9/11 Ten Years Later

I hoped that today would bring more rememberance.  More reflection.  I watched that "awful, biased" Fox News this morning, and they recounted the events and played footage of it.  I don't understand why the media will not show it.  It is devastating, and it is life altering.  There are kids today who have no idea, really, what happened.  I heard a report that 95% of Afganistan citizens do not even know what happened on 9/11.  Go figure, they are wondering why the heck are all these Americans in our country!

I have a child, who God blessed me as a surrogate American parent.  She is Muslim, at least by heritage.  She is from Kazahstan.  And she is a gift from God.  She does not understand why any one, much less a Muslim, would advocate violence against any one who does not follow the tenants of Islam.  We have people screaming this is all Islam is about.   I doubt it, but we need the leaders of the faith to denounce the radicals. 

My girl just looks at me in disbelief when I tell her what the "leaders" of the Muslim faith proclaim.  I am a Christian, and my girl knows exactly who Jesus is and why he died.  There are no conflicts between our upbringing and our faiths.  She is a total blessing and through us, we can change the world. 

Governments won't do it because there are too many power agendas.  But people can do it.  People can change how people think, what they say, what they do.  And together, we really can change the world.

God bless those who lost their lives ten years ago.  So needlessly and so horrbily.  We really can make a difference and it is by reaching out to others with different views, understanding and standing by our principles. 

God will bring us all together in his own way.  And Israel is an integral part of it.  And perhaps so are we.  The question is -- do you want to oppose some one just because -- or do you want to make a difference.  I want to make a difference.  I am a very conservative person, but I am also very open to different views and beliefs. 

I am Mom to Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics, Presbyterians and even a lone atheist.  I love them all.  And I know that through God he can save them all and all of us.  Today is a reflective day and a sad day.  Just remember that not any "faith" or any "religion" attacked us.  It was a bunch of radicals who perverted a faith, sort of like what the Christians did in the Crusades.

God Bless us all and God Bless America!

R.I.P. Amy Winehouse

Rest in Peace – Amy Winehouse

Twitter is an amazing thing.  I remember my first “twitter” moment was discovering via Twitter, that Al and Tipper were separating. Jamie Dupree got the credit for that one for me, and he’s my best twitter source in my book. There have been many such moments since, and I find that I get more hard, up to the minute news via twitter, than anywhere else.

So as I sat at my computer Saturday after lunch, there it came.  Amy Winehouse was dead, or so they said.  And they were right.  No one knew the official results, but every one knew it must be drugs.  If you follow trending topics, you know, if you are trending on twitter, it is either really good, or really bad. In Amy’s case, it was obviously bad.  Two hours later, her death announcement hit the world wide web.  The power of the Internet -- on perfect, or imperfect, display.  What is even sadder, is Lindsay Lohan started trending just an hour or so later.  They were all betting on her to join the 27 Club.  Apparently, she has 2 years to fulfill their bets.  Lindsay apparently got drunk in a Hollywood bar Saturday night, or so they say.  It’s still sad.

Amy’s death brought some painful reminders for me.  I read many friends on Facebook, say what an idiot she was, as was the jackass guy.  They deserved what life handed them.  No question they made horrible choices that led to their deaths.  But I don’t ever think they intentionally decided to hurt those that loved them and wanted so bad for them to change course.  And chart a path that would save their lives.

They could not control their behavior.  I hope no matter what, they wanted to change to make the people who cared about them proud.  I look at friend’s kids who have turned the road and made the hard choices.  They struggle every day, but each day gets easier (ha), but more realistic to make it.

I remember a frantic phone call at 4 or 5 a.m. when my mother was hysterical because my sister had overdosed on drugs.  My mom and my brother went to Memphis, and my crazy aunt chastised me on the phone because she said I caused my sister’s death.  Long story, but that is the truth.  Again, a long anticipated call for my sister’s death materialzed.  I’m not sure if I had her girls or we swept them away from Cookeville that morning.  But we took those girls to the UT/Bama game that weekend.  I kept expecting the public address announcer to call our name to go to some un-named place for an “emergency.” 

They did not. Thank God.  And when she died on Monday morning, we told her girls.  They were 5 and 6.  Serious stuff for such young kids.  I’m just thankful that Amy Winehouse did not have kids.  Because the tragedy of all of this is devastating.  I look at the tragedy of my sister’s death.  Her kids are adults, but stuggling.  My mother is struggling. We want to help, but we really can’t.  We can’t change lives, people,   Only God can.

I pray that God changes my nieces’ lives. That they start making good choices, responsible choices.  I don’t know if they will.  And I know they see me as the incompassionate Aunt.  Any one who knows me knows I score real low on the personality traits for compassion.  That doesn’t mean I don’t love them, and I don’t want what is best for them.  The writing is on the wall, and you choose to live your life how you do.  I’m not perfect by any stretch.  But I do my best to make a difference, show love (as best my incompassionate self can) and spread Jesus love, through my actions.

Amy Winehouse died because she was imperfect and she couldn’t change to live.  She wasn’t stupid.  She was actually very talented, like so many artists, who joined the 27 Club or whatever before her.  Her parents and family are grieving for her.  Their lives will never be the same.  And until you’ve had someone you love die because their love of drugs over came their love for life, you will never know what I mean.

Independence Day!

Independence Day – I Love America!

Last year, Joe and I spent the Fourth of July in San Luis Potosi, Mexico with our Mexican family, the Ramirez family.  We hosted a Mexican young man, Jose Adrian Ramirez Gonzalez in 2007-2008 while he was on his American exchange.  In fact, we were not going to host a kid because we were building a house.  But Jose needed rescuing, and as Joe joked with him, we kept him because, heck, we were building a house, and Mexicans work hard. 

We love him and his family, and last year, we traveled to their home to celebrate Jose’s graduation from high school, and his youngest sister, Danny’s first Communion.  It was an awesome trip – see previous blog post.  We were treated like family, and we experienced some wonderful people, places and food. 

So this fall, we are hosting Gabby, Jose’s sister and Elly, Molly’s sister.  Molly is our girl from South Korea.  It gives their parents great comfort knowing they are going to a good family.  HeHe!  But anyway.

This weekend is Fourth of July holiday weekend.  I LOVE the Fourth of July!  I grew up in not so great circumstances, but my best memories are from the Fourth of July celebration that my grandparents arranged each year.  They had a cabin on Center Hill Lake – which birthed my love of water – and had a wonderful Fourth of July celebration each year. 

The day started with breakfast.  Pop had a Weber grill, and he had a huge skillet (I have it now).  To start the day, they cooked country ham, eggs, red eye gravy, biscuits, cantaloupe, and who knows what else.  But that is what I remember.  Then, we ventured to the lake.

We swam and rode in the boat.  I’m sure somewhere along the way on those holiday weekends, I learned to ski.  I was five when I learned to ski and seven when I learned to slalom ski.  I learned to trick ski in my teens and then to barefoot.  All this explains why when Joe and I got married when I was 18 and he was 20, we rented a little house on Center Hill at Austin Bottoms for $175 a month.  We froze in the winter and roasted in the summer.  We had a black and white TV, but we had a 1973 Ski Nautique.  We were rockin.

So back to my childhood Fourth of July celebrations, when the water was done we had dinner.  The kids got hamburgers and hot dogs, and the “grown ups” got steak.  Then, once it got dark, Pop had a fireworks license, at least I think he did now.  He had a tube to set off the BIG fireworks.  So the kids all set off all of our sparklers, bottle rockets, and anything else we could.  Then, we had the BIG show.  It was awesome. 

The Fourth of July is very special to me.  Now, I have an American flag that was flown over the United States Capitol.  I asked Senator Lamar Alexander for one and did not specify a day.  When we got the flag, it was flown over the Capitol on Jose’s birthday and in honor of Youth for Understanding and exchange student programs.  How cool is that? 

Now last night, Joe and I cut watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, and had a little seafood boil of our own.  We went down to the lake after sun down and floated in the water and just relaxed.  That is hard for me to do.  We have breakfast for church tomorrow, and Dinara (and maybe the wayward child) will come tomorrow.  Buddy is going to be super happy!  He loves Ms. Di to death.  We are going to spend time on the lake,  and make some homemade peach ice cream.  We will eat said watermelon, cantaloupe and who knows what else and soak up the sun and ride in BOB (Big Orange Boat).  I’m going to make some pineapple salsa and corn salsa and just enjoy the weekend. 

I’m trying my best to NOT check my work email all weekend long.   So far so good, but I don’t think it will make it until Monday evening.  But I’m thinking about my Mexican Fourth of July last year and our celebration this year.  I don’t think ant eggs are on the menu.  :o)

I love the Fourth of July and I love America.  I guess that explains why, according to Harvard, I’m a conservative!  I’m proud of my country, our Constitution and our heritage.  I’m proud I’ve reached out to kids and families all across the world, regardless of faith or heritage.  I’m doing my part to share my home and change the world.

The End - And a New Beginning

The last six months have been horribly painful from a church perspective.  It's pretty bad when you have a preacher who refuses to speak to over half the congregation (or more).  So today was his last day.  Not one word from him prior to today about the fact he was leaving, who was taking his place, or a nice introduction to a new minister.

Instead, he told the kids that it was his mission to make sure they knew Jesus.  And, he told them that they should remember what HE told them about Jesus and not listen to any one else.  Oh my goodness.  If I were a parent of a young child, I would be scratching my head.  I'm thinking as a parent, I first and foremost am responsible for my child's spiritual growth and development.  Why would a preacher tell my kid they should listen to no one but him for learning to love Jesus.  Scary.

So we have a tearful goodbye and then the Pastor -- from the pulpit -- puts his keys down and says these are my keys to the church.  I've only experienced one pastor exchange as a Methodist, and it was nothing like the hate filled vitrol that I experienced today.  The amazing thing is those who really know what is going on are saying nothing, not defending what is happening.  Yet, a man who professes to be a disciple of Christ rips our church to shreds and has done everything he can to destroy our church.

Why?  Because we told the church he was being divisive and hurtful.  What did he do?  Pile on more.  Yet, he is a disciple of Christ.  He dedicates his life to Jesus.  He is wonderful, and we are all going to hell.  That is the message we've gotten in the last six months. 

Our last pastor, we love and continue to love.  She brought me to our church.  She taught us to love and simple messages of what God's gift is to all of us.  What has this pastor left us with?  Anger, pain, hate and vindictivness.  How can you show Jesus love with that?  I'm not sure. 

But I do know our church will survive.  We aren't getting a "hospice care minister" to playcate the entrenched evil members who don't want to make a difference.  We are getting a minister who understands what LOVE is really all about.  And when we all get settled down and over the divisive, hateful, un-Jesus like conduct of a man who professes to be a disciple of Christ, we are going to grow!

The "statistics" cited today in church are fabrications.  There are many more.  If you don't believe me, really think about it. I know there are going to be a good number of people at LCUMC next Sunday.  They are looking for LOVE, and love is something that our previous pastor is totally incapable of sharing.  At all.

Listening to a Beautiful Voice

I hear this beautiful voice in my home.  It is the voice of a beautiful young lady, Ms. Di.  She is absolutely a joy, and I love her so much.  I do not know how long she will be here.  Please some one help her get a job, so she stays here.  But it is so wonderful to have her back home.  Buddy is in absolute heaven, and so are the other poopies.  We love you so much Momma Di.

The Nobel Peace Prize

Some one posted this today, and I thought it too funny, and also, scary.  President Barack Obama has fired more cruise missles than all of the other Nobel Peace Prize winners put together.  And they gave him that award because of what good he would do, for peace in the world.  Not what he had already done to earn that achievement.  So sad.  So sad for our country, and so sad for the world.

It's a Brand New Day!

I haven’t posted on my blog in a while, but there has been a lot going on, especially work wise. I think I realized the other day that I have not taken a day off from work, except for holidays since we went to Mexico in early July of last year. I think we need to remedy that, and I had the crazy idea to go watch one of the last Space Shuttle launches. Given that the actual launch can be an ever moving target, I’m not sure if that will work. But we will just see.


There have been a lot of changes in our lives and a lot of pointing in new directions so to speak. I have been very worried about our country and our world, and I just have to hope that it will all work out according to God’s plan. I guess what continues to worry me though is that many countries have collapsed and civilizations ceased to exist in the history of this great creation that is Earth. I am afraid that part of God’s plan involves the downfall of America. It appears to me that we have a President that is bent on doing so. If you do any digging at all into Barack Obama, you must come to the conclusion that he hates the principals for which this country stands. We are imperialist and exceptional, yet we have made some bad mistakes in our history for which we should pay.  It amazes me how many people are not really paying attention to what is going on in our country or in the world. It amazes me the number of people who rely on 30 second sound bites for the news. I just want to shake people and scream “Pay attention!”

I joked with Joe that I have two separate social media lives because I hate it when people update their lives via twitter and Facebook simultaneously. They are separate and distinct. Twitter is my up to the minute news world, both serious news and sports news. Facebook is for fun to keep track of friends and family and sharing information. It can be news some times, but I don’t need or want minute by minute traffic updates on my newsfeed on Facebook. I also don’t want “retweets” of people who I have no clue who they are on my newsfeed either. Perhaps someone can create some social media etiquette guidelines. But just like regular etiquette rules, most people won’t follow them. They either are oblivious, or they don’t care.

Lately, I have a lot of inner struggles with the direction our lives are supposed to go. I keep asking God to point me in the right direction. I am sure that He is, but I still can’t figure it out. I think it goes back to me worrying about our country, our economy, our nation’s debt and its impact on so many people’s lives. I watched the House of Representatives pass $60 billion in spending cuts for the remainder of this fiscal year. And then the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, refuses to act. They argue that the Republicans are going to cause the federal government to shut down. The mainstream media reports it that way. But let’s look at it logically. Everyone wants the federal government to cut what it spends, the House of Representatives takes “baby steps” toward that goal, and the Senate refuses to act. If the government shuts down, I think the Senate should be held responsible.

Now, the Middle East is on fire. The mainstream media put the spin on the over throw of Mubarak as democracy in action. Are you serious? A female CBS reporter was brutalized by a mob of 200 men during the “victory” celebration, while it is reported her tormentors shouted “Jew! Jew! Jew!” A few days later a radical Muslim cleric drew hundreds of thousands to downtown Cairo, and it does not take a rocket scientist to understand that there is a move to have Egypt come under the control of the Muslim Brotherhood. But we shouldn’t worry. Jimmy Carter says the Muslim Brotherhood is not radical. I just watch in disbelief sometimes. If our politicians say it, it should be true right?

After all, Barack Obama said that he was going to take firm steps to reduce the deficit. Then, he turns around and delivers a $3 trillion budget for next year. In early 2009, he said it was an emergency, and we must pass the stimulus bill. Otherwise, our economic collapse would fall off the cliff. But if we passed the stimulus bill, unemployment would stay at or below eight percent. $900 billion wasted on what was essentially a bill that gathered every pork project Nancy Pelosi could get her hands on, and still we have unemployment between nine and ten percent with no end in sight. On healthcare, Obama said if you like your insurance you can keep it. If you like your doctor, you can keep him or her. As one Congressman said, he lies. What scares me even more is that people are not really paying any attention. They are relying on twisted spins on news reporting on many fronts.

So I am worried, and I keep looking to the Lord. I have had my eyes opened in so many ways, and what I see is frightening. I see people who should be taking action to demonstrate they are men of their word, but who instead are acting 180 degrees different. I can’t shake it off. I just have to hope. I guess I just have to keep praying for real hope and real change. I have a feeling we will start getting it, a little at a time. I just hope it is not too late.