Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Being President / VP is more than just a job!

Someone sent me this conversation between Rush Limbaugh and a caller on his radio program. Being the proud mother two precious little girls, one with Down Syndrome, this spoke volumes to me about some of our candidates. If you take the time to read I think you will agree.

September 9, 2008 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Kurt in Pittsburgh , hello, sir. Nice to have you on the EIB Network, and how about the Steelers defense?
CALLER: How about those Steelers, huh?
RUSH: How about that?
CALLER: Hey, listen, Rush, longtime listener, first-time caller, one of those Bible, family, gun clingers from western Pennsylvania .
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: And I wanted to share a story with you. A week ago last Saturday we went to the Palin-McCain rally in Washington , Pennsylvania , was the day after he announced her, and we have a five-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, and we made a sign that said: "We Love Kids with Down Syndrome." So when they pulled in in their bus the sign did catch their, McCain and Palin and the rest of their family, it caught their eye, we could tell, they gave us a thumbs-up from the bus, so we were all excited just by that --
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. Who gave you the thumbs up, McCain and Palin?
CALLER: McCain, Palin, Cindy McCain, we could see them from the bus. We were in a position where we had eye contact with them --
RUSH: Oh, cool!
CALLER: My wife was holding our daughter.
RUSH: Very, very, very cool.
CALLER: It was really cool, Rush. I was like, "Wow, that's awesome," because I love Governor Palin and so I thought that's really neat. So then we moved around as the bus was getting ready to pull out, we kind of positioned ourselves so we could just wave them on and a Secret Service agent came up to us and said, "Hey, can you come with us?" I was like, "Do we have a choice?" RUSH: (laughing) You shouldn't have worried. It's not the Clinton administration.
CALLER: Right. So we accompanied them up the hill, we went right to the bus, where it was, and Governor Palin, Senator McCain, Cindy, Todd Palin, they're all standing there. We're in this inner circle with just us and them, and the Secret Service agent, and they came right up to us and thanked us for coming out, said they loved our sign, and Governor Palin immediately said, "May I hold your daughter?" and our daughter Chloe, who's five, went right to her, and I have some pictures I'd love to send you maybe when I'm done here, but Governor Palin was hugging Chloe, and then her little daughter brought their baby Trig who has Down syndrome from the bus, he was napping, and Chloe went right over and kissed him on the cheek, and my son Nolan who's nine, he thanked her.
RUSH: This is amazing.
CALLER: I will send you all the stuff, Senator McCain was talking to my son, and we thanked him for his service, and he asked my son if he wanted to see the bus, and we were hanging out and it was very surreal. I felt like we could have had a pizza with them, they were so warm. RUSH: You know what? I want to put you on hold. I want Snerdley to give you our super-secret, known-only-to-three-people here, e-mail address.
CALLER: I will send you everything, Rush.
RUSH: And then could you send us these pictures? Would you mind if we put them on the website?
CALLER: I would be honored, and my main thing is they are warm, kind, genuine people, and they represent the best of this country.
RUSH: That's right. And when you send these pictures, make sure you identify them. I mean, we'll know Palin and McCain, of course. Identify yourselves.
CALLER: I will, I will identify everybody in the picture, Rush, and God bless you for being a beacon of hope and truth in this country.
RUSH: Oh, no, no. It's nothing, it's nothing. You're doing the Lord's work.
CALLER: Well, we're very blessed and I want people to know what a blessing it is to have a child with Down syndrome. These kids, they're angels.
RUSH: That's the thing. There's always good to be found in everything that happens. It may be a while before it reveals itself.
CALLER: Absolutely, and when she hugged my daughter I said, here's the difference, this candidate embraces life and all its limitless possibilities.
RUSH: All right.
CALLER: That's what she is.
RUSH: Terrific, okay, I gotta run here, but I'm going to put you on hold.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush.
RUSH: Thank you, Kurt. I really appreciate it.
END TRANSCRIPT




Kurt with daughter, Chloe and Gov. Sarah Palin



Kurt's son, Nolan with Senator McCain and wife Cindy McCain



Kurt's wife, Margie, son Nolan, the McCains',
Kurt (holding 5 year old Chloe)
Sarah and Todd Palin and their daughter Piper




Nolan, the McCains', Kurt and Gov. Palin with
Chloe in her arms

Sunday, September 7, 2008

"Yearbook Yourself"


1960


1966 ~ I could have starred in "Hairspray!"


1980 ~ nice frizz!!!


1990 ~ the scary thing is that this looks
exactly like my 11th grade school picture

My friend, Whitney made me aware of this hilarious website called yearbookyourself.com. I decided to try it and these pictures are the scary, but funny outcome!!!! I'm sure one day I'll look back at my pictures today and think they look just as funny!!! Give it a try! It's sure to bring some good laughs!

Pour on the Salt, Turn on the Light

My heart was stirred and challenged today in both Sunday school and church. In Sunday school we have been learning about the covenant relationship we can have with Christ and exactly what that looks like. As I listened and we read God's word I was once again amazed that the God of the Universe desires a relationship with me, despite my shortcomings and failures. I'm so thankful that I didn't have to DO anything to earn His love and grace, because that would have been impossible. But I was also reminded that we should never view our salvation simply as our "ticket" into Heaven. While it does guarantee that, we should desire to live our lives in a way that's pleasing to Him, because we want to!!!! We also talked about how important it is to deal with sin in our lives immediately when the Holy Spirit convicts us of it. The more we let it go the more we become numb to it and before we know it it doesn't even bother us anymore. As the Casting Crowns song says, it's a "slow fade." Lives don't just crumble in a day. It happens with letting sin sneak into our lives in small ways and not addressing it and dealing with it until we are totally off track. It was a good lesson.

In the main service we have been looking at what it means to be "salt and light" in our world. My heart was challenged as we talked about asking God to put people on our hearts to pray for and reach out to. If we don't tell them about Jesus, maybe no one ever will. Help me, Lord to be intentional about being aware of those around me who don't know you or have moved away from you. If I am not serious about that, then everything else I do is really useless.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

My baby turned "12!"


Two peas in a pod ~ Emily and best bud, Abby!


My two girls, Emily and Dana


Em and her luau cake mom tried to create!


Emily and one of her favorite little people, Hannah


The whole gang ~ Abby, McKenzie, Hannah,
Marah, Kayla, Rachael, Emily, Miss Jaime,
and baby Nathan!

It's almost impossible for me to believe that my "little girl" is almost a teenager. This fall has brought about many changes. She started junior high and homeschool for the first time, youth at church, and turned 12! She is such a blessing in our lives. Our prayer is that she would always keep her gentle, sweet spirit and continue to grow in the Lord. She challenges me in my walk with the Lord as she is so committed to and excited about hers. I love you, Emily and can't wait to see all the Lord has planned for your life!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Entering the "Blog World"

Well Blog world....here I am! I thoroughly enjoy reading other blogs, so I decided to give one of my own a try. We live away from many family and friends, so maybe this will help them keep up. God knows there is plenty to keep up with in my family's life!!! Let's just say it is never dull.