Monday, April 30, 2012

Yauda, yauda

Muddy, wet, and stinky. That's what all the dogs were this morning. :P And Molly and Rosie insisted on jumping out of the pen over and over so I could put them back in. They think they are amusing.
Skye had 13 puppies last night, too! They are SOOO adorable. I will post some pics from Mrs. Wrights website, okefeildacres.com, later.
I'm working up the courage to post part of the first chapter of my book on here to hear people's opinions.... We will see. I must be crazy if I'd do that.
Well, I guess I am crazy. Most people don't know how wild I really am. At least until I'm on the soccer field or playing volley ball, lol!
But I do like alot of things most people think are BORING. I don't think ANYTHING is boring. Anything can be thrilling. Just ask Anne of Green Gables. That's the way I like to live.
I drew a picture last night that I am actually happy with! I am really excited. I don't usually like my own drawings... It's still not as realistic as I would like, but it is ....close......
I'm liking being a little bit normal again. I can dance around the house without my muscles protesting anymore! Saturday I sang while cleaning the house because my family was at SHEM and I house sat for the Wrights since Skye was so close to having her pups. I got home an hour before they did and had fun getting everything clean for them.
Then we had my "family" grad party. (Which included more ice cream). What is your favorite kind of ice cream? Mine is raspberry. And I mean REAL raspberry. Which you can't find anywhere and I haven't had in three years. My second is chocolate. I make do with that.
Then we watched Wall-E. It is a delightfully sweet movie.


Image Detail

Isn't he cute? (Yes, I will say that about electronic robots.)


And I went to the first walk through for my new job. It is going to be VERY neat.
Uggg, This is not very interesting, but oh well. I'm ready to get off.



Sunday, April 29, 2012

The beauty of God's World

Wowzers!!! Here are some awesome pics I found that I just HAD to share with you all!!



The three great pyramids of Gaza.




Just cool.


Wow, are the Northern Lights osm!


:D


Ok, this one's just for laughs. (But what is life without laughter, eh?)








Daisies make me smile.


This is neat!


I want to do that!!!!!


If only I had a yard like this.


Bottlenose dolphins leaping off the coast of Roatan Island, Honduras. Aren't they gorgeous!


Deer friends on Love Meow.


Tillamook, Or. I have been here!!!


This one is for Rachel. I saw it, and thought of you!!! Isn't it COOL!


Hope you like them all!! <3

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Life!!!!!!!!

And the day begins!!! In a few moments I'm off to "work". When I come home, the wildness of my next weekend will begin. First, we are going to load up our vehicle. We have to transport a harp and tuba into town today. THAT will be fun...
We are going to the first day of the SHEM convention. I am accompanying a friend in the talent show and the graduation practice is tonight. Yes, you've all heard it and you're going to hear it again. I GRADUATED last year, but I'm walking this year.
Then some of the orchestra's are going to play. I wish the choir would sing tonight, because tomorrow I won't be able to be with them tomorrow.... :(
That's one of the down sides of walking.
I am sooooo happy about this weather! I hope it will stick around this time. It has dashed my hopes enough this spring.
And I also can't wait to see all of my friends tonight! That is going to be splendid!

Here is a random picture of me and my dog.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Passports, thumbs, chicks, and pics...

Today we got all of five of our passport paperwork filed and mailed!!!!!! I am so excited! That means, hopefully, we will be able to go to Canada next year. My picture is AWFUL because I am not photogenic and I didn't go my hair today but threw it back in a ponytail because I sliced my thumb to the bone at work this morning. This is definitely not my month, lol!
What is really cool though is Thadden will probably be flying out this year to labor on my grandparents farm as work experience, but getting the passports is too expensive for us all to go out this year as well. I am just a tiny-winy bit jealous. Ok, I am a lot jealous. Next year will probably be my last year getting to go to Canada with my family too.......
Thadden is going to become a vet. He is going to College of the Ozarks for his pre-vet degree. Then he is going to transfer to the best school he can afford. (We don't know what right now.)
And something else exciting happened today! Our baby chicks, who have been hiding a day longer than they were supposed to, started hatching today!!!! They are so adorable. But the incubator has been a bit too dry and so half of them are REALLY ugly! :-(




This one is black and white. And cute.


It likes to snuggle!!!


All the rest of the ugly ducklings... There are more in the incubator still.


Today Thadden had me begin taking his senior pictures too! That was fun. Unfortunately, the camera was kind of muggy in the half-light of twilight, so we're going to take more tomorrow. Here are a few I like.



He looks REALLY good when he laughs!


This is what he likes to look like. :D


This is what he looks like best.

Gotta go now... so have a good night all of you!!!

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Ok, strike the whole normal thing...

So I thought....it might perhaps be a regular Friday for me yesterday. Yea, that went far. Aside from the fact that at the moment I could sing the bass line and I am a 1st soprano, Bel Canto went wonderful! Then came my fateful hour. I was naively bounding down the stairs in my few free minutes between classes, little knowing that my brand new flip flops were deviously plotting my ruin. There was a slip, and then a slid, and there I lay, sprawled upon the stairs. The railing is my very best friend, because had I not been able to grab it, I would have landed on my nose at the bottom landing.
Let's just say my bruises are rather ostentatious, and there are a lot of them.
Ok, this sounds very childish but I'm going to post it anyway because I don't want to write it out again.



This was our choir on picture day. Not one of the professional shots, but a picture nonetheless.


On a better note, this is a beautiful day!!! We went to C of O with our Grandma who is visiting from Oregon, and discovered a REALLY cool picturesque place down by the mill. Then we learned the mill was a museum of sorts, and had lots of fun exploring it. We saw two duck mother's with a litany of ducklings trailing behind them and a swan sitting on her eggs. There were also four greenhouses filled with stunning flowers and foliage that we were able to browse through. They even had lemon, orange, tangerine, and lime trees with FRUIT on them! Now I want to learn how to grow the trees to  get the fruit to actually produce myself. When we came home, after *lupper*, I went outside and sat with my dog Treasure and cat Alendil for three hours and soaked up the sun and prayed. It was wonderful. Once I am all better, this summer is going to be one of the best ones I have ever been alive for!!!!



Thursday, April 19, 2012

Hurrah!!

Ok, all I can say is I am so excited that tomorrow is Friday! And a normal Friday too!!! <3

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The Way's of God

God is so incredible. I cannot believe all that he has done for me and my friends. It is so neat to watch him answer prayers that seem unresolvable. I cannot wait to see what he has in store for the next few years of my life.
Something that has touched me the last few months that I just have to share. And that is the trials of life, the things that really test you and make you ach and cause your heart to burn. These pains are brought about, not because God has abandonded us or no longer cares for us, but because he uses them to strengthen us and prepare us.
I have come to the realization that it is when I am farthest away from where I want to be, that I am closest to God. And that is because I NEED him. And God wants us to need him. It is why he allows those things to happent that will cause us to hurt.
When we are the most lost, we need him to guide us the most.
When we are in the most pain, we need him to comfort us the most.
And he uses that moment when you are lying down, to put out his hand and let us know we can trust him. We will need him in this walk on earth and we CAN follow him blindly, because HE knows where he's going.
It is so neat to know that he has planned this out, that our struggles are not purposeless, and that we will one day look back on the lessons we learned as a blessing. I am so thankful to have a God who truly loves us enough to let the hard things happen, so that he can support us.


Saturday, April 14, 2012

Memories

Today was the 100th Memorial of the sinking of the Titanic. It is a such a sobering day, especially since it also happens to be my grandpa's birthday. He passed away two Octobers ago.

Here is an article that came out in the New York Times before they even knew what all had happened. This is so powerful and heartbreaking. Hold out through it. It really is worth the read!!!

FIFTEEN HUNDRED LIVES LOST WHEN TITANIC PLUNGES HEADLONG INTO DEPTHS OF THE SEA.

Men of World-Wide Prominence Go Down With Ship After Women and Children Are Taken Off in Lifeboats—Only Six Hundred and Seventy-five People Saved Out of Total of Twenty-two Hundred on Board Ill-fated Vessel—Newest and Greatest Liner in World, Built at Cost of Ten Million Dollars and Embodying Latest Scientific Principles, Sinks as Quickly as Wooden Fishing Smack After Collision With Iceberg Off Coast of Newfoundland. 

Los Angeles Time:

April 16, 1912.

This dramatic headline article from the Los Angeles Times recounts the sinking of the British luxury liner Titanic. The exact figures mentioned here have been revised since the time of publication, and the term advices is used to mean information.

[BY DIRECT WIRE TO THE TIMES]

New York, April 15.—[Exclusive Dispatch.] The greatest marine disaster in the history of the world occurred last Sunday night when the Titanic, of the White Star Line, the biggest and finest of steamships, shattered herself against an iceberg and sank with 1500 of her passengers and crew in less than four hours.

Out of nearly 2200 persons that she carried only 675 were saved and most of these are women and children. They were picked up from small boats by Cunarder Carpathia which found, when she ended her desperate race against time, a sea strewn with the wreckage of the lost ship and the bodies of drowned men and women.

Not a name of those saved had reached the offices of the White Star line or the Cunard line at midnight, though every effort was being made to get in communication with the vessel that bore the survivors. It is probable that these names will be received in the morning. All night a crowd of anxious relatives and friends of the Titanic's passengers were massed in front of the line's offices at No. 9 Broadway. 

There were 325 first cabin passengers on the Titanic, of whom 128 were women and 15 children. In the second cabin there were 285 persons, including 79 women and 8 children, and in the steerage the complement of 710 was divided almost equally, it is believed, between women and men, with a small percentage of children.

The numbers are enough to indicate that if the women and children were saved, very few men could have survived the disaster, as there were almost enough women and children aboard to make up the 675 survivors. The crew numbered 860, bringing the total of those known to be aboard up to 2180, but it is understood that at the last minute before sailing several got aboard, making the total up to a full 2200.

Capt. E. J. Smith of the Titanic is believed to have gone to the bottom with his vessel.

Among the 1320 passengers of the giant liner were Col. John Jacob Astor and his wife, Isidor Straus, Maj. Archibald W. Butt, aide to President Taft, George B. Widener and Mrs. Widener of Philadelphia, Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Harper, William T. Stead, the London journalist, and many more whose names are known on both sides of the Atlantic. The news that few besides the women and children were saved has caused the greatest apprehension as to the fate of these.

When the Titanic plunged headlong against a wall of ice at 10:40 p.m. on Sunday night, her fate established that no modern steamship is unsinkable, and that all of a large passenger list cannot be saved in a liner's small boats. The White Star line believed that the Titanic was practically invulnerable and insisted until there was no doubting the full extent of the catastrophe that she could not sink. The great ship was the last word in modern scientific construction, but she found the ocean floor almost as quickly as a wooden ship.

On her maiden trip, the Titanic, built and equipped at a cost of $10,000,000, a floating palace, found her graveyard when, swinging from the westerly steamship lane, south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, to take the direct run to this port, she hurled her giant bulk against an iceberg that rose from an immense field that drifted from the Arctic. Running at high speed into that grim and silent enemy of seafarers, the shock crushed her bow. From a happy, comfortable vessel she was converted in a few minutes into a bedlam of misery and dreadful suffering. Through rent plates and timbers water rushed so swiftly that her captain, E. J. Smith, the admiral of the White Star fleet, knew there was no hope of saving her. That much the faltering wireless had told.

At midnight tonight the officials of the White Star Line were struggling to get into communication with the Cunarder Carpathia, which has on board, the 675 women and children saved from the Titanic, but not one word of news could they obtain. All they could get by wireless was that the Carpathia, which left New York on April 13 for the Mediterranean, was retracing her course to this port, bringing here the women and children widowed and orphaned by the disaster. The Marconi stations were striving also to get in touch with either the Carpathia or the Allan liner Virginian to find out whether all the rescued were really on board the Carpathia, or the Virginian carries others that were saved, but the while keeping hope to the last, freely admitted there had been “horrible loss of life.”

Accepting early estimates of the fatality list as accurate, the disaster is the greatest in marine history. Nearest approaching it in magnitude were the disasters of the steamer Atlantic in 1873, when 547 lives were lost, and the La Bourgogne in 1898, with a fatality list of 571.

Should it prove that other liners, notably the Allan liners Parisian and Virginian, known to have been in the vicinity of the Titanic early yesterday, had picked up other of her passengers, the extent of the calamity would be greatly reduced. This hope remains.

News of the sinking of the liner and of the terrible loss of life came early last evening with all the greater shock because hope had been buoyed up all day by reports that the steamship, although badly damaged, was not sinking, and that all her passengers had been taken off safely.

The messages were mostly unofficial, however, and none came directly from the liner, so that a fear remained of possible bad news to come.

SURVIVORS PICKED UP.

Shortly after 7 o'clock tonight there came flashing over the wires from Cape Race, within 400 miles of which the liner had struck the iceberg, word that at 2:20 o'clock this morning, three hours and fifty-five minutes after receiving her death blow, the Titanic had sunk. The news came from the steamer Carpathia, relayed by the White Star liner Olympic, and revealed that by the time the Carpathia, outward bound from New York, and racing for the Titanic on a wireless call, reached the scene, the doomed vessel had sunk.

Left on the surface, however, were lifeboats from the Titanic and in them it appears, according to meager reports received at a late hour, were some 675 survivors of the disaster. These, according to advices, the Carpathia picked up and is now on her way with them to New York.

For the rest, the scene as the Carpathia came up was one of desolation. All that remained of the $10,000,000 floating palace on which nearly 1400 passengers had been voyaging luxuriously to this side of the Atlantic, were bits of wreckage. The biggest ship in the world had gone down, snuffing out in her downward plunge, it appeared, hundreds of human lives.

A significant line in the Cape Race dispatch was the announcement that of those saved by the Carpathia, nearly all were women and children. Should it prove that no other vessel picked up any passengers of the sinking liner, this might mean that few of the men had been saved, as the proportion of women and children among the passengers was large. The same facts would likewise spell the doom of practically the entire crew of 800.

In the cabins were 230 women and children, but it is not known how many there were among the 740 third-class passengers.

In the first cabin there were 128 women and fifteen children, and in the second cabin seventy-nine women and eight children.

NOTABLE PERSONS.

Notable persons, travelers on the Titanic, whose fate was in doubt in the lack of definite advices as to the identity of the survivors, were: Mr. and Mrs. John Jacob Astor, Maj. Archibald W. Butt, aide to President Taft; Charles M. Hayes, president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, his wife and daughter; W. T. Stead, Benjamin Guggenheim, F. D. Millett, the artist, and G. D. Widener of Philadelphia, Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Straus, J. B. Thayer, vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad; J. Bruce Ismay, Henry B. Harris, the theatrical manager, and Mrs. Harris, and Col. Washington A. Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn bridge.

A ray of hope appeared shortly before 11 o'clock tonight in a message to the night operator at the Marconi wireless station at Sable Island, near the scene of the disaster. Answering an inquiry regarding the delivery of wireless messages to the passengers of the Titanic, the operator reported that it was difficult to deliver them, “as the passengers are believed to be dispersed among several vessels.”

Even this faint indication that other vessels than the Carpathia had picked up survivors of the Titanic was eagerly seized upon by thousands of relatives and friends of those who had set sail on her for this country.

The White Star offices had endeavored vainly from 8 o'clock until 11 p.m. to get further word from the Olympic about the Titanic. Vice-President Franklin said at 11 o'clock they were hopeful of getting another message tonight.

TRYING FOR LIST OF LIVING.

The company also was trying to get into wireless communication with the Carpathia and filed a message asking that if possible the complete list of the names of the 675 survivors said to be on board the Carpathia be sent by wireless.

Such a list Vice-President Franklin believes to be of the utmost importance, as hope was waning among the White Star line officials tonight that any others than these 675 persons had survived.

Amid confusion at the offices the situation was studied as calmly as possible. Mr. Franklin figured that notwithstanding his fervent hope to the contrary the Allan line steamers Virginian and Parisian barely could have reached the scene of the disaster in time to have been of assistance. When the Virginian first reported catching the “C.Q.D.” signal she said she was not likely to be able to reach the scene of the wreck before 10 a.m. today. That would have been nearly eight hours after the Titanic sank. It was equally doubtful if the Parisian could have reached the scene in time.

Mr. Franklin said that from his knowledge of Capt. Smith's gallantry and heroism on other occasions, the veteran navigator must have stuck to his bridge and gone down with his ship.

There was discussion as to whether all the male passengers had sacrificed opportunity to save themselves by giving women and children the first chance at the boats.

“There is no rule of the sea,” said Mr. Franklin, “which requires such a sacrifice. It is a rule of courtesy on land as well as sea that gallant men have often observed in time of disaster.”

The White Star officers figured from their data that the Olympic was forty miles from the scene of the Titanic's sinking when she sent the news of it at 7 o'clock tonight. At that hour the Carpathia was estimated to be 1080 miles east of Sandy Hook.

Source: Los Angeles Times, April 16, 1912


This rambles just a bit, but I think it is really incredible at capturing the chaos of the event for those who were alive at the time. The final accounting was 1523 of the 2228 passengers and crew members aboard died. Only 705 survived. Those heroic men who sacrificed their lives for their women and men fill me with such inspiration and awe that I just want to burst out in thanksgiving to them! Let them me an example to today's men!!!!




The Titanic on the beginning of her one and only voyage.



The wreckage of the Titanic deep below the sea. Awesome, or what?!


And here are some pictures of my beloved Grandpa. So thankful to God that he lived and breathed! Miss him soooooo much!!! My grandma is visiting us right now.




Grandpa holding Thadden when he was two.



 One of Grandpa's greatest loves was hunting. And yes that is me being, well, me.




Abrienne feeding Grandpa her juice. 

 A sobering day for me and any who cherish the lives in this world. So glad God made both joy and sorrow in this life. The sorrow to compliment the joy and the joy to compliment the sorrow.


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Quotes

I like to take quotes from a variety of sources highlighting a variety of truths. I don't know why, but I just LOVE quotes. I have a document on my computer that is 30 pages long of just quotes from everywhere and everything! I love it when my friends share awesome quotes too!!!
Here are some of my favorites:

“Soft countries breed soft men.  It is not the property of any one soil to produce fine fruits and good soldiers too.” Herodotus – The Histories  (p. 543, lines 16-18) Context: Cyrus warns the Persians to consider the fact that they would be ruled by another (their soldiers and farmers) rather than being a part of the leadership (because there sitting at home).
Why I pray my sons, (and my husband), will know how to work hard.

“Of course you cannot know a man completely, his character, his principles, sense of judgment, not till he’s shown his colors, ruling the people, making laws.  Experience, there’s the test.” Antigone: by Sophocles 194-198 page 67 Context: Creon is taking power and is telling the people that they will find him to be a man of judgment.  He will listen to reason.  The irony is that he will end up not listening to the people and this will lead to his own ruin.
A very good thing to remember when, as we are right now, ready to elect a new leader.

"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." My Daddy. One of my favorite quotes of all time!

“A man of true courage and magnanimity should be forbearing when he comes under political attack.” Plutarch – The Age of Alexander  (pg. 91, sect. 25) Epaminondas. [Directly before he and Pelopidas were put on trial for not resigning the office of Boeotarch in the first month of the new year].
Anther good one to remember.

Ok, this is not a quote, but how could I resist?

“What’s the good of glory, magnificent renown, if in its flow it steams away to nothing?” Oedipus at Colonus: by Sophocles p. 299, line 274 Context: Oedipus speaking to the people at Colonus.
Why I will never "try" to be famous. In the scale of eternity, it means nothing.

“The dolphin’s strength deserts him on dry land.” Plutarch – The Age of Alexander (pg. 189, sect. 3) -Ion of Chios
This one makes me smile. I like it! :D

“Boldness can triumph over fortune and courage over superior force: while there are no defenses so impregnable that they will keep out the brave man, there are likewise none so strong that they will keep the coward safe.” Plutarch – The Age of Alexander (pg. 314, sect. 57) -Alexander the Great
This is great. Pun intended.

“Most rich men either make too little use of their wealth through miserliness, or too much through extravagance, and so live in perpetual slavery, the one class to their business, and the other to their pleasures.”  Plutarch – The Age of Alexander pg. 71, sect. 3)-Aristotle
I pray God gives me just enough in life. Enough to make me still realize I will ALWAYS need him to provide, but enough to make me never afraid I will not be able to feed my family.

“There are many occasions when words are useless, and only deeds will make a man’s meaning plain; often enough, too, it is easy to talk – and only to talk, for no brave act follows.” Herodotus – The Histories  p. 183 Context- Darius was talking to Otanes about not just planning, but actually overthrowing the Magus.
As much as words are one of my absolute favorite things in life, I suppose this is true. (I will sigh in resignation, lol!)


“It is often a comfort to the envious to make out those whom they cannot surpass to be in some way inferior to others.” Plutarch – The Age of Alexander (pg. 92, sect. 25) Plutarch [when speaking of Menecleidas’ envy of Pelopidas].
Good to remember.

"Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity, and hardihood - the virtues that made America. The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, and the get-rich-quick theory of life." Theodore Roosevelt.
I love how thorough and precise he is at pinning down the things that will destroy (and have already begun destroying) this nation.

“I was thinking and it came to my mind how pitifully short human life is- for all these thousands of men not one will be alive in a hundred years time.”  Herodotus – The Histories Page 390: book seven: fret 46. Xerxes while looking at his huge army.
Aw, yes, without God, how pitifully short it would be indeed!

“The jury does not sit to dispense justice as a favour, but to decide where justice lies.” The Last Days of Socrates, Plato, page 63. Context: Socrates questions the jury.


“Whoever thinks that he alone possesses intelligence, the gift of eloquence, he and no one else, and character too…such men, I tell you, spread them open—you will find them empty. No, it’s no disgrace for a man, even a wise man to learn many things and not to be too rigid.” Antigone: by Sophocles Lines 791-795 p 95 Context: Haemon is rebuking Creon and telling him that others think Antigone is innocent so he should relent.
Oh, I love it! There is so much to learn in the world! Don't know how anyone could think they possess all the knowledge in the world! Only God can...(and I'm GLAD He does!!!)

"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." George Washington.
This man had it right.

"I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." Mother Teresa.
I relate.
 

"Hard work beats talent if talent doesn't work hard." Don't know where I found this one...


“It is not so much through words that enables a person to grasp the meaning of things, but rather that it is the knowledge of things which help them to understand the words that are denoted.”  Plutarch – The Age of Alexander  (p.188,9)  Context: General statement
Very true. You may know the definition of grace, but if you cannot employ it, it means nothing.


“Readiness to listen to good advice comes to much the same thing as being wise oneself.”  Herodotus – The Histories (pg. 381, sect. 16a) –Artabanus
:D

“The world, it seems to me, is divided into the wise, who think they are fools, and the fools who think they are wise.” - The Best Things in Life  (p.54)
LOL, yes.

“Virtue, like a tough and hardy plant will take root and flourish in any place where it can lay hold upon a noble nature and preserving spirit.” - The Age of Alexander  (p.188)  Context: Plutarch again talking about Demosthenes.
Praying to be that noble nature and perserving spirit.

“On noble subjects all men can speak well.” Plutarch, (pg. 311)- Callisthenes, a foreigner, delivers a speech to the Macedonian nobility including Alexander. Alexander criticizes him by quoting Euripides’ line from the Bacchae.
Nothing I dislike more than someone using a word flippantly, or to their own end, and thus ruining its true meaning.

"Those who will not be governed by God, will be ruled by tyrants." William Penn
Oh, yes.

Well, I better stop. I could put all thirty pages down....
Hope some of you like these....