Mother's Day

Photo of happy mom and toddler by Anatoliy Samara | Shutterstock

Early "Mother's Day" in the U.S. was mostly marked by women's peace groups. In 1868 Ann Jarvis created a committee to establish a "Mother's Friendship Day",whose purpose was "to reunite famlies that had been divided during the Civil War, and wanted to expand it into an annual memorial for mothers, but she died in 1905 before the celebration became popular.

In its form, Mothers Day was established by Anna Marie Jarvis, following the death of her mother on May 9, 1905., with the help of a Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker. In May 7, 1907 in the Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grefton, West Virginia, where Anna's mother had been teaching Sunday school. But, the first "official" service was in May 10, 1908 in the same church. She then campaigned to establish Mother's Day as a U.S. national holiday and later as an international holiday.

The holiday was declared officially by the state of West Virginia in 1910, and the rest of the states followed quickly. On May 8, 1914, the U.S. Congress passed a law designiating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day and requesting a proclamation. On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation, declaring the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose son's had died in war.

In 1934, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved a stamp commemorating the holiday. In May, 2008, the U.S. House of Representative voted twice on a resolution commemorating Mother's Day, the first one being unanimous so that all congressmen would be on record showing support for Mother's Day. The Grafton's Church, where the first celebration was held, is now the International Mother's Day Shrine and is a National Historic Landmark.

This year Mother's Day is celabrated on May 9, 2010. I am wishing all you moms a very nice Mother's Day and please don't forget your mother's. If you know of a mother that has lost her children or has out lived them, please help her out with some flowers and a card, thank you.

Earth Day

Our ancestors viewed the Earth as rich and bountiful, which it is. Many people in the past also saw nature as inexhaustibly sustainable, which we now know is the case only if we care for it. It is not difficult to forgive destruction in the past which resulted from ignorance.

Today, however, we have access to more information, and it is essential that we re-examine ethically what we have inherited, what we are responsible for, and what we will pass on to coming generations.

Our marvels of science and techinology are matched if not outweighed by many current tragedies, including human starvation in some parts of the world, and the extinction of other life-forms. The exploration of space takes place at the same time as the Earth's own oceans, seas. and fresh water areas grow increasingly polluted.

Many of the Earth's habitats, animals, plants, insects, and even micro-organisms that we know as rare may not be known at all to future generations. We have the capability, and the responsibility. We must act before it is too late.

Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970 in the United States. Across the United States, 20 million people and thousands of local schools and communities participated in the first Earth Day, this made it the largest organized celebration in the history of the United States.

The Weathered Old Barn

Photo courtesy of Steve Adam's

A stranger came by the other day with an offer that set me to thinking. He wanted to buy the old barn that sits out by the highway I told him right off he was crazy. He was a city type, you could tell by his clothes, his car, his hands, and the way he talked. He said he was driving by and saw that beautiful barn sitting out in the tall grass and wanted to know if it was for sale. I told him he had funny idea of beauty.

Sure it was a handsome building in its day. But there's been a lot of winters pass with their snow and ice and blowing wind. The summer sun's beat down on that old barn till the paints gone, and the wood has turned silver gray. Now the old building leans a good deal, looking kind of tired. Yet that fellow called it beautiful.

Now that set me to thinking, I walked out to the field and just stood there, gazing at that old barn. The stranger said he planned to use the lumber to line the walls of his den in a new country home he's building down the road. He said you couldn't get paint that beautiful. Only years of standing in weather, bearing the storms and scorching sun, only that can produce beautiful barn wood.

It came to me then, we are a lot like that, you and I. Only it's on the inside that the beauty grows with us. Sure we turn silver gray too and lean a bit more than we did when we were young and full of sap. But the Good Lord knows what He's doing. And as the years pass, He's busy using the hard wealth of our lives, the dry spells and the stormy seasons, to do a job of beautifying our souls and nothing else can produce. And to think how often folks hollar because they want life easy!

They took the old barn down today and hauled it away to beautify a rich man's house. And I reckon someday you and I'll be hauled off to Heaven to take on whatever chores the Good Lord has for us on the Great Sky Ranch. And I suspect we'll be more beautiful than for the seasons we've been through here, and just maybe even add a bit of beauty to our Father's House.

May today there be peace within you. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. I believe that friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.
--Author Unknown

Margarine & Butter

Margarine was orginally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a paycheck so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings. Do you know the difference between margarine and butter? Read on to the end, it gets very interesting!

Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams. Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% same as butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study. Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has few., only because they are added. Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods. Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

*And now for margarine.
Very high in Trans fatty acid, triple risk of coronary heart disease. Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol). Increases risk of cancers up to five fold. Lowers quality of breast milk, decreases immune response and decreases insulin response.

*Here is the part that is very interesting.
Margarine is but one molecule away from being plastic. This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

*You can try this yourself:
Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple days you will note a couple things-----no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (this should tell you something). It does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value, nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread it on your toast?

Logan & Gibson

Our new ferret boys, Logan and Gibson.

Gibby has a thing for socks.

Logan is a handsome boy, and he knows it.

"Hey, you with the camera...what's up?"

Gibby and my husband.

Gibby and my son Ron.

"Gimme a smooch, bro!"

In a hole in the ground there lived...a ferret?

What a cute face! (the ferret, that is)

Mmmmmm...move over!

Hey, I only want a sip.

These two love to tussle!