Trust the Plan

It's raining and we finally have a touch of snow in the mountains. That boosts my spirits and lets me know that God is watching over all of us and is fully aware of every pain, heartache, moment of discouragement, weakness, fear, anxiety or joy and peace we will ever feel. I've spent the past few weeks working furiously to get everything outside ready for winter and trying to come to terms with my own feelings about having my ex in jail and waiting for sentencing on December 21. But I've also had the added stressors of preparing myself for cataract surgery--the first eye will be done next Wednesday and the other on December 2. 

Now many people think that is anything to worry about since it's the most common surgery in the Unites Staes and is fairly safe. But I also have an incurable condition known as Stargardt disease. It's a rare, inherited eye abnormality that causes progressive central vision loss and only happens when both parents carry the same ABCA4 recessive gene and pass it on. I was the lucky child out of seven who got it and could have been blind by the age of five, but miraculously mine stayed in remission until a few years ago. Unfortunately, the symptoms for it are very similar to having bad cataracts and the doctor told me he is not sure how much of my sight can be returned. But without it the blurry vision, headaches and dizziness will just get worse until I can no longer see much of anything.

I've shed many tears of frustration and anxiety, and have agonized over what might happen since the chance of having retinal tears or detachment doubles after cataract surgery, and having type 2 diabetes and congestive heart failure doesn't help because those conditions mess something awful with overall general health and feelings of well being. But to help mitigate what will be a very lowkey holiday season, my Christmas shopping is done, gifts wrapped and sent and even my tree put up since bending over, lifting, and hard sneezing or coughing could interfere with proper healing. I'm not even buying a turkey for Thanksgiving because I won't be able to get it in and out of the oven. 

And it hasn't helped that during all my list making and completion we had a such a dismal mid-term election. Not that I was surprised because I already knew the vote would be manipulated. But the ease with which the voting machines were front-loaded and the D's swept the entire election was mind-boggling. Now I ask you, how could certain house and senate nominees get more votes than there were people in the entire state? And why would Republican's vote for their party in all the state races and then vote democrat on the national level? And why in the world would people who wanted the border closed, illegals sent home, woke ideologies stopped, industries brought back to our country, more jobs created, energy independence, less taxes, getting rid of big government, stopping corruption and a hundred other reasons they voted for Trump two years ago suddenly want to go back to the Biden and Obama years when everything was in chaos?

Something truly awful happened, but I do not believe for a moment that any sane person in America wants us to become a socialist-communist country where the government controls everything, including what we do, say or even think. Well, maybe all the illegals and those who live on government handouts because they're too lazy and unhinged to do an honest day's work. But those persons are the democrat's base and if they ever start to think logically . . . . 

Well, just look at who is already in Washington D.C. making victory laps with no intention of keeping any of the promises they made to their so-called constituents. All they still want--because they know Trump is the only person standing between them and the one-world government they are salivating over where the top one percent who have stolen everything from the working class will rule--is to kill Trump and destroy everyone who has tried to help save our republic from the inner enemy who believe all they need is another stolen election and their dream for world domination will come true. They've already announced that an entire forest will have to be replanted because of all the paper being used to try to impeach Trump, remove every member of his cabinet and destroy every person in auxiliary agencies like the F.B.I., Homeland Security who will not go along with their evil agenda. 

Where is all the outrage over affordability and the war in Iran now? Trump gave us our chance to stand beside him as he fights this war to reclaim our constitution in its pure form and get rid of every illegality that has been perpetuated against it in the last two-hundred years with our rifles cocked and ready for battle--in this case our voting ballot. We have 45 days after the election for the states to match up the number of registered, legal voters against how many votes were actually cast. And then prove that the algorithms imbedded into those machines were flipping votes. I mean how could all the democrats on the ballot have over 50 percent of the votes before Election Day even came? Not to mention it being statistically impossible for them to flip 30 out of 31 seats in just one of the houses, especially since most of them were in deep red states.

I guess we'll see what happens, but I do believe the patriots are in charge and that something will happen to keep our God-inspired constitution intact. Despite their cheating, the left is still screaming for taking guns away from lawful citizens, reducing our military budget, giving amnesty to all illegals, stopping freedom if speech and religion, opening the borders, bringing back the Green New Scam, giving control of AI to communist China, legalizing abortion until birth, stopping the drilling for oil and all fossil fuels. The list is too long and depressing to continue but you get my drift.

Heber J. Grant said it well, many years ago, "Satan is making war against all the wisdom that has come to men thought their ages of experience. . . . He plans to destroy freedom--economic, political and religious, and to set up in place thereof the greatest, most widespread, and most complete tyranny that has ever oppressed men. He is working under such perfect disguise that many do not recognize him or his methods. . . . He comes as a thief in the night, he is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Without their knowing it, the people are being urged down paths that lead only to destruction." 

Can you feel the importance of those words in our society today? We have been dumbed down in our educations and the truths about our country have been taken from our text books. Mainstream media was bought and paid for nearly a hundred and fifty years ago by the globalists, big bankers and corrupt corporations who wanted to keep hidden their agenda for a one-world government with them at the helm, while their conspirators in the business dare not step out of line for fear of losing their millions and being terminated. These forces, along with many others, have gradually manipulated humanity in the direction they want us to go. They will unite to fight against whatever God establishes on earth. They are especially desirous to destroy the Constitution of the United States and Christianity in general. 

Here is how a German professor described the coming of fascism--through Hitler's communist aggression--in the book They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer.

"What happened was the gradual habitation of the people, little by little, to be governed by surprise, to receiving the decisions deliberated in secret; to believe that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security. The crises and reforms . . . so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.

"To live in the process is absolutely not to notice it--please try to believe me--unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained, or on occasion, 'regretted.' Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join you in resisting somehow.

"Suddenly, it all comes down, at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven't done ( for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing. . . . . You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late, you are compromised beyond repair."

Scary thought, but I can see how it has happened in my life. I was so busy growing up, getting an education, raising a family, going through trials, and trying to remain above water financially that I paid little attention to how our constitution and our way of life was continually being eroded just one small, illegal step at a time. I only started waking up on 9-11 when my daughter's high school student body president and good friend, Brady Howell, was killed at the pentagon. And then when the stock market crashed in 2008 and almost all the money I had in investments didn't just magically disappear. It was literally stolen by the incredibly wealthy world leaders who knew how to control most everything about our lives--with the exception of our souls--if we had not already relinquished them to all the evil surrounding us. 

President George Bush even acknowledged this when he said in his State of the Union Address during the Gulf War. "What is at stake is more than one small country, it is a big idea--a new world order . . . to achieve universal aspirations  of mankind . . . based upon shared principles and the rule of law . . . The illumination of a thousand points of light. . . . The winds of change are with us now."

J. Edgar Hoover said in his day that "In any struggle, it is essential to know both what you are fighting for and what you are fighting against. If knowledge of the former is lacking, the will to win will be absent. If knowledge of the latter is absent, confusion and uncertainty will result."

I feel like certain ones of us are suffering from both, but there is a way out and more and more Americans are waking up than ever before. I  am so grateful we now have other alternatives for finding the real news on social platforms that have yet to be completely silenced by the far left radicals who at present seem to have made such a giant step toward turning our county into a socialist-communist regime. 

But we must take heart in the fact that God is in charge and evil will eventually be taken from the earth. Nonetheless, until that happens we must not lose heart and refuse to stand by our leaders and other strong and courageous patriots who are fighting such an incredibly bitter battle that is unlike any other in the past because it is using information instead of guns. So many of those amazing men and women have received death threats against themselves and their family members and have had attempts made on their lives. And yet they love our country and believe in the freedoms the Constitution provides enough to stand up for true freedom and even move their family's onto military bases for protection. 

What does that say about the characters of so many of persons coming into greater political power right now and the reason behind them being pushed into the foreground when they were basically unheard of before? I have never seem such complete hatred, back-biting, and desires for revenge when they have never been the object of so much hostility and rage themselves. 

Our enemy today, as always, is Satan and his mortal hosts, and they are cunningly devious and evil beyond belief, but part of our eternal judgment will be on how we fight this unnerving, desperate, seemingly unending battle during our lives.

Ezra Taft Benson said it this way, "This is still God's world. The forces of evil, working through some mortals, have made a mess of a good part of it. But it is still God's world. In due time, when each of us has had a chance to prove ourselves--including whether or not we are willing to stand up for freedom--God will interject himself, and the final and eternal victory shall be for free agency. And then shall those complacent people on the sidelines, and those who took the wrong but temporarily popular course, lament their decisions. To the patriots I say this: Take that long eternal look. Stand up for freedom, no matter what the cost. Stand up and be counted. It can help to save your soul--and maybe your country."

I want our country to survive as it was founded with undeniable freedoms from God, but everywhere I look I can see how those miraculous blessings are being undermined and people either don't care, can't see the truth, or are unwilling to take a stand. I believe in God, family and country and we cannot have any of those things if we no longer have a sense of who we are, why we were born here, and what we are willing to do to keep our great country intact without the great Color Revolution the left claims is almost upon us. 

May your new week be filled with great promise and many blessings. I'm definitely in need of some of those myself. It's going to be a very strange holiday season but I am determined to keep the faith and Trust the Plan.

Hold Tight, It's Not Over Yet

It's always hard to write after disappointments--at least until one can see and understand what is really going on. I'm guessing many of you feel the same way I did after Tuesday's election and all the boasting, name-calling and empowered declarations the Democrats made about reversing everything Trump has done, warning all the Patriots in both houses to lawyer up because they were coming for them, impeaching President Trump, giving medicare to everyone and reparations to all those who have no reason for getting it, destroying ICE, abolishing the police, defunding the military and opening the borders for everyone who can get here. 

That does not sound like the voters who put President Trump in office two years ago to me. They voted for him to close the border, bring manufacturing back to the United States, make us energy independent, stop all the Woke ideologies that were destroying the morality of our country, make our nation safe from terrorism and infiltration and reclaim our country from the Deep State that has been controlling everything for over a hundred years. He is doing, or has done, all of that and more! So why in the world would Republicans vote for their party for city and county offices and then vote for the opposing party in the governor, house and senate races? 

It's totally illogical and mathematically impossible for over 2000 out of 3000 counties in the Unites States to go blue in one election and yet that is supposed to have happened. Sounds a little fishy to me! Just look at Alaska if you have any doubts about how bold someone can be in cheating and think they will get away with it. And then there's Governor Newsome in California who just this week took around 600 persons on death row and gave them life in prison instead. When did we become a country who rewarded people for murder and any other heinous crime imaginable? Our tax dollars will be paying for their housing, meals, recreation, education and medical expenses for the next 75 years and how many of them will get free sex changes? 

But even with all the mocking and insults President Trump has endured the past few days he is standing strong and immovable in the face of continued persecution. And in no way do I believe he will stop the fight to reclaim our country. He knew they would use the machines and voter registration to cheat in this election, and the SAVE Act did not include those items. The next 45 days will be interesting as state audits are done and the number of votes don't match up. What will happen then is anyone's guess because it's hard to fight the enemy when it's still everywhere.

I also realized that we are basically in no different situation than we were before the midterms because all the RINOs were making it impossible to get much done anyway. President Trump promised to drain the swamp and was doing it basically by himself because so many of the members of both houses of congress were part of the syndicate that is trying desperately not to be caught. But this time around he has the F.B.I, Homeland Security, the Pentagon, the military and most every other federal agency behind him. The DOJ is still filled with corrupt judges and that's why he wasn't able to accomplish all he wanted to during his past two years in office. I'm sure hoping all that can be mitigated, along with a great many other obstacles that have impeded his administration's progress so he can accomplish all of the noble and great goals he promised the American people if he could just get their support. 

Still, I have never seen anyone fighting harder for our country's future than he is. President Trump has been taking all the heat, persecution and jabs for all of us who are true to our beloved Constitution and want to see our country flourish again. I know I pray for him and all the amazing patriots who are risking everything to save the country God gave us, with the promise that it would not be lost unless we turned our backs on Him and joined forces with Satan and two of his greatest strategies to enslave us--socialism and communism--which are for all intents and purposes the same. 

How sad it is to me that so many of the younger generations have bought into all the propaganda and untruths they were fed at the universities who slowly replaced the real dispensers of knowledge--professors who taught free-thinking, personal success and high moral values--with installed puppets who were following an outlined agenda that promoted socialism/communism as the ideal, regardless of the fact that it has failed miserably each time it has been tried. 

I'll tell you more about how our universities were infiltrated in another post. Right now, I just want all of you to know that our fight for freedom is not over and we have a president who will not bow down to any ideology that takes any freedom away. That's why we cannot let a few extra pennies for gas, or a war where there have been no boots on the ground and yet we have been successful in ridding the world's greatest enemy from having a nuclear weapon--which they would gladly use on us--upset our lives to the point of losing out sanity. Nor can we forget what life was like under Biden. The exact opposite of the unity, transparency of government, and justice for all President Trump is trying to forge.

For all the critics who complain because they feel he has not done enough, or may have said something they found offensive, I ask them to remember why he was voted into office. We as a nation of individuals with all kinds of dreams, abilities and untapped resources chose him to help us reclaim the heritage our forefathers gave us. Many of them gave their best years, their livelihoods and even their future lives to protect our national identity. My father was one of them who immigrated from Canada and fought during World War ll. His dream was to become a rancher but he settled for being the best farmer he possibly could, with 7 children, who had to work extra jobs to survive, but he never once felt it an injustice to fight for the freedoms he wanted his posterity to enjoy.

How can we ever apologize for loving our country and wanting it to remain ours? We are unique for a reason and have been given an invaluable gift by a loving Heavenly Father who wants us to protect it. If we don't want to go the way of Europe--land of most of our ancestors--we must fight diligently and be willing to risk what my father, and many of yours, did without thought to self-aggrandizement, unnecessary wealth, standing with the popular and elite or even the loss of life itself. For how can we meet our maker knowing we were not willing to do whatever was required to preserve what was promised to us if we would just worship Him and be a righteous people?

We are America--the Land of the Free--and with a constitution that protects our liberties, but preserving them will come at a cost. It already has for so many individuals who have tried to undercover the underbelly of the Deep State. So however you may feel right now, don't let the midterms get you down. Trust the plan, for there is one. And truth always prevails, even if there are a few bumps along the way.

Borders, Language and Culture

I feel a great need to write again before the midterms that are only ten days away. My heart, mind and soul have been going through much introspection the past week and not all of it has been positive or good. In fact, part of it has led me into what I can only define as a brief bout with depression because life, and all the garbage going on in the world, seemed suddenly overwhelming and far too stifling and oppressive for me to endure any longer while maintaining my sanity.

I suppose it started because I found myself taking care of my son's dogs--which I am horribly allergic too even though they're supposed to be hypoallergenic--for a week while he took his wife and daughter to play on some beautiful river that makes up part of the border between Arizona and California. I didn't doubt their need to get away since it was fall break and the trial that would have gone on this week was canceled when my ex finally took a plea deal on October 1. But I had already postponed my annual trip to see my sister until next year so I could be with them and give whatever support they needed. That alone left me feeling down because it had been a lousy year for me too and I needed a break as much as they did. 

But as mother's almost always do, I chose to care for my children instead of myself and then felt angry inside because my own needs remained neglected. Not that the dogs weren't good. Milo, the Shih Tzu, was calm as usual and obeyed, but his sister, Maggie, a Snoodle, just wanted to bark, jump, lick and play. We all call her special because she is totally devoted and loving, especially to my granddaughter, but she's not the brightest dog in the world and has trouble sitting still long enough to even get a treat. Milo, on the other hand, likes to stand on his hind feet and do a little dance to celebrate the occasion. 

As expected, I ended up washing my hands and arms a dozen times a day so my eyes wouldn't swell, but they were still red and swollen by the time the kids got home on Saturday night. By Monday, my house was thoroughly clean again, my laundry done and my eyes starting to look more  normal. But then I went to the eye doctor to tell him I was ready to have the cataracts removed. He'd been very upfront about my needing it done a year ago, but this time he told me that new lens might not be as much help as I hoped. 

You see, I have a very rare condition know as Stargardts. I know it sounds like something celestial and fun, but it isn't. It's a genetic condition that only occurs when both parents pass the same recessive gene onto their offspring and causes blindness, or severe vision problems, during childhood or youth. I was told a number of years ago when it was first diagnosed that I should have been blind by the time I was five but for some reason the condition had remained dormant.

It had, but the symptoms between Stargardts and cataracts are pretty much the same and there is no known cure for Stargardts. I really had my hopes built up that the surgery would take away the fuzzy vision, night blindness when driving, haziness and even some of the dizziness I felt when standing and walking. I already had bad knees, ankles and hips and my shoulder often hurts when I sleep on it wrong after having everything repaired a couple of years ago. But then those of you who have been reading my posts know all about my physical ailments because I think it helps others to know that they are not alone in their suffering as they age.

But here's what I really wanted to share. I had been praying for a couple of days to know how to get out of the doldrums I was feeling and had just gotten off my exercise bike and begun reading again. It's not often I have such an instant answer to prayer, and this one was powerful.

I had been reading the book Scorched Earth by Michael Savage and picked up on page 165 where he was writing about why Christians and Jews needed to retain their traditions. I'd never fully understood Hanukkah and why it matters today since I'm not Jewish, but I do now. According to the story, after the ancient Syrians ransacked the holy temple in Jerusalem, they were thrown out by the Maccabees, who were the warrior princes of their time. The Jews finally came back. They kicked out the ransackers, and as they were fixing up the old temple they found a small jug of holy oil for the menorah, or lamp, at the bottom of the rubble and lit it. The holy oil was only supposed to burn for one night, but miraculously it burned for eight, which is why the Jews light candles for eight nights in a row while honoring Hanukkah.

In 2016, the presidential election year, the first night of Hanukkah fell on December 24, Christmas Eve. This author felt that if there was ever any divine synchronicity, it happened that year when Trump was so surprisingly elected. He postulated that no matter how distraught we may feel, no matter how wrecked we believe our society is, there is always a small drop of holy oil left within all of us that can be reignited and carry us through the darkest hours.

All we have to do is learn how to reach deep inside ourselves for that holy oil God gave all of us when we were created. If we can do that we will find that we have a greater inner strength, a greater inner fire, a greater ability to go on than we thought--if only we will stop, not listen to anybody else, and look within ourselves. That's the meaning of the Festival of Lights or the meaning of Hanukkah

That really hit me because I had been letting the world and others define how I felt each day. Like in 2016, we are fighting for our lives, our homes, our country and our way of life. No minority groups or installed leaders have the right to take that individuality away and make us just like all the other third-world--and tyrannically run--nations because we are special. God ordained it that way by giving us this precious land in the first place and helping our Founding Fathers create the most beautiful document in the world--one in which all our rights are protected and preserved, unless we unwittingly, or willingly, give them away. Our country is defined by our borders, our language and our culture. Take that away and what do we have left? Just some poor, struggling nation filled with people who want government handouts without giving anything in return. 

I want to feel safe in my own home again, safe to talk on the phone as I once did or speak out my beliefs at church or in a public meeting without the fear that has been gripping our country since 2008 because expressing what is really in our hearts will likely land us run jail, especially if we use the wrong pronoun, say we support borders, believe in the right to bear arms and worship as we choose or even retain the homes most of us have been paying for the majority of our lives.

For over forty years, Michael Savage has been telling us that borders, language and culture define who we are, "they are the product of long traditions such as private property, individual liberty, and the rule of law. The Constitution is the result of our borders, language and culture, not the other way around."

The Founding Fathers wanted a written constitution to prevent the government, the media and foreign deviants with their evil ideologies from destroying America's borders, language and culture the way so many tyrannical governments have done in the past. And we need to stand firm in defending our rights and way of life against the Progressive-Islamic takeover that has already destroyed so many of our beautiful cities and stolen money from our pockets to pay for riots, scams, wars, destruction and the loss of the civilization our ancestors fought so hard to deliver to us. 

With that, I think I'm through for the moment. I've stated how I feel and I suspect many of you will agree with what I've written. And even if you don't, I hope it has given you a desire to really question your reason for being and what you are doing to do to help this great country survive for your own posterity. It really is too great to lose and the battle we fight at the polls will not be an end to suffering no matter which way it goes. I've sent in my ballot and wish I could do more.

But I stand with Trump in wanting to stop the illegals from voting, cleaning house in the government so all the waste, illegalities and fighting stops, protecting our basic rights which seem to be up for grabs right now, bringing production back to the states, becoming the leader in AI so China is not controlling it, putting an end to all the incessant wars that just line the pockets of the members of the deep state who want to control the world, and yes, I want all the lunacy to stop and morality to take its place at the top of our societal ladder so our borders, language and culture can be preserved.

So get out and vote. It's the most important thing you can do if you want to save our great country from more destruction. 

Plea Deal Reached

What an interesting, painful and challenging time we live in. Not only is the entire world in chaos, but many, if not most, of our personal lives are filled with challenges we never expected to face. After three years of stalling and blaming others for his actions--and just a single month before the trail was to begin--my ex-husband finally decided to accept a six-year to life sentence for the two felonies he had committed. It had been reduced from three felonies already and my family, along with three young girls from among his second wife's daughters and granddaughters, have been in a horrid state of victimization for what seems like forever some days.

My son didn't want me at the courthouse when the plea deal was entered. I understood his reasoning. He wanted to protect me from some of the horror he was going through because he was now starting to understand why I had left his father over thirty years ago. All the manipulation, control and cruel words and actions had finally hit him in a way he could no longer repress, and I chose to accept his desires because he didn't need to worry about me when he was already dealing with so much. But it still hurt that his in-laws went with them. 

So many men and women were ready to change their minds about going to trial that my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter were there for over six hours. He said the courtroom was somewhat noisy until the charges were read against my ex and then it went completely silent. The judge asked what the plea was now but my ex only mumbled, so he asked again and my kids were able to hear him say "guilty". 

Of course in all his rationalization and self-aggrandizement, my ex proceeded to tell the judge the he needed to get his wife, who is in a wheelchair, home and settled because he is her only caregiver and would turn himself in to the local sheriff where he lived by seven that night.

I'm guessing the judge had finally had enough of his stalling because he told my ex that his request was unbelievable since he knew he would most likely be taken into custody that day before he even came. He further stated that his wife was an adult, had a cell phone with her and could find a way home. Then my ex was handcuffed and led away.

When my son sent the text saying that my ex had been taken away it took a couple of hours for me to process some very deep feelings that I, too, had been suppressing so as not to add to my son's already full plate. What surprised me most was that I felt pity for my ex instead of the thought that he had gotten what he deserved. That brought tears because I suddenly realized that my prayer to understand the Atonement had finally been answered. I was not the judge of anyone, regardless of their actions because Christ had paid the price for all of his brothers and sisters who truly humbled themselves and earnestly sought for repentance and forgiveness. 

That's most certainly what I wanted, and the things my mother had done to me as a child, my ex who had treated me so abominably, the men who had stolen my savings, and anyone else who had wronged me in any way would one day have to at least acknowledge what they had done in front of our Savior and our God. That had to be enough because I would find myself in the same situation someday too and my sins, while different, would have to be accounted for.

We still have the sentencing to live through--on December 21 and nearly three months away because the court calendar is full--and already know that his lawyer is going to ask that the six years in prison be reduced to parole because he's too old to re-offend anymore and his wife needs him. While it's doubtful the judge will go for it, there are no guarantees even though my son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, three other victims and everyone in the room who heard him admit to molesting his step-daughter over thirty years, will have to read statements in front of the court. 

Even as I sit in front of my computer now it's hard to stop the tears because so many lives of people I love have been destroyed by the sick actions of one very mentally ill man who chose to act on his perverse impulses instead of repressing them. But it also lets me know that there will be much more heartache, disbelief and horror to live through during the coming days, and my belief and trust in the return of our Savior helps keep me grounded during a time when evil is applauded as normal and murderers, rapists, terrorists and those who commit treason and sedition never see a jail cell.

During my reading the past few days I have come across many ideas and truths that have cemented my belief that the next couple of federal elections will determine whether or not our country will even survive as the free nation our founding fathers so hoped to provide. After decades of hiding because they are so repulsive to freedom seekers and those who love and honor our Constitution and Bill of Rights, socialist-communist ideals are exploding in many of our states and are being embraced by the younger generations who have not been taught our historical past and the firm Christian principles of governance that have made it possible for our country to exceed all others in every way.

Glenn Beck, in a forward to the book The Five Thousand Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen, said, "You, me, all of us were born for this day, to stand responsible before God and future generations to keep this torch of freedom lit, and bear it away from ruin. Twenty failed empires of the past give ample proof that no generation having tasted freedom and then lost it had ever tasted it again."

That's a scary thought, but where do we go from here when we are already so far down that frightening path? How do we fix the economic nightmare that unchecked government overspending, massive debt and giant social problems have created? How do we protect our families and country from a force that doesn't have a uniform, find the right balance between security and liberty or cure American's lack of faith in their government when the political parties are intentionally dividing us?

Glenn continues, "Unfortunately, many of us have been so misinformed or suffer from such a high degree of apathy, that we have no idea who our founders really were. We don't understand how they lived, what rights they were trying to protect, and what our responsibilities are to ensure that protection. . . . If you were called upon to preserve our freedom, to save our Constitution, could you be ready . . . ."

I personally feel that day is upon us right now because for over a hundred years, social and political experiments outside the boundaries made by our Constitution and Bill of Rights have played havoc with our culture, and it's happened so slowly most of us have been left unaware of the damage being done until it may be too late.

Dr. Skousen describes this in rather horrifying detail that many of us may not want to accept, but acceptance doesn't make it untrue. He states that when we don't teach the rising generation those cultural and moral lessons that keep society healthy and safe, the people end up making all the same mistakes of lost civilizations of the past, not just once but half a dozen times or more. We're doing it right now (and this was written nearly thirty years ago). We muddle through our lives with "drugs, riots, revolutions, and terrorism; predatory wars; unnatural sexual practices; merry-go-round marriages; organized crime; neglected and sometimes brutalized children; plateau intoxication; debt-ridden prosperity; and all the other ingredients of insanity which have shattered twenty mighty civilizations in the past."

Glenn Beck added to that list some of the other mistakes that are leading us down a dead-end road. "The bailout 'un-stimulous program', nationalization of our banks and auto industry, the loss of secret balloting for union activities, taxation without representation, morally bankrupt standards bearers, tax cheats running government programs, punishing the productive, rewarding the lazy, squelching opposing viewpoints, redistributing the wealth, creating an entitlement mentality, granting more rights to illegals than our fellow citizens and loss of pride in in the greatness of this nation--and generally ignoring our Constitutional rights, privileges and opportunities."

I could add quite a number of other things to those lists, as I am sure you could do as well, but that is not the point I am trying to make right now. We must get out and vote our conscience in a couple of weeks and not what we've been programmed through mass media to believe. If a candidate supports your beliefs, vote for him or her. Just don't sit back and do nothing because you think it won't matter, you're undecided or even scared. Someday we will all look back and see where we might have been able to save our country and didn't even try. 

I certainly don't want to face my posterity with that on my conscience because good will always win in the end and I want to be on the winning side when it comes to meeting my Savior and my Creator again. 

So please vote! It might be one of the most important things you ever do.

One Chapter About to End

I am so ready for fall! It's been a long and very hot summer with half a dozen records for excessive heat being set here in the tops of the Rocky Mountains. I have watched my lush, green yard being overtaken by encroaching weeds since it was too hot to spray for them and cut off the dead blooms of flowers who completed their season of bringing joy to my life and will now lay dormant until next spring. I have picked, enjoyed and shared fresh strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and squash and have mostly recovered from being the victim of fraud.

I have listened to the horrors and injustices of a society who seems to have lost its ability to think rationally or appreciate any of the freedoms daily enjoyed for most of my life. The very loud and angry voices of the socialists and communist who have taken over some of our blue states and are spewing forth hatred for our president, people unlike themselves, law-abiding citizens, our founding fathers, families, parental guidance or even the value of an unborn baby or child's life have filled my heart with great sorrow, along with the strong desire to reiterate my great love for my Eternal Father in Heaven and the gift of his only begotten son, my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Perhaps these feelings have been intensified the past few days since my ex-husband has finally agreed to accept a very generous plea deal barely a month before his scheduled trial for molesting my granddaughter began. It's been three long years since the state filed 3 felony charges against him. While he admitted to molesting his stepdaughter one time over thirty years ago, she claimed it happened many times over a period of years. I believe her and not just because of the way he treated me during twenty-two horrendous years of marriage that stripped me of everything but my testimony and life and left me with two choices--either stay in a very abusive situation and be dead in six months or file for a divorce and be left almost destitute to start over again in mid-life. 

I try not to think about what he may have done to innocent little girls during the time we were married, but have been told by numerous therapists that molesters do not wait until they are fifty to start committing such atrocities. What he did to my granddaughter, a stepdaughter and two known step-granddaughter is horrifying beyond belief, but it is the fact that the woman he married would call her own children and grandchildren liars and literally toss them away with such vile hatred just to stay married to him is beyond my comprehension. What kind of mental derangement could cause such a loss of maternal instincts and love? I just want to hold her little lost ones and tell them they are not forgotten.

Of course, my ex could always change his mind before the plea deal is  entered into court records on October 1, but that would only make the judge mad because he's already informed my ex's lawyer that he would be granted no further extensions since he had already dragged this charade on long enough. But no matter what happens, there is still the sentencing to get through. My granddaughter is justifiably angry because he is taking the easy way out and she won't be able to face him in court like she feels is her right, but he will still be getting six to life and this is a sure deal. There is certainly no counting on a jury to get the sentencing right when we have been reduced to a society who glorifies criminals and expects innocent victims to take it on the chin and remain silent.

Maybe that's why reading this portion of a funeral address designed to honor Athenian warriors who had died fighting Sparta long before Christ's birth touched me so profoundly. Pericles gave this amazing oratorical declamation on the Athenian way of life as it then existed, and it reminded so much of the childhood I grew up in during the 1950s and 60s in rural Idaho. He said:

"Our government is called a democracy because it is in the hands of many and not the few. Our laws secure equal justice for all in their private disputes, and our public opinion welcomes and honors talents in every kind of achievement, not for any sectional reason, but on grounds of excellence alone. And as we give free play to all in our public life, so we carry the same spirit into our daily relations among ourselves. We are not angry with our neighbor if he does what he likes, nor do we put on our sour looks at him which, though harmless, are unpleasant.

"Open and friendly in our private relations, in our public acts we keep strictly within the law. We recognize the restraint of reverence; we are obedient to officials and laws, especially to the laws that protect the oppressed and to the unwritten laws whose violation brings admitted shame. Yet ours is no work-a-day city only. No other provides so many recreations for the spirit--contests and sacrifices all year round, and beauty in our public buildings to cheer the heart and delight the eye day by day. Moreover, this city is so large and powerful that the wealth of the whole world flows into her, so that our own products seem no more homelike to us than those of other nations.

"We love beauty without extravagance, and wisdom without unmanliness. We employ wealth, not as a means to vanity and ostentation, but as an opportunity for service. To acknowledge poverty is no disgrace; the true disgrace is in making no effort to overcome it. An Athenian citizen does not neglect public affairs because he is too concerned with his private businesss. We regard a person who takes no interest in public affairs, not as quiet but useless. If few of us are originators, we are all sound judges of a policy. The great impediment to action is, in our opinion. not discussion, but the lack of full information which is gained by discussion prior to action."

Unfortunately, the spectacular breakthrough in righteous civilization which Pericles achieved lasted no longer than he did. In 429 B.C. , the same year  as his death, Greece was involved in the suicidal civil war known as Peloponnesian Wars. The golden age of Athens promptly began to fall apart and for fifty years Socrates tried to find some Greek with enough sense to lead the country out of a disastrous movement that advocated political unity for all. But Rome had found an inroad and the enlightened period of highly prized Greek culture was soon over.

I pray every morning and night that we as freedom loving Americans will go to the polls in November and fight for the freedoms that are under such constant and volatile attack. Government control of our way of life is not the answer and working for what we have is the greatest blessing imaginable. It teaches us thrift, accountability, appreciation, honesty, industry, reliability, personal satisfaction, the ability to use God-given talents, love for others, genuine service and a hundred other positives that bring joy and keep us from being complaining, self-serving, greedy, angry and non-productive citizens of the greatest country on earth.

May each of you feel the joy I do in knowing great truths that so many others throw away in the name of change or progress. Sometimes we just have to be still for a fews minutes, stop thinking about ourselves and our immediate needs and wants, and give God a chance to show us his majesty, power and love. He created this amazing country for a reason and expects us to keep it free for those who cherish freedom as much as we do.

I feel sorry for my ex in many ways. He was always very prideful, demanded that things be done his way and gloried in making a name for himself, regardless of what it cost those he professed to love. I cannot imagine being locked away in some box--regardless of the fact that the Utah State prison is only a couple of years old. But even more frightening is knowing how easily our country could fall into the ruthless hands of those whose only wish is to enslave us all. Individual freedom is worth fighting for and we still have a chance to keep our constitution intact. God's stamp of approval is on it, but it's up to us as his children to keep it from being shredded. 

Family

I've had family on my mind since Memorial Day. Maybe it's just my age because 80 will be the next big milestone and some days I really feel what all those years have done to my body, attitude and physical stamina. But it is looking in the mirror that makes me cower in both shock and horror. Each new line, wrinkle, age spot, white cyst around my eye, lump or sag of skin makes me long for days now past because my first thought in getting ready for the day is to place a brown paper bag over my head and be done with it--rather than applying a little make up that used to enhance the size of my eyes and make my skin look hydrated instead of like the dry, drifting sand of some desert. 

But I am discovering the old truism that a smile from the heart really can make an older woman look sweet and beautiful, as long as her previous years have not been spent in scowling, complaining and being a generally miserable person. And to make aging even sweeter, I am no longer worried about all the things that used to take so much of my time and energy. A few weeds in my flowerbeds no longer sends me into some fit of frenzy, fixing meals means making enough for five or six days of leftovers and shopping is little more than a waste of energy because having the latest gadgets just mean something else to learn that holds no real interest for me and the latest fashions are just plain ugly or simply a revamping of what I used to wear.

Instead of traveling the world, I'm content watching documentaries about other countries or simply seeing pictures of them in books because the thought of going anywhere too far from my own bed, having to deal with airports, customs and people I can't understand and being forced to eat food that most likely no longer agrees with my digestive system simply makes me tired. I'm finding that my most enjoyable days are spent in basic solitude with all the noise and confusion of the world shut out while reading, listening to enjoyable music, doing little crafty projects, contemplating life and trying to figure out how I can most effectively use what remains of my time in coming to know God and my Savior, Jesus Christ on a more personal level. 

Along with that comes trying to decide what I want to leave as my minor imprint on this world when my time to leave it actually arrives. That's where family comes in--all the good, bad, messy, heartbreaking and ugly that often defines our relationships with those who share our bloodline or were adopted into it. I wish I knew the secret to healing some of the rifts found between siblings, parents and extended family but have come to believe some of those attitudes and behaviors will have to wait until the next life to be resolved. We mortals simply lack the willingness and ability to see things as clearly as we should. We're much too involved with self actualization and fulfillment, gaining material assets and doing whatever we want as long as it makes us feel good for the moment. 

But deciding what that imprint will be hasn't been easy. Long ago I knew I wanted to be remembered as being kind. That seemed like a noble ambition but was a little altruistic--sort of like all the beauty contestants wanting world peace. So I took a deeper look and that's what has keep me busy the past seven months. It started with finishing my life history--a volume that ended up being over 500 pages long because I wanted it to serve a number of different purposes. I wanted my younger siblings to know what it was like growing up with daddy, my children to better understand why their home-life on our small farming acreage was not that great and my posterity to gain an appreciation of my deep love for God and my Savior and that challenges overcome are the only way to personal growth and maturity of spirit.

Next, I made counted cross-stitch bear pictures depicting what I felt defined each person in my family best like secretary, business person, homemaker or fisherman. Then I quilted, by hand, thirteen baby quilts for my grandchildren that I truly hope will be used for human posterity instead of just cats and dogs which are all the rage of young adults these days. After using the remainder of my large pieces of fabric and the last of my batting on two queen-size quilts, I moved on to putting together 4-inch scrapbooks for my son and daughter that used up a majority of the supplies I'd had in two tubs in my garage for years. When that was done, I sanded, stained and applied photos to wood kits for them.

During June and July, while the temperatures remained from 95 to 105 everyday, I finished two additional books. The first was a compilation of the stories my Grandma Ririe and Uncle Douglas Ririe wrote titled To Laugh, Cry and be Surprised. The second was taking a rough draft of Grandma Ririe's teen novel and rewriting 95 percent of it since it was written in the 1950's and talked about the Cold War with Russia that teenagers today know little to nothing about. I sent that off to be published last week under the title she had given it of Mystery of the Crying Cave. Needless to say, Christmas this year for my children and grandchildren will be centered on the homemade and family history. Whether they appreciate it or not remains to be seen, but I hope they will feel my love and devotion to each of them and how important family is to me, even though we see very little of each other.

With all of that complete, I am now ready to move on to other things. I know that will include more writing since that gift has become such a huge part of me. I no longer care that few others appreciate what I do and even criticize, belittle and mock my endeavors to my face because I'm not into going to the gym on a daily basis, golfing, traveling, shopping, doing lunch or talking on the phone like all my other siblings find so enticing. After all, I am a farm girl and it's the simple things of life that mean the most to me. I love it when people are walking their dogs and stop to tell me how beautiful my flowers are, or when I give a talk or a lesson and someone appreciates what I've said. But I've never really needed to be seen or let my presence be known. In fact, I run for cover most of the time so I won't be noticed because I really don't know what to say to anyone. 

My life has not gone according to any plan I would have made and my disappointments and heartaches have been great, but along with that has come a deep and abiding love for my Heavily Father, my Savior, Jesus Christ, and my family; especially my ancestors who are responsible for where I was born, the overpowering traits I inherited from a select few of them and the kind of foundation received so I would want to be a productive, kind and informed adult. My mission here is unlike that of any other, and yet we all share similarities that are far stronger than some of our differences. 

What an honor it is to be alive and know that I am helping to prepare the world for the return of our Savior, Lord and King. There is no way of knowing how things will unfold until that eventful day arrives. I feel somewhat surprised by many of the things I hear and learn but am so grateful that I do not fear as so many people in the world do today. Even though our constitution is hanging by a thread, I have great hope that the citizens of our great country will remember our founding fathers and the divine assistance they received from above in framing our constitution and Bill of Rights. If we stand together as God-fearing and loving individuals we will survive and even thrive during the difficulties that are coming. 

I know that with every beat of my heart and hope there will be many more before my time on earth is up. Still, I feel an urgency to accomplish everything I possibly can in letting others know that they are seen, heard and loved. Notwithstanding the unexpected, I finally have my affairs in order. My son has copies of my will and my trust, passwords, phone numbers, life insurance and investment policies. He knows I do not want a funeral or a lot a lot of fuss. A simple graveside interment will be enough. And while I have a few items I hope will stay in the family because they have great sentimental meaning to me, I am realistic enough to know that my children and grandchildren will not value them as I do. 

I saw that after my next door neighbor died nearly a year ago now when her children brought three dumpsters to the front of her house and tossed nearly everything she had into them. Had I been less emotionally involved I would have put out a notice that a young couple could furnish their first apartment by doing a little dumpster diving. But instead I waited until right before the third one was hauled away. That's when I saw that her white, iron, settee that had sat by her front door for the ten years I had known her had been tossed inside. I pulled it out and put it in my back yard so it could stay where it belonged. 

Guess it will be like that for most of us when we pass to the other side so we need to start letting go of some of the physical now. At least that's what I am trying to do. If there's something I would like a family member, neighbor or friend to have, I'm giving it to them now. Otherwise, they'll never get it. A lifetime in three dumpsters was a real wakeup call for me. 

Here's a picture of some of the projects I finished as a visual that I actually did them.

250 Celebration Coming

I woke up this morning to a skiff of snow in the very tops of the Rocky Mountains that are just a few miles away from where I live. That was joyous in itself because we have been in a serious drought for several years that has not lessened during these early spring months. In fact we've already have over 350 fires in the state--mostly started by man--and have lost three brave firemen. All the grass in our communities is turning white from water restrictions and even the leaves on our trees are turning brittle and dropping to the ground. 

While I am faithfully trying to keep my flowers and garden alive, even the insects necessary to pollinate vegetables have been scarce and all our fruit trees had their blossoms frozen in the early spring and will produce nothing this year. I awaken each morning to a sun whose rays are trying to break through the heavy smoke that fills the air, makes my eyes water and my nose and throat close off whenever I am outside for more than a few minutes at a time. I am not looking forward to July and August when the temperatures often soar to over a hundred and the power bills skyrocket just trying to remain somewhat cool inside. 

The situation in our state has become so critical that the governor declared a state of emergency and just announced on Friday that he has signed an executive order outlawing fireworks for the 250 year celebration of our country. Of course the city mayors can use their discretion in what transpires within their jurisdiction, but I have pretty much resolved that watching them on television this year will not show my lack of patriotism. That can be done in other ways while our limited resources are preserved and no homes will be subjected to unintentional burning.

Still, my feelings are very mixed as I contemplate how my 4th of July will be spent this year. I love our country dearly. I love the beautiful countryside, the amazing natural wonders and the kind-hearted people. But mostly I love the God-given freedoms so many evil persons are trying to strip from us and the proud and courageous men and women who are fighting in any way they can to protect what I hold so dear. I truly believe we as individual, and united, Americans were born in this country for a reason, and those who wish to join our citizenry should be expected to assimilate into our communities, stand for the same ideals and virtues and be willing to stand beside us as we fight to maintain the standards and way of life our ancestors gave their all for so their posterity could remain free. After all, isn't freedom to pursue one's dreams the overriding reason most immigrants come here? And if it isn't, it should be.

It breaks my heart when I read news articles about what is happening, mostly in our big, Democrat-run cities where the socialists and communists are no longer hiding. Ever since the end of World War II, they have been infiltrating our communities, towns, churches, schools and our local, state and national government agencies. They have diluted our citizenry, overrun our institutions of higher learning, weakened our spiritual fabric, commandeered our wealth and set themselves up in positions where they can influence and instigate laws that directly oppose our Constitution and Bill of Rights. But more importantly, they have conquered the human minds of our children and set them on a course to servitude masked as free everything until the money runs out.

But even with all the negative that abounds in the world, and all the unsound judgments the Supreme Court Court is making in favor of the far and radical left, I have hope that our Constitution will prevail and our flag of beautiful Stars and Stripes will still be flying long after my remains have turned to dust. Our God and Eternal Father promoted the founding of our country for His purposes and He will never let our Constitution be trampled on to the point on destruction. Those fighting for our freedom may be few in number at the end and facing unbelievable challenges, but with God's help they will prevail until our Savior returns once more and the purpose for this earth's existence is complete.

I never fail to marvel at the completeness of His glorious plan for His children. Regardless of the time they were appointed to come here, their lives were filled with desires, dreams, struggles, promises and hope. On Memorial Day last month I had sort of an epiphany when it came to my ancestors. Like many of you I am deeply interested in finding out more about my family, but this particular day I wad drawn to the stories my grandmother and uncle had written. During the months my mother was dying from cancer, her request for me was to take all of the manuscripts she had inherited and compile, type, edit and put copies of them in binders so each of her children would have them. 

My dismay at her request was sound because I wanted to spend time with her as my sisters were doing, but I can now see why she asked such a hard thing of me. I was the only one in our entire family with the desire or skills necessary to complete such an arduous task, and had I not done as she requested an important part of our family history would have been lost. I have glanced through that binder of stories, reading and poetry a number of times, but none of my siblings or cousins have. 

But on that particular day when I was unable to visit any family graves because they were too far away, I felt impressed to pull that binder off the shelf and look through it. My eyes filled with tears almost immediately with love for my grandmother and uncle who were the only ones to support me during a certain life trial when I was eighteen and left completely on my own. I knew in that moment how important it was to protect the heritage they had left, and luckily after twenty-five years I still had the original manuscript on a flash drive that was compatible with my computer. That meant I wouldn't have to start from scratch again since I have never learned how to type the right way.

I spent the entire day copying and pasting over 300 pages into a book template so I could do the necessary revisions, editing and formatting for printing. The more I read, worked and thought, the more love I felt for persons I had not seen for decades, and with each story I could feel a part of them reaching out me. I could feel their love, confusion, pain, uncertainty, creativity, longings and hope descend into my inner most core. Their lives had not been easy, especially that of my uncle who dealt with chronic mental health issues that were kept hidden as much as humanly possible during the time he lived. I found myself both crying and laughing as my understanding increased.

What a marvelous gift I had been given, and because of God's prompting, I have now published their stories for everyone who is interested in mystery, science fiction, humor, family life in the past or a good cry to read in an anthology on Amazon titled To Laugh, Cry and be Surprised. I am now working on her final manuscript, a rough draft of a mystery for teenagers. It's interesting to revisit life in the 1950s and reflect on how much life has changed. While I am grateful for air-conditioning, microwave ovens, and a way to communicate almost always within reach, I miss the days when ice cream was churned by hand, neighbors visited over the fence and correct history was taught in schools. 

But since a return to less suffocating, confusing and simpler days is impossible, I cling to the hope my ancestors had. They wanted a better place for their posterity, just as I do for mine, and were willing to sacrifice everything they possessed to insure it. 

As we prepare to celebrate this milestone in our country's history on Saturday, may we remember all the lives and livelihoods that were lost by those who founded this great nation and those who have protected it during the ensuing years. But mostly may we consult our hearts as to what we are willing to do to preserve the freedoms we still enjoy for those yet to come. May we plant our flags proudly in front of our homes, sing patriotic songs and let others know that we have not been conquered by those whose only desire is to cause devision, fear, hatred and destroy the very fabric of our beautiful country. May we stand with other patriots who feel as we do and not let anything stop us from proclaiming our love for the country God so graciously gave us to uphold, build and protect. Ours truly is a destiny too magnificent to be lost by indifference, prejudice or fear.