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.