BORN AGAIN AMERICAN!!!

Pam, you had to know I was going to post this! lol

MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!

Prayerfully within the next 6-8 weeks, I'm going to be in China with my mom meeting my daughter for the first time. In light of this unbelievable blessing/gift my husband and I are about to receive from an amazingly loving God, I thought it only fitting that I have my first and hopefully not last GIVEAWAY to show my appreciation for all the love and support you all have given to me in the last two years during our adoption journey. The gift will be something that I will get in China, and of course I don't know what that is yet, lol.

Now, anyone can enter and hopefully all of you will participate (it always makes things more fun when you actually have entries, lol), and there will be several ways to enter, and hopefully you'll take advantage of all of them.

1. You'll be given one entry for just leaving a comment to this post.

2. You'll be given one entry by mentioning this giveaway on your own blog, telling me that you've done so by leaving a comment to this post.

3. You'll be given one entry by posting a link on your blog to my blog, telling me that you've done so by leaving a comment to this post.

4. You'll be given one entry for every other site you have that you mention this giveaway on, i.e., Facebook, MySpace, etc., telling me that you've done so by leaving a comment to this post.

5. (ADDENDUM) For those of you who receive these posts through your email, just leave a comment by replying to the email.

The bottom line is....YOU HAVE TO TELL ME WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO RECEIVE EACH ENTRY!!!

Entries will be taken for my very first giveaway up to the day I leave for China. And, folks, we're going to pick the winner the old fashioned way. Depending on how many times you're entered, your name will be written on slips of paper and put into something. My very new and very beautiful daughter Ciara is going to pick the winner and I'm going to videotape it and post the winner on a day to be announced sometime very soon after we get back from China!!!

GOOD LUCK, EVERYONE!

WE THE PEOPLE!!!

In light of our country's celebration of its INDEPENDENCE DAY, I would strongly urge everyone who is reading this to please take 6 1/2 minutes of your time to watch this video. I was going to try to write something inspiring and perhaps witty to get my personal views across about the state of our country's affairs, but I absolutely could not say it any better than this guy. Bob Basso author of "Common Sense" plays the role of Thomas Paine to ignite the fire of change in America. Patriotism and Pride for America lead Thomas Paine to help take back America!

MICHAEL AND FARRAH

When I was in 7th grade, I will confess that I was absolutely obsessed with Charles Angels. In fact, every picture I could get my hands on went on one wall in my bedroom to the point that almost the entire wall was covered from top to bottom with full page magazine pictures to the smallest one inch by one inch ones. So maybe it wasn't so much an obsession with Charles Angels as it was an obsession with pictures of Charles Angels and covering that wall, lol, but no matter I did love that show. I didn't necessarily favor one Angel over another, in fact I was kinda partial to Jaclyn Smith, only because our first names were the same probably. Well, this morning the first of those angels, Farrah Fawcett, has died at the age of 62 and it kinda stinks really. I remember all the girls in school getting their hair cut like her and trying to style it like Farrah's. There was even a girl in the class below mine named Farrah who kinda took a lot of flack for that, go figure! I also remember pretending we were detectives and hiding in doorways in the halls at school and jumping out at people with our pretend guns and using our super fighting skills. Farrah sure was cool then!

Michael Jackson also passed away today at the age of 50, and although he will always be remembered for his musical brilliance, sadly he will also be remembered for his many eccentricities and shameful behaviors. To be honest, I have thoroughly loved his music through the three decades that I have been listening to it and at times have felt pity for what his life had become. Fame of the magnitude he experienced does bring immense wealth, notoriety, instant gratification and millions of adoring fans, but it is almost always accompanied with isolation and loneliness. I just thought that I'd post my favorite Michael Jackson photo from the Black or White era. I personally thought he looked his best during this time period and it just may be my favorite Michael Jackson song, too!

If you'd like to watch the video to Black or White, just click HERE!

WE ARE A JUDEO-CHRISTIAN NATION!

I received this clip in an email today from my sister-in-law Rhonda and just had to post it. We certainly do need more brave men like Congressman Forbes who have the guts to stand up and correct our newly elected President when he makes proposterous statements such as the one he made when he was in Turkey when he told them that the United States was not a Judeo-Christian nation. This reminds me of the answer President Obama gave to the question of what he thought was the hardest thing about being President, to which he responded that he didn't realize that every decision he made was going to effect so many people. Duh? Really? How is it you didn't think about that at least once before you were elected? Amazing! Obviously he wasn't paying attention in history class either, but then again by the time he was in school history had probably already been rewritten to exclude the real truth about how this nation was founded. Enjoy the video!

LULU IS GROWING UP

THEN...January, 3 months old.AND NOW...June, 7 1/2 months old.

BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY

Our congregation's Vacation Bible School ended last night. The theme this year was "After the Garden." We had five classrooms that were decorated with the topics of "Adam and Eve after the garden," "Cain and Abel and Cain's exile," "The pre-flood world," "Noah, the flood, and afterwards," and finally my class on the "Tower of Babel." If anyone is interested in seeing what the classrooms looked like, you can click HERE to see them, but now back to my story.

All week long I had been telling the separate age groups the two commands that God gave to Noah after they got off the ark."So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.'" (Genesis 9:1) And how the people during the time of the Tower of Babel, who were obviously the direct descendents of Noah and his sons, were deliberately disobeying God and not filling the earth, but staying in one spot to make a name for themselves, at which point God stepped in, confused their language (that is, made up a whole bunch of different ones) and scattered them Himself. "So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth." (Genesis 11:8).

All week long I had been telling the kids this without really giving it much thought as to why God commanded just not Noah, but many others mentioned in the Bible to multiply, and then others He promised that he would multiply their descendents Himself. And the idea of scattering and filling the whole earth? I figured God had a good enough reason and that was okay with me.

I never really gave these two commands much thought or the logic behind them until this morning when one of the other teachers at our VBS and friend of mine sent me this, and then it just smacked me right upside the head. Oh, yeah, I get it now. And guess what, Folks? We haven't been doing it, but this group sure has, and it may be time for us Christians to once again start multiplying before we're forced to scatter and this time not by God.

LOA ALREADY!!!

I can hardly believe it has happened so fast, but our agency just called to tell us that they have received our LOA (letter of approval) and are FEDEXing it to us today. For those of you who keep track of these sorts of things (and you know who you are), it has only been 46 days since our LOI and a mere 36 days since we received our PA. Our God is moving to get our Ciara home as quickly as possible. I dunno why, but I'm not complaining (for once). I'm just going to sit back and watch God work out His perfect will and timing.

I would like to make one teensy weensy request of Him, though. I was just humbly wondering if maybe, just maybe, Lord, you could see about making it possible for it to be not quite so hot and humid when we travel, which will more than likely be around Aug 20th, but just a thought, lol.

A FAMILY WALK

Leyna and Logan got up this morning and had to be at Chucky Cheese's in Erie at 10 AM for a birthday party for one of Logan's friends up at the Behrend Early Learning Center. So with those two gone for awhile I actually got a lot of work done today, lol. My brother Chris and nephew Christopher came out to our place to cut some wood. Roger had a post or something or other to put in and after he was finished with that he helped Chris with the wood. By about 5 PM we all were back together at home and Roger suggested we go for a walk up in the woods. He wanted to take a look at some of our trees to see if it was getting close to the time we need to timber them, and the fact that he just likes walking in the woods, lol. So we all headed off. Of course, once again, you won't see any pictures of me as I was the one taking them.

This picture here is Roger looking over our garden we planted this year. We got tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, cantaloupe, beans, peas, celery and onions. We also planted in a different spot pumpkins and watermelons and I planted some spinach in a big pot.Logan got her stick and her Pappy; she's ready to start her walk.Leyna forging ahead.Ummm...what's going on with this tree?It looks like lightening struck it! Dangerous, but very cool!Roger, Leyna & Logan making their way through the forest while I pick up the rear. Isn't it the last person in line that always disappears in the movies? Yikes!!Are those turkey tracks?A man on a mission with his dog.This is one mission Pappy must go alone, Logie!Towards the end of our hike, Roger decided to check on the condition of this stream that runs near our house. Looks good!He's a happy man now!Back at the house, Logan enjoys a relaxing swing while taking a much needed drink.Once again, a man with his dog. Notice how Lulu has her back legs crossed.

YOUNG CON ANTHEM

I read about this on FOXNews today. What do you all think about this rap video? I of course love it! (Con stands for Conservative)