Friday, February 27, 2009

Springfield Missouri Nationwide Chicago Tea Party



In The News

My husband, Children and I in the News

Great Blog Report on the Event

I also was given the opportunity to lead the National Anthem, which was great. I don't think anyone got any footage of that.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Tag You're It Response

Tag Your It!

My friend tagged me and sent me the following instructions.

Go to your Documents/Pictures. Click on the 6th file. Click on your 6th picture.

Post it and blog about it. Then tag six more people.

This is a picture of my daughter Zion when she lost her two front teeth. We wanted to let all the family that is not in this area see what she looked like missing her two front teeth!

The bloggers I am tagging are Life of Jason, Little Miss Muffin Cakes, Glenn Gohr, The Libertarian Guy, Pure Conversations, and Area 417.

(You can see who tagged me by clicking on the title of this entry)

Mom's For Food Security

As you know, I have been involved with the Well Fed Neighbor Alliance and the 1000 gardens project.

I have a very strong belief that we need to be able to take care of ourselves. There are many events that could disrupt our imports of food, and then suddenly, we are all starving.

We used to be able to feed ourselves, and we even sold those excess goods outside of this region. I think that it is time to return to a common sense way of looking at things, and begin now to feed ourselves and our neighbors.

Where I live, I have the benefit of using some land behind our home for a large garden. We plan on growing enough to store and to provide for others in need on fresh produce.

I hope to get many neighbors nearby to get involved. We will donate the produce to churches and already existing food banks, but it would be even better if we can organize something for our neighborhood specifically, and work together to provide for our needs.

I have created some very short videos about our gardening progress this year, and I will update my blog as we really get going. This will be the largest garden that we have ever had. My husband is estimating 84 raised beds in the space that we have used. (There is more space available too). I hope my neighbors will take advantage of it.

Here are the videos, enjoy. :)








Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Blood donations, Gummy Worm Cake and Community

Today has been a full day. Who am I kidding? Everyday around here is a full day. I did have fun with the kids making the cake that you see above.

Tonight my family will be going to the Blue and Gold banquet while I am at a Greene County Campaign for Liberty meeting. I figured, the least that I could do was help make the cake. So, I am one of those mom's that likes to do something creative, but fast when it comes to things like this.

For those who are curious, this cake is definitely for boys! (Or girls that like the mud and the outdoors). The cake itself is red velvet, so it will be red when it is cut. My boys are really excited about a 'bleeding' cake. LOL The frosting is coconut with pecans and hazelnut hot chocolate to make it look muddy. The pecans are the little rocks in the soil. I added some green sugar for the grass, and of course the kids favorite part was adding the gummy worms. We let them slither into the frosting.

I am glad that they enjoyed it, but I hope to never eat it myself. I am not a sugar fan. I will eat something sweet once in awhile, but this is way too much sugar for my tastes. But it was fun!

Yesterday I gave blood for the first time. My daughter's thought it was interesting and were thrilled to get Sonic coupons and a t-shirt. I am still tired from it, but each time I feel a little too tired I think, "Someone will appreciate it!" I will admit that I was a little nervous at first. Not of giving blood, but from the medical smell that was in the Red Cross Mobile. A few years ago, I considered becoming a surgical technician, but when they took me into the teaching room, I got nauseated because the smell reminded me of my c-sections. So, I decided that really wasn't for me. The smell in the mobile reminded me of that, but I calmed myself down and just reminded myself that I was not having any surgery today!

Last night I went to the Young Conservative's meeting, and that went rather well. I am sure that I will eternally disagree on the monetary policy position, but such is life. (Not really anything new for the last 3 years). I have this really strong love for the Constitution of the U.S., and so anything other then what is in alignment with that I would not be happy with. So, I guess when it comes to being a 'fiscal conservative' I guess I am more of a fiscal constitutionalist.

I think that some people are still in denial of where we are in the world today monetarily speaking as a nation. We are not holding on to the title of 'super power' as much as people would like to believe. I would bet that China hold more of our 'dollars' then we do! The majority has spoken though. Which just tells me that more pocket constitutions need to be handed out. Hopefully no one is offended by my strong opinion, but it is what it is, and is not likely to change.

My family is planning on attending the Tea Party this Friday at Lake Springfield. I am still trying to decide if we should wear our colonial costumes or just wear red. My colonial dress is red, so I am ok either way, but the rest of the family, they are all blue and one brown one. We have worn them for parades and many other events, and have been interviewed by reporters before while wearing them, but not here locally, so maybe we will get away with it. :)

Well, there is still much to do today. I need to file a MEC report by tomorrow, get everyone ready for their events, and attend the Campaign for Liberty meeting tonight.

I am definitely not keeping up with writing daily, nor am I seeing a consistent pattern of any kind, but it is better then last year!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Love Is In The Air

Before I got married, I honestly hated Valentine's Day. I know, I know, that seems impossible right? Well I did, I did not like all the gifts that were given to me by so many guys, I just felt overwhelmed. In fact, there was one year I just stayed home from school and refused to have anything to do with it, but guess what, those guys showed up at my house anyway! I had cordial cherries coming out my ears!

When I got married, almost 12 years ago, I really started liking Valentine's Day, not because I wasn't overwhelmed, but there was not any angry guys because I gave something to someone else. I had only one guy, and that was awesome!

This year, Valentine's was spent very differently. We decided to not go with the flowers and to avoid the chocolate and the little date that we normally do.

We planned to attend a few different events that were about loving others, rather then just each other.

On Saturday, I gathered with several people from across the Ozarks at Panera bread to get ready for an event at the Ozark Fairgrounds for the Well Fed Neighbor Alliance. I met some great people, that care about the community as much as I do, and we discussed what we could do to help secure food for the people in this area, as well as create jobs locally.

In 1914 Missouri was a very prosperous area, we produced enough for ourselves and for export. Now, it takes an incredible amount of importing to feed ourselves, which puts us at risk in our communities if for any reason we could not get those imports. Realizing this, I got involved with the well Fed Neighbor Alliance, to work with others that love their neighbors and their communities enough to make sure that we can feed each other. I am thrilled to be part of the first 1000 gardens in Springfield, and I hope that we can get a community garden started in each neighborhood and have a tool lending library in each neighborhood association for those in the area that need that assistance. You can read a short article about Saturday here.

After that event, I went back home and got my children and husband. We went to the Discovery Center as a family and spent a great deal of time doing whatever my children wanted to do. I even pet the giant hissing cock roach. Which my youngest daughter begged me to do. We picked up a few educational materials for our unit of the solar system.

After we finished there, we went over to Big Mama's for dinner. The waiter that we had was great and the food was excellent. We wanted to make sure that we went to somewhere local so that we can help our own economy, rather then building up a huge franchise or helping China's economy grow. It was nice getting to be in the back porch area as a family. It was as if we had our own private room. (We were there and gone before the dinner theater started). They have an excellent quiche that the children just loved.

We then returned home and put together our model of the solar system that we picked up, and put the star dome on top of the center and looked at the constellations on the ceiling in the living room.

As our children made valentine's for each other and us, Aaron and I took a moment to talk. The last two weeks have been so busy for me, that it seems like it just flew by. February is a special month for us. We met 12 years ago on February 5th. Aaron's birthday is on the 12th, and then of course Valentine's Day.

I am glad that we made it a family day, and that we also did something to support our community. While I will agree that it is important to have date night as a couple, I think it is also important to teach our children that love is service, and that service can help us strengthen our community and our family.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

What Unites Us As Americans?

Before I write about this, Please watch the video.




This video gives me the impression that what unites us as Americans has been forgotten.

As Americans, we are united by the Constitution, and individual liberty. We are all created by God, who has given us inalienable rights. Each and everyone of us is sovereign. We are THE PEOPLE.

Once We The People realize who we are, where our rights come from, and once again awaken to this truth, we will unite once again. I truly believe that we will see how divisive things have become in this nation, and will once again erase the imagined lines that have been created for many reasons.

There is no need for special interest groups. No womans rights, no parents rights, and other groups, because we are all equal before God. We all have the right to life, liberty and property. To determine for ourselves what we will do with the fruit of our labors.

While out talking door to door with people, I met a gentleman, and we talked for a brief moment. He talked about rendering unto Caesar's what is Caeser's. He asked me who Caesar is in this country. I told him I am, and that he is. THE PEOPLE are the Caesar's here. While it is true that we have not been using the Constitution as we should, to restrain the government, it does not change what God has given us.

We are accountable for our stewardship, and God tell us, that we are to be our brother's keeper, and to me, that means that I protect my brother's liberty. That I do not justify robbing him of his ability to choose, so long as the life, liberty and property of another are not effected negatively.

If we deny that our rights come from God, then we allow the door to be swung wide open to say that the government can determine if we are free. We are free because God made us free. But where much is given, much is required. We must maintain it, defend it, stand up for it, and not leave it to others to defend.

If we love our neighbors as ourselves, this is easy to accomplish once again. Everything starts with us, at home, in our neighborhoods. If we can unite as the people of Springfield, then we can unite with the people in the state, and keep this state sovereign. And when the State is awakened to its own gift from the people, the power to protect their sovereignty, then they in turn can stuff the federal government back into the box that was set for it by the Constitution.

If you have not read and studied the Constitution, I encourage you to do so. Try to read it often so that it is fresh in your mind, and you can better defend liberty.

A great source for education is the education link on the Campaign for Liberty website, there is a lot of free information there. An educated people is a free people. Once the people are informed, they will be better able to defend liberty.

It is not the government structure that is broken, but the guardians of liberty that have failed to guard and stand on the watch tower. Now there are many who are calling out alarm that we are under attack, but there are still few who are listening. The sleeping giant is being awoken though, and watch out when it does. People are not happy when they have a rude awakening, they can be a bit cranky.

We need to remember, that the government structure does work, when we have a moral people to guard liberty, and those who will serve in various positions do so with integrity and knowing that they too are to guard liberty and not to assist in it being stripped from themselves or their neighbors.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Missouri a Sovereign State

Please contact your State Representatives in support for this bill:

House Resolution 212

Whereas, the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."; and

Whereas, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and

Whereas, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and

Whereas, today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and

Whereas, the Tenth Amendment assures that we, the people of the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union of States, now have, and have always had, rights the federal government may not usurp; and

Whereas, Barack Obama, President of the United States, has promised that one of the top priorities of his new Administration is to sign into law the "Freedom of Choice Act" which purports to classify abortion as a "fundamental right" equal in stature to the right of free speech and the right to vote - rights that, unlike abortion, are specifically enumerated in the United States Constitution; and

Whereas, the federal Freedom of Choice Act would invalidate any "statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy, practice, or other action" of any federal, state, or local government or governmental official, or any person acting under governmental authority, that would "deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose" abortion, or that would "discriminate against the exercise of the right...in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information"; and

Whereas, the federal Freedom of Choice Act would nullify any federal or state law "enacted, adopted, or implemented before, on, or after the date of [its] enactment" and would effectively prevent the State of Missouri from enacting similar protective measures in the future; and

Whereas, the federal Freedom of Choice Act would invalidate more than 550 federal and state abortion-related laws, laws supported by the majority of the American people; and

Whereas, the federal Freedom of Choice Act would specifically invalidate the following commonsense, protective laws properly enacted by the State of Missouri :

(1) Section 188.027, RSMo, which requires written and informed consent prior to an abortion;

(2) Section 188.028, RSMo, which establishes the requirements and procedures for the performance of abortions on minors;

(3) Section 188.029, RSMo, which requires a determination of viability prior to an abortion;

(4) Section 188.036, RSMo, which prohibits abortions performed with the intent to use fetal organs or tissue for transplant, experiments, or for money;

(5) Section 188.039, RSMo, which requires a twenty-four-hour waiting period prior to an abortion;

(6) Sections 188.205 and 188.215, RSMo, which prohibits the use of public funds and public facilities in the performance of abortions;

(7) Section 188.250, RSMo, which prohibits aiding or assisting a minor in obtaining an abortion;

(8) Section 197.032, RSMo, which allows hospitals and medical personnel the right to refuse to participate in abortions;

(9) Section 565.300, which creates the crime of infanticide; and

Whereas, the federal Freedom of Choice Act will not make abortion safe or rare, but will instead actively promote and subsidize abortion with state and federal tax dollars and do nothing to ensure its safety; and

Whereas, the federal Freedom of Choice Act will protect and promote the abortion industry, sacrifice women and their health to a radical political ideology of unregulated abortion-on-demand, and silence the voices of everyday Americans who want to engage in a meaningful public discussion and debate over the availability, safety, and even desirability of abortion:

Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-fifth General Assembly, hereby declare our sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States; and

Be it further resolved that this resolution serve as Notice and Demand to the federal government as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers; and

Be it further resolved that all compulsory federal legislation which directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed; and

Be it further resolved that the Missouri House of Representatives further declares

our strong opposition to the federal Freedom of Choice Act and urge the United States Congress to summarily reject it for the following reasons:

(1) It seeks to circumvent the states' general legislative authority as guaranteed under the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution;

(2) It seeks to undermine the right and responsibility of the states and the people to debate, vote on, and determine abortion policy;

(3) The protection of women's health through state regulations on abortion is a compelling state interest that should not be nullified by Congress;

(4) Its enactment would nullify numerous laws of the State of Missouri that the Missouri General Assembly and the people of Missouri strongly support; and

Be it further resolved that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare a properly inscribed copy of this resolution for Governor Jay Nixon; Barack Obama, President of the United States ; the President of the United States Senate; the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; and each member of the Missouri Congressional delegation.

Offered by Representative Cynthia Davis , District No. 19



Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Mixed feelings

Tonight I have mixed feelings. I am overjoyed to see so many great candidates make it through the primary, but I also am faced with the news that my grandmother Jo passed on. I got the news right before the watch parties I knew of were going to start.

I know that my grandma is in a better place, and out of pain, and I am glad for that. She and my grandma Hull were best friends, and it is a nice thought that she was there to welcome her.

The tax not passing was a shock, but at the same time, all those I spoke with while going door to door were against it. They cannot afford it. I know that it would have placed a burden on our family as well.

Last night I spoke with a friend that is much older then I and she talked about how many families can barely afford to buy food as it is, and that she hoped that it did not pass.

I understand the situation that the police and fire fighters are in, and there needs to be a solution. One that the people can live with, literally.

I know that there have been other options suggested, and perhaps now is a good time to look at all options, including creative ones.

It is surprising how few turned out to vote. My husband and I were both surprised when we went to our polling place to only see three people there. And we went at different times.

Well, congratulations to all those who made it through the primary! I am sure everyone will understand if my blog is not that in depth tonight.