Where, Oh Where?

I'm not lost. I just haven't had time for blogging lately.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Traditions

We have annual Thanksgiving traditions in our family:

--drive to Michigan

--the guys have to play the family football game, whether it's snowing, or sunny, or whatever...

--the gals have to prepare the feast, complete with turkey, stuffing, rutabaga, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, corn, peas (and other veggies), bread rolls, sweet potato casserole, the jello dessert, banana cream pie, probably apple pie, mashed potatoes...and whatever we can think of that we may have missed in all that!

--watch the Detroit Lions (usually they get beat, but we can always hope!)

--eat leftovers for supper

Thankfully, this year, we don't have to rush back home.

Tell me about your traditions!

Have a Good Weekend!

True Beauty

The following essay was written by my cousin's 14 year old daughter. I have posted it on both my blogs, as I didn't want any of my readers to miss it. (The author's name has been withheld by request.)
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Letter About Beauty

I hate it when the girls show off their bodies. They show off all of their legs, as in, if their shorts went any shorter they’d be wearing underwear. I guess they think they’d be accepted if they wear basically nothing. It bothers me that their shirts are like bras; it shows all of their stomach and a lot of their chest. What’s with this? It drives me insane! Why can’t they be modest for once? Why do their parents even let them wear this stuff anyway? Why do they even make those clothes in the first place? Who came up with that? Why does everyone strive to be “beautiful”? Why do we all want to be skinny? Yeah, everyone does think about being beautiful and skinny. Even beautiful, skinny girls think that they’re not skinny or pretty enough. What’s with “Oh I wish I had her clothes”, or “Why can’t I get into a size 0 like she can?” Or even “Oh I love her hair! I wish I had her hair.” Or “She always gets the hottest guys, why doesn’t any good looking guy want to go out with me?”? I hate that! But yet, I do that too, just like you do. So this is why I’m writing this to you. I’m going to try to stand up against those lies. You are beautiful, I’m beautiful, she’s beautiful, we are all beautiful. Even when we grow older and the outside appearance may not be as beautiful as it used to be, lets make sure that we’re always modest, and that our inside is beautiful. There are some girls out there who have the most beautiful outward appearance, but inside is the most hideous person on the face of the earth, just by her attitude and her thoughts. We need to be confidant in ourselves. Girls, we need to remember to not show off our bodies so those guys can see it, just wait for your husband, only he should see that. I love the way Emily Downs puts it in an article in Focus On The Family’s teenage girl’s magazine, Brio, she says that “As females, we need to stop putting so much of our worth in outward appearance. Our Lord created humans in His image, not just the thin, perfect-looking people, but every one of us in all our shapes and sizes. God doesn’t see beauty the way today’s media do. He created tiny girls and curvy girls.” God did create us. He doesn’t make junk. He made you the way you are; he made me the way I am. Even the models are not as thin as the pictures in the magazine. They use computers to fix up their hair, eyes, their size, they get rid of their zits, they make their boobs bigger, or their legs more tan, or they get rid of the spot that they missed when they shaved. No one is perfect.

We don’t need to show off our bodies to be beautiful, in fact that’s just disgusting!

We don’t need to have perfect hair; we don’t need to be a size 0. We just need to be ourselves. Proverbs 31:30 says “Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Also Psalms 139:14 says “…I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” The bible says that we are created in God’s image! If you think that you’re ugly, and not good enough, that’s just like insulting God because he made us like this! So think positive, be modest, and most importantly of all, be the girl who God made you to be!


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For All My Friends Back in Michigan

Detroit Traffic Rules

*Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere.
Detroit has its own version of traffic rules. Hold on
and pray! First you must learn to pronounce the city
name. It's Di-troit, NOT DEE-troit. If you pronounce
it DEE-Troit then we will assume you are from Toledo
and here for the country Music hoe-down.

*The morning rush hour is from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
The evening rush hour is from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Friday's rush hour starts Thursday morning. Weekends
are open game.

*If you actually stop at a yellow light, you will be
rear ended, and possibly shot. If you're first off the
starting line when the light turns green, count to
five before going. This will avoid getting in the way
of cross traffic who just ran their yellow light to
keep from getting shot.

*Schoenherr can ONLY be prounounced by a native of the
metro Detroit area. That goes for Gratiot too.

*Construction and renovation on I-94, I-96, I-75 and
I-275 is a way of life, just deal with it.

*If someone actually has their turn signal on, it is
probably a factory defect or they are "out of
towners".

*All old men with white hair wearing a hat have total
right-of-way.

*The minimum acceptable speed on I-696 is 85
regardless of the posted speeds. Anything less is
considered downright SISSY.

*Oh, don't even think of allowing more than one car
length between cars!

*The attractive wrought iron on the windows and doors
in Detroit is NOT ornamental. DO NOT get out of your
car.

*Never stare at the driver of the car with the bumper
sticker that says, Keep honking, I'm reloading.

*If you are in the left lane and only going 70 in a 60
mph zone, people are not waving because they are so
friendly in Detroit. I would suggest you duck.

*I-275 & I-696 is our daily version of NASCAR.

*It's not M-10, it's "the Lodge".

*That's not a lake, it's a pothole.

*If someone tells you it's on Outer Drive, you better
hope you have a map.

*The Michigan left turn is simple. If you want to turn
left, go a 1/4 of a mile past your turn, get to the
left, then make a left, then another left, then make a
right. NOW you have gone left.

Enjoy your trip to Detroit

Heard Any Good Sermons Lately???

Beware the Golden Compass

There is a new movie coming out soon, starring Nicole Kidman. The title of the movie is "The Golden Compass". It will be marketed to kids, and they have a book series they will be promoting, too.

This movie has a very anti-God sentiment to it. It is being called the "anti-Narnia" movie. To learn more, check out this link. http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

To "Halloween" or Not to "Halloween"? Part 2

First, I want to thank everyone who left a thought or comment on my previous post. You all shared some great ideas and feelings on this matter.

This is the conclusion we came to:

Our youngest son is going to dress up as a fireman, and attend his class party. The situation with our oldest is a bit easier. His class is joining the 7th and 8th graders for a pizza and bowling party. This will not involve costumes, but will just be a fun time.

We're going to follow our tradition of the past by going out together that evening. (We usually go to a fast food restaurant with a play land...though our oldest is getting a bit big for that!) We'll come home and have family prayers, then play some games. The practice in the past was that whoever won the game got some candy. (I took in a pile of caramels one year! :o) ) We usually play Uno or something similar.

After seeing the crowds of children downtown last night, all trying to get their share of the candy offered by the merchants...I was once again thankful that we don't participate in the hullabaloo!

I have to add, too, that our youngest was quite perturbed recently, when he found out that their weekly time of praying the rosary is going to be replaced by their party next week. He didn't think that was right. I have to say, I'm glad he feels that way!

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A Little Global Warming Education?

If you're like me, it seems there is at least one article in the paper, one news segment on the evening news, or one item on my news homepage every day about global warming. It seems to have become the latest national and international crisis, if you listen to all they are saying, or read all they are printing on the subject.

Last week, though, I saw an interesting story on this topic on ABC's 20/20. It was on John Stossel's "Give Me a Break" segment. I'm including the link here. Read the article, and let me know what you think. Man vs. Nature

We definitely need to be good stewards of our planet. But do we need to throw the entire population into a panic???



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A New Picture of the Favorite Great Nephew!