Ignore Me Like You Mean It

Here I am showing everyone how great Daniel did in his showcase, and I never said ANYTHING about Ashley' s band competition! I am such a bad step-mom. Well, I guess it fits, since I tell them I am the wicked-evil-stepmom-with-the-hairy-stepmother-wart-on-her-nose. On May 10, Aaron met Ashley and her band at Carrowinds, which is an amusement park in North Carolina. Ashley is in 6th grade, and her band had a competition with other bands there. So she asked her dad to be a chaperon. Oh what fun. Bless his heart, he had just as much fun as they did. He ended up chaperoning two of her friends, as well as Ashley. She plays the clarinet in the band. They ended up getting ALL SUPERIORS! Which, if you are not band savvy, that is the best that they can get. Wow huh? I am so proud of he r. Look at those two. Goofy goobers.

My oldest step-son, Daniel, has done a showcase, and the video is below. He is on the FAR right in the top hat, playing the guitar. You can't see him until the first, say, 20 seconds. Go DANIEL!!!! WHOOHOO!!! Music sounded great! P.S. The solo guitar playing is MY DANIEL!!!! Go sweety! He has learned a ton in just the past few years. We are so proud. P.P.S. The lyrics basically say, "Teenagers scare the crap (with the cursing) out of me." Well, they do me too. But hey. We are still way proud. The Showcase!!

EDITORIAL: Protecting Black Panthers - Washington Times Imagine if Ku Klux Klan members had stood menacingly in military uniforms, with nightsticks, in front of a polling place. Add to it that they had hurled racial threats and insults at voters who tried to enter. Now suppose that the government, backed by a nationally televised video of the event, had won a court case against the Klansmen except for the perfunctory filing of a single, simple document - but that an incoming Republican administration had moved to voluntarily dismiss the already-won case. Surely that would have been front-page news, with a number of firings at the Justice Department. The flip side of this scenario is occurring right now. The culprits weren't Klansmen; they belonged to the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. One of the defendants, Jerry Jackson, is an elected member of Philadelphia's 14th Ward Democratic Committee and was a credentialed poll watcher for Barack Obama and the Democratic Par...

Sadly, in today's time, in our country, this is really happening. I'll always include the links to let you know where I got the story from, however, to basically put it in a nutshell, San Diego County, of California (in case you live under a rock), wants this pastor and his wife to pay for a permit if they are going to have people gathered in their home for Bible study. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,522637,00.html The date of this report is May 28, 2009. Sadly, now people are talking about our guns being taken away, and recently we heard that a mother and father were basically forced to give their child chemotherapy, although the child didn't want it either. Here in my city, we are having GM franchises being closed by the government. So regardless of whether you are a Christian or not, isn't this a little much? Just a thought......If I were to rant and rave, well, you would never get out of here, and I wouldn't be able to quit writing. I could say a lot on thi...

YAY! June 2 is almost here! I am taking biology and orientation (I know, but it's online), and Aaron is in school too! He is taking speech, pre-algebra, and orientation. He has to GO to orientation, since we registered him late. Oh well. Okay, well, more later, since I am currently cooking dinner. K

I received a call from the governor's office yesterday, around 1pm, and spoke with a gentleman who is underneath our governor. He basically gave me advice on the best way to search for a job, as well as gave me tons of advice from a man who has been doing it professionally for 25 years. He used to be a vet rep for veterans career centers. Now he works with the governors Operation Grateful Heart program, helping vets and soldiers. After all my questions and his advice, he told me that he had mentioned my email to a congressman who was a liason between state and federal agencies here in Alabama. Where we went is federal, and the career centers are state, which is where we had PLANNED on going. So anyway. The congressman basically tells him that they have heard a lot of this out of the Birmingham office, and that if I want him to forward my email to the director of the program, the congressman will. So Mr. Hinson, the sweet man who runs OGH, did that. Today, Aaron received a call from...

As most of you know, due to unfortunate circumstances, both my husband and I are unemployed (I MAY have work though, more on that later). Today, because his disability is up to 40% he went to the VA's vocational rehabilitation program, which was set up about a month ago by appointment. So he is told to fill all this paperwork out before he goes, with all the expenses we have, what he brings in, etc. They don't even GLANCE at the paperwork he brings. EVERYTHING pertaining to finances, because this program is in place to help veterans with disabilities find stable, viable work that won't aggravate their disabilities. He gets there this morning, and he is told the same thing I just said. That their job is to find him work. They test him, and bless his heart, he only got three hours of sleep so he didn't do well. From the MOMENT he walked into the office they were pushing the Post 9/11 GI Bill on him, which is just a new form of GI Bill starting soon, for those of us that w...

In my previous post I wrote about the last sermon I heard. What I didn't say (I don't think) is that my thinking was, "Is God punishing my disobedience by not allowing me to have children?" Those of you who know me know this has been a struggle, with miscarriages along the way. We plan on adopting, but I question myself as to whether or not this is God's will. On the above note, I am angry at God, and ashamed at myself. Then I received this email from a dear, beloved friend of mine. No, she isn't a friend. She is my sister. The Lord knows your heart, dear friend. He is neither cruel nor wishes pain upon His children. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:9-11) I really believe that this is what the Lor...

Howdy to y'all! Last night we went back to church, and got to hear Bro. Eric Hixon speak again. He talked about family. About how we as Christians need to be having not only private reading and worship, but reading and worship as a family, as well as at church. He quoted many scriptures, most of which I will share. He said that we need to return to the old church, not a few hundred years ago, but farther than that. He quoted Psalm 127 - "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives his beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate." This te...

Today I read the article below. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/13/critics-deride-designed-weapons-terrorists-hands/ I know about HB45 (I may be wrong on the numbers, or letters, please don't hold me to it), which is the bill that will keep those of us who own guns from owning them unless we get a background check, fingerprinted, photographed, register the guns we own, EVERY gun, and require you to give your first born child. Okay, THIS bill is just ridiculous. I won't even go there. However, the article above that I read today made me so.....MAD.....that I just didn't know what to do but PRAY. According to this article, last month a report was issued saying that if this bill in the article passes, "Critics say the names of suspected terrorists could be drawn from existing government watch lists that cover such broad categories as animal rights extremists, Christian identity extremists, black separatists, anti-abortion extremists, anti-immigration extremists a...

First let me say the move went well, and we are all doing great. Praise God. Aaron has a job interview tomorrow. Today I want to talk about cancer. That vicious disease that takes our mothers, our daughters, sisters, friends, grandmothers, boobies, uteri, and all our menfolk as well. Little is known about the genes behind cancer by the public, unless you are one of those fortunate few to be able to be diagnosed with it, in which case, PLEASE make sure your relatives are tested as well. I will be giving you all facts as I know them, as well as my references for those facts, so you can decide for yourselves. First a brief history on these two terrible genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. Please note that the following is taken from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/risk/brca After reading all that is below, please take a moment and ask yourself, if you were to be tested positive for this gene, wouldn't you want a second opinion? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/health/13patent.html Th...

Well well well. Yesterday marked the day we let our folks fly the nest. Yes, I believe they are ready. They found a nice little (VERY little) apartment, and we moved them yesterday. Now I have 3 empty rooms, well, 2 1/2, one room packed to the ceiling with boxes, and a living room with boxes. Why not let them keep their stuff here in one of my many rooms, right? I mean I have FIVE. So we just have to go through them, and make it so Mother (for blog purposes my mother in law will heretofore be know as Mother, and my mom as Mom) can get to what she needs easily. Currently, I am on the bed, since I can't sit on my couch, lol, and enjoying the sound of an empty house. Believe it or not, I miss the goofballs. NEVER thought I would say that. But....it's odd not to have Mother right there to goof off with. We've grown quite close, and I love to give her down the road about all sortsa stuff. Same with Pop. He doesn't take it QUITE as well, but he's still fun as well. So Aar...

So I finally got EVERYTHING together - the VA stuff (which was the the problem last semester, and the semester before), and my books, and my classes, got my ID!!!!!! And my parking tag, and I am sooooo a student. WHOOHOO! I know, I know. But still. And now that Aaron's disability was upped I can go to school for four years for free. AFTER my GI Bill is out. The GI Bill will be up in three years, so I am going to bust my but to get my undergrad work done, and YAY! Then when I am ready to transfer to Auburn, I will have everything paid for. Does that not ROCK ON or WHAT?!?! Our God is an AWESOME GOD! Now, if we could just find work.....I think He is testing our faith. I have faith. I know we will be fine. So YAY! By the way, this is me learning school spirit. Lol.

Well, my sweety pie and I are sitting around, doing loads of stuff around the house (yeah right), and waiting on 1. my school to start; B. the closing date for the jobs he applied for, and 3. the vocational rehab people from the VA to call him back. (LOOK at that picture. Awww. He bwoke his wake). My first day of classes is June 2. If he starts Vo Rehab then he will be paid to go to school, they will pay FOR his school, plus I will be in school receiving my GI Bill. That's in addition to his disability check. So far no one has called him back, or me for that matter, for work, so we are trying to make the best of things. Tom and Jo, his parents, are moving out. They found an inexpensive place about 6 miles from here, and it's also an apartment that has stuff inside in case one of them falls, or needs emergency help right away. Thank God. I don't like to worry about them, and now I know that they are close by, we can be right there, and if we CAN'T get right there, then s...