On March 23, I celebrated my 49th birthday! Hooray! I praised God first thing this morning for this really good life. In the picture, you see me and the grandgirls, Sophie and Emma, posing with my birthday cake. White cake with traditional frosting is my favorite food, hands down! I know that's weird, but it's the truth. I like nothing better than to eat a piece of white cake (a corner piece, absolutely encrusted with frosting, of course) slightly frozen, accompanied by a glass of iced tea in a red plastic cup with store-bought ice! Just one of my idiosyncracies, I guess! It's just a favorite tradition that I doubt I'll ever get over. Sunday evening the family came over and we celebrated with the lovely cake and other snack foods. I had made an artichoke dip the evening before for a gathering of Clint's classmates and we finished most of that with crackers and pizza rolls.
Today Rhiannon took me shopping and out for lunch. We spent the entire day just having a great time and getting a few clothes for summer. I also visited a favorite fabric store and yarn shop, as well as a second-hand store where I found two bargain frames for pressed flower pictures. We ate at Cracker Barrel and I longed for Tennessee! Such fun we had just being together and doing whatever we wanted for a whole day.
I do want to say that it saddened me that I will always have to remember my 49th birthday as the day the health care bill was signed into law. To this point I have never gotten "political" on my blog, but I just can't help expressing disappointment at what I believe will be the beginning of the end of the America I have known and loved for 49 years unless some drastic changes begin to take place in the near future. Too much that goes against all I believe in is wrapped up in the depths of paper piles that constitute this latest piece of legislation. Of course, I've not read it, but I trust the sources (who know more than I do) that are analyzing this, that there are a number of things contained in the bill that will undermine the fabric of traditional American life in the name of fixing something that really needed a different solution. I am concerned for the lives of the unborn as I celebrate 49 years, born into a nation that once abhorred the taking of a life in the womb. That's a sobering thought on my birthday. I am concerned for the elderly, of whom my mother is one, who may suffer with the cuts that are coming. I am concerned for how this will affect the strained economy and the personal finances of countless Americans that are already stretched to the max. I am concerned about the intrusion into my private affairs by an ever-growing government. I am saddened about so many things that have surrounded this whole business. I am praying more seriously and committing myself to standing in the gap for my country and its leaders in a new way. I think this is a sobering time we are living in and Christians must stand up and take their places to champion freedom and revival in the hearts of people. This was once the norm for Christians in this land. Check some original documents and good historical sources to learn how Christianity affected the founding principles of this nation.
I guess after 49 years I feel as though I've gained enough wisdom to begin articulating my views and encouraging folks in a Biblical fashion. I want to be one of the "older women" that the scripture speaks of that the younger women should seek out. May the Lord be pleased with my efforts. May truth win out. Blessings, LORI
