Carin's blog: "America Has Come A Long Way"

This is really very simple and can be alot of fun. Once you have been Tagged you write down a blog of 10 interesting, radom,weird, fantacy or hadits about yourself. At the end choose 5 to 7 friends to be "tagged" by listing their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment on their profile "You're It" And to have them read your blog. 1 LOVE SUMMER TIME 2 I am on the shy side. 3 Many times I speak before thinking can often get myself in to trouble. 4 Never been married but have 2 boys 10 years apart! 5 Could live in Flip Flops, bathing suit and live on the beach 6 I think I am in love with someone I have known for 4 years but only met once for 3 hours. 7 Hate to be ingored. 8 I am a cousin to Abraham Lincon 9 I have been very blessed by the Lord to live Just One More Day. 10 Love Tattoos and Motorcycles..... I tag, Lord Raven,Headhunter's,Candy,Billy449, Jeep Man, Fireman,and Gone

It is interesting and remarkable to hear everyone's views and comments on who is runnning this year. It is about time that America has finally come to their sences to have the 3 people running such as Obama, Clinton and McCain. The question I have is who are you voting for and why?

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light. I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest., My daughter beside me angelic in rest. Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Trasforming the yard to a white delight. The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve. My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep. In perfect contentment,or so I would seem, So I slumbered, peraps I started to dream. The sound was wasn't loud, and it wasn't to near, But, I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know. Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow. My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me and my wife and my child. "What are you doing?" I asked without fear, "Come in this moment, it's freezing out there! Put down your pack,brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!" For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snowblown drift. To the window that danced with a warm fire's light Then he sighed and he said "It's really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night" It's my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times. No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like fathers before me. My Grandps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"Then he sighed,"That's Christmas 'Gram always remembers." My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam', And now it is my turn and so, here I am. I've not seen my own son in more that a while, But, my wife sends me pictures, he sure got her smile. Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red,white and blue...an American flag. I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home. I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat. I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.. Who stand at the front against any and all. To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall. "So go back inside", he said, "harbor no fright, Your family is waiting and I'll be all right" "But, isn't there something I can do, at the least, "Give you money,"I asked, "or prepare you a feast? It seems all to lettle for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son." Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us and never forget. To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,To stand your own watch, no matter how long. For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we fought and we bled. Is payment enough, and with that we will trust, That we mattered to you as you mattered to us." PLEASE, Would you do me a kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our US service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

Some People no matter how old they get never lose their "beauty"- They merely move it from their FACES into thier HEARTS

Carrot,Egg and Coffee...(You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again...) A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans.She let them sit and boil, without saying a word. In about 20 minutes she turned off the burners. She removed the carrots and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what>see" "Carrots, eggs and coffee,"she relied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her feel the corrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked her daughter to take the egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she obsrved the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she taisted it's rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother? Her mother explained that each of these objects had the same adversity boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it sofened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. It's thin outer shell had protected is liquid interior, but afater sitting through the boiling water, its inside beacmme hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. "Which are you"? she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose strength? Am I the egg that starts with the malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid of spirit, but,after a death, a break up, a financial hardship or some other trial have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at the worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevated yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgottened past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures adn heartaches. When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live life so at the end you're the one smiling and everyone around you is crying. You may want to pass this message on to those people who mean something to you.(I JUST DID);to those who have touched your life in one way or another; to those who make you smile when you really need it;to those who make you see the brighter side of things when you are really down; to those whose friendships you appreciate; to those who are so meaningful in your life. If you choose not to. It is your loss of an opportunity to brighten someone's Day! It's easier to build a child than repair an adult. This is so true- may we all be COFFEE !!

When things go wrong as they sometimes will, When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit... By all means pray, and don't quit. Success is failure turned inside out , God's hidden gift in the clouds of doubt. You can never tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far. So trust in the Lord when you're hardest hit... It's when things go wrong you must not quit!!!

Finding Peace in a Toubled World 3 Sources of Tension 1 When circumstances are UNCONTROLABLE. 2 When people are UNCHANGEABLE. 3 When problems are UNEXPLAINABLE. Jehovah Shalom,"I AM The God Of Peace" A. ACCEPT what can not be changed Serenity Prayer God Grant Me the Serenity to Accept the things I can not Change, Courage to change the things I can and Wisdom to know the Difference. God does not owe us anything. He is the Potter and We are the Clay. B. TRUST in God's Loving Care It is not so much the amount you know. It is how you handle the hard times. You will never have a problem free life. Your Daily Decision: Who will be in charge of my Life TODAY? God or ME? C. SURRENDER to God's Loving Control Aren't you tired of being at War with God? Why Not Let Go And Let God? When Answers is not enough there is Jesus. Evidence of Surrender is OBEDIENCE - No Matter what

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't suppose to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder everytime. You'll break hearts too.Don't forget how it felt when yours was broken. You will fight with our best freind. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing to fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.