Wild and a Crazy Week

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful and we enjoyed our time with our friends. Swinging into the Christmas season was easier this year. Monday morning came and the boys had half the Christmas decorations out of the attic so we spent the rest of that day and the next putting up decorations.

Last week was unbelieveable. Tuesday morning, Jim went to work on the motorcycle and the bar attached to the seat became loose and fell off the motorcycle. It wouldn't have been so bad but his backpack with all of his personal items including a checkbook was lost. I drove up and down the highway trying to find it for an hour and a half. Luckily, the police department found it and called us to return it the next day.

Then on Wednesday I tried to log into my hotmail account and my yahoo account and was blocked out. Come to find out, some cyberspace moron stole my identity and was emailing my friends online asking for $500 to be sent to the UK. The spelling was off and it sounded like a forgeiner speaking so luckily no one sent money. It took almost a week to get back on my accounts. Even my facebook was taken over. I should have changed the password as soon as I saw what happened but I didn't think of it.

I lost a lot of time from that experience and will always remember to change up the passwords every so often so it won't happen again.

We are tyring to keep ahead of all sicknesses so we have been drinking fresh lemonade making it from a neighbor's tree.

Tasha and Matt moved to Elberta which is much closer than Mobile. They are both working now at the new Wincells in Orange Beach.

A good book to read

One of the many blessings of belonging to a writer's group is that you are privileged to read

other books. This one particular book is being promoted this week and I am happy to say that I really like the story. The first chapter just sucked me in and keeps me wanting more.

Joan Sowards wrote this marvelous tale called Haunts Haven which is the story of Callie Wilford, a young single lds girl, who inherits an old haunted bed and breakfast Inn from her deceased mother located somewhere in an old western town. Once you start it, it is hard to stop. The story includes a love interest, a stubborn ghost and the town manager.

Read the first chapter at http://www.joansowards.blogstop.com/ and order it at Amazon. It's worth every penny!!!!

Be Grateful For What We Have

Last Thursday, our electricity was out most of the morning. Apparently a switch from a substation went down and we were without power for over three hours. Everything I needed to do that day took electricity. Checking my email, sewing something on my machine, and watching a movie. My crock-pot dinner was evern put on hold. We are so accustomed to electricity that it was hard to fill the time while I was waiting for it to come back on.

It's amazing how grateful you become when something is taken away from you that you take for granted. In case you haven't been forced into gratitude as I have been, this might help to put your life in perspective. These are some statistics from the internet:

"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have money in the back, in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the worlds' weathly.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare, even in the United States.

If you can hold someone's hand, hug them, or even touch them on the shoulder, you are blessed because you can offer healing touch.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not."

Thanksgiving is this week and I'm reminded by force what I am truly thankful for in my life. I need to remember this all year round. Besides being grateful for electricity, I am grateful that I live in my own home in a nice neighborhood, drive a "paid-for" care and live a healthy, active life. My children are good citizens, and keep active with school, work and church activity. I have food on my table, money in the bank and extended family I can count on any time. I am truly blessed and grateful for what I have. I hope you are too.

A good book to read

Marsha Ward started this series a long time ago. She wrote and rewrote the first story and turns out a marvelous book called the Man From Shenandoah. Fast foward to the present day and the third book in this series called Trail of Storms is now published and on sale at Barnes and Noble.

This interesting story of Jessie Bingham in a bewildering tangle of values, emotions and high adventure. I'm not a western kind of person but I want to read this book.


http://search.%20barnesandnoble.%20com/Trail-%20Of-Storms/%20Marsha-Ward/%20e/9781440126048/%20?itm=1

Ida was here

Hurricane Ida wasn't much of a hurricane by the time it got here to Loxley. Although there were wind gusts up to 70 miles an hour, we had more rain than anything else.

I'm very excited though for the snowball affect going on with my Of One Heart book. I did an interview yesterday and had several writer friends promote it on their blogs and websites. Its very exciting.

No school today either or tomorrow for Veteran's Day so we have some time to do some extra stuff that we don't get to do very often. A surprize short vacation. I did get more of my next manuscript done but I still have much more to do. Since this lastest manuscript (Dogs, Blogs, and Hobbits: Writings from a Widow's Perspective) was typed on two different computers, I had to type the whole thing over again because there was some corruption in the file. The PDF conversion manuscript would not work for my publisher so I am now typing the whole thing over. What a pain but I have to do it. My hands are going to be hurting for a while.

As for the rest of the week---soccer will be canceled because of the flooded fields and this friday is the 13th. Our day for Jim and me to go on a date!

Stay dry!!

Halloween

Today it's halloween and the last day of October. I would have had my 4th book submitted by now but I am having such a hard time with the manuscipt not being corrupted ---it is taking so much time. I have redone the manuscript on WORD 3 or 4 times and still it is corrupted in some way that the pdf file won't format correctly.

The boys are out trick or treating with the neighbor children. We have had 35 to 40 kids so far and it has been fun. The ward (church congregation) fall festival yesterday was a great success. There were close to 100 people there and many brought friends. There were lots of pots of chili, the games were well played and the trunk or treating was really fun. A new addition to the festivities was the Young Men's Truck of Terror haunted house. One of the parents had a big truck which they transformed into a haunted house. Pretty funny. It threatened to rain all night but didn't at all until 10:30pm after we got home. Good timing.

Watching Arthur......

Today, (October 9th) Matt and Tasha had the opportunity to work down at the beach so I watched Arthur for about six hours. He is really a cutie. He is starting to smile and make baby noices. Yesterday, Sarah and Drew, Pat and Jeff, Matt and Tasha and myself --Jim couldn't make it---all met together at the Oyster House in Gulf Shores and ate lunch together. It was really fun. Matt's Dad, Bud Morris is the manager down there and was so nice. He sent a few platters of appetizers for us. It was so good. I was so full.

My Birthday.......

About a month ago, (September 6th) I turned 50 years old. It was hard to imagine that I was that old but live went on just the same and I don't look much older than 35. So I'm happy with my life. I did want to have some kind of celebration so Sarah said don't worry about anything---everyone will pitch in. So with my birthday on Sunday, I figured we would do something on Saturday. I really want to go to Lamberts in Foley.

Thursday came around and we went to the Bozemans for a night of dominoes. That was fun because Jessie and Katy were there with their children. We all ate dinner together--Lydia, Moses and Henry included.

Friday we went to the Delgatos for an evening of swimming and eating. That was fun too. But Saturday morning I woke up to take the dogs out and I saw a girl coming out of the bathroom. This girl looked familiar and I realized it was Sarah. She had surprized me by flying home for the weekend. So we all had a great time on Saturday. We did get to go to Lamberts as well. What a weekend. It was so much fun. The only bad thing was that I had to drive Sarah to the airport in New Orleans so I couldn't stay at church on my birthday but that's okay. When I got home, everyone was there to say happy birthday including Jeff and Melonie Holifield. That was a surprize!!!

The picture here is of Jeff, Melonie, Arthur sitting on Melonie's lap, Naomi and Jon reading his book. It was a fun time the whole weekend.

The Next Book..........

Now that I have Home Is Where The Heart Is back in circulation and Home Is Where The Learning Is: Homeschool Lifestyles from Homeschool Moms also out I had another book I wanted to publish. It's called Of One Heart: Being Single in the LDS World. I finally finished it and I'm tweeking it a bit so it will be perfect. This is the cover that Lydia painted for me in watercolor and I scanned it and did a little bit more with it before I put it on the cover. It was perfect. When I recieved my proof in the mail I was so overwhelmed at how good it looked. I just needed to fix the internal part to make that perfect. It should be out at the end of the month of October. I think it will be successful as well.

Wednesday I helped the Young Women finish off the quilt for Ayna Delgato and it looked really great. It has been a full week.

Republishing my first book

It has been an exciting couple of weeks. I have had the opportunity to re-publish my first book: Home Is Where The Heart Is that I did in 2002. I had the cover redone and it looks much better. This is the cover design that Rhonda Wolverton did for me and the back cover looks great too. I am really going to promote this book as soon as it is done at Amazon.com.

I fixed all that typos and added my website there so it will be a great blessing to anyone who wants to read it. There are several who are interested in buying it and will get the chance towards the end of the month.

Soccer has started up for Moses and Henry and we have been busy driving back and forth to Robertsdale where the practices are played. Henry practices at the Loxley Elementary School playground. It's been a busy couple of weeks.

The fall is finally here.........

After it cooled down a few weeks ago, we were all excited to have the fall weather and enjoy the normal October activities but then it got very hot again. So much for fall right now. Sarah and Drew with the two girls are here to visit for a week instead of coming for Christmas. So we have been driving back and forth to Gulf Shores to see everyone and swim in the Gulf. It has been fun but I forgot to take pictures. That's the problem with cameras, you have to remember to take pictures. I will on Sunday when everyone is here.

Sunday, everyone will come over to celebrate Naomi's and Tasha's Birthday together. We will skype Isaac so the only one left not here will be Caleb. He is doing well and is not in the mountains of Mexico with a small branch and country air. He has already seen a shephard boy with a goat herd. Very interesting. More to come.

Finding my family

Today I applied to be accepted into a Geneology Program being filmed for BYU. I needed to post my picture so they can see what I look like for their program. It would be so wonderful if I were chosen as one of the participants. They would help me find my Great-Great Grandfather in Russia and maybe find out why he changed the spelling of his last name. His brother apparently kept it the same but Arke decided to change it. This affected those who I found in research and those who I couldn't find because of the name change.
It has been stormy all day so far and a great day to stay in and do some researching on my family line.

One Whole Year

One whole year has passed since Jim and I were married. We celebrated over the weekend and while celebrating we received a call from one of the Stake Presidency Saturday morning. The call was extended for 2nd Councilor in the Bishopric. Very exciting that he can serve in this position. He will get to know the ward members better.

A Reason to "Quit"- Editorial

News reports and commentaries are still rolling in of why Sarah Palin has stepped down as governor of Alaska before the end of her term. Everyone has put their two cents in on the reason she would do such a thing and I would like to throw mine in as well.

Just think about it, this woman set out to do something really great. She was elected mayor in an Alaskan town and then Governor of Alaska. She was then asked to run for Vice-President of the United States all with the idea that she can stop the corruption and do good for others. She did very well in her state of Alaska but after the national elections were over the media would not leave her alone.

From talk show hosts to false accusations in investigations, she has been attacked relentlessly and from both sides of the political spectrum. It wasn’t only her alone, but her whole lifestyle including her husband and children were under attack.

A senior policy analyst with the Independent Women’s Forum, Allison Kasic said, “Palin has had more hatred and vitriol thrown her way than any other politician in her lifetime.” She’s been called a coward, a quitter, crazy like a fox and one who can’t take the heat.

In her speech to step down from her job as governor she spoke of a higher calling and it is driving the media crazy as to what her motives are for the future. I don’t think she is shirking her responsibility as governor. It was a painful and difficult decision to make and with all the legal fees she has accumulated to defend herself in office and as it was reported, most of her time and her staff’s time was spent responding to the constant barrage of criticism and attacks and the work for the people of Alaska was being neglected.

The obvious reason still stands firm. As she won’t be the center of attention in the governor’s office so they can continue with the work for a better Alaska, the high calling is that of wife and mother. She has done all she could in her position and it was time to step back and be with her family. Too much mud has been slung to her and her family and she is doing what any mother would do to protect her family. She is focusing her life on what really matters: her husband and children.

Sandy Rio, a Fox News Columnist, said it well: “It’s no mystery why Sarah Palin stepped down now to stop the waste of time and money for the Alaskan people and to quench the infliction of pain on her family. If the love of the governor for her state and the mother for her children causes her to step down and become a quitter, then may her kind of ‘quitting’ increase.” I couldn’t agree more.

Defending True Liberty-Editorial

As this Saturday is our nation’s Independence day, we are reminded of the sacrifices of those who came before us. We are reminded of what our true liberties are and that we are free to take care of our families, live in our own home, work at a place of employment without harm and spend time with friends and our families.

I read The Declaration of Independence this morning and as I did, it reminded me of how those earlier delegates felt about the true liberty of our budding nation at the time. One of the world’s best-known statements declared was that “all men are created equal… endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” We need to remember the words of our forefathers.

The news of what our government wants to accomplish in the next few years is devastating because slowly but surely we are being stripped of these Rights. When all is said and done, the privileges we have been enjoying in the past will be gone, true Liberty will no longer exist and our Happiness will be gone forever.

From one of our ecclesiastical leaders in the past, David O. McKay said: “True liberty in individuals consist of the enjoying of every right that will contribute to one’s peace and happiness, so long as the exercise of such a privilege does not interfere with the same privilege in others. It consists not in doing what one likes to do but in doing what one ought to do. It is the right of each individual to be master of his own time and actions consistent with fairness and justice to his fellow men and with harmony with the laws of God. It is freedom of choice, a divine gift, an essential virtue in a peaceful society.”

The fight to keep our liberties is going to be a strong one in the coming months and we have to be vigilant in watching what national leaders’ intend to do with our freedoms. We need to watch what bills are passed. We need to make our voice known to Congress that we will not accept any laws passed which are unconstitutional and take our liberties away. This is what we ought do.

We have so much to fight for living in this free nation. We owe it to those who came before us. Just as Thomas Jefferson wrote in his closing statement of our Declaration, I leave you these words: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Remember these words and have a happy, healthy and safe Fourth of July.

Day Camp in June

This past month has been a very busy month. I worked full time at a day camp at the Loxley Civic Center and it has ended on Friday. It was a fun job. I was responsible for 10 children from 5-8 years old and they were fun.

This picture to the left is the whole group in the last week. There were 14 to 15 older children 9-12 years old. We started our day every morning at 8am with a walk on the 1/2 mile track and an hour play time on the playground or playing kickball, football or baseball. Once 9:30 hit, it was way too hot to stay out any longer so everyone went in for a cool down and snack. Then we would do a craft activity, play games or read stories. On Tuesdays, we would visit the local theater for a summer flick and then come back. Friday afternoon would be water time with slip and slides, sprinklers and a small pool. Every noon would be lunch time and then after lunch we would either watch a fun movie, do another craft, play pool in the pool room or just play games. It was fun for me as well because I was allowed to take Moses and Henry with me to participate. We also had a CPR class, a babysitting class, sun safety class, and the local firemen came to teach fire safety bringing their "smoke house". Our day ended at 3pm every day and it was a test of endurance by Friday afternoon.

Now that I'm done with being a camp counselor, I am free for the rest of the summer. One skill I did learn at day camp was how to "hair wrap". It is a macrema skill which allows you to put colorful embroidery thread around a small section of hair. You can also add beads. I started making the wraps without the hair for an idea I had to sell on the beach. Normally hair wraps stay on your head for a week or more but the hair grows out, you have to sleep on it and it sometimes gives you a headache. My idea is that with a hair clip you can wear your hair wrap whenever you want and not have to cut it off your head when it gets old. I'll be trying out my idea this week when I go to the beach to sell them.

Fourth of July is coming up so I'm hoping that I can do well. Maybe sell 50 or 60 of them in a weekend. At ten or 12 dollars a pop that would be great.

The Birth of Arthur

I am so very late in announcing this but Arthur Reed Morris, son of Matt and Tasha Morris arrived on Wednesday, June 17th at 5:45 pm. I was lucky enough to be in the room as Tasha asked me to be there. It was pretty nerve wracking to watch but very exciting. I actually watched my very first grandson come into the world. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 4 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long

He is a cute little boy (of course Grandma's are always right) and we were able to visit with Matt's family who waited through most of it in the waiting room at Women's and Children's hospital in Mobile.

He is now over two weeks old and doing well. We are all happy everything went well and he is healthy. Happy Birthday Arthur!!!

June Is Here Already

We are half way through the year already. Time is just flying by. I submitted my latest writing to Covenant Book. Of One Heart: Being Single in the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints will hopefully be published by next Spring. We can only hope.

This picture is of us at the homeschool co-op we did during the school year every Monday morning. It ended last month and won't start again until the end of August. We accomplished a lot through this program and it kept us on track for school.
Last month Moses, Henry and I went to Colonial Times at Fort Conde in Mobile. The people of Mobile sponsor this festival of the life and times of the Colonial Days. It was a great time with a petting zoo, butter churning, candle making, writing with quill pens, dressing in costumes, games and of course a chance to run through the Fort. The highlight of the day is when "Captain Jack Sparrow" and his pirate associate gave a great demonstration of sword fighting and posed for a picture with us. It was a great day.

Tasha is about due to pop. Her due date is June 24 and her nursery is just about done. Both Matt and Tasha are very excited. He will be the first male born to Matt's side of the family.

Boy Scout camp is coming up for Moses. It will be his first experience going to Mabella Camp. Eliot was going to go but couldn't get off work.

I started a new job this week. Our little town sponsors a day camp at the civic center every summer and I am one of the camp counselors. I get to take Moses and Henry with me and we get a nutritous lunch as well. This will last for 4 weeks.

Jim is working for Walmart and does not have a lot of hours. He is hoping to transfer to another store to get on permanent full time and move up. It's mostly nights, which makes it difficult but we are hanging in there.

Our garden is growing so well. We are getting sweet peas, zuchinni and peppers. The tomatoes and cucumbers are not ready yet. It has been a great blessing.

How Far Right Is Too Far?-Editorial

Since the election last November, there have been confusing reports about the foundation of the Republican Party. For a while it seemed that both Democrats and Republicans were representing the same ideals. Even our best representative for the Republican Party, Sarah Palin, was under attack from her own party constituents for standing up to the beliefs of what the Republican Party represents: less government, strong family ties and military and lower taxes.
Then Sunday, Colin Powell was interviewed on Face the Nation and said, “The Republican Party needs to stop being controlled by the ‘right wing’ if it is going to expand and become a viable national party again.” I didn’t think the Republican Party was being controlled by the right wing. The Republican Party had ideals which were supported by what Colin Powell calls the “right wing” but not controlled. We need a Party that is in opposition to the Democrats so we all have an opportunity to align ourselves with our own ideals. Over all, Republicans certainly don’t want government controlling banks, the auto industry, health care and other facets of our private lives. Republicans don’t want enough debt to last past our grandchildren.

Enter Michael Steele, the new Chairman of the National Republican Committee. He was voted in last week and gave an excellent speech explaining all that should be accomplished by the Republicans to be a viable party for the future. His points are not too far to the right; they are not too far to the left. They are sensible ideals which all Americans should adopt and encourage their congressmen to adopt in their political views:
1. “You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.”
2. “You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.” 3. “You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.” 4. “You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred.” 5. “You cannot establish security by borrowing money.” 6. “You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.” 7. “You cannot build character and courage by taking away one’s initiative and incentive.” 8. “You cannot help individuals permanently by doing for them what they should do for themselves.”

These ideals are the basis for every American who lives in this country. Although it’s not perfect, the past 220 years since the Constitution has been adopted in 1789, has been successful for the most part in governing our lives to move in the right direction. Our freedoms to own property and business have kept this country going to the point of prosperity that it is. What is considered the far right is just an accusation to do it the Democrats’ way. We cannot give in to their criticisms. Michael Steele will make sure of that.

More Writings

I am going to start posting my editorials here for everyone to read. I have another blog posted on this blogger website called A Beacon Of Light, that is a collection of writings from different women. I contribute to that as well. That one is more inspirational writing.

I keep saying I'm almost done with my manuscript but I keep writing more so I guess I'm not done yet. It is shaping up very nicely so I'm hoping each time I write some more it will get better. The book will be called: Of One Heart: Being Single in the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. Very specific topic but there is a great need for it.

Jim is just about over his shingles. That is an awful illness because it starts on the inside of your body and goes out to the skin. It's almost like torchering someone. It takes a long time to recover from it, but he is okay now.

I love posting pictures with what I write so I will be doing that quite often as well. I'm a visual person. This picture is of Henry (9)and Moses (12). Moses is small for his age and Henry is big for his age. Henry keeps catching up to Moses. This is the last week of school before summer break so everyone is excited to finish.

Have a great week.

Editorial: The Freedom of Choice Act

The first order of business after Barack Obama becomes President is to kill babies. If you have been following what Obama has publicly announced just recently, he said the first thing he is going to do as President of the United States is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. The Freedom of Choice Act is a bill that will promote abortion-on-demand into American law regardless of what laws already exist.

Americans United For Life (AUL) the first national pro-life organization in America since 1971 has taken it upon themselves to promote a petition which will urge state legislatures to adopt a resolution against this Freedom of Choice Act that President Obama wants to sign.

According to the AUL’s President and CEO, Dr Charmaine Yoest says “The so-called ‘Freedom of Choice Act’ endangers women’s health. It protects and promotes the abortion industry, sacrifices the health of women to radical political ideology and silences the voices of everyday Americans who want to engage in a meaningful public discussion on abortion”.

It was also noted by AUL Action Vice President of Legal Affairs that, ”The Freedom of Choice Act will invalidate common-sense, protective laws that the majority of Americans support including parental involvement, bans on partial-birth abortion and protections for healthcare providers who object to participating in abortions.”
AUL’s model resolution emphasizes that FOCA would nullify more than 550 federal and state laws related to abortion, undermine the right and responsibility of the States and the people to determine abortion policy, and circumvent the States’ general legislative authority as guaranteed by the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
In the case of Catholic Hospitals, Catholic Bishops have pleaded with Obama not to sign this Bill which would require even Catholic Hospitals to perform these acts of murder; otherwise they will have no choice but to close all Catholic Hospitals.
If this Bill is signed then teenagers will be able to get an abortion without parents’ consent, babies who survive botched, late term abortions will be set aside without any medical care or nourishment to die. Even animals are treated more humane when they are put to sleep.
This is an unbelievable scenario. How can we live with ourselves knowing our national leaders are signing bills to kill the unborn who want a chance at life? How can we let this happen in our country? We are a God-fearing people and this is just outright murder.
I am reminded of a quote from a wise person who said: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing". Call your local Congressman and tell them you are apposed to this Freedom of Choice Act so we can all retire at night with the peace of mind that we won’t force anyone to kill babies. We’ll all sleep better, I’m sure.

Be Grateful For What We Have

Last Thursday, our electricity was out most of the morning. Apparently a switch from a substation went down and we were without power for over three hours. Everything I needed to do that day took electricity. Check my email, sew something on my machine, and watch a movie. My crock-pot dinner was even put on hold. We are so accustomed to electricity that it was hard to fill the time while I was waiting for it to come back on.
It’s amazing how grateful you become when something is taken away from you that you take for granted. In case you haven’t been forced into gratitude as I have been, this might help to put your life in perspective. These are statistics from the internet:
“If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the worlds’ wealthy.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare, even in the United States.
If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them, or even touch them on the shoulder, you are blessed because you can offer a healing touch.
If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.”
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I’m reminded by force what I am truly thankful for in my life. I need to remember this all year round. Besides being grateful for electricity, I live in my own home in a nice neighborhood, drive a “paid-for” car and live a healthy, active life. My children are good citizens; and keep active with school, work and church activity. I have food on the table, money in the bank and extended family I can count on any time. I am truly blessed and grateful for what I have. I hope you are too.

Editorial: Abortion: An Issue Still Debated

With our new administration comes new policies and we have been inundated with so many policies, it is hard to keep up. As discussed before, the Freedom of Choice Act is one of those policies. This bill is the 110th of the United States Congress which “declares that it is the policy of the United States that every women has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child; terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability or terminate a pregnancy after viability when necessary to protect her life or her health”.

Upon further investigation of this bill it was made known that it prohibits a federal, state, or local government entity from denying or interfering with a women’s right to exercise such choices. I think many citizens would agree that the federal, state or local government should have no say in what women do with their babies. This has long been a battle fought in court but the whole situation should not even be discussed in a government office. This debate should be kept privately between those involved. It has gone on far enough and should be kept out of Congress.

Just recently something interesting happened. It was brought to my attention last week that there had been a mailing campaign going on. It was the snail mail kind of campaign which encouraged people to send red envelopes. It was started by one unknown person who had a desire to affect the abortion debate and it caught on to become an internet phenomenon. The Red Envelope Project resulted in thousands of envelopes heading to the White House over these past few weeks to protest President Obama’s pro-abortion policies.

On the back of each red envelope sent it said: “This envelope represents one child who died in abortion. It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception.”

I really liked that last sentence: Responsibility begins with conception. There are many opinions given in books and in the media telling us that life does not begin at conception. It is hard for me to believe this. As a fertilized egg develops into an embryo, the end result is the same: a child is born. The end result also being that if you abort an already fertilized egg, the child is not allowed to be born. It’s that simple. We should promote life not death.

It is sad that a country with such great developments and scientific discovery still has to argue whether to bring children into the world. We should all be pro-life unless the pregnancy would threaten the life of the mother. This is an issue that goes on in debate. Maybe one day we will all catch the vision of a better world where we don’t kill our own babies.

Mother's Day Approaching

Mother's Day is coming up this weekend and I wanted to post something to commemorate my motherhood. After giving birth to nine children, it is amazing how my life has led to different twists and turns and what I have learned since 1982. I now have two grandchildren and about to have another. My oldest two daughters are married a with the third engaged. It has been an amazing life and I'm very thankful for it. Three of my nine so far have served missions and all of them are productive, hard-working people.

Having children is such a blessing and I believe that many couples do not believe this. They are afraid of what adding on to their union will do to themselves. If they are selfish, then the children will suffer. If they are willing to sacrifice something in their life for something better, then children are a welcomed blessing. What else is there to live for if we do not have people who are important to us in our life? Certainly, leisure and travel activities become unimportant after a while. You can travel around the world many times and still not have joy when returning home.

I saw "The Bucket List" last year and it is the perfect example of what I am writing about. The one man who had cancer, had a family with a wife of many years. He wasn't considered wealthy in the financial world but he had children and grandchildren. The other man with cancer had female partners over the years but not one that stuck around. He even had a daughter but they were estranged. He lived on his own in a very nice condo, had lots of money from his corporation but really didn't have much joy. When it came down to it, the man who lived my himself realized that family was really important and made the effort to visit his daughter to patch things up and see his grandaughter.

I hope all of you mothers will enjoy the day with your families and appreciate who you gave birth to. Life is so much better with those who you have worked to have a relationship. The world is a better place.

It has been so long since I have written here. I almost forgot that I had this blog because I have been so busy with other things.

Naomi is married now to Jonathan Holifield. It was a fast trip on the weekend of March 14th to Nauvoo but a wonderful wedding. They are really happy together.

Since Caleb has been gone and then Naomi married we have rearranged the bedrooms in our house so that now we have an actual office. It has been so wonderful to have all my writings and books and assignments with my desk and computer in one room. Jim is such a wonderful husband to me and we are really happy together. School is coming close to an end and I have so many writing projects to do during the summer it will be amazing to get them done.

I am almost done with my manuscript: Of One Heart: Being Single In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and have four other manuscripts to send to Covenant Book if they accept this latest one. I am so hopeful and pray that they say yes.

Caleb is doing so very well on his mission right now. He has lived in Mexico for two months now and since he has always had a native Mexican companion, his spanish has improved greatly in a short time. He baptized a sister there last month and they continue to teach several families each week.

We also managed to plant a garden right after we got back from Nauvoo and the other reception in Daphne. It is florishing and we will soon have tomatoes to pick.

Have a wonderful spring day and I hope all is well with you and your family.