Ronald L. Dart? Never Heard of Him!

Until last year, I had never heard of Ronald L. Dart. Today I look forward to his Sunday morning sermons on the radio. While I get ready and drive to my Sunday assignment, I enjoy the depth of meaning and relevance that Ron gives to his Bible sermons. He reminds me of my religious roots and the wonderful sermons my beloved Rev. Wilbur Sanders used to deliver.

Sometimes I listen again to Ron Dart on his Born to Win program. Try it, if you like that sort of thing. And if you don't like that sort of thing, sneak a peak anyway. You might be surprised. This guy is one of a kind.http://www.borntowin.net/

PROTECT OUR CHILDREN ACT (S.B.1738 Biden-Hatch) - WRITE TODAY

Thanks to my daughter-in-law (nuera) Sarai, I am aware of this pending legislation. Please do your part in helping this bill pass the Senate, by writing to your senators at www.senate.gov Just cut and paste the following:

Dear Senator: I know that you believe, like I do, that we must do everything possible to protect children from sexual predators. That is why I am asking for your help. Last year alone, U.S. law enforcement identified over 300,000 criminals who were trafficking in movies and pictures of young children being raped and tortured. Experts say that one in every three of these criminals has local child victims. Child pornography trafficking over the Internet has given us a trail of evidence that leads straight to their doorsteps, but the vast majority of these children will never be rescued because investigators are overwhelmed, outnumbered and underfunded.

As your constituent, I urge you to do everything in your power to pass the PROTECT OUR CHILDREN ACT (S. 1738, Biden-Hatch). This bipartisan legislation passed the House 415-2, but it is now the victim of petty partisan politics.Now that we know where these children are and how to protect them, there is no excuse for the Senate to fail to take action this session.

How much is GAS in your neighborhood this week?

We are currrently paying $3.63/gallon for gasoline in Salt Lake City. How much is it where you live? I'm curious to hear back from you all out there. (Check out the "Gas Buddy" gadget at the bottom of my blog.)

Irish Politics

An message from Ireland to all of their brethren in the States - a point to ponder despite your political affiliation:

We, in Ireland, can't figure out why ye people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States. On one side, ye had a pants-wearing female lawyer, married to another lawyer-who-can't-seem-to-keep-his-pants-on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a lawyer-who-goes-to-the-wrong-church, who is married to yet another lawyer-who-doesn't-even-like-the-country-her-husband-wants-to-run.

Now, on t'other hand, ye have a nice old war hero whose name starts with the appropriate 'Mc' terminology, married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship. What in God's name are ye lads thinkin' over in the colonies? !

Angels Among Us

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person...

When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physicall y, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a Godsend and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand..
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you so mething you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it. It is real, but only for a season.


LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.


If you are reading this, I am thanking you for being a part of my life. . . whether you are a reason, a season or a lifetime.

Blue vs Red

BYU kicked some serious UCLA booty on Saturday! So we turned on our electric-lighted "Y" banner. It's tacky and obnoxious, but so very necessary.

Why? There is a block of four houses in our neighborhood who LOVE football season: two are Utes and two are Cougars (moi). We all have our identifying colors flying on our porches.

So, Friday night my fellow Cougar sneaked across to one of the Ute houses and stole their flag. While he was doing it, his wife took a photo and then EMAILED it to the Utes. YES!

Yesterday their son came over and boldly announced, "If you turn on that blue Y again, we're gonna steal it and put it on Alan's porch"

Bring it on, little Indian.

Thinking Out Loud

American author William Faulkner wrote, "I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written about it." That pretty well sums up my ability to offer political analysis. Thanks to a month of late nights watching Olympics and political conventions, I'm a basket case -- unable to articulate my own exhausted opinions. And after weeks of sleep deprivation, I'm a victim of my own auto-immune disorder. Wouldn't it be great if that were the punchline of a self-deprecating joke? Alas, it's my life. :(




But the bright side is that the NFL season has begun! I'm watching football and lying on the sofa, hoping to fall asleep to the drone of the crowds and commentators. That probably won't happen as easily this season as it has in past seasons, because I have joined the ranks of Fantasy Football fans. Call me crazy, but I love, love, love football. :)

Oh yeah, BYU is 2-0. Go, Cougars!

Eating Crow or Crow Eating?

Here's a picture of me doing what I have lots of practice at: eating crow. Wait, this is a photo of a crow eating, isn't it? Oops. Well, I'm the black one.

Yeah, I taped the speeches so that I could stay up until 1am listening to political rhetoric. I listened to one side and considered the who's and what's. Tonight I listened to the other side and considered more who's and what's. It's close to 1am, and I have to work tomorrow morning. That says a lot about the importance I place on "listening and considering" at times like this. In the coming months, it will behoove us all to go back and reconsider what we've heard and seen. Challenge yourself to memorize quotes by the people whose ideals you espouse. If you can't remember what they've said, you may not think like them afterall. And if you do, their words will continue to resonate in your mind and heart.

I find it increasingly difficult to invite the media into my home anymore. Their relentless forced-fed diet of negativity and human savagery add to my burdens. It's common knowledge that one person can do little to alleviate suffering in the world. And yet, experience is a great teacher whose inspiration comes from seeing the world change one person at a time. It can be done.

I spend 40 hours each week working with individuals on whom everyone else has given up. And I help them learn to sing, to act, to dance, to think logically, to memorize numbers and words and facts, to behave appropriately in public, to try new foods, to bake bread, to make quilts and give them to the homeless, to hold doors for one another, and to laugh at themselves. There's not much left when I get home at night, but I am comforted by the knowledge that those same students who I was told "can't memorize" are ready for opening night with their lines tucked securely in their heads. It's impossible to measure the effort it has taken for them and for me.

So, staying up until 1am to listen to people promise me they will do everything in their power to do what's best for me resonates, because that's what I do when I go to work. I ask no more from my leaders than I am willing to contribute myself. And one by one, we can change the world in which we live.

And that's all I have to say about that. Caw!

McCoccaine / Pa(l)in

Uh, yeah -- back to that McCoccaine thing. Who's smokin' dope in the GOP? Everybody? Where is the "spin"? What up with the quasi-convention? The questions are endless and -- evidently -- answerless.

Who is in charge of sinking this ship? Because I want to send a congratulatory bouquet! It was supposed to be a Republican ticket, not a Republican shizzle. Whoop - dey it is!

And that's all I have to say about that.

Long Weekends

I love long weekends, like the one we just finished. Since I don't work on Fridays anymore, this gave me four full days of weekend. I killed half a day by sleeping in until NOON on Friday, only to awaken to the most disppointing news -- the selection of Sarah Palin by John McCain. It has occurred to me that "McCoccaine" is a better spelling, since that's what he must be SMOKING to have made such a choice. (More on that later.) It ruined my Friday, but not my weekend.

Saturday I mowed the lawn, which I consider to be a fun way to get exercise. Then Mark and I headed to Provo for the BYU Football season opener. We beat Northern Iowa in 100 degrees of heat. By sundown a cold front moved in and cooled down everything in norther Utah. What a relief. We picked up a pizza on the way home and enjoyed watching a Guy Ritchie movie. And I finished 4 of 30 crochet blocks for the Crochet-Along project! (Let me know if you've decided to join in, too.) They go really fast.

Sunday was a long day, but allowed us time to rest in preparation for our Monday project: reorganizing the basement. We enjoyed playing with Jocie and Naomi for a few short hours. They looked so cute in their nightgowns that Grandma Kelli made them.

On Monday morning, Mark and I moved everything in the basement to a new location. The cold storage room now houses all our food storage and our freezer. That left room for us to move EVERYTHING out of the soon-to-be new room in the basement. Mark recently finished the home theater room, and the new room will be a 4th bedroom. So, we're pooped tonight, but we have a lot to show for it: I found a bunch of clothing that I forgot we had, which is now clean and hanging in our closets. We also found a bunch of crap that got thrown away. And we have reduced our "storage" space to a single room in the basement. Aaahhh.

Back to work tomorrow. There is some joy in that.