DubyaDC's Xanga

Songs that scream LIFE!

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:27:50 GMT

Some people don't like listening to certain songs cause it's painful for them because they're only reminded of the situation in life that they're in. Me? I rather listen to music I understand and that say something to me than anything else. And sometimes one comes along that SCREAMS at you, THIS IS FOR YOU! This song is one particular one that speaks to me, cause it's exactly what has happened to my family...almost. It's the opposite "gender" saying this in our family and while "she's" not "holding" the individual in our family, it's obvious where their heart is.

"Do You Believe Me Now" by Jimmie Wayne

Do you remember
the day I turned to you and said I didn't like the way he was looking at you
yeah
How he made you laugh
you just couldn't get what I was saying
it was my imagination

(Chorus)
So do you belive me now
I guess I really wasn't that crazy
and I knew what I was talking bout
Everytime the sun goes down
he's the one that's holding you baby
yeah me I'm missin you way across town
so do you believe me now

I'm kicking myself
for being the one foolish enough giving him the chance to step in my shoes
ohhh
He was bidin' his time
when he saw our love was having a moment of weakness
he was there between us

(Chorus)
So do you belive me now
I guess I really wasn't that crazy
and I knew what I was talking bout
Everytime the sun goes down
he's the one that's holding you baby
yeah me I'm missin you way across town
so do you believe me now

oh yeah I bet now you see the light
oh yeah what's the use in being right
we're not the lonely one tonight

(Chorus)
So do you belive me now
I guess I really wasn't that crazy
and I knew what I was talking bout
Everytime the sun goes down
he's the one that's holding you baby
yeah me I'm missin you way across town
so do you believe me now
yeah
so do you believe me now
yeah
Everytime the sun goes down
he's the one that's holding you baby
yeah me I'm missin you way across town
so do you belive me now?

*Side note: this is directly copied from a site. There are basically NO punctuation marks but I don't have time to go through and fix them. I did fix the misspelled "Imagination" (They spelled it "imigination") as well as capitalizing the personal pronoun "I" which was not capitalized throughout most of the song. Please do not fault me with the improper grammar.

22 WAYS TO BE A GOOD DEMOCRAT

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:34:53 GMT

(IT'S NOT SO HARD. EVEN A CAVE MAN CAN DO IT.... )

1. You have to be against capital punishment, but support

abortion on demand.

2. You have to believe that businesses create oppression and
governments create prosperity.

3. You have to believe that guns in the hands of
law-abiding citizens are more of a threat than nuclear weapons
technology in the hands of Chinese and North Korean communists.

4. You have to believe that there was no art before federal funding.

5 You have to believe that global temperatures are more affected by
soccer moms driving SUVs than by scientifically documented
cyclical changes in the earth's climate.

6. You have to believe that gender roles are artificial, but being
homosexual is natural.

7. You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a
lack of federal funding.

8. You have to believe that the same teacher who can't
teach fourth graders how to read is somehow qualified to

teach those same kids about sex.

9. You have to believe that hunters don't care about
nature, but loony activists who have never been outside of

San Francisco do.

10. You have to believe that self-esteem is more important
than actually doing something to earn it.

11. You have to believe that Mel Gibson spent $25 million
of his own money to make The Passion of the Christ for

financial gain only.

12. You have to believe that the NRA is bad because it
supports certain parts of the Constitution,

while the ACLU is good because it
supports certain parts of the Constitution.

13. You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM
fees are too high.

14. You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria
Steinem are more important to American history than

Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell.

15. You have to believe that standardized tests are racist,
but racial quotas and set-asides are not.

16. You have to believe that Hillary Clinton is normal and
is a very nice person.

17. You have to believe that the only reason socialism
hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the ri

ght people haven't been in charge.

18. You have to believe that conservatives telling the
truth belong in jail, but a liar and a sex offender belonged

in the White House.

19. You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying
drag,transvestites, and bestiality should be constitutionally

protected, and manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal.

20. You have to believe that illegal Democratic Party
funding by the Chinese Government is somehow in the best

interest to the United States of America .

21. You have to believe that it's okay to give federal workers the
day off on Christmas Day, but it's not okay to say 'Merry Christmas.'

22. You have to believe that this message is part of a vast
right wing conspiracy.

Ready to vote ?

The Lord's name shall be praised...

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:09:37 GMT

Josh Hamilton, people, hit 28 home runs within 8 outs in the first round (in tonight's Home Run Derby) sending him to the final round. He only managed 3 in the final round losing the trophy to the other player's 6 home runs in the final round. I had already decided there was something about him that I really liked (not to mention the fact that he had a 71 year old batting practice coach pitching for him, that has to say something for his loyalty when he could have gone for someone younger with a better arm and everything) when he FIRST started hitting. He only had like one or two homers at that time. One after the other the balls went out of the field and they told us about his life and how he was a cancer survivor and was at that point a recovering drug/alcohol addict Course I actually verbalized the fact that I kinda liked the dude just after they said that (which I had not heard that part at that time) and my siblings verbally berated me for liking someone who was a drug/alcohol addict. I then pointed out the fact that they said he was recovering from it, he had kicked the habit, and had set up a way of keeping himself straight by taking buddies out with him at night no matter what for cause he didn't trust himself. He's learning some responsibility here, guys. It was also mentioned through the period of the game that he regretted the decisions he made to have tattoos inscribed on his arms and if he could he would erase every one of them. He ended th enight, as I said above, losing it, but when they interviewed him later (by a ditsy blonde with a TERRIBLE taste in clothing styles, she REALLY needed something different!) they asked him several questions and just as they were ending it he said, "I have one more thing: I want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for giving me this opportunity." THERE YOU HAVE IT FOLKS! What I felt was the underlying reason behind it all. I even thought, you know it would be nice if we found out later that he was a Christian and it was because of a personal awareness of Christ (I say personal awareness cause I believe that it is Christ ANY time someone recovers from drugs/alcohol but there's a difference between that and an actual personal awareness that it was Christ for the man/woman themself) that he changed his life around. And it was. Amen, people, amen!

Days 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:13:14 GMT

June 9, 2008

This morning's P.T. we jogged 2 miles. I was loving it. They had hardly anything for breakfast. I'm not into fruit, nor am I a big Kashi cereal bar eater. I picked up 2 eggs and a bowl of granola. One of my eggs was not thoroughly boiled so I ate the other with my cereal and then we had the morning devos and then we went straight to CPR where I ate a cinnamon raisin bagel I had saved from LAST Monday. I'm not a big fan of CPR but it was okay. I'm doing good with my water intake. I'm almost done with my second nalgene full and I only need three to equal my normal need. This afternoon was canoeing. *For reasons I will not discuss on here I couldn't get IN the water,* but I put on sunscreen and tanned while I worked on my scripture memory. I said the whole week's worth of verses to Gracie just before supper. We got to mix up our tables that night. I sat with Ashley, Summerr, and Adair. The night was rather uneventful with the exception that we were late in getting to bed. That's me!

June 10, 2008

This morning P.T. was cancelled due to the rain so we got to sleep in until 6:10! Breakfast was served in the lobby of our dorm which gave us tons of time to clean our bathroom in preparation for surprise inspections. I wore my green poncho to CPR and forgot it. Thankfully it didn't rain anymore. We finished CPR early and did all of our dorm cleaning before lunch. After lunch we all got dressed for the lake. We learned how to tip and right a canoe, how to get in and out of a canoe in the water, and how to help someone right their canoe from your own canoe. After supper we went to choir pratice with Advanced STEP. Mrs. Pendergast taught on the 5 love languages and our spiritual gifts. That's me!

June 11, 2008

After some vigorous workouts this morning we got to go on the track. I jogged a mile in 8 min. 12 sec. I'm determined to do it in 8 minutes or less next time. (I shall say this, there never was a next time. CAP, Civil Air Patrol, came in the next week and they had the track and field for the rest of the duration of STEP. ) Team devos this morning...we got into the debate on whether you can lose your salvation or not. Marie believes you can lose your salvation. I get so frustrated when people believe such lies. I try and fix the error but it neve rworks. First Aid was this morning and our final test. We had kitchen duty today. Oh joy. So we packed our swim/lake clothes in our backpacks and changed at the Field House. I got in a canoe with Katrina. I was terrible and couldn't get the canoe to go where I wanted it to go. I got so frustrated. After canoeing, I laid out to tan while the other girls swam. I was stretching my feet out when I caught a chunk of the dock about

T H I S long that went t h a t deep into the heel of my foot. About that ---> I I much remained in the far reaches of my heel and, despite desparate attempts to get it out, I couldn't. So Hannah called her brother in to help. It was very awkward. I'm wearing a skirt and had to keep modest while he has my foot on his knee and basically having to breath down my foot to get it. He did manage to get it after much pain and discomfort (thinking back, the worst of the pain was the disinfectant and I think I exaggerated it a little here). After supper we went to the Behr's and played "Telephone Dictionary" and ate M&M's, Hershey's mini bars, crackers, and had trifle for dessert. Our lights out deadline was extended for us (and us alone, the others had to be in by 8 and lights out by 8:30!) to 9:15 or so. That's me!

June 12, 2008

This morning's P.T. was good. I cleaned the room afterwards REALLY good and then listened to Laura Clawson give her testimony about working with the homeless teens in Portland, Oregon. Afterwards we practiced some songs for our ministry day tomorrow. Then we worked in the kitchen. Sue and I bleached some cabinets in the refrigerator. It's really cold in there. I got three letters in the "mail" today. Mom's going to try and come to my graduation. Mamma and Pappaw have a new house. Fun. Katrina and I teamed up for canoeing and passed the skills test. Our 4-canoe team lost both relay races and then we played Pirates! Katrina and I came in 3rd the first time and then we performed a canoe rescue. Then we came in first narrowly missing getting caught by Sue. Then we performed two more canoe rescues. Then in the "Endurance" test we came in first for a time of 20 minutes. Mr. Allison spoke on forgiveness and negative soul-ties in the evening session after choir. It was really good but I get kinda discouraged. I know exactly where I've formed negative soul-ties but I have cried out many many times for deliverance but it hasn't worked. I've only really cried out about one but I've been so discouraged I haven't tried the other two. I'm also frustrated over how easy it is for me to form these negative soul-ties. I'm not that cheap of a person! I think I need to talk to Hannah, but there's never an opportunity. Anyway, the day ended rather uneventfully. That's me!

*Side note: On the topic of these negative soul-ties, I am happy to say that I have since broken those negative soul-ties and walk in victory by Jesus Christ. Though it was AFTER STEP that I finally was able to end it. But it is OVER! Praise the Lord!

June 13, 2008

This morning was group P.T. and then we listened to Laura Clawson again. We went to Truman Smith facility for mentally handicapped children. We split into two groups and sung in each of the rooms in one wing but in the second wing we stood as a group and sang in the middle while they brouhgt the kids out. We got back a little early so we spent it in the bookstore. Then at lunch, Becky asked Red group if they would do dishes for Orange group after lunch. Red said they had dorm cleaning afterwards. So our group offered to do the job for them (dorm cleaning, that is.) So I disinfected the wings. All three groups sat together for a trail food class. It felt like Sunday. Then after supper we had all of this free time. I spent it in my old room partyin' with Summerr, Adair, Scottie, Charity, adn Sue. It was a really good time. We listened to Mrs. Fuhrman speak on trusting God that ALL things will work out for good. Then our group meeting went right up to 9. I quickly scrambled to get sticky notes to people to write on for me to stick on her door. (It isn't mentioned here, but a fellow groupmate, Maranatha's 15th birthday was the next day.) I decorated it and then brushed my teeth as Gracie came in the bathroom. All lights were off except the one bathroom light and all the other girls were in bed asleep as she and I talked until somewhere around 10:45. It was late. But backing up 'til when we were on our way to the evening session, Micah called Hannah and said that he needed it. (Once again I am totally unexplaining everything. I had Micah's violin to practice for a special on Sunday.) So since everyone would be out of the dorm, Hannah told him to go on in and get it and gave him directions to my room and closet. That night when we returned, I was so happy I had been expecting room inspections adn that I didn't have "anything" hanging out (to dry.) lol That's me!

Short break

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:13:00 GMT

Here's something my grandfather sent me in an email and thought I'd share. Enjoy!

The Pope took a couple of days off to visit the mountains of Alaska for
some sightseeing. He was cruising along the campground in the
Pope-mobile when there was a frantic commotion just at the edge of the
woods.

A helpless Democrat, wearing sandals, shorts, a 'Save the Whales' hat,
and a 'To H*** with Bush' T-shirt, was screaming while struggling
frantically, thrashing around trying to free himself from the grasp of a
10-foot grizzly bear.

As the Pope watched horrified, a group of Republican loggers came racing
up. One quickly fired a .44 magnum into the bear's chest. The other two
reached up and pulled the bleeding, semi-conscious Democrat from the
bear's grasp. Then, using long clubs, the three loggers finished off the
bear and two of them threw it into the bed of their truck while the
third tenderly pl aced t he injured Democrat in the back seat.

As they prepared to leave, the Pope summoned them to come over. 'I give
you my blessing for your brave actions!' he told them. 'I heard there
was a bitter hatred between Republican loggers and Democratic
environmental activists, but now I've seen with my own eyes that this is
not true.'

As the Pope drove off, one of the loggers asked his buddies, 'Who was
that guy?'

'It was the Pope,' another replied. 'He's in direct contact with heaven
and has access to all wisdom.'

'Well,' the logger said, 'he may have access to all wisdom, but he sure
don't know anything about bear hunting! Is the bait holding up, or do we
need to go back to Massachusetts and get another one?'

Day 7 and Day 8

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:28:10 GMT

Day 7

June 7, 2008
This morning we all got up at 5 again, though it IS Saturday, and began the preparations for room inspections. We were also getting ready for pictures! We had tons of time because we had no P.T. We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and got everything "spic and span." Then since I still had an hour left (or more!) I "Shirley Templified" my hair. Suddenly I remembered that I hadn't done yesterday's journal entry. I already had my makeup on, so I took my journal into the bathroom. I rolled a strand into the curling iron adn then quickly jotted a line down. Rolled out the strand of hair and repeated the process. It's called "multi-tasking." I finished both tasks successfully! We lined up outside to quote our scripture. Our group was ready long before anyone else came out. We didn't get to finish all of that morning's devos as we had to take pictures before brunch. We got the whole "class" picture with adn without Advanced STEP. We also got our group picture. We were the only one done before brunch. I'm switching subjects now. *And a lot is left out here because I am not admitting to certain things on here. haha! * Well, we did dorm cleaning after lunch so we'd have plenty of free time later after dinner. Then I called home. Dad got his truck. A bright blue Chevy, extended cab, short bed truck. Megan bought his car. This afternoon the lady who was supposed to teach archery and rifelry was really late. We didn't think that we would have enough time to rotate all of the teams through both. Betsy told Hannah that Becky was so overwhelmed with the house cleaning and laundry. So Hannah suggested we invade her house and clean it. We loved the idea and had so much fun. Ashley took chalk and wrote words of encouragement. After the laundry was folded and the lights were replaced that were out, there was nothing left to do that didn't have plenty of girls working on. Me trying to help would have created confusion and slowed down teh process. So I went outside and helped Ashley a little. We agreed that if anyone asked questions, we were to say that Hannah had a project for us. Aunt Betsy showed up moments later and 1 1/2 teams went to the firing range. Half did archery and half did rifelry. I don't like archery all that much so I did rifelry and did it pretty well, if I do say so myself. After supper we had a group meeting. Hannah made two announcements and then most of us just stayed. We sang songs, I played Maranatha's violin and did my Traci Ann Collin's piece, while Sue accompanied on the mandolin and Laura C. on the guitar. Hannah got a call from Becky, which she took outside the room. When she came back she said that Becky was raving about how wonderful Blue group was. We don't really know just how she found out it was us, but she did. She then invited us to a party at her house after the STEP auction. In the middle of teh auction, or really closer to the beginning of the auction, Becky stopped for a moment and asked if we would help her babysit. In alked Mrs. Herring with Caroline and Lina. Catherine Kinz got to Caroline first but eventually I was able to take her. All of the kids had come in and the boys were helping distribute the items bought. There was a pot from a mess kit that had a blue handle thingy on it's lid that Aunt Betsy autographed. Then on another pot someone asked that ll of the Herrin gboys sign it. So up they all went. It was so cute. lol I didn't take a number cause I couldn't buy anything. The auction ended around 8:30 and we got to Becky's around 9. Hannah and Sue had made this scrumptuous dessert originally for the dorm but they brought it. And Mrs. Tanner made a pan of brownies. They were sooo good. Yum, yum. We prayed together at BEcky's so we could go straight to bed. The Herring kiddos were still at her house and we had so much fun playing with them. The boys with the exception of Tobey joined us in prayer. They were so cute. It's so sweet to listen to children's prayers. Well, that ended the day. That's me!

Day 8

June 8, 2008
This morning I woke completely rested and ready to go. I rode with Hannah to her house a little early. I finished yesterday's journal entry, had a blueberry muffin, drank 32 oz. water and 12 oz of orange juice. Colonel Tanner's sermon was from Philippians 2:12-13. Obeying always in presence and in absence. Afterwards he bussed us back to our dorms. There wasn't enough seats so a lot of us stood in the back. It was kind of fun except when we had to make a turn. It felt like the bus was going to roll. When we got to the dorm, Sue said that Hannah wanted us all to meet in Sue's bathroom at 12. We were all partyin' in Sue's room when Hannah and Besty walked in with sacks of sub sandwhiches from Subway. My team ate it in my room with the addition of Charity and Katrina Moyer, who are on team one but share our bathroom. Afterwards Gracie shunned us to our beds for the rest of the afternoon. Group meeting was at 3 and we read a book on modesty. Then it was supper time. I was not in a good mood all day. It was supposed to be spaghetti with meatballs. Yum. Gracie asked for us to wait this time and let others go firs.t So we did. When we went through the line, they were out of meatballs. I was so frustrated. After supper was choir practice and then the evening meeting which was simply discussing the book we read during group meetings. That's me!

Day 4, Day 5, and Day 6

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:04:23 GMT

Day 4

June 4, 2008
This morning I played volleyball during P.T. My team won twice despite the fact the other team constantly upped their score. That morning we had rappelling. I was a little nervouse beforehand but it turned out pretty well. It was a lot of fun but I prefer river crossing to rappelling. We had two seconds to change after we returned from our lost time across the river (which took 23 people to do in 34 minutes from set-up to tear down) and then we, after packing our pants in our backpacks, left for lunch. We had kitchen duty. I swept. Then we ran (after changing) to the auto shop and learned how to change the oil and oil filter. Then we ran to supper, kitchen duty, and then the evening meeting. That night Becky asked for testimonials and at the end I shared how I had been blessed by the sermon Nick preached on rejoicing in our circumstances even when things seem hopeless. I ended up crying by the end of it. Mrs. Becky asked Hannah to pray for me. (Kind of awkward.) After we were all dismissed, *a friend who shall remain nameless* came over and we held each other and cried. She is hurting. She holds the weight of the world for her family on her shoulders. (It should be said that I have edited this so that no names or specific details are given. This is not exactly how it was put in my journal.) I promised her I had been thinking and praying for her. We walked back to the dorm and talked along the way. I walked into my room to find Marie upset and Hannah trying to console her. There are no Christian women her age up where she lives. She has so enjoyed the fellowship here and doesn't want to leave. Emily, Charity, and Joanna joined and in our attempts to cheer her we got off topic. Then we got back on until Gracie, who'd slept through dinner because of her cold, said she was going to find something to eat. We offered goldfish, apples, and kashi cereal bars. She had a jar of pickles and the solution came up that pickle juice is good for colds. We then realized we were off topic again and Charity said, "Yeah, next time we need to cheer someone up, we'll change the conversation to pickles!" I died laughing. That's me!

Day 5

June 5, 2008
This morning Hanna told Gracie to sleep and that she would lead us in P.T. It was cardio day. "Aunt" BEsty, as we call her, met up with their dog and David Marr's dog and we walked 1 1/2 miles around to the athletic track where we could jog or walk however we felt. I got Gracie's breakfast afterwards. We had "home and fire safety" and got to extinguish small, contained fires. Then we were short on time for lunch but the first 5 of us who were "on time" got drinks from the bookstore, compliments of Hannah. 4 out of the 5 of us on team 3 were the first 4 students there. *Nameless teammate* is almost always late. After lunch, we changed into our pants (which we had packed) and went to the bookstore. I bought me a STEP nalgene with the gift card Hannah gave me on Monday for joyfully moving teams and rooms. I got my Pepsi as well. Then we went to the "Tool Crib" and leanred how to change tires and air them up. We were done early and so we came back to our dorms to finish things up, like writing home, scripture memory, and writing in our journals. Surprise inspections were done on our room. I knew my bed hadn't been made and my floor was a mess. First thought: at least she (Becky) doesn't know which bed was mine. I walked in and there were two cards with my name on it on my bed. Second thought: oh noooo! But the day ended peacefully. The room that was the cleanest was exempt from P.T. which meant they got to sleep in. That's me!

Day 6

June 6, 2008
The girls exempted showed up at P.T. and were applauded. But honestly, I would have slept in. This morning we did P.S. as a whole. Mrs. Tanner taught water safety and how to rescue drowning victims in our morning activities. Then for our afternoon "activities" we had Finance with Jeremy Tanner. It was soo much fun. Over the week it has impressed me how close our group has gotten. AT EXCEL we struggled to find any connection. My roommate never talked to me in 7 weeks out of the 8 that we were there. But here we are, only a week into the program and I fit in, I am loved, appreciated, and I feel needed. I love each of these girls. We're family. Already. That's something that didn't happen at EXCEL. God is so amazing. I shared that tonight with the group. Mrs. Becky dismissed us with lights out at 8:30. I took a shower and then we had our group meeting which ran past the deadline. I got to bed finally around 8:50 but lights didn't completely go out until 9:08 or so. Oops. Rambunctious, irresponsible, immature teenagers upstairs were banging around until late. It was annoying. Well, that's me!

*Side note: I must say now that it was later discovered that STEP Advanced were the girls above us and their classes were not let out until 9:30 which is why they were up late. But I still hold to the fact that they were being way too loud. You can get ready for bed without stomping and jumping and sounding like a herd of elephants.

It should be said...

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:20:32 GMT

...that yes, my journal entries are very vague and don't give too much description on each activity, and as I typed out the part about my group being so awesome, it did sound kind of cheap that they're just awesome cause they do something for me, but I will say here that the fellowship with the girls in my group was incredible, we were all there for the same reason (to draw closer to God, to become more like Him, to learn from Him), we were all very likeminded, I felt like I fit in more than I did at EXCEL, there was 20 of us and yet we all really wanted to be together. It's very rare that 20 people can truly appreciate each other and love each other like we did so soon and for so long a period. It's not JUST that they prayed for me (it sounded quite selfish) but that we all really loved each other. We all prayed for each other and it was just unbelievably incredible. And the reason for everything being so vague: cause I had no time to go into detail. The rule said that we had to have a journal entry for EVERY day and yet I had no time. I was trying to write it all in letters home as well as write an entry every day and it takes so long that I had to basically just jot the jist of it and leave it thataway. Somethings will be discussed in detail but only some of it. And now I have to go to work.

And here it is, folks!

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:41:48 GMT

What y'all all have been waiting for, Day 1 and Day 2 of my journey through STEP!!

Day 1

June 1, 2006
Well here I am at STEP. Today is my first real day. We went to the "church" at the Behr's and Colonel Tanner preached on having confidence in Christ. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then after the service we returnred to our dorms. I worked out. After the evening meeting, I was in the room next door singin', "Our Song" by Taylor Swift while Summerr and Courtney played on the guitar. Gracie, the team leader of three (I'm on team two), asked me to step out with her and assured me I wasn't in trouble. I walked out to the lobby with her and met Becky Tanner. It was there that the bombshell dropped. Here I amm all settled in my room and enjoying my roommates/teammates. My bed was so carefully made and everything! Well, one of Gracie's girls didn't show up which left her with 4 girls and the room that the girl was supposed to be in was down to two girls. So in order to even up the teams (the other teams both had 6) they asked me to move teams AND rooms. I couldn't tell them no. Someone had to do it. So I said yes. But honestly, I wanted to cry. Big time. I had a big upheaval in having to move all of my clothes, all of teh contents of my closet and three drawers and had to tear apart my bed. By the time I got my closet put back together I had 15 minutes before lights out so I just brushed my teeth, washed my face, spread my sheets out and slept on a trashed bed. Honestly, I almost cried. I couldn't use my sound machine cause my new roommates couldn't sleep with it. Anyway, that's me.

Day 2

Woke up at 5 a.m. Unreal! It makes me oh so grateful for EXCEL. I only had to get up at 6 or 6:30. I had thirty minutes to dress and have my quiet time. Then we met in Hannah Behr's kitchen and all went to the gym. A fitness instructor ran us through some kickboxing moves and aerobics, cardio, and some strength training moves. We all were so sweaty but it felt so good! Then we had breakfast in our dorms. We sat out in the hot sun for 2 1/2 hours doing ropes and knots, had lunch, then that afternoon we did plumbing and Ben Bradley took us on a tour of the water treatment facility and stages. Then it was supper, group meeting, and then the evening meeting. We watched a video on the life of Nick Vujick (sp?), the man born with no arms or legs. It was the second session with him. We listened/watched him preach on philippians 4:4, 6-7 and on rejoicing always, in every circumstance. It was really good. Instead of asking God to change my circumstances, I should ask God to change me and rejoice in my circumstnace. After the meeting we had an hour to get ready for bed. And that's me!

Day 3

Ugh! Another 5 a.m. morning! Hannah Behr led P.T. and worked out all of the same muscles worked out yesterday. We had a good breakfast and then we had devos as a group. Hannah gave her testimony. Then we went to river crossing with Sarah, the same girl who taught ropes and knots. We split into two groups and set up our lines across the river. Two girls had to swim across to tie the anchor. I held the rope once it was tightened so Adair could tie it. I was so nervous. Adair couldn't climb on the rope by herself which is what the last person would have to do, along with taking the carribiner that secures teh knot off and securing the tail end to my belt loop with an eight-on-a-bite. But I could. So I got the job. We all crossed safely and both lines were taken down. Then Sarah informed us we had to all do it again on one line and we would be timed from start of set up to the end of clean up. 23 of us got across in 34 minutes total from set up to tear down. That means less than 1 minute of crossing time per person. We then reaced back to our dorm, changed in two minutes, and then ran to lunch. After lunch we had Basic Electrical with Capt. Smith again. We fixed a vacuum cleaner, made a lamp, and wired a light bulb, switch, and outlet. We had supper and then we cleaned the little bit of the dorm we missed in between electrical and supper. Then we had free time until the evening meeitng which was a video on the "Truth Project" by Focus on the Family. That night at our group meeting I shared about what is going on in my life at home. They all stood around me, some placing their hands on me, Scottie grabbed my hand, and a few prayed for me. This "group" is awesome! I love them to death. And that's me!

I know I said the first two days, but typing it out makes it a lot shorter than what it looks like on paper so I had time. lol So you got Day 3, too!

a little something

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:07:13 GMT

I got this in an email and thought it was interesting.

"This is very interesting! I never thought about it this way. Perhaps this
is why so many physicians are conservatives or republicans.

Thoughtful point of view...

The Democrat Party has become the Lawyers' Party.
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are lawyers. Bill Clinton and Michelle
Obama are lawyers. John Edwards, the other former Democrat candidate

for president, is a lawyer, and so is his wife, Elizabeth. Every Democrat

nominee since1984 went to law school (although Gore did not graduate).

Every Democrat vice- presidential nominee since 1976, except for Lloyd

Bentsen, went to law school. Look at the Democrat Party in Congress:

the Majority Leader in each house is a lawyer.

The Republican Party is different. President Bush and Vice
President Cheney were not lawyers, but businessmen. The leaders of the
Republican Revolution were not lawyers. Newt Gingrich was a history
professor; Tom Delay was an exterminator; and, Dick Armey was an economist.

House Minority Leader Boehner was a plastics manufacturer, not a lawyer. The
former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is a heart surgeon.

Who was the last Republican president who was a lawyer?
Gerald Ford, who left office 31 years ago and who barely won the Republican
nomination as a sitting president, running against Ronald Reagan in 1976.
The Republican Party is made up of real people doing real work. The
Democrat Party is made up of lawyers. Democrats mock and scorn men who
create wealth, like Bush and Cheney, or who heal the sick, like Frist, or who
immerse themselves in history, like Gingrich.

The Lawyers' Party sees these sorts of people, who provide goods and
services that people want, as the enemies of America .
And, so we have seen the procession of official enemies, in the eyes of the
Lawyers' Party, grow.

Against whom do Hillary and Obama rail? Pharmaceutical companies, oil
companies, hospitals, manufacturers, fast food restaurant chains, large
retail businesses, bankers, and anyone producing anything
of value in our nation.

This is the natural consequence of viewing everything through the eyes of
lawyers. Lawyers solve problems by successfully representing their clients,
in this case the American people. Lawyers seek to have new laws passed,
they seek to win lawsuits, they press appellate courts to overturn
precedent, and lawyers always parse language to favor their side.

Confined to the narrow practice of law, that is fine. But it is an awful
way to govern a great nation. When politicians, as lawyers, begin to view
some Americans as clients and other Americans as opposing parties, then the
role of the legal system in our life becomes all-consuming.
Some Americans become 'adverse parties' of our very government.
We are not all litigants in some vast social class-action suit. We are
citizens of a republic that promises us a great deal of freedom from laws, from

courts, and from lawyers.

Today, we are drowning in laws; we are contorted by judicial decisions; we
are driven to distraction by omnipresent lawyers in all parts of our once
private lives. America has a place for laws and lawyers, but that place is
modest and reasonable, not vast and unchecked. When the most important
decision for our next president is whom he will appoint to the Supreme
Court, the role of lawyers and the law in America is too big. When lawyers
use criminal prosecution as a continuation of politics by other means, as
happened in the lynching of Scooter Libby and Tom Delay, then the power of
lawyers in America is too great. When House Democrats sue America in order
to hamstring our efforts to learn what our enemies are planning to do to us,
then the role of litigation in America has become crushing.

We cannot expect the Lawyers' Party to provide real change, real reform, or
real hope in America ... Most Americans know that a republic in which every
major government action must be blessed by nine unelected judges is not what
Washington intended in 1789. Most Americans grasp that we cannot fight a
war when ACLU lawsuits snap at the heels of our defenders.
Most Americans intuit that more lawyers and judges will not restore
declining moral values or spark the spirit of enterprise in our economy.

Perhaps Americans will understand that change cannot be brought to our
nation by those lawyers who already largely dictate American society and
business. Perhaps Americans will see that hope does not come from the
mouths of lawyers but from personal dreams nourished by hard work. Perhaps
Americans will embrace the truth that more lawyers with more power will only
make our problems worse."