Sarah Palin: An American Western Woman

I was visiting my parents in my home state of Idaho when John McCain announced his surprise selection for vice president—Alaska’s feisty governor Sarah Palin. As the 44 year old female politician was expertly delivering her national "maiden" speech in Dayton Ohio—standing next to the beaming Arizona senator, where she remains to this day—the Northwest media was already noting with some pride that she was born in the beautiful Idaho panhandle town of Sandpoint. The growing lakeside town is just 40 miles north of where I grew up in Coeur d’Alene (forget your French; we pronounce it core-da-lane). Minutes after she finished her stirring speech, regional television and radio stations were broadcasting the news that, while Palin had moved with her family to Alaska when just a toddler, she returned to Idaho in the spring of 1983 to study at North Idaho College, located in scenic Coeur d’Alene. The young woman then transferred to the University of Idaho in Moscow (80 miles south of my hometown) in the fall of 1984 where she majored in journalism, with an emphasis in broadcast news. After a brief college student stint in Alaska, she returned once more to Idaho where she graduated from the state’s top scholastic institution in 1987. The revelation that the suddenly world famous Governor Palin had roots in Idaho—the country’s 13th largest state land wise containing America’s second largest designated wilderness area (after Alaska), but with just over 1.3 million residents—"set the locals abuzz," as the nearby Spokane Washington Spokesman-Review newspaper headlined the next day. Indeed her father, Chuck Heath, was raised in Hope Idaho, just a few miles east of Sandpoint. So if his lucid daughter becomes the nation’s ... | read the rest of this story online

God Can Even Reach Terrorists

Kenny McClinton was one of the most feared men in Northern Ireland (Ulster). His years of terrorist activity culminated in two life sentences for murder and other acts of terrorist violence. He had become a thorn in the side of the authorities. Even in prison he could not be tamed and found himself in solitary confinement punishment cells fifteen times within one nine month period. He was born in 1947, the second son of a hard-drinking, hard-fighting, coal delivery man; a man who spent all the family income on drink, causing almighty rows in the home an leaving the family in abject poverty. He was brought up in the heart of Protestantism, in the greater Shankill area of Belfast. For much of his young life he lived in a ramshackle ex-army Nissan hut. His address was simply No. 9 Hut, West Circular Road, West Belfast. He was as familiar with rats as most children are with cats! There was no hot running water in the Hut, and Kenny and his brother were the butt of other children’s ridicule. His father spent time in prison and later left home, leaving his mother, Catherine, struggling to bring up the family with little social or financial support. Kenny and his brother Davy’s reactions to the bullying and derision was to fight back. At an early age they learned how to defend themselves, thinking they were earning the respect of their peers. In fact, they became the terror of the areas in which they lived. Kenny’s whole life centered around violence. He lived a kind of nomadic existence during his early years as his mother moved about numerous furnished accommodations in Belfast City. He attended approximately fourteen Primary Schools, always living by the law of the ... | read the rest of this story online

Winning Isn’t News: The Surge In Iraq Is An Unparalleled Success...

The Investor’s Business Daily editorial board ask, ‘What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn’t tell the American public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we’ve defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq.’ London ‘s Sunday Times called it ‘the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.’ A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq , has over two years been redu ced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul. The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is one of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the long history of American warfare. We can thank President Bush’s surge strategy, in which he bucked both Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington by increasing our forces there instead of surrendering. We can also thank the leadership of the new general he placed in charge there, David Petraeus, who may be the foremost expert in the world on counter-insurgency warfare. And we can thank those serving in our military in Iraq who engaged local Iraqi tribal leaders and convinced them America was their friend and AQI their enemy. Al-Qaida’s loss of the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis began in Anbar Province, which had been written off as a basket case, and spread out from there. Now, in Operation Lion’s Roar the Iraqi army and the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is destroying the fraction of terrorists who are left. More than 1,000 AQI operatives have already been apprehended. <p ... | read the rest of this story online

Lifestyles of the Cosmetically Affluent

It’s a generally true statement that debt-ridden, credit card addicted people appear to more wealthy and more affluent than they really are. Why? Because they spend their "money" (and credit) on LIFESTYLE expenditures. I overheard a fairly loud twenty something woman in a restaurant (she was purposely being loud enough for all the tables around her to hear). She was going on about how "I love this restaurant, but if I ate here every day, I’d be really heavy and broke". She was already "heavy" and given the rest of the conversation, mostly likely already broke. I know it’s "mean" to say someone is overweight, but she was the one putting herself out there for public scrutiny by clearly proclaiming she WOULD BE "heavy" if she ate bagels and cinnamon rolls every day. Apparently, she was only eating them every OTHER day if she didn’t consider her current weight "heavy" (probably 100 or more pounds overweight). Predictably, she continued with a conversation about high gas prices, a pile of bills and what the government should do to fix it all. Again predictably, she left in a pretty new, late model car talking on her cell phone, holding her $5.00 latte-to-go. Do I say all this to be mean? Funny? Uncaring? Fat-a-phobic? No. Does being overweight automatically make you a debt junkie or lazy? No… but in this case her physical appearance, along with her words, combined with the other obvious signs made it clear that she was impulsive and undisciplined in general and refused to take responsibility for her own over-indulgence. I say "predictably" because this has become all TOO common in America. I tell you this story because it is indicative of those in debt, why they ... | read the rest of this story online

Credit Card Traps, And How To Avoid Them

By David Berkey 0% interest* for the first six months, no annual fees** and a low fixed*** rate of only 8.9%****! * Unless you count the deferred interest we will charge you if you don’t pay off the full balance transfer amount when the promotional period ends. ** Except the ones we charge for "late payments****", going over your balance, cash advances, balance transfers, membership in "rewards" programs, etc., etc., etc. *** Fixed for the first month, but after we may change it without notice for: late payments, going over your balance, changes in the prime rate, or just cause we want more of your money. **** Rate depends on your credit score. (Which we already checked and intend to charge you 19.8% or we wouldn’t bother sending you this great***** offer.) ***** A payment may be late if we just don’t get around to processing it in time no matter when you actually mailed it to us. ****** May not be great in all states. Yes, folks, "the devil is in the details" and the truth is in the fine print. While this is obviously an exaggerated and fictitious example I have seen most of these "weasel" clauses in the 100s of credit card offers I receive each year. Some of these tricks and traps are practiced by local and national merchants with their "store credit cards" and "discount cards". I have seen stores and even car dealerships make "no interest for a year" type announcements and advertisements. But when you actually read the contract (and who does that - they count on you to not read the whole thing and you ... | read the rest of this story online

Adoption: All I'm Offering Is the Truth, Nothing More

By Russ Weir Early in the blockbuster movie, "The Matrix," Morpheus (a stoic prophet and ship captain played by Laurence Fishburn) offers Neo (a naïve computer programmer played by Keanu Reeves) a choice between two pills – a red one and a blue one. Choosing the blue pill would allow Neo would wake up believing that his visit with Morpheus had just been a dream. The red pill would open Neo up to see the world as it truly exists. As Morpheus tells him, "All I’m offering is the truth … nothing more." These are the moments that shape us. With the truth lying before you, the only decision that remains is what you will do with that knowledge - accept it or hide from it. Taking the Pill One such "red pill" moment in my life was my wife’s and my decision to adopt a six year-old girl (now nine) from Guatemala. Since that moment we answered "yes … she’s our daughter," that movie clip has played repeatedly in my mind. We started out simply wanting to fulfill my wife’s childhood desire to adopt. We soon came to learn quite a bit about ourselves and the world around us. We were offered only the truth … and that truth changed us. Looking Inside Ourselves Once you’ve decided to adopt, you’ve likely set aside the fears of bringing a new child into your home and have reconciled yourself with the financial costs. These issues seemed insurmountable in the beginning, but then the truly hard questions came. "What kind of child do you want?" This seems like such a crude question to ask ... | read the rest of this story online

Adoption: We Live With HIV Everyday

(The author of this story is a mom who, along with her husband has adopted a young HIV-positive child from the foster system. Because the adoption is not final, the writer and family must remain anonymous. BR) HIV lives in our home each and every day- by choice. We choose to embrace HIV with open arms. Let me explain. In 2002 our lives were forever changed through the miracle of adoption. God blessed us with a beautiful, healthy, infant daughter from Guatemala and our lives were never to be the same. Again in 2004 God once again gave us a miracle in a precious toddler again from Guatemala. I marveled at how amazing our God was- and because of these precious blessings my eyes were opened to the world around me in a way they never had been before. I no longer cared about material things in life- I no longer strive for success in the eyes of the world. I just wanted to praise God through the way I lived my life all for His glory. I began to pray and thank him and allow him to use me, use my life, in any way He pleased. Because my heart had already been opened to adoption and I was passionate about orphan care- God had already set the steps in notion. Just a few short weeks before we were to bring home our second daughter from Guatemala God placed children with HIV on my heart. At the time I naively didn’t even know much about the disease- I questions God and tried to convince him that he had the wrong gal. I bartered back and forth with God and finally said to him "Ok Lord, I’ll do it- but you will have to drop a pile of money in my lap because there is no way I can afford another international adoption". Little did I know- God had already worked all of that out. <p ... | read the rest of this story online

From Your Blog: A Day of Invitation

Each month we choose a blog post that is submitted and publish it, unedited, just like it appears on your blog.If you would like to have something from your blog considered, submit it here. By Krystal Longmire http://krystlelongmire.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=a-day-of-invitation She jokingly said to two of us today, "God brought you here only for me," while more seriously mentioning, "I think part of your purpose in coming to Nicaragua was to listen and encourage me." Itzel is a tall, beautiful Nicaraguan girl with tiny jet black curls that she pulls back on most days. The depth within her eyes draws you in, while her wide smile is incredibly contagious. She is 15, but mature enough to be 20 something, an excellent student, and during her free-time plays on a kickball team (that I must say has improved a whole lot in one week!). Just a couple of days ago she was sharing with Katie a dream she had. In it she came to the door of the clinic where we are living and we invited her in. During this time we worshipped, prayed together, and there were many tears.... Since the beginning of our time here in Nicaragua all five of us were drawn to Itzel. Until today we only knew part of her story. She is the youngest of one other sister and brother who live with their mom. She became a Christian just one month ago, and is now starving for more. She is hungry for God’s Word and discipleship, and it is very obvious that Jesus ... | read the rest of this story online

Science: What Is The Real Date Of The Last Global Ice Age?

(The following is excerpted from Nienhuis’s book, "Old Earth? Why Not!". You can download it free at www.genesisveracity.com) There is much geological evidence to confirm that vast ice sheets once covered portions of northern Europe, northwest Asia and North America,1 as well as all of Antarctica. The cause of the development of these ice sheets remains a mystery to old earthers; however, they are impressed that the earth must have been colder back then.2 But this is a fallacious notion because the atmosphere can hold more water molecules (which form snowflakes) when the air temperature is just below water’s freezing point, 320 F. The polar regions today are technically deserts, as their super cold temperatures minimize snowfall. Therefore, the popular idea of a colder Ice Age climate is groundlessly proponed by both laymen and scientists. The truths of hydrology dictate that Ice Age winter temperatures actually were warmer than today, much closer to 320 F., as to maximize snowfall amounts in the winter; and in the summer, the temperatures were cooler than today (due to shade from the dense, storm clouds), thus minimizing snowmelt amounts.3 These conditions were absolutely necessary to achieve massive snow accumulation. Water enters the atmosphere by water evaporation off the oceans, lakes, and rivers. This evaporated water rises and becomes snow or rain clouds. For the development of the dense and extensive snow clouds of the Ice Age, a higher rate of water evaporation must have been feeding an increasing snow cloud coverage. Since the waters of the Great Flood were from the earth’s hot interior, the water that covered the globe and then ... | read the rest of this story online

Scapbooking: Digital Scrapbook Layouts and How to Create Them

Digital Scrapbooking is scrapbooking with the use of a computer and a graphics program such as Paint Shop, to create scrapbookpages. You can also combine the two, by using the pc to create your basic scrapbookpages, then print them, and then further decorating them in the traditional scrapbook manner. Whichever way appeals to you. When you do all of your scrapbooking 100% digitally, you save a lot of space in buying and storing materials. All you need is a working pc with Paint Shop to get started. And, if you want to print your scrapbookpages, you will need a good quality printer and acid-free paper. However, you may want to save your pages to a CD. You might even want to have your completed scrapbook pages bound into a permanent book. Which also is a great idea for a birthday, Christmas or wedding gift! You can ofcourse start with digital kits, which are widely available. All you have to do is insert the photos and be done with it. But why not create your own layouts? This isn’t so hard to do. First you decide on the size of the card or sheet that you want to make. In Paint Shop you want to start with a new image with a size of 680 pizels width by 1000 pixels height. That will exactly fit on a A4-size sheet of paper. You need to alter this size if you are using a different size of paper! You can use a color as background or, use whatever image you have stored on your computer. You may want to play around with this for a bit; using different kinds of images, changing the size of it, etcetera. Because it works with everything, I have compiled a lot of backgrounds that I can use in whatever design I am making. Like ... | read the rest of this story online

Humor

Women Are Better Investors Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business. When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune. One evening at an investment meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away. ‘I may look like just an ordinary man,’ he said to her, ‘but in just a few years, my father will die, and I’ll inherit 20 million dollars.’ Impressed, the woman obtained his business card and three days later, she became his stepmother. Women are so much better at estate planning than men! How To Call The Police George Phillips of Meridian , Mississippi was going up to bed when his wife told him that he’d left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. George opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things. He phoned the police, who asked ‘Is someone in your house?’ and he said ‘no’. Then they said that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be along when available. George said, ‘Okay,’ hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again. ‘Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don’t have to worry about them now because I just shot them.’ Then he hung up. Within ... | read the rest of this story online

Reader Recipes: Adoption Cookbook

The following recipes were taken from the "Adoption Cookbook". The pics are from the cookbok. If you would to purchase it, go here. Guatemalan Corn Soup Ingredients: Kernels from 3 fresh ears of Corn or 1 16-ounce can of sweet corn 1 Onion, sliced finely 1 tbsp. Margarine 2 tbsp. Flour 2 ½ c Milk Directions: If using fresh corn, cook it in boiling water for 5 to 10 minutes until tender. Drain, keeping water. If you use canned corn, drain and keep liquid. Melt the margarine in a large saucepan and cook the onion until it is soft. Sprinkle in the flour, mixing well. Cook a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Remove pan from heat and slowly pour in the milk, stirring to give a smooth consistency. Add the corn kernels, along with salt and pepper to taste, and about ½ cup reserved liquid. Bring the soup to a gentle boil, stirring as the mixture thickens. Simmer for a few minutes. Serve hot. Enjoy! Submitted by Elena, mother of Olivia, Guatemala Hearty Italian Soup Ingredients: 1 lb. mild bulk Italian sausage 1 med. Green pepper- chopped 1 med. Onion- chopped 28 oz. can ... | read the rest of this story online

The Value of Family - The True Measure of Success

On his 100th birthday a few years ago, I watched a man being interviewed by a local television station in Birmingham, Alabama. The man was asked the question, "What would you say is the most important thing people need to understand about life?" Without batting an eye he responded, "The older we get, the more we should understand that the key to meaning and purpose in life lies in one’s ability to establish and maintain beautiful, long-lasting, harmonious relationships." I think he nailed it. You can’t live any better than you can love, and if you’re not doing well in the relationship business, specifically in your family, then you’re just not doing well at life, because life is relationships. To have a great family life is worth any sacrifice one might have to make to achieve it. It is living life on its highest plane, and there is no substitute for a great family life. Someone once said, "No amount of success in life can compensate for failure in the home." When you really think about it, that’s a powerful statement. As a 44-year-old husband for 21 years, and a father of four children ranging from 10 to 17 years, I can honestly say that no amount of success in my life, whether academically, athletically, or vocationally, even comes close to the joy and happiness my family brings to my life. Whether married or single, family is so very important, not only to our personal emotional wellbeing, but also to the health and welfare of the world as a whole. No nation ever has, ever can, or ever will rise above the quality of its homes. Theodore Roosevelt once said something that would be ridiculed today by the media and the cultural elite of our day, but it is nonetheless ... | read the rest of this story online

God’s Statistics... Numbers That Give Hope

Our adopted Guatemalan daughter, Abby, was diagnosed with Leukemia in July 2008. Here are some statistics about kids with Leukemia: 5000 - The number of kids in America who will be diagnosed with Leukemia this year 9x - The factor of children who are 2-4 years old when diagnosed with Leukemia 60% - The percentage of children who get the more curable version of Leukema called "A.L.L." (which we found out is the kind Abby has) 66% - The percentage of people who completely recover from A.L.L. 90% - The percentage of children ages 2-4 that recover from Leukemia 10% - The percentage of children who relapse, usually within three years 15% - The chance of recovering from a relapse of Leukemia Those are medical statistics. Let me give you some "God Statistics": 1 - The number of times Jesus gave His life to pay for our sins 0 - The number of times God is not watching over every second of our life and every hair on our head 0% - The chance that God will forsake or forget one of His children 0% - The percentage of children with Leukemia that God does not care about 100% - The percentage of hope that Christians have no matter what the circumstances <div ... | read the rest of this story online

A Great Way to Archive Family Memories

A blog is a great place to archive your life to enjoy in the years to come! Free and easy to use blogs like Blogger and Wordpress make it simple and fast to create your own family blog full of memories and pictures. Our family blog is www.riggsfamilyblog.com . Here’s a couple of the stories I have posted on our blog: "Slurp, Slurp" - We were at the tail end of dinner one night, and a couple of the kids had already finished, were excused and running around playing. My wife and I were playing cards, and one or two kids were still at the table when we kept hearing, "slurp, slurp, slurp...." Like someone sipping soup from a bowl. It took us a minute to track it down and finally we found our two year old, Landis, under his chair, laying flat on his belly, retrieving some spilled Koolaid off the floor using only the tongue and lips God gave him. You wouldn’t believe how proud he was to not only be saving his spilled Koolaid, but to be cleaning up his mess too! He had his eye on some spaghetti noodles under another chair, but we intercepted him before he could "clean up" that lost pasta! ~ "I Sahr-wee" <p ... | read the rest of this story online