Meridian Magazine :: Articles : The Amazing Connection between Thoughts and Feelings
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I read this and know that its truths are something I need to read over and over, so I am saving it here to refer to easily.
What can be more creative than to choose what thoughts we allow in our mind every day? Isn't that what it means to create the life we really want?
Friday, August 21, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Summertime
We've spent five days camping this summer and in spite of everything, it really was fun. But honestly, at every campout, there is a time, when I end up saying a silent prayer that I was not born to be a pioneer woman! And, I really don't know what to do sometimes, but everyone else seems to know, so they set me straight. But, still, I cook, I clean, I unload, I help set up, I hold hands, I provide and play games, I bring all the "stuff" for s'mores, I share a devotional, I take lots of photos, and I thank my Heavenly Father for this beautiful part of the world I can breathe deeply in and enjoy the serenity of being unplugged from the outside world.
This time we did not see any snakes, and no one got stung by a hornet, however the noises and bugs seemed much more plentiful than just a month ago, so I was grateful MyMike killed the big ugly wolf spider in the women's bathroom, because that was just TOO MUCH for me! I missed hiking and having Cowgirl with us this time, but the kids loved riding their bikes and the beach was much less crowded than last time, so all in all it was good. I am most grateful for a queen sized air mattress and my husband who is Super Camper and who is so organized and makes everything work out.
I made bean burritos down by the lake on two sheets of tinfoil over the campfire grill, one afternoon for lunch, and those were Delish! I slathered refried beans on top of a flour tortilla and cheese, let it melt, then added chopped olives and taco sauce when I put them on the plates. Everyone loved them and they were easy! Our favorite camping breakfast? Yogurt with granola! What did the pioneers do without coolers??? I'm so glad I'll never know. I wish I could say I never complained, but I'm far too imperfect. Still, though, I did it, and both times I got in long, good talks with my daughters, and that was really one of the highlights for me. I go where my family goes. And I enjoy Them - uninterrupted, all day and night, in a beautiful wooded setting. . . . The bugs, the dirt, the critters, the inconveniences, a bathroom that requires a flashlight to get to in the middle of the night - those are things I could just as easily do without.
MyGirl and I spent the first two weeks of August with "sick bugs" so were just happy to be finally feeling better by the weekend so we could end up going camping! And while she was sick and napping one afternoon, I got some scrapping time in . . . Here are the highlights of our trip to the Capitol last May. (Remember to see details, double click on the photo.)
Thursday, August 13, 2009
My First Ammendment Rights
My blog was originally about creativity. I value the opportunity I have to choose things about my life. This post, however is not about art. Its about the ability to create the life I live and love. Its about my personal feelings regarding the health care debate going on right now. I'm going to say it because my feelings are strong. Disregard it if you don't agree. Just exit out and stop reading now. Its just my own soapbox, to be sure. I value my first ammendment rights. I am grateful to be an American. I am grateful to have the right to worship as I please and to have the opportunity to speak and assemble as I see fit. Here are my thoughts.
Being born doesn't entitle you to receive health care. For the first two hundred years in this country everyone knew that if you wanted a good life it would take a lot of work and effort and some good luck too. Our Founding Fathers came here to do just that - work hard, be independent, and hold on to the liberty which they felt were granted to them by their Creator. To be an American meant you had the ability to choose for yourself how you think and how you live, not dictated to by a king or your government. We are the nation we are because even immigrants to this land were willing to work hard, save their money, pennies at a time, and stay out of trouble to help their families have a better future. Did they get sick? Sure, sometimes. If a doctor could help them, and they could afford it, great, if not they weren't whining about being here. They knew people get sick - its life, and they were just grateful they had the opportunities granted them as Americans to have free speech, free religious opportunity, and the right to peacefully assemble and bear arms. Why did they come here for two centuries? Because everywhere else they lived they saw what happened when common people weren't allowed these privileges and they did everything in their power to get here so their posterity wouldn't have to live like that ever again.
We are not a country of equal outcomes, we are a country of equal opportunity. Given your individual circumstances, you can still improve your lot in life if you work hard. There are compensations already in place for those who are born blind or so disabled that working and making great progress are more limited, but they are the exceptions in this country. The purpose of government is to protect basic rights and patrol our borders to keep the "bad guys" from getting in. I am referring to terrorists and people who seek to destroy our country and its citizens as well as those who feel like being a bully and seek to take away your pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In America those rights are already given to us by the Constitution. The problem these days, is that government thinks it has a different role. In fact in many ways it has taken upon itself the role of nationwide bully. It seems to think that only IT knows what is best for all of us. IT doesn't have the basic respect for us to make our own correct decisions. IT feels the need to make more and more decisions for us every day, from how much money we should be required to give to charitable causes to how much or how little we should say when we disagree with IT. In ITs desire to Control everything in our lives IT has forgotten how to control ITself. And so IT is largely unaccountable for ITs actions, ethically corrupt and prideful in ITs arrogance to determine that It should live one standard as an elected official instead of remembering that they are only there to serve US.
Unfortunately, in our government two key facts are missing. One is that governemnt workers are public servants. Service appears to be a forgotten notion in current politics. When you serve it requires sacrifice, putting your own needs behind those you are serving. You are more frugal with shared funds you have stewardship over because you know how hard people have worked to be able to give these to you since you are the one who is working for the best interest of all the people. You listen to those you serve because you are truly there to help them. Your agenda is not to make more money or to get away with something or to get better perks. It is not about gaining a greater advantage than another. Service is about taking an opportunity to work on behalf of another and then giving yourself wholeheartedly to that cause. Its not about personal gain but about losing oneself in the purpose of something greater than your own self interest. It is about keeping yourself to the highest standard so that your personal weaknesses do not get in the way of doing the hard work that really needs to be done. Unfortunately the title of Public Servants seems to have lost its real definition. Yes, we pay them to work for us, and so they, in fact, are accountable to us. It is not their job to deceive or manipulate or change us. It is their job to do what we, the people, have asked them to do. It does not make them better than us and it does not mean that we don't have to be aware of what they are doing, but when we are, they should never tell us to be quiet and go away and let them do all the talking because they are the only ones that know anything. No, it is the voice of the people that this government was founded upon, and so we must let our voices be heard again. They are the servants, we are the masters. I expect my government to protect my basic rights and when it does not, it can expect to hear about it. These are rights I will not just quietly give away. The Founding Fathers fought too hard for me to have these rights for me to just let anyone take them away from me, even my own government.
The second key fact that has been forgotten is that this was a nation founded by Christian principles. Even if you are not a practicing Christian, the basic values of honesty, being true to your family and spouse, behaving decently all have a place in American society. "In God We Trust," is all over things that are American. It is constantly there to remind us, but so many Americans have forgotten that when we put God first, all other things will fall into place. Men don't have to be perfect to be good men, but they do have to hold certain principles of standards and practices in their lives to be good men, and when they forget those and don't live them, they and we suffer. This is particularly true for public servants. We trust them to do the best they can and when they do it without considering the moral and spiritual implications to the citizens of this country we suffer. With God we cannot fail, without Him we cannot win. If this nation would embrace God's laws, our nation would grow and prosper again, but when we disregard His commandments and following His words and laws, the only thing left is for God to cease blessing our country, and wo to us when that happens. We are feeling its effects now, and it will continue to grow worse until people choose Him first. I know in my heart that we need God's help to get through these hard times on our country, but I fear other men and women won't heed His words, but disregard it. I cannot change every heart in America but I can be an influence for good in my own life, and I pledge to do better. To really be a good Christian and to be a servant for HIM, is the best I can do, and I want to do it for HIM. God Bless America, my home sweet home!
Being born doesn't entitle you to receive health care. For the first two hundred years in this country everyone knew that if you wanted a good life it would take a lot of work and effort and some good luck too. Our Founding Fathers came here to do just that - work hard, be independent, and hold on to the liberty which they felt were granted to them by their Creator. To be an American meant you had the ability to choose for yourself how you think and how you live, not dictated to by a king or your government. We are the nation we are because even immigrants to this land were willing to work hard, save their money, pennies at a time, and stay out of trouble to help their families have a better future. Did they get sick? Sure, sometimes. If a doctor could help them, and they could afford it, great, if not they weren't whining about being here. They knew people get sick - its life, and they were just grateful they had the opportunities granted them as Americans to have free speech, free religious opportunity, and the right to peacefully assemble and bear arms. Why did they come here for two centuries? Because everywhere else they lived they saw what happened when common people weren't allowed these privileges and they did everything in their power to get here so their posterity wouldn't have to live like that ever again.
We are not a country of equal outcomes, we are a country of equal opportunity. Given your individual circumstances, you can still improve your lot in life if you work hard. There are compensations already in place for those who are born blind or so disabled that working and making great progress are more limited, but they are the exceptions in this country. The purpose of government is to protect basic rights and patrol our borders to keep the "bad guys" from getting in. I am referring to terrorists and people who seek to destroy our country and its citizens as well as those who feel like being a bully and seek to take away your pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In America those rights are already given to us by the Constitution. The problem these days, is that government thinks it has a different role. In fact in many ways it has taken upon itself the role of nationwide bully. It seems to think that only IT knows what is best for all of us. IT doesn't have the basic respect for us to make our own correct decisions. IT feels the need to make more and more decisions for us every day, from how much money we should be required to give to charitable causes to how much or how little we should say when we disagree with IT. In ITs desire to Control everything in our lives IT has forgotten how to control ITself. And so IT is largely unaccountable for ITs actions, ethically corrupt and prideful in ITs arrogance to determine that It should live one standard as an elected official instead of remembering that they are only there to serve US.
Unfortunately, in our government two key facts are missing. One is that governemnt workers are public servants. Service appears to be a forgotten notion in current politics. When you serve it requires sacrifice, putting your own needs behind those you are serving. You are more frugal with shared funds you have stewardship over because you know how hard people have worked to be able to give these to you since you are the one who is working for the best interest of all the people. You listen to those you serve because you are truly there to help them. Your agenda is not to make more money or to get away with something or to get better perks. It is not about gaining a greater advantage than another. Service is about taking an opportunity to work on behalf of another and then giving yourself wholeheartedly to that cause. Its not about personal gain but about losing oneself in the purpose of something greater than your own self interest. It is about keeping yourself to the highest standard so that your personal weaknesses do not get in the way of doing the hard work that really needs to be done. Unfortunately the title of Public Servants seems to have lost its real definition. Yes, we pay them to work for us, and so they, in fact, are accountable to us. It is not their job to deceive or manipulate or change us. It is their job to do what we, the people, have asked them to do. It does not make them better than us and it does not mean that we don't have to be aware of what they are doing, but when we are, they should never tell us to be quiet and go away and let them do all the talking because they are the only ones that know anything. No, it is the voice of the people that this government was founded upon, and so we must let our voices be heard again. They are the servants, we are the masters. I expect my government to protect my basic rights and when it does not, it can expect to hear about it. These are rights I will not just quietly give away. The Founding Fathers fought too hard for me to have these rights for me to just let anyone take them away from me, even my own government.
The second key fact that has been forgotten is that this was a nation founded by Christian principles. Even if you are not a practicing Christian, the basic values of honesty, being true to your family and spouse, behaving decently all have a place in American society. "In God We Trust," is all over things that are American. It is constantly there to remind us, but so many Americans have forgotten that when we put God first, all other things will fall into place. Men don't have to be perfect to be good men, but they do have to hold certain principles of standards and practices in their lives to be good men, and when they forget those and don't live them, they and we suffer. This is particularly true for public servants. We trust them to do the best they can and when they do it without considering the moral and spiritual implications to the citizens of this country we suffer. With God we cannot fail, without Him we cannot win. If this nation would embrace God's laws, our nation would grow and prosper again, but when we disregard His commandments and following His words and laws, the only thing left is for God to cease blessing our country, and wo to us when that happens. We are feeling its effects now, and it will continue to grow worse until people choose Him first. I know in my heart that we need God's help to get through these hard times on our country, but I fear other men and women won't heed His words, but disregard it. I cannot change every heart in America but I can be an influence for good in my own life, and I pledge to do better. To really be a good Christian and to be a servant for HIM, is the best I can do, and I want to do it for HIM. God Bless America, my home sweet home!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Already August?
As usual, summer is flying by. Finally, I've been able to do a few more creative paper projects in the quiet moments of the evenings. The fireflies are gone, I've had a sick one all week, and one at High Adventure Scout camp, so its been relatively quiet here, which always means more time for my little projects.
First, some photos of BigBuddy's File Folio card - He is 17 now and so dear to me. Its with many mixed feelings that I realize this is his senior year, and after this, everything will be different. . . not necessarily for the worse, but my days to have him so close are so limited. I will miss him. I miss Cowgirl too.
These are pages from our Spring trip to Boston, and remembering LittleBuddy's baseball season. . . all wonderful memories!
Didn't make too many big memories this week but had some really good laughs with LittleBuddy and he got bit by the photo bug this week, so it was fun to see him play with an older digital camera and capture his world on it. Here are a few of his favorite photos.
Love these children!!! So glad MyGirl is better, BigBuddy is home safe, with just a few mountain-bike-induced scratches, and LittleBuddy said this week, "I'm glad I was born last so I can take care of you, Mommy, when you're old." I am so blessed!
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