Round Up Pink Saturday

Happy Pink Saturday!!  I have so many things to show you today...I'm excited!  First off, have you seen my Weight Loss Giveaway?  Check it out here and encourage my progress while giving yourself the opportunity to win!

Secondly, I've got this adorable little girls' PINK ladybug costume on ebay right now for super cheap!  It is for sizes 12-24 months and would be so cute in a pink photo shoot or for dress up year round!  Here's the link for that if you're interested:  costume

Next up are these super cute "Cowgirl Bling" cookies I made for my mom to take to work today!  It's Round Up time here in Pendleton, Oregon.  Have you heard of the world-famous Pendleton Round Up?  If not, read about it here!

The kids' favorite parts of the Round Up are the parades!  Here is our Pendleton Mounted Band...love these guys and gals!

The event lasts about a week and there are parades at the beginning and end of the week.  So far, these are the only festivities our family has been able to partake in this year, but we're planning a trip downtown tomorrow night to watch some of the Main Street entertainment.

My kids always have so much fun dressing up in their Western clothes!  It's a good thing some of us are in the spirit because I am SOOO not a cowgirl! :)

Here's Elisha (8) and Cainan (7) wearing their US Bank bandannas that Grandma got them from work!

This was Liam and Kynthia's first Round Up!  (We were in Washington last year when Liam was a baby)

My three oldest boys and sister, Avalon, waiting for the parade to start this morning!

We are blessed to have the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indians' reservation just a few miles up the road.  They have been important partners with the people of Pendleton during Round Up since it began in 1910!

In each year's Friday parade, most of the tribal members put on their regalia and ride or walk in the parade.  It's fun to see all the beautiful costumes!

This wagon train is one of our favorite entries.  The sign says, "These wagons were used in 1850."

Here are Daddy and Selah waiting for last Saturday's parade to begin.  It was a much hotter day than today!

This entry from the Main Street Cowboys has been in every parade that I've seen in Eastern Oregon for as long as I can remember.  When I was a little girl, they threw wooden nickels from the top of the vehicle.  I'll have to dig one out of my "old stuff" one of these days for Vintage Thingie Thursday! Someone is always at the calliope to play a happy tune!

Here's a couple more tribal members in their awesome attire!

I thought these little girls were pretty cute in their pink wagon.  They're a part of the Junior Jam dance group here in town.  The youngest ones always ride in a decorated wagon.  This year, their colors were PINK, white and black...good choice girls!

Check out her "Shirley Temple" curls! Love it!

Oh yes, and then there was the dude in the car! :)  Jamie and I both thought this was pretty awesome!

Well, I've got zillions more photos to show off...maybe I'll do a Round Up post and load the rest.  Hope everyone has a great weekend and don't forget to check out my Weight Loss Giveaway, as well as my Ladybug costume for sale!

Linking up with Beverly's Pink Saturday today!

My Thoughts on September 11th --- Ten Years Later

I just got home from our church service where we discussed and remembered the horrible events that took place in the US on this date 10 years ago.  I've been mulling over this post all week long---should I be as open and honest as I'd like to be?  Do my thoughts really even matter all that much?  Am I so far removed from it all that I have no respectable perspective?  This afternoon, I think I want to just take a few minutes and get my thoughts out about this day...it's been a long time coming.

I'll be honest with you, I'm the type of person who approaches things with an attitude of "deal with it and move on".  I know that sounds heartless---more than heartless---in the context of the horrific events of 9/11/2001...but stay with me for a minute.  As the last 10 years have gone by, I've found myself more and more irritated with the memorials, the remembrance events, the moments of silence, the replays, the photographs, etc. etc. etc....basically, the reminders---every. single. year...on this date.  I've been guilty of thinking, "It's over.  It was sad.  Let's move on now."  Of course, those thoughts made me feel guilty, ashamed, heartless...but they were real.

This year has been different.  I've been reading the many stories, flipping through the countless pictures, and attempting to watch videos that became very emotionally overwhelming at times, trying to give myself some perspective and see if it may have just been my own selfish immaturity that caused me to be so indifferent to past reminders of the terrorist attacks that day.

I think the bottom line is that for me, life has gone on.  It's not that I've forgotten that day 10 years ago...it's that, in the meantime, life has happened.  I've had 7 more children since then.  I've gone through the death of a baby, countless moves and several job changes, health issues---basically, I've lived and I've let life go on.

Today, I want to take a few minutes and remember.  I want to write about that day and allow myself to work through the things that I was too young to work through 10 years ago; because the truth is, that day rocked my world to some degree.  It changed my perspective, squashed my innocence and exposed my ignorance---I just didn't really realize that until now.


Though I've not really thought about it before now, I do remember where I was when I first heard the news.  Jamie and I were living in our hometown of Baker City, Oregon and our oldest daughter, Lynzie, was about 20 months old.  I was 7 1/2 months pregnant with our second child, Michael.  I was awake but not yet out of bed when the phone rang at about 6:30 am.  My mom had been watching the news early that morning and called me frantic.  She told me to turn on the news, that "it was horrible", but she couldn't really get the right words out to tell me what was happening.  By that time, here in Oregon, both planes had hit the World Trade Center buildings and our news was showing the videos over and over again.  The news people were still pretty shaken up and no one really knew what to say.  I remember my mom saying something about this being history and that our world would never be the same.

Thinking back on my initial reaction, it's hard to believe I could be so naive.  All I could think as I watched the news videos play over and over was, "how could someone do this to America?"  It wasn't the, "how could they be so cruel..." point of view; it was the "how could they be allowed to do this?"  In my 21-year-old mind, it seemed literally impossible for someone to attack America...it was as if I believed it was not allowed by some high world law.  I was so secure in my status as an American...in knowing I was "free".  Didn't "free" mean "safe"?


The attacks happened on a Tuesday.  That following Friday night, we headed to the Columbia River to camp with my dad and his wife for the weekend.  While the guys were out on the boat fishing, Theresa and I spent hours contemplating all the changes we anticipated happening now that Armageddon was upon us.  The gas prices had already begun to rise---although I'm not sure why they did or why they're still where they are.  I can remember being overwhelmed with fear that the draft would be reinstated as we prepared for World War III.  My husband, only 22 at the time, was easily draftable.  


Over the next year or so, I remember being so scared when a plane would fly overhead.  I'd either be afraid it was a terrorist or sure it was headed to fend one off.  I can remember when I was a little kid and my mom would always say, "look at the plane, kids!"  My brother and I would get so excited and we'd watch the plane until it went out of sight---imagining where it was going and what happy people were looking down on us.  It just occurred to me that I've never pointed out a plane to my kids.  Nowadays, planes = bombs in some subconscious part of me and they're not fun anymore.

Over time, that fear has worn off.  I've experienced so much more of life in the last 10 years.  I've grown into a "real mom" with pressing issues right here within these four walls.  New York and the other affected areas in the East seem so far away---I've lived my entire life within hours of the West coast.  I still don't know anyone who lost a loved one or otherwise experienced the attacks personally.  I don't drive or walk by the three areas of devastation.  For me, it's over and done with and I've moved on.


But today, as I spend this quiet time contemplating this date and what it means for so many people, I am overwhelmed by how much I am truly affected.  I'm weeping for the 3,000 children who lost at least one parent that day.  I'm hurting for the daughter of the firefighter mother I read about who died after saving countless lives that day.  I'm thinking, if it weren't for 9/11, where would these people be now?  Would I know any of them?  Would I have met them online through BookCrossing?  Would they participate in the Pink Saturday blog hop with me?  How many marriages would have taken place or children would have been born?  How would the entire course of history have changed had these almost 3,000 people lived past September 11, 2001?


In addition to that, what would our world be like?  What would the thousands of soldiers have done with their 10 years?  What direction would our nation have taken had we not had all this to deal with?


Other than my oldest daughter, none of my other children have ever lived in a USA without war.  Despite the fact that I've been relatively indifferent with my feelings about our country, I think I have some of the most patriotic kids around.  I have to attribute some of that to their experiences as kids of the 21st century---the millenium that went to war in infancy and finds itself still there a decade later.


So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I sense myself turning over a new leaf in my feelings toward America.  All this talk of remembering the date and never forgetting those we lost and those who bravely sacrificed for others has me thinking:  of course we're going to remember.  Remembering is not the problem---I think the issue is that we don't grow complacent in our remembering.  We need to actively remember the horror of 9/11 so we can make conscious decisions to live bravely and to esteem others higher than ourselves.  

I want to truly be able to say that I don't live in America, America lives in me.  Tonight I'm committed:  the next time a plane flies overhead, I'll look up and, with all the excitement I can muster, I'll say, "look at the plane kids," and we'll all wave at the happy people flying above the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Linking with:
A Return to Loveliness @ A Delightsome Life
Cottage Style Party @ Lavender Garden Cottage 
Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home
Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios
Courtship Connection
Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good 
Domestically Divine @ Far Above Rubies
(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife
Tending the Home Tuesday
Tuesday Link Up Party 
Wisdom Wednesdays @Simply Helping Him
Winsome Wednesday @ My Daily Walk in His Grace
Whole-Hearted Home Wednesdays 
Encourage One Another @ Deep Roots at Home
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Homemaking Link Up @ Raising Homemakers
What's It Wednesday @ Ivy and Elephants 
Simple Living Wednesdays @ Our Simple Farm
Wednesday Link up at Adorned from Above
Shoe Lace Linkup @ Living In the Shoe
Home Link Up at Raising Arrows

Mystery of History Creation Lesson: Blue Monday

Today for Blue Monday over at Smiling Sally's blog lots of talented bloggers are writing about their beloved blue "stuff"!

I'm joining in the fun by featuring a series of artwork that my kids did one day during our Mystery of History lesson on creation. All were done on blue construction paper.

Each child was responsible for creating a picture for one day of creation. Selah, age 3, did Day 1 (above). She's got some black to represent darkness and some sunshines to represent light. Jesus is featured there as well because He was there too!

Lynzie, 10, got two days since we had more days than artists---her picture shows Day 2 and Day 3:







Cainan, 5, did Day 4:







He's got a sun, moon, and stars in there!





Elisha, age 6, took Day 5:







He was feeling a little unsure of his birds but we all assured him they were great!




And finally, Michael, age 8, did Day 6:










Michael was uncomfortable depicting Adam and Eve without clothing so he decided to dress them! He's got several cute animals there, including a horse, a flamingo, a frog?, a monkey and a tiger!

I told the kids that I'd do Day 7 but, unfortunately, have been too busy with new baby to get to it yet! I have, instead, acted out that lovely day of rest with many naps since! I also blogged about rest here!

Hope you all have a great and restful Blue Monday! Visit Smiling Sally to see more participants!

The Shroud of Turin: How Can We Be Sure?

I've always been a sucker for a great conspiracy theory. I think one of the most interesting legends of our time is The Shroud of Turin. According to www.shroud.com, "Modern science has completed hundreds of thousands of hours of detailed study and intense research on the shroud. It is, in fact, the most studied artifact in human history."

Many people over many hundreds of years have put faith in this burial cloth, believing it not only to be an authentic and miraculous transference of the image of a crucified man, but believing that man to be Jesus Christ.

Those who have studied it are divided as to the age of the cloth, the medium used to create the image (was it painted? miraculously transposed?), and the identity of the person pictured.

The Catholic church has taken a big leap of faith in allowing the Holy Face Medal to be depicted after the image of the man on the shroud. While they apparently don't take a solid position on the authenticity of the shroud, they've gone ahead and "approved of the image in association with the Roman Catholic devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus". I think they're making a pretty big assumption here. Not only have they made a graven image of a man that they're not so sure is really God (see Exodus 20:4: "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth."), but they're ignoring what the New Testament has to say about the details surrounding Jesus' burial cloths.

Each of the gospels describes Jesus as having been buried in a linen cloth however, John gets very specific as he describes the Jewish custom of wrapping the body. John describes two cloths: a linen wrapping for the body and a separate cloth for the face:

"So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself" John 20:4-7.

This attention to detail shows us that the answers to the "mystery" of the Shroud of Turin have been in the Word all along. The Shroud is one piece of cloth showing a crucified man from head to toe. The Bible clearly shows us that this can not be the image of Christ as he was wrapped in more than one wrapping and his head was wrapped separately from the rest of the body.

What bothers me about all of this is not so much that there are still people out there debating the Shroud's "authenticity", but that this is the first time I've taken the time to open up my Bible and investigate the veracity of the myth for myself. The answers really are all there---if I'd take the time to find them!