Political Ideolgy considered

America: The Last Best Hope, Volume 2: From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom 1914-1989 by William J. Bennett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As I read this book, I am having to stop every few pages and really consider things. This book is definitely pro FDR, pro interventionist, not so hip on Patton....ideas that maybe would not be my first opinion. I am beginning to formulate an idea...need much more research....but I am beginning to see that one perpetual theory is not always the answer. Perhaps, there are two forces, maybe we could call them Capitalistic Aristocracy, and Communistic Bureacracy, one on each side of the idealogical debate that vie for power in this world, and the trick is to keep balancing back and forth to keep the freedom for the people. I really need a mentored approach through this study. I really no longer accept the whole, left-right, republican-democrat arguments. I think that true liberty is so much more fragile than we assume, and our only hope is to have leaders who deeply understand these principles, genuinely value liberty, and can keep the precarious balance aligned.

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6 cups rhubarb diced
put in large 13 X 20 pan greased
sprinkle cup of sugar, 6 oz strawberry jello, and 4 cups mini marshmallows over rhubarb

Make yellow cake mix and pour over fruit:

4 cups all-purpose flour (do not sift the flour)
3 cups granulated sugar
1.5 T baking powder
1.5 -teaspoon salt
2 cups milk soured with T vinegar
1/4 vegetable oil
1 cup butter (not margarine), softened
2-tablespoon vanilla extract
5 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350° Bake for 45 - 60 mins. until brown.  Add sprinkling of sugar last 10 minutes for cripsness.

Picture Later

Serve with strawberries and cream

What have I been doing?

Kayti Grace and I have been building a blog to sell our favorite Essential Oils (Butterfly Express.)

Our purpose is to finance educational options in our family's life, especially with Kayti in mind.

All our buttons are not yet working, but we have most of the products listed, and we are offering a really great deal on an "Essentials Kit."

Just email us and we will be able to complete your order.

Please support us, and tell your friends....essentialsinhealing.com

ESSENTIAL OILS SALE

Introducing: 100 % Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils produced by Butterfly Express  

YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THESE

 

The Essentials Kit includes 12- 10 ml oils and your choice of carrier oil:

                  (picture only shows nine, but you will get twelve )

          Singles:

• Lavender

• Peppermint

• Frankincense

  Blends:

• Sunburst:  citrus for cleansing, purifying, calming

• MelaPlus: includes tea tree for insect bites, burns, cold sores, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal

• Paine:  for sore muscles and other body aches, aides healing improves circulation

• Breezey:  all respiratory ailments including colds, asthma, sore throat, etc.  include eucalyptus and peppermint

• Inside Out:  all digestive ailments including flu, cramps, heartburn, diarrhea, candida, morning sickness, etc

• SpiceC: helps immune system during cold and flu season

• Deliverance:  Helps kick the nasty stuff.  Contains oregano.

• Millenia: "Chiropractor in a bottle"  helps with alignment of physical and emotional energy.  Contains frankincense.  Promotes courage, confidence, and self-esteem.

• Tranquility:  reduces anxiety disorders, can help with headaches, panic attacks, and depression

  You will receive a case with these and have seven extra spaces for more oils, after you purchase the kit, you will have 30 days to purchase seven more oils at 25% off retail price.  

  The Price for the Kit is:  $139.

  I think you will find this to be a very affordable price.

  
  Please contact me stharrisandco@gmail.com for any questions and clarification on products.  I will also help advise you as to what other seven oils may be most beneficial for your family.

  
  I don't yet have a way to sell via internet so after you email me and give me your contact information, we will be able to get your oils to you.

  
  THANKS so much.

American Mother's National Convention Speech

        

More than two centuries ago, the Founding Fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors to declare independence, and build a country based on individual liberty and responsibility.   Less than 40 years after their success, Tocqueville, a French historian toured America in search of its greatness.  He wrote, "Although the American woman never leaves her domestic sphere… … nowhere does she enjoy a higher station. And if anyone asks me what I think the chief cause of the extraordinary prosperity and growing power of this nation, I should answer that it is due to the superiority of their women."  Those women deserved that timeless compliment.   Yet, now we must painfully ask ourselves, “Are we women also responsible for the reverse?  When we left our traditional domestic sphere, did that gaping hole begin the wholesale unraveling of virtue in American culture?”

 Our Founding Fathers fulfilled THEIR historic task.  As we look at what is vitally needful in our culture today, if we have any hope of families remaining a pillar of strength, I suggest OUR historic task is becoming…..Renewing Mothers.

 We Renewing Mothers are women who wisely turn our hearts, and where possible, our physical presence to our children, our husbands, our homes and communities.  Renewing Mothers are empowered as we realize that the creative scope of motherhood is tremendous.  Here we employ the liberal breadth of all knowledge as we build and manage homes of beauty and hospitality, as we counsel, nourish, educate and love our children, as we assume an active role in home-production and entrepreneurship, and as we step out in confident leadership and support of wholesome community institutions.  Yes, this sphere of womanhood, seen in its fullest potential is vast and fulfilling.  We are also empowered as society genuinely returns to a valuing of motherhood for the crucial culture builder that it is.
            This empowerment becomes inspiration as we sense that this Renewing is not only of earthly importance, but is a Divine challenge that requires a fearless trust in Providence.  We are inspired by the ideal ever before us, but we employ an ample sense of humor for the realities of the daily work.  We do not let the short-sighted anti-motherhood, anti-family rhetoric of our day deter us.  We know the truth: renewing motherhood is the only way a mending of moral fiber begins.

As women, we can choose what we will do.  We are successful wherever we serve; but the truth is, the thriving home, an indispensable pillar of societal strength, cannot flourish without us.  Therefore, we Renewing Mothers accept this historic challenge.  The exact details of our course may still be elusive, but we trust that we will be guided and that our efforts will be blessed for good.  We are thrilled with the expectation of all we and our families will become upon this journey. 

We are empowered, we are inspired.  We WILL renew the great culture that is America’s best, and we will raise the next generation, that they may in turn have a solid foundation to raise the next.

Chocolate Cake Recipe from Smitten Kitchen......Black-Bottom Cupcakes

For the Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
For the Cupcakes:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 tablespoons naturally unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup unflavored vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Make the Filling: Beat together the cream cheese, granulated sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in chopped chocolate pieces. Set aside.
Make the Cupcakes:
1. Adjust the rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 12-cup muffin tin, or line the tin with paper muffin cups.
2. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl mix together the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring just until smooth. Stir any longer and you will over mix the batter and end up with less-than-tender cupcakes.
4. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Spoon a few tablespoons of the filling into the center of each cupcake, dividing the filling evenly. This will fill the cups almost completely, which is fine.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown and the cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed. These moist treats will keep unrefrigerated for 2 to 3 days if stored in an airtight container.

The Accidental Gardener

The sun is now a couple hours past the colorful point of its first morning appearance.  With all these years of precious newborns, and plump nursing babies, I don’t often see that storybook incident of sunrise.  A little more sleep is just too important.                 

This morning, I have finally gotten everyone mostly dressed, and out to the garden for some overdue weeding.  The littlest one is playing in the water spray erupting from the hydrant and is now very much wet.  But how else was he to build the small lake that his toy horses will soon be swimming in?  Another is seeking some aide to pull the “pokey” out of his foot.  (Despite my best efforts, the garden is still plagued with sand-burrs, and they wreak havoc on tender little feet.) Still other little ones are more interested with the newly ripened strawberries than attentive garden cultivating.  I alternate between hoe and hand, and invite those who will along with me.  We have a goal:  the whole west side, including tomatoes and broccoli, before noon.  Two older boys diligently facilitate their mother’s wishes, and we discuss gardening, and book plots, and future career plans, and life.  Oldest daughter starts us on a round of “Saints bound for Heaven,” and we all laugh when we mix up the words of the third verse for the hundredth time. Young warrior has just “cut off the head of the biggest weed ever” with his trusty stick sword, and won’t we all come and see?

 We labor quietly for awhile, and listen to the sounds of the horses running in the pasture, the sprinklers on the orchard, and the neighbors driving by.  The phone rings, and I send oldest running in to answer, and “won’t you just stay in and get some lunch started?”   Most of them have now wandered off to their own games and delights.  I finish up the last row, and look down at my dirty hands and swelling belly.  I hear a few squabbling young ones behind the trees in the sandbox, I notice the capable workers and enjoyable companions my older sons have become, and I am grateful for capable and serving oldest treasured daughter. 

It’s not Wall Street, it’s not a corner office, it’s not fame, it’s not glamorous, and it’s definitely not flooding my bank account.  But my heart swells beyond its capacity to hold joy, and I am not sure its exact source.  The world has never taught me to find happiness here.   Its origin must be something Deep, something Divine.  I have a hunch that this thing I do, this daily round, really matters – forever, and for eternity.