Good Old American Patriotism

Written by a housewife from New Jersey and sounds like it! This is one ticked off lady.

"Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001?

Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in
downtown Manhattan , across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania ?

Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated" when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet?...Well, I don't. I don't care at all.

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia.

I'll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed throat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the
innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.

In t he meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marin e roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college-hazing incident, rest assured: I don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank: I don't care.

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed "special" food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts: I don't care.

And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and-you guessed it-I don't care !!

If you agree with this viewpoint, pass this on to all your E-mail friends. Sooner or later, it'll get
to the people responsible for this ridiculous behavior!

If you don't agree, then by all means hit the delete button. Should you choose the latter, then please don't complain when more atrocities committed by radical Muslims happen here in our great Country! And may I add:

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

I have another quote that I would like to add AND.......I hope you forward all this.

"If we ever forget that we're One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under." Also by.. Ronald Reagan

One last thought for the day:

In case we find ourselves starting to believe all the Anti-American sentiment and negativity, we should remember England's Prime Minister Tony Blair's words during a recent interview. When asked by one of his Parliament members why he believes so much in America, he said: "A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in... And how many want out."

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I.

One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

Pushing For Therapy

Good morning! I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the Dawn and Corey situation. Things have been rough around here since their weekly visitation started. I know the reasoning behind the decision to do this , but sometimes I think they (the social workers, etc.) don't always do what's best for the kids. They have rules they have to follow, so it's up to us to fight for what Dawn and Corey need. Right now I am in the process of fighting for an in-home play therapist for Dawn. Her anger has been a big issue lately, and I have realized that we can't help her by ourselves. If the workers want to put her through this pain and confusion every week, then they need to step up and provide us with help. The last two days have been better, but they had a visit last night, so I'm hesitant to see what today holds. Please pray that all involved will see what the children need and help us provide that for them. I can say for certain that we are in a fight right now with Satan himself. We're trusting God for the victory! Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty who has for now blessed us with these.

P.S. School starting got postponed until next week, since Caitlyn's school books did not get here yet. they are being shipped. Also, we have court on Sept 6th.

New Videos!

Good afternoon to all of our loved ones! Here are three new videos of the kiddos. The first one is of the boys, but the lighting is very bad, so I will have to do another one and post it later. you can still hear them good though. Then there's one of Kylie and Dawn, and lastly one of Caitlyn and her violin. Last night the kids watched the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie. John's been asking to see it, so we all sat down and watched it last night. As a result, today has been spent pretending to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was sorting laundry earlier today, and I heard from the other room "It's party time boys!" It sounded like Caitlyn. Then I heard a bunch of pretend fighting noises, and Kylie yell "Do you want a piece of me?!" I laughed so hard! Enjoy the videos! Love you all and thank you to God Almighty who has for now blessed us with these.

Beach Pictures

Our Esteemed Soccer Coach

Here are the pictures I promised from the beach last weekend. We all really had a great time! Well, soccer practice starts next week, and Dawn is very excited. Jeremy is actually coaching her team, and I think it will be great for Dawn and him. With five kids, they don't always get a ton of individual attention, and I think that this will give Dawn an opportunity to get some much needed Daddy time. Kylie will probably start soccer in the spring after she finishes her Tae Kwon Do class. Her Tae Kwon Do class is a six month course and she has really enjoyed it. After this beginner class she is in, they are supposed to move up to the next level, which neither Jeremy or I think she is ready for. We haven't decided for sure exactly what we're going to do, but she wants to play soccer and soccer cost less. Pretty easy decision! :) Caitlyn is going strong in her violin. She even learned her first major scale last week, and prides herself on the fact that she already has it memorized! I need to recharge the batteries on my camera, but I will make a video of Caitlyn to post in the next few days. We start school here next week. We recently got Caitlyn tested just to see what level she was at and to help us decide what kind of curriculum to use this year. After not doing any refresher work over the summer, she tested at a third grade level in most subjects! She's only 6! We are doing her work through the Christian school at our church. She will still be doing her work at home, but we will be using their curriculum. Plus, for a monthly fee, they keep track of all her grades and she gets to be involved in the the special school activities. I think it will be good for all of us. Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty who has for now blessed us with these.

The Beach

We are back! We had a great time in Virginia Beach, actually it was Sandbridge, VA. I forgot my camera, but Candy took some pictures, so I'll post them as soon as I get them from her. We didn't spend too much time at the actual beach, but we enjoyed every minute we had. The condo where we stayed with Candy and Mark was absolutely beautiful, and had plenty of room for all of us. We went down to the beach front first thing Saturday morning. The wind was blowing and it wasn't too hot. We thought we were in for a great morning. The waves were pretty rough though, and none of the kids wanted to go with us in the water. They played in the sand, and pulled each other around on the boogie boards. We even saw dolphins! They were surprisingly very close to the shore! That made our day of course. I decided I would go out a little ways and try to ride a couple waves on the boogie board. I didn't even get very far (a little past my knees) and got knocked down by a very forceful wave! It knocked my glasses off (which I had forgotten to take off), and pulled me under. It took awhile to get back to the shore since it kept sucking me back out and hitting me with new waves. After that I was pretty sure that the water was a little too rough to have a nice day at the beach. The lifeguard even came and put up the red flag for "dangerous waters". I thought that he probably should have put that up before I almost drowned!! :) Anyway, we went back to the pool at the condo and spent the rest of the morning there. We had a great time, and even had the pool to ourselves for most of the time we were there. I definitely would love to go back. It was relaxing, and really what we needed. Now for some odds and ends. Corey and Dawn have another visit with their dad today. Please pray for us, as this last week has been rough with them. It looks like it may be like this for awhile. My parents house is almost done, and they are set to move in the week before we go to TN for my high school reunion the late part of September. I am very excited for them, and the house looks great! Yesterday coming back form her violin lesson, Caitlyn and Jeremy had a very deep conversation about who she's going to marry. She was making a list of all the attributes she wants in a husband. Jeremy asked her who chooses who she gets to marry. She said "God". And then said, "He will tell me in my prayers." If that didn't make us proud! She said that she remembered that I told her that a long time ago. I'm so thankful that God has blessed us, and allowed our daughter to retain this crucial information she needs to succeed. I just pray that her desire to do God's will will continue to take root, and that we as parents continue to feed her the spiritual food she needs. Love you all and thank you to God Almighty who has for now blessed us with these.

The Storm

I just had to share my experience last night. I had scheduled a "mommy night out" with a friend for dinner. Shortly after we left, it started to look like it was going to storm. And it did! It stormed so bad that Olive Garden (where we were eating) lost electricity, and we had to eat in the dark! We did get free desert out of it though. Then trying to get home, we couldn't hardly see it was raining so bad, and the lightning was almost constant. We did a whole lot of praying! My friend Julie and I had a great time though. We weren't about to let a storm ruin our night! Dawn and Corey's visit went well today. Since they returned though, Corey has been a mess. He's just acting out alot, and being hard to deal with. Please pray that this doesn't happen every time. Also, I forgot to mention yesterday about our hamster. When we got the house fumigated last week, we had to put Jack (the hamster) out on the back deck so that he didn't get killed by the chemicals. It happened to be an extremely hot day, and he died of heat stroke, I'm assuming. I felt really bad, and the girls were of course upset. Surprisingly though, they did not insist on a funeral like they did when Scooby died. We told them we would buy a new hamster in a couple weeks, and Caitlyn piped up wanting to know if we could get a chinchilla instead! Kylie then wanted to know how long a chinchilla lived, because she wanted something that lived longer. :) Somehow I doubt we will be buying a chinchilla, although they do sell them at PetSmart. I'll post pictures from the beach soon! Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty who has for now blessed us with these.

Excited about the weekend!

I can't believe it's been almost a week already! This week has flown by for some reason. Tuesday, Jeremy and I headed off to Busch Gardens, ALONE! We had a great time, and rode roller coasters all day! They have a couple there at Busch Gardens that are pretty darn scary! We really enjoyed just having some time to relax and enjoy each other. Corey has been a little sick this week. He's had a bit of a fever, and a stuffy nose. He's been coughing some, and now Kylie and John have started in. Please pray for me in particular. My hormones have been kind of wacked out lately again, and with everything going on in our lives I need to be emotionally stable. It hasn't been horrible, but it has been a struggle to keep myself from being so weepy. Dawn and Corey have their first visit with their dad in awhile today, and that has me somewhat stressed out. To make matters worse, I will not be at the visit. They are going with their new counselor (who we love), but letting them go is going to be harder than I anticipated. In every way imaginable, I feel like their mother. Pray that God continues to give me the grace to accept the uncertainty of our future. I told my mother this morning that loving them without reservations is difficult, but impossible not to do. She reminded me that this is our ministry, and that every day we are making an impact on their lives, the lives of their family, and the lives of all the social workers, attorneys, and counselors involved. Thank you for all your love and support! I am looking forward to this weekend, as we are heading to the beach! Our friends Candy and Mark are on vacation at a condo in Virginia Beach, and offered to let us stay the night Friday. We are going to spend Saturday on the beach with the kids. I haven't built a sand castle in years. I can't wait! I have great beach memories from my childhood, and I can't wait to help Caitlyn find seashells, and Kylie chase a crab, and John bury Corey in the sand! Maybe Dawn will help me build a sand castle. :) I'll post pictures when we get back. Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty who has for now blessed us with these.

TGIF!

Thank goodness it's Friday! This has been such a busy week, and we are looking forward to having a relaxing Saturday tomorrow. Jeremy's new work schedule has been such a blessing!! We can almost always count on having a normal weekend, which includes some down time for us to just hang out together as a family. Tonight we are getting our picture taken for the church directory. Kylie got her orange belt this week. They always have the kids show the new punch /kick combination they learned, and they ask them a question. Like one time it was "Who are your heroes?" And they're supposed to say "my mom and dad", that type of thing. Well, this time the question was "Who is your best friend?". They're supposed to say "Book and Pencil. They can give us a good education." When asked the question, she loudly said "John Joseph". John Joseph is her best friend, and takes karate with her. His family goes to our church, and they have been together since they were born only a week apart. Her instructor kept trying to get her to say the right answer, but she was clueless. She just kept saying "John Joseph!" Caitlyn is doing very well with her violin, and every week she learns to play more and more with her bow, and read more notes. Dawn is excited about playing soccer this fall. She starts practices the week after next. The two pictures of John above were taken yesterday. John has been walking around the house with these buckets on his feet and his head. He looks so funny! At least he's taking a break from the Spiderman suit! The top picture is him eating dinner last night. the kids were having pizza, and John wanted to put cucumbers on his cheese pizza! Gross! But he liked it, and ate everything on his plate! He loves some of the oddest foods, but he's just like his father! Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty who has for now blessed us with these.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Things have been , well ....... busy here lately! We have had alot going on this last month of summer. We start school in a few weeks, so preparing for that has taken up some of my time. Dr. Bob Gray from TX is preaching at our church the next two nights, the exterminator is coming tomorrow to try and once and for all get rid of the fleas, Dawn starts soccer soon, we're taking family pictures on Friday for the church directory, and the list goes on.... It seems like we go through stages, but for some reason this summer has been really hectic. I'm praying that once school starts, things will calm down a bit. Next week looks like it should be pretty calm, so far anyway. Our calendar seems to fill up quickly. Please continue to pray for us. We can always use the prayers!! Thank you for all your support and encouragement. Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty who has for now blessed us with these.