...Today

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863
************
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent,

a new nation, conceived in Liberty,

and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
We are met on a great battle-field of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field,
as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate --
we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground.
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
have consecrated it,
far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,
but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather,
to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us --
that from these honored dead we take increased devotion
to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion --
that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain --
that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom --
and that government of the people,
by the people,
for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.
(The following is a paper written by me for Forensics class nearly 4 years ago now) 
Four score and seven years ago’ begins the well known quote. But how many of us know the story behind it?
In June of 1863, the Civil War had dragged on for two years, eradicating the hopes of both Southerners and Northerners that the war would be only a ‘breakfast spell’. Confederate General Robert E. Lee conceived a bold plan to crush the Union hopes and demoralize the support of the war by making the northern people feel that it was to big a price to pay. The Plan? He would march north into Pennsylvania, drawing the Union Army of the Potomac after him to destroy it. After which a peace treaty would be offered to Federal President Abraham Lincoln, who without an army, would be at the mercy of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The Union and Confederate armies, the former under the command of George Meade and the latter under Robert E. Lee, meet at a little crossroads town. The fighting lasted three days. The climax came on the last day, when the Confederates sent 15,000 men, under the command of George Pickett, across open fields to assault entrenched Union soldiers at the top of Cemetery Ridge. This attack, known to history as Pickett’s Charge, failed to take the Ridge and left 10,000 men dead on the field. The Battle of Gettysburg, ending with the culmination of Pickett’s Charge was the turning point of the Civil War. The Confederacy was weakened and they never regained the supremacy they had lost. But only those of us who see the Civil War in retrospect realize the consequences that this battle had on the Confederacy and the Union. To the grieving families in the North and South, they only knew that, because of this battle, 51,000 of their fathers, their husbands, their sons and brothers were gone. On November 19, a cemetery for these dead was consecrated, on the land for which they had fought. It was at this consecration that Abraham Lincoln delivered his speech. He asked the remaining soldiers and people of the North to be dedicated to the unfinished work of the fallen soldiers,-that, in his own words, ‘these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom,- and that Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish for the earth.’

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Reflections.....

"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Valuable, but small. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?
I don't really know if I want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So goodnight, dear void."


-You Got Mail

Friday, November 14, 2008

I wish I could write great books.....with great thoughts in them...

 "Because for some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of theses small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die. They are full of all the things you don't get in real life--wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. And quality of attention: we may notice amazing details during the course of a day but we rarely let ourselves stop and really pay attention. An author makes you notice, makes you pay attention, and this is a great gift."
~Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird, p. 15
  

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Visitors Corner

We've been having so many varied visitors these past two months, I thought I would share our experiences and fun.
-
Let's see:
At the beginning, Brett Farve and Albert Pujols showed up alot for lunch...
Farve I could understand because he was retired...but Pujols was liking our cooking so well, he showed up all through the regular season!!
-

Then the Pevensies and company showed up at lunch one day and we were pleased to see them so much they hung around for Dinner,when Aslan came home from his hard day at work. Lucy especially was pleased to see him :) They stayed several days...
-
Then the next week, after the kids were left with me for the night and I let them watch a certain movie, Robin Hood, Maid Marian and the gang showed up. They proceeded to run around our house, protecting us and calling for each other VERY loudly...you think the gang would have learned about a little thing called stealth by now.-
And again....King Richard the LION-hearted came for Supper after he was done with Work...I believe Marian specially invited him.
-
So many visitors, right? Fortunently when a new group shows up, the last group leaves quite quickly.
-
This past week, Winnie the Pooh and his Friends showed up. They sing songs and eat honey, and talk about the Blustery Day.

-
-
One odd thing about these adventures we've had.
-
Many of these characters bear a striking resemblance to these two:
-
Betcha ya didn't know that Lucy and Peter were so cute, did you?

Faith...

“In the last resort faith is an act of will, inspired by love. Our love may be chilled and our will eroded by the spectacle of the shortcomings, folly, and even sins of the Church and its ministers, but I do not think that one who has once had faith goes back over the line for these reasons…If He is a fraud and the Gospels fraudulent—that is: garbled accounts of a demented megalomaniac (which is the only alternative), then of course the spectacle exhibited by the Church…in history and today is simply evidence of a gigantic fraud. If not, however, then this spectacle is alas! only what was to be expected: it began before the first Easter, and it does not affect faith at all—except that we may and should be deeply grieved“It takes a fantastic will to unbelief to suppose that Jesus never really ‘happened’, and more to suppose that he did not say the things recorded of him—so incapable of being ‘invented’ by anyone in the world at that time…”

(The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 250, p. 337)


Tuesday, November 11, 2008

A Short History of Veterans Day.

Veterans Day began as Armistice Day. On November 12, 1919, a year and a day after the Armistice was signed (at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month) President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed a holiday to celebrate the end of the 'War to End All Wars'.
-
In 1926, Congress resolved to observe November 11 with respect. Two years later an act was passed to have a legal holiday that was "dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day' " And so that tradition contiuned for 15 years.
-
And then in 1953,a shoe store owner in Emporia, Kanses requested that Armistice Day be used to celebrate "All Veterans" not just those that had served in WWI....
On November 8, 1954, Congress passed the act that officailly changed the name to Veterans Day, and it has celebrated all of the veterans of the American Wars ever since.
-
~~~~~~~~
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
 ~~~~~~~~
Joseph Ambrose, an 86-year-old World War I veteran,
attends the dedication day parade for the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982,
holding the flag that covered the casket of his son,
who had been killed in the Korean War.
~~~~~~



Some statistics:
Emiliano Mercado del Toro of Puerto Rico (21 August 1891–24 January 2007), who died aged 115, is the oldest authenticated veteran, from any conflict, to have ever lived.
-
There are currently 10 WWI verified veterans still living...two Americans, two Australians, two French and
four Brits.
-
And if you are ever in Washington.....this is a place you HAVE to see :
 
Please pardon any spelling errors I might have missed...I can't find the spell check button

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Had some questions.....

so I thought it would be fun to come up with a quiz :)

3 Favorite memories:
1.)Washington D.C.
2.)Farm Camp at the Wood's House
3.)Camp 06, 07

3 Proud moments:
(Don't get a big head, I'm just wondering what accomplishment/praises you've ever got)
1.) Exiting the stage after my first scene as Phil and hearing the audience cheer :)
2.) Getting a job at the Chamber
3.) Can't think of anything else.....

How did you meet two of your friends?
1.) When I met the one I thought she was an Angel :) Pretty dress, blond hair...wouldn't you?
2.) I don't remember any other meetings...I've known most of them for forever...


What do you do to relax?
I read a book

What is something that annoys you?
Writing a book- a historical book, but putting modern thoughts and actions in them


Laptop or desk top computer?
I like laptops...

how do you drink coffee?
With LOTS of creamer


and now to test your brain :)
Can you name the person that said this with out googling or IMDBing?
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!"
Do you know what E-WIT's stands for?  

Post your answers in the Comments!!!! :)

Saturday, November 8, 2008

My Orders...

My Orders


My orders are to fight;

Then if I bleed, or fail,

Or strongly win, what matters it?

God only doth prevail.

The servant craveth naught

Except to serve with might.

I was not told to win or lose,–

My orders are to fight.
~~ Ethelwyn Wetherald


Thursday, November 6, 2008

Thoughts in the quotes...

“Apathy is the glove into which Evil slips its hand.”


"Man must come to his fullness, and fail....

...and then God Moves."

'The incredible thing about Miracles....
...is that they Happen.'

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Luke and Sarah tidbits...

They are just being so cute I have to write about them!

Sarah has two teddy bears that she sleeps with. Their names?
Wesley (except it's pronounced "Wesaly") and Peanut Butter Cup :)

Today Sarah voted for Sarah Elisabeth Palin. That's how she says her name, "My name is Sarah Elisabeth S------...but Becca calls me Shorty"
So when we told her that Mrs. Palin's name was Sarah, she added the Elisabeth part out of habit. :)

Susie and I got up early and sailed through the voting line in about 10 minutes flat. There was a line out the door but that was for district 1. Fortunately we live in District 4 :)
Luke met us at the door with "Who did you vote for?"
"McCain"
"Yes! We have two votes for McCain!"


It's been great to see an election through the eyes of a two and a six/seven year old.

Oh and I got to vote for President the first time!!!!!!

....and though I never got to vote for him....I'll miss President Bush.