A view through our November window

Two of the kits made it from this Spring's litter. This is the smallest one of the two. They come by frequently for a piece of stale bread or a dog biscuit each night around dusk. Their coat is nice and full for the long winter...., just in time as we received a heavy snow tonight. We learned something new yesterday as we observed then digging holes in the yard and burying their food. I love it when I have a moment to pause and watch nature; I learn something new every time!

Putting the THANKS IN THANKSGIVING

401 K's depleted, thousands of jobs lost and 85,000 homes were foreclosed last week alone!!! Cancer, medical bills, no insurance, loss of a loved one.....is it possible to still be THANKful???

The following story is told by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson. It is about a man by the name of Miles Standish, who endured a Bitter Winter and a Better Thanksgiving:



"Then the sickness begane to fall sore amongst them, and the weather so bad...the Gov/r and cheefe of them, seeing so many dye, and fall downe sick dayly, thought it no wisdom to send away the ship...."

Capt. Mile Standish had been at his wife Rose's bedside. As much time, that is, as he could spare from stalking game, guarding against savages, and felling trees to construct crude homes on shore.

A bitter wind whistled through the chinks and cracks in the Mayflower, anchored in Plymouth Harbor that winter of 1620-21. Rose's chills would turn to incontrollable shaking. Then just as suddenly, her body would ablaze with fever. Herbs fromt he surgeon's chest did little to relieve her. By spring only five wives remained out of the eighteen who had sailed to Plymouth. Rose was not among them.

Thanksgiving? What was that? The golden dreams of a New World that Miles and Rose has cherished together had evaporated into hollow hopes. And yet that fall Capt. Standish joined other bereaved Pilgrims in the first Thanksgiving celebration.

The real test of thankfulness is whether we can give thanks from the heart for what we do have, despite the wounds and pains of yesterday's struggles. Ours is not some fair weather faith, but a resilient trust in the middle of pain. The Pilgrims lived close to the edge of survival. Perhaps that is why they were so thankful.

In the book of JOB, Job says, "The Lord gives and the Lord taketh away.....who am I to question God? Nevertheless, I shall praise him and give thanks".


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Jamie's Booklist

Genre: Historical Fiction Synopsis-Written by Pearl Buck in 1931 and won a Pulitzer the following year. The novel was originally written to describe Chinese culture and it allowed Americans to consider becoming allies with Chinese in the forthcoming war with Japan.

Genre: Religion/Spirituality Synopsis: A great book about deliverence from falling into the pits of life. Beth shares her personal story of deliverance that offers hope to many.

Genre: History Synopsis- David McCullough, one of our nation's finest historians, breaths life into the patriarchs of our History that fought Britain for our freedom and penned the Declaration of Independance. You will be glued from page one, and end with a deeper, heart felt appreciation for our liberites today!

Okay guys. I'm not Oprah, but I do read ALOT! I just thought if you were shopping for the bookworms of your family this Christmas, you might enjoy a few good titles. Here's 3 for starts!

Important Papers Come By Mail

No, I am not talking about bills, or my checking statement, I am referring to Collector's Currency from the mid 1800's. About 6 weeks ago, I ordered some replicas of currency as I have an artifact search/presentation due for my History class on Dec 3rd. They came today and are really neat to look at. If you would like to look at additional replicas, ready to order, you can go to Militaria.Com

As for the history....When the Civil War started there were two types of money in circulation in the North: The largest part was "hard" money-silver and gold coins of the US government; the rest was paper money issued by prominent state banks. As the war progressed, more and more hard money disappeared as people began to hoard the coins.

In 1862, the US govt. began issuing "Greenbacks" (as Fed. currency became called) to supplement the states' paper money. Greenbacks were soon in widespread use, amounting to more than half the currency in circulation. Fractional currency (paper coin) also became prominently used.

The federal Govt. passed strict banking laws in 1863; these laws along with heavy taxes soon caused most of the paper money of the private banks to disappear. The laws did not become effective in the South until after the war was over in 1865.

The picture above is a $1 Pennsylvania 1865, Bank of Montgomery County. It honors four Union Officers, all natives from Mont. Cty. (clockwise left to right): Gen. Adam Slemmer, Gen. Winfield Hancock, Gen. Hartranft; Col. Edwin Scall. The central pic. is of the bank.

Another is a $1 Illinois 1861, Bank of Quincy. The nore detailed the drawing of the Indian hunting a buffalo. The Bank of Qunicy was founded in 1856 and closed in 1862.

The other important piece of paper was the official paperwork, with my "gold key" to Phi Theta Kappa.

Paper, paper, paper...guess I need to plant another tree!

Gearing up for the Holidays!!!

I don't know about you all, but our family seems to march double time from Oct 31st on toward the end of the year. It seems like there is a party for everything: from Harvest Festivals at church, to classroom parties, to 2 birthdays in our house and next thing you know Thanksgiving and Christmas are here!

This year, we are excited that we are having LOTS of company so we have been doing some musical rooms and getting ready. We finally bought our new matress set and gave Whitley our queen set. For the basement, we bought a new sectional that is very lightweight and versatile. Whit can now give up her bed and we can move out the coffee table and move pieces around for her to stay in the basement when we have company. We also purchased a flat screen for the wall and this will make for fun family movie nights in the basement and also provide a sound barrier for when I am upstairs studying and people are downstairs watching TV. We are down to one last phase of our remodel now and that is to come back to the kitchen and repair one last wall of water damage and to build the side-by-side into the wall and make a desk/workstation where the fridge used to be. It is a one day, easy, low budget job that will only take a few pieces of drywall and some mud and we are done!!!

In the meantime we are wrapping up the semester and getting ready for my Mom & Marv to come, my cousin and her husband and two children and our friends Barb & Kyra. It will be GREAT to see everyone and have the house full of kids and memory making while sharing the wondrous joy of the Christmas Season!

Updated Picture of Kendall Elyse

Two years and nine months already; WOW!! Kendall and her family came up to celebrate Whit's birthday a week ago. She looked so cute in her little Broncos cheerleading outfit. John and I can remember when we dressed Whitley the same way, and it seems like yesterday that Whit was only 2!

Anyway, Kendall is is doing great! She is sharp as a tack and can jabber up a storm. She is into the Disney princesses and loves to be read to (still). Her family has even considered having her IQ tested as she is very bright! God has certainly blessed this little lady and she has overcome so much. We are thrilled for her and love her and her family vrey much!

COUNTDOWN

There are only 12 classroom days left to this semster. I took my last regular test in History today and have only the final left to take. I have two big writing assinments due in the next few weeks: one is an analytical review on a 400 page book I read and the other is an artifact search. I found some old bank notes online from the 1800's so I will be talking about the banking crisis after the Rev. War and the necessity of backing paper with hard currency; sound familiar???

Anatomy and Physiology is tough. I have a test this Friday on Neurophysiology and for the first time I am struggling and playing catch up. I hope I do well. I just did my lab practical on muscles this past Friday and received a 97%. After this test Friday, there is a back-to back lab practical and written essay right after Thanksgiving and the final one week later. This is the class that may have me run down and sick by December; I pray I get through it.

Whitley has had lots of birthday parties and activities going on. She has her first school dance this Thursday night at the Lakehouse. Her two best friends have their birthdays one week after hers so there is a party this Friday and the following Saturday--busy, busy!

Well, it's going for midnight so I need to get some sleep! More to blog later!

Whitey's 12

On November 3, 1996 Whitley Autumn Samuels was born on a beautiful, fall Sunday morning. The weather this year is much the same as it was the year she was born...unseasonably warm, but appreciated.

It is hard to believe that 12 years has passed so quickly by. The days of great big birthday parties with all these little people running around, are over. Now she is content to celebrate with family or a couple of close friends.

This year we celebrated with our foster daughter's family and a neighbor friend and had a really nice time. We have moved on to clothes and hair and make-up items, but I find that deep down inside, she still appreciates a toy or two. This year we purchased PICTIONARY MAN. It is for ages 14 and up. Most of the clues she knew, even though she's 12, and there were only a few she had to skip. Still, we had a blast playing!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WHIT!!!!