My Mission and New Blog

Hi everyone! Im going to be making another Blog.Ill still have this one for all my doings. But i will have a new one which will be about vintage photos i find and trying to reunite them with there families.

There are two diffrent life passions have been formed into one. One is thanks to my mom. When i was growing up she toke us kids too a ton of antique stores. And i still to this day vist as often as i can. Second, I think came from my grandpa Logan, and that is family geneology. And i love putting a face to my family names.

I love to look at the old photos and see what people were wearing and doing back in "old times". But there always comes the saddness. Somehow, weather it be a death or uncaring family, these photos ending up with strangers gathering dust. They may never be proudly discplaeyd in there families home again.

I never knew what to do. I dont want to take them home with me because maybe someone will recognize them. Then i got this idea. With all this "modern technology" why not crate some place where i can post the pictures and whatever information i can on it, then someone might find it easier even if they dont live in the state or country for that matter.

So, What happens when someone finds a picture of there family? They can contact me and i will mail them there "lost family photos". Just provied me a mailing address. And theres no charge.

If you have or find photos and would like them to be added to the blog.  You can please send a scaned copy and whatever information you have on it to me and i will post it on the new blog for you.

I'm going to hike the Appalachian Trail

I liked the idea of a bucket list, but i had to face reality, "I was never going to be able too do things again". That has been my mindset for the last 4 years after being diagnosed with Ménière's Syndrome. But after this past winter doing my expermet, (Check out pervious post), i was feeling better. So I decided to play around and make a bucket list on Pintrest. Then i saw it "hike the Appalachian trial" and i decided i was going to do it. I don't know how or when, but I'm going to do it.
So, why?

These last couple months have been hard on me. I was feeling better health wise, except a few drop attacks. But i was now starting to feel...... trapped, I guess would be the word for it. You see i also have a son with HF Autism, and we decided to homeschool him after his third suspicion from school.

I love my kids and husband, but I feel inadequate. I know some would argue that im a life support for my family. My husband has been even trying to tell me that since i told him i was going. Who was going to take care of the kids if i left? How was i going to save the money for me trip, (I already figureed that one out)?

Also my husband has decided that since this was going to be such a extrme life experience for me that he wants to go with me. But he can't just take off 6 months from work. So he suggested we go for 1 week a year. Are you kidding me? It would take 25+ years to finish the whole thing. My husband says, "well just work on getting in shape. We'll practice with the little hikes around here. We have to wait for the kids to be able to take care of themselves." Which is all sound reasonable, right?

I guess I should mention that i want to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, a 2,189 mile hike. There's just something that.... I don't know the word for it, but i have to try for the thru-hike. Maybe it's just that i have to prove to myself that i can do something.

Reasons I'm going

• Heal my broken mind.
• To build up my wounded self confidence.
  
• I have never followed through with anything.
  
• Posting this till retirement is not an option. Life is short to wait for an adventure.
• Everyone says to reduce stress or i need a break, but when i tell them my life they don't know what to say.
• I can't reenlist in the military.

Why I can't go.... All reasonable arguments

• Who's going to watch my kids for 6 months?
• My husband can't just take 6 months off from work if he's going with me.
  

So for now I keep training like im going next year.

Update- I will be doing my AT thru hike in 2019!!

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Book Review: The Insanity of God: a True Story of Faith Resurrected

The Insanity of God: A True story of Faith Resurrected

By Nik Ripken with Gredd Lewis

 

I don't care what church you go too, if you call or think of yourself as a christian then you must read this book.

This boook starts off telling about Nik Ripken's found Jesus and felt the calling to preach the gospel to the world. His schooling, marriage, and then evently traveling to Afirca. I do have to say though the first half of the book was ok. It was sort of like just reading another book.

I was able to relate to Nik through all the questions he asked himself. I have been asking myself those same questions and never really found any answers, until i read this book.

"Does God, in fact, promise His children safety? Do things always work out for those who are obedient? Does God really ask us to sacrifice— and to sacrifice everything? What happens when our best intentions and most creative ideas are not enough? Is God at work in the hard places? And does He expect us to join Him in those hard places? Isn’t it possible to love God and to pretty much keep living the life I already have? What does it really mean for God to tell us that His ways are not our ways? Would He really allow people who love Him dearly to fail? And, if so, is this a God who can use even holy failure for His purposes?"

The one question they didn't ask themselves til later was were they willing to die for Jesus? After the death of one of there sons they found themselves back in the states and wondered what they should do next. They decided to work with persuctuated christians. They wanted to now how they could help them. Which they find out very quickly is how the persuctuated can help them. Nik tells about his travels and stories that are told to him while visiting other Christians.

If you asked these same questions or just wondered how christians lived in other countries, this will answer your questions. You will not looked at a persecuted Christian with pitty and sadness. You eill look at them with joy and inspiration. This book will inspire you to be better then you are now.

Im going to end this review with the same quote he ends this book with. "Don't you ever give up in Freedom what we would never give up in Persecution."

 

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Leaving it all for Jesus?

At church last Sunday, a scripture was read during Sunday school. It was Luke 14:33 "..whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." After reading that I was stuck, does Jesus really mean for us to leave everything?

I couldn't shake it and still can't. I drove home on auto-pilot that day playing that question over and over in my head. So I looked it up on the internet and see what others said about. Letts just say not very helpful. All everyone was saying is that we must "leave the past in the past". That we only had to give up the bad stuff and..... lets just say I did not find my answer.

When I think of people that gave everything to follow him I think of Nuns, Priests, and Moncks.
 Then there is an occasional stories of missionaries that just sell everything and go to another country to teach about Jesus.

Weird as it might seem I have been reading books about India. And a thought crossed my mind, would America look and be in the same state as India is with we had the same priorities as they do? I mean come on, they have 4 and more festivals a month in Hinduism. The only religious holiday we have is Easter and Christmas (if you still call it a religious holiday anymore).

I thought about our "American dream", a good job, a house with a mortgage, our 2.5 kids and a dog. Is our "American dream" our excuse for having things? Is it feeding our selfness? We were ounce a Christian nation. I don't know if you watch or listen to the news but we are thronging our Christianity out the door so we don't offend anyone. Think of all the wars we had to protect our Religion, community, and family.

So, I say "YES" give it up. All the extra's, all the nick knacks that you have to dust every week or day and I know you do this...you ask your self "why do I have this stuff?"  If you sold or donated everything thing you DO NOT NEED, how much time would you have on your hands to do something for your neighbor? If you tell ourselves we are to busy to pray or read or scripture's, we are to busy, and doing more then God intended for us (I think I saw that on Facebook ounce).

We as Christians or suppose to be sympathetic to other people and there religion's. But we are not suppose to hide our beliefs just because they might offend someone. I listened to a talk were it was said, the more people that hate you is how you know you are doing it right. Think about we didn't get to this point by being quiet and doing what were told.

Mark 8:34-35 "..Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's the same shall save it."

We can't live in our little protective bubble anymore. Just because you don't see people dying because of there faith does not mean it's not happening. People are dying for what we are taking for granted everyday. Go to you tube and enter Christian Persecution.

Here are some great videos to check out now-

Risking it all and following Jesus - David Platt

The Insanity of Obedience by Nik Ripken https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz-k7CvBT6Y

True story- RISKING HIS LIFE FOR A BIBLE!  

CBN News - Christian persecution

Also check out this site. You can also write letters to those that are being persecuted here.

Yes, I know I can't write

So lately I have been trying to get a little extra cash by writing. Mostly by writing book reviews. I signed up here to give it a go. They have a section for you to sign up to do book reviews. Or you can just sign up and talk about everything books in there forums.

Oh, let me make this clear, I am not saying anything bad about this site.

Ok, so anyway, I just heard back from the editors about my first review, and I suck at grammar. So I have decided to try my hardest to learn how to use grammar. Ugh...... so I went to the library and checked out some books.

What I'm reading:
Nitty-Gritty Grammar: A Not-So-Serious Guide to Clear Communication
By Edith H. Fine and Judith P. Josephson

Clean, Well-lighted Sentences: A Guide to Avoiding the Most Common Errors in Grammar and Punctuation
By Janis Bell

I have always been bad at grammar. Even in school I would get really good grades in every subject except English. I was reading a forum and looking at what people suggested on how to improve my grammar. One of the suggests was to read more, haha, (I do read and I have always read a lot), but that has done nothing for my grammar. I was reading this ladies blog, and I love her title.... "I'm not a writer, I'm a reader". Yah, that sums me up!

Winter Ménière's experiment

I should start by saying I live in Indiana. So, it seems winter is here early. I'm not ready, ok I am but I'm dredging it. We have all our winter prep stuff done.

So this winter I have decided to not have a winter like last years. For those that don't know I have Ménière's Syndrome, but I'm guessing you figured that out by the title. Anyways, last winter was the worst. So bad that I ended up being checked for MS. Which come to find out are the same symptoms of Ménière's but the symptoms envole into MS. The only way to tell them apart is a cat-scan. The test cam back no MS.

So my experiment this winter is I'm going to see if I keep myself as active as I am during the summer if I don't have as many or as bad Ménière's attacks. My plan is to run everyother day, or so. And to do my fluidity stretching. I bought a Jawbone Up24, that will keep track of my steps and sleeping and what not. You can check them out on the Jawbone Site or on Amazon.

Since it winterish outside now I've been working on this now. We have had a few snow falls already an it dosent seem to be helping. But I'm determined to push thru this. I don't know what the difference is between snow and rain that makes my head spin so much more. I told my husband that if it dosent work I might have to move to a non snowing place.

So far the only difference is that I'm more happy when I'm running regularly. If I skip a day I'm irate-able. I got some under armor winter running clothes so I don't freeze my but off, even though I could use to lose my butt.

Update Feb. 11, 2015

I have been having a way better winter then last year. But I am not sure if it's because of the milder winter or the changes I have made. Something new that I have changed since January, I'm now eating a vegetarian diet.
It does seem that my worst days are when its really cold outside, 31 and below. Does the cold bother you even if it not going to rain or snow?

Why I joined the Sea Shepherd Onshore Crew

There wasn't one moment that lead me to this decision, there were many moments.

I first saw the show Whale Wars on the animal plant a few years ago. I only saw two episodes though. There were two thing that suck in my mind. One was the images of a whale being dragged up the ramp of the Japanese factory ship. The other was of this guy Peter Hammarstedt he put his ship I between the two Japanese ships. And the two Japanese ships squeezing this young captain ship. How many of us stand up for anything willing to die for it?

My family and I went to the zoo this summer. I love the zoo, it lets people see anamials to see these great animals that they would never see. We went in to see the dolphin show. We sat there and watched the show. There came a time when one of the dolphins glideded by and our eyes met. And this feeling just hit me and my heart sank. I immediately left the show.

My son Caleb has autism. We went to doctors, fought with school. Went to one doctor after the next. They either couldn't help, or after a year of seeing them they tell us that we should see someone that specializes in autism (Like why did they think we we're here). So we finally found this doctor this summer who is a biomedical doctor. He is also a D.O and has a son with sever autism then my son. So we went to his seminar. And it was great, and like "duh". We're feeding are children toxins and poisons. There poor little bodies are fighting all these toxins and dealing with sensory issues. Then you want them to sit in a class room for 6 hours. How do you fell going to work for 6+ hours at work with a cold or flu?

So we started cleaning out our food, cookware, cleaning products. I'm going to start working on cloths. I started, and im still reading, more books about environmental impacts on our food and well everything. One was Captain Paul Watson: An interview with a pirate. Awesome book. Captain Paul Watson (founder of Sea Shepard) touched on a lot of issues in the book.

I've always been reading and watching documentaries about all environmental issues before I had a reason standing in front of me. I've always wanted to do something to help, but felt there really wasn't anything I could do. So I went on to there web site Seashepard.org and read all there stuff. Found out I didn't have to go to sea to be a volunteer. Which was a good thing since I have Meniere's Disease. And that I could do more then just send them money every month. I finally felt like I can do something now (Other then hide in my home). My kids can even help out on some of the volunteering stuff.

One of the things im trying to work on is I always say "it's not my flat your uneducated on (whatever issue)". But now that saying is bugging me. So much that it plays over and over in my head. Maybe it is my flat. I've been learning about all these issues about our Environment and I never shared what I learned.

I accepted what they told us. "We can't do anything about", "your not an expert", "your just one person you cant change anything". I have looked at other organizations, but there all the same, "become a member for this $10 a month." They make you fell like your small. Have you ever pinned your house on google map, then zoomed out to you can see the earth. You are small. But we (I) have to start doing things and talking about these issues.

So I have joined Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In there direct action approach, to help people understand the issues of the ocean. And participating in solutions that really make a difference. If you would like more info about the Sea Shepherd, would like to volunteer or would like to make a donation please vist there site at seashepherd.org

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