9/11

We will never forget.

Red Envelope Day

Some days I think I live under a rock! I have not heard a thing about this wonderful project, but I read Shannon's blog this morning and I think this is a GREAT idea! Just in case you don't know anything about Red Envelope Day either, you can go to Bless our Nest and read more about it, or go to http://www.redenvelopeday.com/ and watch the short video clip. You can even order your envelopes from the sight if you don't have any.

Here is a snippit written by Christ Otto that I have taken directy from the websight:

Why red?
The envelopes represent the innocent blood shed through abortion, and the plea for the blood of Jesus over the sin of our nation. This campaign is a symbolic act to flood the mail with red. The more we send, the more powerful this symbol will be.

Why March 31?
Although that date was chosen arbitrarily by Brian Potter when he created Red Envelope Day, it also reinforces the symbolism of blood. The envelopes will be arriving near the beginning of Holy Week, just prior to the start of Passover. I don’t think it is a coincidence that these arrive so near the annual remembrance of the Passion and Death of Christ.

As long as you have proper postage, federal law requires the delivery of all mail. Messages on the outside of an envelope will not hinder their delivery. There are many strange urban myths about where the mail is going, and that no empty envelopes will be delivered by the USPS. Red envelopes are not a problem for the postal service (hand addressed envelopes are more of an issue and require hand processing) and can be scanned. Although empty envelopes may not be opened, they will be delivered.

PLEASE PUT YOUR RETURN ADDRESS ON THE LETTER–RED ENVELOPES ARE BEING PULLED AND SENT TO THE DEAD LETTER BIN BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HAVE RETURN ADDRESSES!!! This from a postal worker on Friday March 27.

Postal workers have contacted me to tell me the letters are coming through the mail, but that they need to be standard sizes. If you send square red letters, please put 62 cents on the envelope. They will be returned without proper postage.

What is the goal of this project?
This project is a living parable of my philosophy of life, “listen to the Lord and do what He tells you.” If you make listening to God a habit, and you do what God tells you, you are going to impact the world around you. My main goal is to show people that anything is possible if you listen to God.

My second goal is to communicate the message, “Fear not, God can be trusted.” By simply trusting God, this idea has reaped amazing results.

Finally, we are trying to change the president’s heart. This is a message to a man that God hears the cry of innocent blood. It is not a political stunt, although I hope it changes policy in Washington. If the capitol is flooded with so many letters that no one can deny it, I am hoping the image will be burned into Barack Obama’s mind that this is about human blood, and that he lies awake at night until he cannot resist doing something about it. Even if the mainstream media ignores this, I know I was obedient, and SOMEBODY in Washington will have to cope with 50 million red envelopes.

I already have some Red Envelopes, so I am planning on mailing them tomorrow. I have written this message on the back of the envelope:

"This envelope represents one child who died because of an abortion. It is empty because the life that was taken is now unable to be a part of our world. Responsibility begins with conception."

I have addressed the envelope to:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500


I hope you will prayerfully consider mailing an envelope tomorrow.

URGENT! Prayer Request.

**Edited to add 3/7/09 Jaxon was admitted to ACH last night. They are still running tests, but Jaxon's kidneys are functioning at 50% right now, and he has very high blood pressure that they are trying to determine the cause. The Doctors do feel that he is 100% treatable, so that is GOOD news! Thank you so much for your prayers! We will continue to update as we can.



Please be in prayer for family RIGHT NOW.

My brother Royce and his wife Tammy are driving to Little Rock to the Children's Hospital with Jaxon, their youngest. He is 5, and complained last Thursday about a red spot on his leg hurting. They took him to an after hours clinic and couldn't find anything wrong. Friday he was screaming because it hurt to touch it, and he could hardly walk. Back to the clinic, gave him some pain meds and sent him home. Saturday Tammy took him to the emergency room because he still hurt so bad. They determined he had a very bad kidney infection, gave him some antibiotics and sent him home. They have monitored him all week, this morning Tammy noticed some swelling in Jaxon's face and took him back to the Dr. They called us this afternoon saying the Dr sent them to LR because Jaxon's kidneys are failing fast.

Please be in prayer for a safe journey for Royce and Tammy. I'm sure he's driving too fast.
Wisdom for the Doctors - determining WHAT is wrong and the best treatment
My family, peace while we wait for some answers
Thank you!

American Idol: And the voting begins!

We LOVE American Idol! Tuesday and Wednesday nights (every night really!) we can be found in front of the TV. We didn't start watching until the season that Carrie Underwood won. (Season 4?) Once we started watching though, I got pretty serious about it - I have a legal pad that I take notes on the performances so that when we vote, we know we didn't forget anything and have narrowed it down to our favorite performance(s) of the night. I really like that we are going to get to be more involved in the decision making process this year. The judges narrowed it down to 36 contestants, and then divided them in to 3 groups of 12.

Tonight we got to see the first group perform, and then we vote for our favorites. Tomorrow night they will reveal the 3 contestants that got the most votes. The Female with the most votes, the Male and then the contestant with the next most votes overall will advance to the Top 12. They will do this with each group of 12, and there will be 3 "Wild Card" contestants that the Judges will choose to complete the Top 12.

Since this is the first season of Idol since I began my blog, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the performances! We can compare notes if you like - I'd love to hear your thoughts! Here is my take on tonight's show. The 12 contestants tonight performed hits from the Billboard Top 100.

Jackie Tohn started us out tonight with "A little less conversation" by Elvis Presley. I would hate to have to go first! I am sure she was nervous, but I really didn't like this performance. I can't say I was too crazy about her outfit either, although Randy, Paula and Kara all carried on like she looked great. I have to say that I think Simon had this one right, I don't think Jackie will go any further. No Vote

Next up was Ricky Braddy. His parents were sporting their "Braddy Bunch" t-shirts - a little cheesy! Ricky sang "A song for you" by Leon Russell. I thought this was very good, and in the end Ricky got one of my three votes for the evening.

A cute little blonde named Alexis Grace was next. Alexis chose "Never loved a man" by Aretha Franklin. WOW! That tiny little thing can SING! She definitely got a vote.

Brent Keith went country with us, and sang "Hick Town". I read somewhere that Brent was on Nashville Star a few seasons ago. I think he should have gotten the message when he didn't win there! It wasn't horrible, but I didn't think he was Top 12 material. No Vote.

17 year old Stevie Wright chose Taylor Swift's "You belong with me". Such a cute girl, but I completely agreed with the judges - it was a train wreck. She's young, so hopefully she'll try again. No Vote.

Anoop "noopdog" Desai performed "Angel of mine". I was on the fence with this one. He was good, and almost made my cut, but was edged out in the end. Hopefully he'll be one of the wild cards. No Vote.

Casey Carlson was next. She wanted to perform a song that made her feel good, so she chose "Every little thing she does is magic" by the Police. So Sad! Her facial expressions drove me nuts and her dancing, if you could call it that, was robotic. Cute little thing, but I think she's done. No Vote here.

Michael Sarver works on an oil rig and wants a better life for his family. He chose "I don't wanna be anything other than me" I like his story, and tried really hard to like this performance, but it just didn't work for me. (Dawg!) I loved when Bo Bice sang this, Michael - not so much. No Vote.

Anne Marie Boskovich sang "Natural Woman". I got nothin'. No Vote.

Stephen Fowler. Stephen. Stephen. Stephen! Poor song choice. During Hollywood week Stephen forgot the words to his solo song, but had impressed enough to make it through. Everyone had high hopes for him tonight. And then he went and chose "Rock with you" by Michael Jackson. Stephen, you are NOT the King of Pop. No Vote.

Tatiana (Psycho) Del Toro sang "Saving all my love for you" by Whitney Houston. This girl was featured A LOT during the tryouts and Hollywood week and we are pretty much convinced that she is not playing with a full deck. So you can imagine how surprised I was when she actually did a pretty good job with this song. This is "her dream" and she won't let anything get in her way. She is definitely passionate! No Vote though.

Danny Gokey was our final contestant of the evening. Danny's wife passed away about a month before the auditions, and I immediately loved this story. He is a Church music director, and he had a very good friend that went with him to audition, and made it through to Hollywood with him. He (the friend, Jamar) was cut in the final eliminations last week. I completely disagreed with that decision, but I digress. Danny chose "Hero" by Mariah Carey and OH! MY GOSH! I had tears in my eyes. Just a beautiful performance. I was so proud for him! VOTE!!

So tonight my top 3 are Danny, Alexis and Ricky. I can't wait to tune in tomorrow and see if America agrees with me! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think! Do you watch? Or are you one of those that just "don't get it"?

Please PRAY!!!

Before I started my own Blog, I was reading several other blogs on a daily basis and enjoying little glimpses in to other peoples lives. One of my favorite reads is Kelly's Korner . Kelly is a sweet young lady that has prayed for a child and God has blessed her and her husband Scott with a beautiful baby girl! Kelly has been blogging about their journey, and yesterday the entire blog world was giddy with anticipation! Harper Brown Stamps was welcomed last night at 7:03 PM weighing in at 9 LBS 12 OZ! Unfortunately, Harper was having trouble breathing, and the Doctors have flown her to Tulsa to St. Francis where she is in the NICU. For more up to date information, go to Kelly's Dad's Blog , or Kelly's Blog. This family needs our prayers! Please pray for Harper!

Your Suggestions, Please!

I woke up this morning and wandered out to the family room in need of my caffeine fix to see this. Evidently, the Command strips don't like the book case either. Anyone have any suggestions for something to use on this skinny excuse of a mantel that could hold a pretty hefty garland? It can't be permanent, since this is the "Man Room" and garland will only be tolerated until the day after Christmas. Even if this is well on it's way to being one of the COOLEST Garlands. EVER.

I told ya'll he had a collection of antlers. Yesterday morning I awoke at 3 AM with this brainstorm of how I could use them! I just used the "branch" to wrap around the antler and it stayed in place - for 24 hours, more or less.

So, I am in need of your help! This is way too cool of an idea to have to scrap because of a tiny detail in execution! Bring on the ideas!