Youth Pastor for the Rock Church in Monroe, WA Travis Warren is living on top of a trailer until the trailer is filled with Thanksgiving Dinners!! He is at the Monroe Albertsons parking lot. Cant miss him!!!
I have been trying to save a post for a while now but have been having a difficult time with it.
Evidently I have done something to anger my vox site...probably just ignoring it was the problem :-)
My humble and sincere thanks to all veterans who have served to keep my country and my liberties safe. My heart goes out to all of you, especially to those who have made serious sacrifices. While I go about my daily business and snuggle down safe and sound in my bed, many of you are guarding a wall, battling with the enemy, or rescuing people off rooftops during a natural disaster. Some of you are tipping your last-call glasses of beer down in the halls of the American Legion or the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Your time of service has passed, yet a part of you lives always in the men and women who now serve. Some of you are praying, alone or in groups, that all sons and daughters, wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, and parents are home by the next Veterans Day. You know He can grant your prayers, but it's unlikely given the evil in the world.
Many of you will march in parades -- some of you will be escorted in your wheelchairs -- and be either encouraged by the numbers of people who gather and wave flags along the parade route or disappointed by the numbers, which seem to dwindle more each year. But you should know that the intensity of pride and sincerity of gratitude from just a few who gather are much richer, fuller, and sweeter than all the speeches, blog posts,and five-minute clips on the late news hours.
Some of you are homeless. We can argue about whether you are crazy or on drugs or a victim of the recession or whatever it is that makes you chronically without shelter, but I am at a loss as to how this could happen in my country. With the billions of dollars we borrowed from the Chinese to give to banks and companies who turned around and thumbed their noses at us while they got massages and played golf at an exotic resort, we couldn't spare a couple or three to shelter people who, conscientiously or not, went and stood in the way of bullets when others did not? I apologize to you, for both looking the other way and not being sincere enough to promise you I will not do it again. But I know that you sacrifice to this day for what you did for your country and I live in the grace of your sacrifice.
Some of you are recuperating in a hospital, trying to recover physically, mentally, or spiritually. Some of you are being taken care of by people who care about you, and some of you were forced to endure deplorable conditions at a military hospital, where people were supposed to care for you and try to make you whole as possible, in the name of the American people whom you served. I cannot understand this breach of faith and I'm angered by it, as I believe other Americans were, but like other government-run horror shows it appears to have been easy to sweep under the rug.
I am one of those people who get a lump in their throat when they see an American flag backlit by the sun's rays. A sucker for icons, I get it when anyone plays the national anthem, even though I love "America the Beautiful" a thousand times better, or a color guard comes out onto a baseball field, or some jets fly over a memorial. The arresting sight of a string of motorcycle guards heading to a funeral to protect a grieving family from a bunch of evil nutcase protesters from a Topeka church makes me want to pull in line and follow them to their destination.
But I get downright weepy when I walk through the tombstones of Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, whether they mark the graves of Civil War soldiers, entire crews of planes shot down in World War II, or soldiers from other conflicts. And, even though some of the graves are for World War II and Vietnam vets from my own family, the the saddest to me are the newer graves of people who have died in recent wars.
I mourn those men and women who kept the wolf at bay.
And thank those who today still keep it from my door.
My first winter painting this year.
Anna and Scottie find a new friend....
.....on eBay now :)
My first winter painting this year.
Anna and Scottie find a new friend....
.....on eBay now :)
I've
just come in from raking leaves and my arms feel like they are dragging
on the ground:) We are having a bit of a weather reprieve and I thought
it would be a good idea to go out and finally get it done. I tend to
wait until ALL the leaves are off the trees, so it is a big job but
then it is over. Well almost over, there are always stragglers.
I've got a pot of chicken soup on the stove for lunch and then time to hit the brushes:)
Ohh, yes, I went to see Coco Avant Chanel.... Wonderful film. Go see it if you are an Audrey Tatou fan, a romantic, love lush backgrounds, period pieces, creativity, fashion and France!
Are you prepared in case of a natural disaster? What do your plan and preparations include?
oh crap no...
yes, i live in Florida, it's the Lightening capitol of the US. We also regularly have hurricanes.
I don't even have one working flashlight. No extra food....nothing...
But lucky for me hurricane season is pretty much almost over, some rain from Ida and then the dry season will come on full force.
Monty senses the excitement in the air! Remember a while back I mentioned a swap organized by Susan
called 15 things? Well ......I received mine! The doorbell rang a few
days ago and a mysterious package was handed over to me by a handsome
postman:)
Look how lovely all the gifts are.... Wasn't sure if there was a special day we were supposed to open.... I couldn't wait.
Monty knew there was a reason to be happy. One of the packages was especially addressed to him!
I am thrilled with all my goodies!!! Thanks so much Pamela!!
Here
is the 15 list.....old-fashioned, delicious, natural, salty, sweet,
cat, dog, culinary, green,sparkly,useful, paper, scented, soft, garden.
Can you guess what is what?
There is a photo contest at my Job (for the entire 7 hospital system). I'd like to enter, but I am not sure I have anything really great. My choices are:
The Gator. People like the color I was able to capture, and the reflection and the way the water looks....
The Frog which is a nice color study...and surprising...but doesnt everyone have this photo in one form or another...
Dragon fly, but his wings happen to be well used....a fact of life....
I need to decide the deadline is November 10. I have a ton of photos. They need to be non imflammatory type pictures as it is the religious hospital....but I mostly do wildlife, sooooo...
Which ones are good...
this is actually a Sun Rise....I like the dark and orangey contast.
With Digital Photography, I think the average photographer has become very skilled, given that any of us can fire off 40 shots, without the fear of wasting 40 things of film....so I think competition is fierce..not only does it have to be
perfectly in focus, and not have a lot of distractors. the composition of the image should also be good, which is sometimes hard for me, like the stick in the background of the Frog, its hard to crop out and there was no way I could move it....
Plus its hard to tell what judges are going to like, dislike.....
Sooooo..... what do you all think????
