In Honor Of Our Veterans

It's always a pleasure to have a guest blogger. Actually, this is my first, and I'm proud to present as today's guest, Mr. Tyler Barnes M.F.G.S. to present his views on Veterans Day.

When Is the Right Time to Honor Our Military Heroes?

When is the right time to honor our military heroes? The official day to honor them each year is November 11^th. Armistice Day was first made to be a holiday to honor soldiers who served in World War I. Armistice Day was a day to be dedicated to world peace, too. Armistice Day is also called Remembrance Day. This day is celebrated as the anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended World War I.

But thanks to a shoe store owner named Al King, Armistice Day became much more. Al King decided to turn Armistice Day into Veterans Day for all military heroes. He started his own campaign and the President of the U.S. agreed with him. Al advocated Armistice Day should be a type of holiday leave as all store owners agreed to close their stores for one hour in honor of those who served to protect us and to protect freedom.

Veterans are our friends. Veterans are my friends because they have been and remain willing to lay down their lives to protect me from harm. Sometimes that means they die protecting me. For that type of sacrifice, Veterans Day should be an enormous celebration. We should celebrate the freedom we have been provided by our friends, veterans. We should celebrate that we live in a free country because of their sacrifices. All of us should respect the sacrifices made by our friends. They have protected us from many wars and have fought to preserve freedom for us. They have looked danger in the eye and remained steadfast between danger and all of us. They never backed down from their responsibilities to protect and serve our country, the United States. They are heroes. They are my heroes. I could not enjoy the fruits of freedom without respecting those who have provided it for me. I know someone paid for my freedom fruits. I know to respect that.

I was asked to answer the question: When Is the Right Time to Honor Our Military Heroes, Our Veterans, Our Friends? I have two answers. In a phrase: We should honor them daily. In a word: Always!

This is the draft of an essay that Tyler submitted in a state contest, an essay to answer the question: "When Is the Right Time to Honor Our Military Heroes?"

And I think he answered the question quite well. Tyler is my 13 year old grandson. Isn't he remarkable?

Please pause many times today and thank our friends, the Veterans and have a wonderful day because of them. Hugs and warm smiles to all!

Blue Tuesday

No, not the kind of 'Blue' my grandmother seemed to be the majority of the time when I was a kid, but faux Lapis blue. Since finishing the Creche piece, I have been quite busy tying up some loose ends, taking care of 'stuff' on the computer, actually for a day and a half and still working on things.

But I'm usually working in between, and wanted to show you this morning the lovely blue that I'm using in making pendants and beads. Isn't that wowful? I love it. I mixed as many shades of blue that I could find in my stashes, gold leaf, and translucent clay and a few others. I can't wait! I'm ordering small gold beads to use in a classic Lapis necklace. This is a block of the clay, just waiting for me, and some beads I've started. I have a pendant in the oven. This will be a deeper tone when baked.






There's a lot of gold veins in it...just not showing up well. But isn't that going to make beautiful beads?


Remember to stop by tomorrow for my guest blogger for Veteran's Day. I'm excited! Hugs and warm smiles for your wonderful day! Kiss someone....not a frog!

Time to Start Scurrying About..

Remember all those beautiful trees I've been showing you??? Look what they're doing to us!!! LOL A very small part of it...we've had a leaf storm instead of a snow storm!!!

Well.......have you begun the maddening, frustrating, invigorating, adrenaline pumping, loathsome job called holiday shopping? Wonder who started that?

Oh.....that was different...celebrating our Savior's birth with gifts from afar doesn't seem to compare with the onslaught of a card sliding, dollar twisting, elbow digging, madcap racing to 4 a.m. sales, event we try to call celebrating Christmas that puts struggling families in debt for the remainder of the year, leaves some kids puffed up over not getting everything on their lists, starts family arguments because everyone is stressed out over life in general and just so they can have a catharis an old disagreement might resurface.

If we quit all that, if instead we visited hospitals and nursing homes, sang carols, spent our money on a wonderful meal and even spent it on airfares for family we've not seen in years because they can't afford to come home, shared our food by taking a few meals to the less fortunate, enjoyed the camaraderie of our families and friends, watched the kids play with the toys they've received all year long, played cards and games in the afternoon, munched on leftovers, watched old movies, learned to pray again and give thanks, and bedded down on pallets a house filled with people in love with each other and with life, I believe our lives would be better all year long. What a celebration that would be!!!

Could that happen? Could we go backwards a bit to days of long ago and pattern our holiday celebration after a kinder and gentler time? Do we have to be so exhausted on the day after that we begin immediately dreading next year? Why does it have to be that way? It would only take a couple of times for kids to understand that companies don't make all of those toys for their pleasure; they make them to empty Mom and Dad's bank accounts for their pleasure.

What if that money wasn't spent on stuff and the family took a wonderful vacation each summer to see this grand country that we call home? I guess it would wreck our economy! That's a laugh!!!!

Just rambling thoughts from Scrooge I guess. It's really not even about the money. So many little kids don't even know why we have a Christmas celebration. So many big ones don't either. And many never take the time to even pause on the day and remember. Perhaps the two could be combined. Perhaps we could make it a point to make everyone aware of the true meaning of Christmas and still have the gifts, the craziness, the insanity of it all. I love Christmas! It's my very favorite time of the year. I love the decorations,to give gifts, to make gifts, and to get gifts, to make people smile over their gifts....notice my Etsy listings in the sidebar!!! LOL

I worry. What if they continue to try to take Christ out of our lives....what if they take Christ out of Christmas? How hard is it going to be to do that when so many don't know He is Christmas. Why would we celebrate Christmas then?

I'm having a guest blogger on Wednesday for Veteran's Day. Please, please come by and prepare to be so proud. Hugs! Hope your week will be so special that you will remember it for weeks to come!!!

Wordless Sunday