Being a rural pastor's wife post #7

Today's post talks about some local services that we have available. Our small town that we live in has a post office, bar, cafe, small car repair shop, our LCMS church, and insurance office. If we want gas or to go to a small grocery or to go to the bank, or to go to a small drug store, we have to drive 7 miles to a town of about 2000.
1. Post office-our small town has a post office. There is someone at the window daily from 10-2 and Saturday from 10-noon. After it closes until 4pm you can pick up your mail but no one is there to help you (buy stamps, mail a package, or receive a box). I am so thankful to have this in our small town. When political people come to our door campaigning, I always tell them that we need to work to keep our post office as it is a necessity in this small town. There is no mail delivery to our house. There has been some talk of closing some of the small town post offices. If the post office closed we would still not have mail delivery. There would be outside boxes (like trailer parks and apartments sometimes have). If we received a box we would have to go to the town 7 miles away to pick up our box.
We walk to the post office whenever the weather is nice enough. It is a good chance for the Lambs and either Ram or I to get a nice walk in daily. We receive a lot of snail mail because the church is the same post office box as ours. We order a lot online that is delivered to our post office box.
I ship a lot from our post office. I have only used UPS once since we moved here because that company required that we return something UPS. Other than that I have shipped everything by just walking 2 blocks. I have mailed things to a missionary friend in Thailand and to some people in the military and of course packages to our family for birthdays and Christmas.
Sometimes it is frustrating that if we are gone on vacation if we get back too late to pick up the mail, we have to wait over the weekend to get our mail. But it is also nice that if we go on vacation we don't worry about having the post office hold our mail because they always hold our mail! 
I am posting this just so you are not surprised and know that you are not alone if you don't have mail delivery at your house. Please tell your Congressmen to keep the small town post offices open!
2. Local newspaper-We pay to receive the local newspaper from two local newspapers (in the mail) plus there is a free advertisements newspaper delivered to our house once a week. It took me a long time to get used to news only delivered once a week instead of daily. We could really subscribe to another couple of local newspapers because the area our church members are in is so spread out. Ram usually only reads these newspapers if I point out an article to him. But I read the newspapers from cover to cover usually the same day I receive them. There are things to do in this area, but the main way to hear about it is in the newspaper. If I didn't read the newspaper I wouldn't know activities to take the Lambs to or when the local stores have sales. I know that it is a priority for most of our church members to read the newspaper when it comes. Since I didn't grow up here I don't usually know who the people are in the newspaper, but I can still use the news. The "local" TV news only mentions our part of the state if something significant happens so the newspaper is the only way to hear local news. The weather report in the newspaper tells what already happened in the weather last week instead of a weather forecast ahead.
I am posting this to encourage you to subscribe to your local newspaper. Small town newspapers really are different than city newspapers.
3. Local radio-It took me a long time to get used to listening (or at least checking the announcements online) to our local radio station. I admit that I don't like the music most of the time, (Like when they play polka music while I'm trying to make lunch!) but there is other local news. Since the local newspaper only comes out once a week, most of the locals hear about funerals on the radio. There is a talk show in the afternoons broadcast from the big city that Ram and I enjoy. There is a program each morning where they will advertise for free items you are looking to buy or sell. We have advertised a few things we wanted to sell this way. We do have a small consignment shop in the town 7 miles away, but they hardly ever take consignments and it is such a pain to take things there. We even sold Ram's old SUV on this radio program. We would have had to pay to advertise in the newspaper. They announce birthdays and anniversaries and Ram and I were the anniversary couple of the week last year so we received a discount to a local restaurant.
I am posting this to encourage you to listen to your local radio station at least a few times a week to keep up with local news.
Do you have anything to add about how you get news when you live in a rural place?
Come back tomorrow for more tips to live as a rural pastor's wife.

Haiti

One of my college friends adopted two children from Haiti a few years ago. We started supporting a Lutheran pastor in Haiti through their connection. A few years after that, we started supporting one school child in Haiti every year through our MN North District. It was amazing to me to learn that $250 a year was all that was needed to cloth, feed, and school a child that was in desperate need. Rev. Bernard was kind enough to send updates and even photos about our child that we adopted. We have been blessed so much in America that I was glad our family could help a child that was in need.
Rev. Harrison from LCMS World Relief is posting updates about the Haitian situation here. Sadly, there is no news yet on Rev. Bernard or his congregation or his school. We continue to keep the people of Haiti in our prayers.
Rev. Harrison is my former pastor and you can tell that it was very difficult for him to make this video and his staff is doing everything they can possibly do to get news and to help the people of Haiti. Please also keep Rev. Harrison and his family (wife Kathy, sons Matthew and Mark) and his staff at LCMS World Relief in your prayers as they help at this time of disaster.

Please also keep my friend Pam in your prayers. She is going to be induced today to have her twin girls. Please pray for a healthy delivery, healthy Mama, and two healthy baby girls. Please also pray prayers of thanksgiving that she is going to be both a boy Mama and a GIRL Mama now.

Happy My Blog First Anniversary!

Today is my blogaversary! Not very many people read it when I began. I thought I would post the reason why I chose the title for my blog again today. I love the title of my blog. I have seen a similar blog title, Day by Glorious Day. I like my title because most of my posts are about our family either when we were away or at home plus it is from my favorite childhood hymn.

It has been interesting the connections of who reads my blog. Several are women that I've never met. The best man in our wedding-I've never met his wife, but she reads my blog. One of the best man's sisters who I either met once when I was engaged or never met also reads my blog. Many are Loopers that I've met. Some are Loopers that I've never met. Many are homeschoolers. Many are pastor's wives. I originally started it for our family to read. My parents both read it regularly. My sister only reads it when I insist it is something she wants to read-probably less than once a month since she doesn't have internet access at home. Ram's mom reads it often, but not regularly. Ram's dad is so busy with work that he doesn't read it very often. So it's funny that many of the people that I originally wrote it for don't read it regularly!

I never have a problem coming up with blog posts, my problem is having time to sit down and post all my millions of ideas. We have started taking more pictures because we HAVE to post them on the blog. My other problem is that my posts are often way too long. But with Ram as the only adult that I talk to most days, I "talk" to you on my blog!

Would you please leave a comment on this post so I can see who all reads my blog? I know many of you have left an occasional comment, but I would like to see many of you all at once!

Wordless Wednesday-our back yard 4/30/09

Goodbye servant girls

Ram likes to call me the housemother. Part of my task as "housemother" was to provide direction to my "servant girls" aka babysitter and cleaning ladies.
Unfortunately my babysitter has been unable to babysit for several months because her brother was ill (see my post from a few days ago regarding this). Before that, I had her come one afternoon a week-basically to play with Lamb 1, but also with Lamb 2. I liked that she was homeschooled so she was available to come Tuesday afternoons, which is Ram's day for visiting nursing homes and the day that he is gone the longest. It was nice to have someone to talk to when Ram was gone for a long day. She did a great job really playing with the Lambs, not just watching them play. It was nice to get some small projects done during nap time for Lamb 2 and 3. Sometimes I took a nap while she was here. The Lambs enjoyed doing playdoh in the winter and going to the park in the summer with her. She lived in the house behind us when she first started babysitting for us. Then she moved to the town 7 miles away. Sometimes she would get a ride one way and sometimes we took her both ways. But it was worth the chauffeuring to get a good babysitter. I have really missed her since she hasn't babysat for us. I don't know for sure, but I think she will be moving away soon. I am going to try to get another babysitter, but we won't be able to get one that the Lambs like as much as her!
When I was pregnant with Lamb 2, Ram allowed me to hire a cleaning lady. She came every 2 weeks and "all" she did was sweep/mop the kitchen floor, and clean our 2 bathrooms. It wasn't that expensive, but worth it to get those areas done without a toddler trying to "help" me clean. Even though I am trying to clean with more natural products, it was worth having a cleaning lady while I was pregnant. A few months after Lamb 2 was born,my cleaning lady just didn't show up one day. I would have liked to have kept her longer, but it didn't work out. I waited until I was pregnant with Lamb 3 and got a new cleaning lady. She started by herself, but then she started bringing her sister with her to get done quicker. She had the same work (kitchen floor and bathrooms) as my first cleaning lady. I hired her to work for my pregnancy, but liked her so well that I kept her after Lamb 3 was born.
Have you ever wished you could afford a cleaning lady? Let me tell you, it's not worth it some times. When I was in college, one of my babysitting jobs, I babysat every other Tuesday and when I babysat the cleaning ladies came. While the baby napped, I was expected as babysitter to keep an eye on the cleaning ladies while the mother was out. The two school age girls "had" to pick up all their toys and clothes etc. that morning before they went to school so the cleaning ladies could vacuum their room. I vowed then that I would never let cleaning people make more work for my children. I think it would have been easier to expect the school age girls to pick up and vacuum their own rooms so many times a month than to go through picking up everything before the cleaning ladies came.
Don't misunderstand me, I really did like having clean bathrooms and kitchen floor every two weeks. But it was a pain to pick up everything in the kitchen floor area before they arrived in the morning. Sometimes (it began to seem like every time they were coming) we were gone the day before and got home really late (after visiting someone in the hospital 3 hours away or going to the doctor 1 1/2 hours away etc.). We couldn't just dump the diaper bag and groceries that didn't need to be put in the fridge on the floor and go to bed then. I always tried to clean the kitchen and do the dishes so they didn't accidentally knock a glass on the floor and they had a place to get water to mop the kitchen floor. I tried to pick up the step stools and potty chair etc. so they were ready to clean when they got here. If I ran out of time and didn't get these things done before they got here, I ended up paying them to do these little things because they were paid by the hour. They accidentally broke my soap dispenser and got bleach on my carpet. Ram always had to be sure to be out of the shower and dressed before they got here. Lamb 1 was afraid of the cleaning ladies and hid in his room the entire time they were here. All these things added up made me think, why am I PAYING for this?
So, I gave them notice that today would be the last day of cleaning. I told them we needed to take the summer off and we would see next fall. If I'm pregnant then, I'll probably get them to clean again. If I'm not pregnant, I probably won't.
I have great plans to try to continue to clean the two bathrooms and kitchen floor myself, every two weeks on the days that they would have cleaned. I want to involve Lamb 1 and 2 a little bit in this cleaning even if it initially makes more work for me. I don't know how these plans will work out with vacations and summer activities, but I'm going to try.
For me it comes down to a choice between being stressed the morning the cleaning ladies come or being disciplined to do the cleaning myself. Perhaps if I can do the cleaning myself, I'll reward myself with a small treat. Hey, I'm saving the money that I would have paid them, maybe after the summer I'll reward myself with a big treat! (Maybe something for scrapbooking?)

Being a tightwad

I picked up a copy of Tightwad Gazette book yesterday at the local library book sale. (Shows I'm a tightwad to buy the book over 10 years after it was published and paying 25 cents.) The beginning of the book has a article talking about the idea that baby boom generation having fewer opportunities and struggling harder than previous generations is an idea held by most Americans, but it is false.
The author says that she thinks the majority of Americans have much higher expectations. She gives some examples like we have more cars, more Americans go to foreign countries, we spend more money on hobbies and recreation, we have more items to choose in the grocery store, and we eat out at restaurants more. Only 25% of parents of baby boomers went to college vs. 62% of high school graduates in 1992. Home ownership is 15% more affordable than in 1980. Even though the average family is smaller, a new house is twice as big as the average one built just after WWII. 75% of new houses have central AC vs 34% in 1970. 50% have more than 2 bathrooms up from 16%. 58% of new homes had a garage in 1970, now 82% have them. Health care costs are on the rise because we expect more-high tech testing and cures for everything. The one area that Americans are right about is taxes. Since 1948 the federal tax and social security for the median family of 4 has risen from 2% to 25% of their income.
Some of these statistics are outdated (1996) and I know we pay even more taxes now. That is without current politics and the current economy factored in. But the author's point is if you are willing to live like people in 1960, you can be a stay at home mom too. Second incomes are often consumed with child care, extra taxes, and luxuries that were done without then.
I've been thinking about this whole topic recently. Most of our church members are older and they raised larger families (5 0r 6 kids) in much smaller houses than we live in now. Some of them don't have central AC and my parents only got central AC a few years ago. We have 2 cars and it is rare to use both cars at the same time except for Sunday morning. Many homes in our area don't have garages even though we live in the "frozen tundra". Americans seem to think going to college is a right, not a privilege, unlike my sister and I that worked VERY HARD to pay for college with help from my parents.
My parents were very good about knowing the budget for groceries-taking that much cash to the grocery, keeping track of how much they spent as they shopped, and not spending one more cent. When we got to the check out, if they miscalculated, then they put some items back. Many times we didn't get everything on the list-once we had spent the money budgeted, we went to the check out lane. My mom was very good about writing a grocery list with different categories-items we desperately needed, items on sale or coupons, and then items that would be nice to have but if we ran out of money then those were the first ones we didn't get. My dad was excellent at doing the mental math to see what the best buy was.
It was rare for us to shop at K-Mart or Walmart type stores because my mom knew she would fall into the trap of going in for one item and then coming out with many more items (usually items that we really did need, not just wants). So that was solved with us just rarely shopping at stores like that and doing without.
Even though I'm very frugal, I have no idea how much money we spend on groceries and other items. Since we live so far away from Walmart and a big grocery store, I'm more concerned about GETTING TO the store before the coupons expire and our cupboard is bare. I ALWAYS have a list going because I never know when we will be going to a bigger town to shop (when Ram has to visit someone in the hospital). Our cupboard is always stocked very full because we live 7 miles away from a small grocery store. We pay for our groceries with a credit card and pay it off each month both to get the reward points for our credit card and to not worry about how much cash to take on our trips to the grocery 1 1/2 hours away. Plus when something is on sale, I can stock up and not worry about spending too much money.
This post has become way too long, and I don't know what the answer is to Americans having such high expectations. I'm planning a Mother's Day post tomorrow and then maybe I'll return to this topic next week.

Stellan made it through surgery!

UPDATE: Tonight at ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) several children and one mom were wearing orange. Then we used orange sand in the sand table. I thought this was all planned for Stellan-well at least the mom dressed in orange. None of the moms attending ECFE had ever heard of Stellan or the blog before. One mom was thankful I told her about it because she had seen "Are you praying for Stellan?" on Facebook today and had no idea what that meant. The mom wearing orange was proud to wear orange today when she heard about it. Lamb 1 kept talking about Stellan with his ECFE teacher and she had no idea what he was talking about. The Lambs all wore orange to ECFE today, I don't own any orange!
Check out the blog, Stellan is doing remarkably well. The doctor did a fantastic job in difficult circumstances.

The Lambs wore orange today in support of Stellan. These two photos were posted on the website. http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ Stellan and his family still need our prayers.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host:

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

He's not joking

I read this blog tonight and my blood pressure rose as I listened to the video! We have been TV free so I have been sheltered from this craziness. I was glad it was less than 4 minutes because I couldn't have taken it any longer.

HT: Father Hollywood

Why to turn off the washer and dryer before you leave the house

I hope that you all had a Blessed Holy Week. My first blog post after Holy Week gives us all a visual reminder to be careful.

Click here and look at these photos.

A Looper's sister had this fire in their house. This house was on the market and many of their belongings were in storage in order to sell the house. But they did have some antique furniture and other items in the house. No one was home. She put some bedding in the washer before she left and the washer caught on fire. The fire put itself out with water from the pipes steaming and lack of oxygen from the house being sealed up. When she returned home she did not know there was a fire until she entered the home. The fire inspector said that usually homes like this burn to the ground. They plan to use the photos of this for training. The entire house is a loss and will be gutted to the studs.

I have always been careful about the dryer after a friend in high school told the story of how they had a house fire because of a dryer fire. Then another one of our friends had a house fire a few years ago because of the dryer. I haven't always been as careful about the washer though. This makes me want to check our smoke alarms regularly and never let the washer OR dryer run when we aren't home.

It also is a good visual for our children of why we should stay low during a fire if you are trying to make an escape.

Tell Your Congressman

Thanks to Cheryl for pointing out this video.

Economy

My generation is too young to have lived through inflation and really understand it. I do have vague memories of gas shortages and electricity brownouts (is that what they were called?) in the 70's as a child.

But this week I've been noticing small things that are signs of the times and I don't just think, I KNOW it is going to get worse.

1. Ram needs his car replaced. It is cheaper to buy a NEW car than a used car. Well technically, it's about a $1000 more for a new vs. a car with 65,000 miles on it. This is a good time to be a car buyer, not a good time to be a car salesman. I thought the days of buying a new car for less than $20,000 were long gone. I was wrong.

2. I've heard that everyone is doing their shopping at the grocery store and they are doing well because people are eating out less. But recently our small local grocery store has had incredible deals. I don't know if this is because people are shopping at Walmart or if the grocery store isn't doing well. Today Bryers ice cream was $3. I realize the container is smaller than it used to be, and $3 isn't that good of a price when we lived in Fort Wayne. But for out here at the local store, Bryers is normally $5.75. I could go on about other prices, but what really shocked me was you could use manufacture coupons with their good deals and get double coupons and there was no limit to their good deals. And it wasn't just a few items on sale for these incredible deals, it was lots of items. So that tells me it wasn't just a few items to get you in the store. Again, a great time to stock up and be the buyer, not so good for the local grocery store.

3. There is also talk about how incredible mortgage rates are right now. We live in a parsonage so I don't know anything about that. But it's a great time to refinance or buy, not a great time to be the seller or bank.

Blogging, Memes, and Computer Problems

Elephant's Child had a great post about how creepy Facebook memes are getting. She says they are too long and too much privacy is being lost with them. Read her whole post to see what she says. I agree with her.

That is one reason why neither Ram or I are part of Facebook. I could write a whole post about other reasons why we aren't part of Facebook. Ram is part of Wittenburg Trail, but he rarely uses it and I'm not part of WT.

Esther tagged me today to do 25 things about my children. I just started this blog in December so I had never been tagged before. I don't have a problem with a meme like that. Although I did think 25 was rather long. Maybe some day I'll do a post on my children, but this week I'm too busy to do it.

Susan has been discussing with Loopers her terrible computer problems recently. There are some nasty viruses going around computers recently and currently. She was given the advice to watch her websurfing and only go to sites that she KNOWS are safe until this calms down. (google blogs, Amazon, etc.) And if you haven't backed up your computer recently, that would be a good idea too.

We had computer problems a few years ago and we had to backup our photos and important things and then erase everything and start over. We learned our lesson and Ram is much better about backing up than he was before that. We have been busy so Ram hasn't done a backup for awhile. But with Susan's news, he backed everything up last night. So far it seems like we have been protected from this group of viruses. I hope that we continue to be protected. Not because we don't have things backed up. But because it takes so much TIME to fix your computer up when you have to mess with this. We know from experience when we had to crash our computer. With 3 little lambs and Lent starting next week, we don't have time to rebuild our computer now. I know some people crash their computer on purpose every so often to start with a fresh slate. I'm not one of those people!

President Obama's own words

President Obama spoke this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast. I found his speech here during a quick internet search.

Lora pointed out these awesome words from President Obama this morning. Thank you Lora for alerting us to this.

"There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being."

We need to keep President Obama in our prayers daily.

Obama’s Tax Hikes a Bad Idea, Actor Ricky Schroder Says

This will show my age, but I had a huge crush on Ricky Schroder as a pre-teen!

Today

I usually don't write anything on Wordless Wednesday, but we are going to be gone tomorrow and I had lots of ideas for posts running through my head, so I had to post them now!

After reading this on Cheryl's blog, I was very depressed.

This afternoon I flipped through the TV stations and ended up on C-Span. I was encouraged that Mike Pence from IN and other congressmen were giving wonderful speeches in favor of pro-life. It was a great reminder to me that not every congressman has plans to kill the unborn. We need to keep all 3 branches of the government in our prayers, not just Obama.

I caught a small part of the story that Starbucks started a new program. If I understood it right, Obama inspired them to offer a free coffee to anyone that signs up to do 5 hours of community service. I may not have heard it right, but this seems ridiculous. Why couldn't you have this program while Bush was in office? Who is going to check if you really do the community service or if you just say you will? What is their definition of community service? I will help my neighbor without counting up hours. We were given gift cards for Christmas and we love Starbucks drinks, but when we go next time, we won't be signing up for this program.

Lamb 1 is going to get his hearing checked tomorrow. Hopefully his ear infection is cleared up and his hearing is back to normal. Then we are headed to Fargo for Ram to visit a member and the rest of us to get out and get over our cabin fever for a day! I already have my bags packed. (That is quite an accomplishment because it takes a lot to have the diaper bag packed for a whole day outing with extra just in case winter weather causes us to be more than one day!)

Statements I like to say and wish I could say

6 Statements I have said this last week that make me happy!
1. Lamb 1, we have to change our underwear every morning.
(Just recently he has started wearing underwear instead of diapers to bed and he has been dry all night 4 out of the last 5 nights!)
2. I'm done writing thank you notes for Christmas presents.
(The church members are very generous but that makes a lot of thank you notes.)
3. Lamb 2 is really talking a lot now.
4. Yes, I'll read to you now.
(Lamb 2 was so cute when he said, "Mama, read a me". Then he said, "book" and jumped up and down he was so excited. Ram had taken Lamb 1 to the town cafe and Lamb 3 was napping. So Lamb 2 crawled on my lap for a long reading session. He loved snuggling with just Mama!)
5. Thank you, Ram, for finishing taking down the Christmas tree.
6. Lamb 3 is standing holding onto something well.

6 Statements I wish I could say today, but I can't because they aren't true.
1. Lamb 2 is potty trained.
(He isn't potty trained AT ALL. We tried underwear last week and he never attempted to go in the toilet for the 3 days we tried. He loved changing his underwear after he wet them.)
2. Lamb 3 sleeps through the night.
(He did for awhile, but not now at 9 months.)
3. I sent all my Christmas cards.
(I did send about 1/4 of what we usually send-LAST WEEK.)
4. The Christmas decorations are packed up and put away.
(Notice Ram did his part, Ewe has lot to do yet!)
5. I love being here in Fort Wayne at Symposium.
(I'm very jealous of those friends who are in Fort Wayne this week. The last time I was in Fort Wayne was last June. We don't know when we will be able to visit this year. It's harder when you don't have plans to look forward to. We haven't traveled to Symposium the last few years because the weather is so unpredictable.)
6. Lamb 3 can go more than 2 hours without nursing.
(Well, to be honest, I do love cuddling with him and nursing him. And, I know that nursing is the best thing for him. But I'm tired of waking up and feeding him every two hours. I know this time will pass, probably when he finishes a growth spurt, but it's hard right now.)

My hard working boys

Ram has done a good job keeping up with the shoveling on our driveway and walks. We had so much snow that our shovel broke and we had to buy a new one! The last few times Ram has shoveled it has been warm enough for Lamb 1 and 2 to go play in the snow while he shoveled. You can tell the snow drifts are nearly to Ram's waist, not quite, on our back sidewalk.

Welcome President Obama

I am like Cheryl and have mixed feelings about inauguration day today. I realize the significance of the day like her. I pray and wish Obama well for the next 4 years. But I also fear for the country and our safety. I fear for the economy and our freedoms. And I especially fear for the unborn.
Yesterday I said I had no desire to watch any of the coverage today. Turns out I spent most of the day with C-Span on. There wasn't too much newspeople talking. There were two things that I noticed that bugged me.
1. He was introduced as Barack H. Obama. At least he was sworn in with his full name. Have any other presidents been introduced like that?
2. During the parade they mentioned there is a restaurant in NY that every president since Eisenhower has eaten there during their term. They are upset with President George W. Bush for not eating there during his term. They kept thinking he would eventually make it but he didn't. The media was giving Bush a hard time for not making this a priority. Wow, leave it to Bush to not waste money and make a security nightmare to go dine in NY. Maybe he had no desire to eat there and would rather eat in TX? Maybe he would rather spend a quiet night at home with his beloved with the great chefs he is blessed with as president. And I wonder if this restaurant ever officially invited him and told him how important it was to their business that he come. Plus, it was a new situation after 9/11. Eating at this restaurant was not a priority in this new situation for President Bush.
The media is positive that Obama and his family will be more social than President Bush and get out of the White House more and especially eat out more. What a nightmare for the Secret Service if this is true. Thank you President Bush for being considerate and giving most of your staff off holidays and not being selfish to get out of the White House any more than necessary!

I'm happy for Obama that he had a great day and that the power was transferred peacefully. I'm thankful he and his family were safe today even though I don't agree with the media swooning and having no holds barred as they cover it. Tonight the Lambs and I made sure to include President Obama in our prayers.

May the Lord Bless and Keep and protect President Barack and Michelle Obama and their two daughters! You are in our prayers.

Goodbye and Thank You, Former President Bush!

I received an e-mail from my dad today in honor of President George W. Bush's wedding anniversary. They have been married for 31 years as of 11/5/08. I will try to summarize what it was about. I have no idea who wrote this tribute to give them credit.
The leader of the free world had a woman by his side that promised to always be with him in love and support. George and Laura openly display deep affection for each other. They adore each other. They enjoy each other's company. It was a blessing to observe this. They were subjected to some of the ugliest abuse in our country's history. Throughout the rumors and hated, they endured it with peace and joy. They endured this through the grace of God because of their faith in Jesus Christ and prayer.
We grieve that his term is over and we will no longer see their example of mature love. But we rejoice that you will finally be able to spend time with your beloved. Even if the whole country is not saying it, we admire and respect you. We are forever thankful for what you did for us the past 8 years.

On a personal note, I tried very hard from election day until today to not say anything negative in front of the Lambs about Obama, even though I was often thinking negative thoughts. As we watched the coverage today, I explained who everyone was to Lamb 1. I explained that after President Bush got on the helicopter that he was no longer our president, but Obama was. I was talking about President and Mrs. Obama. Lamb 1 surprised me and said, "But I don't want to call that man President, I still want President Bush!" Yeah, Lamb 1, that's exactly how I feel. I'm a sore loser. A few months ago Lamb 1 thought Bush was a silly last name. He received a letter and photos and stickers from President Bush in the mail. President Bush is the only president he has had in his lifetime. So no wonder, he doesn't want change!

May the Lord Bless and Keep and Protect Former President George W. and Laura Bush and their two daughters, as they begin this new chapter in their lives. Just imagine how many books George and Laura will read now!

Imagine the Potential-UPDATED

In honor of Sanctity of Human Life Sunday yesterday and the inauguration tomorrow. There may be another video that would be a better example, but this is what I saw in my quick scan of blogs the last few days.

HT: Cheryl

Thanks to Cheryl's comment, I can now post You Tube! Thank you Cheryl for your help. It sounded more complicated than it actually was.