Gardening and Girl's Day Out!

On Thursday morning we all went out to the garden to weed. Does anybody want to guess the temperature? (You readers in Texas will be so jealous!) :) It was around 52 DEGREES!! And on top of that it was windy (typical MN). So I came out but went straight back in to put on pants, a t-shirt, turtleneck, sweatshirt jacket and hat - in the middle of July!! I know, I know . . . if it was January and 52 degrees, we would have been out in short sleeves! :-) Oh, and I wore flip flops (I'm not ready to start wearing socks - my feet weren't that cold anyway). :-) So . . . here's a lovely picture of myself in the garden (when you're out weeding you can't really care about looks).

 

Here are Daniel's 95 cherry tomato plants. If anybody likes cherry tomatoes, you know where you can buy some later this summer!!!

 

Yesterday mom and dad surprised us with the first annual "make a memory day." :-) Mom took us girls around town, and dad took the boys. Here's some pictures of what we did . . .

Yes, I have my permit, so I drove for part of the day. Don't I look like I'm having a great time? :-)

 

We started out by going to a few garage sales, and the mall was having a big sale so we looked around there. I found a nice skirt and Lydia got a necklace. (We hardly ever buy things at the mall so it was fun!)

 

After the mall we went to the annual street fair. Mom and I each got this very unique hair piece that holds your hair up firmly. I love it!

 

 

Lydia got her face painted . . .

 

After the street fair we went to various stores looking at clothes and other things. Then for supper we went to IHOP. Yum!! We were so hungry, and the food was SO good!! (can you tell?) :-)

 

All in all we had a great day together. Thanks mom and dad!! I love you Lydia!!

 

A Band and a Bill

Can you guess which band this is? Yes, it's the Triple L Band, and they're coming to Detroit Lakes!! They're going to play at the Northwood Harvest Barn Cowboy Church, 5 miles east of DL on Highway 34, at 6pm on July 19th. You can go on their website to see a video of their music. We have their ALLLL Gospel CD, and we just love it!

As far as the bill goes, I strongly encourage you all to sign the petition for this Audit the Fed bill on the Campaign for Liberty website. Here's some info about it that I copied from there:

Audit the Federal Reserve!
Since its inception in 1913, the Federal Reserve has helped to devalue our dollar by 95%. During the recent economic crisis, it has poured trillions of dollars into the economy with no oversight, made secret agreements with foreign banks and governments, and has refused to tell Congress who is getting the money or to give it the details of what deals are being made.

HR 1207, Ron Paul's "Audit the Fed bill," and S 604, its Senate companion, will demand full transparency from the Federal Reserve for the first time in history by removing all restrictions from Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits of the Fed and mandating an audit by the end of 2010.

Help turn up the heat on Congress and convince them to pass Ron Paul's "Audit the Fed" bill. Your petitions, e-mails, letters and phone calls have already made a huge impact, but more of your help is needed right away. Please take a few moments to tell your Congressman to support HR 1207, and urge your Senators to cosponsor S 604. Our tools below make it quick and easy to make a difference today!

There are already 245 Cosponsors for HR 1207, and 3 cosponsors for S 604! You can view the list here, or begin your efforts by signing our online petition. A treasure trove of information on Ron Paul's Audit the Fed bill and stories from fellow Campaign for Liberty members can be found below.

So please click on the link and SIGN THE PETITION!!

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

More on Honduras

Here is another good article about Honduras that someone sent me. I also found it on the Campaign for Liberty website.


Why is the political crisis in Honduras so important to the world?

San Pedro Sula, June 30, 2009

Year 2012: Obama's administration hasn't been what the American people expected. Nevertheless, Obama argues four years were not enough to revert the economic, social and military crisis he inherited. The American people believe his speech and reelect him.
Year 2016: History repeats itself and the American people realize Obama's administration is worse than the Bush nightmare and are counting the days to elect a new president. He's been applying the Marxist-Leninist Theory blaming capitalism for the problems he has caused. The economic situation has worsened and there are more Americans facing economic hardship than ever before. In a desperate move he offers to solve the problems of the unfortunate by redistributing wealth. He claims a need for a new Constitution that truly empowers him to push the social reforms against the elite, which despite his efforts, have been successful in sustaining a model of exploitation of the majority for the benefit of a minority.
June, 2016: A fallacious referendum is being forced against the will of the people and a ruling of the Supreme Court that declares it unconstitutional. Every single democratic institution in the United States of America also rules against it: Senate, House of Representatives, Attorney General, Electoral College, Republican Party and even the Democratic Party. But Obama says he is simply executing a poll of opinion to establish if the American people want to include a ballot in the November 4, 2016 elections to modify the Presidential Term Limits established by Amendment 22 of the US Constitution. He says the people have the right to decide this and strategically stays in a grey area demanding from his opponents the benefit of the doubt.
June 24-26, 2016: The United States Armed Forces warn the President and make it clear they will not support his endeavors. Obama arbitrarily removes the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a press conference and accepts the resignation of the Secretary of Defense. The Supreme Court rules this action unconstitutional and reinstates the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Attorney General executes a court order and confiscates the ballots that arrive from Venezuela on a Venezuelan flag plane. Obama hires transportation, gathers around 600 supporters, organizes a riot in front of an Air Force base and breaks in to take possession of the ballots. The House of Representatives initiates the impeachment of the President which triggers tremendous pressure from the OAS condemning such process.
June 27, 2016: One day before the poll the unthinkable is discovered: the executive branch has passed a Law that now turns the "poll" into a referendum to convene a constituent assembly. The President's intentions are now clear. He will perform an illegal referendum without any supervision and under his total control, which clearly allows him to distort its outcome to show an apparent support from the people. The truth is the vast majority want him out.
The above scenario is of course a hypothetical comparison to illustrate the dead end Honduras faced a few hours before this referendum took place on Sunday June 28, 2009. I've simply narrated the quick ending of a long soap opera that Hondurans have been living for the past three and a half years. This is a narration that partially illustates how much was accomplished in so little time by the system of Checks and Balances of a democratically strong country, in the effort to make the constitutional order prevail. It shows how unfair it is for the world to say "you did not do enough". How unfair it is to ask for more. It also allows me to ask the following question:
Do you honestly think the Supreme Court of Justice, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Attorney General, the Electoral College, the Political Parties, the Armed Forces and the American People would, under this hypothetical scenario, cross their arms and watch how one man takes control of their country, simply because there was no time to follow the politically correct procedures?
I can't deny Manuel Zelaya suffered a coup d'état. It was sudden, violent and illegal. But it was a democratic coup to defend the Constitution that has served our country well. Honduras had to choose between a democratic coup, a tyrannicide and a dictator consolidating himself in power. In my opinion we chose well between these options. It's called "L'autodétermination des peuples", and is much better than the many military interventions the UN has been forced to execute to free states in the world that were incapable of freeing themselves.
Today the heads of state of the world are simply reacting based on a human reflex that says "this could happen to us, we need to make sure it never happens again". Reflexes are not always logical and the international community clearly jumped into early conclusions. The crisis in Honduras is important because the people governed by these heads of state are the ones that need to raise the questions: Can this happen to us? What can we do against a President that constantly violates the Law and the Constitution, abuses power and rules the country like a personal playground? It's hard to understand this situation if you're naïve enough to believe this can never happen in your country. The reality is that any country can make the mistake of electing the wrong president, capable of the things Zelaya did and worse. As a matter of fact, history proves that is the case with some heinous precedents.
Our crisis is important because it's about the people and all democratic institutions standing up against a megalomaniac; which is now being backed by a confused international community, misinformed by a club of extreme left heads of state lead by Hugo Chavez. It's important because the world is facing a consistent spread of communism, dictatorship, totalitarianism and anarchism through the use of a much more efficient tool than the one used by the Soviets during the Cold War. The extreme left club of presidents is now using democracy as a tool to spread this disease that is eating our people. Today the political map of Latin America reveals the extreme left controlling the region. The club led by Chavez has accomplished in ten years what the soviets only dreamed of for nearly fifty years. Everybody knows he has financed presidential campaigns in the region, developed new intelligence, strategies and infiltration schemes, redifining the idea that the problems of the unfortunate are caused by the fortunate. He made a franchise of his political model that many are buying while the world is busy solving "more important problems".
For this reason the world needs to open their eyes and learn the facts surrounding the crisis in Honduras. The world needs to study this crisis closely and has to learn from it. Most importantly, the world needs to stop supporting a villain disguised in sheep's clothing.

Honduras Coup

I'm sure most of you have heard by now of the political situation in Honduras. But have you heard all the facts? I found this article to be very interesting. I would love to hear your opinions about this subject, so please comment! Do you think the military did the right thing?

Also, I would ask for everyone to PLEASE be in prayer for the country of Honduras. As you probably have guessed, we have many Christian friends down there that we met on our missions trip, and some of them live in the capital city. Please pray for their safety, and for everything that's happening to work out for God's glory. Thank you!

Nothing so shocking about this coup

BY GLENN GARVIN
ggarvin@MiamiHerald.com
The greatest tourist attraction in Central America has always been politics. Diplomats stop by every few years, take a couple of snapshots of what's going on at the presidential palace, and then profoundly declare their opinions, devoid of context or history. This week's favorite diplotourism destination is Honduras, where the army Sunday arrested President Manuel Zelaya and booted him across the border to Costa Rica. In the Polaroid analysis, it's pretty clear what happened: ''A return to barbarism in our hemisphere,'' as Argentina's president Cristina Fernández put it.

She had plenty of company. ''The action taken against Honduran President Mel Zelaya violates the precepts of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and thus should be condemned by all,'' said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. ``We call on all parties in Honduras to respect the constitutional order and the rule of law.''

The OAS Permanent Council voted ''to condemn vehemently the coup d'etat staged this morning against the constitutionally established government of Honduras.'' U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded ``the reinstatement of the democratically elected representatives of the country and full respect for human rights.''

Here's a question for all these new-found defenders of Honduran democracy: Where were you last week? Perhaps if some of these warnings about sticking to the constitution had been addressed to President Zelaya, the Honduran army would still be in the barracks where it belongs.

For weeks, Zelaya -- an erratic leftist who styles himself after his good pal Hugo Chávez of Venezuela -- has been engaged in a naked and illegal power grab, trying to rewrite the Honduran constitution to allow him to run for reelection in November.

First Zelaya scheduled a national vote on a constitutional convention. After the Honduran supreme court ruled that only the country's congress could call such an election, Zelaya ordered the army to help him stage it anyway. (It would be ''non-binding,'' he said.) When the head of the armed forces, acting on orders from the supreme court, refused, Zelaya fired him, then led a mob to break into a military base where the ballots were stored.

His actions have been repudiated by the country's supreme court, its congress, its attorney-general, its chief human-rights advocate, all its major churches, its main business association, his own political party (which recently began debating an inquiry into Zelaya's sanity) and most Hondurans: Recent polls have shown his approval rating down below 30 percent.

In fact, about the only people who didn't condemn Zelaya's political gangsterism were the foreign leaders and diplomats who now primly lecture Hondurans about the importance of constitutional law. They're also strangely silent about the vicious stream of threats against Honduras spewing from Chávez since Zelaya was deposed.

Warning that he's already put his military on alert, Chávez on Monday flat-out threatened war against Honduras if Roberto Micheletti, named by the country's congress as interim president until elections in November, takes office.

''If they swear him in we'll overthrow him,'' Chávez blustered. ``Mark my words. Thugetti -- as I'm going to refer to him from now on -- you better pack your bags, because you're either going to jail or you're going into exile.''

Hey, Hillary: What does the Inter-American charter say about that?

The Honduran army clearly did not act on its own when it arrested Zelaya and sent him packing. The supreme court says the generals acted on its orders, and almost every Honduran politician of any note -- regardless of party -- has voiced approval.

They may come to regret their decision. Honduras had a long and unpleasant history of military government in the 20th century, and perhaps the army will not march back into Pandora's box and close the lid behind it so willingly.

But the initial signs are promising; the army, after getting rid of Zelaya, put congress in charge of choosing his replacement. Elections are still scheduled for November. Let's see if the OAS and the United Nations and the Obama administration come back to take another snapshot then.

Missions Trip Part 3 - The Last 2 Schools and Going Home

On Tuesday morning dad woke up and told us that he didn't think he would be able to go to the second school. You see, while we were checking in our luggage on Saturday, he wrenched his back, and by now it was feeling so bad he knew that if he went on the bumpy roads he might become immobile. So . . . Caleb and I just went out with the team that day, and dad went to a Honduran chiropractor. Thankfully it did make him feel a lot better, and he was able to go the next day.

Anyway, we left that morning around 8:30 and after a couple hours of REALLY rough roads, we finally made it. I just LOVED how the children laughed as we pulled up. And when we got out of the pickup they ran up and stared and smiled at us like they had never seen a "gringo" before!!

The solar team finished in record time, I believe, and the fiesta time went really well. We did pretty much the same things as the day before, except we divided the children into three groups because there were a lot of little kids. The school was up on a kind of hill, and the yard was HUGE, but right in the sun. Everything went well, though, and when the solar team had finished we all went up to the buildings to hear Allen R.'s speech and see the lights go on! I was really touched when Allen talked about how he had wondered in the past why God hadn't given him any children, but then God gave him the children of Honduras. That was pretty neat.

Right when we arrived at the school, the clouds were kind of threatening, but thankfully God held off the rain and we made it safely back to our hotel before supper. If it would have rained, we would have been stuck at the school or on the road - those mountain trails are so terrible, they would have been impassible if it had poured. It was neat to see God work - all three days of going to the schools it only sprinkled once (and it was the rainy season)!!

The third day was not much different from the other two as far as the fiesta and solar set-up went. This school was the smallest (as far as the amount of kids) and we had to go through a couple gates to get to it! When we arrived it was pretty neat seeing all the kids lined up waiting, holding their Honduran flags. They had also put up balloons and a welcome sign for us.

When we had finished the games and crafts, we made animal balloons for the children. I'm not good at making them, so I just blew up the balloons (with a pump) for the others. :-) The kids loved them!!

It was kind of sad leaving the last school knowing that there wasn't going to be another one the next day. But is was so neat seeing the smiles, and knowing that your team hopefully impacted many family's lives for the better. Please pray that many, many people would come to know the Lord through what we did.

On Thursday we drove back the couple hours to Tegucigalpa, then that afternoon we went to a little town to do shop for some souvenirs. That evening we all went out to our celebration dinner at the M. family's favorite Chinese restaurant! :-) Friday was our day of departure. We took off from the shortest runway in the world, and looked out the window for our last glimpse of Honduras. We finally arrived at our hotel, ordered in some pizza, and went to bed!! We had to get up the next morning VERY early to catch our flight that would take us to Minneapolis. We had to stay at the Minn. airport for a few hours, but finally we boarded the last flight that would take us HOME!!!!

Mom, Daniel, Lydia and Ethan met us with a welcome home balloon and homemade signs. We were all so glad to be together again!!!

We thank the Lord for a great trip - and we thank all of you for your prayers and support!!!!!

Instead of posting pictures here, I've decided to put all of them up on a Picasa web album. It will be open to invited readers only, so if you would like to see them please e-mail me and I will send you the link. Thanks!

Missions Trip Part 2 - Our First School

Sunday morning we got up early and got ready to go to church (the M. family's church). It was a very interesting and new experience for us. For music, there were drums, electric guitar, electric bass, keyboard, and an electric violin. The singers had beautiful voices. And during the songs, there were dancers that were dressed in matching clothes who danced with flags to the praise songs. That was neat! The whole service lasted 4 hours, so we were ready for lunch when we came out! :-)

Right after a quick lunch we loaded up the bus that would take us to Choluteca. The 2 1/2 hour drive was very nice - I just love the mountainous view!!

Just before we arrived at the hotel it started pouring. When it stopped we unloaded all our things and brought our personal stuff to our rooms. Dad, Caleb and I shared a room that had three beds (that was nice!) and the other team members split up - 2-4 in each room. The hotel was pretty nice - the rooms had air conditioning (for which we were grateful) and our room also had a free pet gecko!! :-)

The next morning we again got up bright and early, had breakfast and devotions, and prepared our things for the first school. I was kind of nervous since I didn't totally know what to expect!

There were three or four pick up trucks that we loaded all our stuff into. The guys had to tie the ladders and pole to the back of one of the trucks, and Caleb and Juancho rode in the back of that truck, holding on to them. Riding in the back of a truck was a real adventure for Caleb, but it's something they do all the time in Honduras!

After 2-3 hours of driving on roads at least twice as bad as most gravel roads here, we finally arrived at our first school!! They had balloons and a welcome sign up, and all the children were waiting outside to greet us. Most had uniforms on, but there were some kids that came from the surrounding area that couldn't afford to buy uniforms (and therefore couldn't go to school).

The Solar Team started unloading right away, and the Fiesta Team had the children each grab a chair and bring it outside. We had them all sit down, and we led them in a couple songs (one in Spanish, and one in English), and also a fun action sentence (I . . . saw a man . . . who was strong . . . and danced like a monkey). That may sound silly to you, but the kids just loved it!! They had huge smiles on their faces, and they laughed whenever we "danced like a monkey."

The next thing we did was the Gospel bead bracelet. There are five colors (yellow, black, red, white and green) that help you explain the Gospel (the Garden of Eden, sin, the blood of Jesus, that makes you clean and white, so we can have eternal life). This whole first part of the fiesta the translators were doing a lot of the work, but Sharon C. and I helped teach the song in English, did the actions to the songs, and we also helped the children tie the knots on their bracelets. Oh, and I was the "official" team photographer/videographer, so I kept busy with that too. Another fun thing we did while the kids were in their seats was reading the story of Noah's Ark to them. Sharon read it and the girls translated. We read it a second time and had the kids hold up some animals and go through the ark. By the way, my sister Lydia colored all the animals for the kids and Sharon copied them and had them lamenated, then put on big popsicle sticks! Great job Lydia! :-)

After the sitting down time, we had the children split up into two groups - one to do the parachute games, and one to do the relay races. Gabriella and I did the parachute first, then we switched sides and did the relay races. The kids just LOVED throwing the balls up in the air, and even some of the adults enjoyed helping to throw the balls back on the parachute. :-)

It was quite hot out this whole time, but I put lots of 70SPF sunscreen on, along with a wide brimmed hat and we also of course drank from our water bottles. For lunch the hotel had packed us sandwiches and we also had cold Pepsi (ahhhh!).

During the lunch break the kids all brought their chairs to one of the classrooms where they colored their paper butterflies that we had given them, then used double-sided tape to attach a Popsicle stick and some colorful ribbons. After that Allen R. (who started SonLight Power) gave his speech to the children, then brought them inside for the dedication. Jay had raised the money for this school, so he dedicated it and the lights went on! Each school, besides lights in each classroom, also got a TV and VCR player, and two DVDs about Jesus. We also gave the teachers a huge bag full of supplies like scissors, markers, crayons, pencils and lots more. Each school was also able to keep the parachute and beach balls, and three new soccer balls. And each child was given a bag of school supplies, a tract, a pretty bead necklace, and the crafts they completed.

We left our first school weary and hot, but very happy that we were able to bless the children and share Jesus with them!

The Honduran dancers at the church


This was taken right after we arrived at the hotel

Caleb loved riding in the back of the pickup!

Here's the school all decorated for our arrival

The Honduran children were SO cute!

The Solar Team (with help from some locals) starts digging

Showing them how to do the bead bracelet

Dad and Caleb helping out

I love how the bright red sucker matches the lady's dress!

Reading the Noah story

Even the mothers liked to listen!

The Solar Team putting up the pole

The base of the pole - that's Mr. M. writing in the cement

I just love this picture - that girl is so adorable with that big smile on her face!

The parachute games

Dad with some of the children

The beautiful Honduran mountains

Jay with the head student, turning on the lights

Dad, Caleb and I with the children