Extra! Extra! Read all about it.

I am making the newspapers. OK, the newspaper! I was not feeling well this morning so I was laying on the couch. I had taken some pictures for the Marines a couple of weeks ago at the Littleton ceremony. I have a running agreement with the Marines that I will do pictures for them and when they put them in the paper, they use my name. So they sent the pictures to the Polk County Pulse and used my name of course. So this morning as I was just laying on the couch, the phone rang. I didn't know the number, so I let the answering machine get it. On the phone was LeeAnn Dilbeck who is the editor of the Polk County Pulse. She said that she had a picture that the marines had submitted to them. She wanted to hire me to take pictures for the Pulse. WHAT? I thought that I was going to fall over. She wants to contract me to take pictures for her!

She tells me to set my price and call her back. So I did and we set up the time and I told her that she could rely on me for this Saturday. I have always wanted to work for a newspaper taking pictures. My idea was taking pictures for a magazine when I was younger, and this is the next best thing. I know that this probably won't take me to far in Mena, but at least people will get to see my pictures and see the passion that I have for them!!!!

Softball, photo shoots, parties, and prayers

This has been a very busy week. On Tuesday I took some spring pictures for some friends. I have taken RH’s little girls pictures since she was born. Well, actually before she was born. I took RH’s maternity pictures also. So I was excited to get to take her eighteen month pictures as well. While I was there we decided to take RH’s nieces pictures. Baby Bella is such a sweet baby, and I was really excited to shoot her, since the last time I had taken her shots she was one month old. After I finished the shoot and got the pictures to Bella’s mommy, she texted me with a request.

See SH’s baby brother passed away last month. It was a complete shock to us all, and he was found in his home. He was only 19. When Bella was born he loved that baby dearly. Now her brother had a baby that he got to see on the weekends only. Trinity was the light of his life. When Bella was born he told his sister that Bella looked just like Trinity. As she is telling me this, I am in tears. I asked her what I could do for her and she tells me that one of the pictures that I took was similar to one that DM had of Trinity. What? How could I have a shot that looks like hers. So she sends me the picture and sure enough they are almost identical. I had changed Bella’s to black and white and she needed it in color. She cries telling me that this picture meant more than the world to her. I am so pleased I was able to capture something that could be so close to her heart.

So Wednesday comes around and we have practice for t-ball. I was sick feeling and asked Sam to please take the girls to the practice, while I stayed home to rest. I get phone calls that tells me that both girls have softball and t-ball games on Saturday. Aleeyah was having her soccer game that morning also.

Thursday was Aleeyah’s softball practice and once again I asked Sam to take her. Thankfully that was the last softball practice of the year and we can get started with the games. Why they book softball and soccer to overlap I will never know.

Friday was Acorn High School’s prom. I was hired to follow two girls around and take pictures. Their mothers did not want to mess with bringing their cameras so they called me instead. I was one busy woman and chasing to young girls was hard. My age has really began to show!! HA!

Sat was the busiest day of my life (that I can remember). Sat morning Aleeyah had a soccer game. She did so well and made a goal for the first time ever. I was so proud of her, since she never kicks the ball when it is in front of her!! She was more excited when the other kids made a goal than she was when she made one. After the soccer game, Averrie had a t-ball game at 2:30. I was unable to make that game, due to the fact that I had a prior obligation. Sam said that Averrie would not play and he set on the side lines with her the whole time. Looks like I wasted 40.00 for nothing! At 4:30, Aleeyah had her softball game. She was amazing they said. Yes, I had to miss her game to. I was having a great time at a housewarming party that I was hosting for Shauna Wagner. Shannon Aleshire and myself had decided to host this party when we found out that Shauna and gotten her house. She got loads of neat stuff and it turned out very nice!

I had my fourth fasting prayer answered today. PRAISE THE LORD!!!! Our new camper’s hot water tank was leaking pretty badly and I had looked into buying a new one and it was almost $700.00. I knew we didn’t have that kind of money laying around, so I added it to my prayer list during my fast. Guess what? Sam took the tank out today and found the problem, which can be fixed for less than $30.00. PRAISE GOD!!! I knew that if I prayed it would help!!

Also, I decided that since I had hit the bottle all week (Tylenol bottle that is), that I should take nothing last night and today. Well, it didn’t take long for the fever to come on and sickness to follow. I have spent my Sunday sick and wishing I could do the things that I didn’t get to do all week. Now tomorrow starts another week with Aleeyah having a softball game Monday night, and a soccer game on Friday and Tuesday! I get myself into the worse binds sometimes!

Oh how I want a burger!!

So this is day 9 on my fast. I am not allowed meat, caffeine, or cokes. I am a stress eater, and when I think something is seriously getting to me I have a Diet Dr. pepper and a slim Jim. Oh, this week has been complete torture. Being that it is the most stressful week to date, it wasn't the best time to do this fast. I have held fast though, and I am almost to my 10 days marker.

I began this fast with many prayers that I wanted answered. I must tell you that three of them have been answered PRAISE THE LORD!!

1st. I wanted my granny to come home. I wanted her here in Mena so that I could call her, so that I could go by there and see her. Just to know she was here gave me comfort.

2nd. I wanted (as materialistic as it may seem), a camper. I was stressed about trying to find one, and was in constant irritation when I couldn't get Sam to look at any. Nothing was in our price range, so I prayed that the Lord would send one in our price range and he did.

3rd. I prayed that my grandfather would let us see my granny. He told us that we couldn't see her, and that we couldn't call her. I knew that she needed family at this time and he was keeping her from that. Thankfully, my grandfather changed his mind and allowed us to see her Sunday afternoon.

Three prayers answered and I feel wonderful about this!!

One, two, three strikes your out…..

Sometimes life throws you curve balls! Most of the time when I get thrown a curve ball, I pick up my bat and hit it out of the park. A home run that is over the fence and long gone!! Here lately though I have been striking out badly. First, we bought a new camper. Now that would usually be a great thing, but during this time is was the most stressful time in my life (well, there are some that top that). We had to get it licensed and pay the sales tax on it. Boy that ball hit the parked car three miles from the field on that one.

Then to top things off, my grandfather called. My granny was able to come home Wednesday. I was so excited, and told the girls that we would be seeing granny this weekend! They were so excited and were wanting to pick her some flowers. Then my grandfather called and said “No kids, No visitors, No phone calls.” WHAT?! I can’t call my granny, I can’t take the girls to see granny, I can’t come and see granny.

He said that the doctor told him that granny’s immune system was very frail, and that children were walking germs. I don’t disagree that children can pop a fever faster than anything, but I would never bring the girls around if I thought that they were sick. I was like that before she had cancer, and I would do the same now! He is not even allowing her to take phone calls. There are so many things that I could say to this, so many things that I could scream at the top of my lungs. What am I to do? Nothing!! There is nothing I can do, but wish that things were different. So yet another ball that I struck at and missed horribly!!

So tonight, on a night that I feel like I have just failed with all that i have tried to do today, I am finishing the day off watching Julia & Julie, and listening to Aleeyah chat about anything she finds amusing. I realize that it doesn’t really matter if I hit all the balls, just if I am a good sport about the ones that I don’t hit!!!

I told a white lie!!!

I told some time ago that I was going to lay down my camera and not pick it up again. Things were getting crazy and life was to hectic to be out doing pictures. Until....a girl that I had taken some pictures for earlier in the year called me. She said she had a friend who had been done a litttle wrong on some pictures and wanted to know if I could help her out. I won't say that I didn't hesitate, cause I did. This girl needed help though and I wanted to help her. So I set up a time with her.

Now I remembr why I love taking pictures. When people oooo and awww at my shots, I feel alive. Like I have finally did something right with my camera!! I hope you guys enjoy them!!
Carrie Jo graduates this year. Hard to believe that her favorite color is black and that is all she wears. She is such a pretty girl. I have never taken pictures that looked like this in the house. I hate inside shots, you cannot control the light inside as well as you can outside. Outside, I have God's beauty to work with. Inside I have what I can locate for a prop.
I am glad that Carrie Jo is happy with her pictures and felt like she got her money's worth!!

Very Interesting

I recently received a magazine in the mail called The Whistleblower. This magazine was quite interesting and caused me to pose some serious questions. I am going to share some bits and pieces of the article that I found in this magazine.

  Whistleblower Magazine, article by Jane M. Orient, M.D.

               “Doctor’s group opposed all vaccine mandates. Out children face the possibility of death or serious long-term adverse effects” Dr. Orient states at the first of the article. So Drs have came out against vaccines? Is that what this is saying?

Let’s read more about this.

               “While health professionals, politicians and the public debate the wisdom of mandating that little girls be vaccinated with unproven inoculations to prevent sexually  transmitted diseases, at least one major physicians organization has come out in opposition to all government-mandated vaccinations- even for the traditional childhood vaccines.  The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a 4,000-member professional association established in 1943, has called for a moratorium on the government forcing vaccines on the American people. the resolution, passed back in 2000 at the annual meeting in St. Louise, was approved without a single “no” vote. “Our children face the possibility of death or serious long-term adverse effects from the mandated vaccines that are not necessary or that have very limited benefits,” said Jane M. Orient, M.D. the group’s executive director.”

WOW!! So there are thousands of Drs in the United States that oppose vaccinations! This is amazing, yet scary. If doctors are standing out against the vaccines, should we not be listening. Shouldn’t we reconsider taking our children to the DR, and allowing them to “vaccinate” our children?  Let’s go back to the article.

              “Most states have mandatory vaccine policies, and many children are required to have 22 shots before first grade. On top of that, as a condition for school attendance, many school districts require vaccination for diseases such as hepatitis B-primarily an adult disease, usually spread by multiple sex partners, drug abuse or an occupation with exposure to blood. And yet, children under the age of 14 are three times more likely to suffer adverse effects- including death- following the hep B vaccine than to catch the disease itself. The doctors’ association cited that case of students in Utica, NY, who were sent home from school and told they could not return until they had been forced to receive Hep B. Their parents were threatened by CPS (child protective services) with possible seizure of their children based on  “education neglect.”

Okay, let me get this straight. The Hep B is forced on children and it is NOT even something that children can get? I don’t see newborns having sex anytime soon. I don’t see one year olds drawing blood for a living, and I don’t see my young child using any type of drug in the future.  Yet, to go to school, my child has to have this vaccine. I see an agenda here!! What ever happen to the freedom of choice? Are we robots? Would you consider yourself to be a free-thinker? Well, your not a free-thinker if the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), FDA, CPS (Child Protective services), or the WHO (World Health Organization), tell you that your child “IS REQUIRED” to take certain vaccinations that you don’t agree to. We are a free country, and should not be punished for our own decisions in health. This is not the case though. Children are taken because of the parents decision to “not-vaccinate”. They can’t attend school, college, and your doctor won’t “agree” with your decision. I would love to share more out of this amazing magazine.

                   “Vaccinations and the right to refuse:Dr. Sherry Tenpenny, D.O.”

             “The risk of vaccination must be considered as important –and potentially more serious-than the risk of a childhood disease. Years of experience and thousands of hours of research have led to conclusions that are not uniformly accepted” the importance of legally ensuring vaccine exemptions in each state and the right to refuse nationally mandated vaccinations. Humans are intrinsically healthy and tend to remain so if they are given nutritious, non –GMO foods, fresh air, and clean water. We have been blessed with God-given protective barriers against infectious disease, including our skin and immune system. Knowing that these facts are true for all members of the human species, how did we come to embrace the idea that injecting solutions of chemically treated, inactivated viruses, parts of bacteria, traces of animal tissue and heave metals, such as mercury and aluminum, was a reasonable strategy for keeping human beings-babies, children and adults-healthy? If a “dirty bomb” exposed a large segment of U.S. Citizens simultaneously to Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A, tetanus, pertusisis, diphtheria, Flu, three strains of Polio virus, 3 strains of influenza virus, measles, mumps, rubella, the chicken pox, and 7 strains of Streptococcus, we would declare a state of emergency. We would call it an “extreme act of BIOTERRISM.” The public outcry would be immense and our government would act accordingly. Yet, those are the very organisms that we inject through vaccines into our babies and small children, with immature, underdeveloped immune systems. Many are given all at the same time. But instead of bioterrism, we call it “PROTECTION”. Reflect a minute on that please!!!

Vaccine injuries are reported to be “rare”, but only because very few reactions are “accepted” by the CDC, The Institutes of medicine and the FDA as being caused by vaccinations. If a vaccine is given, and  a bad reaction occurs, “ANYTHING BUT’ the vaccine is “blamed” for the reaction.

If you give your child a chicken pox vaccine and then they get the chicken pox, they will tell you that they needed a booster, or that they have a “light” case of the chicken pox. If that vaccine would have worked, they would not have ANY case!! RIGHT??

I just thought that this magazine was really really good. Although most on here won’t agree with what it says, at least think about it next time you take the kids to “vaccinate” them!!!

Rainy days and Mondays

Always get me down. That is so true for the way that I feel today.

It is snowing, raining, sleeting, nasty nasty day. There are wrecks everywhere, and the roads are just plain slick. I had a play date set for today with two of my best friends. I had to cancel this morning and I was so looking forward to seeing them. We have the best time and we enjoy each others company so much. Another good thing is that Aleeyah and Averrie play so well with their girls EA and JW.

This has been a horrible wk for me and it is only Monday!! We built our house ourselves. After Bethanie passed away we did not want to move back to our trailer, so we decided to build a home. I finished the blue prints and Sam started working on it. When we decided to build the home, we had checked around and see what the cost would be. It was OUT of our price range, and I am allergic to payments. Seriously, I cry and can’t sleep if I have any payments that are not paid for.

So during the build, we laid our own rocks for our woodstove/chimney. The outside we were finishing slowly, since ladders couldn’t reach the 14-16 ft up that we needed. We recently noticed that the fireplace chimney on the outside had a crack. Well that crack turned MUCH worse last night.

This is only adding to the stress that I have with granny, Aleeyah’s grades due in less than a wk, and now this. Just what I didn’t need. So I have spent the morning calling masonry men, and asking for prices. Oh, prices are not good!!!

I hope that this gets done soon, and that this wk gets better. I can’t take much more.