ODB

Thanks to Kotya for this picture of our Mom.

Mom came to church last week and we took her with us out for breakfast then we gave her a ride home. When I got home I saw she left the newest Our Daily Bread in the back seat. This little devotional book has always been a personal favorite but recently I have not read with it. I have been reading repeatedly through the Gospel of John.

I brought this little devotional book with me on a trip into Anchorage for motocross. Sunday morning as the bunch got themselves ready for racing I sat down and read what I thought was in the right month but I was a month ahead and I read September 26.

From the devotional titled "Jesus Sets Us Free."

"I was bound by the iron chain of my own will. I was rather an unwilling sufferer than a willing actor. And yet it was through me that habit had become an armed enemy against me, because I had willingly come to be what I unwillingly found myself to be."
- Augustine (Theologian AD 354-430)

So, the grip of evil has been with us since the beginning and this quote sounds just like it could have been written now!

I like this other quote by Augustine that is evidence of his spiritual growth:

"Thank you, Lord, for granting me the power to will my self not to sin."

We will be hustling off to Fairbanks for one last State motocross hurrah. Anchorage will be hosting a fall series for motocross racing in September and then winter sets in.

Have a great weekend!

Cellphones and School

This Mornings Fog

Some schools have now banned cellphone use according to NBC's Today Show, Should Cellphones Be Banned? Having and using cellphones at school is something that brings a whole slew of problems with it that I've never even considered; I've only ever thought of the benefits of having a cellphone. There is comfort in knowing that our kids can always be in contact with us.

Some problems mentioned with having cellphones in school - unwanted picture taking. That is a horrible thought. Showering for PE was bad enough but to know that someone could take a picture? Oh my! I can see where that could be a problem! Do kids even have PE in school anymore? (Remembering Richard Simmons trying to get PE back in schools.) Snapping pictures for answers to tests was also brought up - upgraded cheating. Text-messaging during class time is a problem.

According to NBC, kids admit that they can text message without even looking at the phone; pocket messaging, ha! Now why can't we do that? It would be a good thing to learn for those of us that need reading glasses to read now.

How about that mosquito tone for making it easier to be sneaky?

When it came out in Britain in December, the Mosquito sound system was supposed to be the sonic equivalent of a "no loitering" sign. Its annoying, high-pitched sound -- which many adults can't hear but most young people can -- would act as a teen repellent. WashingtonPost.com

That is funny. I cannot hear that at all! I turned it way up and... nothing. The kids could hear it all the way downstairs!

We must make new ways to deal with new.... ways! The cellphones are good for keeping in touch with our kids and these gadgets should be incorporated into everyday living that will work for both student and teacher, parent and kid and wherever else their use may be disruptive - if used without manners.

I say kids should keep the cellphones. College kids videoed with their cellphone when the shooting happened at Virginia Tech. If they need to be taught cellphone manners then they should be taught that. Not at school, but Mom and Dad should teach them proper times when one should turn off the phone, in consideration of others.

I know that there will be those that transgress the rules, there always is. The majority of people grow up enough to abide by rules. If they won't abide by school mandated rules then yes, the cellphone should be confiscated, but only after a kid has proven that they cannot appreciate the freedom they have been given to keep a cellphone in their possession.

My phone won't work in Walmart, so whatever Walmart does, do it at school. There must be a way to make a cellphone dysfunctional in certain areas like classrooms and bathrooms.

Wow, I am using Mozilla Firefox and their browser shows up misspelled words and when I right click on it, it gives me options for words I might be wanting to use instead. It's cool! I don't even have to use Blogger's spell check! Great feature, Firefox!

Later - I think I hear my phone ringing!

Ron Paul

Have you heard of this man? He is running for President. I am sure that Texas readers have heard of him - he is a Congressman from Texas! He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, graduated from the Gettysburg College and the Duke University School of Medicine. He served in the U.S. Air Force during the 1960's. Dr. Paul has delivered more than 4,000 babies! :-) He and his wife Carol live in Lake Jackson, Texas. They have five children and 17 grandchildren! (Last she told me, my sister Millie and Adam have 17 grandchildren too.) He is in favor of bringing out troops home, I love that!

Read more about him.

I am just learning about this man. From what I've read and watched so far, I like him! Check him out! I especially like what he believes about eminent domain. I've always found it repulsive for our government to come in, say that they know best for how a private property will benefit others and then settle to pay way below what it's worth as they bump out the owners. That is so awful! Shame on our government, big town, small town and wherever else this is allowed to happen!

Quote on border control:

"A nation without secure borders is no nation at all."

Laughs

I downloaded and tried out the Firefox browser and mail program a while back. I used them for a while but because I had trouble uploading to my FTP sites I ended up going back to using IE. Tonight I opened up Firefox's Thunderbird mail program and found some old emails. Some were from my sister Millie. (Made me miss her so much more.) I also came across a few funnies that made me laugh again. Here are a few things.

Enjoy.

Two Jewish men, Sid and Al, were sitting in a Mexican restaurant. Sid asked Al, "Are there any people of our faith born and raised in Mexico?" Al replied, "I don't know, let's ask our waiter."

When the waiter came by, Al asked him, "Are there any Mexican Jews?" and the waiter said, "I don't know Senor, I'll ask the cooks." He returned from the kitchen in a few minutes and said "No sir, no Mexican Jews."

Al wasn't really satisfied with that and asked, "Are you absolutely sure?" The waiter, realizing he was dealing with "Gringos" gave the expected answer, "I will check again, Senor!" and went back into the kitchen.

While the waiter was away, Sid said, "I find it hard to believe that there are no Jews in Mexico, our people are scattered everywhere." The waiter returned and said "Senor, the head cook said there is no Mexican Jews."

"Are you certain?" Al asked once again. "I can't believe there are no Mexican Jews!"

"Senor, I ask EVERYONE," replied the exasperated waiter, "All we have is Orange Jews, Prune Jews, Tomato Jews, and Grape Jews."

A man was telling his neighbor, "I just bought a new hearing aid. It cost me four thousand dollars, but it's state of the art. It's perfect."

"Really," answered the neighbor. "What kind is it?

"Twelve thirty."

Mountains, Lakes and Flowers...

..and moose. Somewhere in the picture there are moose too. And now hunters too. Hunting season in our area opened yesterday. Hunting season is bittersweet to me. Meat is needed but to shoot animals is sad for me. I find this to be more troubling as I get older! I even find myself sad to think of the meat at the grocery stores and how they got there. I may end up being vegetarian at this rate.

But! Meat being cooked is irresistible! Moose meat is good. Some people don't like it because they say that it has a strong wild taste. Doug says some hunters might chase the moose and when it is caught the exercise makes the meat taste strong. We don't trophy hunt. Maybe the big, old moose taste different? We always had young bulls, the old bulls are way off somewhere.

I never used to go hunting with Doug when the kids were young, but then when they began to grow up and it was not so critical that Mom be there all the time I would go with him. The first time I went we brought our young sons with us and we rode ourATV's way into the mountains, set up camp, then took a look around. I find myself singing "How Great Thou Art" whenever I am up in the mountains looking down into the valleys.

That first hunting trip for me Doug woke up early and got dressed. I asked, "Where are you going?" He said, "Hunting." "Why are you leaving camp?" "Because that is the way I always do." "But we are way up here in the mountains where the moose live." "Yep." "Why do you have to leave?" "Gotta hunt for moose." "Why don't you just sit here and wait for them to walk past?" "I don't know."

Anyway, he stayed in camp for the evening hunt and guess what? A legal bull walked right up the hill, and stopped. He said that was the easiest hunting experience he ever had. I was there then and another time a moose walked right into camp.

The State cut down the hunting season this year. Last winter we saw the most moose ever here, I think at one time we had 17 moose in our yard. The amount of moose getting hit on the highway and on the railway is heavy. 200 + hit just on the ride to Anchorage. (One can sign up to be called out to clean up moose hit on the highway.)So, when I heard the hunting season was shortened it made no sense to me. There seems to be a lot of moose lately.

Doug is away to Houston, Texas right now so he is missing the first of the season which is the best time to hunt. After the first week they go deeper into the mountains and we never see them again until the day after moose season. They are smart animals! My daughters and their husbands will be hunting for meat.

Something is goofy with Blogger today.

New Poll

I am trying out the new Poll feature here at Blogger, please participate! Only six days are allowed for this poll, so vote now. It's fast and it's easy!

Have you visited Alaska?

I've said this before: "I was born here, grew up here, live here and will probably die here, but afterwards... I plan to live forever!"

I was born in Old Harbor on Kodiak Island. (Link goes to a picture of Old Harbor on www.kodiak.org.) Old Harbor remains a small village in a gorgeous spot. I love the ocean but my home is not near the ocean. We do get to the ocean whenever we can. I love getting near the ocean in Hawaii too! (Link goes to David Frazier's Photolibrary.)

I spent my growing up years in Old Harbor with four brothers and five sisters. I now live in South-Central Alaska, in the beautiful Matanuska Valley. (Link goes to Lloyd Photography, beautiful pictures!)

Yep, I plan to live forever afterwards, because I believe - for I've heard and read that

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Seward Highway - Soldotna to Anchorage

We went down to Soldotna last weekend for MX at Twin Cities Raceway. Kim got her very first trophy, Ashlee (6 yrs) won First place in all of her Motos and AJ (5 yrs) raced for the first time!

We had sunshine and it was beautiful.

By the time we started for home, we just wanted to get home so I took these pictures from the window of our truck. It was actually kind of fun and kind of funny!

Reminded me of the days when Doug never wanted to stop for the kids when they called out that they REALLY have to go to the bathroom! REALLY!!!! Then Doug would say, "But then we will have to pass all the guys that I just passed - again!"

I am getting an error message trying to post this file from RockYou.com but they say, just post it anyway... Okay I am going to do that and see if it shows up.

I went to see Mil with my sister Kotya and she lifted up her head, opened her eyes and looked around at us a bit. :-) She's been hospitalized for 232 days now. Just gotta show you a picture of her. I just took this a couple of days ago.

From My World To Yours

"O for thanksgiving for every heartbeat and a song for every breath!"

I am so happy that Doug fixed our lawn mower! The weeds have been trimmed and the yard is so beautiful!

May God bless your weekend with thanksgiving and songs!
See you next week!

A Wonder and Too

Early this morning I woke up and did the normal thing I do, I looked out the window to see what this new day was bringing us, weather wise. This is what I saw.

Such fantastic beauty. Look around you, look at the skies. I can see that a passion of God is beauty. The beauty around us is evidence!

I went back to bed (it was only 5:30 a.m.). Doug had just left for work. Not long after, I decided I would get up. I picked up my glasses to look out at the lake blinking and rubbing my eyes because I could not see. I could not focus. I decided that I must be tired so I began to put down my glasses and noticed I had on Doug's reading glasses!

I could not see clearly. I laughed at myself, then I stood there and thought of Sarah Johnson. She, at the time of her crime was a 16 year old girl charged with the murders of both of her parents. She truly had not been seeing clearly.

"Prime Time Crime," a show on ABC.com is a crime documentary and last night the allegations, evidences, trial and conviction of Sarah Johnson from the Sun Valley, Utah area was the topic.

Sarah became involved with a man of 19, an illegal alien who was known to be involved with drug dealing. After finding out Sarah had been intimate with this man her concerned parents resisted their relationship. Sarah's father even approached this man and told him not to see his daughter ever again. The jury ended up finding Sarah "guilty" after a long trial. Evidences proved her to be. Her driving passion - she wanted the "love" of this man even more than the love of her family.

From her story and countless others, it's apparent that when we set our desires on things or people with passions gone haywire, we will change into ugly monsters. I believe it can happen to any of us if the strong controls of our passions are not realized. It is important to set our desires on what we want to become. When following Christ we want to become like Him, yet we cannot see Him!

I can become like Someone I can't see.
That is a wonder to me.
I can walk in Someone's path whose footprints I cannot feel.
That too, is a wonder to me.

Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:26 - 29.

Windows

"Two Windows," painted by Zeny Cieslikowski.

"There is an extraordinary charm in other people's domesticity's." C.S.Lewis.

I ran across a blog of C.S. Lewis quotes. C.S. Lewis, a thinker and thankfully, a writer. His writings, a part of our lives too, here in Big Lake, Alaska. As I read some of "The Window in the Garden Wall" "The Magic of Suburbia," I began to think the following thoughts.

"Every lighted house, seen from the road, is magical: every pram or lawn-mower in someone else's garden: all smells or stirs of cookery from the windows of alien kitchens." C.S.Lewis.

I remember standing in village grass taller than myself, staring at other people's open windows, hearing bits and pieces of conversations. Sometimes the scent of Saturday's Pine Sol could be smelled or the sizzle of frying fish on a hot summer stove could be heard. Loud drunken men or women could be heard and watched as they would walk out a door and stagger down the road. On Sunday's they'd wear their best clothes, shoes and coats and hurry proudly off to church - the bell was ringing in the distance and it was time for church.

Ritualistic obligations. Chores. Cooking. Even worship of God can become a ritual. Something that we should do because ---this is what we are. The awful sin of pride again, coming right around the back side of us and slapping us in the face when we do things with such reasoning - because, this is what we do, this is who we are. Our actions (or inaction) are spiritual windows into the condition of our souls.

I picked up a small booklet "Winning Spiritual Warfare" last evening written by Freedom in Christ Ministries, Neil T. Anderson. I have read his book "The Bondage Breaker" which this booklet takes it's content from.

An illustration Neil uses:

An empty street lined with two-story row houses.
There is nothing in the street, it is clear of any obstructions.
I am at one end of the street.
Jesus Christ is at the other end.
It is my decision to walk towards maturity in Christ, down this long, empty street.

"But since this world is still under the dominion of Satan, the row houses on either side of you are inhabited by beings who are committed to keeping you from reaching your goal. They have no power or authority to block your path or even slow your step, so they hang out of the windows and call to you, hoping to turn your attention away from your goal and disrupt your progress." Neil T. Anderson.

What a vivid picture to one that spent time standing and staring at - windows. I must look up ahead, to the prize at the end of the street!

I visited Millie yesterday, she had her eye on me. Two of her daughters and their families are coming to Alaska and will be visiting with her and enjoying the company of the rest of the family. I know that this will be good for Millie.

Progress?

We stopped by Taco Bell for dinner on the way home from Anchorage one day and I just could not believe the change removing a landmark makes not only in Wasilla but also in my heart.

This is the face of progress. This is all that remains of our Cottonwood Creek Mall! In it's day (which was not that long ago.) this was the mall where everything happened in the Valley. At center court I saw school choirs, breakdancing, rabbits, antique models, crafts, dancing recitals!

When this mall opened it was great for us. Before this mall we were sorely deprived of shopping options. We paid top dollar for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, if we didn't make the drive into Anchorage. I was so happy when this place was built. We could actually do our school shopping in the Valley!

Now we have Walmart, Fred Meyers, Home Depot, Lowe's, even shoe stores and coming to this spot will be Target.

I am happy for progress --- but seeing this place getting torn down left a kind of strange feeling in me. Does progress mean ruin?

Thanks for the memories - Cottonwood Creek Mall - I will always remember you.

Wish Me Luck - I'm Switching!

I've put off doing this switch because I didn't want to mess with the trouble of losing the links I've created and the way my blog looks today. I decided to give Blogger's new "layout" feature a try so I am going to be messing around with that today. So good bye to how I look and hello to whatever happens! We shall see! I hope it is not a pain in the patoozey to be doing this changing.

Orbs, Moods, Relationships and Favor

NBC's Today Show's topic while I watched this morning was marriage. Getting married too young to have marriages survive; getting married before a couple really knows how to relate to each other; getting married and finding out that maybe they just aren't made for each other after all - "When Is Too Young To Say I Do."

A few months back I was looking at some catalogs. A quick word about catalogs. I like to receive new catalogs from new places and I like to look at their merchandise. I always used get only cheap catalogs, I wondered why? Now I get top-notch catalogs! I learned that if you fill out a questionnaire online and they ask for your income level, click on the highest income on their list! They will sell your name to catalog places and if you "make lots of money" you will get the fanciest catalogs! I love it! I love looking at what the top-level-income consumers get in their mail. [ha]

Anyway, I was paging through a catalog (can't remember the name) and saw a stock market monitor orb for the coffee table or desktop. Chosen stock values rise and fall and the color of the orb changes. That sounds like a fun way to monitor anything! What a cool way to monitor our relationships with each other if we could find such a gadget.

I don't watch or work the stock market but I might be good at it if I learned how. Sometimes, I take a peek at the information for keeping track of stocks and I get lost.

This orb is being sold at Ambient Devices for $150.00 plus shipping.

[oops, lost my coffee, brb]

I looked around the web but found nothing but check out this list!

Nine Words Used By Women

1. "Fine."
This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2. "Five Minutes."
If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3. "Nothing."
This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with "nothing" usually end in "fine."

4. "Go Ahead!"
This is a dare, not permission. Don't do it!

5. [Loud Sigh]
This is actually a word; a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an [you add the less than attractive name here] and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6. "That's Okay."
This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. "That's okay" means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7. "Thanks!"
A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say "You're welcome."

8. "Whatever!!"
Is a women's nice way of saying *bleep* YOU!!

9. "Don't worry about it, I got it."
Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking "What's wrong?" For the woman's response refer to #3.

LOL that was fun.

What about those mood rings? I have worn them when outdoors and the ring will be blue because my hands are cold. Supposedly, if your body temps are functioning as they should different colors will reveal the mood that one should be in all the way from Black = tense, nervous, harassed, overworked to Purple = sensual, clarity and purpose is known.

I would not depend on a mood ring to monitor relationships, but they are fun to wear!

Mood lipstick!

One of the suggestions on the show was that when you do get ready be married you should really evaluate what you are looking for in a relationship. I didn't! I was looking for marriage. Confession: I got married because my body wanted to do things that were only acceptable to do in a marriage relationship. Period! When I was young we didn't have the accepted options of "try it on, see if it fits before you buy the shoe" or "why buy the cow if you are already drinking the milk." That is really crass, btw.

God wants us to do things right. If we say we know God (according to this website 77% (declining) of American adults say they do) , we should marry before we engage in relationships that our whole physical being is revealed to the other. I can't imagine to be left behind after one opens themselves up that much. Yes, I am talking about sex. This relationship is serious and having casual sex results in broken hearts and many times children become part of the equation and sadly in our world abortion is acceptable.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to stay married and I didn't find any fantastic orb to help us! Being in love is beautiful. Deciding to stay in love is work --every day. Being loving is possible. It is possible to be together for life but you must choose to be there for your chosen one. Yes, temptations to stray from your decision to love this person do come along in life. So we learn to remain faithful, caring, loving, gentle and we work it out and decide again that yes, he/she is more important to me than that ... whatever that is.

God is favorable towards this and being married is a good thing. Having someone to go through life with, it's good! We learn not to be so selfish but to look out for someone else too.

From email:
Our last fight was my fault: My wife asked me "What's on the TV?" I said, "Dust"

From the Bible:
"He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord."
Proverbs 18:22