Hope For The Future!

This morning during my scripture study I found great hope in this scripture in 3 Nephi 22:13 and Isaiah 54:17. Maybe it will give you hope too.

"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise (revile, Nephi) against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord."

It Happened on My Watch!

Congratulations, Korinne! Excellent job of unsupervised organizing! You may not see this again in the near future so it's good to document it. Oh by the way, I did comb her hair each day and style it, but...some good things don't last.

IT'S ALWAYS FUN WHEN GRANDMA COMES...

When Grandma comes, hooray! I think that it's supposed to say Grandpa but Steve's in Oregon so I'm having all the fun. While the parents are away, the children will play. Since Korinne, Britton and Jenna's parents are out of town, we are making messes and having lots of fun. After school today, we decorated Easter eggs. This was a serious project but we got the creative juices flowing. We cracked a couple of eggs but they like hard boiled eggs so no problem.

Last night the power went out before I started fixing supper. It turned out to be out for over five hours so we improvised. We had breakfast for supper and supper for breakfast. Which turned out to be cold cereal. We had fun playing games, putting labels and stamps on my mailer and reading our scriptures. Then we pulled out the flashlights and extra blankets so we could keep warm during the night. We kind of felt like we were camping. After everyone realized we couldn't do almost everything we usually do, then it turned into fun. I was happy when the electricity came back on about 10 p.m. so I could clean things up a bit, take a bath and have the furnace running. I was sleeping on the floor in front of the gas fireplace because what else was there to do? I'm grateful for a bed and electricity!!!

It was almost like the weekend because we had pancakes for breakfast. Why? Because we could. Nice!

Korinne's my new daytime buddy! Doesn't her smile just charm you?

Back to Basics!

It's been awhile since I had the old sewing machine out, but I have been wanting to make a cover for our silk comforter that I bought last fall in China. I had found some flat sheets on sale and had cut and pinned them together to make the cover but I just hadn't gotten around to sewing it. Well I finally got around to it while I was mourning and trying to recover after the passage of the healthcare bill on Sunday. There's nothing like getting a nagging chore done to help you get out of a funk. So I started sewing. When I finished and got ready to change our bedding, I discovered a hole in my favorite sheets where my rough feet rub against them. Well, it's a $50 bill nowdays to get new sheets. Therefore, I became resourceful. I cut a big patch from the leftover cover material and began sewing. The patch is on the underside so it won't show that much. I'm glad that my sewing machine still works. There may be a lot more patching going on in the future. The old fashioned ways may become the new fashion.

Is the Sleeping Giant Awake?

I hope so. At least this group has opened their eyes. How did Steve and I get here you ask?
Last Thursday afternoon, the Obama Health Care Reform Bill was posted on-line. I pulled it up and started reading. After 41 pages of reading about "The Secretary" who would have the authority to "establish, regulate, develop standards, utilize, identify, implement activities to prevent hospital re-admissions, exempt, preempt state standards, impose appropriate penalties for non-compliance," etc. all at a budget of $30,000,000 for the first fiscal year and "with such sums as may be necessary" blank check for succeeding years, I became alarmed. I felt like I had to do something to help preserve our liberties for my children and grandchildren. I couldn't just sit by and let this progressivism take over our country.
Since Congressman Matheson was still undecided on his health care vote, I asked my friend Laurie if we should put together a rally to coincide with the rally being held in Washington DC at noon on Saturday. She said "Yes, let's go for it." We decided to meet in front of his office. That was Thursday night at 10 p.m. So Friday we both started emailing like-minded friends and making phone calls. When I went to the paint store to get some paint sticks for signs, the store manager gave me a whole armful. He was excited that I was doing something to try to get this bill stopped. I got some poster board at the Dollar Store and some jumbo markers. I made about 20 signs.

Laurie emailed me Friday night that there was a Code Red Rally for the Constitution being held Sat. a.m. at the state capitol 1 1/2 hours before ours. We decided to go to that one first. I made flyers to hand out at that rally. We got a lot of people who said that they wanted to come and would do so. We were so excited thinking that maybe we'd have a good crowd after all.

Steve and our dentist, Joe.

As we were driving from the capitol to Matheson's office, Steve called and said that there were a lot of people gathering there. I was surprised because we really thought our crowd would be pretty small--just some friends and a few people from the Constitution Rally. Boy were we surprised. There were hundreds of people there when we arrived 30 minutes early. The only thing was that they were there representing the opposition. They had professionally printed signs and t-shirts and they were ready to attack us. This they promptly did. We were stunned and hardly knew what hit us.

This group was loud, boisterous, aggressive and in your face. They had contacted lots of media outlets and there were TV cameras and reporters. Every time they would try to talk with someone from our group, the crowd would gather around and shout and push their signs in our faces. It was very unnerving. The rally at the capitol had more people but they were so well behaved. We started with prayer, the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem. Then they had several speakers.

Our rally was total chaos. None of us had even been to a rally before so this was a shock to us. I thought we would have a prayer circle, sing some patriotic songs and mingle. We hadn't planned any speeches. The "Yes" people had a blare horn and kept shouting us down. I was called a lot of not so nice names. They were trying very hard to intimidate us. I finally figured out that the group was from Organizing for America which is Obama's community activist organization. They have been trained for times such as these. They had their shouting points down. And as confirmed in the news article, they heard about our rally from someone and immediately put out the call to action. They came just to confront us.

Both Steve and I were interviewed by television stations. Steve ended up on the KSL channel 5 news and I was on the Fox 13 news. I was also interviewed by the Deseret News and it printed a nice article in today's paper.

This was quite the experience. We have learned a lot. Mostly we are committed to working to preserve our freedom for our posterity. We've lost a battle today but we don't plan to lose the war. We can't allow people who are so hostile and filled with hate to control our country. We have to stand for honor, integrity and truth.

Of course right after our rally experience, I had to head to do an open house for one of my clients. Good Americans go right back to work so I did.

Today I had planned a little surprise birthday celebration for my brother Steve. However, he got a flat tire and couldn't come up so we canceled the party. The cake turned out so well and we couldn't waste it so we waisted it instead. I will give him some when I see him on Tuesday. but it is now missing a section. It is a yummy applesauce raisin cake from my Aunt Wanda's treasury of recipes.

Vermont in the Muddy Season

Temperatures were milder in March in 2010 so the "Muddy Season" started earlier. We're wearing jackets, vests and sweaters instead of coats, gloves and hats. Shoes that don't mind the mud were also welcome.
Montreal was nice too.

Jeff's professorial plaque.

On campus of Lyndonville State near Jeff's office. Note frozen water fountain and the mostly melted snow.

Jeff's amazing gallery show. We were thrilled that we got to see it. He is so talented!

Sadie loves her Little Mermaid swimming suit especially over her pajamas.

It's so hard to choose 20 candies at Chutter's--the world's longest candy counter.
By the time Benson had made his selections, Sadie had already eaten hers.

Balmy walk around the neighborhood. Jeff & Libbie's house in the background.

Benson practicing with his new video camera.

We celebrated Benson's birthday a little early. Hooray for 7!

Steve and Libbie in front of the Winter Olympic venue from 1976 in Montreal.

Dessert crepes at our favorite Montreal restaurant.

Beautiful sunset out in the Vermont woods. We were visiting the home of a family from their church who is pretty much self-sufficient. They built the house themselves and they have solar panels with storage batteries, wood burning stoves that use wood from their 130 acres,

a propane cooking stove and a root cellar in the basement for a refrigerator. They are totally off from the utility grid. It was a most interesting home and it gave us a lot to think about.

What I love about Vermont...

Libbie, Jeff, Sadie & Benson, the scenery, Jeff's gallery show, the chocolate factory, the glassblowing factory & shop, the cheese outlet, the cider mill, the sugaring shed, the Culinary Arts Cafe, Chutters, King Arthur's Flour & Baker's Store, the proximity to Montreal, the Biodome, the truck stop cafe, the Hungarian restaurant, walking around Lyndonville, Jeff's fried rice, celebrating Benson's birthday, the self-sufficient Vermonters, and did I mention the fudge?

Libbie always packs a lot into a few days and we had a fantastic time. Already it seems like a long time ago though because the last two weeks disappeared somewhere.

Just Can't Get Enough of These Kids...

Quotes from Seven Miracles That Saved America

I just finished reading this inspirational book by Chris and Ted Stewart. I want to save a couple of quotes so I'm printing them here.

The first is from a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson 4 days after Abraham Lincoln's Assassination on April 19, 1865 at the Unitarian Church, Concord, Massachusetts found on pg. 263.
"There is a serene Providence which rules the fate of nations....It makes its own instruments, creates the man for the time, trains him in poverty, inspires his genius, and arms him for the task."

The second one comes from the speech written by Abraham Lincoln as he bid farewell to his friends in Springfield, Illinois and headed to the nation's capitol to begin his work as president of the United States on page 176.
"My friends--no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Wshington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell."

I highly recommend this book especially to anyone who is anxious about the decline of our country and needs hope in its future.

Ah! Vermont in March!

Steve is standing in front of a pond still covered with ice. The days have been warmer-high 30's and 40's with cold nights. This is perfect for the start of surgaring. Most farms are tapping the trees. Some have started cooking this week.

This bridge is downstream from a water fall which provides hydroelectric power in Quechee. This was where we stopped to see the famous Simon Pearce glassblower.
This is one of many covered bridges. Steve was fascinated because it was built entirely of wood.

We traveled along dirt country roads to see Sugarbush Farm where they make and sell maple syprup and cheese. This home was surrounded by the famous rock wall and was typical of homes many homes in the area mixed between the farms which were not so picturesque.

Woodstock Vermont is a cute, touristy town where many wealthy northeasterners come for vacation. I'm sure many of the beautiful homes we saw down the country roads were second homes for the people in the big city.