Life

Life is a chance to stretch your wings. Sometimes stretching hurts, but as our wing span grows it helps us to cover others around us and strengthens our muscles in order to lift us to greater heights.

Guardian Angel

Behold, an angel, arms open wide.
The protective shield, she shall provide.

She guards you through the night; or wherever you may roam.
Sometimes she must go to great lengths, so you will arrive safely at home.

Foolish, though we might be, she's with us all the while;
Sheltering us from the harms of the world, mile after mile, after mile

Next time you breathe a sigh of relief, and say, "That was a close call";
look over your shoulder and smile. It was the angel that broke your fall.

-Traci J Davies

Drivers beware!

Turn signals I've learned throughout my driving "career" are seemingly quite the enigma. At least they must be because so many seem to have no clue how to use them, unless people are just passively rebelling against this safety mechanism.

It seems some drivers will come to almost a complete stop in the roadway and you think "hmmm, there must be a gaggle of geese crossing the road that I cannot see or a small child is playing jacks in the road. But, no, they just decided not to use one of the most important pieces of equipment on their motor vehicle.

If you'll bear with me I'll share a few more examples of this bad habit:

One of the most irritating of habits to me is the person who vears into the turn lane and THEN decides to flip his or her signal as they sit in the TURN lane. REALLY? I had no idea you were going to turn. Why waste the light bulb life if that is how you are going to use it.

Then there is the person who changes lanes without a turn signal on the freeway. Or they flip the signal but all you get is one blink which could be a trick of the eye or a break light.

The ever popular (I've been guilty a couple times due to blasting music in my car) having the blinker on for miles and miles and miles is good for a laugh. It's especially bad when they've had it on and then they turn the other direction and yet it stays on because they don't use their blinker.

Finally, there is the person who uses the turn signal but doesn't ease into the center turn lane or does but only partially. Just so you know, your whole car will fit. And for those who ease into the turn lane all to easily, the turn lane is not an extra traffic lane for a driver to fly down for 1/2 a mile. It's a lane to assist with turning into a parking lot or onto a street without causing the flow of traffic on the street to stop. This can be very dangerous if someone else needs to turn in the opposite direction or in the same direction, a rear or head on collision could be caused.

Now, with this recap, lets be careful out there!!!!

Doesn't that warp??

Ok, I live in a townhome and my garage door has always sounded awful and over the past year or so it's gotten worse and it shakes and thuds and now won't go up or down half the time. It's crazy. So while I'm in the process of trying to save my garage door, my father tells me this door is made of compressed wood. Then I find this certificate adhered to the bottom of the door. It says in so many words that there is a one year limited warranty and this door is made of "compressed wood". I don't know, maybe I'm loopy, but it seems to me that you really wouldn't want something made of compressed wood that would be subject to the "elements" or any type of moisture. Can we say cheap? Wow!! I can hear practically every garage door in my neighborhood go up and down. When was the last time you saw a compressed wood privacy fence??? You haven't!! Because compressed wood subject to the weather is ridiculous! All for companies to save a buck...

No more agreeing to disagree

I read in the news last weekend that The Obama administration is moving to rescind a federal rule that reinforced protections for medical providers who refuse to perform abortions and other procedures on moral grounds. I was astounded at this news. For one thing, isn't there enough on America's plate for Obama to be dealing with without digging up political statements to make? And ultimately, shouldn't it be a medical provider's choice as to whether they provide these services? A doctor performing an "elective" procedure such as plastic surgery can refuse to provide this service to a patient if he feels uncomfortable with the situation or the procedure. An example in the news recently was a doctor refusing plastic surgery to patients who smoke because of the possible negative side effects smoking can have on a patient post-surgery. So apparently it's ok when it's elective.



Reasons Women Choose Abortion (U.S.)
Wants to postpone childbearing: 25.5%
Wants no (more) children: 7.9%
Cannot afford a baby: 21.3%
Having a child will disrupt education or job: 10.8%
Has relationship problem or partner does not want pregnancy: 14.1%
Too young; parent(s) or other(s) object to pregnancy: 12.2%
Risk to maternal health: 2.8%
Risk to fetal health: 3.3%
Other: 2.1%


Source:Bankole, Akinrinola; Singh, Susheela; Haas, Taylor. Reasons Why Women Have Induced Abortions: Evidence from 27 Countries. International Family Planning Perspectives, 1998, 24(3):117–127 & 152 As reported by:The Alan Guttmacher Institute



According to the above statistics, abortion sounds fairly elective to me. Over 9o% of all abortions seems to be a means of birth control. I was floored by this statistic. I am embarrassed for our country. What a selfish nation we have become. I have always been pro-life, but also hesitant because I know there are some situations that the health of the mother or baby are at risk and probably because I'm not a mom I felt it wasn't for me to say what I might do since I've never been in that situation. But it seems that situation is actually a rarity, less than 6% of abortions are a result of the mom or baby's health being in jeopardy.


President Barack Obama reaffirmed his commitment to protecting abortion rights on the 36th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, and said that it “stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters.”


So because a tiny life has no power within the mothers womb to raise his or her hand to defend it's self, it becomes a private family matter where the government doesn't interfere? It's pretty amazing how liberals in America will take a stand on cruelty to animals but it's a private matter when it comes to ending the life of a little one. How does one justify this? What ever happened to the doctors hippocratic oath "do no harm"?

Fear

I was forced to take swimming lessons when I was 9 years old. At some point we were instructed that we would be jumping off the diving board. The diving board, looming at the far end of the pool, sent waves of fear into my heart. My hope was that Missouri would have a rash of lightning storms everyday through the end of the summer and us little swimmers would never have to come face to face with the diving board.

The lightening phenomenon never occurred to my dismay and eventually the day came to face my fear. I climbed that ladder; anxiety building with every step. And then my eyes met the diving board. A classmate was taking her turn. My heart was pounding while thinking “why should jumping off a diving board have anything to do with swimming lessons?” We often tend to question why things are happening when we are scared or don’t understand. But, despite the questions in my mind, it seemed to be that this nightmare was coming true. My classmate, who I thought was a very brave peer, jumped. I did not see the impact of feet to water, but I heard the splash as I placed one foot on the diving board.

I slowly walked to the edge of the board and peered into the pool. The floating face of my instructor was looking up at me. I asked if she was going to stay there for me. She said she would. I asked again in my frightened little voice yearning for her words to erase the fear inside of me. She reiterated that she would be right there. Finally, my feelings of embarrassment in front of everyone as I questioned this young girl (who I was sure by that point was sorry she took this summer job) overtook me and I jumped. Realizing, almost as soon as I began my descent, the teacher was making her way to the pool edge. I broke the surface and felt the rush of water as my body naturally floated upward. After a few seconds my head was bobbing above the water. Totally amazed that I survived the plunge, I swam to the side of the pool. I was devastated at the time as I felt my teacher did not keep her word, but I later realized that she knew I would float to the top and needed no assistance. Her assistance at that moment would only have hindered my “water oriented experience” and she needed to step away or in this case, swim away. She was nearby to encourage me when I needed it and stepped away when it was my turn to learn that I would make it on my own.

I’ve come to realize that some things we must experience alone. It’s so important for each one of us to have cheerleaders in our lives, but we must also realize that there are times when our loved ones and friends are not able to help us and the only one we can turn to is God. God surrounds us with brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage and bless us, but we must also be able to take certain steps of faith alone. (Taking those steps helps to increase our faith.) Christ was surrounded by people on his way to the Cross, but ultimately he was on his own. There are times in our lives when we can only depend on the Father above to carry us and we will flourish in the light of His love if we allow it.

One Art

The art of losing isn't hard to master;so many things seem filled with the intentto be lost that their loss is no disaster, Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.The art of losing isn't hard to master.Then practice losing farther, losing faster: places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster.I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three beloved houses went.The art of losing isn't hard to master. I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.-- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gestureI love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) a disaster. -Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979)

Mold can float...

Were you aware that mold can actually grow in a liquid? Now I guess I'd never really pondered this scenario before. But, today I went to the fridge, happily preparing to partake of some apple juice and poured a glass and then...to my suprise, there were things floating in it. Ok, can we say "gag". I quickly dumped the rest of the apple juice down the drain including my glass full. Disgusting, to say the least. Guess I'm just slow to realize this in my mid 30's.

2009

The new year is upon us. I am so glad for a new beginning. It's always nice to have a fresh start or at least feel like you do. I love getting a new calendar for the next year and writing everyones birthday on it and seeing all the "blank" days. There is something really fun about that. Not sure if others feel the same way. Several years ago I started a year end process that I do every year. I sit down and make a list of goals for the year, mostly for the year, short term goals so I can see progress I make. Then a few long term goals to keep in mind. Since I've started doing this I have met more goals than ever before. There is something that takes place when you commit an idea/dream to paper. It's a really neat feeling at the end of that year and you can see the progress that you've made or the things you've completed or overcome. I challenge you to do the same. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!