Memorial Day: A Time to Remember

Most people see Memorial Day as the official start of summer and I guess that is pretty much true, even if it was only 43 degrees here this morning (sure didn't feel like summer).  I am reminded that Monday is a special day for another reason all together, a reason I feel is often overlooked.  Memorial Day is a day to honor and remember those service men and women who have been killed serving our country.  I should point out it is sometimes confused with Veterans Day, which is for our Armed Forces Veterans, living and dead.  Just to give you a little history on this day, it was first called Decoration Day and originated after the Civil War as a way to honor and remember the Confederate and Union soldiers who died during the war.  It would later become associated with all soldiers who were killed serving our country.  I think many people don't really take the time to remember what this day is really about. Most people consider it a time to be with family, go to the pool, cook out, go on vacation, etc. and all that is fine and dandy. I'm not saying you shouldn't take the opportunity to spend as much time with your family as possible, but I do think that sometime during the day we all, each one of us, should take a moment to remember those who have fought and died for our freedom.  I did some research and at first I used Wikipedia which gave me faulty numbers, so I had to go back and do more research and according to what I found from the years 1775-present day there have been 1,264,000 American soldiers killed during war time.  The highest number being during the American Civil War when 620,000 soldiers gave their lives from 1861-1865.  When you take the time to really consider how high those numbers are it can be mind blowing, it almost seems impossible to wrap your head around the thought.  I'm asking each of you to take a simple moment sometime on Monday to reflect and remember. Take a moment to consider that our nation and it's people are what we are due to those who gave their all on the field of battle.  


God Bless you all this Memorial Day and God Bless America!! 



"That's my "two cents worth", what's yours?"

Messy Kids: They drive me crazy

My kids have a chore list for the week, certain things that have to be done on certain days. These chores consist of: cleaning the bathroom, feeding the dog, washing the dishes, etc.  They have one chore that is to be done everyday, cleaning their rooms.  I want you to understand that I don't mean a complete cleaning.  I have tried to explain to them if they just pick up after themselves each day, they won't have as much to do for the full cleaning on Saturday.  This seems to be a concept they can not understand!  I have always wondered why even though they said their rooms were clean, it never seemed to be true. I have come to the following conclusions on that: 

1.  Mine and their ideas of clean are completely different! 
    To me clean is a good cleaning, to them clean is lets just push it under the bed 
and hide it, Mama will never know the difference. 

2.  They have way to much stuff!!
      Honestly they have more stuff right now than I think I had my whole childhood. These kids are spoiled rotten! 

3.  They "forget" what they are supposing to be doing. 
     They always use the same excuse, I forgot.  I get so tired of hearing that, maybe I need to buy them so Ginkgo to help their memories. 

4.  They start to play and lose track of the job! 
     This happens all the time, they start to play or read and book and get so into what they are doing they don't realize how much time has passed and that the work is not done. 

The problem with cleaning is it just doesn't apply to their rooms, it affects other areas of our home: the play area (inside and out), the bathroom and our van.  I have decided that something must be done if I am to keep my sanity.  What do I plan to do?  I'm going to try a few things over the summer break.  

1.  They have got to clean out and get rid of some of their stuff and donate it.  We always do this before Christmas, but this year we are doing it early.

2.  They are going to have to do "spring cleaning", I mean from top to bottom, to get everything done. 

3.  Organization!!  "Everything has a place and everything in it's place!" is going to be our new motto. 

I know with hard work and a lot of prayer this job will get done.  I just wonder how long it will stay clean? 

"That's my "two cents worth", what's yours?"

Honor Thy Mother

As I sat here this afternoon listening to the sounds of my six year old daughter and our dog looking for lizards, I begin to think about the word mother and what it means.  I looked it up and according to my Webster's Dictionary it means, "1. female parent; 2. source".  That was all that it said and to me that seemed pretty slack.  That simple definition doesn't even begin to define what a mother is. In my opinion the word mother means the following, "unselfish, kind, unconditional love, adviser, giver, hard-worker, listener, doctor, teacher, cook, maid, someone who will tell you that your wrong, etc.", the list can go on and on.

When I think about my definition, I can't help but think about my own mother.  When we were growing up she worked a full time job (outside the home) then had to work full time in the home.  She would often work overtime just to save extra money for vacations, Christmas and to send my brothers to Boy Scout Camp.   When my oldest brother was disabled in a car accident in September of 1988, our mother took on the full time responsibility of caring for him.  The years have taking their toll on her physically, but she has never quit or giving up.  She has fought for him relentlessly, to make sure he has everything he needs to live a full, happy and healthy life.  She is a shining example to me and my daughters of what being a mother/grandmother truly is.

Tomorrow is the second Sunday of May, the day set aside to celebrate and honor our mothers and all they do for us.  A young woman by the name of Anna Jarvis worked tirelessly until she was able to convince people that mother's should have a special day.  In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared this day an official national holiday.  There were several attempts to create this special day, including one by Julia Ward Howe in the 1870's, before the workings of Miss Jarvis proved fruitful. 
 
As a side note, the first Sunday in May is International Bereaved Mothers Day. This day is not officially a holiday, but it is a day of remembrance  for those of us (like me) who have lost a child to death. 

So remember, if your mother is still living, take the time to celebrate and honor her.  There will come a time when she will no longer be with you and your chance will be gone.



"That's my "two cents worth", what's your?"

Senior Saints Banquet: Celebrating our Senior Citizens

One of the things that we do each year at our church is hold our annual Senior Saints Banquet. It is that one time each year that we sat aside to celebrate and honor all of the Senior Citizens of our church. We think it is very important to give them a special thing each year. They have worked hard and deserve to be honored for all they have done. 

Each year the celebration is all fixed around one basic theme and all the food, decorations, entertainment, etc. is based on that theme. This year we decided to do a theme we had never attempted before, Fiesta.  My friend Kristen and I are the ones who came up with the idea and at first there was some skepticism in our ladies group. The main question was, "What will we eat?" I guess when ever anyone hears the word fiesta, they automatically think of hot, spicy food. After some reassuring of our ladies that we not serve anything hot and spicy, we got the go ahead to plan the celebration.

We decided to have a taco salad buffet and also some pintos and potatoes for those who didn't want salad. We spent many weeks planning and purchasing items for the banquet.  We sent out specially made invites to all our Senior Saints giving them the details of our banquet.  At first, we had many we thought would not come, because they thought the food would not be good, but we assured them there would be something for everyone. Before we knew it the week arrived to start putting everything together, we had so much fun decorating our fellowship building and getting everything set up. 

Finally, the day arrived for our banquet and I have to admit I was somewhat nervous about how things would go. I have learned in this life that you can't please everyone and I've been around older people enough to know they can be the hardest ones to make happy. I had no idea how they would react or what they would say, but I knew one thing for sure, if this banquet didn't go well, it would be all my fault. I am happy to report that the banquet was a huge hit!!  It makes me very happy to know that all the planning, running and hard work paid off.  I was very thrilled to see that some of them were even brave enough to try some new foods.  I always enjoy entertaining our Senior Saints, they always know that I will do or say something to make them laugh. I do it for that purpose, because as it states in the Bible in Proverbs 17:22, ^"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." I wish I had some photos to share with you of the good time that we had, but as always I was busy cutting up and making them laugh. I have some photos of the tissue paper flowers I made and the back drop that I came up with. I also made the fake cactus in the basket. It took me a couple of days of thinking on it how to do it without have to paper mache.  I also made a pinata cake, it was very good. 

                


I count it a joy and honor to be able to celebrate our Senior Citizens.  I am reminded every day when it look in the mirror that it won't be to awful long before I will be one of them and I certainly hope that someone will be willing to take the time to celebrate and honor me. 


"That's my "two cents worth", what's yours?"