Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!


The past couple years have been pretty rough on me and my family with all the changes in our life, but through it all God has been there. We never thought that on this day, we would be celebrating Thanksgiving with old friends, in our brand new house, for the first time. I am thankful to God for his ultimate plan for every single one of use and his continuing surprises in my life.
I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Heroes of Faith

by Edgar De Witt Jones

By faith the voyaging Mayflower embarked
from Old England and found harbor off the
bleak New England shores.

By faith the Pilgrim Fathers set up a government
on a new continent dedicated to God and
inspired by a desire to do his will on earth as it is
done in heaven.

By faith Thomas Jefferson was stirred to strike a
blow for political independence and wrote the
thrilling document that declared that all men are
created equal and endowed with certain
inalienable rights.

By faith he said, "Love your neighbor as
yourself and your country more than yourself."

By faith George Washington left his spacious
mansion at Mount Vernon and espoused the
cause of the tax-burdened colonists.

By faith he forsook ease and comfort, choosing
rather to suffer hardship with his men at Valley
Forge than to enjoy the favor of a king.

By faith he became the President of the newly
born republic and endured as seeing Him who is
invisible.

By faith Alexander Hamilton established the
financial credit of the nation. In the eloquent
words of Daniel Webster: "He touched the
corpse of public credit and it sprang into life.
He smote the rock of national resources and
abundant streams of revenue flowed."

By faith James Madison gave richly of his
scholarly mind to form the Federal Constitution.

By faith Andrew Jackson fought the battle of the
impoverished and underprivileged many against
the privileged few.

By faith Abraham Lincoln bore the awful burden
of four purgatorial years seeking to preserve the
Federal Union.

By faith he carried a dreadful war to its
conclusion without hate in his heart, saying, "I
have not only suffered for the South, I have
suffered with the South."

By faith Woodrow Wilson in the dreadful
heartbreak of a world war dreamed a dream of a
war less world in which the nations should be
leagued together to keep the peace.

By faith he glimpsed that promised land which,
like Moses, he might not enter. And what shall I more say?

For time would fail me if I should tell of that unnumbered host,
the unnamed and obscure citizens who bore
unimagined burdens, sacrificed in silence and
endured nobly, that a government of the people,
for the people, and by the people might not
perish from the earth.


Saturday, November 1, 2008

My Hero: Mary Pope Osborne

As long as I can remember, I have always enjoyed reading. There was a moment though, when the enjoyment became a love. This was after I was introduced to the Magic Tree House series. I was hooked. I proceeded to buy every one of Jack and Annie's adventures and was at the bookstore the second it opened whenever a new book came out. I wrote my own adventures for the brother and sister team, and I decided that when I grew up my home school curriculum would be based around every single one of those books. Years later, I still love their adventures and am still buying and reading them. The Magic Tree House series inspired me to expand my reading to all types of amazing stories and characters.

I will always remember those stories though, and how I wanted to be with Jack and Annie so bad. Mary Pope Osborne is my hero because she introduced me into a world of amazement and possibility through her books. I don't know of any author who has developed their stories as much as she and her husband have. They are creating research guides for all the books they've written and there are countless learning programs out there, even a broadway musical is going on tour now. Her dedication is my inspiration.

One of my goals in life is to interview her or even just meet her. I've started e-mailing some people to see if it's possible, but things haven't really worked out. I'm just going to keep trying though!

I love you Mary Pope Osborne!