Auld Lang Syne

I should first say that I've never really understood this song. But upon looking it up on Wikipedia I've at least learned what the phrase means.

Auld Lang Syne = "Days gone by" or "Old times"

and that seems a bit fitting for my last post of 2010. What has happened in this year, these days, that have gone by? How has the Lord taken care of me? And what have I learned along the way? (sidebar: not every month will be covered)

February: I moved from Coupeville to Oak Harbor and helped in the blessing of the Sweethearts Banquet at church. The SHB is one of the highlights of the BBC callendar, and in serving those couples that I love I get great joy and satisfaction.

May: My Birthday! Another year older...and hopefully a little wiser. I can be a pretty selfish person at times (it's something that I'm working on), but being 31 has me thinking outside of myself and looking at how I can try to be a blessing to others.

June: I go to Washington D.C. to attend LTIA & give Senator Cantwell a "talking to"...well maybe just a little. June had the SPG's traveling to DC to learn about our country, it's foundation of Biblical values and how to lead effectively (that is it in summary, because really it was so much more). I also got to finally meet Julie!!! My e-Buddy for the past 3...almost 4 years now. You never would have known it was our first time meeting each other.

July: I said so long to one of my SS girls as she moved with her family to the Methow Valley. We miss Lilly, but I know she'll be a blessing to her fathers ministry as she grows up there. I said goodbye to my other friends for the ministry as well. The Lord had me reimursed for a discrepancy that I made in paying back the FAFSA people for my loan, it was a NICE payback. I needed the money right at that time too. Now if I had not have made the oversight I would have kept the money that is true, but I probably would have squandered it, and I know exactly what that money is for and haven't touched it since I got it (trust me it will come in handy in the coming months). And I also started my involvement with the Central Whidbey Republican Women (that's right Nancy), and the campaign for Kelly Emerson as Island County Commissioner. Call it inspiration from the prior months activities. I'll call it the summer of sign waving.

Summer: The summer also had me working with Alyssa on photos for a book that she was contacted about for her vertical garden and taking photos for A Knot in Thyme for the new brochure that they wanted to put together. A busy fun summer of taking photos, but it was satisfying.

September: After a stressful month prior at work I made my way over the mountains to visit Kali & Maggie and our evangelists over in the Methow Valley. I even got an extra day off of work! It was a very restful Labor day weekend and the Lord encouraged me with my visit over there.

October: The Lord spared my job. That's right folks. Just a few months prior Pastor Sargent had preached a message and within it made a point about working and how we should be thankful for the work that he does give us. Well during that message I was going through a time where I was not happy about what I was doing and it was affecting my work ethic & motivation. During that time also though things were changing behind the scenes at work. Well The message that night changed my thoughts and so I changed me actions accordingly and was rewarded with getting to keep my job.

November: I house sat for 2 weeks (during Thanksgiving) only to have the tool shed of my friends house topple over in a huge wind storm, which was followed by snow a few days later. I battled frozen spickets and icy roads. November also brought an old friend to WA from Michigan and it was so great to see her. Her father was the Pastor of the church that I was saved in back in Sicily and the last time I saw Joyce she was 16. Now she's a young woman in her 20's, man time flys! It was great to fellowship with her for a couple days.

December: Brought a new ministry opportunity with the Bible studies with "T" and a trip to go see my family in CA, and the apartment ads in the paper as I look yet again for another place to live. Hopefully one of these days I can make one last move and call it HOME for real.

Through all my travels the Lord kept me safe, and brought me back to home. He provided in some pretty miraculous ways and I look forward to seeing what He sets in motion for me in 2011.

Happy New Years everybody!!!

LTIA Part 6...Thoughts on Thursday, a Fantastic Friday & Sianara Saturday

Thursday arrived and it was the last day that I had to memorize my verse.

Proverbs 16:13 - "Righteous lips are the delight of kings; and they love him that speaketh right."

Our morning lectures were on how to answer those people that would criticize the Bible, Defending the Gospel and Humanism in education.

Today was the day that we also got to go to CWA (Concerned Women of America) headquarters and meet Wendy Wright, the President of CWA. Her testimony was pretty amazing. She was arrested once for praying across the street from an abortion clinic. She wasn’t even talking to the people, yet her concern for their welfare and the welfare of the unborn children were enough to cause her to pray and yet she was arrested and found guilty for her actions. Her words to us though were very encouraging and some of us at the end got to talk to her personally.

A print in the hall at LI
Karline signing the Declaration of Independence
Waiting for the elevator at CWA

Wendy Wright speaks

The Quilt Wall

Here are is a clip of her being interviewed by CNN last week over California’s decision on Prop 8.

She has another series of clips that I plan on putting up with her “debate” Richard Dawkins on the theory of evolution, but that’s for another time.

After our meeting with Wendy we made our way over to the Smithsonian, where Bro. Briney wanted us to see the display on evolution and its false teachings. But we spent so much time at CWA that by the time we got there we were running short on time and some of us had a hard time finding the display. On a personal note, museums of natural history are never really that interesting to me. When I was at the one in NYC, when I was in HS, the only real reason I thought it was cool was because one of my favorite shows back then was friends and that was where the character Ross worked at. Anyway, I found Tim & Bro. McHenry and started waiting with them, until he told me that the Hope Diamond was on display. Well, though I’m not voted “most likely to be distracted by something shiny” that was all I needed to hightail it up to the 2nd floor and take a couple pics of it. You know, just so that Mr. Right has an idea of what I like;) J/K Something smaller will do just fine, but isn’t it beautiful. 45 karats!

After that side of the Smithsonian we went to that American History side, which was across the street. Here was much more enjoyable for me, Although we couldn’t take pics of the actual flag, here is where they have stored the original Star Spangled Banner, yes the very on that Francis Scott Key penned out national anthem about. It really was a sight to behold at 30’ x 34’. I also got to see the ball gowns of our first ladies, the Ruby Slippers, Carol Burnett’s dress from her “Went With the Wind” skit (if you haven’t seen it yet you need to, it’s a classic! I’ve provided clips below for your enjoyment). I saw the Bradford Dollhouse as well as the diner counter from the first civil rights sit in (sorry no pics of that one, the battery in my camera died by that time).

The Star Spangled Banner

Mrs. Tafts nagural Ball gown

Mrs. Bushes Inagural Ball gown

Went With The Wind

The Ruby Slippers

The Bradford Doll House

After the Smithsonian it was back to LI for dinner and a short rest before we were off to meet with Congressman Boozman from Arkansas at the Capital building. Here we got to have a private after hours tour. It was really quiet without all the tourists and the Congressman actually had to come and go a bit during the tour because they were in the middle of a vote. We learned some pretty interesting facts, like how in the old Senate floor there is a whisper spot, where a person standing on the opposite end of the room can clearly hear “secret conversations”. It’s said that John Adams, known for falling asleep during senate meetings on the floor, was seated in that spot and because of it he could know what was still going on though he was not awake.

We also got to go up and sit in the Senate gallery. While Senate was not in session, there was a Senator that was arguing, for the C-SPAN cameras, against Obama care. Plastered above the seating area are profiled faced of different heads of state which vary from Napoleon to Washington. However, the only face which is allowed to face the Speaker of the House is the face of Moses, the first judge. A note of irony here is that the government would very much like to deny God in their actions, yet there are proofs of our founding fathers reverence for Him and His guidance everywhere in Washington.

The coridor walking towards the Senate

The Capital Rotunda

The Whisper Spot

Walking up to the Senate Floor

Paul working a deal with the Congressman

Upon our return to LI we had one last chance to work on our project before the following day’s presentation.

A fantastic Friday was how our last full day started and ended.
Brother Jim Love brought us a special devotion on the influence of Baptists in the founding of our country, and after it was time for our presentations. We were the first group up and actually it made me happy to just get it over with. Everyone else did an excellent job on their presentations as well.

After the presentations it was time to split up to take a tour of things that we wanted to see but didn’t have the time to see during the week. Some went back to the Smithsonian. Some went to go take pics outside the White House, while some still went shopping. Me and my group, comprised of Tim, Josh, Joel, Joyka, Grace and Anna, went to Arlington cemetery. I never realized how close it is to the rest of the National Mall. The place is huge and there so much more there I want to see, but we did get to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was very moving in its silence.

The Marine Memorial a.k.a. The Iwo Jima Memorial

By this time my feet were so swollen and it just hurt to walk, but I made it and I’m glad that was the tour that I chose to go on.

After our day it was time to freshen up for graduation. All but 2 people graduated with honors. It was a great evening. After graduation we went to Barnes & Noble around the corner from where we were at and hung out in the little park that was in the middle of the stores.

Finally Saturday we left, but not before I finally got to meet my friend Julie. We started our friendship as E-buddies on FB, and started following each other’s blogs. Her brother has been a guest preacher at out church a couple of times and so finally after 3 years, though it was a short lunch meeting I’m glad that we finally got the chance to meet. It was a great afternoon.

My head finally hid my pillow at home around midnight, tired but happy that the week had been fulfilling both spiritually and personally.

Sign Waving

In case you haven't picked up on the themes from my latest blog posts, LTIA has renewed a political fervor in me and as such I've decided to get involved with one of the local mid-term election campaigns.

Her name is Kelly Emerson and she's running for Island County Commissioner for Dist #3. Here's the link to her blog.

Today was out first sign waving effort. I live in an area where we do mail in ballots and so making sure that we get out there as people are going home and will receive their ballots is part of the plan. Who can miss the bright yellow:)

It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for sign waving, thing is though that I was the only one out there with the signs. Yup, just yours truly. There were supposed to be more of us, I had people RSVP, but something must have gotten lost in translation. But it's hard to miss someone waving a bright yellow sign on the corner of the only major 2 lane HWY on the Island, in front of the major National Park. I'm just sayin'

In any case, I'll be out there again for the next couple weeks as long as we're in primary season. I hope that I get a couple more bodies next week. It really matters that people volunteer. The only way that officials can "hear" your voice is by letting them know what you stand for and becoming active. Otherwise that's how people become doormats, letting people dictate to them how their lives should be run and what they should and shouldn't care about. I'm also helping out with a couple of fund raisers for Barbra Bailey, our WA state representative in Olympia, and I have stepped up to try and be the secretary for the Central Whidbey Republican Women. It's gonna be a long election season, but it will be worth it when we have fiscally responsible and sound representatives leading our state.

LTIA Part 5...Wandering thru Wednesday

Half way to graduation...

Memory verse. . .Psalm 11:3 - If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

We were all set to meet with the State representative for Ohio, Jim Jordan, on the steps of the Capital building. But the meeting times kept getting pushed forward, so that we were practically running to the metro and running off of it trying to get ahead of the crowd of people. We missed him though, by about 5 minutes. While it was a bit disappointing we did manage to get some great pics on the steps of the Capital. Some people just look political, don't you agree?

Though we were a little bummed about having to rush around and still miss out it did make it possible for us to get to our next destination on time. Where were we going now? The Macedonia Embassy. Here we met with Ambassador Zoran Jolevski. He showed us slides of his country and spoke to us about their economy and political system. Macedonia has a tax system that taxes everybody straight across the board. When they went to this system they realized that people were no longer trying to cheat on their taxes an because people were paying them they were actually about to close their deficit substantially. Hmmm...ideas? They also have it set up so that women who become mothers have an average of 6-9 month maternity leave, but the more Children you have the longer your maternity leave is able to be. Oh, and it's all paid leave to!

After the presentation they hospitably opened up their staff and Embassy for lunch. Everyone got to eat except for me because it was Pizza, but they broke out the china and everything for the occasion! We took a picture with him before he had to leave, it was also published in our local newspaper in a story that Levi wrote (here's the link for you to check out for yourself), and then we were off to the Metro again to go back to LI for some more lectures and dinner, which ironically was pizza again for the group. They were definitely on carb overload.

Meg getting interviewed

The Embassy before it was renovated

After the renovation

Our evening lectures were brought to us by Maureen Wiebe, from the American Association of Christian Schools, and Seton Motley, from Less Government & News Busters. Maureen spoke to us about how the government has started to gain control of education and the effects that have come about from that. She gave a really great example of how we can get involved, by citing Daniel and his friends as examples. How even though the were held captive in Babylon they were still able to maintain their testimonies. The same could be said about Joseph as well, and his testimony was so trusted that he got to basically run Potiphars entire estate, and eventually the entire land of Egypt. Seton Motley then brought us some disturbing information on how the sitting government wants to legislate away our first amendment rights. He was very effective in getting his points across an errr...colorful manner, but the information was very good to have and it's something that Americans need to be on the watch out for.

Maureen Weibe

After the lectures we broke away to work in our team projects. At the beginning of the week we were put into groups and asked to pick two topics from the Herritage Foundations 10 Transformational Initiatives:

-First Principles
-American Leadership
-Education
-Energy & Environment
-Enterprise & Free Markets
-Entitlements
-Family & Religion
-Health Care
-Protect America
-Rule of Law

We then had to research them and present them before the rest of the class at the end of the week. My group chose Energy & Environment and Enterprise & Free Markets.

With Wednesday behind us we were excited about the close of the week. We were all tired, but the experience was bringing us all closer together.